Great Li Martial God

The Black Moon Yin Elder was equally sizing up the woman. His state of mind at this moment was remarkably calm, because if even the Thousand Fragrance Sinew-Softening Powder could do nothing against him, there was nothing she could do to kill him.

”This old man strongly advises you to go back wherever you came from and stop making rash moves. Both of those women are people the young hero wants.”

The Black Moon Yin Elder stroked his beard and spoke at an unhurried pace, then pointed at the white-robed woman and the white-haired Daoist woman, ”If either of them comes to any harm, when the young hero returns I will report everything to him. With the young hero’s power, a single moment of anger would be enough to wipe out your Inviting Moon Palace.”

The words were an undisguised threat, meant to make the woman see reason and back down. He might not fear her, but he certainly could not beat her, so driving her away was clearly the best outcome.

At those words, Second Palace Mistress Shiyue of the Inviting Moon Palace let a flicker of something unusual cross her eyes.

She glanced back at the white-robed woman, then settled her gaze on the white-haired Daoist woman, and asked the same question Li Musheng had asked before, ”Which of you two is Daoist Qingyu?”

The white-haired Daoist woman’s expression changed, and wariness spread across her face.

But this time she said nothing at all, unlike her earlier response to Li Musheng when she had directly confirmed her identity as Daoist Qingyu.

”That tells me you are both impostors.”

Second Palace Mistress Shiyue’s beautiful face showed no emotion. In the next instant she struck without warning, one palm aimed at the Black Moon Yin Elder, the other at the white-robed woman.The Black Moon Yin Elder erupted in fury, moved in an instant, and took Shiyue’s palm directly while trying simultaneously to intercept the strike aimed at the white-robed woman.

But he was a step too late. Shiyue’s palm drove straight through the white-robed woman’s heart, shattering her inner organs, and the woman flew back and was dead before she hit the ground.

Shiyue stared at the sight and paused for a moment, clearly taken aback, ”No resistance at all? So she was not one of the dog emperor’s people?”

At that, the white-haired Daoist woman suddenly shot backward, seizing the moment to bolt.

But Shiyue of the Inviting Moon Palace clearly had no intention of letting her go. She slanted a look at her and said, ”I deliberately left you unaffected by the Thousand Fragrance Sinew-Softening Powder because I had questions for you. Did you really think you could run?”

The moment those words fell, the white-haired Daoist woman’s legs gave way just as she was about to leap over the courtyard wall, and she pitched forward headfirst and crashed down.

At that, the Black Moon Yin Elder’s aged face went dark, and he struck out again, both blocking Shiyue and calling out in a stern, sharp voice, ”This old man is making himself very clear. If you keep refusing to see reason, the Inviting Moon Palace is finished.”

But Shiyue only glanced at the Black Moon Yin Elder, the faintest curve touching the corner of her mouth, ”Those two are not the real Daoist Qingyu. The young hero you keep mentioning will not care.”

”As for you, old man, if you keep pestering this Palace Mistress, I will string you up and beat you, tough hide and all.”

With that, Shiyue sent the Black Moon Yin Elder flying with a single palm.

Then she moved to the white-haired Daoist woman’s side, lifted her into the air by the throat with a single hand from a distance, and said, ”This Palace Mistress did not come here to rescue Daoist Qingyu. I do not care whether you are real or fake, or whether you live or die. I will ask you one question, and you will give me one answer. If you refuse, this Palace Mistress has a hundred ways to make you wish you were dead.”

At those words, the white-haired Daoist woman’s eyes filled with terror, yet she had absolutely no way to resist. She could only nod with difficulty.

By now the Black Moon Yin Elder, who had been sent flying, had already turned and come racing back. He glanced at the white-haired Daoist woman.

He thought it over. The young hero was still searching for Daoist Qingyu, and after all the effort he had gone through to locate this woman, the young hero had not exactly been impressed. Shiyue’s claim was not wrong. If the white-haired Daoist woman was a fake Daoist Qingyu, she had very likely been placed here deliberately by the Great Xuan imperial palace as bait.

With that thought, the Black Moon Yin Elder stopped pressing his attack on Shiyue, and instead stood to the side, deciding to watch what the woman who appeared to be one of the two Palace Mistresses of the Inviting Moon Palace actually intended.

In the exchange that followed between Shiyue and the white-haired Daoist woman, the Black Moon Yin Elder’s expression grew worse and worse by the moment.

According to the white-haired Daoist woman, whether the ninth level above ground or the ninth level below ground of the Mystic Mechanism Palace, both were merely misdirection. Neither location held the real Daoist Qingyu. Both were traps laid by the Great Xuan imperial palace for anyone who came attempting a rescue.

Clearly, the Great Xuan imperial palace had long anticipated that someone would come for Daoist Qingyu, and had planted the white-robed woman and the white-haired Daoist woman there to create confusion.

As for where the real Daoist Qingyu actually was, the white-haired Daoist woman naturally had no idea.

Even so, through Shiyue’s questioning, the white-haired Daoist woman revealed one piece of information that made even the Black Moon Yin Elder’s skin crawl.

”Go lift the top of her skull. See if there is something inside.”

The white-haired Daoist woman turned her head and looked toward the dead white-robed woman, something unreadable deep in her eyes, ”The Great Xuan imperial palace implanted something inside her head, a thing called an Intestinal Fiend Worm. Through this worm, the Great Xuan imperial palace could hear everything she heard.”

At those words, Second Palace Mistress Shiyue and the Black Moon Yin Elder both changed expression sharply.

Shiyue did as the white-haired Daoist woman described and lifted the white-robed woman’s skull, and found inside it a five-colored worm, dead but not yet stiff.

”So everything we did from the very beginning, the Great Xuan imperial palace could have learned in full through that woman?”

The Black Moon Yin Elder’s brow furrowed deeply, his complexion extremely poor. He stared at Shiyue holding the white-haired Daoist woman and asked.

The white-haired Daoist woman looked at the Black Moon Yin Elder and Shiyue with a faintly mocking expression, then gave a slow nod, ”That is correct. Everything you have done, the Great Xuan imperial palace has known all along.”

At those words, the expressions on the Black Moon Yin Elder’s aged face shifted rapidly through a range of emotions.

If what the white-haired Daoist woman said was true, then from Li Musheng forcing his way through the Mystic Mechanism Palace, to the martial world experts seizing the consorts, to the Crown Prince’s arrival, the breaking of the Earth Vault Mystery Hall’s mechanisms, all the way to the two sides reaching their agreement to move against the Great Xuan emperor together, all of it had very likely been heard in full by the Great Xuan emperor, while the people on their side had been kept entirely in the dark, none of them the wiser.

”This is bad. The young hero could be in danger.”

The Black Moon Yin Elder came to his senses with a start, and snapped his head around to look at the room with the mechanism. By now, Li Musheng and his party had already been gone for some time.

The Black Moon Yin Elder moved at once, entered the room, and tried to replicate what Crown Prince Zhao Kuang had done earlier, striking the walls with his palm in an attempt to open the mechanism again.

But the mechanism inside the room did not move at all. Nothing happened in the floor beneath him, and the passageway entrance from before did not reappear.

”What is happening?”

The Black Moon Yin Elder’s expression changed, and at that moment, Second Palace Mistress Shiyue followed him into the room with the white-haired Daoist woman still in tow, narrowing her eyes, ”It is just as I suspected. Old ginger is hotter than young. The mechanism has obviously been sealed from inside. You cannot get in.”