Therefore!
Sha Minghong had seen through the crux of it...
Cheng Buzheng had long anticipated this. He merely nodded slightly and calmly acknowledged the other's guess:
"Senior's insight is exceptional. Nothing can be hidden from you."
Then, as though Sha Minghong had thought of something, his gaze sharpened slightly.
His tone also grew more solemn as he continued to ask:
"I presume, little friend, that you have also discerned this seat's true origins?"
The black-gold mist around him stirred faintly, and a pressure belonging to a Purgatory Clan Progenitor quietly spread forth.
Though it was not deliberately directed at anyone, even the raging winds around them seemed to calm somewhat.
Hearing this, Cheng Buzheng's true body did not hesitate in the slightest. He slowly nodded, his expression respectful yet neither servile nor overbearing, and said:
"Indeed!
Senior's divine abilities and Wonderful Dharma carry the ferocious might of Purgatory by nature, identical to those of the Purgatory Clan.
Naturally, I guessed Senior's true identity."
After a pause, he added, with genuine admiration in his voice:
"This junior also deeply admires Senior's methods."
As he spoke, Cheng Buzheng's true body raised his hands in a fist-and-palm salute and gave Sha Minghong a slight bow. His bearing was impeccable, every measure perfectly observed.
At that moment, the taut, sword-drawn-bow-bent air of confrontation between them abruptly vanished, replaced instead by the ease of old friends chatting.
It was as though their earlier savage clash—where neither would rest until the other was dead—had been no more than a fleeting dream.
Only the Spirit Power fluctuations around them, not yet settled, still spoke of the tension from moments ago.
Immediately after, Sha Minghong waved a hand, his tone softening somewhat as he said bluntly:
"Since little friend has recognized this seat's identity, let us dispense with