Chapter 806: Imprisonment

Everything was going smoothly, originally...

At a certain moment, Tang Zhao had a flash of inspiration and transformed into light, merging into one with that "Divine Fire," and he officially crossed the threshold of the Sword Heart realm—

Heart-Sword Unity.

This is a realm that only a Sword Immortal can reach.

It had long been said that Tang Zhao was only one step away from being a Sword Immortal, and he had even broken through the Sword Heart, but only when he completely merged with the Sword Image according to his own will did it prove that he had truly reached that realm, and had even gone further than the average Sword Immortal.

True Heart-Sword Unity actually has two different minor realms: Heart-Sword Unity and Shenjian Heiyi. Heart-Sword Unity sounds more profound, yet Shenjian Heiyi is more difficult. To transform one's human form and merge into one with a sword in every sense, even Sword Immortals face many obstacles. Yet Tang Zhao had succeeded completely without realizing it, and had already stood at the threshold of a higher level.

In this state, Tang Zhao entered a special condition, similar to a state of "emptiness and clarity"—both empty and clear, one could say both agile and dull. His train of thought was very agile, but his senses were very dull. Feedback from the Waijie could hardly affect him, yet he was omnipotent in his own world.

While this state certainly had the danger of being defenseless, it was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In this state, he truly found the path to comprehending Sword Intent. Sword Intent was originally like the stars above one's head—visible but untouchable; the more one reached out to grasp it, the further away it moved. But in this state, Sword Intent was like a firefly; although very agile, it was flying around right beside him, and when one was quick-eyed and nimble-handed enough, one could catch it.

Tang Zhao naturally had to seize this opportunity. He knew he was currently in a relatively dangerous state, but at the same time, the opportunity was so rare, and the place he was in was actually very hidden. As long as he maintained Heart-Sword Unity, even if a Sword Immortal were lying on the fire pile looking, they wouldn't be able to tell how a living human had blended into a mass of flames.

When the time came, as long as the flames flowed back into the Sacred Fire pile, he would exist within a larger mass of flames, which would be even more hidden then. Moreover, the high temperature and intense heat of these flames were a very comfortable state for him now, and even provided him with energy. He could go without eating or drinking in this state, maintaining this "non-human" state for several months, until he took a further step.

Of course, in reality, he could not hold on for that long. Not to mention that crucial moment three months later, he himself could not allow himself to delay for so long; he still had important matters to attend to. In fact, in this state, he could already touch that boundary, so he had a feeling—three to five days would be enough to break through.

At this crucial moment, he would hesitate over whether it was worth it to spend a month becoming a Sword Immortal, but if it only took three to five days to truly stabilize in that realm, and most importantly, to finally win a share of voice for himself at the high level and make the decision-makers of the Human World look at him as an equal, it was still very worth it, even if it meant taking some risks.

Tang Zhao had a heart for adventure, but when he was thrown into the Sacred Fire along with the flames, and then a large cover descended from the sky to trap him, he was still completely bewildered.

One must know that he had just been blocked outside along with the incoming divine officials, so he had heard absolutely nothing of the conversation between the old and new generations of priests, nor did he know that this Sacred Fire was not a "deity" in the traditional sense, nor did he know what this cover was used for. After being covered, his first thought was:

Oh no, have I been discovered?!

Immediately following, eight top experts of the Fire Spirit Clan appeared with a 'whoosh', and then a giant head appeared above, which was actually a top-tier Sword Immortal-level expert!

Are these all here to catch me?

What a grand display!

Tang Zhao almost broke out of his flame state, but then he received a translation from his Glasses and learned some information. It seemed this all had nothing to do with him; they were originally planning to seal the Sacred Fire.

So he hadn't been discovered; it was a false alarm...

Then what was the difference?

He was still trapped!

And, he was trapped by two layers, inside and out.

The outer layer goes without saying. Not to mention those eight top Sword Hero experts, just that head above had an aura so powerful it surpassed even the State Preceptor. It would be difficult for Tang Zhao to match him even if he fought his way out one-on-one, let alone with eight helpers around.

As for the inner layer, Tang Zhao, as a Talisman Sword Master, saw at a glance that this cover was extraordinary. Besides being made of very tough and rare materials, layers of Rune Formula traces flowed upon it. Those Rune Formulas were quite different from the Rune Formulas of the Human World, driving not Qi but spiritual energy, yet they had similar results. When they operated, the spiritual energy formed talismans, strengthening the power of the seal and suppression, making the entire cover like a net from heaven and earth, from which it would be hard to escape even with wings.

That wasn't all; the nine experts outside suddenly increased their strength, and spiritual energy poured into the cover like an endless flood as if it were worthless. In an instant, the sealing power increased more than tenfold. Before Tang Zhao could react, he was already deep in a complete dead end.

This is also... the worst luck in eight lifetimes.

At this moment, Tang Zhao was undoubtedly panicked, but it was thanks to him still being in that state of emptiness and clarity that all kinds of emotional fluctuations became slight, allowing him to control his state of mind instead, and not panic on the spot and do something irrational.

He kept himself calm and soon understood that at this time, he could even less afford to break out of the state of Heart-Sword Unity. Although he was a Sword Image of light and could even be immune to the sun's high temperature, the sun and fire were two different things. Once he broke out of the state, it was not certain he could still coexist peacefully with this raging Sacred Fire in such an extremely enclosed state; it would be very dangerous to be surrounded by fire then.

The best response at this time is...

To ignore it!

With Tang Zhao's current strength, there was no way to break the barrier from the inside. If he revealed his form and aroused the vigilance of the people outside, it would be even more difficult, unless he broke through to Sword Immortal!

In this extremely unfavorable situation, he would follow the original plan to break through to Sword Immortal, then collect the Fragment in the fire, obtain the double blessing, and then charge out in one go!

Finding joy in suffering, he thought that this place could also be considered a good place for a breakthrough. It was not only sufficiently enclosed and quiet, but also sufficiently "safe"—at least the enemies were all outside, he couldn't get out from the inside, and they couldn't get in from the outside.

Not to mention that the experts outside were pouring spiritual energy into the inside with all their might. Tang Zhao originally had no way to utilize this kind of spiritual energy, but it was different in the flames. The Glasses could convert the external power into an upgraded version, while the deficit of the Glasses would be made up by the power stored in the flames; he could use it almost without limit.

Now he had confirmed that there was indeed power in these flames that was homologous to the Glasses. Although he couldn't find that Fragment for the moment, the Glasses could already directly extract those "savings." The Fire Spirit clansmen outside certainly wouldn't think that the Sacred Fire they were spending such a high price to compress and supplement could actually be depleted the more they supplemented it.

Tang Zhao made up his mind and completely re-entered the state of "Tiantai." This time it was a complete Tiantai; from appearance to essence, there was no part that was not like that star in the universe.

But he still retained human wisdom. That was the wisdom that belonged to him, and also the "Heavenly Dao" that belonged to the sun. The wisdom operated in the way of the Heavenly Dao, entered the orbit, and gradually approached that last missing piece of Sword Intent.

No one would have thought that the young Sword Immortal, who was pinned with high hopes by the entire Sun Domain and even the Human World, would actually be making an unknown breakthrough in such a place and such a situation.

While Tang Zhao was working hard, everyone else was working hard, including the Fire Spirit Clan experts outside. These experts could be considered to have exhausted all their strength. They discovered that the speed at which the flames devoured power was much faster than they had anticipated. Originally, although eight Sword Heroes were exerting force below, there was actually a primary and secondary order; four people used more power, while the others saved a little strength. After a short time, just a day or two, the primary and secondary could switch, and the previous main force could rest a little.

But now, as soon as they started, they found it was bad. Their power poured out like a flood from an opened sluice. It simply didn't look like the cover was devouring it exclusively; it seemed the flames inside were also reaching out a hand from the very, very inside, shouting: "Give me more, give me more!"

Although they were astonished, they didn't think too much about it. This was the first time such a thing had happened since the creation of the world; there was no precedent. They only thought their prior budget had been set too low, and they were somewhat worried.

At this time, the "big head" on top suddenly spoke: "Go wake the Prophet; we need her power now."

The old man who had come first said: "Would that be too much of a fuss? We originally only wanted to ask the Prophet to wake up at the last moment; after all, there is only one last chance left."

The big head said: "Now is the last moment. If we stop here and fall short of success, what will become of us? Or are you saying we shouldn't seek help from our own clan's foundation, but instead ask outsiders for help, and lay out our plans and our secrets before outsiders?"

The crowd was silent. That big head Elder said: "When we were about to implement this plan, we asked the Prophet: is doing this good for the survival of our clan? The answer we got was: Yes!"

"You must know that although the Prophet has never been wrong, the prophecies she gives are all somewhat vague and cannot be compared to true divine oracles. Only this time was it categorical, which shows how crucial this is to the survival of our clan. If we collapse halfway, it doesn't matter if we old fellows die, but how will the Fire Spirit Clan continue to exist?"

"I know the Prophet might pass away the next time she opens her eyes, but if there is one last chance, it should be used here. Go call Hui and have him ask the Prophet to come over. We cannot leave, so it is time for him to take charge."

The crowd suddenly realized; this was also a test for the Child of Fire. That first Elder asked the others to temporarily use more power to hold on, and he withdrew his form to go out and give the order. Although the Child of Fire was young, he was an outstanding figure, and upon hearing such a difficult and important task, he did not ask any more questions and immediately accepted the order.

Looking at the back of the Child of Fire as he left, the old man was also very worried in his heart: everyone says the Prophet gave a clear answer this time, but is there really no ambiguity? Is this method of being beneficial to the survival of the clansmen definitely the kind we imagine?