Chapter 890: Pollution and Salvation

Tang Zhao felt a chill in his heart upon hearing this, as if a line of ice were spreading down his Vertebra Bone. He shivered all over and asked in a rapid-fire sequence, "What is going on? Three Sword Intents merging all of a sudden? Is this a decision you made on the spot? Can it be done? How should it be done?"

Although Jinwu spoke of it lightly, Tang Zhao felt the information was so immense that he instinctively sensed something terrible was afoot, though he could not yet analyze just how bad it might get.

Jinwu was exceptionally calm, as if Ju Dongjun had truly reappeared. Without a hint of agitation, he said, "Do not be anxious. I will tell you everything. Go back first and make your arrangements clear. When you return, I will explain it to you in detail."

Tang Zhao forced himself to calm down. He knew that losing his composure like this was bad; if he were too panicked when giving instructions to his teammates, that emotion would undoubtedly transmit to the team and spread tenfold or hundredfold. At such a time, even if one has thunder in their chest, one should face it with a face like a calm lake.

He nodded, grabbed Zheng Yun, and was about to return when he suddenly turned his head and asked, "Your Highness, to what extent should I explain things to them? Should I arrange for my funeral?"

He asked very bluntly; at this point, there was no need to beat around the bush. He figured Jinwu would not be evasive either.

Jinwu smiled gently and said, "No need. You will be safe. Of the three of us, I will ensure you remain."

Tang Zhao was even more shocked and said loudly, "Jinwu Dianxia!"

Jinwu cut him off and laughed, "Go back first, go back first."

Tang Zhao pursed his lips tightly, picked up Zheng Yun, flashed away, and left once more.

He was gone for quite a while this time. When he reappeared, his expression was already calm, as if he had adjusted to a state of neither joy nor sorrow, similar to the expression of Ju Dongjun, only with a bit more solemnity and a bit less relief.

"Are you done with your arrangements?"

"Yes."

Jinwu said, "Good, then I will let you take a look."

He did not move his feet, and Ju Dongjun's body did not rise either; he simply brushed his hand lightly, as if wiping water mist off a pane of glass.

A crack split open in the light before them.

Through the gap, one could see endless darkness.

So dark...

The range of ordinary light gradually weakens, brightest in the center and slowly darkening around it. Even when one cannot see obvious light, after adapting to the darkness, one can still distinguish the outlines of surrounding objects, extending far away before it becomes truly pitch black. But here, just an inch outside the light was endless darkness, black as spilled ink; no matter how powerful the light, it could only shine upon itself and could not illuminate even half a part of anything else.

Tang Zhao could not help but say, "This is the place where the sun cannot shine."

Jinwu immediately said, "There is no place in the world where the sun cannot shine. If it cannot shine there, it is because the sun has not yet risen."

Tang Zhao laughed out loud and said, "As expected of Jinwu Dianxia."

This tone was Jinwu through and through. Jinwu was Jinwu; it was not an incarnation of Ju Dongjun.

Tang Zhao also felt that there should not be a place in the world where the sun cannot shine. If it could not shine, then someone must have deliberately blocked the sun. That was not the sun's fault; it was the fault of that place.

To dispel the haze and see the light of day again is the mission of our generation.

Jinwu pointed to the top of the dark world and said, "Look there."

Tang Zhao tried his best to look and saw a shocking scene: "The sky has collapsed?!"

When the Ghost Disaster was very severe before, the sky of Wangliang Mountain also seemed as if it were about to crack, but that was only a crack, giving a feeling of teetering on the edge; after all, those Fragments were still stuck together.

This dark sky had collapsed.

A part of the sky sagged downward, sagging to a limit, held up by a colossal object, barely managing not to collapse.

In Tang Zhao's eyes, the sky of Yingyuan was like an egg. The outer shell was gone, leaving a layer of soft membrane wrapping the world. A finger pressed down on the membrane, stopping at the edge where the membrane was about to rupture. The finger did not retract and remained pressed on the membrane, barely maintaining a state of integrity.

Through that membrane-like sky, one could see the appearance beneath that "finger." It was a giant sphere that should have been golden, but at this moment, it was a mixture of gold and black Qi, with black Qi mixed in the gold and gold mixed in the black; the two colors were entangled, no longer distinguishable from each other.

Tang Zhao thought of the statue of the Ghost Sea Sunset. That sun sculpture was also splattered with filth, but that feeling was just that it was dirty on the outside; if washed with clean water, it could immediately return to its original brilliant and bright appearance.

But this sphere made one feel that it was polluted from the inside out; that filth was already a part of it, and its gold was no longer bright.

Tang Zhao suddenly felt a wave of sadness in his heart, his voice hoarse: "This... this is..."

"Yes, destruction. It has been polluted." Jinwu's voice was also very calm, but Tang Zhao always felt there was some sorrow in it.

This might be because Tang Zhao had projected his own feelings into it. He was very sad and very sorrowful now, to the point of being unable to breathe, and whispered, "It was actually polluted by Wangliang..."

Jinwu said, "You could say it was polluted by Wangliang, or you could say it wasn't. Did you notice? It started to be polluted from the bottom."

Tang Zhao had indeed not noticed. Looking closely, he found it was true; the closer to the "egg membrane," the more severely the black was mixed in, while the top still retained the purest gold, bright as Zhaoyang.

"According to my analysis, it is probably like this... Yingyuan, as the Sword Force Domain of Wangliang, is at the very bottom, and Destruction is directly above it. Above Destruction is Wangliang, which should be fixed together with Destruction, inseparable. I haven't seen what is above that, but based on your previous analysis, it might be the Altar. It is layered one on top of the other like this."

Tang Zhao thought to himself: So it is a structure like a human pyramid, which is also...

Simple?

"We of Destruction are not afraid of Wangliang. If one says Wangliang can erode Destruction, then Destruction can also erode Wangliang. Both sides are in a state of balance; neither can do anything to the other."

"But Yingyuan is different. I didn't know what kind of existence Yingyuan was before, and only found out after investigating this time. Yingyuan is shadows, layers upon layers of shadows."

"Since the birth of Wangliang, all the shadows it has devoured have been sucked into Yingyuan. There have been hundreds of years of them, I don't know how many, but Yingyuan has never expanded; in fact, its range is not large. So these shadows are squeezed tighter and tighter, forced to stack layer upon layer, constantly piling up. The substance of shadow is special; it can probably be stacked infinitely, but its texture gradually changes, becoming darker and heavier the more it is added. Now it has become an existence even more gloomy and dark than Wangliang's texture. Only in this way could it pollute Destruction. I just entered and was almost invaded; I had to release my Sword Intent to resist as soon as I came in, and now I dare not act rashly. If I stayed here for a hundred years, I would also be polluted."

Tang Zhao gasped and suddenly said, "Then the shadows that were sucked in no longer retain the consciousness they had when they were alive?"

Jinwu shook his head and said decisively, "Impossible. Perhaps the first batch of shadows had some consciousness and could be converted for Wangliang's use; for example, those Wangliang warriors might be the veterans. But now, as Yingyuan stacks endlessly, all shadows are crushed and compacted as soon as they enter, turning into a part of that unfathomable Deep Shadow. This Yingyuan can no longer add new Wangliang warriors, and there are no other creations to speak of. I even suspect that Wangliang can no longer do anything about Yingyuan."

Tang Zhao asked in surprise, "Cannot a Sword Prayer control their own Sword Force Domain?"

Jinwu snorted, "They should have been able to. That piece of trash Wangliang actually lost control."

It paused and said, "I suspect it might be because Destruction isolated it from Yingyuan for too long. These hundred years were precisely the period when Yingyuan was rapidly changing in quality, and that qualitative change exceeded Wangliang's expectations. Wangliang was fully occupied with resisting Destruction and was unable to manage it. Now that the situation has changed, it is already helpless."

After finishing the explanation, Jinwu said, "When I saw Destruction, I knew there was no way to simply separate it from Wangliang and then concentrate power to deal with Wangliang. The most important thing now is to recover it and prevent it from truly falling and becoming a monster even more terrifying than Wangliang. No matter what, we are still the Jinwu Sword; how can we become that kind of monster?"

"But now, my power is unable to recover it; only the true Jinwu Sword has a chance. So I decided to merge the Sword Intents first. With two Sword Intents together, the prototype of the Jinwu Sword can be seen, and Supernatural Power can be used. At that time, Destruction will naturally be attracted to return. If it does not resist, then the Sword Intent will return, and the Jinwu Sword will reappear. If it still resists, the two Sword Intents can also suppress its one Sword Intent. In any case, its consciousness will eventually dissipate and return to the pure Sword Intent it was at the beginning; this is also a relief for it."

Tang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief; the situation was better than he had imagined. He said, "Good, I support Your Highness in sending the Sword Intent back..."

Speaking of this, his expression suddenly changed, and he said urgently, "Your Highness! If the consciousness of Destruction is destined to dissipate, then what about you?"

Jinwu said, "This is the reason why I must keep you here. After the Sword Intent returns and the Jinwu Sword reappears, it will be exactly the same as the Jinwu Sword of the past, but a sword without a Sword Guest cannot exist for long. It needs you to wield it—"

Seeing Tang Zhao open his mouth, wanting to say something in a hurry, Jinwu raised his hand and said, "Wait for me to finish. I know you are worried about whether having a sword already but still having to wield the Jinwu Sword will ruin the future of a Sword Guest. Originally there was a risk, but I thought of a way for you. Just use your own sword as a base; do not cast another sword body. Temporarily seal your own original Sword Intent, then take the Growth Sword Intent as the main one, and merge my Shine into it. Then, when Destruction merges in, you can temporarily possess the power of the Jinwu Sword. It is just like using a power sword; you can exert the same power as Ju Dongjun did back then. At that time, you will be a Sword Immortal."

"At that time, you can kill Wangliang—that should not be difficult; it is nothing more than a piece of waste consumed by Destruction until it is exhausted. Then you use all the remaining power to cut open Yingyuan. I roughly estimate that the Sword Essence will be enough."

"Then the power of the Jinwu Sword will probably be exhausted, and it will withdraw from your sword, leaving only some residue. The rest will be yours to dispose of. I remember that your fusion of the Growth Sword Intent was just an expedient measure, not a sincere choice. Now your opportunity has come; these three Sword Intents are all yours to choose from. You can keep whichever one you like, or if you like two, you can keep both. If you can gather all three Sword Intents at once, then you are not far from being a Sword Immortal. If you don't like any of them, then let them dissipate, and you can go find your own path. Just leave behind the Sword Seed of the Jinwu Sword and wait for someone fated. How do you like this plan?"

It spoke so sincerely; it was a kindness from the bottom of its heart.

Tang Zhao finally found a gap to speak and said loudly, "What future, what Sword Intent, is this the point? Your Highness, why can't you be the main one? I will give the Sword Intent to you, and you can do this great deed?"