Chapter 121: Redirecting the Flower onto the Tree |
The Qingshan Tower members and the two elderly eunuchs froze for a moment, then every one of their expressions changed drastically.
By all reasoning, an attack of such devastating power landing on any person's body should not have produced no reaction whatsoever.
Even a peak Heaven-Human expert, when facing the combined assault of five Heaven-Human cultivators, could not have taken their most powerful strike without deploying even a shred of martial True Qi in defense and emerged as though nothing had happened at all.
Yet Li Musheng had done precisely that, which was undeniably bizarre, even enough to make one's blood run cold.
"Fall back! Retreat at once!"
The violet-robed elder bellowed urgently.
At the same time, the True Qi around his entire body erupted as he turned without the slightest hesitation and shot backward at great speed.
The others snapped back to their senses and did the same, all of them pouring everything into their movement techniques and scrambling to withdraw and put distance between themselves and Li Musheng.
But just at that moment, Li Musheng's lips curved into a faint smile, and his fingers moved almost imperceptibly.
The speed at which the bronze sword fell appeared slow through the water, yet was in truth extremely fast.
Like a flyswatter swatting a swarm of buzzing flies, in an instant it pressed down and pinned every last one of them, the two elderly eunuchs and the Qingshan Tower members alike, who had been trying to flee.
Even the violet-robed elder, who had been the first to react and make his escape, did not go unscathed. His entire body was pinned beneath the several-zhang-long hilt of the bronze sword.
Though he had sensed the sword falling and reacted the moment it began to topple, what filled him with despair was that even as he pushed his movement technique to its absolute limit in a bid to escape, he still could not outrun the bronze sword's speed. He could only watch helplessly as he was pinned beneath the enormous blade, utterly powerless to do anything about it.
And even now, as he strained to the utmost to unleash the full force of his Heaven-Human cultivation in a desperate attempt to break free from beneath the bronze sword, he found it completely impossible.
The enormous sword atop him bore down like a mountain holding up the sky, leaving him barely able to move a single inch, and no matter how he poured every last ounce of his strength into it, he could not budge the sword above him in the slightest.
The two elderly eunuchs of Great Li and the rest of the Qingshan Tower members found themselves in exactly the same predicament.
The bronze sword seemed to contain a dense, weighty aura of immense, crushing force, confining and pressing them down into the depths of the pool.
They were as though the heaviest shackles in all the world had been clamped upon them. Every inch of muscle and every bone in their bodies bore an unbearable crushing weight, each of them completely stripped of all agency, like fish laid out on a chopping block.
At this moment, Bu Chengyang, who had surged forward and been just about to lend his aid, caught sight of this scene, and his expression froze in an instant as he came to a sharp stop in the water.
Earlier, when Li Musheng had been surrounded by five Heaven-Human experts and six other powerful martial artists, the situation had seemed far from favorable.
Yet in the blink of an eye everything had reversed. Before he even had a chance to process what had happened, Li Musheng had subdued all eleven of them with ease through this bizarre method.
Bu Chengyang swept his gaze over the violet-robed elder and the others pinned beneath the bronze sword, then turned to look at Li Musheng with an expression of shock and disbelief, unable to stop himself from asking, "Young Hero, what martial technique did you just use? To withstand the combined attack of five Heaven-Human experts without drawing on any heaven and earth True Qi is something truly unheard of."
Hearing this, Li Musheng narrowed his eyes slightly and said with easy nonchalance, "Just a rather obscure technique. If you want a name for it, you could call it 'Redirecting the Stars and Shifting the Flowers onto the Tree,' or 'Grand Displacement of Heaven and Earth' would work just as well."
Bu Chengyang thought for a moment, then furrowed his brow and shook his head in puzzlement, saying, "I would say my knowledge of martial techniques from the various sects and schools of the martial world is fairly extensive, yet I have never once heard of any technique by the names Young Hero has mentioned."
Li Musheng gave a light laugh and waved a casual hand, saying, "They're just some rather rough techniques of my own invention. It's perfectly normal that you wouldn't know them."
The moment those words landed, Bu Chengyang froze, and an expression of pure disbelief spread across his face.
Self-invented techniques?
He naturally understood how enormously difficult it was to create an original martial cultivation method from scratch. If Li Musheng was not deceiving him, then the man could no longer be called a martial genius. He was a martial prodigy the likes of which had never existed before.
At the same time, Li Musheng glanced sideways at Bu Chengyang, taking in every bit of his reaction, then gave a slight nod to himself.
Mm. Not bad. A perfectly effortless display of superiority.
Then, with a satisfied air, he stepped forward onto the bronze sword lying across the Qingshan Tower members and the others.
The reason he was leaving these people alive for the time being was twofold. One was that he intended to question the Great Qi remnants about any leads regarding the keys to the Tianqi Secret Treasury. The other was that he was also curious about how the Imperial Dragon Divine Sword was actually meant to be used.
Li Musheng swept his gaze over the violet-robed elder and the rest of them, then flicked his fingers one by one, sending eleven streaks of Life and Death Talisman light into each of their bodies.
Then he turned and beckoned to Cang Yinyue and the others not far away, saying, "Let's get out of the pool first and talk from there."
With that, he rose swiftly toward the surface, and the bronze sword beneath his feet carried the violet-robed elder and the others along with it, not leaving a single one behind.
Seeing this, Cang Yinyue quickly followed after him. She had naturally witnessed everything of Li Musheng's actions just now, yet by this point nothing he did surprised her anymore, and she was thoroughly composed about it.
Ah Bin beside her, however, could not manage the slightest composure. His mouth hung wide open, and for a long time he could not close it.
This was just way too terrifying.
Sect master-level Heaven-Human experts of the martial world were no different from helpless chickens in front of Li Musheng. Who would believe it if you told them?
No wonder Martial Uncle Bu had become so thoroughly compliant, fawning around the man like a lackey. Any Heaven-Human expert who came face to face with Li Musheng would probably have to bow down first before saying anything else.
Ah Bin's astonishment was beyond anything he could express. At this point, Bu Chengyang noticed him standing there in a daze and let out a cold snort, saying, "Ignorant fool."
He grabbed the boy by his collar and hauled him toward the surface at once, so the little idiot wouldn't end up choking to death in the depths of the cold pool.
Before long, Li Musheng stepped atop the bronze sword and broke through the surface of the water, sweeping all eleven people pinned beneath it along as he landed inside the bronze palace.
Outside the bronze palace, scattered sounds of fighting could still be heard, but Li Musheng paid them no mind.
He directly activated the Life and Death Talisman and put the eleven of them through a thorough session of torment, then called Cang Yinyue over to interrogate them one by one.
During this time, Bu Chengyang and Ah Bin, having emerged from the cold pool, stood to one side without uttering a word.
Watching the violet-robed elder and the others writhing in agony as though life and death were equally unwelcome, both of them could not help but feel a chill run through them, their faces pale and unpleasant.
Ah Bin cast a fearful glance at Li Musheng, then trembled as he transmitted his voice through True Qi to Bu Chengyang, saying, "Martial Uncle... this isn't killing the chicken to warn the monkey, is it?"
"Please think of something quickly. What do we have to do when our turn comes to make absolutely sure we never end up suffering torment like this? I'm honestly so scared I'm about to wet myself."