At this time, it also wasn't when Qingcuo was supposed to appear.
Because earlier, Huo Hengxuan had confirmed that the prison cell no longer needed to fear surveillance from the Black Armored Guards, it was now clear, Qingcuo, that silent dull beast who had been wandering around the past few days, was one of Huo Hengxuan's people all along.
Every one of them had acting skills worthy of an award!
No wonder everything had gone so smoothly; it turned out this guy had been silently cooperating the entire time...
Chen Kuang no longer bothered to pretend. He locked eyes on Qingcuo and asked bluntly:
"What exactly is Huo Hengxuan's plan?"
"Don't tell me he just walked off like that and left me with this complete mess?"
He pointed at Chu Wenruo and her daughter beside him. "That's the last legitimate bloodline of Liang, you know!"
"He went through all that cloak and dagger nonsense, embedded you and maybe others at Li Hongling's side, was it all just to end things like this?"
Qingcuo set down the food container and pulled out one of the wine bottles, placing it in front of himself.
The rest, he handed into the cell as it was.
He said, "Your last meal. Eat it properly."
Chen Kuang scoffed, half amused, "So it really is a death row dinner this time?"
Qingcuo shook his head. "Don't waste it. After this... it's likely you won't eat anything like this for a long time."
He paused, then seriously added, "If you plan to escape Liang with the Lady and Her Highness, with your current strength, the best course is to hide among the fleeing refugees."
"At that point, you might not even get steamed buns to eat."
Chen Kuang's eye twitched, he caught the implication in Qingcuo's words.
Since the clues to the Elixir of Immortality had been drawn toward him, and now that Huo Hengxuan had been taken away, it wasn't to interrogate him anymore, it was to execute him.
But Huo Hengxuan's execution wasn't the end of it all, it was the beginning.
All their hidden preparations had already begun. The final executor to take the Princess and Lady Liang away, was Chen Kuang!
Qingcuo glanced at him, saw the solemn change in his expression, and continued:
"If you encounter someone on the road who calls themselves a 'Soil True Official,' they are one of ours. You can seek help from them."
He pointed to the food box in front.
Chen Kuang opened it. Aside from the usual food, a small wooden token roughly one square inch in size lay quietly inside.
On it was carved the character of "Justice".
He picked it up and carefully stored it away.
Beneath the wine bottle, there was also a key, the key to the cell, and to the shackles.
"What about those two immortals outside the prison?"
"They're already being delayed."
Chen Kuang wondered, if they could be delayed, why wait until now?
As if seeing through his thoughts, Qingcuo explained:
"There weren't enough people before. Their cultivation wasn't sufficient either. They had to use a blood-burning secret technique to forcibly raise their power."
"It took a few days of preparation, for this battle alone. Ten deaths with no survivors. It cannot fail."
Chen Kuang felt his heart pounding. That sounded no different from suicide...
They went in knowing they would die, and even though they had time to regret over several days, they still chose that path.
It was unbearably tragic.
Yet Chen Kuang had no standing to pity them, he had planned to use their strength to escape in the first place. He could only sigh silently in his heart.
He opened his shackles, rolled his wrists, loosened his limbs, and let out a long breath.
For the first time, he felt a touch of freedom within reach.
Soon after, he also released Chu Wenruo and the little princess.
The Lady's figure was like a fragile willow in the wind, her eyes slightly red, perhaps from emotional strain, but she clenched her lips and held herself together.
The little princess sneaked over, squatted down, and grabbed a chicken drumstick from Chen Kuang's food box. She gnawed it clean in a few bites, then took another.
With greasy hands hidden behind her back, she tilted her head up and looked at the three adults with big innocent eyes.
The commotion finally roused the other prisoners in their cells, and they began to stir.
Some climbed up and begged pitifully: "Save me! Save me, My Lady! I have served faithfully, my ancestors were ministers of Liang!"
Others cursed bitterly: "The heavens are blind! Only these two women get to live while the loyal perish in vain. Liang is doomed!"
Someone else clung to desperate hope: "The Saint... the Saint won, didn't he?"
That last one seemed to have a reasonable guess.
Tonight, the starlight above was bright like a Returning Light, stirring a sliver of hope.
Everyone in the cells fixed their gazes on the escaping group. Chu Wenruo quickly pulled the princess into her arms, panicking and unsure what to do.
She instinctively looked to Chen Kuang.
Chen Kuang picked up the dragon-scaled zither in one hand and patted her shoulder with the other, motioning for her to hold the princess.
He turned to Qingcuo. "And you? Are you coming with us?"
Qingcuo shook his head. "No. I still have something I need to do."
His crimson eyes shimmered faintly as he pulled a yellowed paper crane from his cloak and handed it to Chen Kuang.
Chen Kuang was startled and took it.
Qingcuo hesitated, then removed his faceplate, revealing a pale, delicate young woman's face.
Her previously muffled voice now rang clear and sweet like a songbird:
"If possible, please help me bury it by the Qu Chun River."
Qu Chun River lay in the south of Liang, at the foot of Mount Wushu, a river that flowed between the two nations.
Ten years ago, Mount Wushu's ridge had been shattered by a single punch from Li Hongling.
At the foot of that mountain, beside the scenic Qu Chun River, was a small unnoticed village.
To Qingcuo, even now, she still didn't understand, why had that towering mountain peak crumbled into the clear blue sky in an instant?
The boulder that fell from the heavens was enormous, it crushed forty-three people.
The girl had been playing by the river, idly kicking at the water, having just learned how to fold paper cranes. She had written her and her parents' names on it.
When she turned around... she saw hell.
She had stared, dazed, at the tiny figure standing atop the wreckage of the mountains, her arrogant voice echoing across thousands of miles.
"Give me ten years, and I shall walk into Liang as if it were unguarded!"
Such pride!
She vowed to shatter Liang's mountains and rivers, stunning the world, yet who remembered those forty-three insignificant corpses?
Qingcuo asked, "Do you know where Qu Chun River is?"
Chen Kuang nodded.
A faint smile hovered at the corners of Qingcuo's mouth, but she didn't truly smile. She only said softly:
"It's a beautiful place. You'll like it."
She handed him a wine bottle and took one herself:
"This is Carefree Wine. It gathers spiritual energy and boosts qi and blood while the vapors remain in your system."
Chen Kuang looked at her. "You..."
"...Am sending you off."
Qingcuo answered. She awkwardly tilted her head and took a swig, then immediately coughed twice.
Her pale face flushed red.
Sending him off... for what?
Chen Kuang downed the wine. Its fiery heat surged through his body, flooding every limb. He was left speechless.
Qingcuo explained the escape route in detail, then turned to leave. But Chen Kuang suddenly stopped her.
"Can you help me with one more thing?"
Qingcuo hesitated, then nodded.
"I'll help."
Chen Kuang glanced toward the wall of the prison. "Li Hongling planted gunpowder in the underground passages, not just one stash. I've been watching the last few days. She uses a chain formation to detonate them, and the incantation changes daily."
"Can you find today's code and tell me?"
Qingcuo nodded. "Not hard."
Chen Kuang smiled. "Then I'll see you later... at the city gates."
Qingcuo looked at him for a long moment, then replied firmly:
"Alright. See you at the city gates."