"So that's how it is."
Shen Xingzhu gave a slight nod and slowly asked:
"So that means, from now on, you'll be the only one guarding the prison?"
Qingcuo nodded.
"The rest of the Black Armor Guard are locked in battle with the Liang cultivators on the front lines. They can't be spared. So General Li left it to me alone."
Shen Xingzhu gazed at him for a long while before saying:
"Since General Li trusts you, you must be reliable and dutiful. Don't betray that trust."
With that, she turned into a wisp of azure mist and vanished into the night.
Qingcuo remained where he stood. His shoulders slumped slightly, as if in relief.
He turned to face the heavy iron gate of the prison, eyes glowing red behind his visor, and walked silently to a nearby wall to stand watch.
After a moment, once he was certain no one was around, he furtively pulled out a wrinkled, yellowing paper crane from between the seams of his armor and glanced at it, then gently tucked it away again.
That paper crane was clearly old, and faint, smudged writing had bled through its folds.
But it had never been opened, so thoroughly stained now that nothing written on it could be made out anymore.
...
Inside the prison.
Chen Kuang stared wide-eyed and whispered:
"You bribed the Black Armor Guard?"
Huo Hengxuan snorted coldly, neither confirming nor denying.
Chen Kuang gave a sheepish grin. That kind of low-level tactic didn't seem likely.
It would be an insult to both Li Hongling's personal guards and to any true general of Great Liang.
It wasn't hard to guess.
To make a Black Armor Guard switch sides in such a lopsided situation, there was only one possibility:
They were already one of his own.
In other words, among Li Hongling's most trusted guards was a spy planted by Huo Hengxuan, now playing a double role in a true spy-within-a-spy drama.
Chen Kuang hadn't expected such a devastating maneuver.
This old guy's contingencies were absolutely absurd. He'd held back for so many days without letting even a whisper slip.
He was impressed but also curious.
"General Huo, Li Hongling is only twenty-eight. She rose to fame ten years ago, and most of her personal guards have followed her since then. That's why she trusts them so completely."
"You're telling me... you predicted all this when she was only eighteen?"
Huo Hengxuan snorted again:
"What, I'm not just an old coot? An old bastard?"
Over the past few days, Chen Kuang had constantly asked him all kinds of "basic" questions, desperate to fill the gaping holes in his knowledge of this world and cultivation, guided by the experiences instilled in his mind.
Without that, he never would have understood just how important the Dao was to cultivators.
You could say, the reason he managed to shatter Shen Xingzhu's Dao Heart at all, was thanks to Huo Hengxuan's guidance.
But throughout this process, Huo Hengxuan often refused to speak plainly, playing the cryptic mentor and constantly replying with "you guess."
It had completely wiped out Chen Kuang's earlier sense of smugness.
Sometimes exasperated to the point of blurting things out, he'd say whatever crossed his mind.
Whether it was intentional or not... well, Chen Kuang would say it was intentionally unintentional.
Huo Hengxuan never seemed to mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy watching Chen Kuang fluster and fume, left with no choice but to curse under his breath.
Chen Kuang blinked innocently. "I think you must've misheard, General. I'm the one who respects you most in this prison."
He added cheekily, "If it weren't for me, the little princess would still be calling you old grandpa."
"..."
Huo Hengxuan's face instantly darkened.
The little princess was only four and her understanding of things was still vague.
One time, Huo Hengxuan accused Chen Kuang of scheming to become the next emperor.
So when the princess didn't know what to call him, Chen Kuang led her astray, and she called Huo Hengxuan "Grandpa."
Just great.. If Chen Kuang was planning to be emperor, that made Huo Hengxuan the retired emperor.
Chen Kuang had mocked him viciously and was nearly killed by a murderous illusion in retaliation.
Of course, Huo Hengxuan had exercised restraint.
As he'd put it, training within a killing intent illusion was helpful for tempering the divine sense and thus beneficial for future cultivation of the Primordial Spirit.
Chen Kuang naturally didn't believe a word of it.
Huo Hengxuan no longer bickered with him as his expression turned solemn.
"There are those the world calls paragon, the kind who appear once in a millennium, destined to crush all obstacles in their path, steal the nests from phoenixes, break the horns of dragons, and mercilessly trample upon the dignity of all cultivators."
"And there are those known as prodigies, once in a century, gifted by fate, who rise like great whales leaping through rivers, unstoppable in their ascent."
"Li Hongling, who entered the Tower Ascension Realm at eighteen, was strong enough to refine her body and shatter Wushu Mountain's spine with a single punch."
Wushu Mountain, that was the great range dividing the borders of Zhou and Liang!
To shatter its ridge with one strike...
Chen Kuang fell silent. His understanding of this high-powered world expanded once again.
"Li Hongling doesn't quite qualify as a paragon," the old man said with a deep gaze. "But she is without a doubt a prodigy seen once in a hundred years."
"Ten years ago, she punched through the mountain's ridge, stood upon the wreckage at Zhou and Liang's border, and declared, one day she would walk into Great Liang like it was an unguarded courtyard."
"That moment, I knew, if I didn't break her spine then, Great Liang would eventually fall at her hands."
He made no effort to hide that he'd planned to cripple her ten years ago.
And in the end, he'd been right.
It was indeed Li Hongling who brought about this national calamity.
Chen Kuang asked, "So why didn't you strike back then?"
Huo Hengxuan gave him a sidelong glance and said,
"Li Hongling is the disciple of the Martial Saint Mu Zhao."
Oh...
Backed by a powerhouse.
Chen Kuang nodded in understanding.
Then he asked, "So instead, you chose a more roundabout method, planting someone close to her."
Unfortunately...
Fate has its own plans. Not everything goes as humans wish.
Huo Hengxuan didn't lose to Li Hongling, but to those closest to him.
Chen Kuang murmured, "How can you be sure that person is still loyal after ten years?"
He was genuinely curious.
After all, even Huo Hengxuan's own subordinate had betrayed him in the end.
Huo Hengxuan said nothing.
Realizing his mistake, Chen Kuang quickly changed the subject.
"Cough... General Huo, just now you said the world has paragons and prodigies."
He blinked and grinned. "Would you say I count as one?"
"You?"
Huo Hengxuan gave him a glance, like he was questioning just how thick this brat's skin could be.
He shook his head.
"If you were still uninitiated at your age, I might barely call you a prodigy."
"But now you're already nineteen."
"For anyone else, I'd say they're worthless, better off farming sweet potatoes."
But after some consideration, Huo Hengxuan smacked his lips and said:
"In your case... I suppose you could be called a rare talent."
Chen Kuang: "..."
Why did that still sound like disdain?
He thought for a moment, then asked,
"If someone reaches the Master Realm at a young age, with a Dao Heart nearly formed, and has already taken half a step into the Profound Realm, would they count as a paragon?"
Huo Hengxuan frowned. "Of course. Among the paragons of this generation, only one matches that description... Why are you asking this?"
Chen Kuang followed up, "Then if someone shatters such a paragon's Dao Heart... would that person also count as a paragon?"
Huo Hengxuan paused. "Naturally."
Chen Kuang grinned. "Didn't you ask earlier who came to visit?"
He blinked and said casually,
"Her name is Shen Xingzhu."
Huo Hengxuan's head snapped toward him. He stared at Chen Kuang intensely.
"You shattered Shen Xingzhu's Dao Heart?!"
His expression wasn't one of shock, but grave, cold solemnity.