The moment those words fell, the voices in the council hall all died at once, and every face turned toward Murong Hong.
It was widely known within the Murong family that two elderly patriarchs of extraordinary martial Dao cultivation still resided within the family, and that their presence was in no small part the reason the Murong family remained Sheng Province's foremost martial arts lineage.
With the family's survival now hanging in the balance, the time to call on the two old patriarchs was clearly at hand.
Hearing this, Murong Hong swept his gaze over everyone present, his expression turning contemplative.
And just at that moment, a blurred figure flashed in through the council hall's entrance and came to a stop before Murong Hong.
The man wasted no time with pleasantries and immediately made his report in a low, urgent voice, saying, "Master, Bai Changfeng is dead."
The moment those words fell, the only sound left in the entire hall was that man's voice still echoing.
Everyone who had been looking toward Murong Hong froze simultaneously.
Very shortly, as the news sank in, the hall erupted into an uproar among the gathered Murong family members.
"Is the information reliable?"
"Did one of our family's patriarchs act? Then why has no patriarch appeared?"
...
The Murong family members were clearly shaken by the news, though most of them, on reflection, found themselves skeptical.
While Bai Changfeng's martial Dao cultivation was indeed below Murong Hong's, that did not mean he was weak.
On the contrary, his cultivation was unfathomably deep. Apart from the old patriarchs of the various martial world families in the provincial city, even Murong Hong himself would find it extremely difficult to kill him.
What was more, Bai Changfeng himself had been directing this siege of the Murong family, and he would certainly have had numerous martial world experts at his side, with the heads of the other three major families present as well.
Under those circumstances, even if one of the Murong family's own patriarchs had acted, killing Bai Changfeng would have been no easy matter.
"Is this confirmed?"
Murong Hong, his face like darkened iron, had a flash of stunned disbelief pass through his eyes. He fixed his gaze on the man before him and asked in a sharp, pressing voice.
His voice instantly suppressed the gathered murmuring in the entire hall in an instant.
In that moment, every person fell silent at once, and the council hall became so still one could hear a pin drop.
At this point, the man standing before Murong Hong lowered his head and said, "This intelligence was transmitted back through the underground passage by the shadow guard assigned to protect Miss Murong. It appears that Bai Changfeng received some information and, in order to avenge his son, led a hundred heavily armored cavalry and a number of martial world experts with the intent of surrounding and killing the group accompanying Miss Murong. However..."
At this, the man paused briefly, then raised his head and continued, "However, Bai Changfeng had only managed to make a single move when someone inside the carriage killed him with a single pointing of a finger. Not a single one of the martial world experts accompanying him survived either."
The moment those words fell, the council hall remained completely silent, and not a single person spoke.
Even so, the expressions in everyone's eyes were unmistakably filled with stunned disbelief.
Very quickly, Murong Hong's two brothers, along with Murong Zhen, Murong Feng, and the others, all looked simultaneously toward Murong Hong.
It was evident that all of them knew Murong Xiaoya had accompanied Li Musheng and his group out of the estate, and naturally had a general idea of who was likely inside that carriage.
Murong Hong's expression shifted through several changes. His sharp gaze fixed on the man before him, then he asked, "Does anyone know who acted from inside the carriage?"
At Hu Rui'an's level of martial Dao cultivation, killing Bai Changfeng was simply not possible. So in Murong Hong's estimation, it was obviously someone else who had made the move.
Hearing this, the man shook his head, saying, "The person who acted never showed themselves. The shadow guard watching from concealment was also unable to see their true face. However, the person who spoke appeared to have a very young voice."
"A young voice?"
Murong Zhen, Murong Feng, and the others all furrowed their brows, clearly deeply surprised.
Because by any measure, there was no young person among Hu Rui'an's group who could kill a martial expert of Bai Changfeng's caliber with a single pointing of a finger.
Or rather, across the entire martial world, there simply could not exist any young person capable of killing Bai Changfeng.
Even so, at this moment, Murong Hong seemed to have thought of something. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and the expression on his face shifted through a succession of changes.
Though Murong Xiaoya had not revealed the classified matters relating to Hu Rui'an and his group, when it came to the Eighth Prince of Great Li, his little daughter, who was so socially anxious that she rarely said more than was necessary, had with notable unexpectedness once said to him a single extra sentence.
"His Highness is very formidable."
At the time, Murong Hong had simply assumed Murong Xiaoya was praising the man's martial aptitude or some other quality.
But thinking back on it now, the expression on Murong Xiaoya's face when she said those words had carried something in it, a tinge of reverence and deep, genuine awe.
Now, connecting Murong Xiaoya's words to what had just happened, Murong Hong could not help the chill that ran through him as the implications sank in.
"Could it actually have been him who acted? But... this is simply too inconceivable."
Murong Hong's thoughts churned, and just at that moment, his third brother Murong Qing suddenly rose to his feet and said, "Never mind for now who killed Bai Changfeng. For our Murong family, this is nothing short of the most auspicious news imaginable."
"With Bai Changfeng now dead, the alliance of the four major martial world families will fall apart like loose sand. The crisis before us is essentially half resolved already. In fact, the four families may pull out very shortly."
The moment those words fell, the gathered Murong family members all snapped back to their senses, and one by one their minds began to stir and sharpen.
Murong Qing's analysis was not without reason. Though the Murong family and the four major families had been utterly at odds before today, things would not normally have come to open conflict this quickly.
Everything that had happened today traced back to Bai Changfeng's act of revenge driven by the grief of losing his son. With him gone now, the whole affair was very likely to collapse before it went any further.
"Father, what should we do from here? We need you to decide."
At this point, Murong Zhen turned his gaze toward Murong Hong, who had been silent throughout.
Hearing this, Murong Hong gathered his thoughts, weighed things briefly, then swept his gaze over everyone present and said, "Whether or not the four major families choose to stand down today, we cannot let down our guard. As third brother says, we must be prepared to fight to the death at any moment."
With that, he said nothing more, gave thorough instructions on the estate's defensive arrangements, and dismissed everyone from the council hall.
In a moment, the entire council hall had been left with only Murong Hong, Murong Zhen, and Murong Feng.
Murong Hong sat upright in the head seat, while Murong Zhen and Murong Feng stood at the lower positions.
All three father and sons were silent for a moment at first. It was Murong Feng who broke the silence first, saying, "There is at least no need to worry about little sister now. With a martial expert of such formidable ability in that Eighth Prince's party, probably no one in the entire provincial city could lay a finger on her."
Hearing this, Murong Hong's expression shifted slightly. He thought for a moment and was just about to speak.
But at this point, Murong Zhen, standing before him, suddenly looked up at Murong Hong and said, "Father, how much longer do you intend to conceal the deaths of the two great-patriarchs?"