Who let him join the Sword Sect?!-Chapter 834 - 418: That Persistent Someone

"What is Apacha tea?" Zhang Ze asked curiously.

"The box you're holding is filled with Apacha tea." Da Tou Cai shook its tuft of hair and pointed at the box in Zhang Ze's arms.

Apacha tea is exactly what it sounds like.

Dry the leaves of the Apapa Tree, and the brew from soaking them in water is Apacha tea.

According to Da Tou Cai, Apacha tea, once brewed, is a vibrant yellow-orange and smells incredibly fragrant.

What these Firefly Spirits love doing most in their spare time is to dive headfirst into the tea, slurping and blowing bubbles as they drink.

This pastime has become one of the few common hobbies among the two factions of Firefly Spirits in the past year since they gained individual consciousness.

So much so that when the white homecoming party decided to take off, they even harvested and transported a large amount of Apacha tea into the silver-white waste capital, preparing to take it away from the Four Continents.

In fact, most of the people captured by the Firefly Spirits here have jobs of assisting in drying and preparing Apacha tea.

Among everyone, the Firefly Spirits particularly favored the bald heads from the Buddhist Sect.

According to the intelligence Da Tou Cai gathered while undercover, after expert evaluation by the Firefly Spirits' Apacha tea connoisseurs, they voted that the tea roasted by the bald heads was the most authentic in flavor.

"In Chang State, this is our preferred taste." Da Tou Cai said.

"I see." Zhang Ze responded absentmindedly, while thinking about other matters and continuing to observe the surrounding buildings.

Unlike the outer areas, the buildings here were better preserved, and some even emitted a faint glow.

The two chatted as they walked, quickly reaching the vicinity of the largest pyramid.

Infiltration turned out to be easier than expected.

Zhang Ze always believed in the principle that simpler plans had a higher success rate, so his plan was quite straightforward.

They split into two groups, with Zhang Ze and Da Tou Cai responsible for infiltration and figuring out how to deal with the pyramid that acted as the core.

Meanwhile, Brother Monkey and Li were tasked with rescuing the passersby captured by the Firefly Spirits. The ones who could be awakened would be, while those who couldn't be would be stuffed by Li into the 'Sumeru Storage Golden Dragon Command Eight Directions to Wealth, Great Void Nine Bright Lights, Ten Directions Immeasurable Grotto Heaven Return Star Treasure Vault'.

They would be packed up and taken away together.

For the specific details of the action, Zhang Ze left it up to Li's discretion.

Having spent much time together, Zhang Ze felt that Li could be trusted with such matters.

And Li waved her little hand, indicating that there was no problem.

As for their side, Zhang Ze first tried his foolproof black bodysuit, but unfortunately, the pyramid was surrounded by a barrier, and with his lost mana, he didn't find a good way to break through.

However, during this attempt, Zhang Ze discovered something interesting.

That is, these Firefly Spirits were somewhat silly.

In the literal sense, a naive kind of foolishness, reminiscent of the freshly unearthed Fuji of the past.

They were even easier to deceive than the first-time visitors to Thousand Mechanism Town.

However, it's not that the Firefly Spirits were inherently dim-witted; on the contrary, these little beings were quite smart.

But due to Chang State's remoteness and being without human presence for hundreds of miles, combined with them gaining intelligence less than a year ago, and having been busy sulking among themselves during that time, their understanding of the world's dangers was minimal.

They were just a bunch of babies holding Thousand Mechanism Thunder with immense destructive power.

Deceiving them didn't even offer a sense of achievement.

Zhang Ze carried a large box, pretending to be a hypnotized worker, following Da Tou Cai openly towards the pyramid.

Before chatting with Da Tou Cai, he didn't even know what he was holding.

Occasionally, when encountering patrolling Firefly Spirits, it was enough to greet them absentmindedly with "Hello, citizen," and they'd get fooled easily.

"Look, we're here." Zhang Ze tapped Da Tou Cai lightly with his foot, signaling to discuss Apacha tea later.

"Huh? This...this is it?" Da Tou Cai exclaimed in shock.

"What else did you expect?" Zhang Ze shrugged, hinting that it might just be due to their gullibility.

"Teach me! I want to become a master like you!" Da Tou Cai's eyes sparkled (✪ω✪).

"Definitely after we leave here." Zhang Ze chuckled softly.

After rounding a collapsed building, Zhang Ze finally reached the core pyramid.

From there, he could clearly see the top of the pyramid where dozens of Firefly Spirits were holding hands, forming a polyhedron, maintaining the operation of the barrier.

The barrier blocking Zhang Ze showed no signs of extinguishing.

Da Tou Cai's once-bright eyes dimmed again, as its companions were sealed in the southeast corner of the city. Without their support, it couldn't transform into a giant, and without transforming, there was no way to break through the barrier.

In Da Tou Cai's straightforward mind, becoming a giant was the only way into the pyramid.

Yet Zhang Ze didn't think that way.

He glanced down at the box he held, filled with Apacha tea he randomly snagged from the warehouse.

Signaling Da Tou Cai not to speak, Zhang Ze carried the box towards the security booth.

The booth was once part of a building and had been blasted into two segments during an explosion, later tied together with vines and cloth to form its current state.

A Firefly Spirit was sound asleep inside, snoring away.

Approaching it, Zhang Ze nudged its tuft of hair.

"Don't talk to me, wake me up when we get home..." The Firefly Spirit shifted, pulling its tuft away from Zhang Ze's hand.

"Could you open the door for us? We're here to deliver Apacha tea." Following Zhang Ze's guidance, Da Tou Cai tapped the security booth's metal panel and gurgled the request.

"Hmm? Apacha tea... Ah! Who ordered Apacha tea!"

At the mention of Apacha tea, the drowsy Firefly Spirit suddenly perked up and shouted loudly.

The shout startled Da Tou Cai into a jolt, almost revealing their act.

However, the question wasn't for it, but for the Firefly Spirits on the pyramid's top maintaining the barrier.

The top of the pyramid stirred into a commotion.

"It wasn't me who ordered it!"

"Is it me?"

"I don't know, but do you want to drink Apalach Tea?"

"I do!"

"Me too!"

"Then let it in! We want to drink Apalach Tea!"

Getting a response from the top of the tower, the Firefly Spirit in the security booth reached into Zhang Ze's box, grabbed two pounds of Apalach Tea, and then waved Zhang Ze to hurry inside.

A gap opened in the barrier, just enough for one person to pass through.

Zhang Ze looked at those Firefly Spirits, thinking they would probably get along well with Fuji.

He lightly kicked the Da Tou Cai next to him, indicating for it to quickly follow.

'Seriously?' Da Tou Cai looked at Zhang Ze with a blank expression, recalling its previous infiltration, feeling like it was just a monkey.

'What else?' Zhang Ze shrugged nonchalantly.

...

After entering the pyramid, moments later, Da Tou Cai, having delivered the Apalach Tea, and Zhang Ze came out again.

At that moment, Zhang Ze's steps were a bit stiff, maintaining an eerie smile, and as they passed the booth again, Da Tou Cai involuntarily shivered, afraid of being exposed.

Luckily, the incompetent security was enjoying its afternoon tea and did not notice anything unusual about Da Tou Cai and Zhang Ze.

Not until they were far from the pyramid did Da Tou Cai turn into an empty building, take out a small Storage Ring from under its petal, and clumsily fiddled with it for a while before opening it.

It chuckled, putting away a life-sized model of Zhang Ze.

The real Zhang Ze, wearing the legendary black bodysuit, quietly made his way deeper into the pyramid.

As Zhang Ze proceeded further, he suddenly noticed something was off.

He stopped in front of a metal wall and reached out to touch the Array on it.

It seemed to be drawn by the Firefly Spirit here.

The Array was drawn crookedly, but perhaps because it was incorrectly drawn in just the right places, it somehow still worked.

Extraordinary.

But despite its peculiarity, Zhang Ze was concerned not about this but why the Array was here at all.

Initially, after learning from Da Tou Cai about the Firefly Spirit's split, he naturally assumed those returning-home folks found a way to activate Luoyu Mountain from the memories of that fallen race.

However, throughout his journey, Zhang Ze discovered that was not the case.

The structures in this place were mostly damaged. Even those that could still be used were in bizarre states, such as pressing the living room switch causing the bathroom toilet to spray water.

Starting them normally and using them for their original purpose was impossible.

After realizing this, Zhang Ze asked Da Tou Cai for more detailed information, like whether they had some innate ability to manipulate metal, like the Star Gods retired in the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

But the answer was negative. Apart from being able to traverse freely in Chang State, their only power was doubling their strength when they combined.

Being a pilot, flying was not within their abilities.

Nor was there any specific technological inheritance in the memories of that fallen race.

Recollecting the ridiculous repair methods he'd seen since entering and his recent infiltration through the main entrance, Zhang Ze realized the white returning-home folks and the green Chang State folks were no different in terms of intellect.

Regarding this world, they knew as little as naive toddlers learning to crawl.

The question arises: how did they know about this Array and the method to resurrect Chang State from where it was?

Those Firefly Spirits shouldn't have learned these things.

Who taught them to draw these Arrays?

Was it the Cultivators brought here?

No, it wasn't them. Cultivators who had been lulled to sleep mostly entered a state of senile dementia.

At most, they could sweep dust, move bricks, or dry tea. They were incapable of drawing Arrays.

Shi Xiu Senior? Was he unaffected by the black stone?

If it were him, there would be no need for such hassle; he could draw it himself. As a Celestial Sect big shot, he wouldn't even draw an Array crookedly if he used his butt.

But... something's off!

Zhang Ze reexamined the timeline.

The world where the Firefly Spirit found the black stone and gained sentience was a year ago.

But their complete split and hostility happened around two months ago.

Shi Xiu came to Chang State to investigate the black stone, the Firefly Spirits discovered a way to leave the Four Continents, Shi Xiu became what's known as the "seed," and the Firefly Spirits began capturing people...

These occurrences happened almost simultaneously.

The key to the problem, or the clue, most likely lies with Shi Xiu Senior.

After figuring this out, Zhang Ze didn't linger in front of the Array and turned to head toward the pyramid's core.

Based on the shared memories from Da Tou Cai, that's where Shi Xiu Senior is.

...

Core cabin.

Zhang Ze stood in front of Shi Xiu.

Shi Xiu remained motionless, staring at the fragmented Star Map on the ceiling.

On his chest, there was a black handprint.

Five fingers.

"I... It's him again, isn't it? Am I his dad or something? Wherever I go, there he is?"

Zhang Ze yawned.