Great Li Martial God

Murong Xiaoya’s slight figure stood soundlessly before the open ancestral hall doors.

Murong Zhen was lying on his side at the top of the stone steps before the entrance, a broken sword thrust into his chest. Around him lay the bodies of numerous Murong family members who had long since breathed their last.

Blood seeped slowly from beneath them, running down the stone steps below in a thin red cascade, staining the ground a deep crimson.

On the left side of the inner courtyard, a surviving decorative wall was studded with broken blades like the spines of a porcupine. Five elderly figures in the robes of the four major families had been pinned dead, impaled by snapped weapons.

”Little sister...”

Sensing Murong Xiaoya’s arrival, Murong Zhen struggled with great effort to open his eyes, clouded by dried blood. But no matter how he tried, he could not.

The next instant, Murong Xiaoya dropped beside him with tears streaming down her face, her pale hands gripping the broken sword. Her entire body was trembling, and she could not form a single word, only sobbing brokenly, ”Second Brother, why... why did it have to come to this...”

Murong Zhen lifted his battered, wound-covered arm inch by inch, feeling his way along his abdominal wounds and the broken sword before finally closing his hand around Murong Xiaoya’s.

”Don’t be afraid... the Murong family is gone now... but you must live on...”

Murong Zhen’s voice was barely audible, his frame on the very threshold of death.Murong Xiaoya cried out in grief, channeling True Qi into him with everything she had, but no matter how much she poured in, it dispersed just as quickly and was utterly without effect.

”Go... find... Third Brother...”

In the final moment of his life, Murong Zhen finally opened his eyes. He looked at the little sister before him, then slowly exhaled his last breath.

”No...”

Murong Xiaoya held Murong Zhen’s body tightly in her arms, unable to contain her weeping in the darkening dusk.

In the ruined courtyard behind her, Hu Rui’an and the others stood watching in silence, none of them finding a word to say.

Shen Anran’s expression was one of distress. She was about to step forward to offer some comfort, when Murong Xiaoya quietly set Murong Zhen’s body down, then suddenly turned and rushed into the ancestral hall, disappearing in a moment.

Shen Anran quickly moved to follow, but Hu Rui’an reached out and held her back, saying, ”The ancestral hall is not a place outsiders may enter. The Murong family may be gone, but we should not go in without being permitted by one of their own.”

Then, seeming to notice that Shen Anran was still worried, he added, ”There is no one inside the hall. Miss Murong will be fine.”

Hearing this, Shen Anran stopped, and before long Murong Xiaoya leaped out through a gap in a crumbled eave, leaving the ancestral hall by the rear, and headed off toward somewhere within the now-ruined Murong estate.

Noticing this, Hu Rui’an turned to glance at Li Musheng, and seeing a slight nod, he set himself in motion, vanished from where he stood, and followed in the direction Murong Xiaoya had gone.

In the study, half-collapsed and half-destroyed, yellowed pages of books fluttered through the blood-tinged, smoky air like butterflies.

On the single remaining scarlet-lacquered pillar, a broken spear had been driven through Murong Feng’s skull, and twelve bronze spikes had been hammered through his four limbs to pin him fast.

Murong Xiaoya came to a quick stop, looking at the body before her, unrecognizable, scorched by fire. Through her tears, she pulled the bronze spikes out one by one, then wrenched the broken spear from his skull.

Then she laid Murong Feng’s body down on the flat ground in the ruins before the study.

She looked at her brother’s body for a long time, then finally darted into the still-smoldering study.

Just at that moment, several figures came bounding through the broken walls and rubble from not far away, closing in at speed.

”That is Murong Hong’s youngest daughter!”

Someone spotted Murong Xiaoya and recognized her at once, and the whole group immediately charged toward the spot.

But the next instant, a figure appeared with sudden swiftness, planting itself directly in the path of all four of them, saying, ”Leave at once if you do not wish to die.”

The four of them sensed the terrifying martial Dao aura radiating from Hu Rui’an and immediately came to a fearful halt.

At that moment, however, an elderly figure followed up from behind the group, arriving not far from Hu Rui’an in virtually the blink of an eye.

”The Murong family has been struck from the martial world’s ranks as of today. You do not appear to be one of the Murong family’s people, sir. Why trouble yourself by getting involved in all this?”

The elderly man in a brocade robe fixed Hu Rui’an with a narrowed gaze as he spoke.

Hu Rui’an gave the man a look, then slowly shook his head, saying, ”I am a man of the court and have no interest in your martial world disputes. But this young woman is an acquaintance of ours, and I cannot stand by and watch her come to harm.”

Hearing this, the elderly man’s expression shifted. He studied Hu Rui’an for a moment, then suddenly asked, ”I heard yesterday that a group of people escorted Murong Hong’s daughter back to the provincial city. Could that have been you?”

Hu Rui’an made no attempt to conceal it and simply gave a nod.

Seeing this, the elderly man’s entire expression changed abruptly, and he immediately clasped his hands and bowed his head, saying, ”I was presumptuous just now. If you wish to protect this young woman, of course that is entirely your affair.”

With that, the elderly man turned sharply to reprimand the four men before Hu Rui’an, then turned without hesitation and walked away.

Seeing this, the four men dared not linger a moment longer, and hurried after the elder.

After they had put some distance between themselves and Hu Rui’an, the four turned to look back, then turned to the elderly man ahead, puzzled, and asked, ”Senior, that was Murong Hong’s daughter back there, one of the people the family heads ordered us to root out completely. Why did you suddenly decide against acting?”

Hearing this, the elderly man looked back with a cold glare, saying, ”You pack of fools. Do you know how Bai Changfeng died? He was killed by a single pointing of a finger by the expert behind that person just now.”

”My own strength falls short of Bai Changfeng’s. Do you want me to be pointed to death as well?”

The moment those words fell, all four of them went blank, and in the next instant every face paled with a surge of cold dread.

The news of Bai Changfeng’s death had been gradually spreading, and they had naturally heard about it.

In particular, the person who had killed Bai Changfeng was one that everyone agreed must be a terrifying martial world expert on the same level as their respective families’ old patriarchs.

Now hearing the elderly man say they had actually just run into that person’s group, every one of them felt as though they had just walked back through the gates of hell and barely made it out.

”That is enough. Murong Hong’s daughter has ordinary martial aptitude and poses no real threat to our four families. She is no cause for concern. There will be other opportunities to deal with her in due course.”

The elderly man waved a hand, then let his gaze drift across the ruins of the Murong estate before him, and after a moment said with a touch of feeling, ”Who could have imagined that the foremost martial arts lineage of all of Sheng Province could be brought down in a single day like this? Though our four families paid an extremely heavy price for it, everything was worth it.”

Hearing this, the four beside him immediately nodded in unison.

With the Murong family destroyed, the centuries of accumulated holdings the Murong family had built up across Sheng Province would all flow to the four major families. This operation had been anything but a loss for them.

At this point, the elderly man gave a slight shake of his head, saying, ”Even so, we still underestimated Murong Hong. He fought two of the old patriarchs alone. Even in death, there is glory in that.”