But the moment the man's words left his mouth, his expression suddenly changed.
At the same time, the true qi of heaven and earth around the entire tavern surged and churned like a tide, and all the doors, windows, tables, and chairs in the vicinity began to tremble slightly.
The man and the two black-robed elders all raised their heads and looked toward the upper floor of the tavern. They could both feel that a concentrated and powerful martial aura was building steadily up there.
"This is... someone breaking through to the Heaven-Human Realm?"
One of the black-robed elders furrowed his brow and said. The gulf between Martial Dao Grand Master and Heaven-Human was like a chasm, and any breakthrough had to be approached with extreme caution.
But to be doing this in Gaoyuan City, a place as mixed and unpredictable as this, was undeniably dangerous.
A single deliberate interference from someone with malicious intent could easily undo everything, scattering one's cultivation to nothing, or even endangering one's life.
"Deal with these two first. Get the item back and then worry about the rest."
At that, the man temporarily pulled his attention away and made to turn his hand against Li Musheng and the small beggar.
The man was briefly caught off guard, then realized what had happened, and his expression darkened sharply, "After them. They must not get away."
With that, he rushed out of the tavern first, intending to give chase.
But the moment the man reached the tavern's entrance, he collided with what felt like an invisible iron wall and was sent flying violently backward.
The two black-robed elders behind him were quick enough to catch him, barely managing to absorb the rebound force from his body.
"What is this?"
The man pressed a hand to his chest and steadied himself, staring toward the tavern entrance. There was plainly nothing there.
At those words, the two black-robed elders furrowed their brows, then each sent out several palms toward the tavern entrance, the windows, and the surrounding walls.
But the blood-red palm prints swept down like gusts of wind and simply could not break through the tavern's doorway. The strikes aimed at the walls and windows were likewise stopped by some intangible force and could not cause the slightest damage.
"This..."
The two black-robed elders immediately showed expressions of shock, and tried again and again to break through the unseen obstruction before them, but still could not manage it.
...
At the same time, on the roof of a shop not far from the tavern.
The small beggar had finally been allowed to move freely again. She sat on the ridge of the roof, flexing her hands, and then looked at Li Musheng, "Why did you not kill those Sun and Moon Demonic Cult people just now?"
At those words, Li Musheng raised an eyebrow and said, "They are too weak. I have absolutely no desire to strike against them, and this is too small a matter to bother with anyway."
The small beggar stared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes. But then, thinking of the terrifying speed he had displayed just moments before, she quickly resumed a normal expression.
The person before her was clearly obnoxiously arrogant on the surface, but his actual strength was not to be taken lightly.
"What martial art do you plan to offer in exchange for the Theft Saint's movement technique?"
The small beggar bit her lip and looked at Li Musheng, suddenly asking.
Li Musheng glanced at her and said casually, "What would you like to learn?"
At those words, the small beggar gave a dismissive curl of her lip, "You say that as though whatever I want to learn, you already know?"
Li Musheng let out a short laugh and waved a hand, "If you do not know what you want to learn, then hand over your movement technique first and take your time thinking about it."
"That is not happening. Martial world rules say goods and payment change hands at the same time. What if you cheat me?"
The small beggar shook her head with a wary expression. She knew she had no way of escaping Li Musheng's grasp, and so she had no choice but to agree to his terms and then think about how to get the most out of the situation.
And then afterward... today's humiliation, she would keep close to heart, and swear to repay it one day, and make Li Musheng call her his superior.
But very quickly, the small beggar's gaze shifted, drawn toward the surging martial aura rising from the tavern ahead.
"Someone is actually breaking through to the Heaven-Human Realm here. That is extraordinarily rare to witness. I cannot believe I happened to run into something like this."
The small beggar's dark eyes lit up, her gaze fixed on the tavern, clearly not wanting to miss something this hard to come by.
At the same time, the increasingly powerful disturbance in the surrounding true qi of heaven and earth drew the attention of nearby martial world figures, and before long a considerable number of them had converged from every direction to gather around the tavern and watch.
Inside the tavern, the man from the Sun and Moon Demonic Cult and the two black-robed elders tried every method they could think of, but still could not leave.
The three of them eventually turned their attention to Cao Gaoshan, who was in the midst of breaking through to the Heaven-Human Realm.
"It is quite possible this person sealed the tavern. At this point, eliminating him may be the only way we can leave."
The man suddenly spoke with a darkened expression, and at those words the two black-robed elders exchanged a glance, then gave nods of agreement, "There is no time to waste. We have to strike at the critical moment of his breakthrough. Right now is when he is at his weakest, and that is our opportunity."
With that, the three of them did not hesitate for even a moment, and their figures shot upward toward the floor above.
After all, Li Musheng and the small beggar had already fled, and the longer they waited, the slimmer their chances of catching up.
But the moment the three burst into Cao Gaoshan's room, a sharp and domineering blade light swept out and went straight for their heads.
During his breakthrough to the Heaven-Human Realm, Cao Gaoshan's mind was brilliantly clear, attuned to the heavens and earth, and every movement within and around the entire tavern had been entering his awareness with perfect clarity.
The so-called Heaven-Human state was the first step toward true unity with heaven and earth, wherein a practitioner's mortal body begins to absorb and command the true qi of heaven and earth, and one's own martial aura begins to merge with the world around them.
And so everything that had occurred in the tavern's main hall before was something Cao Gaoshan had heard with complete clarity.
He also understood clearly that Li Musheng had deliberately left these three for him to handle.
"So it is you."
The man felt the killing intent coming from Cao Gaoshan, and together with the two black-robed elders managed to deflect that sudden and unexpected blade strike. His expression immediately turned very unpleasant.
Even back when he had been sitting in the corner of the tavern, he had sensed something off about Li Musheng and the others.
As it turned out, he had been right about everything. They had been targeting his group at every turn.
Not only had they used the little beggar to steal the item from them, but now they had trapped them in the tavern as well. The intent was clearly to wipe them all out in one sweep.
"Very well, very well. The arrogance of it, striking even at a moment as critical as a breakthrough. This is blatant contempt for us."
One of the black-robed elders let out a furious laugh, then gave a loud shout and unleashed his full strength, charging toward Cao Gaoshan, "Either you die today, or I do."
Cao Gaoshan let out a cold snort, "You three are nothing but whetstones for my advancement to the Heaven-Human Realm."
With that, he struck like thunder, and the clash with the three of them was joined.
The big black cat, which had been crouched on the windowsill hoping to watch a Heaven-Human breakthrough, looked on at the fight with some boredom.
Because Li Musheng had used the true qi of heaven and earth to seal the tavern, it could not get out and was stuck keeping Cao Gaoshan company in his brawl.
At the same time, a gray-robed elder and a young man approached from a distance and came to a stop before the tavern.
Looking through the tavern's open entrance at the scene in the main hall, the young man's expression changed sharply, his gaze falling on the two headless bodies on the floor, and he said, "So that is why they never came back. They died right here."
As he said this, the young man made to step inside and retrieve the two bodies.
But in the next instant, the gray-robed elder reached out and stopped him, saying with a furrowed brow, "Do not rush. When this old man broke through to the Heaven-Human Realm in his day, the true qi of heaven and earth churned and raged like a dragon overturning the sea, and every blade of grass within a hundred zhang was flattened."
"The disturbance of the true qi here is not small, but it is far weaker than what this old man experienced, and the tavern itself has not been touched at all."
At those words, the young man furrowed his brow and looked at the gray-robed elder with a puzzled expression, "Elder Sun, what you mean is..."
"What this old man means is that someone has locked this place down with true qi, and you will not be able to get inside."
The gray-robed elder slowly shook his head, then flicked a finger, and a concentrated strand of martial true qi shot like an arrow into the tavern.
But the strand of true qi stopped dead at the doorway, as though it had hit an invisible wall, and in the blink of an eye it rebounded and came shooting back toward the gray-robed elder.
Seeing this, the gray-robed elder immediately furrowed his brow, and a look of interest crossed his face, "Hmm. Rather intriguing."
He waved a hand casually, and the rebounding strand of true qi dissolved quietly.
At that, the young man beside him watched this scene and furrowed his brow, asking, "Does Elder Sun have any way to break through this barrier?"
As he said this, he looked at the two bodies in the main hall, "These two once did me a great service. Even if I cannot avenge them right now, I must at least bring their remains back."
At those words, the gray-robed elder thought quietly for a moment, then gave a slow nod, "Properly speaking, this old man should not be disturbing whatever arrangements the hidden expert has made. But since you are asking, this old man will take the opportunity to test the limits of this field of true qi."
With that, the gray-robed elder slowly raised a hand, and in an instant the chaotic true qi of heaven and earth all around began streaming from every direction toward his palm like a hundred rivers joining the sea, forming a surging invisible vortex of force around his body.
Then, with his palm slowly closing, he swung his fist forward.
A thunderous surge of intent wrapped in rolling true qi drove toward the tavern's open entrance in one decisive blow.
The disturbance this caused made the surrounding martial world figures glance over in surprise, and it did not take long for the observers to realize that the gray-robed elder was a Heaven-Human level expert.
But in the next instant, the gray-robed elder's expression changed sharply.
His punch landed at the tavern's threshold and vanished like a stone into a deep lake, the tavern itself remaining completely unscathed.
And in the very next moment, the vast true qi he had condensed into that strike rebounded just as his earlier test strand had done, and came shooting directly back at him.
Sensing this, the gray-robed elder did not dare be careless. He knew perfectly well that while his punch had seemed ordinary from the outside, he had put over ninety percent of his strength into it.
If he did not move to stop the rebound, half the street behind him would be reduced to rubble by the force.
A thunderous crash rang out.
The gray-robed elder threw another punch to meet the rebounding one, and in an instant the two surges of intent collided, releasing shockwaves of terrifying true qi that reduced the stretch of paving stones beneath his feet to powder.
Dust and debris swirled upward in a dark column that briefly blotted out the air, but the gray-robed elder dispersed it in a moment with a casual sweep of powerful force.
The young man who had seen all of this immediately showed a dramatically changed expression, "Elder Sun, not even you can get through?"
The gray-robed elder's face was somewhat unpleasant. He simply thought in silence and shook his head.
Though he had only used ninety percent of his strength, he understood clearly from the intensity of the true qi barrier around the tavern that even going all out, it would make no difference.
At that moment, from the rooftop of a shop not far from the tavern, the small beggar who had been watching the breakthrough happening inside also naturally saw everything the gray-robed elder had done.
She clearly recognized the two newcomers as well, and immediately turned toward Li Musheng beside her with a puzzled and astonished look, "What is happening there? Why can they not get into the tavern?"
At those words, Li Musheng gave a quiet shake of his head, "Simple. I will not let them in, so they cannot get in."
At those words, the small beggar went briefly still, then reached up and vigorously scratched her own head, "Why do you always say things that make me want to smack you?"
"If it was something you arranged that is keeping those people out, just say so plainly. I am perfectly capable of understanding."
"But instead you say something odd like that, and it gives me this strange crawling feeling on my scalp."
Li Musheng gave the small beggar a flat look and waved a hand, "What do you know? That is just how truly formidable people are."
As he said this, he gave the small beggar another slightly disdainful look and said, "Decided what martial art you want yet? Honestly, the smell on you is rather strong. How long has it been since you bathed?"
At those words, the small beggar stopped scratching her head, turned away sharply, and said, "None of your business. If a beggar did not smell, could you really call them a beggar?"
As she said this, the small beggar's eyes gave a sudden roll, and on a mischievous impulse she lunged toward Li Musheng.
Since she could not overpower him, at least making him uncomfortable was something.
But of course she could not even manage that. She had barely moved before her entire body froze in mid-air, suspended.
"The Theft Saint took a beggar as a disciple. Does that not mean the Theft Saint must also be a beggar?"
Li Musheng said this with unhurried ease, and with a casual wave of his hand sent the small beggar floating two steps backward, after which she was free to move again.
The small beggar clenched her teeth in fury. This person had completely gotten the better of her, and even with the Theft Saint's movement art, she was absolutely useless in front of him.
"I have decided. I want to learn that acupoint-sealing technique of yours."
At that moment, the small beggar suddenly fixed her eyes on Li Musheng and said firmly.