Great Li Martial God

Hearing this, Li Yuanling’s delicate brows furrowed slightly as she placed her hands on her hips and said, ”She won’t even meet her own younger brother, yet spends all day thinking about a fake prince. Who knows what’s going on in her head?”

Speaking thus, she walked up to Li Musheng, raised her hand to pat her own chest, and said with a resolute expression, ”Don’t worry, if your real sister doesn’t want you, you still have me as your sworn sister. However...”

”I hope in the future you can act like a human being and stop backstabbing me, the only sister who treats you well.”

Li Musheng chuckled but made no comment.

Then, his gaze swept over his property in the small hall, and he nodded with satisfaction.

”Alright, remember to make up the gift next time.”

Li Musheng waved his hand, then turned to leave, calling for the Tianjin Guards to take him on a tour of Shangyang City.

Seeing this, Li Yuanling’s eyes shifted as she quickly followed, walking beside him with her hands clasped behind her back, saying, ”I grew up in Shangyang City. I know all the fun places. Are you sure you don’t want to ask my opinion?”

”Oh? I actually forgot about you.”

Li Musheng came to his senses, glanced at her, and said, ”Since you volunteered yourself, then you can show me around.”Hearing this, Li Yuanling rolled her eyes.

But quickly, as if thinking of something, she suddenly said with excitement in her eyes, ”I know a very interesting place, but I’ve never had the chance to go. Today we can go check it out together.”

Li Musheng looked at her suspiciously, raising his hand to stroke his chin, ”Why do I feel this seems unreliable?”

Li Yuanling’s delicate brows furrowed as she placed her hands on her hips, narrowed her eyes, and stared at him, saying, ”Let this princess be frank, when it comes to familiarity with the entire imperial capital, if you can’t even trust me, Princess Huarong, I don’t know who else you could trust?”

”So confident?”

Li Musheng raised his eyebrows, then clapped his hands and said, ”Excellent, excellent. I like confident young ladies.”

...

The Great Li imperial capital.

On the central axis of Vermillion Bird Avenue, near the edge of the imperial palace’s outer walls, stood a luxurious and imposing manor.

Its vermillion gates stood wide open, the entrance towering high, magnificent and majestic.

Before the open gates, armored guards in full battle gear stood solemnly, while traveling martial world figures conversed loudly with one another, creating quite a commotion.

At this moment, a carriage from the Great Li imperial palace came galloping from the end of Vermillion Bird Avenue and suddenly stopped before the manor.

Soon, a clean-shaven, beardless eunuch stepped down from the carriage. He raised his head to glance at the manor before him.

Then he quickly passed by the chatting and laughing martial world figures and approached one of the guards, saying, ”Quickly go notify His Highness the Third Prince. This servant has urgent matters to report.”

Hearing this, the surrounding martial world figures turned to look, all showing curious expressions.

The guard examined the eunuch, saw his anxious expression, and immediately dared not delay, hastily saying, ”Please wait a moment, Eunuch. This lowly one will go report immediately.”

...

In the center of the Second Prince’s manor’s rear garden, amidst artificial hills, ponds, and lush ornamental trees, a massive martial training ground had been constructed.

At this time, the Second Prince Li Que sat upright on an elevated viewing platform. On the grand preceptor chairs to his left and right sat the Third Prince Li Zhu and a white-haired, gray-robed elderly man.

Li Que had refined features and a high-bridged nose, though his eyes held a somewhat sinister quality. The occasional gleam revealed in his gaze displayed sharp keenness.

Beside him, Li Zhu had a slightly more robust build. He was broad-shouldered and thick-bodied with a square face and sword-like brows. His purple silk brocade robe was stretched tight by his imposing physique.

His bright, tiger-like eyes stared at the martial training platform below, cast from refined iron, as he said in a deep voice, ”The martial world experts Second Brother has recruited to his manor today seem even more formidable than usual.”

”That disciple expelled from ’Golden Cauldron Pavilion’ earlier, with his Golden Light Giant Cauldron technique, faced the siege of three Martial Dao Grand Masters alone for an entire incense stick’s worth of time. He didn’t budge an inch, and they couldn’t even break through his true qi defense. It truly opened this younger brother’s eyes.”

Hearing this, Li Que’s expression remained composed as he smiled slightly and said, ”Third Brother is truly blessed to witness this. I heard from the manor servants that a martial world expert has come to the manor today whose martial cultivation is truly breathtaking. That’s why even Elder Zhe personally came to observe the match.”

Speaking thus, he looked toward the gray-robed elder and asked respectfully, ”Elder Zhe, you said that person’s martial cultivation has reached the Heaven-Human Realm. Is this truly so?”

The gray-robed elder had prominent cheekbones and sunken eye sockets, his face full of wrinkles. He lowered his eyes with a sorrowful appearance.

He gently raised his eyes, cupped his hands toward the Second Prince Li Que, his voice like a broken bellows, and said, ”This old one would naturally not deceive Your Highness. That person used only one hand and a single move to make the half-step Heaven-Human expert Zhu Wuming of the Ten Thousand Steles Mountain-Opening Hand kneel on the spot, completely losing the power to resist. Yet not a single person present saw how he made his move.”

”Such methods, unless one is a Heaven-Human expert, even a half-step Heaven-Human far stronger than Zhu Wuming could absolutely not accomplish this so effortlessly.”

Upon hearing this, Li Que’s face showed delight. With smiling eyes, he looked toward Li Zhu and said, ”Third Brother, did you hear that? The martial world advisors in my manor may be gaining another Heaven-Human expert.”

”Then this younger brother offers his congratulations to Second Brother in advance. Next, I must properly observe and appreciate this Heaven-Human expert’s demeanor.”

Li Zhu cupped his hands and laughed heartily. His gaze turned toward the martial training platform, seeing that no one had yet taken the stage.

His eyes shifted slightly as he suddenly changed the subject, turning his head to ask, ”How does Second Brother view that Eighth Prince acknowledged by Father Emperor?”

Hearing this, the Second Prince Li Que narrowed his eyes and waved his hand, saying, ”That Eighth Brother wandered among the common people for twenty years. Consort Jing is already deceased, and he has no foundation whatsoever in the imperial capital. His maternal clan still has the lingering Champion Marquis Manor, but I don’t consider them worth mentioning.”

Speaking thus, he rested his hand on the chair’s armrest, propping up his chin, his eyes sharp as he said, ”The only ones I’ve ever considered opponents are Elder Brother and that fake prince Li Zhi who remains imprisoned in the heavenly prison.”

Hearing this, Li Zhu furrowed his brows tightly and said, ”To be honest, I truly cannot guess Father Emperor’s thoughts. He clearly already knows that Li Zhi is a fake prince, yet why does he delay in dealing with him? He even kept the position of Seventh Prince vacant for him.”

Li Que glanced at him and shook his head, ”Third Brother, you still don’t understand Father Emperor. Father Emperor’s actions naturally have their deeper meaning.”

Li Zhu remained puzzled and cupped his hands, saying, ”What does this mean? Please enlighten me, Second Brother.”

Li Que smiled, his gaze looking deeply toward the direction of the imperial palace, and said, ”Think about the current situation in the world. Great Li has only been established for a hundred years, surrounded by neighboring nations on all sides. Since Father Emperor took over the Great Li foundation from Grandfather, he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to governance, intending to contend for dominance over the realm.”

”To accomplish this, the most important thing is people. The way of emperors is the art of controlling people. Regardless of whether a person is good or bad, as long as they are useful and can be used, they have value in remaining.”

”So in my view, regardless of whether Li Zhi is a true prince or not, I would not kill him, because he is a blade sharp enough to expand territory. Keeping him alive is more useful than killing him.”