Great Li Martial God

Seeming to know that the Commander before him was not entirely convinced, Hu Rui’an gave a slight shake of his head.

He was not surprised in the least. If their positions had been reversed and someone had said something like that to him out of nowhere, he likely would not have believed it either.

He made up his mind, and proceeded to give Fu Qiwen a broad account of everything that had happened along the way.

Having heard Hu Rui’an out, Fu Qiwen’s expression stiffened, and it was clear he had been genuinely shaken.

”How is that possible?”

The deep lines already on Fu Qiwen’s brow creased even further, and he said, ”That Shen Juesheng is a martial world veteran whose name has been known for many years. And from what you are telling me, his current strength has advanced even further, yet he was still sent flying by the Eighth Prince with a single punch?”

It was not that Fu Qiwen doubted Hu Rui’an’s word. It was that the whole thing was simply too difficult to accept.

There had been a time when Shen Juesheng, through his supreme and peerless blade art, had roamed the martial world with impunity, an existence that even the younger Fu Qiwen had held in great admiration. And yet he had been defeated by a young man of barely twenty who had only just stepped into the martial world. It was the sort of thing no one who heard it could easily believe.

Hu Rui’an looked at Fu Qiwen’s bewildered and skeptical expression, and thought privately that he had not yet mentioned the matter of Murong Xiaoya, otherwise Fu Qiwen would likely have been even more shocked.

As for why he had not brought up Murong Xiaoya, Li Musheng had naturally given instructions on that point. The Vermilion Bird Bone she carried was an extraordinarily rare treasure. Once word of it spread, there was no telling how many people in the martial world would covet it.”Commander, rest assured. Every word I have just said is the truth. With His Highness’s martial strength, retreating safely from Falling God Peak should not be a problem.”

Hu Rui’an said this with a fairly confident air, giving Fu Qiwen something to hold onto.

Hearing this, Fu Qiwen was silent for a moment as his expression shifted through several changes, and in the end gave a slight nod, saying, ”Very well. I can only hope what you say is true.”

Then he slowly closed his eyes, opened them again, and said, ”His Highness has always given me a different feeling than other people. Before, I assumed he had some particular advantage. Now it would seem...”

He did not continue. The main reason was that Li Musheng was barely twenty years old, yet possessed strength surpassing Shen Juesheng’s. He simply could not imagine how a person could possibly have cultivated in such a way.

Fu Qiwen shook his head, glanced in the direction of Falling God Peak, then composed himself and said, ”Setting His Highness aside for now, even if his martial cultivation is truly peerless, destroying Falling God Peak is not something one person alone can resolve.”

With that he spread the map open on the table and had someone summon the Deputy Commanders of the Tianjin Guards from the other three prefectures who had already linked up, to hold a council.

”Rui’an, you handled the Sheng Province matter well. In truth I had already been considering writing off that prefecture’s Tianjin Guards entirely.”

At that Fu Qiwen offered Hu Rui’an a word of genuine praise. Hu Rui’an, however, would not take the credit, saying, ”It was entirely due to His Highness. Without him, this subordinate would never have been able to deal with Mei Yan and his wife.”

At those words the two of them exchanged a glance. The deaths of Mei Yan and the Martial Saint’s daughter had naturally all been reported by Hu Rui’an. But with both of their attention occupied by the operation against Falling God Peak, they left the subject alone by unspoken mutual agreement.

Before long, the Deputy Commanders overseeing the Tianjin Guards in the other three prefectures arrived one after another, and Fu Qiwen began laying out the plan of attack for what was to come.

”Falling God Peak’s power is deeply rooted in Lan Province. We must deploy our assault routes with care, concentrating all our strength to break through the defensive lines of Falling God Peak’s disciples from four directions and drive straight to the foot of the peak itself.”

As he spoke, Fu Qiwen extended a hand and pointed to the map, where the central position of the Falling God Peak sect’s forces was marked.

The main peak, also called Falling God Peak, was ringed by eight subsidiary main peaks arrayed in all directions, and four of them had been circled in red brush strokes, clearly the targets Fu Qiwen had decided upon after careful deliberation as the points of breakthrough.

”The other three routes already have three Tianjin Guards veterans, aside from myself, leading the assault on the territories of three of the peaks. Our own target is the Third Peak, Star Control Peak.”

...

On the dusty main road, the carts driven by the Tin Mountain Blade Sect left deep wheel ruts in the earth as they rolled forward. The scarred man walking ahead glanced back from time to time at Li Musheng riding the mule behind them.

Each time Li Musheng happened to look up, however, the scarred man immediately snapped his gaze away in a hurry.

Half a day had passed since they left the last Falling God Peak checkpoint, and throughout that time the two parties had traveled without incident.

They had encountered a few more Falling God Peak roadblocks along the way with the customary questions, but nothing had come of them.

The person behind them did not seem to carry any deep hatred for Falling God Peak in particular. As long as Falling God Peak’s people did not pick a fight, he showed absolutely no inclination to act against them.

At that moment, however, the scarred man’s heart was caught in a tangle of hesitation and conflict.

During the journey they had passed several groups of Falling God Peak’s forces, and more than once a thought had crossed his mind to speak up and report the situation to Falling God Peak, hoping to shake off Li Musheng behind him.

But each time that thought arose, the horrifying scene of Hu Rui’an casually slaughtering the Falling God Peak martial artists would surface in his mind, and fear would snuff the idea out immediately.

Beyond that, in his view, though Li Musheng on his mule seemed to give off no martial True Qi whatsoever, the fact that the rest of his group had been comfortable letting him travel alone to Falling God Peak meant he surely had something to rely on.

And so his thoughts would rise and fall and rise again, yet he never made any move to act against him.

”What exactly does he want at the Seven Saints Peak? He killed that many Falling God Peak people without a second thought, so he certainly does not look like someone going to a birthday celebration.”

The scarred man was full of uneasy suspicion. Taking the man to Falling God Peak was not really the problem. What he feared was that the man would start trouble and drag the Tin Mountain Blade Sect into it along with him.

Meanwhile, Li Musheng was riding the mule with his mind on refining the Azure Dragon Profound Darkness Scripture while making his way along the road.

Having grown up with smartphone navigation, looking at this ancient map was like trying to read random scrawl, and his sense of direction was not particularly good to begin with. Following the scarred man’s group was genuinely the most convenient arrangement.

At that point he glanced back, and not far behind him down the road, the hemp-robed elderly man was leading the tall horse with the little girl in pink on its back, having appeared at the other end of the main road.

Li Musheng slowed his pace slightly and waited for them to catch up, then swept a look over the two of them and rubbed his chin, saying, ”Surely not. You have followed me all this way over a mule. You two are being rather petty.”

Hearing this, the little girl in pink set her face in a stern expression and looked Li Musheng over with her eyes, furrowing her delicate brows, saying, ”The powerful expert who was traveling with you is gone now. Why are you still being so insufferably arrogant?”