"Looking at the current situation, the Murong family appears to have already drawn the ire of the Sheng Province General, and on top of that has managed to antagonize the other martial world families in the city. To speak honestly, things are looking quite dire."
Hu Rui'an made no effort to soften his words, and did not appear particularly concerned that Murong Xiaoya was sitting right there in the carriage.
Even so, Murong Xiaoya said nothing in response to his assessment, only lowering her head and quietly letting out a small sigh.
Li Musheng had no interest in the squabbles among the provincial city's various factions. He glanced at Hu Rui'an, waved a hand, and said, "Commissioner Hu, if you have nothing to say, then don't force it."
Hearing this, Hu Rui'an swallowed the rest of what he had been about to say and fell into silence.
And so the carriage rolled away from the Murong estate and continued along the streets.
Murong Xiaoya had grown up in the provincial city and knew it inside and out. Which places in the city were worth visiting and exploring, she knew perfectly well.
What was more, though she was socially anxious, she was actually quite conscientious and took her duties seriously. Well aware of her purpose in coming out, she kept her eyes on the road through the window, directing Cao Gaoshan and Wu Shang and the others.
Even so, because the four major families had mobilized their soldiers, the further they got from the Murong estate, the more chaotic the streets became.
Seeing this, Murong Xiaoya directed them toward alleyways where foot traffic was sparse, trying to steer around the paths being taken by the four major families' forces.
But things were naturally not going to go so smoothly for her.
...
Three hundred heavily armored mounted cavalry and two thousand elite infantry. Iron horseshoes struck the bluestone road surface and threw up blazing sparks like the tongue of a viper. Battle drums beat in unison, shield formations advancing in orderly rows like a floodtide pouring through the main street, filling it with the killing atmosphere of an army laying siege to a city.
Seven martial world experts rode at the very front on horseback. At their head was Bai Changfeng, his face like something poured from dark iron, cheeks sunken, features sharp as if hewed by axe and blade, radiating a ferocious aura from every inch of his frame.
The six riding beside him were no less formidable, their breathing long and steady, their True Qi dense and full, all of them exuding a deeply oppressive martial Dao presence.
The common people on the main street fled in every direction, not a single one daring to block the path. For dozens of zhang ahead, the road was completely empty.
"The Yuan, Zhu, and Cen families have already closed in from three sides around the Murong estate, every elite fighter from each household committed to the attack. Today, we will bring down that old Murong scoundrel without fail."
Bai Changfeng's eyes were filled with murderous intent. From the moment he had seen his son's body, killed and then hung up on the city wall in a display of public humiliation for every person entering or leaving the provincial city to gape at, the fury and hatred in his heart had been beyond all restraint. He had immediately sworn to himself that the humiliation the Murong family had dealt him, he would repay a hundredfold.
So after bringing his son's remains home, Bai Changfeng had immediately contacted the other three major martial world families, rallied troops through an emergency overnight mobilization, and prepared to annihilate the Murong family in a single day.
Hearing this, a middle-aged martial expert riding alongside him showed a look of hesitation, and after a moment of deliberation clasped his hands toward Bai Changfeng and said, "Master, the four families' best fighters are almost entirely committed to this operation, leaving our own compounds severely undermanned. If the Murong family sends people to strike at us while we are away..."
Before he could finish, however, Bai Changfeng turned and raised a hand to stop him, saying, "There is nothing to worry about. Our elder patriarch is holding the fort, and General Han has also sent experts to watch over things. Nothing will go wrong."
Hearing this, the middle-aged martial expert gave a slight nod and said no more.
At this point, however, a clan uncle of Bai Changfeng's urged his horse forward with a look of concern on his face, saying, "Changfeng, today's business was truly rushed. The Murong family are not easy to deal with. Perhaps if we pulled back now and planned more carefully for another period, it would be more prudent."
Bai Changfeng's expression was implacably stern as he shook his head, saying, "I am counting on exactly this element of surprise. The Murong family would never expect us to move so quickly and will surely be caught underprepared, while we have General Han as our backing and have had our plans in place for some time. Right now is precisely the right moment to strike."
"And what the Murong family has done to us is simply too much. I, Bai Changfeng, want every other family in the entire Sheng Province provincial city to understand what terrible price any person who dares humiliate my Bai family will ultimately pay."
As he spoke, a razor-sharp gleam rose in Bai Changfeng's eyes, and a bone-chilling killing intent poured from his entire being.
To the point where the cavalry soldiers at his back felt, in this single moment, as though sharp needles were pressing against their spines.
Just at that moment, a cold wind suddenly stirred on the street, and the figure of a black-robed man materialized within it, coming to a stop directly in Bai Changfeng's path.
Seeing the man, Bai Changfeng narrowed his eyes and raised a hand to signal everyone behind him to come to a halt, then looked at the black-robed man before him, saying, "What is it, Shadow Crow?"
The black-robed man immediately lowered his head and said, "The informant we had watching the Murong estate in secret has just noticed that the group suspected of killing the Young Master has left the Murong estate, and it appears they are deliberately trying to avoid the paths our four families are using."
Hearing this, Bai Changfeng's expression darkened immediately, saying, "You are certain?"
The black-robed man clasped his hands and gave a firm nod, saying in a low voice, "This subordinate had people track down a description of the carriage belonging to those who killed the Young Master, along with portraits of the individuals who showed their faces. It can be confirmed without question that it is them."
Then the black-robed man continued, saying, "The Murong family must already know that the four families have moved. Under these circumstances, letting that group leave was probably to avoid dragging them into the Murong family's trouble."
The moment those words fell, Bai Changfeng suddenly let out a cold laugh, his voice icy, saying, "They killed my son and now they think they can simply walk away?"
As he spoke, killing intent wrapped around Bai Changfeng from every direction. He immediately turned to his clan uncle beside him, saying, "Third Uncle, take everyone to the Murong estate at full speed, join up with the other three families, and seal the Murong family in. Make absolutely sure not a single person escapes."
After issuing this instruction, he pointed out three of the martial world experts riding beside him along with a hundred heavily armored cavalry, then looked back at the black-robed man before him and said, "Shadow Crow, lead the way. I will personally avenge Yuanwei."
Hearing this, the black-robed man agreed at once, said nothing further, and set his figure in motion, heading forward.
Bai Changfeng led his group of over a hundred without a moment's hesitation and followed immediately.
Watching this from behind, Bai Changfeng's clan uncle opened his mouth but did not speak.
Seeing that Bai Changfeng's mind was made up, and that he had taken several of the Bai family's top martial world experts with him in addition to his own formidable personal strength, the clan uncle judged there was nothing to worry about and did not attempt to stop him.
...
At the same time, because the four major martial world families in the city, including the Bai family, had suddenly put large numbers of troops and martial experts into motion, rumors began spreading throughout the city like wildfire, and both the city's martial world practitioners and common people were thoroughly unsettled and on edge.
As Li Musheng's group continued making their way through the streets, it was visibly apparent that the roads were growing more and more deserted.
What few people remained were all moving with urgent, hurried steps, as though they knew a great upheaval was coming to the city that day and none of them wanted to linger on the streets a moment longer than necessary.
"Miss Murong, give us the route. We will head to the Sheng Province government office first."
Li Musheng shook his head. Given the current state of things, there was probably not much worth seeing.
He might as well accommodate Hu Rui'an and go deal with the matter of Governor Zhu Ziming first.
After all, he had made a promise to Fu Qiwen, and he did not want to be seen as someone who did nothing but leave everything to others.
Besides, Hu Rui'an and the other two were in a peculiar situation at the moment, genuinely unable to function if they moved too far from him.
Hearing this, Murong Xiaoya glanced at Li Musheng sitting right beside her and asked nothing further about the reason, just answered with a flushed face.
Across from them, Hu Rui'an's expression brightened, and he thought to himself, "His Eighth Highness has a cool exterior but a warm heart. He may seem at times like he has no interest in managing things, which can make him seem somewhat indifferent, but he truly does care about the people under him."
Just as he was thinking this, a sudden thunderous sound erupted from the main street behind them.
Cao Gaoshan up front furrowed his brow and looked back, and what he saw was a column of mounted cavalry surging forward like a tide of darkness, the hoofbeats hitting the ground in uniform rhythm like a war god beating his drum, shaking leaves loose from the roadside trees with each reverberating impact.
The grinding of iron-scale armor sounded like a thousand venomous snakes flicking their tongues in unison, and the faint ripple of scale-light flowing along the armor was visible even at a distance, the whole formation bearing down from far away and closing fast.
These heavily armored cavalry made no war cry. Their breathing was deep and synchronized, fusing into a single, profoundly oppressive fighting spirit.
Seeing this, Cao Gaoshan's face changed and he immediately moved to swing around toward the back of the carriage.
Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong, who had also sensed the situation at the rear, prepared to bring the carriage to a temporary stop.
But at that moment, Li Musheng inside the carriage raised an eyebrow slightly and said in an unhurried tone, "Keep moving. There is no need to stop. Perhaps they are not coming for us."
Hearing this, the three of them immediately halted what they had been about to do, hesitated briefly, said nothing further, and continued forward as Li Musheng instructed.
Of course, at this moment, whether outside, Cao Gaoshan, Wu Shang, and Cheng Zhong, or inside the carriage, Hu Rui'an, Shen Anran, and Murong Xiaoya, all six of them had their full attention fixed on the cavalry behind them.
As the armored cavalry grew ever closer, everyone was making ready to act at any moment.
And just then, a voice like a great bronze bell resounded from behind, rolling over the space above Hu Rui'an and the others' carriage.
"Was it your people who killed my son?"
Bai Changfeng's voice carried a staggering surge of martial True Qi within it, rolling like thunder, setting blood surging and ears ringing for anyone within range.
At the same time, five figures led by Bai Changfeng burst upward from among the armored cavalry, their forms fast as lightning in a storm, and were at the carriage in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Even so, the five of them did not immediately strike. Instead, they fanned out in a pincer formation around the carriage, and with the terrifying pressure of their combined martial aura locked down every direction around it, ensuring no one could escape.
According to Shadow Crow's report, the carriage ahead had been confirmed as the same one from the killing of Bai Liwei. But whether the people inside were truly the ones who had killed his son, Bai Changfeng was not yet entirely certain.
He naturally had no intention of leaving any of them alive regardless, but he had to ask first.
If the people before him turned out not to be the real killers, he would have to continue investigating afterward, and would not stop until he ground the true culprits to dust.
And of course, if they denied it, it made no difference. Everyone here was going to die in any case.
Even so, what left Bai Changfeng slightly surprised was that in the silence following his question, an extremely young voice came from within the carriage, and the speaker responded with complete composure, asking, "You want revenge against me?"
The voice was not loud, but Bai Changfeng and the other four heard it perfectly clearly.
The moment those words reached his ears, something flickered across the face of Bai Changfeng, whose killing intent had been so thick it was almost tangible.
He had naturally examined the bodies of Bai Liwei and the other three with care, and confirmed that all four had been killed with a single pointing of a finger.
Though he had not personally witnessed the incident, he understood clearly that to accomplish something like this, the killer had to be a Heaven-Human expert whose cultivation surpassed the White-Haired Specter Bai Liwei by at least one sub-realm.
And across the entire martial world, experts who had reached that level were without exception all above forty years of age.
Yet the voice speaking from inside the carriage was undeniably far too young, and utterly unlike what he had expected.
With that thought, murderous light blazed up intensely in Bai Changfeng's eyes. He fixed his gaze on the carriage, and a profoundly dangerous aura radiated from his entire being as he said in an icy voice, "It was you who killed my son?"
The next moment, a single word came back from inside the carriage.
"Yes."
The moment those words reached him, Bai Changfeng dispensed with any further hesitation and struck with the full force of a thunderbolt, without the slightest holding back.
In his mind, it did not matter whether or not this person was truly the one who had killed his son. Once that word had been spoken, this person had to die.
In that instant, the heaven and earth True Qi around the entire carriage seemed to solidify at once.
Wind and thunder roared through the air around Bai Changfeng. The terrifying martial True Qi within his body combined with the heaven and earth True Qi converging from every direction to form two wind-dragons that merged together before him in an instant.
Though the voice from the carriage was young and presumptuous, Bai Changfeng had no intention of holding back. He committed everything to this single strike, going all out from the start.
Because he could sense that there were martial experts within the carriage, and though he did not think much of them, he still poured everything he had into this attack, intent on reducing everyone before him to dust in one blow.
Bai Changfeng raised his hand slightly. The wind-dragons gathered before him reversed and plunged downward, transforming into something like a great river bursting through a broken dam.
Wherever the True Qi river swept, the entire surrounding space of the carriage compressed and buckled. In an instant it was going to crash through and grind the carriage carrying Hu Rui'an on the main street into scattered fragments.
At the same time, the three martial experts and Shadow Crow flanking Bai Changfeng held their positions around the carriage and watched the flanks.
They had made no move, clearly leaving the chance to avenge Bai Liwei entirely to Bai Changfeng.
In their estimation, with a strike of this terrifying full force from Bai Changfeng, the group before them had essentially no chance of withstanding it.
And even if they somehow managed to survive, with the four of them in position there was absolutely no possibility of anyone escaping.
In the very next moment, however, all four of them were left deeply bewildered. The vast river of True Qi that had seemed about to consume the carriage seemed to have been suddenly retracted by Bai Changfeng for no apparent reason.
In the blink of an eye, it dissipated and vanished entirely from before their eyes.
The four of them turned their heads in stunned puzzlement toward Bai Changfeng on their flank, but the movement had barely gotten halfway before every one of them went rigid and stopped dead.
At the same moment, Bai Changfeng himself was standing completely frozen in place, his face the picture of sheer disbelief.
And very shortly, the same young voice from before reached his ears again, saying, "Do you still want to seek revenge against me?"