Chapter Thirteen

Zhao Shu walked to the desk, spread out a sheet of yellow paper, picked up a wolf-hair brush, rolled up his sleeves, dipped it in black ink, and began writing on the yellow paper.

Mo Yinghuo approached, looked down at Zhao Shu, then looked up at him again, then looked down again, then looked up at him again. Finally, he exclaimed, "Hmm, it's really well drawn. These straight lines are so straight and powerful."

On the blank yellow paper, a straight line bearing a mission has appeared.

Zhao Shu gave Mo Yinghuo a meaningful look, put down his wolf-hair brush, and said, "General, if the stone formation only produces illusions, do you think the late emperor would be so afraid of the Stone Spirit Kingdom?"

Mo Yinghuo's pupils contracted, and a nameless fear was hidden in his deep, dark eyes. He said coldly, "No, the feeling he gives me is that he is afraid of an enemy that he can never defeat in his entire life."

Furthermore, those Northern Barbarians who always appeared and disappeared without a trace were also instigated by the people of Shiling Kingdom. She recalled the taste of the strong liquor, and the scars from the saber beneath her light armor…

Seeing Mo Yinghuo's reaction, Zhao Shu realized he had spoken too harshly, and his heart tightened slightly. He smiled gently to ease the tension and said, "Don't worry, General, the late Emperor was a great man." He paused, pointed to a straight line, and said, "General, in future battles against the Stone Spirit Kingdom, you must remember that the area inside and outside the stone formation are two completely different places. The woman in red holding a dagger that you saw may be from the past or the future. And your father, the 100,000 soldiers with broken arms, were not illusions; it was you, General, seeing a certain time and place in the past."

Upon hearing the words "broken arm," a cold and resolute glint flashed across Mo Yinghuo's face. It vanished in an instant. She nodded slightly, her gaze sharp, and carefully asked, "You mean, I went back to the past?"

Zhao Shu shook his head, a hint of confusion appearing on his sharply defined face. He didn't know how to speak, his knuckles lightly tapping the table. After a while, he spoke again, "General, you didn't go back to the past; you only saw the past. Inside the stone formation, at Ye Lanxing's place, we would say it's a place of a higher dimension than outside the stone formation. Just like this straight line, this yellow paper, and this tent, they can be described as existences of different dimensions."

Mo Yinghuo unconsciously raised her hand and rubbed her temples hard, her brows slightly red. She said, seemingly understanding but not quite, "Dimension... I can roughly understand what you mean, but I don't quite understand. I understand it this way, when we first entered the stone formation, behind the screen..." For some reason, her heart skipped a beat. She coughed lightly to cover her embarrassment and said, "That was an illusion. The woman in red with the dagger who appeared afterward was still the same person, just not from that time. She returned to the stone formation, right?"

Zhao Shu nodded slightly, his initial confusion dissipating into a hint of relief in his eyes.

Mo Yinghuo, supporting her right elbow with her left hand and resting her chin on her right, pondered for a moment before saying, "And I, to Father and those 100,000 Western Jin soldiers, am like that woman." She deliberately omitted the words "broken arm." Suddenly, Mo Yinghuo seemed to remember something and exclaimed, "No, it's different. Father and the Western Jin soldiers didn't see me. We are different..." Mo Yinghuo seemed to grasp something, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her brows furrowed as she continuously recalled everything she had experienced in the stone formation.

The joyful footsteps, and the 100,000 Western Jin soldiers ignoring his gaze...

“Yes, General,” Zhao Shu said softly. He knew that Mo Yinghuo had grasped the key point. “You were just watching from the sidelines, while the woman in red was in the thick of it.” Zhao Shu paused, pondered for a moment, and then, seemingly afraid of saying too much and confusing Mo Yinghuo, quietly swallowed back what he wanted to say.

Mo Yinghuo suddenly had a feeling that the Star Division's investigation into the Stone Spirit Kingdom had only scratched the surface. Nearly twenty years had passed, and her heart skipped a beat as she recalled the late emperor's dying words to her—if the Nightfall Star People did not come to their aid, the northern border would have to be defended to the death.

In Chencheng, when she heard Zhao Shu say that he was from Yelan Kingdom, she guessed that Zhao Shu was the person her father had asked them to wait and help Yunxiu Kingdom.

Mo Yinghuo's body trembled violently. A chill ran down her spine as she thought about it. A thought flashed through her mind: "If those who enter the stone formation are like that woman in red, and find themselves in another time and place, what if they don't know how to return..."

Zhao Shu noticed the change in Mo Yinghuo's expression and seemed to guess what she was thinking. He slowly said, "General, don't worry. With Zhao Shu here, I will definitely not let the soldiers get caught up in this."

Mo Yinghuo smiled and bowed, saying, "On behalf of the late Emperor and the Yunxiu Kingdom, I thank Young Master Zhao."

Zhao Shu smiled, his expression unusually gentle, and said softly, "General, you are too kind. The late emperor was kind to the people of Yelan Star."

The two looked up and their eyes met. Zhao Shu seemed to remember something and quickly said, "Oh, right, General, there's one more thing, which is the scenery inside Stonehenge."

"The scenery?" Mo Yinghuo murmured, "Could it be that the scenery inside the stone formation is different from that outside?"

“Yes.” Zhao Shu nodded. “Recently, I have read some of your books. There is an ancient text that goes like this: ‘In Shishi Mountain of Xin’an County, during the Jin Dynasty, Wang Zhi went to cut wood and saw several children playing chess and singing. Zhi listened to them. One of the children gave Zhi something, like a date pit, which Zhi put in his mouth and did not feel hungry. After a while, the child said: Why don’t you leave? Zhi got up and looked, and the handle of his axe was completely rotten. When he returned, there were no more people from that time.’ [1]”

Mo Ying asked, puzzled, "Yes, it's the legend of the Rotten Axe Handle Man. It tells of a man named Wang who went to chop wood and saw a boy and an old man playing Go on a large rock by a stream. So he put his axe down by the stream and stood watching. After watching for a while, a boy called him home. When Wang got up to get his axe, he saw that the handle was rotten and the sharpened axe head was rusty. When he got home, Wang found that his hometown had changed drastically. No one recognized him. He hurriedly told some famous stories about the village, but several old men said that these things happened hundreds of years ago. A day in the celestial realm is equivalent to a hundred years on earth. Legend has it that Wang had mistakenly entered the celestial realm. What, Zhao Shu, you're not going to tell me that the Stone Array is also a celestial realm?"

“It’s not the Immortal Realm, but the stories are the same,” Zhao Shu said. “I’ve been here with you for about a month. If I were to return to Nightfall Star now, more than eight years would have passed there. General, you should have felt the giant stone array in Dust City that night. Half a day inside the stone array is equivalent to nearly three days outside.”

Mo Yinghuo found it increasingly unbelievable; her feeling back then was correct. She glanced at Zhao Shu, thinking, "This Stonehenge, and this Stone Spirit Kingdom, are truly mysterious and strange!" Now, whatever Zhao Shu wanted to say to her, Mo Yinghuo was already prepared. Strange, mysterious, and unpredictable—from the moment this man appeared, Mo Yinghuo knew that a bloodbath was about to erupt in the Yunxiu Kingdom. Being able to fight was always better than waiting to die; her eyes burned with fervor. This day had arrived for her father.