Li Musheng naturally had no intention of answering the Formless Elder's confusion.
After receiving the Formless Divine Canon the man had effectively delivered through the Life and Death Talisman, Li Musheng casually twisted his neck.
With that done, he paid no further attention to the body on the ground and turned instead to examine the Formless Divine Canon.
As the highest secret art once held within the Myriad Forms Demonic Sect, the Formless Divine Canon was a genuinely rare top-tier demonic technique in the martial world.
What interested Li Musheng, naturally, were certain unusual abilities within it, such as the puppet manipulation technique and the method of altering one's appearance and True Qi through the principle of formlessness becoming all forms.
Previously, from studying the Formless Puppet Technique the scholar had used, he had already derived the True Qi thread technique for covert tracking.
Now with the complete Formless Divine Canon in hand, he had more than enough to occupy his idle hours. Perhaps he could develop a few other more interesting abilities from it in time.
"Though there is no rush for that. Let me finish refining the Azure Dragon Profound Darkness Scripture first. There is plenty of time."
As Li Musheng was thinking this, a meowing sound came from somewhere in the courtyard.
When the Formless Elder had been controlling them into fighting one another a moment ago, the large black cat had slipped away somewhere without anyone noticing.
Now that everything was resolved, it came padding back out with its meowing cat gait and attached itself to Li Musheng once more.
"What is that it has in its mouth?"
Shen Anran looked closely and saw that the large black cat had brought two jade tokens from somewhere, which it spat down beside the Formless Elder's body.
The cat's meaning was plain enough. These things clearly belonged to the body before it, though where it had found them was a mystery.
Hu Rui'an's gaze moved and he looked the two jade tokens over, then furrowed his brow and turned to Li Musheng, saying, "From the style and inscriptions on these pendants, one appears to be from the Han estate. The other, if I am not mistaken, is the pendant of a first-rank guest retainer in the Second Prince's household."
He went on to explain, "In order to attract skilled martial artists and client retainers from the martial world, the Second Prince Li Que offers those who attach themselves to him extremely generous treatment. They are ranked from first to third according to status, standing, and strength. First-rank guest retainers are very few in number, and represent the highest standing among them."
"For this person to carry such a pendant, his connection to the Second Prince must run very deep. And yet he also attempted to kill Your Highness, which suggests there may be more to this than simple revenge..."
Hearing this, Li Musheng raised an eyebrow slightly. He had not been particularly concerned about the matter, but then it occurred to him that he had a key to the Tianqi Secret Treasury currently being held by that Second Prince of his.
He waved a hand, saying, "Do not worry. I have it in mind."
Hearing this, Hu Rui'an naturally knew better than to press further and said no more. The matter involved the Great Li imperial family, which was not something he could involve himself in.
At that point Wu Shang's gaze fell on the other jade token, and he said with a thoughtful look, "This person actually carries a jade token from the Han estate. I wonder what his connection to Han Cuiyuan, the General of the Sheng Province garrison, might be."
His words had barely left his mouth when a blazing flash of brilliant fire streaked down from the sky, and then Murong Xiaoya's figure in black robes appeared.
At that moment, Murong Xiaoya's entire aura was terrifying. Her deep crimson hair, red as blood and fire, moved without any wind, billowing and surging behind her like raging flame.
Deep within her eyes, the molten gold vortexes and threads of blood flame turned and swirled, and her gaze bore down on Wu Shang with a compelling intensity as she asked in a low voice, "Just now, who did you say had a connection to Han Cuiyuan?"
The moment Wu Shang felt Murong Xiaoya's aura, vast and deep as the ocean, pressing down on him from above, his entire being trembled inwardly. The martial True Qi circulating through his meridians seized up abruptly, and all the color drained from his face.
"I..."
Wu Shang opened his mouth and struggled to reply, but the surging terror in his heart made it impossible for him to speak. He could only tremble uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Hu Rui'an immediately furrowed his brow and called out, "Miss Murong..."
His intention was to ask her to rein in her aura as much as possible. With Wu Shang's martial cultivation, he simply could not endure the pressure she was exerting at that moment. Being directly exposed to an aura this terrifying might even disturb Wu Shang's martial state of mind.
But before he could get the words out, Murong Xiaoya suddenly turned her head.
The moment those eyes, wreathed in blood flame, fell on him, Hu Rui'an felt as though he were facing a deadly enemy, and a bone-chilling sense of mortal danger surged up in his heart.
In that instant, he sensed a terrifying killing intent emanating from Murong Xiaoya, and at the same time felt her fearsome aura lock onto him.
It was as though the slightest move on his part would bring a catastrophic sea of fire crashing down on him, burning him to nothing in the blink of an eye.
"Miss Murong, that is enough."
At that point, Li Musheng spoke.
In an instant, the crushing pressure that had been bearing down on both Wu Shang and Hu Rui'an from Murong Xiaoya's terrifying aura lifted entirely.
At the same time, Shen Anran and the others, who had been nearly unable to breathe under the weight of Murong Xiaoya's leaking aura, finally found they could breathe freely again and all let out long, heavy sighs of relief.
Even the large black cat, which had been bristling with fur and hiding behind Li Musheng since Murong Xiaoya's arrival, quietly poked its head out and peered at the black-robed, red-haired Murong Xiaoya with its green eyes.
At that point Murong Xiaoya slowly turned her head and looked at Li Musheng standing in the courtyard. The molten gold vortexes in her eyes turned slowly, while the blood flame coiling around them rose and subsided in waves.
In the next instant, Murong Xiaoya suddenly closed her eyes, seeming to struggle to suppress something, and the terrifying aura around her began to recede at a visible rate.
After a moment she opened her eyes, and the blood flame in them had clearly settled.
She swept a slow look around the surroundings, appearing to recognize where she was, then furrowed her brow slightly and said, "Your Highness, the Mei family truly was in collusion with Falling God Peak."
She then told Li Musheng everything she had learned from questioning Mei Yanyu and the person in charge from Falling God Peak, leaving nothing out.
When Murong Xiaoya finished, the expressions of Hu Rui'an and the others all shifted, because what she described matched closely what Mei Yan had confessed to them.
They looked at Murong Xiaoya. Her figure was slight and delicate, her entire person wrapped in a wide black robe, yet she carried an air of refined distinction all her own.
Though a terrifying aura still faintly clung to her, in that moment she gave everyone the feeling that this was the Murong Xiaoya they had known before.
"Miss Murong has gone to great lengths. The matter of the Sheng Province Tianjin Guards has mostly been resolved."
Li Musheng waved a hand, his gaze taking in Murong Xiaoya before him with a measuring look.
"That is good to hear."
Murong Xiaoya gave a slight nod. But then her gaze shifted, coming to rest on a jade pendant lying beside the Formless Elder's body.
"Han estate. Han Cuiyuan."
Murong Xiaoya said the words softly.
In an instant her eyes narrowed, and the blood flame in their depths, no longer able to be suppressed, surged upward all at once in an unstoppable blaze.