Great Li Martial God

”Jade Wave Peak has sent someone to surrender!”

The person who had brought the news, worried the old Commander had not heard clearly, immediately repeated it.

”How can they be surrendering?”

The white-haired Sikong Xuan furrowed his brow, his expression shifting.

He understood at once that the Jade Wave Peak Master must have gotten word of what had happened in Hundred Refinements City.

Being a Peak Master of Falling God Peak, to surrender at the first sign of things going wrong without putting up even a token resistance was simply without backbone.

With that thought, Sikong Xuan inwardly shook his head repeatedly in disappointment.

Had he known Falling God Peak was full of people with no spine like this, he would have pressed Emperor Yuanwu hard to act directly back in the day. What had been the point of waiting all these years and letting so much time go to waste?

Even thinking like this, however, Sikong Xuan understood clearly that the only reason Jade Wave Peak was surrendering without a fight was that Eighth Prince.

Having killed the Falling God Peak grandmaster and four honored elders single-handedly, if Sikong Xuan had been a Falling God Peak Peak Master he would surrender too.At that point Sikong Xuan suddenly turned to the Tianjin Guards member who had reported this, and said in a firm voice, ”Go and tell Jade Wave Peak’s Peak Master Yumian Jiao that surrender is acceptable, but she must come and kneel before this old man in person, and take one palm strike from him. If she survives, this old man will accept her surrender.”

Hearing this, the reporting Tianjin Guards member looked at Sikong Xuan, who despite his advanced age currently had a most ferocious expression.

He could not quite shake the feeling that this old Commander might be looking for an opportunity to slap Yumian Jiao to death with that palm.

Even so, he did not dare ask or say anything, immediately answered, and rushed out.

At that point the messenger officer, who had reached the doorway, turned back and hesitantly asked Sikong Xuan, ”Commander, should I still proceed with passing the order?”

Hearing this, Sikong Xuan waved a hand and then gave a new instruction, ”What you need to do right now is make sure Commander Fu’s message reaches every last member of the Tianjin Guards. Good news like this ought to let everyone celebrate a little.”

”Understood!”

The messenger officer answered at once, then stepped out with an excited heart, walking with a spring in his stride.

...

The other two Tianjin Guards columns attacking Falling God Peak naturally also received Fu Qiwen’s message in turn.

The Marquis of Dragon Mountain, known throughout the martial world as the Iron-Armed Azure Dragon, listened to his subordinate relay the brief message from Fu Qiwen, and his reaction was even more agitated than Sikong Xuan’s.

He had come to destroy Falling God Peak as a way of repaying the kindness Fu Qiwen had shown him, but he himself was not like Sikong Xuan, on the verge of death. He was someone who placed deep importance on loyalty, and even knowing the risks of this mission were enormous, he had agreed to Fu Qiwen’s request without hesitation.

After all, Fu Qiwen himself had come with the resolve to die, and if the Marquis delayed repaying the debt, the chance might truly never come again.

Even so, having set aside all concern for his life and accepted that he would probably not return from Falling God Peak, even having settled his affairs at home before leaving Shangyang City, this did not mean the Marquis did not want to live.

So when he learned that Li Musheng, the Eighth Prince who had previously killed the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder, had now killed the Falling God Peak grandmaster and all three remaining honored elders, the first thought that rose in his mind alongside his profound shock was that he probably would not have to die after all.

”What kind of person is this Eighth Prince?”

The Marquis of Dragon Mountain could not help exclaiming this aloud after coming back to himself. He had heard about this prince who had been living among common people while in the capital.

At the time he had simply found it a curiosity and had not paid it much further thought. After all, a prince being brought back to the Great Li imperial house was not an insignificant matter, but with no footing or connections in the capital, the other party had clearly seemed to have no real political value worth cultivating.

Yet this prince who had presumably gone unnoticed by everyone, having kept deep secrets and possessing such terrifying martial cultivation, was truly beyond all belief.

At that point the Soaring Vulture Sect leader Gu Shengfeng beside him, having heard Fu Qiwen’s message, stood in a daze for a while before barely managing to come back to himself.

His expression was full of uncertainty and disbelief, and he asked, ”Even the Marquis does not know the Eighth Prince’s background. Is this actually true?”

Before this, they had received one message after another from Fu Qiwen, first that the Eighth Prince had killed Hundred Refinements Peak Master Zheng Yunfeng, and then that the Eighth Prince had killed the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder.

They had all seen the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder’s terrifying power with their own eyes, and had only been left with a deep sense of despair.

So toward the idea that the Eighth Prince could have dealt with the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder, they had still harbored a thread of doubt.

And now Fu Qiwen had issued another order, saying this Eighth Prince had completely wiped out the Falling God Peak grandmaster and honored elders as well.

This news was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, simply too stunning and too overwhelming to process, leaving even these martial world veterans somewhat unable to take it in.

”From what I know of Commander Fu, this should not be wrong. He would absolutely not send false information to deceive us at a time like this.”

The Marquis shook his head. He did not doubt Fu Qiwen’s message in the slightest. He was only stunned by the Eighth Prince.

Hearing this, Gu Shengfeng and the other martial world figures all exchanged looks, their expressions varied.

They very much wanted to believe the Marquis, in which case Falling God Peak’s destruction was clearly a foregone conclusion.

For people who carried a blood debt against Falling God Peak like them, there would normally be no holding back the joy.

But they were genuinely afraid of celebrating too early, only to face a cruel reality at the end, which would make things even more brutal.

The Marquis swept a look over the martial world experts, naturally guessing everyone’s thoughts.

But there was nothing he could do to prove it at this point, so he simply made up his mind and gave the order, ”Notify everyone immediately. All forces gather and advance on the Fourth Peak.”

In the Marquis’s view, if Falling God Peak’s most powerful existences were all gone, then as long as they took the Fourth Peak and drove all the way to Falling God Peak’s main peak, the truth would reveal itself.

But right at that moment, a scene similar to Sikong Xuan’s played out again.

Just after the Marquis had issued his order, someone came rushing in to report that the Fourth Peak Master had sent someone to surrender.

After hearing this, the Marquis of Dragon Mountain and the assembled martial world figures all froze for quite a long while.

The martial world experts all found this difficult to believe.

The Marquis, who had come back to himself, naturally understood the reason behind it. Unable to contain the excitement in his heart, he swept a look over the assembled martial world figures including Gu Shengfeng and said suddenly in a firm voice, ”You all were asking just now whether Commander Fu’s message was true. Well, this is your answer.”

At those words, Gu Shengfeng and the other martial world figures went suddenly still.

Then, one after another, they finally began to understand what all of this meant, and every one of them showed expressions of excitement they could no longer contain.

Soaring Vulture Sect leader Gu Shengfeng was even moved to tears of joy, then broke into sudden laughter. He would finally be able to avenge his sect.

...

After the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the four honored elders fell, three of the six remaining Peak Masters surrendered, and three fled. Not a single one chose to fight to the death.

The reason, beyond each Peak Master’s individual desire to survive, was the more important fact that after the Falling God Peak grandmaster and honored elders had fallen, the prospect of facing a terrifying existence like Li Musheng offered them absolutely no hope whatsoever.

With only two choices before them, they could potentially preserve their own lives and the martial cultivation built through most of a lifetime, so they chose accordingly.

A great many of Falling God Peak’s elders and disciples also scattered, most running or dispersing, which made the Tianjin Guards’s assault essentially collapse without resistance on impact.

The four Tianjin Guards columns attacking Falling God Peak met almost no resistance and took the four peaks with ease.

...

On the hilltop several dozen miles from Hundred Refinements City, the Profound Yin Three Elders, Silver Moon Sword Lord, two Alliance Under Heaven helmsmen, and the others all waited quietly in the darkness for quite a while.

Eventually, the two helmsmen received the falcon message sent by the people they had dispatched.

It was confirmed. The Falling God Peak grandmaster and all four honored elders were dead. Their bodies were lying in the street furrow outside the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion with no one attending to them.

Having received confirmation of the result, everyone’s hearts were naturally far from calm, though during the waiting period they had all, the Profound Yin Three Elders included, already come to sense what the outcome had been.

But actually having their suspicions confirmed was still enough to shake them.

After all, this also meant the Great Li court had won this battle tonight, and Falling God Peak would be removed from the martial world’s roster after this.

The Profound Yin Three Elders had previously said that after tonight the martial world might be down to three great sects, and now it had truly come to pass.

Yet the Profound Yin Three Elders and the others could not feel the slightest pleasure.

Everything that had happened in Hundred Refinements City tonight they had watched from a distance.

The Scarlet Fire Honored Elder, the Falling God Peak grandmaster, and the other honored elders, existences of such terrifying power, had all died at the hands of that single Great Li martial artist in a single night.

By rights, the four great martial world sects were competitors with each other, and had no small number of grudges and entanglements between them. Even the Primal Yin Origin Sect and the Alliance Under Heaven had previously schemed and intended to bring in the Great Yan Sword Sect to eliminate Falling God Peak.

Yet now, having witnessed the destruction of Falling God Peak with their own eyes, there was not an ounce of gloating among them.

Instead there was deep unease in their hearts, a feeling of grieving as one grieves for a dead fox as if for a rabbit.

After all, they understood very clearly that the Great Li court had always had its eye on the four great martial world sects, eager to be rid of all of them. The Great Li Tianjin Guards moving against Falling God Peak was the court showing its claws for the first time.

If the Great Li court’s plan to destroy Falling God Peak had failed, things would have been different.

Though Falling God Peak would still be standing, the Great Li court would have suffered a setback, and would certainly not lightly try to encroach on the four great sects again. The standing and security of the three remaining sects could have been guaranteed without worry for the next decade at minimum.

But now Falling God Peak had lost.

And lost so quickly, failing to even slow the Great Li Tianjin Guards’s assault for a single night.

More importantly, Falling God Peak’s most powerful existences, the grandmaster and the four honored elders, had all fallen. They had not even been able to escape from the Great Li martial artist in Hundred Refinements City.

This result left everyone present, the Silver Moon Sword Lord and Profound Yin Three Elders included, feeling a profound fear.

Or more accurately, a fear of that specific Great Li martial artist.

At that moment they truly could not gauge what level of strength the other party’s martial cultivation had actually reached.

The Profound Yin Three Elders stood on the pine treetops with dark expressions, looking toward Hundred Refinements City with shifting eyes.

”What do you make of all this?”

One of the Profound Yin Three Elders suddenly looked at the Silver Moon Sword Lord and asked.

The white-robed elder’s expression was also not pleasant. Faced with the question, he was quiet for a moment before speaking with gravity, ”Falling God Peak being destroyed is without question the most significant event in the Great Li martial world in close to a hundred years. We must send this news back to our sect as quickly as possible.”

Hearing this, the Profound Yin Three Elders let out a cold snort, and one of them said contemptuously, ”You know that is not what I am asking.”

”Falling God Peak has been destroyed by the Great Li court. You must understand that the Great Li will inevitably come for our three sects next. The only unknown is which one that Emperor Yuanwu will choose to target first.”

The white-robed elder glanced at the Profound Yin Three Elders, then let out a long and heavy sigh, ”This old one naturally understands your meaning, but what does understanding it change? This is not something you or I can decide. The sect must deliberate and determine it, and saying more right now is useless.”

Hearing this, the Profound Yin Three Elders cast the white-robed elder a cold sidelong look, then continued, ”What we are saying is quite simple. Before, your Great Yan Sword Sect refused our sect’s and the Alliance Under Heaven’s proposal for a joint alliance. Surely now, facing the Great Li court, you are not still stubbornly going to sit and watch the Great Li court pick you off one by one and see your own sect destroyed?”

At those words, the two Alliance Under Heaven helmsmen, who had not said a word throughout, both shifted their expressions and immediately spoke, ”The honored elder’s words are exactly right. To be candid, before tonight we had never appreciated how formidable the Great Li court truly was, that they could bring down Falling God Peak with just the Tianjin Guards alone. This has completely exceeded our expectations.”

”Our standing is too low for our words to carry much weight, but even we understand that in a situation like this, there is strength in unity, and only by uniting can we meet whatever the Great Li court plans next.”

At that point the white-robed elder swept a look over the group, shook his head, and said, ”This old one has never said anything about the Great Yan Sword Sect not joining you in alliance. On the contrary, this old one’s thinking is actually no different from yours.”

”It is simply that this matter must be decided by the sect. What is most important right now is that we report the situation here back as quickly as possible, so that the sect can make its decisions and deal with whatever comes next in the Great Li martial world.”

Hearing this, the Profound Yin Three Elders exchanged looks and said no more.

The Silver Moon Sword Lord was no fool either, and what needed to be done was something everyone understood.

At that point one of the Profound Yin Three Elders thought for a moment, then turned to look at the two Alliance Under Heaven helmsmen and said firmly, ”When you report the situation of this battle between the Great Li Tianjin Guards and Falling God Peak back to the Alliance, do your utmost to fully convey the gravity of what you have seen and heard tonight, and ensure the Alliance takes it with the utmost seriousness.”

”In particular regarding the martial artist in Hundred Refinements City tonight. If the Alliance shows even the slightest contempt for this matter, the consequences they will eventually pay will be beyond imagination.”

The two Alliance Under Heaven helmsmen gave slight nods. They naturally understood what the Profound Yin Three Elders meant, and only with the Great Li court taken seriously enough would the three-sect alliance proceed smoothly.