Great Li Martial God

Full daylight had come, and the sun rose in the east.

Nine vast and ancient peaks stood in the morning light, wrapped in trailing mist, towering and majestic among the mountains and valleys.

At that moment, most of the Great Li martial world, and indeed the martial world at large, did not yet know that Falling God Peak, a sect at the very summit of the martial world, had quietly been destroyed in a single night, swept away like a change of seas and fields into something that belonged to the past.

At that moment, at the foot of the Falling God Peak main peak, Li Musheng took his leave of Fu Qiwen, the Tianjin Guards commanders, and the assembled martial world experts, and prepared to begin the journey back to the imperial capital.

Fu Qiwen still had the Falling God Peak main peak to manage and a great deal of follow-up work to handle. He could not leave yet.

Hu Rui’an and the other Tianjin Guards experts also had to remain to assist with the effort. After all, Falling God Peak had been a deeply entrenched power with roots spreading in every direction.

They needed to take possession of Falling God Peak’s legacy as quickly as possible, to prevent other forces from moving in and taking what they should not.

”Your servant had the news sent back to the imperial capital overnight. Your Highness, take care on the road. Once your servant has finished here, I will return to the capital and pay my respects to Your Highness at the first opportunity.”

Fu Qiwen bowed formally and bid Li Musheng farewell with great solemnity. Li Musheng simply waved a hand, then boarded the carriage with the big black cat and the lovestruck young woman.

The carriage then moved quickly away at the sound of coachman Cao Gaoshan’s whip.Murong Xiaoya and Hu Rui’an both stood at Fu Qiwen’s side, watching the carriage grow smaller in the distance.

Murong Xiaoya had not followed Li Musheng. She had decided to remain and assist Fu Qiwen.

There would be a great deal to do ahead, and for her, staying busy was the best way to keep her mind from drifting back to thoughts of the Murong family.

”I rather miss the days of traveling together with His Highness. Back then I still thought he was unremarkable in his martial ability, and I was quietly wondering how to keep him alive. And His Highness was so easy to be around, without any airs of a prince at all. We got along easily.”

Hu Rui’an spoke with feeling. The man standing behind him, Wu Shang, drew his gaze back from the departing carriage and furrowed his brow slightly, quietly asking, ”Sir, you are not suggesting that His Highness now has airs, are you?”

”I said nothing of the sort. His Highness is still the same person he always was. It is we who have changed, now that we truly understand his strength. We can no longer approach him with the same ease we once had.”

Hu Rui’an let out a sigh, and Fu Qiwen beside him looked back at him briefly, feeling the same sentiment himself.

But very quickly, he collected himself. His expression steadied, and he turned to the assembled Tianjin Guards under his command and gave the order, ”We can now begin to formally and gradually release the news to the world. Under the leadership of the Eighth Prince, the Tianjin Guards has struck Falling God Peak from the record.”

”From this day forward, there is no longer any Falling God Peak in this world!”

...

After leaving the Falling God Peak main peak, Li Musheng traveled along the wide mountain road toward the outer edge of Falling God Peak’s territory.

But when the carriage passed through Hundred Refinements City, the coachman Cao Gaoshan gently reined in the horses, letting the carriage slow to a stop.

He turned back to look, and before he could say a word, Li Musheng from inside the carriage reached out and drew back the curtain.

The linen-robed elder and Lin Xunner were standing at the broken city gate of Hundred Refinements City, and had clearly been waiting for quite some time.

The moment they saw Li Musheng in the carriage, neither said very much. They simply slowly bowed their bodies and knelt, paying him three full bowing salutes.

Lin Xunner’s pale forehead pressed against the mud-covered dirt, and she paid it not the slightest mind, expressing her thanks to Li Musheng in this most direct way she knew.

”It seems the great vengeance has been fulfilled.”

At the sight, Li Musheng gave a nod. He looked at the linen-robed elder and Lin Xunner, and then his expression shifted slightly as he spoke, ”There is no need to thank me. I did not help very much. That said, if you insist on thanking me, I will not refuse.”

At those words, the linen-robed elder and Lin Xunner, having finished their kowtows, exchanged a glance. The linen-robed elder immediately clasped his hands and said, ”If not for Your Highness, my granddaughter and I would have had no hope of vengeance. Whatever Your Highness may command, this old one is willing to serve faithfully.”

Lin Xunner also turned her small face upward, still dusted with dirt, and looked earnestly at Li Musheng in the carriage, ”That Your Highness made it possible for me to avenge my elder sister is a debt of the greatest kindness. Whatever you require, even if it means walking through blades and fire, Xunner will do everything in her power to make it happen.”

At those words, Li Musheng looked the two of them over and waved a hand, ”There is no need to put it so gravely. The Tianjin Guards are simply in great need of capable people right now, and I think both of you are rare talents. Why not join the Tianjin Guards? There will surely be much ahead for you to accomplish.”

The moment he said this, the linen-robed elder and Lin Xunner exchanged a glance, and without much hesitation both quickly nodded in agreement.

”As long as Your Highness does not mind this old one’s age and failing strength, and the fact that he likely does not have much time left, this old one would be most willing to serve Your Highness.”

The linen-robed elder was perfectly candid, and explained his situation to Li Musheng plainly.

Li Musheng shook his head and said, ”It does not matter. Stay as long as you can. The Tianjin Guards has decent provisions. At the very least, there will certainly be no shortage of funeral expenses.”

At those words, the linen-robed elder’s eyelid gave a sharp twitch.

Even so, from his perspective, this was not such a bad arrangement. Joining a great institutional force like the court meant his final affairs would naturally be taken care of.

And moreover, the person above him would be this Eighth Prince, who had cut down the Falling God Peak grandmaster and all four honored elders single-handedly.

Where else could the two of them possibly find a backer like that?

There was also another reason. He was thinking of Lin Xunner. After he was gone, he was not at ease about the thought of her making her way through the martial world alone.

Now that he and Lin Xunner were joining the Great Li Tianjin Guards at the invitation of the Eighth Prince himself, and with the man’s personal assurance behind them, he could finally feel at ease.

Though, thinking it over more carefully, the linen-robed elder suddenly realized that it seemed as though he owed Li Musheng yet another great debt of kindness.

At that point, Li Musheng, having seen the two of them agree, directed them to go and find Fu Qiwen at the Falling God Peak main peak.

But before the carriage moved, his gaze lingered on Lin Xunner for a moment, and he narrowed his eyes slightly, ”You are Xunner, yes? Eat a little less from now on. Do not go and eat the Tianjin Guards into poverty.”

”And that martial art of yours is quite something. It resembles a formidable technique I once heard of. Cultivate it diligently, and you will achieve great things in the future.”

Lin Xunner still looked like a child at that moment, though she was noticeably older than when they had first met.

This finally brought to Li Musheng’s mind a clear connection. Was this not essentially a version of the Tianshan Child Elder?

The technique she was practicing was also strikingly similar to the supreme art of the Divine Vulture Palace, ”The Proudest and Noblest Art Under Heaven and All the Skies.”

Though they were two completely different worlds, and the story was fiction, there was always that saying at the end:

”Any resemblance is purely coincidental.”

And perhaps the world did occasionally produce such remarkable coincidences.

With that thought, Li Musheng slowly let the carriage curtain fall. The coachman Cao Gaoshan gave the linen-robed elder and Lin Xunner a quiet nod of his own, then cracked the whip and drove the horses onward.

Lin Xunner watched the carriage gradually recede, her cheeks puffed out, clearly annoyed by Li Musheng’s words.

”What does it matter how remarkable a benefactor’s martial ability is when he is still so infuriating? Has he thought about the fact that if I do not eat more, how am I supposed to grow up?”

Lin Xunner muttered to herself. The linen-robed elder beside her watched Li Musheng go, then drew his gaze back and said, ”Do not worry. While I was doing what needed to be done earlier, I made a point of taking a bag of jewels. That should be more than enough for you for quite a long time.”

As he said this, he lifted the bundle on his back slightly.

At those words, Lin Xunner shot the linen-robed elder a sideways look, then lowered her eyes to her own hands and murmured, ”Even if I know this martial art of mine is strong, for him to acknowledge it means it must be something truly remarkable. It seems I shall have to practice much harder from now on.”

...

After parting ways with Lin Xunner, Li Musheng traveled without further obstacle and passed out of Falling God Peak’s territory.

By now the entire surrounding area of Falling God Peak was firmly in the Great Li Tianjin Guards’s hands, and news of Falling God Peak’s destruction was spreading through the martial world at a remarkable speed.

Inside the carriage, Shen Anran’s long raven-black hair was loosely pinned with an ebony clip, her bearing graceful, her skin like white jade.

From time to time she raised a hand to tuck the loose strands of hair back from her face, and her bright, limpid eyes kept drifting without meaning to toward Li Musheng in an absent gaze.

Along the road, Shen Anran continued as she always did, asking Li Musheng for guidance in martial cultivation, steadily narrowing the distance between them and nurturing the feeling between them.

In Shen Anran’s view, winning Li Musheng would require patience and a steady approach. Water can wear through stone, and sincerity can move even the hardest heart.

She believed that through her own effort, she would one day succeed in getting this man.

The big black cat was lying on the soft chair to one side, its green eyes wandering from time to time between the two people in the carriage.

Just as it had been watching Li Musheng and Murong Xiaoya the night before, it seemed genuinely puzzled as to why Li Musheng was always wrapped up with these women and barely gave it any attention anymore.

Before long, however, the big black cat let out a quiet sigh and pulled its gaze back.

It rested its head on the soft mink fur of the chair, its cat eyes rolling around slowly, clearly turning something over in its mind.

Earlier, after Li Musheng had finished absorbing the Vermilion Bird Bone’s power and seen Murong Xiaoya off, he had given it a thorough talking-to.

The reason, naturally, was the enormous matter of it having lost the dark jade stele.

Though the big black cat had bravely acknowledged its fault, it knew that was a great treasure, and Li Musheng was absolutely not going to let the matter rest.

And sure enough, while he had not slapped it dead on the spot, he had issued it a cat’s order.

It was required to bring the dark jade stele back completely intact, and bringing it back was not even enough, it was also required to act as a spy within the sect.

It had to steal the secrets surrounding the Divine Talent Stele out from within the sect itself. Otherwise, Li Musheng would not only not kill it outright, he would make it taste the torment of the Life and Death Talisman.

At that thought, the big black cat’s fur stood on end all at once, its eyes going wide.

That was something it absolutely did not want.

The big black cat had naturally witnessed how terrifying Li Musheng was when using the Life and Death Talisman to interrogate someone, and the memory still made its hair stand on end.

In fact, it would rather have Li Musheng slap it dead and go find another cat body to inhabit than endure the suffering of the Life and Death Talisman. That was a hundred times better.

In an instant, the big black cat’s four legs shot upright, and right on impulse it was ready to dash off and start recovering the dark jade stele this very moment.

It felt this was the most urgent matter it could possibly be attending to right now.

Li Musheng, however, seeing it suddenly pop up without warning, raised an eyebrow and asked, ”What are you doing?”

At those words, the big black cat immediately started meowing while gesturing frantically with its paws.

Though Li Musheng could not quite understand everything it was saying, he could make a rough guess that it was trying to go and find the Divine Talent Stele.

Li Musheng was naturally not going to let it go and do that now.

After all, the Divine Talent Stele had only just reached those people with divine nature. They would need time to study it.

Only when the moment was right would he act.

The earlier scare he had given the big black cat had also been deliberate, a way to keep a firm hold on it and ensure it would do his bidding obediently.

Though he had not expected the cat to be quite this easy to frighten.

”Stay here and behave. When I need you, I will say so.”

Li Musheng made the big black cat sit down properly and stop startling about, to avoid it interfering with his plans.

The big black cat looked thoroughly confused at that. From its perspective, rather than sitting here watching Li Musheng and Shen Anran flirt with each other, it would far rather be out doing something useful and sneaking back to retrieve the dark jade stele.

Otherwise, it lived in constant unease, never knowing when Li Musheng might suddenly decide to give it a taste of the Life and Death Talisman’s agony.

But Li Musheng had spoken, and it did not dare disobey.

So it could only lie back down again, peering at Li Musheng on and off without stopping, seemingly trying to work out what was going on in his mind.

...

At the same time, Elder Wu Yong and Lin Tang’s group of four were pressing on at full pace.

After Wu Yong had obtained the dark jade stele, the four of them had not dared to linger a single moment and had immediately fled.

As for whether there might be anything else on the main peak of use to those with divine nature, they had not dared investigate any further.

For one thing, the Falling God Peak main peak was already in the Tianjin Guards’s hands, and there was little more they could realistically gain.

For another, every one of them was well aware of what Wu Yong had just provoked, and none of them had any desire to stay a moment longer than they had to. The further they could run, the better.

In fact, the four of them had not even stopped to join up with the other people with divine nature, and had instead gone straight for the sect’s hidden location.

That said, Lin Tang and Lin Yuer were both visibly unhappy at that moment.

”You should never have taken that thing. You have not only brought disaster down on us, you may well have brought enormous catastrophe on the entire sect!”

Lin Tang looked at the dark jade stele on Wu Yong’s back, wrapped in layers of cloth, and spoke in a low, stern voice.

The two sisters wanted no part of this at all, but there was nothing to be done. They were all members of the same sect, and had come as a group acting together. Keeping themselves entirely uninvolved would not be so easy now.

The scholar Sui Zhen on horseback beside them opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but in the end simply shook his head and said, ”What is done is done. Saying more will not help. Our only safety now lies in getting back to the hidden location as quickly as possible.”

At those words, Wu Yong turned and glanced back at the three of them, then looked toward the direction of Falling God Peak, now far behind. His aged face was tight as he said, ”By this point, that prince has still not come after us. Which means he simply cannot find us. What are you all afraid of?”

”And besides, getting our hands on this jade stele is a tremendous achievement. When we return to the hidden location, just wait for the rewards the sect will bestow.”