Great Li Martial God

Hu Rui’an set himself in motion, leaped straight up into the air, and cleared the high wall of the Tianjin Guards branch office in one bound, disappearing from Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong’s sight.

Seeing this, Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong exchanged a look, then swept their gazes around the dark, silent alleyways nearby.

At some point, a cool wind had picked up on the quiet, dark street behind them, making both of them instinctively tuck their necks down slightly.

Even so, neither of them found anything out of the ordinary.

At the same time, Hu Rui’an drifted soundlessly down into the courtyard of the Tianjin Guards branch office.

The Sheng Province Tianjin Guards building at night was shrouded in darkness throughout. Every door of every hall and room was shut, no lanterns were lit anywhere along the corridors, no one was keeping watch, and the entire place was wrapped in an eerie, oppressive quiet.

Hu Rui’an entered the building and made his way along the courtyard’s covered corridor. He moved without a sound, not even disturbing the hem of his robe, his figure drifting like a ghost as he walked.

Hu Rui’an was not familiar with the layout of this Tianjin Guards office. He simply walked and observed the surroundings as he went.

His purpose was twofold: to see a ghost, and to look for any irregularities within the building.

After all, in the entire Sheng Province provincial city, hauntings had appeared nowhere else. Only the Tianjin Guards office had them. And the matter had claimed the life of a Garrison Inspector and numerous martial world experts. There was certainly something more to it.As time passed in the dark and silent night, Hu Rui’an had covered most of the Tianjin Guards building without encountering anything unusual.

He furrowed his brow slightly. But when he reached a secluded hall in the northeastern corner of the compound, his steps suddenly halted, and he stopped in place.

Hu Rui’an’s gaze fell on the hall ahead. Unlike all the other buildings in the compound, whose doors and windows were firmly shut and locked, this particular hall’s main door was not fully closed. A narrow gap had been left open.

The night was deep and heavy, and the surrounding silence was so complete it was almost audible.

He looked at the hall ahead with its slightly open door, and narrowed his eyes slightly, then began moving soundlessly and steadily closer.

At the same time, his aura locked onto every direction around the hall, ensuring that no movement or sound of any kind could escape his awareness.

Just at that moment, a dark shape suddenly slipped out through the gap in the hall’s door.

Hu Rui’an’s eyes shifted, and on instinct he moved to act. But very quickly he found that the dark shape was nothing more than an all-black cat of unusually large size.

The cat seemed to sense the dangerous aura emanating from Hu Rui’an. It stopped its scrambling run abruptly, raised a pair of gleaming green eyes, and looked directly at Hu Rui’an.

Then its mouth opened and it let out a sharp meow, abruptly breaking the silence of the darkness around them.

Hu Rui’an’s brow furrowed slightly. He lowered his hand from where it had been poised to strike, and looked the large cat over for a moment.

The cat was jet-black throughout, but whatever it had been fed on growing up, it had somehow grown to the size of a mongrel dog, powerful and stocky in build, utterly unlike any ordinary cat.

Hu Rui’an shook his head. It was just a cat, and not something he had any reason to concern himself with.

He paid the creature no further attention and kept his gaze directed at the hall ahead.

But just at that moment, a bone-chilling laugh suddenly drifted from somewhere in the courtyard behind him.

He snapped around to look. The darkness behind him was completely empty, but that eerie, sinister laugh continued to ring out in wave after wave.

”Putting on a puppet show.”

Hu Rui’an let out a cold snort, and his figure vanished from where he stood in the blink of an eye. In moments, he was at the spot from which the laughter had come, carrying a tremendous surge of martial True Qi with him.

Yet what caught Hu Rui’an somewhat off guard was that the moment his afterimage materialized, the sound vanished into thin air.

And just at that moment, a blurred shadow appeared from somewhere outside Hu Rui’an’s line of sight, drifting soundlessly past directly behind him.

He felt it through some instinct and whipped around to look, catching only a vague, indistinct, wavering ”ghost shadow” drifting slowly past right before his eyes.

”Pointless.”

Hu Rui’an said in a low, sharp voice. Without moving his feet, he raised his hand and reached across the space between them toward the ghost shadow.

In an instant, the heaven and earth True Qi in the surrounding air coalesced above the shadow into a massive hand that swept up a roaring wind, blanketing a space of several zhang in every direction, and without warning came crashing down from above straight toward the ghost shadow.

”Heh... heh...”

The eerie laughter suddenly sounded again from directly behind Hu Rui’an, with a faint note of mockery within it.

The next instant, the ghost shadow that had seemed moments away from being seized by the massive True Qi hand dispersed from where it stood, dissolving into nothing.

The great hand closed on empty air.

Before long, the vanished blurred ghost shadow quietly reappeared somewhere on the rooftop not far from Hu Rui’an.

It drifted back and forth in that same vague, wavering way along the eaves, and together with the bone-chilling laughter seemed to carry an unmistakable air of provocation aimed at Hu Rui’an below.

Seeing this, Hu Rui’an’s expression darkened completely.

He turned to one side, his gaze shifting between the ghost shadow on the eaves and the darkness from which the strange laughter rang out with no figure in sight.

Hu Rui’an’s face grew stern. The ghost shadow and the laughter were behaving as if he were of no account whatsoever, which genuinely stirred his anger.

In the next instant, Hu Rui’an gently closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again.

In an instant, his aura exhaled outward like the breath of the earth’s lungs turning over, and with him at the center, the surrounding heaven and earth True Qi solidified like mountains.

The invisible True Qi formed in the air above like a thunderous beating drum, and its sound burst outward with the force to swallow rivers and seas, instantly suppressing and drowning out the eerie laughter.

At the same time, Hu Rui’an’s robes billowed like a thousand sails catching the wind. Leaving only a streak of afterimage in his original position, he appeared in the next instant directly behind the ghost shadow.

Then, without any warning, he drove a palm forward, the palm wind tearing through space, carrying a surging, overbearing force like something that could split the sky and topple mountains and shatter their ridges.

Even a typical Heaven-Human expert taking this palm head-on would likely have their True Qi shattered on the spot, their bones snapped, and their body destroyed.

It was clear that Hu Rui’an was genuinely angry, and intended to teach this thing that was putting on a ghost show just what he was capable of.

As for whether he would kill whatever it was outright with this palm, he was past caring. If that was the result, then the thing had brought it entirely upon itself.

If he did not resort to real force, this thing might actually go on thinking he was as easy to toy with and bully as all the others before him had been.

With a booming impact, the entire space before Hu Rui’an seemed to collapse beneath his palm.

The blurred, wavering ghost shadow also broke apart beneath the strike, dispersing from mid-air into nothing.

At the same time, the eerie laughter in the distance seemed to be shaken apart and dissipated by the powerful sound waves, like a great drum of the ancient era beaten into silence.

In an instant, the entire night above the Tianjin Guards building went still again. Both the ghost shadow and the laughter had vanished in the wake of Hu Rui’an’s thunderous strike.

Hu Rui’an’s figure drifted silently down onto the rooftop tiles, and the heaven and earth True Qi that had gathered around him gradually dispersed.

He swept a glance around his surroundings. Everything was empty and still. The only thing of note was that the large black cat was crouching on the stone steps before the hall with the half-open door, its head tilted upward, its gemstone-green eyes looking up at Hu Rui’an on the roof.

Then, very quickly, the large black cat opened its mouth and let out another sharp meow, and then turned its head to look somewhere not far from Hu Rui’an’s side.

Something stirred in Hu Rui’an, and he turned his head abruptly to look.

The ghost shadow he had just shattered into nothing was now, once again, swaggering along in mid-air not far from where he stood, drifting about in utter silence without a care.

And just at that moment, the bone-chilling laughter sounded once more from directly above Hu Rui’an.

The piercing laughter had now shed any pretense of concealment, carrying undisguised mockery, contempt, and a deeply sinister, bone-freezing quality.

Seeing this, Hu Rui’an’s expression changed.

It was obvious that the ghost shadow and the laughter were somehow impervious to his attacks, and he appeared to have no means of dealing with these supernatural-seeming things.

Even so, Hu Rui’an naturally was not willing to simply give up. He acted again without hesitation.

But unfortunately, the result was almost exactly the same as before. He simply could not do anything about the ghost shadow or the laughter.

If anything, the ghost shadow and the laughter grew increasingly brazen in their mockery of him, to the point where they were almost hovering right at his side, practically whispering into his ear with that sinister, icy tone.

”Who are you, exactly?”

The ghost shadow and the laughter were too bizarre, and Hu Rui’an was completely at a loss as to how to deal with them. He could only retreat slightly to put some distance between himself and them, while calling out in a low, stern voice.

Yet the ghost shadow and the laughter showed not the slightest intention of responding. They clung to him like his own shadow, like rot boring into bone, following wherever he went.

Wherever he went, the ghost shadow and the laughter followed. Hu Rui’an found he simply could not shake them no matter what he did.

Left with no other option, he had no choice but to keep striking, but the situation still showed no sign of improvement.

Meanwhile, the large black cat sitting on the stone steps before the hall, its green eyes watching all of this unfold, simply extended its tongue and calmly licked its own paw.

Hu Rui’an glanced at the cat and the hall behind it, then noticed that as time passed the ghost shadow and laughter were drawing closer and closer toward him.

His expression shifted rapidly through a succession of changes, and he immediately turned and retreated as a streak of afterimage, intending to leave the Tianjin Guards branch office for the time being.

The bizarre nature of the ghost shadow and laughter left him deeply unsettled, and as they drew steadily closer, the sense of crisis building in his heart grew more acute with every passing moment.

His rational mind kept warning him that it was no longer safe to remain here.

Very quickly, Hu Rui’an’s figure flickered over the high wall of the Tianjin Guards building and appeared before Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong, who were keeping watch at the gate.

Seeing Hu Rui’an come out, both of them moved forward quickly to ask, ”Commissioner, did you find anything?”

But before the words had fully left their mouths, an extremely cold, icy laugh reached their ears, sending chills running down their backs.

Both of them instinctively looked up toward the lintel above the Tianjin Guards gate, and saw a blurred, wavering, ghost-like shadow drifting through the air, with wave after wave of laughter emanating from around it.

Even so, the ghost shadow and laughter stopped at the edge of the compound and showed no sign of coming out.

Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong’s expressions turned to alarm in an instant, and they looked urgently toward Hu Rui’an. He did not offer any detailed explanation, and only said, ”Let’s move away from here first.”

With that, he took a last look at the Tianjin Guards building before him, then took Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong with him and left without stopping.

Just after they had put some distance between themselves and the building, Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong suddenly looked back over their shoulders. Both of them had picked out, from within the cold and sinister laughter, a single unmistakably clear word: ”Die.”

Only after Hu Rui’an and the others had completely disappeared did the ghost shadow and laughter above the Tianjin Guards gate slowly dissipate.

At that moment, from a dark alleyway not far away, the old man who had been pushing the cart of tea sacks stepped silently out of the night.

He watched the direction in which Hu Rui’an and the three had gone, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said quietly to himself, ”I thought perhaps you would manage to find something. In the end, it seems there will simply be three more corpses tomorrow.”

With that, the old man turned his head and looked toward the Tianjin Guards gate for a moment, but made no move to approach, only shaking his head before turning away and disappearing into the darkness.

At the same time, Hu Rui’an and the other two rode swiftly through the night, each of them silent without a word.

Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong exchanged a glance, and seeing that Hu Rui’an’s expression was not good, they had the good sense not to ask anything further.

Half an incense stick’s worth of time later, the three of them reined in their horses in front of a grand residence hung with palace lanterns and gleaming with red walls and glazed tiles.

Hu Rui’an sat upright in the saddle, looked at the two characters reading ”Mei Residence” on the plaque above the gate, then turned to Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong and said, ”The haunting affair at the Tianjin Guards office is no simple matter. It is somewhat beyond what I expected.”

As he spoke, his expression turned gravely serious, and he said, ”Both of you remember this. No matter what happens tomorrow, you must stay close to... His Highness’s side.”

Hu Rui’an let out a sigh. He had originally intended to have Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong stay by his own side so he could watch over them and prevent them from running into trouble after encountering the ghost shadow and laughter.

But on reflection, he was beginning to have some concerns about his own safety as well.

Tomorrow, it seemed the truly wise and safe choice might genuinely be to stay close to Li Musheng.

Hearing this, Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong exchanged a glance, a flash of surprise in their eyes, and promptly took Hu Rui’an’s instruction to heart.

After all, if even Hu Rui’an was this wary of the ghost shadow and laughter in the Tianjin Guards branch office, they naturally knew their own limits and understood what they needed to do to come out alive.

After that, Hu Rui’an said nothing more. The purpose of their visit to the Mei Residence was to see the Sheng Province Tianjin Guards Branch Deputy Commander Mei Yan.

The haunting affair at the Tianjin Guards office would have to be set aside for the time being. Though Hu Rui’an still found it deeply suspicious and felt it might provide a breakthrough, it was clear the situation was more complicated than he had anticipated. He was not in a position to keep investigating it right now, and could only return to the main course of handling the Sheng Province business.

Of course, Hu Rui’an was privately also aware that this visit would likely not produce much either.

After all, he and Mei Yan held equivalent ranks, while the other man’s family background and standing far outstripped his own. If Mei Yan simply chose to be uncooperative and give him the runaround, there was not a great deal he could do about it even with Li Musheng’s status as a prince behind him.

But regardless, he still had to come and try.

After knocking and having a servant carry the message in, Hu Rui’an took Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong and followed a gatekeeper into the depths of the estate.

Palace lanterns were hung high throughout the Mei Residence, lighting the entire compound as bright as midday.

Before long, the three of them were led to a rear garden and brought to a stop.

Unlike the Tianjin Guards branch office with its coldness like a ghost’s domain, this place was ablaze with lights and filled with the sound of voices and activity, a bright and lively scene in every direction.