Great Li Martial God

Li Musheng withdrew his gaze from Zhao Kuang. His expression betrayed nothing, "Then tell me, where is your father?"

The words fell into absolute silence. Every martial world expert in the hall shifted their eyes back and forth between Li Musheng and Zhao Kuang.

One by one they fixed Zhao Kuang with sharp, hard stares. The meaning was plain enough: if he produced the Great Xuan emperor, so be it. If not, they would cut him down where he stood.

At this, Zhao Kuang said nothing further. He circulated his true qi and struck the surrounding walls with several consecutive palms.

At once a sound of grinding metal rang out, and the section of wall Zhao Kuang had struck began rippling like the surface of water.

The heavy iron wall then broke apart into hundreds upon hundreds of rapidly shifting iron blocks that rearranged themselves into the outline of a doorway roughly one zhang in height.

Zhao Kuang struck out with several more palms, and the iron blocks within the doorway outline assembled into a heavy door that slowly swung open.

Only then did Zhao Kuang turn back to Li Musheng, "Please follow me."

With that, Zhao Kuang stepped forward through the open door without hesitation.

Several of the surrounding Great Xuan martial world experts immediately called out in warning.

But Li Musheng said nothing. He simply beckoned to Zhao Muning and followed after Zhao Kuang.

Zhao Muning glanced at Zhao Kuang's retreating back, her eyes shifting with thought, impossible to read. Even so, she stepped immediately to Li Musheng's side, and noticeably closer than before.

Seeing this, the surrounding Great Xuan martial world experts exchanged glances and said no more, quietly bringing along the white-haired Daoist woman and the others as they followed.

After passing through the door, the group entered an enormous underground space. Stretching out in every direction before them were densely packed black tunnels, too many to count.

Behind them, the heavy iron bricks shifted rapidly, and the door through which they had entered sealed shut in the blink of an eye, becoming a solid iron wall with no trace of the door remaining.

"Young hero, where is that dog Crown Prince?"

The assembled Great Xuan martial world experts swept the area with their eyes and found no sign of Zhao Kuang. Every one of them was immediately alarmed.

At those words, Li Musheng turned to look at them with a meaningful expression, "He has gone to find his father."

At that very moment, Zhao Kuang's voice came from somewhere within the dense cluster of tunnels ahead, "Sir, I have already looked. My father is not in retreat here."

At those words, the brows of every martial world expert furrowed. A flash of killing intent appeared in the Crimson Cloud Evil Spirit's eyes as he stared into the tunnels ahead and said in a low voice, "If the Great Xuan emperor is not here, then stop wasting time and bring us out of this place."

But after those words left the Crimson Cloud Evil Spirit's mouth, Zhao Kuang's voice went quiet for a moment before slowly continuing, "Everyone, there are one hundred and twenty-seven tunnels before you, representing one hundred and twenty-seven passages. But only one tunnel leads to safety. The rest are filled with all manner of deadly mechanisms, and every one of them is a path to death."

At those words, every martial world expert's expression changed. The expression beneath the Crimson Cloud Evil Spirit's hanging hair darkened sharply, "What do you mean by that?"

But Zhao Kuang did not answer the Crimson Cloud Evil Spirit's question. His voice floated out from the densely packed tunnels in a way that made its source impossible to place, "Sir, please do not misunderstand me. I have no intention of trapping you here. I am simply a cautious person by nature. For a matter of this importance, I must naturally be very careful about entering into a partnership with you. After all, I am staking my own life on this."

"And sir, you may not be aware, but my father is unfathomably deep and has countless powerful experts at his side. I would have virtually no chance of winning if I went up against him."

"You are my only advantage. Therefore, I must confirm that you truly possess sufficient power before I can make up my mind to cooperate with you."

At those words, the faces of the assembled martial world experts, the Crimson Cloud Evil Spirit included, all darkened considerably. Every one of them turned immediately to look at Li Musheng.

Li Musheng's expression, for his part, remained unreadable. He only turned to glance at Zhao Muning beside him.

That single glance made Zhao Muning's heart give a sharp lurch, and she stared at Li Musheng in complete disbelief, as though something utterly inconceivable had just happened.

And all of it was because Li Musheng, with that look, had casually asked her one question, "Miss, would you be interested in becoming the Great Xuan emperor?"

...

Zhao Muning naturally had no answer for Li Musheng's question. She could only stand there somewhat stunned.

Li Musheng appeared to have had no particular expectation of a reply. He turned back to face the dense cluster of tunnels ahead and asked in an unhurried tone, "Interesting. How exactly do you intend to confirm my strength?"

At those words, the entire vast underground space went silent, so quiet a pin could have been heard dropping. After a brief pause, Zhao Kuang's voice drifted from the hundred-odd tunnels at once, "If you can make it out of this Earth Vault Mystery Hall within one hour, I will agree to cooperate with you without any further hesitation."

"And once the matter is settled, I will take you as the Teacher of the Great Xuan Realm, second to none and above ten thousand. You will stand above all others in Great Xuan."

As he said this, Zhao Kuang paused briefly, then continued, "Of course, if you cannot break out of the mechanisms here within an hour, there is no need to worry. I will personally open the mechanisms and let you out, and going forward I will take you as the Teacher of the Crown Prince."

"But the matter of rescuing someone, I ask that you put aside entirely. We would be no match for my father."

At those words, Li Musheng nearly laughed, "I find you are quite persistent. No matter what happens, you are absolutely determined to make me your teacher."

The surrounding Great Xuan martial world experts all wore dark, shifting expressions. These veterans who had spent their lives navigating every form of treachery and intrigue had seen everything the martial world had to offer, and not one of them believed a single word from this Crown Prince.

But they were helpless against the mechanisms of the Earth Vault Mystery Hall, and for now had no choice but to swallow their fury and endure.

"Young hero, what should we do now?"

Someone spoke up, while quietly transmitting via true qi in warning, "That dog Crown Prince is clearly no good. Young hero, please be on your guard."

Zhao Muning's eyes flickered briefly, and she looked at Li Musheng for a long moment before transmitting quietly through true qi, "If sir cannot break through the mechanisms here, you may use me as a hostage. That way the Crown Prince will be too wary to try anything further."

At those words, Li Musheng swept the area with a glance, "To speak honestly, if this place could truly trap me, then coming to the Great Xuan imperial palace would not have been entirely without reward."

"Unfortunately, these mechanisms really cannot hold me."

The moment the words left his mouth, Li Musheng casually drew a line across the vaulted ceiling of the underground space with one hand.

In an instant, every Great Xuan martial world expert's breath caught in their throat. The entire underground space seemed to freeze and stand still.

In that moment, an indescribable sense of pressure crashed over everyone present, so overwhelming that even their consciousness went blank for an instant.

By reflex they looked up, and saw a blade light roughly one zhang in length that seemed to close the distance between the ground and the ceiling in an instant, cutting without a sound into the impossibly thick iron vault above.

The vault then split apart like bean curd, iron fragments raining down in a shower.

And that thin, unassuming blade light continued upward without the slightest pause or sign of fading, meeting no resistance whatsoever.

At that same moment, Li Musheng's voice reached everyone's ears, "Follow me."

Li Musheng took hold of Zhao Muning's arm, and his figure moved after the blade light, rising upward.

At those words, the assembled martial world experts snapped back to their senses at once. Without a moment's hesitation, every one of them swept the Grand Manager of the Treasure Assembly Trading House and the others up from the ground and launched themselves into the air, following Li Musheng's figure.

As the group rose higher and higher, awe continued to build within them.

Above the iron vault there was not merely a great depth of iron walls. There were also countless hidden mechanisms, gunpowder, mercury, poison sacs, and more.

The poison sacs in particular, once split open by the blade light, allowed some of the more experienced Great Xuan martial world experts to identify several of the vapors and liquids inside.

Every one of them was a devastating poison feared throughout the martial world. Some could eat through true qi defenses; others were colorless and odorless, and when inhaled would strip a person of their martial cultivation entirely, something even Heaven-Human experts would struggle to resist.

Any single poison in isolation they could manage. But all of them combined, in such enormous quantities, and in this sealed underground space where the true qi of heaven and earth was virtually nonexistent, even the Crimson Cloud Evil Spirit privately felt he would not be able to hold on.

What was even more alarming was that hidden among these mechanisms appeared to be certain extraordinarily unusual martial formations. Once triggered, they would generate a powerful, intangible devouring force that would drain the true qi from everyone's bodies.

With heaven and earth true qi already scarce in this underground space, if their own internal true qi were also drained away, then no matter how high their cultivation, they would have nothing left but to wait for death amid all these dangers.

But the blade light Li Musheng had sent out seemed unstoppable and unbreakable against all things.

Whether it was the towering iron vault, the layers upon layers of mechanisms, the countless poisons, or the formations designed to devour true qi, all of it shattered and dissolved before that single blade strike.

As for the assembled martial world experts following below Li Musheng, they were only marginally affected by the toxic vapors, mechanisms, and formations.

"Look, that blade light has not shown the slightest sign of fading. The young hero's true qi seems inexhaustible, as though it can never run dry."

"This old man truly cannot imagine how deep the young hero's martial cultivation goes."

The plump old man from before called out in amazement.

They had not yet escaped, but in the face of Li Musheng's single blade strike, every trace of the fear they had felt before the Earth Vault Mystery Hall had now completely dissolved.

If even someone with martial cultivation as terrifying as Li Musheng's could not escape from this place, then there would be nothing left to say about their dying here. But as things stood, there was clearly nothing to fear.

As for Zhao Muning, from the moment Li Musheng had taken hold of her arm she had not shifted her gaze from him once.

This man was not only unreasonably self-assured. His martial cultivation was unreasonably powerful. Every time he acted, he shattered whatever sense of what was possible she had formed around martial cultivation.

To speak honestly, she had never, from childhood to now, seen anyone with martial cultivation this formidable.

The elderly eunuchs of the Great Xuan imperial palace could not compare. Her own master, and her master's senior fellow disciples, were not remotely close to him.

"Why did you ask me that question just now?"

Zhao Muning suddenly spoke, her gaze fixed on Li Musheng's eyes.

At those words, Li Musheng did not look at her. His expression remained completely undisturbed as he said, "No particular reason. I simply do not like that Great Xuan emperor, and I do not like this Great Xuan Crown Prince either."

At those words, a flicker of something unusual passed through Zhao Muning's heart, and for a moment she did not know how to respond.

Just then, Li Musheng gave a casual wave, and the blade light above flashed once more and vanished, having cut directly through the iron-cast ground and broken out of the Earth Vault Mystery Hall.

Li Musheng brought Zhao Muning back up into the resplendent, gilded palace hall they had entered before, and the assembled martial world experts following below rose up close behind them, one after another.

Finally out of the underground, feeling the dense true qi of heaven and earth around them once more, every martial world expert let out a long, heavy breath of relief.

But none of these veterans forgot who it was that had brought them out. One by one they moved immediately to Li Musheng's side, their gratitude and praise flowing without end.

They had lived most of their lives in the martial world, and to speak honestly, they had never once been made to bow their heads to any single person as completely as this. The terrifying martial cultivation Li Musheng had just displayed was utterly beyond the reach of any of them, and in their hearts his standing had risen to a level even higher than the three Martial Gods who stood as paragons of the martial world.

Just at that moment, a jade stone staircase at the front of the palace slowly opened, and Crown Prince Zhao Kuang came striding quickly up from the underground passage below.

He then hurried to Li Musheng's side and bowed in a full formal salute, lowering his head, "Your power reaches heaven and earth, without equal under the sky. I am fully convinced and filled with admiration."

"I am willing to take you as the Teacher of the Great Xuan Realm, and will do everything in my power to help you rescue Daoist Qingyu."

The surrounding Great Xuan martial world experts watched Crown Prince Zhao Kuang with cold, indifferent eyes, but no one spoke, and no one moved against him.

Though every one of them harbored deep resentment toward Zhao Kuang for what he had done, with Li Musheng here the man was not capable of stirring up any real trouble. And none of them dared interfere with Li Musheng's intentions. Whatever Li Musheng chose to do with him, there would not be a word of objection from any of them.

At this point, Li Musheng glanced at Zhao Kuang and appeared to have put the whole affair entirely out of his mind. He only said with a meaningful tone, "I can understand you wanting to test my strength, but the mechanism you chose for it has left me somewhat disappointed."

With that, Li Musheng waved a hand, "There is only one location left where the Great Xuan emperor might be in retreat. Keep leading the way."

At those words, Crown Prince Zhao Kuang raised his head and looked at Li Musheng almost imperceptibly, confirming that his expression was entirely even.

Only then did he slowly straighten up. As a measure of relief settled into him, a surge of barely contained elation rose quietly in his heart.

Because he had gambled correctly.

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