Zhao Boqin had only managed to turn around and empower his wheel when Alex swung his sword.
For a moment, nothing happened. There was no explosion, no glowing lights, no grand display of power. Then, the barrier in front of the wheel split in half. And then…
"No…" a low groan escaped Zhao Boqin's mouth.
The wheel split in half.
The man couldn't comprehend how his wheel could be destroyed like that at all, and even as the thoughts remained in his mind, he sensed something approaching him at the last moment. Alas, it was too late.
Zhao Boqin felt the slash go through his right side, cutting off his arm and part of the shoulder. The talisman only then understood he was in danger and activated its protection feature, teleporting the man some distance away.
The man stared wide-eyed, first at his wounds, then back at Alex, failing to understand what had happened or what had been done to him.
Alex stood where he did, panting hard, with his forehead full of sweat as well. While he had made the attack seem simple, it had been anything but. He had poured into it even more than what he had in the past attack.
Embracing his technique and putting it into the Sword Intent had been weirdly difficult and he wasn't even sure if he was doing it correctly. It had improved the strength of the attack somewhat, so it should have been the correct thing in some way.
It was still a surprise to him when the wheel broke. He had assumed it had much more power in it, but it had either been close to being destroyed on its own or was destroyed because Zhao Boqin wasn't strong enough to bring the best out of it.
It was a miracle he hadn't used Immortal Qi on the wheel. But then he had other ways of winning still.
He still lightly panted as he went over to Zhao Boqin some distance away, who already had a few people surrounding him with his bare right arm showing through the torn robes. He hadn't wasted time eating a pill it seemed.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked the man.
Zhao Boqin seemed dazed, his eyes unfocused. Alex had to ask him again before he realized he was being spoken to.
"What?" he quickly asked before realizing what was being asked. "Ah! Okay, right yeah, I'm… I'm okay. I think."
The people around him gave a grim look, seeing how out of it he was. Some of them eyed Alex apprehensively, and one young woman even stepped away from the group to not have to confront him even on accident.
"How is he?" Sarah quickly walked beside them as well, and a few concerned faces showed through the crown she brought along.
Zhao Boqin opened his mouth to say something when he seemed to realize what he was about to do. Looking around, he quickly stopped himself and said something else.
"I'm fine, you all can leave," he answered.
"But brother—"
"No, leave," the man said.
"We can talk later. Leave me and His Majesty alone," the man said.
Everyone looked toward him then toward Alex and left helplessly.
Alex stood where he did for a while, eyeing the man in front of him, waiting for him to speak. Once everyone was far away, Zhao Boqin put out a sound warding formation and finally asked what he wanted to do.
"Did you cheat?" he asked.
Alex nearly gave a laugh when he heard that. "What makes you think that?" he asked.
"Well, no, not cheat. That wasn't what I meant to say," the man said, furiously scratching his head. "You did something not normal back there. You didn't cheat, but what happened felt unfair."
"I see," Alex said. "You brought out a wheel that clearly wasn't made in this world. I don't know if you should be the one talking about unfairness."
The man grimaced a bit when he remembered about the wheel. "You destroyed my wheel," he said. "I paid good money for that."
Alex shrugged.
The man looked up at him. "Next time we fight, I'll be ready for it," he said.
"Third time is the charm, eh?" he asked before shaking his head. "Enough of this talk. Let's talk about our bet."
Zhao Boqin felt his insides tangle up at the thought of the bet. The oath that knotted itself around him was tightly holding onto his actions, so he couldn't do anything other than slowly nod his head in agreement.
"I will answer any two questions of yours without hiding anything I am not bound by oaths to reveal," the man said. "Nor will I reveal to anyone what questions you asked of me."
That was the oath he had made during the bet. Alex nodded and laid down his own formation to block out sounds. He didn't want to take any chances.
He sat down in front of the man and took a deep breath. He could only ask two questions and he didn't accidentally want to ask something of the man that he could answer without telling Alex something he wanted to know about.
"Around 60 years ago now, the Empress died. Around that time, a bunch of soldiers were taken to the Azure Dragon's domain. What happened before, during, and after that event?"
That was the first question.
Zhao Boqin gave a puzzled look for a moment, thinking to himself about something before a grim expression came upon his face.
"This isn't something we can lightly talk about," the man said.
"I will hear whatever you can tell me," Alex said, speaking slowly so as to not make it a question.
The man grunted for a bit, feeling the oath tighten around him. He had to speak.
"I do not know much," the man said. "I was with my leader at the time, a person named Huang Lumin. We were discussing something when he was ordered away suddenly."
"That was the last I saw of him. After he left, I did not know what happened. All I know is that wherever he went, he died, never to return again. I do not know if he died along with the Empress, but now that I think about it, the timing does match."
The man frowned a bit. "We were told the Empress died during a cultivation breakthrough and were to never talk about it ever again, but we weren't bound by any oath."
"I was made the leader after that, and that was when I found out that it wasn't just my leader that was called away, but many high-ranking members of the army, and almost all of them were dead, with many taking wounds that made them retire entirely."
"Many young blood were brought to higher ranks during that time and I was one of them. The legions became more strict after that."
The man's eyes flashed around, the pieces fitting together in his head. "So they died helping the Empress's breakthrough, huh?" he asked. "I had assumed it was something more sinister. After all, we lost enough military power to cripple us if we had rivals."
Alex said nothing. He let the man have his misunderstandings. That helped him even more. He rummaged through the information a bit, but nothing there was more than what he didn't already know.
At least it was good to know that the empire was weakened thanks to whatever had happened in the secret realm.
"That was good," Alex said and took a deep breath again. "Now, the second question."
