Chapter 856: Palace

Tang Zhao entered the Sword Array, and he did so with a swagger.

Unlike Wei Zhangle, who had fallen into a rather deep state of "Divine Concealment" and had to be pulled out bit by bit through the effects of a vow to reintegrate with the world—a process that required time—Tang Zhao had completed his vow and gained liberation the very moment he met Wei Zhangle and recognized him. It was like the vow of attaining Buddhahood; once completed, heavenly flowers would rain down, golden lotuses would spring from the earth, and one would attain Buddhahood on the spot, rather than waiting for some amount of time to slowly become a Buddha. If that were the case, such a Great Vow would have no prestige at all. Therefore, he had directly broken out of the state of disappearance and returned to normal; those related to him, no matter how far apart, would immediately recall all the past events concerning him.

Thus, Tang Zhao could use disappearance again to perform perfect concealment and infiltration without worrying about aftereffects. However, this disappearance was just as effective against his own people as it was against enemies, and sometimes it hindered matters. Furthermore, Wei Zhangle had not yet returned to normal, and as the anchor of the world, Tang Zhao faced risks if he were to disappear rashly. Therefore, he chose not to use it.

Moreover, Tang Zhao felt there was no need to use it. After this journey, he had broken through that realm, and with both his strength and his Glasses reaching a higher level, his power had reached a considerable tier. It could be said that he was a figure of note even in the Sword Court; did it even need to be said in the Human World? He thought that even if he did not use any methods to infiltrate, but instead "infiltrated" as an open and aboveboard assassin, he would not encounter any obstacles.

The reason he was still willing to conceal his figure was that Tang Zhao wanted to see exactly who dared to stir up trouble under the nose of the Yunzhou Governor, and incidentally, to probe the background and connections behind it. One had to know that the Gaoyuan Marquis had only just left, and someone was already bullying them; was this bullying orphans and widows? Even Tang Zhao felt insulted. He was determined to get to the bottom of this matter and root out the people behind it. As the saying goes, strike one blow to avoid a hundred; at this critical moment of power transition, he must not allow anyone to covet anything. He had to strike the first person who reached out until they were utterly defeated, and do so publicly for everyone to see, only then could he kill the chicken to warn the monkeys and completely extinguish the thoughts of other forces that were stirring.

Therefore, when Tang Zhao went in, he only used his Sword Art to cover himself a little. Previously, he had the light-refracting Sword Art, which made people unable to see him, but that only deceived casual passersby; it was too easy for anyone with intent to discover him. Upon reaching the Sword Immortal realm, he could create Sword Techniques at will. He had upgraded the light-refracting Sword Art and changed it into a "Walking Against the Light" Sword Technique, which also had a concealment effect. It was much stronger than light-refraction, but it could by no means be called a very powerful invisibility method. The approximate meaning of him using it was: "I have come in, I have hidden, what else do you want? If you don't pretend not to see me, and insist on recognizing me, then you are being too shameless."

If he were discovered, then so be it. Consider it your bad luck.

Tang Zhao slipped in from a corner of the Sword Array and took one look inside—it really was a graveyard.

Those pitch-black grave mounds, the ghost fires that flickered intermittently among the graves, and the gravekeeper's hut were exactly the same as what he had seen from the outside. The only difference was that a massive palace had been built in the middle of the graveyard.

Are they insane?

This thought popped into Tang Zhao's mind: he could understand building some practical, durable, or even relatively comfortable houses to establish a base, but who would build such a temporary encampment into a palace?

This palace was resplendent and magnificent, with carved railings and white jade steps. Although it was only a main hall, it was no worse than the imperial palace he had seen in Jingshi. It conformed to royal regulations in every aspect. Even with the methods of a Sword Guest, it likely was not the work of a single day. He really did not know how bored one had to be to build a palace of this scale in a place that might be demolished tomorrow.

Tang Zhao thought that even the one in the capital who had already seized the little Emperor's tour could not demand that every temporary palace be built to this standard, let alone one built temporarily. Whose airs were even more... than the Emperor's?

Tang Zhao suddenly felt a stir in his heart and thought to himself: Wait, perhaps it really is the Emperor? Another Emperor.

There was only one universally recognized Emperor in the world, but there was more than one who considered themselves Emperor.

For example, the Son of Heaven of the Great Wei.

Tang Zhao frowned. If it really was that dog... that turtle Emperor, it would be tricky. It was not the Emperor himself who was tricky, but rather that Tang Zhao remembered an old acquaintance.

No... more than one.

Tang Zhao thought for a moment and concealed himself more carefully. He remembered that although he rarely had rivals in the Human World, there happened to be some among the turtle bandits who were truly worth a fight. He just didn't know what level he was at now?

Apart from the palace, there were no obvious buildings in the entire graveyard, but upon closer inspection, those grave mounds no longer seemed to be original grave mounds, but rather individual portals, presumably connected to underground structures.

Tang Zhao felt unhappy and thought to himself: Could they have dug up other people's graves and rebuilt them into their own dwelling places? That would be too wicked. But the turtle bandits were capable of such things.

Immediately after, he thought that there was a branch in the turtle bandits' spirit light system that specialized in manipulating skeletons. He had encountered them years ago, and they were very disgusting. Who knew if they wouldn't waste the corpses dug out from those graves?

Could it be another Siege of White Bones?

A Siege of White Bones would certainly not deal any blow to the Zhongtian Prefecture, which was teeming with experts, but if the common people in the city learned that their parents and ancestors had been dug up and desecrated, it might severely damage public morale. The more Tang Zhao thought, the angrier he became, and he went straight to the main hall.

The moment he stepped onto the stairs, Tang Zhao suddenly felt a stir in his heart and once again restrained his aura, even borrowing another concealment Sword Technique—Ling Baoyu's Curiosity Concealment. Because he suddenly felt a sense of awe; it was the vigilance that arose automatically when a powerful force was nearby. He realized that this main hall was not temporarily built; it might be some kind of Sword Image.

No... not a Sword Image. Tang Zhao weighed it slightly, perceived the subtle difference, and overturned his answer.

It might be some kind of existence produced after the path of the Spirit Official reached an unimaginable height, similar to Sword Momentum, but still different.

In any case, the master of this hall was... or at least once was, an extraordinary powerhouse.

Tang Zhao had this preparation, but he also felt it was a bit strange. If this place was truly created by the "Emperor" of the turtle bandits, and he possessed power comparable to a Sword Immortal, then what was he lurking for? At least for the past few decades, the Emperor of the Great Jin could only hide in the capital under the protection of the State Preceptor, and the State Preceptor's power did not leave the capital, leaving the outside completely out of control. If the turtle bandits had such a powerhouse sitting in command, they could have openly raised their banners, carved out a piece of territory, and had a North-South division or two Emperors of East and West, right? Why bother to be secretive and hold themselves to the standards of rebel actions?

Right, the State Preceptor...

Could it be another State Preceptor?

If so, then the turtle bandits had really spent a fortune, moving both the State Preceptor and the "Jingshi" to Yunzhou.

Tang Zhao entered the main hall and saw the wide and magnificent interior space. When Tang Zhao was in Jingshi, he had once entered the Emperor's "Taiyuan Hall." It could be said that the exterior was more brilliant and grand than this hall, but the feeling inside was not as good at all. In this hall, there was a natural feeling of "solemnity" and "sacredness." Tang Zhao had also seen this feeling before; it was the sacredness when the Emperor and those royals in Jingshi activated the Great Ancestor Protection spirit light. One could only say that the ideas of human emperors creating power to shape their own majesty were similar.

Tang Zhao only objectively felt the existence of this "sacredness," but he himself was unaffected. Thus, he looked inward along the seemingly exceptionally deep Hall and saw the person on the dragon throne.

That person wore a flat-topped crown and a dragon robe; it was indeed standard imperial attire, even a bit too grand. Even an Emperor would only dress like this during court assemblies or sacrifices; he would not be dressed so completely when meeting high officials in other halls, because this set of clothes was heavy and rigid, and very uncomfortable to wear normally. At this moment, only that person was in the hall, and he was not sitting majestically according to the etiquette of the Great Court, but was leaning sideways on the dragon throne, propping his chin with his hand and dozing off.

He looked to be about forty or fifty years old, and his whole body was filled with the exhaustion of a middle-aged man, as if he had just finished a day's work and had finally caught a gap in his busyness to take a short nap under a big tree. And this nap was also very restless; his brows were still tightly locked, not knowing what troubles he had encountered in his dreams.

Tang Zhao looked at him and a thought arose: How does it seem like being an Emperor is a very hard job? But those people in Jingshi, this king and that king, were fighting for the throne with their lives, and even the Emperor himself was seizing power by all means, without showing any signs of hardship or exhaustion. Is this the difference between a young man and a middle-aged man?

Thinking this, Tang Zhao still took a picture of him with a Recording Stone as evidence that the turtle bandit Emperor had been here. He didn't know if there was any image of this mysterious supreme ruler of the turtle bandits in the Waijie. If not, this was the first, and it could be considered quite precious intelligence.

However, it wasn't right for this Emperor to keep dozing off like this, was it? They were supposed to act tomorrow; shouldn't there be a lot of things to do on the eve of this action? As the leader, at least in name, didn't this Emperor need to get busy and excited? Taking a step back, even if he wanted to conserve his energy, he should go to bed and get a good rest to strive for high spirits tomorrow, right? What was the point of dozing off here in the middle of the night?

Just as he was thinking, he heard footsteps.

These footsteps were made deliberately because the person coming wanted to remind the person on the throne that they had arrived. Following the footsteps, Tang Zhao saw an old acquaintance at a glance.

It was an elder with graying hair, his back already a little hunched. He looked indeed aged, but his bearing remained high and elegant, his demeanor scholarly. He wore the purple official robes of the former Wei; at a glance, one could tell he was a top-ranking high official.

This person, Tang Zhao had once met at Wangliang Mountain. At that time, his hair was not so white, and his back was not hunched at all; he looked more than ten years younger than he did now. Even though he had aged so much, Tang Zhao could still recognize at a glance that this was the top powerhouse of the turtle bandit Imperial Court, one of the few figures with real power—the Dazai!