Great Li Martial God

”I hope the Star Lord will be lenient. Surely we can talk this through.”

The middle-aged man in the short jacket’s expression shifted through several rapid changes, and he immediately put on his most obliging face.

Though he felt he had done nothing particularly wrong just now, it was still wisest to stay on the good side of this Star Lord before him. Otherwise, if she took a dislike to him and filed a report on a whim, he might find himself stripped of the position in the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion he had worked so hard to reach.

”Do not try that with me. I am a person of strict impartiality, and I never play favorites.”

Song Xingwei’s fair oval face immediately went stiff, and her crescent-moon eyes narrowed as she shot the middle-aged man in the short jacket a sharp look, saying, ”That kind of behavior is exactly what I find suspicious.”

With that, she immediately flipped open her booklet, picked up her brush, and began writing and marking, clearly recording a demerit against the middle-aged man on the spot.

Seeing this, the man reached up and wiped the beads of sweat that had appeared on his forehead, opened his mouth to say something, then quickly stopped himself, afraid that any wrong word might give her more to hold against him.

At that moment, one of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion’s responsible figures cast a quick glance around and immediately moved to change the subject, clasping his hands in a bow and asking, ”I heard the Star Lord mention a new Pavilion Master just now. Might we ask who will be coming to take charge of the Great Li branch?”

At those words, Song Xingwei turned to look at the speaker, gave a wave of her hand, and said, ”What is the rush? The new Pavilion Master will arrive in Shangyang City by tomorrow at the latest. You will all find out soon enough.”

At those words, the assembled responsible figures in the private room all showed expressions of surprise.”The new Pavilion Master is coming so soon?”

”Ever since the news of Falling God Peak’s destruction went out, that Pavilion Master Youshan’s position was already untenable. And the new Pavilion Master just happens to already be within Great Li’s borders, so of course he is arriving quickly.”

Song Xingwei said this without the slightest concern, then snapped the booklet shut and swept a look over the assembled group, saying, ”In the meantime, all of you are to carry on as usual. And it would be best not to get any clever ideas, because if I catch you...”

As she said this, Song Xingwei straightened her expression and raised the booklet in her hand meaningfully.

At the sight of it, every responsible figure in the Pavilion hurriedly said they would not dare. Song Xingwei then shifted her tone and said, ”There is also one other matter. Pass word down to your people in the near future and have them gather intelligence on the whereabouts of the divine beast Fire Qilin. If any leads turn up, report directly to me.”

”The Fire Qilin?”

Everyone was momentarily taken aback, clearly unable to understand why Song Xingwei would have the Pavilion looking for something so entirely intangible and mythical.

Song Xingwei’s expression darkened, and she narrowed her eyes, saying, ”What? Are my words not worth following?”

At those words, the assembled responsible figures immediately waved their hands in compliance, and only then did Song Xingwei give a nod, saying, ”As for all other Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion matters, the new Pavilion Master will handle them one by one once he has taken his post. You need only wait patiently.”

Having said her piece, Song Xingwei rose to her feet, shifted her figure, and vanished from the spot without a sound, drifting out through the window.

...

At that same moment, inside the Tianjin Guards headquarters.

Commissioner Yu Jin had also brought Li Musheng the news from Yuming Mountain regarding the Martial Saint’s death, along with the detail that the supposed true culprit pointed directly to him, the Great Li Eighth Prince.

”There is definitely something wrong with all of this. Everything seems to be aimed at Your Highness.”

Shen Anran’s brow furrowed deeply. The moment this news came out, it confirmed a suspicion that had been quietly forming in her mind.

At those words, the big black cat raised its head and looked at Shen Anran, then turned its gaze toward Li Musheng.

Its green eyes flickered slightly, and it immediately padded over to Li Musheng’s side and pawed at him.

Its manner seemed to suggest it was asking Li Musheng why it had not been brought along when he went to deal with the Martial Saint.

Commissioner Yu Jin, meanwhile, had his brow furrowed tightly. He glanced at Li Musheng, hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, ”Your Highness truly did not strike against that Martial Saint?”

At those words, Li Musheng brushed the big black cat away from his side and said flatly, ”Something I could settle in a single move, and I would need to resort to ambush?”

Yu Jin’s gaze shifted, and he looked at Li Musheng with sudden surprise, momentarily struck speechless by how casually domineering those words were.

He immediately thought to himself that this was a man who had singlehandedly destroyed Falling God Peak. A Martial Saint might not even register as a threat worth taking seriously.

Even so, Yu Jin’s expression quickly went through several shifts, and he clasped his hands in a bow, saying, ”Right now the rumor is spreading throughout the entire martial world, and before long practically everyone in it will know that Your Highness ambushed and assassinated the Martial Saint of Yuming Mountain. This could prove very disadvantageous for Your Highness.”

At those words, Li Musheng glanced at him and waved a hand, saying, ”It is fine. If Yuming Mountain says I killed their Martial Saint, then let them come find me for vengeance.”

”And if they do not dare, they can go wherever is most comfortable for them. This matter really could not be simpler.”

Yu Jin’s expression went briefly blank. He found that the Eighth Prince before him seemed to genuinely not care about this at all.

And yet, if Li Musheng were truly established as having assassinated a Martial Saint without any reason, his reputation in the martial world would without question take a sharp turn for the worse, and some martial world figures might well come to see him as a common enemy.

In the current climate, where the three great martial sects were openly moving toward a coalition against the court, this would surely be used as yet another point of attack against the Eighth Prince who had destroyed Falling God Peak.

If those at court also chose to make an issue of it, combined with Li Musheng’s killing of a prince, the situation could become extremely dire.

With this in mind, Yu Jin considered briefly and then said, ”Your servant has one suggestion. We could have the Tianjin Guards conduct a covert investigation into the Martial Saint’s death and uncover the true culprit behind it. That would not only clear Your Highness’s name, but also allow us to root out whoever is scheming against you from the shadows.”

At those words, Shen Anran also gave a slight nod and looked toward Li Musheng, saying, ”What Commissioner Yu says is a workable solution. Whatever the case, we cannot simply stand by and watch Your Highness be defamed without doing anything.”

Li Musheng glanced at the two of them, rubbed his chin, and took on a thoughtful expression.

He had not been particularly concerned about this to begin with. When someone in Yun City had imitated his finger-strike technique to commit a murder, he had not given it much thought, and had not felt it was necessarily aimed at him.

But looking at it now, it was obvious that all of this had been carefully planned, and the other party’s intent was perfectly clear.

After thinking it over for a moment, Li Musheng still shook his head and said, ”There is no need to do anything extra. The effort would be better spent helping me find what I am looking for.”

”Besides, whatever purpose or scheme lies behind the Martial Saint’s death, they will eventually show their hand. We only need to wait.”

”After all, no matter how elaborate the scheme, they will all have to face me in the end.”

At those words, both Yu Jin and Shen Anran were momentarily stunned, while the big black cat beside them suddenly let out a loud meow.

Its two cat eyes blazed as it stared at Li Musheng, clearly just as struck by those impressively unbothered words as the others were.

Yu Jin and Shen Anran looked at Li Musheng, and almost in unison the same thought rose in both their minds: so this is what it looks like to be truly undefeatable. Let a hundred schemes be thrown at you, and regard every single one of them as nothing.

Shen Anran gently bit her lip, her eyes bright and clear, and said, ”Your Highness is right.”

Yu Jin immediately clasped his hands in a bow, lowering his head and saying, ”Your servant was overthinking things. I should not have troubled Your Highness with this.”

...

At the same moment, inside the Third Prince’s residence.

Right Minister Ji Song had long since stopped keeping vigil in the mourning hall, having moved his place of work into the study.

On a desk piled high with documents, a piece of intelligence concerning the Martial Saint’s death lay open before him.

The aged Right Minister’s eyes gleamed with a sharp light, and he murmured to himself, ”So this is the news that person spoke of?”

As he said this, he glanced at the intelligence again and gave a slight shake of his head, ”Compared to him killing Li Que and my grandson, this is a far smaller matter.”

”But for the martial world, it is still a significant affair. If used properly, it could make him unwelcome in both the court and the martial world at once. Then there would truly be nowhere under heaven left for him.”

At that, Ji Song looked again at the towering stack of memorials on his desk.

These had all been written in recent days by his disciples and subordinates in the court and officials under his charge, and every single one of them was a formal denunciation and impeachment of the Eighth Prince Li Musheng for killing his own blood and murdering an elder brother.

”Now there is one more crime to add to the list. I refuse to believe you will not be destroyed in disgrace, and that His Majesty will tolerate what you have done.”

Ji Song closed the intelligence on his desk, and a flash of killing intent crossed his eyes.

This was only the first step in his vengeance against Li Musheng. What came next was finding a way to kill someone with martial cultivation as terrifying as his, which was also the most important step. For now, however, he had not yet found any clear path forward.

...

A hundred li outside the Great Li imperial capital, inside a prosperous city of its own.

A carriage guarded by dozens of armored soldiers came to a slow stop before a lavish building. The heavy scent of rouge and powder hung in the air, and pink lanterns hung high from the eaves. From within the building came waves of bright feminine laughter and the ceaseless drift of languid music.

”General, we have arrived at the entertainment house,” an armored soldier said, clasping his hands toward the carriage, and from it descended a stern-faced, bearded middle-aged man.

He swept a cold look around, said nothing further, and led the soldiers directly inside.

The madam of the entertainment house nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of this, and steeled herself to step forward and address them, ”My Lord, what brings you here...”

But before she could finish, a soldier beside her radiating a killing air shoved her roughly aside.

”General Shen certainly knows how to pick a place. He is on the Hidden Kill Pavilion’s must-kill list, being hunted by assassins across a thousand li, and still finds time to think about establishments like this.”

At that moment, a figure in a blue robe wearing a bamboo hat appeared at the second-floor railing, looking down through the gauze curtain at the soldiers who had just arrived below.

At those words, the bearded middle-aged man addressed as General Shen looked up at him, and his gaze immediately became guarded, ”You are the Soul Chaser Hall assassin I hired?”

The blue-robed man in the bamboo hat gave a nod, apparently not the least bit bothered by having his identity as an assassin revealed in front of everyone.

Below, General Shen felt a small measure of relief settle over him.

He had been fleeing with three hundred armored soldiers across a thousand li, and now barely a fraction of them remained at his side, the rest having fallen to the Hidden Kill Pavilion’s assassins along the way.

At this moment he was less than a hundred li from Shangyang City, and safety was almost within reach. But he did not dare let his guard down for even a moment.

He knew perfectly well that this final hundred li would likely be far more dangerous than the thousand li that had come before. The Hidden Kill Pavilion’s assassins would do everything in their power to kill him within this stretch, and would never allow him to escape so easily.

Of course, to counter the Hidden Kill Pavilion’s assassination attempts, General Shen had tried everything he could think of, and had ultimately turned to the Soul Chaser Hall, an assassination organization with its own fearsome reputation in the martial world.

The assassin before him was the help he had hired. An assassin would naturally not protect him directly, but he could use one killer to neutralize the other, and the effect was the same.

”Just you alone?” General Shen pushed aside his thoughts, looked around, and asked with a frown.

”One person is sufficient,” the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat said evenly, sounding perfectly confident about the task before him.

And indeed, that confidence was not unfounded. He was one of the Soul Chaser Hall’s top-ranked assassins, and the assignments he took on almost never went wrong.

As for the task this General Shen was asking of him, strictly speaking it was well below the level that required an assassin of his standing. It was only that he had just finished another assignment in this city, eliminating a martial sect elder, and had taken on this task from the Hall’s list as a convenient addition.

After all, the gold General Shen had paid to the Soul Chaser Hall to preserve his life was not a trivial sum.

More importantly, he was also feeling a bit of an itch. He wanted to test himself against the Hidden Kill Pavilion’s assassins and see just how capable this notorious organization truly was.

At that moment, General Shen looked the blue-robed man over with a scrutinizing eye, unable to read his depth, and asked with some uncertainty, ”So what should I do next? Should I continue toward Shangyang City, or...”

But the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat raised a hand to stop him and said, ”Wait, naturally. Wait for the Hidden Kill Pavilion’s assassin to make their move, wait for me to cut them down, and then you can continue on your way without a care in the world.”

At those words, General Shen’s expression turned thoughtful, and he gave a nod, then turned to the soldiers beside him and ordered, ”Seal off the entertainment house immediately. No one is to enter or leave, and not a word of this is to get out.”

A soldier acknowledged the order and was about to go carry it out.

At that very moment, a young man who looked travel-worn and dusty walked in through the entrance of the entertainment house.

His robes were covered in dirt and looked rather disheveled, his face gaunt and thin, as though he had not had a proper meal in some time.

But his eyes were remarkably bright, glittering like cold stars, with a hidden edge to them like the gleam of a blade.

The instant the young man stepped inside, the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat on the second floor suddenly narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze on him.

”Are you an assassin from the Hidden Kill Pavilion?”

The blue-robed man in the bamboo hat looked down at the young man from above, and his flat voice echoed through the entertainment house.

At those words, General Shen’s expression immediately shifted, and he spun around to look.

The young man slowly came to a stop, glanced at the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat, then looked over at General Shen in the main hall.

Then he let out a long, heavy sigh and said, ”I had intended to complete this assignment on my own. But that is no longer possible.”