Chapter 150: Reunion

Yang Guang looked at the Tidi woman before him, rumored to be the Snow Princess. Although she was gravely injured, he could still faintly perceive a tenacious and vibrant life force emanating from within her, a strength by no means possessed by ordinary Tidi warriors.

The Tidi tribe possessed robust physiques; the most prominent manifestation upon reaching the Grandmaster realm was precisely this tenacious vitality. The lifespan of an ordinary Tidi person was already twice that of other races, and this Tidi woman before him—even if she were not the legendary Snow Princess—was surely a formidable entity whose strength was not to be underestimated.

Gazing at the iron cage imprisoning Tiana, Yang Guang could tell it was forged from no ordinary material. As he gently raised his hand to touch the rust on the bars, a bone-chilling cold instantly pierced through his fingertips straight to his soul, causing him to hurriedly withdraw his hand.

Observing Yang Guang's reaction, the corners of Tiana's lips curved into a slight, contemptuous smile. "This cold iron is mined from the glaciers deep within our Tidi territory," she said disdainfully. "Let alone an ordinary person like you, even Grandmaster-level powerhouses of our Tidi clan would not dare to touch it lightly."

Yang Guang frowned. Having experienced the profound cold of the black iron on the cage, he knew her words were evidently true.

"It matters not if you are unwilling to tell me your name, but might I ask you about someone?"

Looking at the heavily guarded Yang Guang before her, Tiana smiled faintly, seemingly long accustomed to others' attitudes toward her. With a soft sigh, she asked in a tone tinged with pleading.

"Who?" Yang Guang inquired, perplexed. Yet, unable to suppress his curiosity as to who could evoke such deep concern from someone of this caliber.

Seeing Yang Guang ask, Tiana assumed he had agreed and hastily pressed on. "Do you know someone named Yang Guang?"

Hearing Tiana inquire after his own name, Yang Guang was inwardly startled. Unaware of her motives or how she could possibly know his identity, he lapsed into silence for a moment.

At that moment, the words of the Wolf-Head echoed once more in the depths of his mind: he possessed Tidi bloodline, and moreover, he was by no means a conventional twin-body.

A flash of deep contemplation crossed Yang Guang's eyes, which then gave way to bewilderment, and finally turned into sheer disbelief.

Seeing that Yang Guang did not answer and simply stood silently with lowered head, Tiana assumed he had never heard the name. She let out a self-deprecating, helpless laugh, gazed up at the gray, dreary ceiling, and sighed with deep emotion.

"Indeed, I was truly foolish. How could Chen Sinian ever truly let him live until now? To think I actually believed his deceitful lies."

Hearing Tiana's lament, Yang Guang abruptly raised his head, staring at her with uncomprehending eyes, and asked with a hint of confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

He did not directly acknowledge his identity. Quietly watching the woman before him, he gathered from her words that the Prince of Changwu apparently wished fervently for him not to survive.

Meeting Yang Guang's perplexed gaze, Tiana smiled indifferently. Having now completely abandoned all hope of survival, she looked at him with an attitude of reckless despair and said, "Since you have never even heard the name Yang Guang, it is clear that he is no longer among the living."

Yang Guang frowned slightly and questioned, "What if I am not a subordinate of the Prince of Changwu's estate? How can you be certain that just because I do not know this person, he must be dead?"

Tiana slowly closed her eyes and calmly offered her analysis. "First, the fact that you have attained the realm of Grandmaster at such a tender age shows you are blessed with extraordinary talent. Although Chen Sinian is treacherous and cunning by nature, he holds a profound and exceptional appreciation for promising talents in martial arts."

"Wait! The Empire of Ye is vast—how can you be so certain that I hail from the Prince of Changwu's estate?" Yang Guang interrupted her analysis directly. The Tidi woman before him—in her speech, mannerisms, and deportment—bore no resemblance to a typical Tidi; rather, she carried the deep refinement of someone from a noble aristocratic lineage, forcing Yang Guang to maintain the utmost caution.

Tiana glanced at Yang Guang, whose expression remained laced with wariness. The corner of her mouth curved into a faint smile, and the sagacity shining in her eyes stirred a sense of resentment in Yang Guang, as if he were the foolish and contemptuous Tidi peasant by comparison.

"Because of your attire, and the aura emanating from your body."

"Aura?" Yang Guang frowned, somewhat skeptical, knowing full well that auras could easily be brought along merely by changing one's clothes.

Observing his skeptical look, Tiana explained, "Odor and aura are two entirely different concepts, yet they share similarities. Odor is a fixed label inherent to every race—just as the scent carried by you differs from that on me. Aura, on the other hand, is not something one is born with; rather, it is something slowly imbued over a long period spent within a particular environment."

As she spoke, Tiana slowly rose, looked intently into Yang Guang's eyes, and continued, "Odors can be altered, but aura can absolutely never be changed. For if a person wishes to alter their aura, they must spend twice the time required for their original aura simply adapting to a new environment and converting their habits elsewhere."

Looking at Tiana, whose gaze seemed to pierce straight through his thoughts, Yang Guang furrowed his brows slightly and said with cold arrogance, "Then why is it impossible that I have simply been lurking in the Prince of Changwu's estate for many years?"

"Many years?" Tiana could not help but chuckle softly, as if Yang Guang were telling a joke. Shaking her head lightly, she said with calm detachment, "Putting aside Chen Sinian's nature—which would rather execute a thousand innocents than let a single threat escape—consider your own age. You are barely in your early twenties. The rich, mellow purity of the aura upon you indicates only one thing: you have remained within the Prince of Changwu's estate continuously since birth."

Shock rippled endlessly through the depths of Yang Guang's eyes. He had never imagined that the Tidi tribe possessed a woman of such staggering intellect. Gradually, a seed of belief began to take root in his heart that Tiana might indeed be the legendary Snow Princess.

"Therefore, you deduced that I was raised in the Prince of Changwu's estate since childhood, and being a Grandmaster, my status within the estate cannot be low. Thus, if even someone like me has never heard this name, it can only mean one thing: no such person exists within the Prince of Changwu's estate."

After all, Yang Guang was far from dim-witted. Once Tiana laid out the analysis to this point, he naturally understood why she had concluded he was already dead even without his confession.

Yet, why would Chen Sinian ensure he was not allowed to live?

Tiana gave a slight nod, turning away without looking at Yang Guang any longer. Instead, she slumped with a desolate expression into the corner of the iron cage, completely indifferent to the biting, bone-chilling cold of the black iron.

"Senior... senior, may I ask why you are inquiring about this person?"

A swirling vortex of confusion, uncertainty, and suspicion clashed repeatedly within Yang Guang's mind. Although she was a Tidi, out of reverence for her formidable strength, Yang Guang hesitated before addressing her respectfully as a senior and posing his question.