The prison cells were small, each with only a narrow window for light.
Lately, the weather had been poor with gloomy rain for days and at this hour, nearing dusk, there should've been nothing to see outside.
But when Chen Kuang looked through the iron bars of the window, he saw a sky full of stars...
A vast, clear and brilliant starry sky!
Above the cloudless heavens stretched a magnificent Milky Way. Countless stars shimmered with extraordinary brilliance, like an exquisite brocade spread across the firmament.
Countless multicolored auroras danced gently, like sheer veils draped over the world below.
The sight was so unnatural, so eerily beautiful that it was almost terrifying.
Chen Kuang was momentarily dazed, breathless as his whole body began trembling.
Wasn't it raining outside? The jailers were soaked with dampness and cold.
Where was the rain? The clouds?
It was only for a moment...
"It's a Sage! A Sage has made a move!"
An excited voice erupted from a nearby cell.
A prisoner, apparently a scholar, suddenly stood up and shouted joyfully at the sky.
"It must be the Liang Ancestor, he relinquished the throne to his younger brother six hundred years ago and retreated into seclusion!"
"Legend said his cultivation bordered on the Saintly Dao, it was all true!"
The scholar laughed and cried:
"We're saved! We're saved!"
"Hahahaha! Liang's fate isn't doomed! The dynasty can still continue!"
Other prisoners stirred as well, voices erupting all at once in hope and excitement.
"A true Sage?!"
"No doubt! This is the pressure of a Sage! When Zhou's Sage took action, the skies looked just like this!"
The once-dead prison now buzzed with life, even the air seemed to stir.
"... Sage's pressure?"
Chen Kuang stared at the starry sky, repeating the words in a murmur.
That tingling on his skin, the rapid heartbeat, the overwhelming sense of danger, was that the so-called "pressure"?
Fragments of information surfaced in his memory..
"Sages," titles reserved for those who had truly transcended the mortal realm. Cultivators of great power, capable of shifting mountains, stirring oceans, calling wind and summoning rain... nothing was beyond them.
Lady Liang's eyes also lit up with hope.
She stood up and looked at the sky, fists clenched tight, and whispered to herself:
"As long as the Eastern Sovereign is held back, even with formation support, Zhou's fifty-thousand-strong army is no match for Liang's Lingtai cultivators... "
She turned back to Chen Kuang, smiling brightly. "Mister Chen, we're saved!"
BOOOOM!
A second wave of thunderous explosions followed in quick succession. The earth shook violently, plunging the prison into chaos.
"Mm... "
Chen Kuang stepped back and looked down. A crack had formed in the cell's floor, stretching all the way to the wall.
He couldn't help but click his tongue.
This was... absurd...
A clash between cultivators, just the aftermath had the destructive power of an earthquake, a natural disaster.
This world was likely even more dangerous than he had imagined.
His earlier impulse... had definitely been reckless.
A high-powered world like this, maybe even average people were built like athletes.
He was still influenced by his Earth-born instincts, too impatient.
Chen Kuang slowly exhaled.
Come to think of it, when Huo Hengxuan noticed his intentions earlier, he actually gave a warning. That didn't fit his reputation as the violent and brutal "Slaughter God."
Wait a minute... no.
Replaying the moment, he had turned his head after following the man's pointing finger!
Damn it, this old bastard wasn't warning him. He was testing him!
Chen Kuang cursed inwardly, just as the old man's hoarse voice came again.
"Heh... so you really can see."
Chen Kuang held his breath, forcing himself not to react.
Huo Hengxuan grinned: "Still pretending now? A bit late for that, don't you think?"
Chen Kuang: "..."
Indeed, it was too late.
He turned directly to face Huo Hengxuan, meeting his gaze without hiding. His eyes shone bright like stars, clear and unflinching.
"..."
Huo Hengxuan had imagined the man would panic when exposed and show a guilty, flustered face.
In his mind, this person had faked being a blind musician and deliberately approached Lady Liang, clearly with malicious intent.
Given the heavy scent of blood on him, this man had definitely killed someone recently. The stench still clung to him.
To Huo, the only logical conclusion was that he was a Zhou spy.
But he hadn't expected Chen Kuang to just stop pretending altogether.
During the pause, Lady Liang also processed what Huo Hengxuan's words meant.
Her joy faded into unease. She bit her lip.
"Mister Chen... Palace musicians are all supposed to be blind."
"Yes."
"Then... you're not a musician?"
She wanted to ask, Did you lie to me? If he was sent by Zhou to gain her trust, then even that one bun meant nothing.
To receive the only act of kindness in the fall of a nation, only to realize it was fake...
She lowered her head, clearly disheartened.
"I am."
Chen Kuang felt a headache coming on.
He really wasn't suited for lying...
He spoke quietly:
"My parents blinded me as a child. I was sold at six to a musician. I entered the palace at sixteen, been here three years. From start to finish, I've always been from Liang. I've never lied."
Huo Hengxuan sneered with a mocking tone:
"So that's what they mean by 'lying through your teeth.'"
"I didn't know such a thing as regaining sight existed for the blind."
Chen Kuang fell silent, then said in a low voice:
"Raising the dead, growing flesh from bones, is that so impossible, General Huo?"
He faced away from Lady Liang and looked directly at the stumps of Huo Hengxuan's limbs, at the growing tumors.
He didn't know exactly what they were for, but it wasn't hard to guess.
This old bastard wasn't truly crippled. He was hiding something.
Huo Hengxuan was sharp. He immediately noticed where Chen Kuang's gaze landed, and it wasn't random.
His aura changed instantly, suddenly sharp and deadly. Like a giant beast rising from the depths, exposing its fangs, ready to bite through a fragile neck at any moment.
Chen Kuang felt cold all over, paralyzed in place.
He forced a nervous smile, about to say something to ease the tension, when Huo Hengxuan grinned hideously and spat forward.
"Ptui-BOOM!"
Instantly, Chen Kuang heard a piercing, air-ripping screech, followed by a booming whoosh like an explosive gust.
It was right in his ear, mere inches away!
His scalp went numb in a flash. He instinctively jerked his head aside and tried to retreat, but too late.
BANG!
It sounded like a watermelon bursting.
The next second, searing pain spread across the right half of his head. A buzzing filled his skull.
Chen Kuang's mind went blank. He reached up..
And touched nothing.
The entire right half of his head was gone.
In horror, he staggered back two steps, the world spinning, and fell backward.
In his spinning vision, he saw a massive dent on the wall. Webbed cracks spread out from a pit where...
A tooth was embedded?
He collapsed, and the familiar darkness surged up once more.
...
Chen Kuang blinked and came back to himself, instinctively reaching for the right side of his head.
It was perfectly intact.
Huo Hengxuan still sat cross-legged, having merely spat lightly onto the floor.
The killing intent... was real. The novels weren't lying, this shit was for real.
"Mister Chen? Mister Chen?"
Lady Liang's anxious voice cut through the fog.
Chen Kuang took a deep breath. His soul felt like it had just snapped back into his body.
He said calmly, "I'm fine, Lady. No need to worry."
Lady Liang patted her chest, calming her pounding heart, and then bit her lip in frustration.
Why am I worried about someone who lied to me...?
Huo Hengxuan's expression shifted slightly.
Strange... a normal man would've collapsed under that pressure. But this one barely flinched.
Chen Kuang met his gaze. Huo's attitude was still casual, but the message was clear: I could kill you anytime.
But Chen Kuang smiled faintly instead.
If he had truly intended to kill, he wouldn't have warned him first.
"Looks like... General Huo has made up his mind."
Huo Hengxuan snorted noncommittally.
Chen Kuang continued:
"I didn't expose anything. Isn't that proof enough of where I stand?"
"As for my eyes... honestly, I don't know what happened either. But I can guarantee, we're all in the same boat."
"If you suspect my motives, General, there's no need. I only want to live."
He enunciated each word clearly: "Live... and get out."
Huo Hengxuan's face remained expressionless.
"That's still not enough. Unless..."
The old man turned his head slightly, squinting at the shadowy figures beyond the cell door.
Then he grinned darkly:
"These jailers are a damn nuisance. If you can kill them for me, then I'll believe you."