Great Li Martial God

The large black cat missed and landed on the ridge of the neighboring building, while the strikingly beautiful young woman appeared on the inn’s rooftop. In an instant, the two had completely swapped positions.

The young woman in green paid no attention to the large black cat, only looked down at the promissory note in her hand, then raised an eyebrow slightly, ”Ten thousand taels of gold for one Demonic Core. You really do have an enormous appetite for a cat.”

At those words, the large black cat snapped its head around, fixing its round green eyes on the young woman in green with furious intensity, and let out an indignant meow.

In the next instant, the large black cat launched off its back legs and disappeared in a black blur, appearing before the young woman in what seemed like no time at all.

It then shot a paw out with tremendous force, trying to snatch the promissory note back. But fast as it was, it was not faster than the young woman in green.

She gave her hand the faintest of raises, and the promissory note slid clear of the large black cat’s paw with ease.

Then, her pair of beautiful almond-shaped eyes narrowing slightly, she looked the large black cat over for a moment, and in the next instant her hand suddenly reached out toward the back of its neck.

The large black cat erupted in even greater fury at the sight. Its neck was not something this woman had any business grabbing. It immediately bared a set of sharp fangs and lunged at the jade-white hand.

But the young woman appeared entirely unconcerned. A layer of silver radiance rose from her palm, and when the large black cat bit down on it, it nearly cracked its own fangs.

By now the large black cat had fully understood that this woman was no pushover, and it was absolutely no match for her.The very next instant, without the slightest hesitation, it let out a loud and carrying meow, calling to Li Musheng and the others inside the inn for help.

It was not just a cat. It had allies, and it had someone watching its back. Standing behind it was the number one figure under heaven.

Some woman thinking she could snatch food from a cat’s mouth and steal ten thousand taels of its gold, without even glancing at whose territory this was. The nerve.

The meow the large black cat sent up as its distress call had tremendous penetrating force. Not only did Cao Gaoshan and Cang Yinyue hear it, every single person in the inn below caught it clearly.

Those who did not know the situation paid the cat’s cry little mind, assuming some stray cat had wandered in from somewhere and was making a nuisance of itself, and grumbled their displeasure.

Upon hearing the large black cat’s distress call, Cao Gaoshan was the first onto the rooftop.

But one look at the young woman in green told him her martial aura was formidable, and he was self-aware enough to know that having only just broken through to the Heaven-Human Realm, he was no match for her.

”I do not know what this cat may have done to offend you, but I ask that you show it some mercy.”

Cao Gaoshan did not move against her. He simply clasped his hands and appealed to the young woman in green who was holding the large black cat.

After traveling together this long, Cao Gaoshan knew the large black cat’s character well. It was a creature that never sat still and was always the one causing trouble for others, not the other way around. His immediate instinct was that it must have provoked her first.

The large black cat heard what Cao Gaoshan said and nearly exploded with indignation.

The evil woman in front of it had stolen its promissory note without any justification whatsoever. And now Cao Gaoshan was saying it had started the trouble. Even the most wronged person in all the stories had nothing on it right now.

The young woman in green showed no reaction to Cao Gaoshan’s words. She kept one hand wrapped around the large black cat, which was half a person tall, and slowly raised the promissory note with the other, looking at Cao Gaoshan and asking evenly, ”Was it you who worked with this cat just now to pressure those people from the seven major sects into signing this promissory note for ten thousand taels of gold?”

At those words, Cao Gaoshan’s expression went briefly still.

Then an unusual look appeared in his eyes. He could clearly sense the unfriendly edge in the young woman’s tone.

”Are you perhaps from the seven major sects yourself?”

Cao Gaoshan frowned and asked. The people from the seven major sects had just left, and this young woman in green had arrived moments later. The two were almost certainly connected.

The young woman said nothing, looked Cao Gaoshan over once, and naturally saw at a glance that his martial cultivation had only just broken through to the Heaven-Human Realm.

Even so, she noticed that Cao Gaoshan showed no fear of her, maintaining a composed and unhurried bearing throughout.

”This man and cat are rather interesting.”

The young woman’s strikingly beautiful face remained unperturbed. She looked down at the large black cat still struggling with everything it had, trying to squirm free of her grip and get at the promissory note. It showed not the slightest concern for its own safety and was completely fixated on the ten thousand taels of gold. Truly a creature that would rather lose its life than lose money.

”Young lady, the contract we signed with the people of the seven major sects was agreed upon by both parties.”

”If you have any objection to this, we are entirely open to further discussion. But please do not harm the cat. The consequences of doing so would be beyond what you could bear.”

Cao Gaoshan spoke up in warning, and the words were also meant in concern for her. The large black cat was Li Musheng’s pet, and one had to consider the owner before striking the animal. If something truly happened to the large black cat, and Li Musheng stepped in, how would she possibly stop him?

The young woman’s almond eyes narrowed as she looked at Cao Gaoshan and asked, ”Are you threatening me?”

Cao Gaoshan slowly shook his head and was about to reply.

But in the next moment, his eyes shifted and he stopped abruptly, looking past the young woman to someone behind her, and said quietly, ”Young master.”

At those words, the young woman’s brow creased slightly. She turned around, still holding the large black cat, and found a young man standing behind her who had appeared without her noticing.

A clear flash of surprise crossed the young woman’s eyes.

That someone had been able to appear behind her without her sensing it at all meant his martial cultivation was absolutely not something to be underestimated.

”Always causing trouble.”

Li Musheng glanced at the large black cat in the young woman’s hand, and raised an eyebrow.

What had been a ferociously struggling large black cat went suddenly blank in expression, and then abruptly extended a paw and made a grab directly for the promissory note in the young woman’s hand.

The young woman had not been paying any particular attention to it. She raised her hand slightly, ready to avoid the grab.

But in the next instant, her expression changed sharply.

She realized the large black cat’s speed was drastically faster than before, and before she had even fully processed it, the promissory note had been snatched from her hand.

Immediately after, the creature’s body twisted with a force far beyond what it had shown before and wrenched clean out of her grip, which was reinforced with true qi, and shot away with a whoosh.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. The young woman in green had not expected the large black cat, which had been completely manageable to her a moment before, to suddenly become like an entirely different animal. Before she had fully registered what was happening, it had slipped clean out of her grasp.

The young woman’s brow pressed together as she watched the large black cat blur into the distance and begin racing back and forth across the rooftops of the buildings around the inn, leaping from one to another in rapid succession, as though deliberately showing off and mocking her.

Even so, she did not move to chase it. Instead her eyes turned toward Li Musheng, who had just arrived.

The large black cat could never have escaped her on its own. Someone had helped it from the shadows, and that someone was in all likelihood the young man standing before her.

At that moment, the large black cat in the distance suddenly came to a dead stop.

It shook its head vigorously several times, then looked around in a daze.

It found, to its confusion, that somehow it had already gotten out of the young woman’s grip, and that clutched in its paw was the promissory note worth ten thousand taels of gold.

The large black cat immediately became enormously pleased with itself.

It did not stop to think about how any of this had happened or what had occurred just a moment ago. It immediately tucked the promissory note beneath its belly, then turned a look of fierce alert fury on the young woman in green.

At the same time, it extended a paw toward Li Musheng and gestured furiously, clearly lodging a passionate complaint about the woman’s wickedness and terrible crimes.

Li Musheng glanced at the large black cat, saw it was full of life and grumbling away with nothing apparently wrong with it, and rubbed his chin in quiet thought.

What he had just done was use the Soul-Searching Technique on the large black cat, controlling its body to slip free of the young woman’s grip. It was his first time using the Soul-Searching Technique, though he had not used it on a person. He had used it on the large black cat.

The Soul-Searching Technique did not appear to be designed for controlling animals other than humans, but Li Musheng had managed it anyway.

The most important reason for this was that in his attempt, he had tried weaving the Formless Divine Art from the Formless Elder into the Soul-Searching Technique.

As for how Li Musheng had been able to accomplish all of this in such a short time, the credit had to go to the demonic text Daoist Qingyu had given him.

He had only given the demonic text a rough look the previous night without discovering its true power. It was only today, when he had attempted to actually study and cultivate it, that he realized how extraordinary it truly was. Once one learned this demonic text, almost any other demonic art could be grasped at a glance and understood with minimal effort.

Combined with Li Musheng’s own extraordinary comprehension, the speed at which he was studying and cultivating demonic arts was honestly incomparably faster than working with any orthodox technique.

This had led Li Musheng to realize that what Daoist Qingyu had said about the demonic text earlier was not only free of exaggeration but had, if anything, been somewhat understated. The demonic text deserved to be called the supreme heart method of the demonic path. Whoever possessed it need never worry about failing to become a great demon.

”The demonic text really is something, but once one begins cultivating it and the demonic nature takes hold, it clings like a tumor in the bone and is nearly impossible to root out. That anyone other than me could suppress it I genuinely doubt.”

Li Musheng raised an eyebrow. Clearly, Daoist Qingyu was far from a simple figure, and she still had secrets of her own. Otherwise, unless she had martial cultivation comparable to his, there was no way she could have suppressed that kind of inescapable demonic nature without some other means at her disposal.

Of course, Li Musheng had no particular interest in digging deeper into that.

He was not the kind of person who had to tear everything open and leave nothing for anyone else.

”Who are you?”

At that point, the young woman in green, seeing Li Musheng standing there in thought and saying nothing, was the first to speak.

With her martial cultivation and experience, she could naturally tell this person was not easy to deal with, and she remained very cautious throughout.

At those words, Li Musheng came back from his thoughts and gave the young woman a look, then beckoned casually to the large black cat.

The large black cat, with no awareness whatsoever that the Soul-Searching Technique had been used on it, immediately trotted over eagerly and crouched down beside Li Musheng in a fawning display.

Then it turned a pair of ferocious green eyes on the young woman, as though it would dearly like to scratch her to death.

At this point, Li Musheng reached over and plucked the ten-thousand-tael promissory note out from beneath the large black cat’s belly, looked it over, and said, ”Not bad at all. You really do have a head for business. One Demonic Core for ten thousand taels of gold, and it’s pure profit.”

After all, the Demonic Core had been stolen by Bai Xiaotang, who had then not dared keep it, leaving it to fall into Li Musheng’s hands. The cost at every step had been effectively zero.

Hearing this, the large black cat’s eyes curved into happy crescents.

It naturally understood Li Musheng was praising it, and the blazing fury that had been burning in its heart dissolved completely, replaced by a thoroughly pleased warmth.

The young woman in green watched the promissory note in Li Musheng’s hand and slowly shook her head, ”Taking advantage of someone in a crisis like this is not something done in good faith. The seven major sects will not honor this note.”

At those words, Li Musheng tossed the promissory note back to the large black cat and looked at the young woman, ”While I personally have no particular interest in ten thousand taels of gold, integrity in agreements matters. That said, if you feel the deal was genuinely unfair, you are welcome to return the Demonic Core and naturally the ten thousand taels will no longer be owed.”

The young woman’s eyes narrowed slightly, fixing on Li Musheng without speaking.

In the next instant, Cao Gaoshan, who had been standing off to the side watching, suddenly lurched and pitched forward toward the ground, while the large black cat’s eyes rolled back without warning and its entire body went limp, slumping powerlessly across the roof ridge.

At the same moment, even quite a few people inside the inn below fell into the same condition, almost every one of them losing consciousness in an instant.

”I had not wished to resort to this.”

The young woman shook her head slowly, watching Li Musheng standing steady on the roof, and said without expression, ”Your martial cultivation is indeed deep. That you could remain standing after being given the Thousand Fragrance Sinew-Softening Powder is remarkable. But you cannot hold out much longer.”

At those words, Li Musheng’s brow creased slightly. He glanced at the large black cat and Cao Gaoshan, then raised a hand and reached.

In an instant, the young woman in green, whose expression had been completely composed, changed color sharply.

The next moment, she was lifted off the ground and drawn to Li Musheng’s side. All of her acupoints had been sealed without her knowing when, and she could not move a single muscle. She had not had a single moment of opportunity to resist from start to finish.

”I do not need to say much. Hand over the antidote.”

Li Musheng looked at the young woman in green and spoke.

It was obvious enough. She had used some colorless, odorless poison, and had most likely administered it before Li Musheng even appeared. But since Li Musheng had little expertise in poison and medicine, he had not noticed her act at the time.

”Impossible. How are you unaffected?”

The First Palace Mistress of the Inviting Moon Palace could not conceal her disbelief. The Thousand Fragrance Sinew-Softening Powder was known only to herself and her younger sister. No one else could possibly have an antidote.

And yet the young man before her was clearly completely unaffected by the poison.