Faced with the Falling God Peak grandmaster's question, Li Musheng shook his head and looked at the other party surrounded by lightning, saying, "Do not ask. There is no way to let you go."
At those words, the Falling God Peak grandmaster's expression immediately darkened.
Looking through the rolling lightning at the impossibly young and impossibly powerful young man across from him, his expression shifted through several changes, and he said, "At such a young age you already possess martial cultivation that surpasses the four great sects of the martial world. Your future accomplishments are beyond measure, and you may even one day become the fourth Martial Saint of the entire martial world, the only Martial Saint the Great Li court has ever produced."
Hearing this, Li Musheng showed no reaction whatsoever, and simply looked at the Falling God Peak grandmaster before slowly raising his hand.
Seeing this, the Falling God Peak grandmaster's expression changed sharply at once, and the lightning around him surged furiously, converging toward the front of his position.
At the same time, his mind raced for a way out.
Moments ago, with himself and three honored elders acting together, they had been unable to break Li Musheng's defense, and yet the other party could kill any of them with a single finger.
Making a desperate last stand against the other party now clearly had almost no chance of success, and fleeing was not an option since the other party could clearly catch him.
"Wait."
At those words, Li Musheng's hand, raised halfway, suddenly stopped, and for the first time he studied the Falling God Peak grandmaster before him with genuine attention.
Then he lowered his hand and did not continue acting. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he said, "Interesting. Tell me, what method do you have that could allow someone to surpass the Martial Saints?"
Of course, Li Musheng had no concern about surpassing any Martial Saint. What he was concerned about was transcendence of the martial path.
If the Falling God Peak grandmaster was saying he had a method, he was naturally not going to ignore it, and would hear what it was.
After all, if it turned out to be genuinely useful, that would be an unexpected windfall.
At that point the Falling God Peak grandmaster, seeing Li Musheng stop and appear genuinely interested, let out a quiet internal breath of relief.
Looking at Li Musheng through the lightning, he paused, then said, "Providing the method is entirely possible. But this matter involves the most important secret of our Falling God Peak, historically known only to the grandmaster."
"So you must first let me leave, and guarantee you will not continue pursuing me, and also promise to preserve Falling God Peak's foundations, before I hand over the method personally."
With that, the Falling God Peak grandmaster narrowed his eyes and waited for the other party's response.
He understood clearly that for a martial genius like Li Musheng, extraordinarily gifted as he was, the speed of his advancement on the martial path would be beyond imagining.
But this would necessarily mean the other party was extremely confident in his own martial cultivation, and though he had not yet reached the absolute summit of the martial path, he likely already viewed it as something within easy reach.
Yet human desire was without limit, and for someone who could already see the end of the martial path with a single glance, the desire to go one step further must inevitably arise.
And so what he had just said must carry an irresistible attraction for the other party.
At that point, having heard the Falling God Peak grandmaster out, Li Musheng looked at the other party with a peculiar gaze and shook his head, saying, "You are still making demands? And three of them at that?"
Hearing this, the Falling God Peak grandmaster's eyes grew calm and serious, and he likewise shook his head, saying, "I say this only to protect myself. And the secret of Falling God Peak involves the kind of powerful ability to control lightning, wind, and fire that you have seen here. I do not believe you have no interest in that."
"Furthermore, I am the only person in the world who knows this secret. If you kill me, you will never learn any of this."
The Falling God Peak grandmaster knew Li Musheng had taken the bait and that the advantage had now shifted to his own hands. He was certain the other party would ultimately yield.
But what he had not expected was that Li Musheng suddenly let out a short laugh and said, "There is actually no need to go through all of that. I have a faster method."
With those words, Li Musheng's figure vanished from where he stood in an instant.
In the next moment, the lightning plasma vortex guarding the front of the Falling God Peak grandmaster seemed to be cleaved apart by a single indestructible blade of light.
The blade light seemed capable of burning through stars and splitting empty space, and the purple lightning plasma broke apart like rotted cloth, the rolling plasma surging and collapsing outward on both sides in an instant.
Then it erupted into fragments of broken purple electricity everywhere, countless sparks twisting like dying silver snakes, gradually fading into the sea of clouds.
At the same time, the Falling God Peak grandmaster found Li Musheng appearing before him in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
His expression went to one of shock immediately, and he tried to both strike and retreat at the same moment.
But Li Musheng only pointed a finger from a distance, and to the grandmaster's terror he found his entire body was frozen completely immobile.
His whole being was engulfed by a powerful aura and locked in place within the cloud layer.
...
Very quickly, several faint rune lights settled into the Falling God Peak grandmaster's body.
Li Musheng looked at the Falling God Peak grandmaster who now had the life-binding rune inside him, and with a single thought activated it.
The Falling God Peak grandmaster was not like his head disciple and could not use an innate divine gift to transfer away the pain and harm he received.
And so the torment like ten thousand ants gnawing through him hit without any relief, and before long, under Li Musheng's pressure, he confessed everything Li Musheng wanted to know in complete and exhaustive detail.
"There truly is a method? I was somewhat skeptical just now that you might be bluffing."
A flash of sharp light passed through Li Musheng's eyes as he looked at the Falling God Peak grandmaster before him.
The other party at that moment was completely pale, his body convulsing and trembling, clearly still feeling the lingering effects of the life-binding rune's torment.
He raised his head to look at Li Musheng, and said with great difficulty, "Everything you wanted to know, I have told you. Is it not time to honor your promise and let me go..."
But before he could finish, Li Musheng reached out with a casual point, and the grandmaster's entire body went flying backwards.
At the same time, a blood hole had appeared in the center of his brow, passing clean through from front to back. With this, the grandmaster of Falling God Peak, one of the four great martial world sects, fell and was no more.
A crash of thunder.
The Falling God Peak grandmaster's body plummeted from the dark cloud-filled sky and crashed into the street furrow beside the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
Lying in the furrow before this had been the bodies of Falling God Peak's four honored elders, including the black-clad old man.
Li Musheng's figure descended to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion's roof. He looked down at the furrow below, counted the heads, and confirmed that Falling God Peak's most powerful figures had all died here.
"What comes next should not require me to act. If that Tianjin Guards Commander cannot deal with the remaining peaks, then he has been sitting in his position for nothing."
Li Musheng extracted all four of their blood of divine nature, then turned his gaze toward the direction of Falling God Peak's main peak.
After learning the secret about innate divine gifts from the Falling God Peak grandmaster, he still needed to make a trip to the main peak and retrieve one critical item he had learned about.
At the same time, in the wine house not far from the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, the hemp-robed elderly man, Lin Xunner, and the large black cat crouching nearby were all completely silent.
Li Musheng had faced four opponents alone, and had killed all of Falling God Peak's most powerful existences, including the grandmaster, right here.
They had watched every moment of it unfold, and after already being shocked beyond measure when Li Musheng had killed the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder with a single finger, they had now witnessed him face four figures no less formidable than the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder without showing any strain whatsoever, killing all four with the same single finger.
Those existences who in the hemp-robed elderly man's eyes could have crushed any of them with one finger seemed, in Li Musheng's eyes, not worth a second thought.
"Meow."
At that moment, the large black cat suddenly stood up on all four legs and let out a call, breaking the silence of the wine house, and snapping the hemp-robed elderly man and Lin Xunner back to themselves.
But the large black cat paid no attention to the two of them whatsoever, gave a push with its legs, leaped straight out of the wine house, and bounded rapidly toward Li Musheng on the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
"Falling God Peak... is finished."
The hemp-robed elderly man watched the large black cat go, and murmured instinctively.
Lin Xunner said nothing. Even now she still found it somewhat difficult to believe that they had personally witnessed the destruction of one of the four great top-tier martial world sects.
And even more than that, they had seen someone with their own power alone suppress every powerful martial artist in a peak-tier sect, a sight destined to shake the entire martial world for generations.
"I am starting to wonder now whether there is anyone in this world who could truly be his match."
Lin Xunner looked at Li Musheng in the darkness, extended her small hand, and rubbed hard at her own head as though to make herself more awake.
Hearing this, the hemp-robed elderly man shook his head, let out a sigh, and said, "Perhaps there is. Fortunately, I do not have much time left to live. If I had seen this in my youth, my martial state of mind would likely have collapsed on the spot."
As he spoke, he suddenly turned back sharply to look at Lin Xunner, and said in a solemn, admonishing tone, "Young Master Li possesses martial cultivation beyond all comparison at such a young age. He is an exception unto himself. You must not lose confidence and abandon the steadfast heart you need to pursue the martial path."
Lin Xunner furrowed her delicate brows, then spread her palms, saying, "Grandfather, you know perfectly well I have never had much ambition when it comes to cultivating the martial path."
"My only purpose is to avenge my elder sister. Once that great debt is repaid, even if my martial cultivation never advances another step, even if I lose all my martial arts entirely, it would mean nothing to me."
Hearing this, the hemp-robed elderly man's expression grew stern, and he said firmly, "Do not talk like that. That you were able to come across the Sovereign of Eight Wastelands is a great fortune that countless people in the martial world have sought without success. Your future achievements in the martial path will certainly surpass mine, and you must never casually speak of giving it up."
Lin Xunner pursed her lips, withdrew her gaze from Li Musheng on the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion's roof, and said with a sigh, "No matter how hard I cultivate, I will never beat him."
At those words, the hemp-robed elderly man was just about to continue his reprimand when he suddenly remembered something, and said in an urgent voice, "I almost forgot. With the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the others dead, we should now be able to go to Hundred Refinements Peak and take our revenge."
Hearing this, Lin Xunner immediately shot to her feet, and from within her small frame came a killing intent that was quite staggering.
Then she turned directly to look toward the direction of Hundred Refinements Peak.
"Wait. Before we leave, we must let Young Master Li know and get his permission first."
The hemp-robed elderly man reached out and held Lin Xunner's shoulder, and was about to take her immediately to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion to see Li Musheng.
But right at that moment, a terrifying martial aura suddenly came from far away and drew close with great speed, arriving above the street they were on outside Hundred Refinements City in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
The hemp-robed elderly man immediately stopped, looked up, and frowned deeply, "Surely not. Could there still be a Falling God Peak martial artist foolish enough to come here to throw their life away?"
And at the same time, Fu Qiwen stepped through empty air, each step sending ripples spreading across the void, his figure crossing several yards with every stride, and appeared in the sky above Hundred Refinements City.
After leaving the assault on Star Control City in Hu Rui'an's hands, Fu Qiwen had been burning vast quantities of True Qi to travel as quickly as possible, hoping to arrive in time to lend Li Musheng a hand before the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the others could make their move.
He had clearly not made it in time.
But the good news was that on the way to Hundred Refinements City, he had faintly sensed that the auras of the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the three honored elders who had made their move all seemed to have disappeared in rapid succession within a short space of time.
This had given rise to a certain suspicion in Fu Qiwen's mind, though his rational faculties kept reminding him that what he was suspecting was truly too difficult to believe.
At that point, having arrived in the sky above Hundred Refinements City, Fu Qiwen looked down at the street below.
After several exchanges, the entire neighborhood had been reduced to a state of devastation that was almost a field of rubble. Yet the six-story pleasure house, the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, stood intact amid the ruins with not the slightest sign of damage.
"Ah, it is Commander Fu. It has been a while. You have come at just the right time."
At that point Li Musheng's voice came from the roof of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion below, drifting up lightly to Fu Qiwen's ears.
Fu Qiwen immediately moved and appeared beside the roof of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion standing in the air, and folded his hands in a bow toward Li Musheng sitting on the ridgeline, saying, "This subject pays his respects to Your Highness."
At the same time, his eyes swept to the side, where he saw Li Musheng reaching out to scratch the head of a large black cat crouching on a nearby roof tile.
There was not a single wound on him, not even a tear in his clothing, and not the slightest trace of martial Dao True Qi emanating from his person.
Just as he had appeared when Fu Qiwen first met him, the Eighth Prince looked like an entirely ordinary, unremarkable person without any martial cultivation at all.
At that point, Li Musheng seemed to notice Fu Qiwen's gaze, and waved for him to drop the formalities.
Then he extended a hand and pointed toward the street furrow below, saying, "The matter I agreed to take care of for Commander Fu should be considered done. Take a look yourself and see whether any dangerous Falling God Peak fish have slipped through the net."
Hearing this, Fu Qiwen immediately looked in the direction Li Musheng was pointing.
In that instant, he saw the pile of bodies in the furrow below.
From Hundred Refinements Peak Master Zheng Yunfeng, to the Scarlet Fire Honored Elder, to the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the three honored elders...
Fu Qiwen could see every single one of them in the furrow below, neatly arranged, and he noticed that every person had died the same way, pierced through the head by a single finger, killed in one strike.
In that moment, if Fu Qiwen still did not understand what had happened, he would have been truly embarrassingly slow.
Even so, he still suppressed the shock within him with great effort, drew a long and deep breath, and then looked toward Li Musheng, folding his hands in a bow and asking, "All of these were killed by Your Highness?"
Li Musheng glanced at him and asked instead, "Is anyone missing?"