Great Li Martial God

With a soft creak, the ornately carved lacquered door swung slowly open.

The Formless Elder, clad in his gray robe, hunched his stooped frame over a gnarled walking stick and shuffled across the threshold with unsteady steps, saying calmly, ”Let’s go.”

The servant instinctively let his peripheral gaze drift into the room, only to see several scantily clad women hanging from the decorative screen inside like marionettes on strings, utterly motionless.

He quickly averted his eyes, not daring to say a word, and turned at once to lead the Formless Elder toward the side hall of the residence.

Arriving at the side hall, Steward Song, dressed in rich blue brocade with hair half gone to white, rose quickly from his chair and came forward to receive him.

”Please take the seat of honor, Senior.”

Steward Song moved to help the Formless Elder to his seat, but the old man waved a hand dismissively and looked up to ask, ”I hear you’ve found the one who killed my disciple. Where is he now?”

Hearing this, the smile that had been plastered across Steward Song’s face flickered with a trace of unease. He clasped his hands and said, ”Please do not be hasty, Senior. We have indeed found the person, but the matter is truly rather tricky. Please sit, and let us discuss it at our leisure.”

The Formless Elder looked at him, furrowed his brow slightly, but leaned on his walking stick and settled into the armchair all the same, saying coldly, ”Rest assured. Simply tell me where they are. This old man will go himself. There is no need for any of you to act.”

Steward Song waved his hands repeatedly and explained, ”Senior has misunderstood. That is not what I meant.”As he spoke, he hesitated for a moment, but in the end came out with it, saying, ”Following the description of the man and woman’s faces that Senior provided, we dispatched people to the city gate guards and sifted through those who had entered the city over the past few days. We did indeed find the two of them.”

”However, as we continued tracing their movements afterward, we discovered that they had actually entered Aurora Pavilion.”

Hearing this, the Formless Elder narrowed his eyes, as though a thought had occurred to him, and said, ”So they came for the Seventh Prince’s identity as well. No wonder they killed my beloved disciple. They were clearly cutting down a potential rival in advance.”

Steward Song looked at him, his gaze shifting uncertainly. Then he let out a heavy sigh and said, ”Senior may not be aware, but based on our investigation, those two did indeed come for the prince’s identity. Yet what we also failed to anticipate was that the person Senior has been looking for turns out to actually be a real prince.”

The moment those words landed, the Formless Elder’s expression froze, and his brow creased deeply. He fixed his gaze on Steward Song and asked in a low, stern voice, ”Are you saying that the one who killed my disciple is the Eighth Prince, the one Emperor Yuanwu recently acknowledged by imperial decree?”

Steward Song could feel the oppressive martial aura radiating from the old man, but he steeled himself and nodded all the same, saying, ”That is indeed the case. Furthermore, they are currently residing within the Tianjin Guards headquarters, which is precisely why I said the matter is tricky.”

The Formless Elder fell silent for a moment, the brow that had already been tightly creased furrowing even deeper.

But just then, the voice of the Second Prince Li Que suddenly came from outside the side hall, saying, ”What does it matter if he is the Eighth Prince? I can still help Senior take revenge.”

As the words fell, Li Que, clad in a plain white robe with a black hemp belt at his waist, stepped into the hall with a purposeful stride.

Seeing this, the Formless Elder slowly rose to his feet, his gaze fixing on Li Que as he narrowed his eyes slightly, saying, ”Does Your Highness truly mean what you just said? That you are willing to help this old man go and kill a prince of Great Li?”

”Naturally I mean it.”

Li Que nodded with a composed expression, then said with an indifferent air, ”I happen to have just come across some news, and this is precisely a good opportunity for Senior to make a move.”

As he spoke, his tone shifted slightly, saying, ”However, once Senior has taken that Eighth Prince into custody, I would ask that you temporarily hand him to me to question about certain matters first. After that, whether you kill him or flay him, I leave entirely to Senior’s discretion.”

Hearing this, the Formless Elder ran his rough, weathered palm over the gnarled walking stick in his hand, the face he wore shifting through a constant parade of different appearances.

After mulling it over for a moment, he looked at Li Que and gave a nod, saying, ”That is agreeable. I ask that Your Highness share the Eighth Prince’s whereabouts with this old man.”

...

The carriage carrying Li Musheng and the other two looked ordinary enough, but the horses pulling it were prime warhorses supplied to Great Li’s military.

The group traveled through the night, and by around midday the following day they had passed through the capital province without a single hindrance, moving at nearly twice the speed of Li Musheng’s previous journey on a mediocre horse.

Yet once they had cleared the capital province, while the official road remained passable, their progress became somewhat more difficult.

The reason, naturally, was the unchecked and lawless behavior of martial world factions throughout the other provinces of Great Li.

Along the way, they were affected to varying degrees by clashes and fights between martial world factions, or by martial world drifters who had turned to banditry and attempted to rob them by blocking the road. All of this caused some disruption to the journey.

Of course, the small-time thieves and robbers, along with the self-styled heroes of the greenwood whose skills with blade and spear barely exceeded common ability, were mostly cultivators who had not even reached the Innate Realm.

Among Li Musheng’s group, even the coachman was a Martial Dao Grand Master, and of the rest, aside from Li Musheng and Right Deputy Commander Hu Rui’an, the two Tianjin Guards Captains riding on horseback were both at a cultivation close to the half-step Grand Master level.

The weakest of the group was probably Murong Xiaoya, but even her martial Dao cultivation had reached the Grandmaster level, making her more than a match for the average denizen of the martial world.

So while the road brought its share of minor troubles, they posed virtually no obstacle to Li Musheng’s group whatsoever.

”Sir, there should be an inn up ahead in the next town where we can rest. The horses have been on the road for most of the day and will need roughly three hours to recover before we can continue.”

The Captain Wu Shang, dressed in close-fitted black with a short sword at his waist, reined in his horse and turned back to bow toward Li Musheng atop the carriage.

Hearing this, Li Musheng simply waved a hand toward Hu Rui’an sitting opposite and said, ”Trivial matters like this you can all decide for yourselves, Commissioner Hu. There is no need to consult me.”

On this journey they were traveling in disguise with a light party, so using the official courier stations of Great Li to change horses was not an option.

Moreover, the timing of their journey to Falling God Peak had been planned in advance, so there was no need to push on day and night without rest.

As far as Li Musheng was concerned, this was perfectly welcome.

He could take advantage of what he witnessed along the way to see for himself whether Falling God Peak, one of the four great sects of the martial world, was truly as deserving of eradication as Fu Qiwen had described.

At this moment, Hu Rui’an, his face round and prosperous-looking, glanced at Li Musheng and gave a gentle nod, saying, ”Everything shall be as Your Highness wishes.”

With that, he reached out and lifted the carriage curtain, turning to the Captain Wu Shang, who was seated upright on his horse, and said, ”Do as you suggested. Try to avoid causing trouble as much as possible, so as not to delay our journey.”

Hearing this, Wu Shang, his skin a deep bronze and his features firm and resolute, gave a nod of agreement and turned his horse to continue forward.

Before long, the group traveled along the official road and arrived at a small but fairly bustling town.