Chapter 840: Sword Manual Unfolds

"It's coming!"

The green blanket stirred slightly, wrapping toward Tang Zhao's side. Tang Zhao was not surprised; he had long been prepared to be attacked, and was even waiting for this moment.

However, he was still somewhat taken aback. He had initially thought this was targeted at him, but he immediately discovered that this green color was proliferating in almost every direction. Green surged around everyone, and the green meadow formed a circle, enclosing each person. First, it drew a circle on the ground, then grew upward along the traces, like a slowly unfolding sleeve, expanding and rising bit by bit, intending to bag everyone inside.

And at this stage, not a single person had noticed.

What a bizarre scene this was; everyone was walking forward in an orderly fashion. There was nothing around them that would touch them, yet two steps away, a massive sleeve was slowly rising to bag them one by one, and these "Immortals" and "Saints" were completely oblivious.

Not only that, even the Songtian High Priest at the very front, who had been pointing things out from time to time and was now full of confidence, was not spared. The sleeve around him was also slowly forming, like a bloody maw hanging over his head, yet he acted as if nothing were wrong. It was unclear whether he had known all along and was fearless because he was confident the god would not harm him, or if he was completely unaware.

Tang Zhao felt that perhaps he really did not know. Perhaps this sleeve of the evil god was a "prescribed movement," and everyone who wanted to go upstairs had to be encircled by the green substance. Because the destination did not allow any unburdened person to peek at will. And who knew if, while inside the sleeve, one would be casually drained of some essence?

That shouldn't be the case, otherwise the Sword Saints could never be completely ignorant.

He pondered for a moment and did not call it out directly; instead, he commanded the Glasses: "Sword Manual, expand."

In the darkness, a large book unfolded.

That's right, it was still that same Sword Manual. However, it was an upgraded Sword Manual; even the cover had been upgraded, becoming more deluxe. The Sword Manual might have been one of the Master's Sword Images back in the day. Even when the Glasses were crippled and other functions were unusable, it had always existed. Now that the Fairy Sister was not around, Tang Zhao almost treated it as the spirit of the Glasses, not only fighting alongside it but also consulting with it. Although it was always Tang Zhao doing the talking, it, like the Fairy Sister, did not give much of a response.

With a thought from Tang Zhao, the large book had already flipped to the middle pages, unfolding on both his sides as if two wings had spread behind his back. The light on the Sword Manual was hazy, illuminating a large section of the stairs, yet no one saw it except Tang Zhao.

No, that evil god should have felt it.

The pages unfolded, immediately piercing the green cover around Tang Zhao. Those tissues that had been tangled together like mud instantly scattered like ash and smoke, not daring to touch the faint light on the pages at all. For a moment, his surroundings were clear and quiet; even the green mud under his feet avoided him, allowing him to step out a patch of original-colored ground.

"Flip page—Honghu Sword."

The Sword Manual unfolded behind his back, revealing the left and right pages. On the left was a picture of the sword and its Sword Image, vivid and lifelike, completely indistinguishable from a real sword. On the right was the Sword Manual, with the format and columns remaining the same as before.

This was his reorganized Sword Manual, which still retained the core functions of collecting swords, recording sword data, and pseudo-wielding. But the form of expression was somewhat different; it no longer required a Dharma Artifact as a medium, nor did it necessarily require condensing a real sword. It only needed to be collected, and by flipping to that page, one could mobilize the sword's power at will. Not only that, the Sword Manual itself had its own marvelous uses and was also very powerful.

In this respect, the form of the Sword Manual in combat was closer to a true Sword Image.

Only stronger than a general Sword Image, much stronger.

Moreover, Tang Zhao did not just possess this one Sword Image. He had his own Sword Image. Now he could choose to let the Sword Manual appear, pretending it was his own Sword Image, and hide the real one to launch a sneak attack. It was just that the gains would not outweigh the losses; compared to Sunlight, the trouble caused by the Sword Manual appearing in public was much greater. He could, however, mobilize the swords on the Sword Manual to release Sword Images as a diversion. But as his strength increased, the enemies he faced were also improving, and this tactic was becoming increasingly useless.

And the Honghu Sword that was now unfolded was Wei Zhangle's sword.

Yes, Wei Zhangle's sword was not called the "Vanishing Sword"; it had its own name, called the Honghu Sword.

The Honghu flying high—it was a name with lofty aspirations.

But Wei Zhangle had never told outsiders the name of this sword. Everyone thought this sword was called the "Vanishing Sword," and its greatest ability was "Disappearance." Although that was generally correct, and Disappearance was indeed powerful and useful, Tang Zhao, who had seen the Sword Manual, knew that the Honghu Sword was far more than that; it lived up to its name.

However, Tang Zhao only knew the name of this sword because Zhangle told him; Zhangle should have only told him alone in this world. Therefore, he decided that, apart from the Disappearance that everyone knew, he would never use any other Sword Art or Sword Technique of this sword.

Now was the time when "Disappearance" was needed.

"Disappearance. Original Sword."

The latter instruction referred to the level of the Sword Technique. Original Sword was the power that could be used when that sword was collected into the Sword Manual. If it was a Sword Hero's sword, it could exert the strength of a Sword Hero; if it was a Sword Immortal's sword, it could also exert the strength of a Sword Immortal. Of course, it was possible that the method of using the sword was improper, or the person themselves could not withstand it, failing to exert the original strength, but it would only be lower than the Original Sword, never higher.

This was the method of using the Sword Manual's "pseudo-wielding" before. Tang Zhao's strength was insufficient back then, so even if he used an Immortal Sword or Saint Sword, he could not exert their true power and could only rely on high-level swords to maintain the situation through dimensional strikes.

But now, the Sword Manual had a new mode for using swords, which was that the Sword Manual, the Glasses, and Tang Zhao himself paid the energy. The sword almost only provided a sword technique "model," which was to strip away the "Earth" and "Water" layers and have Tang Zhao directly manipulate the "Fire layer," equivalent to connecting the sword to his own sword; he used his own sword, just temporarily gaining new abilities. Tang Zhao shamelessly called this mode "Master Mode."

This was also why he was very confident, believing that even in such a specialized unit as Disappearance, he would not lose to Zhangle.

It was not yet time for him to use Master Mode; just using the Original Sword mode easily avoided the harassment without attracting any attention. This included the Songtian High Priest as well. Logically speaking, under Disappearance, he shouldn't have attracted any attention anyway, but this also ruled out the possibility that the other side was the kind of extremely hidden mastermind.

The first step was safe. Then... let's try leaving the team.

Tang Zhao knew that walking step-by-step in the team, with the help of the Honghu Sword, should be able to solve his personal safety issues, and he could remain still. However, he also had his own plan; using Master Power to probe and subdue the evil god, or even the mastermind behind the evil god, was not something he wanted outsiders to know. Even if they were his own people, it was better for fewer people to know.

Therefore, he would first try to walk up; if it didn't work, then he would have to ask for help.

It had to be said that having truly obtained the power of the Glasses, Tang Zhao's courage had grown a lot. He originally had a "reckless" side, which was just a slice of his personality, but after having confidence, this side would expand.

He just walked forward in the narrow passage like this, squeezing past the various Emperors. Then he squeezed past the Songtian High Priest. Before leaving, he waved at Songtian with his huge "Lamp wings." Songtian was completely unaware, leading the way in front unhurriedly, a smile of total control still lingering at the corners of his mouth.

Having left the pace-setting Songtian, Tang Zhao climbed the stairs very quickly, the wings of the book even whistling with the wind.

The higher he climbed, the thicker the green became. Later on, not only the ground, ceiling, and walls, but every corner was all green. Moreover, the green was no longer just a layer of bedding, but increasingly thick and increasingly shaped. Tang Zhao even felt that he was not walking in a stairwell, but in the intestines of some green flesh monster.

Tang Zhao even suspected that the green sleeve might really be protecting those who came up. Sword Saints and such powerhouses might not need it, but if just anyone came up, such as ordinary evil god believers, without the cover's protection, they might have turned into a pool of digestive fluid before reaching the top of the stairs.

Walking like this, finally, when he estimated he was at the three hundred and thirty-third floor, he saw the exit.

The exit was greenish, hung with all kinds of green silk threads hanging down, looking like mucus dripping from an oral cavity.

Tang Zhao endured the nausea and took a step forward, about to drill out of the exit, when suddenly his heart stirred; a line of prompts had flown onto the Glasses.

The exit... there were two?

One exit, although covered with a layer of green, had green like a thin mist, and light was clearly shining through from behind. Moreover, standing at the exit, there were gusts of breeze blowing in his face. Clearly, this was the real exit; going out would probably allow him to see the highest point of the entire Great Ship promised by the Songtian High Priest, the most suitable place to overlook and cover the entire ship.

And on the other side, amidst a patch of green tissue, there was still a hidden exit, which had to be pried open from the layers of green mud to be found. Not to mention that ordinary people wouldn't go to pry it, even Tang Zhao, who already knew there was an exit here, couldn't help but feel a bit nauseous when he had to use his hands.

Now he could only take the initiative to reach out and pry it, and the Vanishing Sword Technique could only make the green mud not erode toward Tang Zhao's side, and would not actively make the green mud retreat three feet.

Drilling through the green mud curtain, before his eyes was an open space. It was quite open, yet because it was airtight, it appeared quite gloomy.

What met his eyes was green, green, and green.

Green was originally the color of life, making people feel relaxed, even allowing their eyeballs to relax. However, when a large amount of bright green was piled together, layer upon layer, like sludge in a sewer, and still softly squirming, no one's mood could be relaxed.

Because of the cover of Disappearance, Tang Zhao did not cause any reaction from the other side. He had entered the most original ecosystem of the evil god; the feeling it gave him was like moving from the intestines into the stomach, even more dangerous and disgusting.

So where was the evil god?

Tang Zhao guessed that the evil god should have a "main body," even if it was a brain or a nerve center, allowing him to have a target. If it were truly completely brainless and only had instincts, that would be the real trouble.

It was just that distinguishing shapes in the green quagmire was also very difficult.

Finally, he scanned most of the space and finally locked onto something.

That thing was also green, but it clearly had a stable shape, making it unique.

That shape seemed to be...