The carriage drove quickly through what had once been the gate of Hundred Refinements City, now entirely gone. In the night air, a heavy smell of blood lingered all around the city wall, but the carriage did not slow in the slightest, seeming entirely unconcerned.
After entering the city, the carriage drove along the broken and damaged stone streets, passing through several roads before finally coming to a stop before the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
Li Musheng on the roof looked down at the new arrival, then raised an eyebrow.
In this newly arrived carriage, he could actually see two familiar faces.
Seated in what was ordinarily the coachman's position were an elderly man and a small girl, and those two were none other than the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner, who had been making their way toward Hundred Refinements Peak to take their revenge.
They had encountered the Falling God Peak grandmaster's head disciple on his way to Hundred Refinements City, and the two parties had come face to face. The result was that they were captured. Even the hemp-robed elderly man, a Heaven-Man martial artist, had tried his utmost to escape and found it impossible.
At that point the Falling God Peak grandmaster's head disciple lifted the carriage curtain with his folding fan and looked up toward Li Musheng on the roof of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
The moment he saw that Li Musheng truly was as young as the messenger had described, something shifted in his expression, and he asked in a calm voice, "Was it you who just defeated one of our Falling God Peak's Peak Masters?"
Hearing this, Li Musheng said nothing and simply pointed casually toward the street furrow beside the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
At the same time, the young man glanced at the heap of bodies in the street furrow, his gaze pausing briefly on Zheng Yunfeng's body.
Then he turned his head back up toward Li Musheng on the roof, his expression unreadable, saying, "You are someone from the Great Li court? Yet I have never heard of the Great Li court producing someone as young as this."
Faced with the young man's question from below, Li Musheng withdrew his gaze and looked at him, saying, "There are many things you have not heard of. But you... have a fair amount of nerve."
As he spoke, Li Musheng raised an eyebrow, saying, "Considering that you came here without immediately calling for a fight, I will give you a piece of advice. Bring more people. Ideally bring everyone in Falling God Peak who can actually fight. Otherwise..."
Li Musheng thought for a moment about how to finish the sentence, but could not quite work out what to say.
Because even if the other party truly brought everyone from Falling God Peak, the result would apparently be the same. There was no real "otherwise" or "unexpected outcome" to speak of.
The young man looked up at Li Musheng on the roof, and narrowed his eyes slightly, saying, "I thank you for the advice. But you have one thing slightly wrong. I came to Hundred Refinements City not because I am brave, but because I am sufficiently confident."
Hearing this, Li Musheng blinked slightly, fixed his gaze on the young man below the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, and studied him for a while without finding anything obviously unusual. He then gave a nod and said, "As long as you are happy."
The young man could naturally feel the contempt coming from Li Musheng, yet he seemed entirely unbothered by it. He turned to look at the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner on the carriage, then said slowly, "On the road to Hundred Refinements City I encountered these two. They are not members of our Falling God Peak, and their intentions were clearly not benign. I was originally going to kill them out of hand."
"However, they claimed to have a close connection with you, and so I brought them along."
As he spoke, the young man looked at Li Musheng with a casual air, saying, "What does the gentleman suggest should be done with them? Or perhaps you consider them of some value, sufficient to serve as a bargaining chip in my hands."
At those words, both the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner looked up at Li Musheng on the roof. Their gazes were unmistakably anxious and pleading.
Earlier, when this Falling God Peak grandmaster's head disciple had been about to kill them, they had felt a genuine sense of bitter unwillingness.
The two of them had carried their blood debt all this time, and had only just glimpsed the hope of taking their revenge, only for it to be cut short at the halfway point.
At the time they had faced nothing but death, and in desperation they had had no choice but to invoke the name of the very person who had just killed Hundred Refinements Peak's Peak Master and claim a close connection with him. That alone had barely managed to keep their lives intact for the time being.
At that point, faced with the gazes both of them turned toward him, Li Musheng rubbed his chin and did not answer the young man's question. Instead he asked, "I am somewhat curious. What did they say to you about their relationship with me?"
Hearing this, the young man seemed equally unconcerned, and said mildly, "They said you are all from the Great Li court, and that you have come to Hundred Refinements Peak on this occasion to carry out a secret mission entrusted by the Great Li Emperor, though the specific details of the secret mission are known only to you."
At those words, Li Musheng let out a light laugh, looked at the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner, and said suddenly, "So you know quite a bit. If I had known, I should have silenced you when I had the chance."
At those words, the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner both froze, then looked at each other.
The shock visible in both of their eyes in that moment was clear.
There actually was a secret mission?
They had actually guessed right?
The Falling God Peak grandmaster's head disciple showed a thoughtful expression. He looked at Li Musheng on the roof, and then his eyes narrowed slightly as he gave a nod, saying, "It appears the gentleman intends to protect these two."
As he spoke, a faint almost imperceptible smile touched the corner of the young man's lips, and he said, "In that case, I can promise not to take their lives, as long as the gentleman answers three questions for me."
At those words, the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner both shifted their expressions and looked at Li Musheng again.
Li Musheng, however, waved a hand toward the young man below and said, "Let us not make this more complicated than it needs to be. My advice is to simply make your move."
Hearing this, the young man slowly shook his head and was about to speak.
But in the next instant he felt a sudden sharp warning in his mind, and the True Qi of heaven and earth around him immediately surged into a violent boil, his entire being becoming indistinct and ephemeral in an instant.
The hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner both seemed to sense something, and looked toward the young man at the same moment.
Then the two of them saw that on the right side of the young man's chest, a blood hole passing clean through from front to back had appeared.
Yet the young man was clearly entirely unharmed by it. Within the blood hole, threads of blood light surfaced, and the flesh and tissue around it slowly moved, the hole healing at a visible rate.
The Falling God Peak grandmaster's head disciple looked down at the hole in his chest, then looked back up at Li Musheng on the roof, saying, "The gentleman was just now attempting to pierce my skull as you did with Peak Master Zheng, were you not?"
"I acknowledge that the gentleman's technique is genuinely difficult to detect, and moves too quickly to be intercepted."
At that, the young man suddenly showed a slightly mocking smile, saying, "However, I can clearly tell the gentleman that no matter how you act, you will not be able to kill me."