Of course, asking the two of them to re-enter Hundred Refinements City, which they had only barely managed to escape, was not something that could be considered.
"Let us stay out of whatever is happening in Hundred Refinements City. We have enough to deal with without inviting more trouble."
The little girl in pink said this with a straight face. She had absolutely no desire to have any more entanglement with that infuriating person.
After all, she had no wish to see her grandfather being used as a tool by that man again. Beyond that, the two of them carried a blood debt that had to be settled, and there was no need to drag anyone else into it.
Hearing this, the hemp-robed elderly man shook his head and looked down at Hundred Refinements City with a furrowed expression, saying, "We are not in a position to involve ourselves with it regardless. If we want to pursue our revenge from here, we still need to find an opportunity to get inside Hundred Refinements Peak."
And right at that moment, the gates of Hundred Refinements City suddenly swung open again.
With a burst of rapid hoofbeats, nine Hundred Refinements Peak martial artists came riding out one after another at speed.
On the small hill, the hemp-robed elderly man and the little girl both showed signs of puzzlement as they looked down toward the city below.
Through the dim night air, they could make out that the nine Hundred Refinements Peak martial artists, having come through the city gates, were splitting off and riding hard in several different directions.
"What is going on? These people only just went into the city a moment ago. Why are they suddenly rushing back out?"
The hemp-robed elderly man's brow furrowed, and a puzzled expression crossed his face.
The little girl in pink watched the directions in which the Hundred Refinements Peak martial artists were departing, looking carefully for a while, and then suddenly said, "The directions they are heading seem to be toward the other peaks of Falling God Peak."
Hearing this, the hemp-robed elderly man's eyes stirred, and he looked in the direction the little girl was watching. His brow immediately furrowed even deeper, "That does seem to be the case. But why would they suddenly do that?"
The little girl in pink turned back, raised her head, and rolled her eyes, "You are asking me? How would I know?"
The hemp-robed elderly man stroked his beard, thinking it over with a thoughtful expression, and after a while shook his head, saying, "Something is clearly very wrong here. Nothing particularly dramatic seemed to happen in Hundred Refinements City, so why send people to the other peaks?"
At that point, the martial artist galloping hard toward Hundred Refinements Peak was drawing steadily closer to the hemp-robed elderly man and the little girl.
A sharp glint passed through the hemp-robed elderly man's eyes, and he fixed his gaze directly on the approaching rider. Seeing this, the little girl's expression shifted sharply, and she immediately called out, "What are you thinking of doing?"
"I want to find out what has actually happened in Hundred Refinements City."
The hemp-robed elderly man suddenly narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "The more I think about all of this, the more wrong it feels. I have an instinct that something has happened in Hundred Refinements City that we know nothing about."
"Otherwise there would be no reason for Zheng Yunfeng's wife herself to come to Hundred Refinements City in person, and now it seems to be involving the other eight peaks as well."
Hearing this, the little girl in pink did not speak for a moment. She could naturally see for herself that none of this was normal, yet somewhere inside her she did not want to become further entangled in the matter.
At that point the hemp-robed elderly man said slowly, "Do not worry. If I act, I will not let this person see my true face."
With that, as the rapid hoofbeats drew closer and closer, the hemp-robed elderly man shifted and vanished from where he stood, heading down toward the road below.
Before long, the Hundred Refinements Peak martial artist riding hard suddenly snapped his head up. A massive boulder had abruptly come rolling from the wooded hillside beside the road, crashing down ahead of him.
He had no choice but to pull hard on the reins and bring his horse to an immediate stop.
But right at that very moment, his instincts sent a warning through him, though unfortunately it came just a fraction too late.
He felt a hand settle silently on his back from behind, and then the True Qi channels and acupoints throughout his body were sealed one by one by an extraordinarily powerful martial True Qi.
"Answer a few questions for me and I will let you go. Refuse and you die now."
A heavy voice that had clearly been deliberately disguised reached him from behind, and the Hundred Refinements Peak martial artist immediately lost any thought of resistance and called out urgently, "Senior, please ask whatever you wish. As long as you do not kill me, I will tell you everything I know."
The Hundred Refinements Peak martial artist was completely helpless, fish on the chopping board, entirely at the mercy of whoever held him. Any loyalty to his sect was the last thing on his mind.
His only thought was to stay alive, and indeed survival was almost a secondary concern at this point. Right now all he wanted was to get Li Musheng's assigned task done as quickly as possible.
He truly never wanted to experience the Life and Death Talisman's torment again. To him, it was worse than death itself.
Hearing his answer, the hemp-robed elderly man standing at the martial artist's back gave a satisfied nod.
...
Shortly afterward, the hemp-robed elderly man stood in a shadowed corner of the hillside, his aged face going through a rapid series of expressions, looking deeply unsettled.
At the same time, seemingly having confirmed that the person who had seized him had gone, the Hundred Refinements Peak martial artist made no unnecessary move whatsoever, and without looking back immediately spurred his horse forward toward Hundred Refinements Peak.
"Did you find out what happened inside Hundred Refinements City?"
At that point, a small figure leaped quickly through the darkness of the hillside and came to the hemp-robed elderly man's side, looking up at him with a curious expression.
Hearing this, the hemp-robed elderly man was quiet for quite a long moment, while the expressions crossing his face were extraordinarily varied.
After a while, he drew a deep breath, then turned suddenly to look at the little girl in pink beside him, saying, "Zheng Zi is dead. His elder brother Zheng Shangzong, the City Master of Hundred Refinements City, has also been killed. And even..."
At that point the hemp-robed elderly man paused.
Upon hearing that both Zheng Zi and his brother were dead, the little girl in pink's face filled with an expression of profound surprise. Her expression shifted, and then she asked, "Even what? Why did you stop?"
Hearing this, the hemp-robed elderly man let out a quiet sigh, saying, "Even the First Wife who arrived at Hundred Refinements City just a short while ago, along with the two Enforcement Hall elders of Hundred Refinements Peak, have all been killed."
"What?"
The little girl in pink was struck speechless for a moment, her delicate brows knitting together sharply, her face full of shocked disbelief. She then hurried to ask, "When did all of this happen? Who did it? Why was there not the slightest sign of it coming from inside Hundred Refinements City?"
Hearing the little girl's rapid string of questions, the hemp-robed elderly man went suddenly quiet, and the expression on his face became distinctly unusual.
After a moment, he finally said slowly, "It was that young Master Li."
At those words, the little girl in pink froze entirely, and an expression of utter disbelief spread across her small face.
At that point the hemp-robed elderly man gently closed his eyes, steadied his composure, and continued to explain, "According to what that Hundred Refinements Peak disciple just told me, after we left, young Master Li not only killed Zheng Zi and Yuwen Feng, but then also dealt with Zheng Shangzong when he arrived at the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, along with the two Falling God Peak elders who had been chasing us and failed to catch us."
"Beyond that, he actively sent people to Hundred Refinements Peak to pass word. And when the First Wife's group, whom we saw earlier, arrived as a result, he personally killed them as well."