Generally speaking, a True Person Grandmaster was hard to catch in a trap.
Once a martial artist reached Innate Soul Mutation, their soul changed, and many found their instincts growing sharper. They could sense a warning when danger approached. Of course, they did not have to reach that realm first. Plenty of people sensed such warnings at lower realms; it came down to talent.
Quite a few people had that talent. Nearly every skilled scout possessed it. Or rather, someone without it could never become an excellent scout.
As cultivation deepened and the soul grew stronger, instinct sharpened with it. Upon reaching the True Person Realm, that instinct underwent a tremendous leap, becoming able to warn of danger before it arrived. Achieving Unity of Heaven and Man brought a qualitative change: the moment someone conceived a malicious scheme against a Great Grandmaster of the Heavenly Human Realm, the Grandmaster could sense it.
Even that was not the limit. Someone who could commune with the world's fundamental Great Dao—its "Heavenly Dao," if one preferred—and anchor themselves to the world could even sense it whenever another person mentioned them, whether by name, identity, or mere epithet.
That made plotting against a Longevity Bearer exceedingly difficult.
A battle of wits between Longevity Bearers resembled a wager with both face-up and hidden cards. Each side could see the other's face-up cards, but not their hidden ones. They had to guess the strength of those cards and judge whether they could win.
If they could win, they fought. If not, they ran.
Both sides had sensed last year's Dragon Boat Festival battle in advance. It happened because each had been brimming with confidence.
There were exceptions to everything, of course. When Di Jiazi swept through the Hundred Schools of Thought, he used some special means