The full-figured woman Lin Tang and Lin Yuer were equally stunned, and for a moment neither of them could find words.
At that point the large black cat ahead seemed to sense the four following it had fallen behind, and stopped its cat-paced advance.
Then it tilted its head, fixed its green eyes on the four who had been struck dumb, and let out several urging meows.
At the sound of the meowing, Lin Tang and Lin Yuer finally managed to come back to themselves.
They could naturally understand what the large black cat meant. The two exchanged a look and immediately called out urgently, "Little Sister, do not go any further. It is dangerous there."
Before, they had been planning to use the battle between the Great Li Tianjin Guards and Falling God Peak as cover to slip covertly into Falling God Peak's main peak.
In truth, Li Musheng's earlier actions had given all four of them very real hope.
But now with the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder making their move, all of that hope seemed to have shattered in an instant.
In fact, what they felt in their hearts now was nothing but fear rising from the very depths of their beings. All they wanted was to retreat immediately and put as much distance as possible between themselves and Falling God Peak's territory.
"Even that prince whose martial cultivation is so extraordinary could not possibly have any chance of winning in the face of divine gifts and strength like this."
At that point the elderly man Wu Yong and the scholar Sui Zhen had also barely managed to recover slightly from their shock.
Upon hearing what Lin Tang and the others were saying, they also added their voices one by one, urging the large black cat not to act rashly.
But the large black cat simply fixed the four of them with a green-eyed stare, paying no attention whatsoever to their pleading.
It turned, leaped forward, and disappeared directly into the undergrowth ahead, heading off in the direction of Hundred Refinements City.
Seeing this, the two Lin sisters wore anxious expressions, clearly afraid something would happen to their little sister. They gritted their teeth and were about to follow.
But the elderly man Wu Yong stopped them, saying, "Do not act on impulse. Hundred Refinements City is absolutely not a place we can go right now. We must leave immediately."
The scholar Sui Zhen also hurried to say, "Momo is different from us. Even if she goes, nothing will happen to her. You know better than any of us what she is capable of."
Hearing this, Lin Tang and Lin Yuer finally stopped, hesitated for a moment, and in the end did not go after her.
"We leave first and figure out the rest later."
The elderly man Wu Yong's expression was somewhat troubled at that point. Their whole venture had clearly been destined to come back empty-handed.
The two Lin sisters looked once more in the direction the black cat had disappeared, let out a sigh, and understanding that the plan to infiltrate Falling God Peak had become impossible, followed the elderly man and the scholar in retreating.
...
Above Hundred Refinements City, after the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder revealed the blurred figure wreathed in flame.
With just a single step taken, endless vortexes of fire spread in every direction, turning the dark sky above into a blazing sea of blood-red fire.
In an instant, everyone within Hundred Refinements City below could feel the temperature within the city suddenly surge, experiencing the sensation of being roasted under a sky-wide furnace.
"So it was you who killed the disciples of the grandmaster's martial brother?"
The blurred fire figure looked down at Li Musheng on the roof of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, the golden flames in its eyes flickering constantly, the surrounding air twisting and warping.
Li Musheng looked up at the sea of fire covering the sky above, studying it carefully while raising an eyebrow slightly.
This was the third time he had witnessed someone of divine nature make their move. The first two times, whether the old woman who had been inhabited or the Falling God Peak grandmaster's head disciple, their innate divine gifts had been strange and unusual, but perhaps because their abilities were not especially powerful, neither had displayed anything like the force before him.
The ability this Falling God Peak martial artist commanded was clearly fire.
The divine power they controlled was extremely formidable, and the strength they displayed was far beyond Murong Xiaoya's.
This also made Li Musheng realize that the innate divine gifts those of divine nature possessed were not weak compared to the might of the martial path at all.
In some respects, innate divine gifts were even stronger than supreme martial arts.
Taking the control of fire before him as an example, wielding flames across such a vast range was not something any amount of Blazing Divine Palm or Fire-Bathing Divine Fist could achieve.
Beyond that, Li Musheng observed that the innate divine gifts those of divine nature possessed seemed to begin at a level comparable to the Heaven-Man realm from the very start.
Of course, this did not mean those of divine nature possessed the actual strength of a Heaven-Man martial artist from birth.
Rather, the way they used their abilities was actually similar to the way Heaven-Man martial artists controlled the True Qi of heaven and earth, in that it was a form of commanding the forces of heaven and earth with one's own being.
It was simply that this state was an innate gift exclusive to those of divine nature, requiring none of the vast time investment of working through the ordinary, innate, and Heaven-Man stages as one did with the martial path.
"Genuinely interesting."
Li Musheng fixed his gaze on the blurred flame figure that seemed to reign above the heavens, taking in the unique manner in which the person controlled the sky-wide sea of fire, and gained a deeper understanding of this extraordinary ability that stood entirely apart from the martial path.
At that point the blurred figure, seeing that Li Musheng was not answering its question and was instead staring blankly while speaking to himself, showed no emotional reaction whatsoever. With fire flickering around it, it said with flat indifference, "Since you do not reply, this one will take that as confirmation."
The Scarlet Fire Honored Elder clearly had no intention of continuing the conversation.
In its eyes, even if the young man below had killed Hundred Refinements Peak Master Zheng Yunfeng and its own martial nephew, it did not regard him seriously at all. A wave of its hand would reduce him to ash.
And in the next moment, the blurred flame figure slowly raised a hand.
In an instant, ring after ring of fire spirals formed, refracting twisted rings of red light through the night sky, then dropping toward Li Musheng below.
But Li Musheng sat on the roof of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion without moving in the slightest.
He continued only to observe the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder's movements, while the falling fire spirals all dissolved three feet above his head, dissolving into scattered flame and going out.
Seeing this, the blurred figure hovering in the sea of fire gave a slight nod and said mildly, "Impressive. To block this one's strike, so it is indeed you."
With that, the flames around its body began to flow out in gold-red lines, then erupted into hundreds and thousands of fire crows, trailing blazing white light, continuing to surge downward toward Li Musheng.
Yet Li Musheng still sat at the top of the pavilion without moving.
All the fire crows dissolved just as the previous attack had, all extinguishing three feet above his head, unable to touch him at all.
Seeing this, the blurred figure in the sea of fire above paused ever so slightly.
Then it raised its hand again. A deep red flame radiating terrifying heat flowed through the blurred gaps between the fingers with a piercing shriek.
In the next instant, it appeared directly above Li Musheng.
The speed of the scarlet flame was many times faster than the fire rings and fire crows before. Five afterimage-like trails remained in the air, burning as though they would never go out.
Yet even this still stopped three feet away, and dissolved into nothing in an instant.