Great Li Martial God

The small courtyard at the summit of the cliff was quiet for a moment before Zheng Yunfeng spoke slowly, ”This one understands Martial Sister’s meaning. The Great Li Tianjin Guards is throwing eggs against a stone and will bring ruin upon themselves. We of the same sect watch over one another, and in this battle we ought to see to it that the Great Li court’s Tianjin Guards is erased from existence entirely.”

Hearing this, the woman’s voice in the courtyard sounded in response, saying, ”Martial Brother is generous. Knowing that Martial Brother’s great birthday is nearly at hand, as a token of goodwill, tomorrow this one will have a disciple bring a Primordial Origin Pill as a gift, and hopes Martial Brother will not find it unworthy.”

At those words, a faint ripple passed through the golden True Qi surrounding Zheng Yunfeng, and he said in a low voice, ”Martial Sister is too generous. A Primordial Origin Pill is no easy thing to refine. It deepens the resonance between the Heaven-Human practitioner and the flow of nature and distills the true intent of the martial path. It is a rare and precious thing. This one will accept it with gratitude.”

”Martial Sister may rest easy. This one will personally act to assist Martial Sister in removing that former Tianjin Guards Commander.”

In the empty air within the courtyard, the gathered True Qi swayed gently, and the voice said, ”My thanks, Martial Brother.”

The moment those words fell, the formless True Qi condensed into a faint shadow that shot upward from the ground and disappeared into the cloud layer pressing nearly down to the summit above.

...

Hundred Refinements Peak and Hundred Refinements City were roughly twenty miles apart, and the First Wife, driving hard on horseback with her group of martial artists, had covered less than half the distance before a sound of rapid hoofbeats came from the road ahead in the darkness.

A lone rider blazing forward through the dim night, torchlight in hand, was galloping toward the First Wife and her group at full speed.

”First Wife, that appears to be someone from the Hundred Refinements City City Master’s residence.”One of the Enforcement Hall elders looked at the approaching rider, then spoke toward the carriage behind him.

”Moving this urgently in the night, stop them and find out what is happening.”

The First Wife’s voice came out cold. The City Master of Hundred Refinements City was managed by her eldest son Zheng Shangzong, and whatever had happened in Hundred Refinements City she naturally had every right to ask about.

Beyond that, she was already somewhat suspicious. Someone riding this urgently most likely had something to do with Zheng Zi’s death.

At that point, the martial artist sent by the silver-haired elderly man of the City Master’s residence to carry the message to Hundred Refinements Peak saw the imposing group of the First Wife’s party and immediately recognized who they were.

He pulled hard on the reins at once, bringing his horse up rearing on its hind legs with a piercing, resonant neigh that broke the quiet of the mountain road in the night.

Once the horse came to a stop, the City Master’s residence martial artist immediately dismounted, and the First Wife’s group likewise stopped. The Enforcement Hall elder said in a low voice, ”Has something happened in Hundred Refinements City?”

Hearing this, the City Master’s residence martial artist looked up at the group for a moment, then went down on one knee, bowed his head gravely, and said in a shaking voice, ”Reporting to the elder... City Master Zheng has been killed.”

At those words, the wide mountain road fell completely silent in an instant.

The next moment, the carriage behind the Enforcement Hall elder abruptly exploded and shattered to fragments.

The First Wife, dignified and aristocratic in bearing, suddenly moved, bringing a fearsome gust of True Qi with her, and appeared in an instant beside the martial artist kneeling on the ground.

In that moment, the City Master’s residence martial artist felt himself seized by a terrifying force and lifted into the air.

And at his ear came the First Wife’s voice, very nearly a roar, ”Say that again.”

The City Master’s residence martial artist’s face was flushed deeply red, and looking down at the First Wife who had appeared before him without him knowing when, he felt as though the fearsome martial aura she was releasing was about to crush him entirely.

The First Wife’s face at that moment was distorted with fury, and yet deep in her eyes, along with the shock, there was something that was unmistakably a flash of panic.

”We found... City Master Zheng and two elders... killed on the street... outside the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion...”

The martial artist forced down the terror in his heart and the crushing pressure of the aura bearing down on him, and struggled to force the words out.

In the next instant, he felt himself seized by a terrifying force and sent flying, crashing down into a mountain gully several yards away with a tremendous impact.

”Impossible. Absolutely impossible.”

The First Wife’s face went bloodless white in an instant, and she shook her head with force, saying, ”Shangzong is a Heaven-Human level martial artist. How could he have been killed so easily?”

At that moment, the two Enforcement Hall elders behind her exchanged a glance, and both of them wore expressions of utter disbelief, their faces darkening sharply.

They knew full well that a martial artist from the City Master’s residence had virtually no chance of lying to them under these circumstances.

Yet they also found it genuinely impossible to accept that Zheng Zi had just been killed, only for Zheng Shangzong to follow him into death.

This was the territory of Falling God Peak. What on earth had happened in Hundred Refinements City?

That someone had dared to strike at two of the Peak Master’s sons, killing both the young city master and the city master in succession.

At that point one of the Enforcement Hall elders moved at once, going to the gully where the City Master’s residence martial artist had been sent flying. He quickly brought the barely surviving man back, and then drew from him the full account of what had happened in Hundred Refinements City.

The First Wife, who had heard everything as it was spoken, trembled from head to foot and nearly could not keep her footing.

Losing two sons in a single night was a blow that no one could withstand, a weight too crushing to bear.

”Who? Who has done this?”

The First Wife’s face was that of a wrathful spirit, and the killing intent pouring from her entire body had grown nearly tangible.

Yet what showed in her eyes, more than anything else, was grief she could not contain.

In that single instant it seemed as though years had been added to her all at once.

”First Wife, please bear the grief.”

The two Enforcement Hall elders, one moving to steady the First Wife’s emotions and the other speaking in a grave voice, said, ”The situation in Hundred Refinements City is clearly not a simple matter of a disturbance at a pleasure house. There is a strong likelihood that this person came with Hundred Refinements Peak, or even the Peak Master himself, as their true target.”

Earlier, the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion courtesan’s message had reported that the killer of Zheng Zi had stated arrogantly and specifically that Hundred Refinements Peak’s Peak Master should come in person to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion to take revenge.

Though the two elders had not believed the other party truly dared to face the Peak Master, and assumed it was simply posturing, those fierce-sounding words spoken from a position of weakness, the deaths of Zheng Shangzong and the two elders now made it clear that, even if the other party did not dare face the Peak Master, they should by no means be underestimated.

”Continue... continue to Hundred Refinements City. I will tear the person who killed my sons apart with my own hands.”

At that, the white-haired First Wife pressed down the grief and fury within her, then struck one of Hundred Refinements Peak’s disciples flying with a single palm, seized the man’s horse, and went galloping toward Hundred Refinements City in a frenzied charge.

Seeing this, the two Enforcement Hall elders exchanged a glance.

”Follow her first and see what comes of it. If the person who acted has not yet left Hundred Refinements City, help the First Wife cut them down.”

”How dare anyone stand against our Falling God Peak? Whoever they may be, their sect will be razed and their family annihilated when this is over.”

The two Enforcement Hall elders then immediately led the Hundred Refinements Peak martial artists after her.