Hearing this, Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong stopped in their tracks, and together with Hu Rui'an and the others looked toward Li Musheng with puzzled expressions.
They all knew well that the Eighth Prince before them was never particularly inclined to involve himself in things. For him to suddenly and actively volunteer to get to work like this had caught all of them off guard.
Li Musheng let out a sigh and said, "The pace at which you all handle things is truly a little slow. At this rate, when will we ever reach Falling God Peak?"
As he spoke, he looked up toward a part of the city where, at some point, flames had erupted and were blazing skyward, staining that whole corner of the night sky a deep red.
Li Musheng raised an eyebrow and said, "It seems tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for this city. Since I am already lending a hand, I may as well deal with the Sheng Province matter while I am at it, so we can set out sooner and finish off Falling God Peak and be done with it."
After all, at the rate things were going, if someone in a previous life had written a story moving this slowly, the author would have been torn apart by readers, no question about it.
Turning this over in his mind, Li Musheng looked down at the large black cat on the ground and called out, "What do you think, is that not the right idea?"
Hearing this, the large black cat lying on the ground lifted its head, its pair of green eyes looking somewhat blank.
At that point, having heard Li Musheng's words, Wu Shang and the others all showed expressions of undisguised relief and delight.
Hu Rui'an thought it over with a pondering expression, then set the cat aside and turned to Li Musheng, saying, "Your Highness, if we wish to resolve the Sheng Province matter as quickly as possible, the Mei family is the most critical obstacle. Perhaps... we should pay the Mei family a visit next?"
Hearing this, Li Musheng withdrew his gaze from the black cat and waved a hand, saying, "We will do it your way. Whatever is fastest."
With that, he said no more and turned to walk directly out of the dungeon.
The large black cat lying at his feet let out a meow and immediately scrambled to its feet, falling in behind him with a swaggering cat stride.
Hu Rui'an and the others exchanged glances and quickly followed.
In the narrow passage, Shen Anran was a step slower than the large black cat and could only trail along closely behind it, which made her furrow her brow slightly, "This cat is so enormous. It is blocking the entire path behind His Highness."
...
Very shortly, the group emerged from the dungeon, then left the unguarded Tianjin Guards branch office behind and boarded the carriage in the direction of the Mei family estate.
Hu Rui'an kept the bloodstained death list on his person. If what the old woman had said was true, then the Mei family and the involved members of the Sheng Province Tianjin Guards were without question guilty beyond any possibility of pardon.
"This cat, why has it gotten into the carriage as well?"
Inside the carriage, Hu Rui'an looked at the large black cat lying beside Li Musheng across from him and asked with a face full of suspicion.
Shen Anran, seated beside Li Musheng, also leaned slightly to one side and tilted her head to look at the large cat on Li Musheng's other side, which was roughly the size of a country dog and had taken up the spot where Murong Xiaoya had previously sat. A peculiar expression crossed her delicately featured face, "Is this black cat actually going to follow us all the way to Falling God Peak?"
Li Musheng glanced at the two of them, then reached out and scratched the cat on the head, saying, "This cat strikes me as unusual. If it wants to come along, let it come along. At worst it eats a little more. It probably will not cost much."
Hearing this, the large cat, lying on the soft blanket, let out a rolling purr and stretched its paws out with every sign of deep contentment.
Its green eyes, however, slid sideways to give Hu Rui'an and Shen Anran a look, as though finding them rather nosy.
Hu Rui'an and Shen Anran exchanged a glance, both at a loss for words. But since Li Musheng had already spoken, neither of them was in a position to say anything more.
And so the wheels rolled forward at a brisk pace along the silent nighttime streets, quickly putting distance between them and the Tianjin Guards branch office.
...
In an unremarkable house somewhere in the city.
A woman of extremely full build, dressed in rough cotton and linen, suddenly opened her eyes on a bed covered with a cotton quilt and sat upright.
Noticing this, the two men and one woman who had been seated at the table in the center of the room all turned their heads and looked toward the woman on the bed.
"Elder Sister, what is the situation?"
A young woman of about twenty, dressed plainly in a homespun skirt, rose quickly and asked.
The full-figured woman waved a hand, then got down from the bed and walked over to sit at the table. She swept a slow look over the other two and said, "I have explained everything clearly to that person."
The elderly man seated at the table was dressed in rough brown cloth, his hair grey-white, the creases on his brow as deep as if carved by a blade. He leaned on a gnarled wooden staff and gave a slight nod, saying, "Good that it was explained. It was nothing more than a misunderstanding. With a martial artist of that caliber, the less cause we give him to make an enemy of us, the better."
At that, the down-and-out scholar seated on the other side of the table spoke up and asked, "When is Momo coming back?"
The scholar was dressed in a short rough hemp robe, his face tanned dark by the sun, with two strips of dry-grass-like false whiskers pasted above his lip, giving him an air of dull plainness. A worn cloth bag hung from his waist on a rope of straw, bulging with something or other inside.
The young woman of about twenty in her plain homespun skirt walked back to her stool, sat down, and looked at the full-figured woman before her. Her jade-white fingers brushed a strand of hair aside as she said, "Little Sister does love to wander off wherever she pleases. If we do not keep an eye on her, we might not even be able to find her."
Hearing this, the full-figured woman pressed her fingers to her brow with an expression of mild exasperation, saying, "Little Sister seems quite taken with that person. She is probably staying close to him right now. But do not worry, her identity has not been revealed. He should have no idea of her true situation."
As she spoke, the woman suddenly raised her head and said, "Beyond that, this time I obtained a piece of very significant news from what was said."
At those words, all three at the table immediately fixed their eyes on her. The elderly man with the staff narrowed his eyes and said, "Is it related to the deployment order for the Sheng Province Tianjin Guards?"
The full-figured woman nodded and said, "Exactly. Though I cannot understand where the Great Li court finds its confidence, it seems they have truly made up their minds to move against Falling God Peak this time. They have even sent a prince of Great Li in person."
"Which prince of Great Li has come?"
The down-and-out scholar asked with a furrowed brow. The full-figured woman shook her head and said, "In truth, that person's real identity is indeed a prince of Great Li, but which prince exactly I could not determine."
"Are you certain?"
The elderly man's brow creased deeply, and he said, "This old man has never heard of any prince of Great Li possessing such strength. For someone so young to already have such terrifying martial cultivation is something rarely seen in this world. If this were truly a prince of Great Li, there is no reason the martial world would have heard nothing of it whatsoever."