"You are quite confident, at your age, that it is still a fine time to be raising children."
Li Musheng looked at Yuwen Chengqing before him. That said, the man's martial cultivation was deep and his constitution was not poor, so fathering a child in old age was not entirely impossible.
At those words, Yuwen Chengqing did not particularly dwell on what Li Musheng meant, and replied hurriedly, "Your Highness's words are exactly right. This commoner still has a good and devoted wife who has yet to be found. Once she is retrieved, continuing the family line should present no difficulty."
Li Musheng considered quietly for a moment. He was not entirely certain of what was actually going through Yuwen Chengqing's mind.
After all, he had killed the man's son, and it was not easy to say whether the man did not harbor some resentment toward him because of it.
But Li Musheng did not particularly care.
He then flicked out several fingers in quick succession, sending four Life and Death Talismans flying out noiselessly, embedding them into the bodies of the four Falling God Peak members present, namely Yuwen Chengqing, the blind old man, Yumian Jiao, and Ouyang Mingqi.
Including the blind old man, none of the four had time to react in the slightest.
When they came back to themselves, all of them raised their heads and looked toward Li Musheng with expressions of shock and unease.
Li Musheng explained calmly.
Surrender was surrender, and admiration was admiration, but the Life and Death Talisman still needed to be placed where it belonged.
After all, the people before him were none of them weak. On the broader martial world stage, every one of them was a top-tier expert at the level of sect leaders and grandmasters.
A simple verbal pledge of surrender was not enough to hold people like them in check.
At those words, Yuwen Chengqing, Ouyang Mingqi, and the other two all felt a sinking in their hearts.
Even so, their expressions betrayed nothing unusual, and they continued to voice their loyalty without pause.
Only the blind old man seemed largely indifferent to it.
With Li Musheng's ability, killing them was a matter of a single gesture. What had just been done was merely a precaution, and hardly amounted to anything worth troubling over.
The blind old man even began studying the Life and Death Talisman within his body with some curiosity. Hearing that even the grandmaster could not handle it had made him rather interested to see whether he himself could find a way to undo it.
Having seen to all of this, Li Musheng paid no further thought to what any of the four might be thinking, and prepared to leave with the big black cat.
He had already covered most of the main peak, and had consistently failed to find any sign of the Falling God Peak grandmaster's martial uncle.
Going by what Ouyang Mingqi had said, the person had likely already fled Falling God Peak, and there was little point in continuing the search.
His next plan was to wait for Fu Qiwen and the Tianjin Guards to arrive, see the Falling God Peak business wrapped up properly, and then set out for the imperial capital.
...
At the same time, in the forests not far from the Falling God Peak main peak, the elder Wu Yong and his three companions concealed themselves quietly.
Earlier, after a period of observation, they had guessed that the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the honored elders had in all likelihood met with some kind of misfortune.
Though all four of them were deeply shocked by this, and found it somewhat difficult to believe that Li Musheng's power had already reached such a level, they had still made their way quietly toward the Falling God Peak main peak. And along the way, the sight of Falling God Peak disciples fleeing in every direction had confirmed what they had already suspected.
"So Falling God Peak has really fallen just like that. Somehow it still does not feel entirely real."
The down-and-out scholar gazed toward the Falling God Peak main peak, his expression one of doubt and disbelief.
Elder Wu Yong standing beside him shook his head and said, "If that Great Li prince truly is the world's strongest, as Momo claims, then nothing is impossible."
Though Wu Yong was well aware that those who could genuinely be called the strongest in the world had always been few in number across the ages.
Even with Li Musheng having overcome the Falling God Peak grandmaster and all four honored elders, to call him the world's strongest was still speaking too soon.
After all, the martial world still had its three great peaks of Martial God, and the person most widely recognized throughout the martial world as the strongest was the one standing atop the Great Wall that held back the northern wastelands, one of the three Martial Gods, the one known as the True Martial Sword Armor.
Though that figure was the commonly accepted strongest, there were still many in the martial world who did not recognize that title.
The reason for this was that the three Martial Gods had never crossed swords with one another.
The True Martial Sword Armor had simply accumulated a more impressive record of victories than the other two, and so stood above them in most people's estimation.
For Li Musheng to claim the title of world's strongest, bypassing those three peaks of Martial God was essentially a prerequisite.
"I have already sent word to the others in the sect to make their way here. This is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. We must do everything in our power to obtain that stele."
Lin Yuer spoke in a low, firm tone. She had earlier used her birds to carry messages to the sect's members with divine nature in the outer regions of Falling God Peak's territory.
But the full-figured woman Lin Tang shook her head and said, "We were not certain of Falling God Peak's situation beforehand. The others in the sect are too far away. They likely will not make it in time."
"And the Great Li Tianjin Guards has been sweeping through everything in its path. Commander Fu will likely reach the main peak very soon. We should move now and try to accomplish something before the Tianjin Guards arrives."
At those words, Elder Wu Yong collected his thoughts, then gave a quiet nod, "That is my thinking as well. There is no time to waste. If we wait until the Tianjin Guards occupies the Falling God Peak main peak, the situation will surely be far less favorable for us."
With that, Wu Yong's body swayed slightly, and a swath of pitch-black shadow began to flow outward from beneath his feet.
It then took the form of a blurred, wavering, twisted shape, something between a ghost and a shadow, drifting among the treetops of the forest.
This was Wu Yong's innate divine ability. He could manipulate his own shadow, and whether it was used for silent assassination or ghostly deception, it was entirely at his command.
Seeing this, Lin Tang glanced at Lin Yuer and said, "Keep watch over my body. I am going to possess one of the disciples on the main peak and take a look at the situation."
Lin Yuer nodded, and then Lin Tang's body went limp, as though consciousness had left it, and collapsed into her arms.
At the same time, an invisible force flew off toward the main peak above.
Then, apart from the scholar Sui Zhen whose ability was not presently of use, both Wu Yong and Lin Yuer put their shadow and bird-controlling abilities to work and made their way into the Falling God Peak main peak.
Before long, all three of them, each using their own methods, began searching the main peak.
Because Lin Yuer's birds were doing their reconnaissance from the air and scanning from above first, she was the one who, in the darkness of the night, happened to spot Li Musheng and the big black cat.
"What is Little Sister carrying on her back?"
Lin Yuer directed the bird to circle above from the air. Through the bird's vision, she immediately spotted the dark jade stele on the big black cat's back.
She then glanced at Li Musheng walking alongside the big black cat, and a faint, inexplicable wariness rose in her heart. She did not dare draw any closer.
At that moment, Li Musheng and the big black cat were heading toward the main hall of the Falling God Peak sect, planning to wait there for Fu Qiwen and the others to arrive.
In the meantime, Li Musheng intended to use the time to continue refining the Azure Dragon Profound Darkness Scripture, to resolve Murong Xiaoya's Vermilion Bird Bone problem before setting out back to the imperial capital.
The big black cat had resumed its swaggering and domineering manner, its four legs occasionally springing forward, the dark jade stele on its back as it leaped nimbly from one white jade step to another with great agility.
Walking behind it, Li Musheng watched the cat bounce and hop about, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Over this period of time, he had noticed that the big black cat had grown somewhat larger again after carrying the dark jade stele around.
The growth was not as pronounced as when it had absorbed the light from within the stele earlier, but it was there.
"So carrying the stele has its benefits. No wonder it jumped at the chance to take the thing."
Li Musheng murmured to himself. The big black cat naturally heard him.
Perhaps afraid of being misunderstood, it immediately doubled back and used a paw to point at the dark jade stele and then at itself, then extended just the very tip of one claw.
The meaning was obviously that it had not absorbed much at all, just the tiniest, most negligible amount.
"What is the hurry? I never said you could not carry it."
Li Musheng patted the big cat's head, not particularly bothered by any of this.
In fact it had just occurred to him that if he wanted to comprehend the Divine Talent Stele, he might be able to find some approach through these people with divine nature.
After all, the two were deeply connected, and perhaps a breakthrough could be found that way.
Even so, Li Musheng had no intention of pursuing that line of thought immediately. He simply filed the idea away and continued on with the big black cat.
The big black cat, reassured that Li Musheng was not upset with it, settled with relief and immediately fell back into step behind him.
Lin Yuer, who had taken in the entire scene from above while directing her bird in circles overhead, was quietly turning things over in her mind.
According to the sect, what they needed to find at Falling God Peak was a jet-black stone stele, which sounded clearly different from the jade stele her little sister was carrying.
But knowing her little sister as well as she did, the creature never stirred without reason and never took on work without some benefit in it for herself.
For the cat to be carrying something this large with such apparent happiness, the stele almost certainly had something unusual about it.
But right at that moment, as Lin Yuer was lost in thought, everything suddenly went dark before her eyes, and an irresistible force of true qi engulfed the bird she was directing, sending it plummeting toward the ground below.
Lin Yuer acted decisively and severed her connection to the bird at once, and in the blink of an eye, the bird had fallen into Li Musheng's hand.
"This bird has been following us for a while now. Something was off about it."
Li Musheng looked over the bird in his hand, which was now struggling and hopping in alarm. No matter how it jumped, it could not get free of his palm.
Though it appeared to be nothing more than a startled bird, Li Musheng had still detected a faint trace of something unusual about it.
And the nature of that trace was something he was now quite familiar with.
"It looks like it belongs to your companions."
Li Musheng suddenly turned his head and glanced at the big black cat.
The cat immediately turned its head to one side with a guilty air and pretended it had absolutely no idea what kind of bird this was.
Seeing this, Li Musheng gave the bird a casual toss and released it, and it flew off in a frightened flutter and disappeared into the night sky.
"Your people arrived quickly."
Li Musheng withdrew his gaze and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Do not worry. I bear you no ill will. We can make a point of keeping in touch going forward."
At those words, rather than being reassured, the big black cat shrank its neck.
It had been there and seen it with its own eyes. The Falling God Peak grandmaster and all four honored elders had been formidable and terrifying people with divine nature, and Li Musheng had killed every one of them and drained them of their blood.
Bearing no ill will? Even an ordinary cat would not believe that.
Even so, the big black cat was clearly no ordinary cat.
After shuddering for a brief moment, it seemed to shake it off without a care and return to its normal self, letting out a coaxing meow toward Li Musheng and then continuing on as though nothing at all had happened.
At the sight, Li Musheng stared at the big black cat's retreating back and rubbed his chin.
The person with divine nature behind this big black cat was genuinely a little different from the others.
Though when he thought about it, he did not actually care much about their identity. He was simply using the animal as a cat to pet.
At the same time, in the forest outside the Falling God Peak main peak, Lin Yuer steadied herself, her heart still racing.
She did not, however, share with Wu Yong and the others what she had just seen of her little sister and Li Musheng.
For one thing, she was not certain that the dark jade stele had any connection to the stone stele the sect was looking for.
For another, Li Musheng was someone they absolutely could not afford to provoke. She had no desire to get on the wrong side of him.
With that, Lin Yuer redirected a different bird, bypassed the area where Li Musheng and the big black cat were, and continued searching the main peak from the air.
...
Half an hour later.
Fu Qiwen's Tianjin Guards column, along with the other three columns, arrived at the Falling God Peak main peak one after another.
Earlier, after parting ways with Li Musheng at Hundred Refinements City, Fu Qiwen had returned to the Tianjin Guards column under Hu Rui'an's command.
From there, beyond relaying the news of Li Musheng cutting down the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the others, Fu Qiwen had swept through and taken the Star Control Peak without difficulty.
Unfortunately, the Star Control Peak Master's decision to surrender voluntarily meant Fu Qiwen had no opportunity to let Hu Rui'an witness his full strength firsthand.
Of course, since learning of the Eighth Prince Li Musheng's true martial cultivation, Fu Qiwen had lost all interest in any such display.
Afterward, Fu Qiwen moved to assist the other two Tianjin Guards columns, but the Peak Masters of those two peaks had not surrendered and had chosen to flee instead.
In the end, with Fu Qiwen joining forces with the Marquis of Dragon Mountain and the others in a full pursuit, one of the fleeing Falling God Peak Peak Masters was cut down, while the other escaped with serious wounds.
At this point, the entire operation to eradicate Falling God Peak had reached its conclusion and could officially be declared complete. One of the four great martial world sects, Falling God Peak, had been destroyed.
What remained next were the secondary tasks of eliminating the scattered remnants of Falling God Peak's forces throughout Great Li.
With the Falling God Peak sect itself gone, what remained would be nothing more than a rabble, no real concern at all, and would be dealt with in due course by the Tianjin Guards.
...
Falling God Peak main peak, main hall of the sect.
"Your servant greets Your Highness."
Fu Qiwen led the commanders of the Tianjin Guards columns into the hall where Li Musheng was sitting, refining the Azure Dragon Profound Darkness Scripture, and bowed in salute.
The assembled Tianjin Guards commanders joined their voices in unison, greeting Li Musheng together.
But though everyone was bowing, every set of eyes was also sneaking glances at this Great Li Eighth Prince who had emerged from nowhere.
It seemed as though everyone wanted to see what Li Musheng actually looked like.
In their view, it was beyond question that the person who had enabled tonight's destruction of Falling God Peak, who had single-handedly changed the fate of the Tianjin Guards, was the Eighth Prince standing before them.
Without him killing the Falling God Peak grandmaster and the four honored elders, the sect's Peak Masters, elders, and disciples would not have fled and surrendered as they had.