Great Li Martial God

The young man in white braced one hand against the ground, crouching low. The bluestone slab beneath his palm let out a crack and split apart.

His face had gone pale with shock. He snapped his head up and looked toward the only open window on the second floor of the inn.

Yet the people by the window had not even spared him another glance, simply continuing to drink their tea without a care.

The young man in white’s expression shifted, and a flash of stunned fury rose in his eyes.

But he seemed to realize that Li Musheng’s group was not to be trifled with, and in the end gritted his teeth and, thoroughly defeated, turned around and leaped up onto the eaves of a shop behind him, crouching silently on the roof ridge.

Back inside the second floor of the inn, the other guests seemed to have been startled by the sight of Wu Shang throwing the man out the window, and the room fell completely silent.

Hu Rui’an, for his part, had remained perfectly composed throughout the whole affair and said nothing further.

While he had no desire to stir up unnecessary trouble, that did not mean he shied away from it either. As a subordinate, his role was naturally to act entirely according to the will of the Eighth Prince before him.

Wu Shang took a step back and returned to his original position, standing in attendance beside the table.

He cast a slight sideways glance through the open window at the young man in white crouched on the rooftop across the way.Before long, the sound of guests whispering among themselves drifted to his ears and broke the stillness of the second floor. Someone appeared to have recognized the young man in white’s identity, saying he was the son of the leader of the nearby White Sand Gang, a group with a fearsome reputation across several hundred li in every direction and undisputedly the most powerful gang in the area, one no one dared to provoke.

By tangling with him, they were surely in for a world of trouble from here on out...

Wu Shang caught the tail end of this and narrowed his eyes, unbothered, then withdrew his gaze and paid the young man in white no further attention.

The young man crouching on the rooftop, meanwhile, was keeping a careful eye on Li Musheng and the others while waiting for the two parties of the scheduled duel to appear in the street below.

He was turning it over seriously in his mind, gauging the strength and background of Li Musheng’s group and wondering whether to retaliate by having his father bring men to recover his face.

As the eldest son of the White Sand Gang, he was no naive newcomer to the martial world. Bullying the weak and giving way to the strong had always been his guiding principle. The formidable he avoided, while soft targets were naturally there to be pushed around.

Even so, he could not read Li Musheng’s group at a glance, and in the end had no choice but to set the matter aside and shift his attention to the street below.

Before long, the clatter of clear, brisk hoofbeats rang out from both ends of the stone-paved main street, and two figures on horseback came riding toward each other from opposite ends, then stopped at the center of the street with roughly ten zhang of distance between them.

The young man in white pressed himself lower, his gaze fixed on the two riders below.

One was around thirty years old, with a broad saber strapped across his back, a square and upright face, and a powerfully built, heavily muscled frame that radiated an impression of extraordinary physical might.

The other held a silver long spear with a red tassel, and was roughly the same age as his opponent. His back was straight as a pine tree, his features lean and sharp, and from his tall, upright frame emanated an aura of barely contained keen-edged menace.

”I have long heard of the great name of the ’God-Slaying Spear’ in the martial world, said to be capable of breaking every weapon under heaven with a single thrust. What a pity I have never had the chance to witness it. Today, since there is no erasing the grievance between us, let us settle both who is superior and who lives and dies.”

The muscular young man with the broad saber sat upright in the saddle, looking across at his opponent without expression.

The air between them grew heavy with a killing chill, enough to make his tall horse let out a loud, uneasy snort.

Hearing this, the tall young man gave a cold laugh, his expression utterly indifferent, and sneered, saying, ”Out in the world, everyone accepts that life and death are their own to bear. Your fellow disciples lacked the skill to match me and died by my hand. That is the most natural thing in the world. Yet you just couldn’t let it go.”

”Very well. Today I will send you to join them underground, and with any luck you will all remember in your next lives not to provoke me again.”

As he spoke, the long spear in the tall young man’s hand suddenly shuddered violently, sending a scattering of silver light spreading out before him like broken glass.

At the same time, he launched himself from the saddle in a burst of movement, becoming a dark afterimage surging forward beneath that spray of silver light, splitting the surrounding air with a sharp, ringing crack.

Seeing this, the muscular young man’s eyes darkened with murderous intent blazing across his face.

The heavy broad saber that had been strapped to his back was somehow already in his hand, its five-foot blade turning with nimble, sweeping precision.

In the next instant, the blade crashed down before him like a famished tiger roaring through the forest, or like a great river rushing unstoppable in full flood, unleashing a rolling, massive torrent of blade energy that blanketed the entire space in front of him.

Rather than retreating, the tall young man pressed forward. The scattered silver light abruptly converged, and the silver gleam exploded outward as the spear tip shook out ten points of cold, piercing light, each one aimed directly at the muscular young man’s brow.

The spear thrust surged forth like a leaping dragon, its force overbearing and unstoppable, pressing forward without pause, completely disregarding the vast blade energy that rose like a great river to meet it.

Yet the broad saber in the muscular young man’s hands remained utterly steady, and as the blade fell it seemed to construct an impenetrable wall of steel.

It met the scattering points of silver light head on, and in that instant the main street erupted with a succession of metallic clashes, like a hundred bronze bells ringing out all at once.

Bang, bang, bang!

The blade energy and the silver gleam both detonated simultaneously in that single moment, and the shockwaves from the collision scattered outward in every direction, overturning one stall after another that had not yet been cleared from the roadside, and sending roof tiles flying from the shops along the street in great sweeping sheets.

The surrounding area was reduced to a scene of complete destruction in an instant, and even the young man in white crouching on a nearby roof ridge was caught in the blast of force and let out a startled cry before scrambling hastily back.

At the same time, both combatants let out a muffled grunt, and each went flying in the opposite direction, traveling well over ten zhang through the air before barely managing to stop themselves.

At this point, Hu Rui’an cast a look down at the street from beside the second-floor window and said slowly, ”The God-Slaying Spear Sect is known throughout the martial world for the God-Slaying Spear Art, and is considered a sizable force within the martial world of Great Li. The sect also possesses a divine spear passed down as its most treasured weapon. It has not made the weapon rankings, but it is nonetheless a remarkable and formidable weapon.”

As he spoke, Hu Rui’an’s gaze turned toward Li Musheng at the table, for these words were naturally intended as an explanation for his benefit.

However, he found that Li Musheng did not appear to be paying any attention to the duel below and was instead staring blankly, clearly absorbed in some other thought entirely.

Seeing this, Hu Rui’an furrowed his brow slightly and said, ”It seems the Young Master has no interest in this duel?”

Hearing this, Li Musheng drew his thoughts back from the Azure Dragon Profound Darkness Scripture. He cast a glance down at the street below, raised an eyebrow, and said, ”Two small fry pecking at each other. What’s worth watching?”

The moment those words fell, Murong Xiaoya sitting opposite froze briefly, looking somewhat taken aback, and asked in a small, timid voice, ”Then... why did you open the window?”

Li Musheng looked at Murong Xiaoya, who went red in the face the moment she spoke, and said plainly, ”That question shows a real lack of imagination, Miss. I opened the window for fresh air and ventilation, naturally.”