Great Li Martial God

Hearing this, the down-and-out scholar spoke with a thoughtful expression, ”I have heard that several significant things recently occurred in the Great Li capital, one of which was that the Emperor Yuanwu acknowledged a new Eighth Prince. Apparently that prince had been living among common people for some time and had never appeared in the Great Li court before. Could this perhaps be the very person?”

The other three exchanged glances, and the elderly man Wu Yong said slowly, ”That possibility cannot be ruled out. But regardless of which prince has moved, the likelihood that the Great Li court is genuinely acting against Falling God Peak this time is not low.”

”And given that Momo is convinced this prince’s martial cultivation is unfathomably deep, he may well be the very source of the Great Li court’s confidence in this matter.”

At those words, the full-figured woman Lin Tang’s expression shifted, and she looked toward the elderly man, saying, ”An opportunity like this is extremely rare. Perhaps it is also an opportunity for us.”

At that, both the down-and-out scholar Sui Zhen and the young woman Lin Yuer had a flash of sharp light pass through their eyes.

”I suggest we pass this information back to the order immediately. If it is confirmed that the Great Li court and Falling God Peak are truly in conflict, we who are of divine nature absolutely cannot sit by and watch.”

Lin Yuer spoke in a firm voice, while Sui Zhen narrowed his eyes and said, ”When the snipe and the clam fight, it is the fisherman who profits. Even if the Great Li court cannot bring down Falling God Peak, it will certainly throw the other side into considerable turmoil.”

”If we seize the opportunity to ascend Falling God Peak and take the blood of divine nature they have accumulated over the years, both our divine power and the strength of our order will rise to an entirely new level.”

At those words, the three of them fell silent for a moment, and in the end the elderly man Wu Yong spoke, ”We send word back to the order first. With Momo keeping watch on that group, we can also confirm their intentions from the shadows and know their whereabouts at any time.”

Hearing this, the full-figured woman nodded, but then quickly shook her head, saying, ”I will handle the message. But Little Sister has a willful and restless nature that brooks no restraint. She is with that prince right now, and if we want to reach her, we will likely have to see whether she is even willing to respond to us.”At those words, Lin Tang sighed and simply shook her head repeatedly.

Among all those of divine nature, the circumstances of the three sisters were highly unusual, and among the three of them, Little Sister’s situation was the most unusual of all.

If she chose to wander off wherever she pleased, there was truly no one who could rein her in.

At that, the elderly man Wu Yong and the down-and-out scholar Sui Zhen seemed well aware of this fact themselves, and could only say with resignation, ”Do what you can. After all, Momo is on our side.”

...

The Bai family estate.

Murong Xiaoya stood in her black robes amidst the roaring flames, molten gold vortexes visible in her eyes, her fine features cold and expressionless.

Before her, the middle-aged man from Falling God Peak and Mei Yanyu were recounting one by one the relationship between the Mei family and Falling God Peak, answering from time to time the questions Murong Xiaoya put to them.

”Miss Murong, I have told you everything you wished to know. The four great families’ assault on the Murong family had absolutely nothing to do with my Mei family. I ask that you show mercy and allow us to leave.”

Mei Yanyu stopped speaking and looked anxiously toward Murong Xiaoya with folded hands.

Beside him, the middle-aged man from Falling God Peak had been burned by the surrounding flames until he was in a pitiful state, without a single inch of skin or flesh left undamaged, and was now racked with agony, crying out desperately, ”I have told you everything I know. I beg you to spare my life. If you keep burning me I will truly be burned to death...”

Hearing this, Murong Xiaoya said nothing. She simply raised her hand slightly.

In the next instant, the middle-aged man, who had already been burned so thoroughly he was nearly charred through, fell abruptly silent as his heart burst open and dissolved directly into a mist of blood.

At that point Murong Xiaoya spoke calmly, ”My father once told me that Falling God Peak had bullied and humiliated the Murong family for years, and that the family had endured it in silence only because of Falling God Peak’s power. There is no longer any need to endure.”

The middle-aged man’s charred remains then collapsed, and the blood mist condensed into a thread of refined blood that Murong Xiaoya absorbed.

Seeing this, Mei Yanyu and the elderly man beside him both went pale.

But before either of them could speak, Mei Yanyu felt his heart suddenly clench, and at the same moment Murong Xiaoya’s utterly flat voice reached his ears, ”Of the twenty-one things you said just now, three of them were lies. I told you before, anyone who dares deceive me will bear the consequences themselves.”

”No...”

”Stop!”

Mei Yanyu and the elderly servant cried out almost simultaneously. The True Qi barrier the old man had been secretly building to protect Mei Yanyu’s heart collapsed in an instant, and Mei Yanyu’s heart burst open and became a mist of blood along with it.

Mei Yanyu had only managed to cry out that final word in terror before the life within him was entirely gone.

”Young Master!”

The elderly servant was overcome with both grief and fury, and moved immediately to catch hold of the body. But in the next instant, red-gold flames erupted from Mei Yanyu without any wind to stir them, and in the blink of an eye he was burned to drifting ash.

”You... are seeking your own death!”

The elderly servant’s outstretched hand froze in mid-air. The expression on his aged face went rigid, and then killing intent erupted from his entire body like a pillar of fire reaching the sky, as he spun sharply to face Murong Xiaoya.

In an instant, the True Qi of heaven and earth in all directions began to churn and roil. The elderly servant stood motionless as a mountain, yet around him an overwhelming pressure built that made it difficult to breathe, the air cracking and booming under the strain, and everything in the surrounding area began to crumble and collapse.

Visibly to the naked eye, the already burning hall was swept through by a formless pulse of energy and reduced to flying ash in an instant, brickwork ground to powder, and the burning embers dissolved without a sound into wisps of pale smoke.

At that moment, even the firelight illuminating the old man’s body was twisting in an unsettling way, as though even the light itself had been subdued by that aged frame.

Then he finally raised a hand, its back laced with prominent veins, as though he were seizing the very fabric of the space before him, and slowly began to close his fingers toward Murong Xiaoya from a distance.

Murong Xiaoya’s figure was slender, her skin white as snow, her crimson hair cascading like a waterfall, her lips a natural red without any adornment.

She stood before the hall that had already ceased to exist, with the force of the entire surrounding world seemingly bearing down and crushing toward her from all directions.

Yet the expression on her face held not the slightest trace of feeling. She simply said slowly, ”Did you think you could escape?”

In the next instant, rolling red-gold flames rose up behind her, and then the empty air suddenly warped and twisted, and a crimson shadow seemed to tear through space as it unfolded, becoming a savage phantom in the shape of a Vermilion Bird.

The Vermilion Bird phantom spread its wings across thirty feet, every feather condensed from the vast fire burning all around it, and as its tail feathers swayed they scattered golden flames that exploded upward into towering pillars of fire reaching the sky.

Murong Xiaoya’s figure vanished from where she stood, and the Vermilion Bird phantom beat its wings and dove in an instant, the shockwave of sound and fire it unleashed sweeping outward in every direction, and the bare rock and earth of the ground below was reduced under the scorching wind to glittering points of glass.

The elderly servant’s pupils suddenly flew wide open. The hand he had just raised was burning to ash before his very eyes, visibly and unmistakably, bit by bit.