The raggedly dressed old man had a pair of eyes like a giant deep-sea crocodile fixating on its prey, deep, solemn, and composed.
His bare torso was abnormally lean and taut, each muscle strand twisted together like steel cables, so tight that just looking at him made one's scalp go numb.
Twisted, hideous scars, both new and old, crisscrossed his body, covering nearly every inch, like a layer of skin-tight scale armor.
This hunched, seemingly frail old man possessed unparalleled, peerless might.
His name alone had once shaken all four directions.
Grandmaster, God of Slaughter, Huo Hengxuan.
"!!!!"
Su Huaiying's pupils constricted, heart shaking with shock. She had never imagined that she would one day see a living, breathing Huo Hengxuan standing before her!
No... not exactly "living and breathing."
The Huo Hengxuan in front of her was merely a divine soul called back to the mortal world by the Reversal Bell.
But with Su Huaiying's original cultivation, she would never have been capable of summoning a Grandmaster-level figure like Huo Hengxuan.
Because Huo Hengxuan's cultivation was too high.
He was a true Grandmaster forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, standing at the pinnacle of the Master Realm, half a step into the Profound Realm.
In his prime, even Shen Xingzhu would've had to avoid clashing head-on with him.
The fall of the city back then ultimately stemmed from the internal collapse of the Liang Kingdom, leaving Huo Hengxuan unable to hold the line alone, forced to watch helplessly as the gates fell.
And if the entire affair had been a setup from the beginning, then Huo Hengxuan's weakness may have also been intentional.
Su Huaiying was able to summon back the Huo Clan Army because those soldiers' cultivation mostly hovered around the Qi Opening Realm, a stage still considered mortal by cultivators.
Using them to form battle formations didn't require much cultivation.
Otherwise, let alone Huo Hengxuan, even the middle third-tier officers in that army couldn't have been recalled by Su Huaiying.
Chen Kuang's cultivation was of course much higher, but he didn't even know how to activate the Reversal Bell!
Then how had he managed to summon Huo Hengxuan?!
Su Huaiying racked her brain to no avail.
Of course she couldn't figure it out...
It wasn't the Reversal Bell that had summoned Huo Hengxuan back, it merely served as a medium, or rather, a trigger.
What truly took effect was Chen Kuang's Poetic Madness passive ability.
The moment he recited that poem, the passive activated, drawing forth the most fitting person to match the atmosphere and scene at that moment, the "God of Slaughter" General of Liang, Huo Hengxuan!
Facing Huo Hengxuan's suspicions, Chen Kuang shrugged and smiled nonchalantly:
"Anyway, you're already dead. Whatever you said before you died has nothing to do with you anymore. I'm the living party here, and people will believe me."
"Doesn't matter whether you remember, I'll remember it for you."
Huo Hengxuan snorted coldly. "The living party? I wouldn't be so sure about that."
He stepped up to Chen Kuang, sweeping a glance over the densely packed army before them, clicking his tongue in amazement:
"I already knew you weren't some frog at the bottom of a well, but I didn't think you'd stir up trouble to this extent. Of the ten armies in the Yang Kingdom, four were dispatched to encircle you, this counts as a nationwide mobilization."
"Surrounded by four armies, no matter how strong the Grandmaster, if fighting alone, he's a trapped beast in a cage, an ant under an elephant's foot. It's certain death."
Huo Hengxuan chuckled. "Looks to me like you're doomed today."
What the hell kind of compliment was that, you damned old fart?! "Stir up trouble"?!
Chen Kuang twitched at the corners of his mouth but didn't bother correcting him. After all, this army had initially been dispatched to suppress rebels. No matter how it started, now he was clearly their target.
He looked at Huo Hengxuan and said with a forced smile:
"Shouldn't General Huo also not want me to be captured by the Yang Kingdom?"
Huo Hengxuan raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be more worried about the little princess being captured? You? Aren't you overestimating yourself?"
Chen Kuang spread his hands. "The Yang Emperor already knows I swallowed the Elixir of Immortality. If I get caught, who knows what else he might learn?"
Huo Hengxuan: "..."
Chen Kuang continued: "General Huo, does it feel good, manipulating others?"
Huo Hengxuan's expression grew serious as he sighed. "So you figured it out."
The old and the young locked eyes, Chen Kuang smiling faintly, Huo Hengxuan expressionless, but there was an unspoken understanding in the air.
Su Huaiying: "..."
The little princess was a bit lost.
Figured out what? Why does it seem like they suddenly reached a consensus? Am I the outsider here?
Because Chen Kuang was outside of reincarnation, matters related to him were among the few blind spots in Su Huaiying's six hundred years of cyclical experience.
Even with Zhang Zhizhou's earlier speculation, she still couldn't piece together any truly coherent conclusion.
Chen Kuang said sincerely, "I really admire General Huo's loyalty and patriotism."
"If this death poem spreads, it might help correct the Liang people's misunderstandings of you. What do you think?"
Huo Hengxuan sighed. "Reputation is secondary... Forget it."
He turned slightly, his meaning clear: he was going to help Chen Kuang.
Chen Kuang hesitated, then manifested the killing Sword, offering it with both hands:
"Does General Huo need a sword?"
Huo Hengxuan glanced at it and immediately sneered without restraint: "That's your idea of a sword?"
Chen Kuang wasn't offended, he knew that Huo Hengxuan was probably right...
Not to mention his current cultivation was still only in the Tower Ascension Realm, and he didn't possess any particularly superior sword techniques.
The only two sword styles he knew: one was the zither-sword taught by Xi Mengquan, and the other was this Slaughter or killing Sword, taught by Huo Hengxuan himself.
It did feel like showing off a cheap knife in front of Guan Yu.
But Chen Kuang had only asked because he didn't see a sword on Huo Hengxuan's person.
After all, this Song of Weed-Cutting–manifested Slaughter Sword came from his divine soul. If Huo Hengxuan didn't have it now, it probably meant he truly didn't.
After being summoned by the Reversal Bell, the divine soul was inevitably damaged.
Even Huo Hengxuan couldn't escape this.
But from the looks of it, the general didn't need one.
Chen Kuang withdrew the sword.
Huo Hengxuan turned to face the vast armies before them and said coolly:
"Kid, if you've survived up to now... then I suppose you've never seen a Saint truly take action."
Chen Kuang frowned.
"Not long ago, a female Saint from the Yang Kingdom sealed the Spiritual Energy of an entire province with one finger, and nearly crushed five million people to death, does that not count?"
Huo Hengxuan glanced at him and shook his head:
"Then have you considered, what if she had started by crushing those five million?"
Chen Kuang was left speechless.
Indeed.
If that female Saint had intended to kill from the beginning, and had sealed the province's Spiritual Energy before striking, then likely no one would've survived.
Because Chen Kuang had the Elixir of Immortality within him, they had tried to capture, not kill him.
But that same desire allowed him to manipulate and exploit them multiple times, narrowly escaping and even killing some of his hunters.
...Except for that time against the Martial Saint.
Though that Martial Saint was arrogant and dictatorial, he was also extremely vengeful, completely disinterested in any external gains or immortal medicine.
In this whole Cangyuan Realm, he was practically an outlier among the powerful...
Chen Kuang clasped hands respectfully and said solemnly, "Thank you for the lesson."
After so many close calls and even managing to use national destiny to trip up a Saint, Chen Kuang's mindset had become subtly inflated. That's why he'd reflexively argued with Huo Hengxuan.
But Huo Hengxuan's words had reminded him.
Now that he had revealed the Elixir of Immortality, word would soon reach Ji Chengtian's ears and his whereabouts would be exposed.
His future situation would only grow more perilous.
He had to be even more cautious from here on out.
Killing Wen Chai in front of a Saint seemed reckless, but in reality, he had allied with Wen Xian, the emperor of the Yang Kingdom, from the start.
He didn't believe a sovereign ruler had no means of limiting Saints.
Otherwise, the foundations of their nation would've been unstable from the start, how could they rule beneath a constant threat?
In fact, at the last moment before Wen Chai's death, if Chen Kuang hadn't read his thoughts about national destiny, he would've chosen a different method.
It might've been more complicated, but tonight, no matter what, Wen Chai had to die here in Zangfeng Prefecture.
Huo Hengxuan gave a cold snort, looking toward the billowing banners marked "Yang" and said:
"Seeing as you've got some insight... this next strike, watch carefully."
"How much you can learn depends on your own ability."
He added quietly: "After all... once today is over, I will truly vanish from this world."
Chen Kuang fell silent.
He had once suspected that Huo Hengxuan hadn't truly died.
Back then, in the cave in the mountain hollow, the Huo Hengxuan who appeared hadn't been a soul, it was merely a split divine consciousness.
The image of the sturdy old general in golden armor didn't match Huo Hengxuan's final moments at all, that was another clue.
Split consciousness, Divine Soul Separation, was a Middle Third-Tier Divine Ability.
Where there was a "split soul," there had to be a "main soul."
In other words, there had been a chance Huo Hengxuan was still alive.
But now, having summoned the actual soul residing in the Bardo Realm via the Reversal Bell, there was no more doubt:
He was truly and completely dead.
Today's reunion would be their final meeting.
Chen Kuang took a deep breath and said with gravity, "This sword strike, I will engrave it in my heart."
Huo Hengxuan's cultivation was not, as Su Huaiying assumed, "half-step into the Profound."
At the moment of death, he had used his devotion to the nation to reach the pseudo-Saint level.
And his divine soul retained that level of cultivation. Though inferior to true Saints, Huo Hengxuan already had one foot across the sea of bitterness.
To cross the sea of bitterness is to reach the Far Shore of the Dao.
Chen Kuang calling himself "junior" was acknowledging Huo Hengxuan as a true predecessor in the path of the sword.
Aside from Xi Mengquan, Huo Hengxuan could be considered his second true benefactor.
Just that Huo Hengxuan never viewed himself as a master, and Chen Kuang didn't intend to formally take him as one.
"Rumble rumble rumble..."
The iron hooves of the Yang Kingdom's Four Armies thundered like the beating of a thousand giant war drums, shaking the ground so violently that gravel leapt, eagles scattered, and hares fled.
In Yang, one army consisted of fifteen thousand soldiers and four armies meant a full sixty thousand!
They were already exceeding the numbers of the Black Armor Army that day.
Ten thousand horses galloped in unison. The army formed a straight line before them: cavalry units at the front, infantry behind, the charging soldiers hoisting pitch-black longspears as they followed the knights at full sprint.
Their expressions were resolute, killing intent gathered in their eyes like an impenetrable wall, advancing coldly forward, crushing all opposition beneath them.
From afar, it looked like wave after wave of black surging tide crashing in with a deafening roar, shaking one's very soul and rattling the mind.
As they launched their attack from both the front and rear, the generals of these four armies, including Jiang Wei, activated their force formations!
"Boom!"
Boundless Spiritual Energy surged forth like a world-shaking tempest, blotting out the sun and sky. Three new force formation manifestations condensed in the air, each distinct from the other!
"ROAR!!!"
The thunderous cries of the army merged with the sound of the manifested spirits swinging their weapons, forming an earth-shaking cacophony.
Were any ordinary person present, they would surely die of fright on the spot.
The force formation under Su Huaiying's control had finally begun to show signs of collapse.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!..."
The four divine generals launched their assault in unison upon the dual-faced manifestation. One of its arms was severed, a massive gash carved into the side of its neck, and even its chest was directly pierced through.
The Water Moon Guanyin, beautiful and ethereal like an illusory moon, shed a single tear from her left eye, as if lamenting the fate that was already sealed.
And yet the Asura manifestation still held on bitterly, its green face contorted, both eyes crimson, baring its fangs in fury as it bit down on the nearest divine general's arm, tearing it straight off!
Su Huaiying's face turned pale, a trace of blood beading at the corner of her lips, but the rest, she forcibly swallowed back down her throat.
Chen Kuang crouched beside her and patted her back. "Release the formation."
Su Huaiying exhaled deeply and nodded.
The dual-faced manifestation above collapsed backward with a great crash. Then, it shattered into countless halo-fringed fragments and dispersed into the air.
The four divine generals immediately surged forward to press the attack, brandishing massive weapons as they slashed down toward the group.
The sound of rushing air thundered overhead, evoking terror.
The old man standing at the front, frail and tattered, was the first to face it.
The old man lifted his head and raised a hand to the heavens.
Two fingers, thin and powerful like bamboo joints, joined together, thrusting straight toward the sky.
His spine stood perfectly straight, so straight that it seemed there could be nothing more upright beneath heaven and earth.
He was no longer frail, but impossibly towering.
His figure seemed to stretch endlessly skyward, until it reached the darkened vault above. Not even the sun, moon, or stars could obscure his form.
He stood upright between heaven and earth.
In this moment, he was like a sword that pierced through the firmament.
Huo Hengxuan spoke. It seemed as though he was speaking to Chen Kuang behind him, or perhaps only murmuring to himself.
He said softly:
"I've actually never known how to wield a sword."
"Someone once told me I wasn't suited for swordsmanship. Said I looked awkward with one, useless. So I never learned it."
"In Garan Temple, there were so many sword techniques. I never touched a single one, I studied only fists and kicks."
"Later in the army, I had no choice but to take up a sword. It was the only weapon I could use."
"The Song of Weed-Cutting" was never swordsmanship. It was just the art of killing.
"What weapon you use doesn't matter. What matters is how many you kill."
"The more you kill, the stronger you become. The stronger you are, the higher your rank. The more you gain... I had to prove myself, so that when I saw her again, even if my swordsmanship was hideous, she'd have to say it looked good."
Huo Hengxuan looked up toward the sky and sighed.
"That's what I always thought."
"But later I realized... that wasn't it."
"After achieving fame and honor, so many people flattered me, praised my swordplay against their conscience. Not once did I feel happy... Turns out, I didn't want to prove anything. I just wanted her to talk to me."
"But it's too late now."
Expressionless, the old man lowered his gaze to the massive army before him, as if he were merely looking at a crowd of ants.
"In my whole life, I've had only one sword."
"One that anyone who sees it will call beautiful."
Huo Hengxuan moved his hand. Those two joined fingers slowly swept down, from sky to earth, as if splitting the heavens themselves.
He spoke: "Cut."
The old man's movement was incredibly simple, even crude. There was no explosion of Spiritual Energy, no radiant multicolored light.
No vast phantom sword took shape in the sky.
No endless rain of blades followed the old man's command.
It was just that, simple, even... somewhat ugly.
But in the next moment, Chen Kuang suddenly realized: this sword was not slow.
On the contrary, it was so fast it defied understanding.
Because the army before them had already begun to roll backward.
Yes, roll backward.
This was not some poetic metaphor, but a very real, physical phenomenon.
That tide of charging soldiers and horses, the endless ranks, the flags suspended in the sky, for an instant, all of it rolled backward under that one sword strike.
The warhorses curled their legs beneath them, folding up like the roly-poly insects children love to play with, tumbling backward.
The cavalry atop them were likewise rolled up into the horses themselves, like fillings inside rice rolls.
Even the four divine generals in the air, no matter how vast, terrifying, or awe-inspiring they had seemed, had now become nothing more than strips of seaweed wrapping the surface of a handroll.
Banners, horns, men, armor, and all the swirling dust of the battlefield, all of it, in a single instant, rolled backward.
At the same time, the things behind were also curling forward.
The same was happening on the left, on the right, above, below, front, and back were all like this!
Countless things folded and curled inward toward a central point, as if a three-dimensional world were collapsing into a two-dimensional plane.
And those who were caught in it didn't even seem to realize what was happening.
Their expressions were still just as resolute, their faces still filled with killing intent, as if the enemy they were meant to strike down stood right before them.
The horses' limbs had not stopped either, still galloping forward with all their might.
Even in their eyes, the reflections still showed the figures of Chen Kuang and the others.
And in that reflection, their spears and swords were thrusting toward them, victory already within reach!
But in reality, they were getting farther and farther away from Chen Kuang and the others, until they were swept into the center, where a strange fissure appeared.
That fissure seemed to be the center of everything, and also the origin of everything.
It seemed black, yet also white.
Everything within it became indistinct, a blur of chaos.
And everything swept into it became part of that chaos, never to return.
At last, Chen Kuang understood.
This sword of Huo Hengxuan, had cleaved through this entire space!
Chen Kuang was shaken to his core, but he was utterly unable to act.
Because at this moment, all he could do was watch as that incredibly slow sword continued to descend.
He was far too slow, and could only remain within this portion of space, unable to touch the space where Huo Hengxuan and the army of the Yang Kingdom were located.
Of course, even if he could touch it, he likely wouldn't survive.
Huo Hengxuan's gaze was calm, and so were his movements.
Just like that, he calmly drew his sword finger from top to bottom in a single gentle slash, and then let both arms fall naturally to his sides.
A single sword, just like that and it was over.
The world before them became incomparably still and tranquil.
Because aside from the three of them, and the heavens and the earth, everything else had vanished.
Chen Kuang was almost dumbfounded as he stared at the scene before him, and couldn't help but curse in his heart.
What the f*ck...
The bare earth stretched flat with not a blade of grass in sight. It was an endless plain. Whether buildings or anything else, everything was gone.
Those sixty thousand troops... it was as if they had never even existed.
"Whoosh... whoosh..."
The sound of the wind across this vast expanse echoed all the more loudly.
Chen Kuang and Su Huaiying looked at each other, both feeling a chill creep through them, a sensation of true isolation and helplessness.
Huo Hengxuan, who stood before them, turned around and asked:
"What do you think? Was that sword beautiful?"
Chen Kuang and Su Huaiying both nodded vigorously. "Beautiful. Extremely beautiful."
Huo Hengxuan let out a deep breath. "Another lie."
Chen Kuang instantly broke out in goosebumps, cold sweat racing up his spine.
Huo Hengxuan chuckled, glancing at him. "Why so nervous?"
Chen Kuang gave an awkward laugh.
Then, Huo Hengxuan suddenly said:
"There's something I want to ask of you. Back then, I didn't have time... and also felt ashamed toward you, so I never said it."
Chen Kuang immediately straightened up. "Please, say it!"
Huo Hengxuan's figure began to fade, scattering into fragments and vanishing into the air.
Chen Kuang subconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
It looked like, this time, Huo Hengxuan really was leaving...
Huo Hengxuan's voice came from the void, echoing inside Chen Kuang's mind: "Now, I gift you this sword. Take it as your compensation."
"Just help me with one thing."
Chen Kuang stared at the incomparably empty world before him, and silently responded, "Senior, please speak."
Huo Hengxuan said, "When you reach Garan Temple, help me find someone."
"Show her this sword. And ask her, whether it looks good.."
...
Chen Kuang led Su Huaiying and walked for ten minutes, finally emerging from the empty wilderness where nothing remained.
But Zhang Zhizhou was nowhere to be seen.
Chen Kuang decided to find a place to lie low for now, and wait for that guy to come and regroup with them.
After searching for a while, all he found in the end was a dilapidated temple.
Chen Kuang sat down and lit a fire before he suddenly remembered he had once again missed that mangy-headed Daoist priest.
Back when he was preparing the alliance, Chen Kuang had already made inquiries through the demon clans.
There was no one left at the Prince's Residence.
After Wen Chai led his army into Zangfeng Prefecture, the first to respond was the Southern Peace Prince's household, and nearly all its combat power had joined Wen Chai's forces.
At present, the Prince's Residence was nothing but a vast, empty garden.
That mangy-headed Daoist, had already taken the chance to run.
Just as Chen Kuang was thinking this-
"Heh heh, were you looking for this poor Daoist?"
A raspy and unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded.
Chen Kuang whipped his head around and saw, striding out from behind one of the pillars in the broken-down temple, a Daoist priest grinning broadly.
He was old and ugly, with shackles on both his hands and feet.