Chapter 137: Do Not Move Against Falling God Peak |
Half an incense stick's worth of time later.
On the stone-paved main street, now a scene of wreckage and destruction, Qin Hao retrieved from Sha Wenshan a palm-sized broken jade pendant that the man handed over.
"Why has the White Sand Gang been going to such lengths to obtain this thing?"
Looking at the jade pendant in his hand, Qin Hao withdrew his gaze and furrowed his brow as he fixed his eyes on Sha Wenshan, whose face was deathly pale.
Hearing this, Sha Wenshan coughed several times. The internal organs that had been shattered by Cao Gaoshan's slash flared with acute agony, and he spat out a mouthful of bright blood, but still managed to reply with effort, saying, "It was... the Alliance Under Heaven that instructed us to find this object. I do not know the details behind it."
The moment those words fell, Shangguan Qingqing's eyes lifted at the corners. She gave the young man in white a glance and said with sudden understanding, "So the power behind you that none of us can afford to provoke turns out to be the Alliance Under Heaven, one of the four top forces in the martial world of Great Li. No wonder you were all so arrogant."
The young man in white said nothing, only letting a cold gleam flash through his eyes.
In the current situation, the lives of himself and the others were entirely in the enemy's hands. All that was needed was to make the other side aware of the White Sand Gang's backing and back off. If he displayed any further show of insolence, it would likely have the opposite effect.
As he saw it, as long as he could leave alive today, he would see to it that these people paid back this humiliation a hundredfold another day.
Sun Shao, holding his long spear, made no attempt to deny it and gave a nod, saying, "The Alliance Under Heaven's power extends throughout every province of the martial world of Great Li, and its leader is a figure of divine martial Dao cultivation and impeccable reputation, widely revered by countless people throughout the martial world."
"Moreover, the Alliance Under Heaven has been courteous to men of talent and ability, calling on sects and factions of every stripe to set aside their differences and unite in creating a grand era of prosperity for the martial world. The God-Slaying Spear Sect naturally responded actively to the call of the Alliance Leader."
Qin Hao fell silent for a moment, then turned to look at Shangguan Qingqing beside him, let out a quiet breath, and said with a sigh, "Junior Sister, the power behind them is formidable. The Alliance Under Heaven is too enormous a force for our Tianhe Blade Sect to match."
Hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing immediately furrowed her brow and turned her head toward Qin Hao, just about to speak.
But in the next moment, she watched Qin Hao's figure suddenly explode into motion from where he stood, broad saber in hand, surging toward Sun Shao not far away with the force of a thunderbolt.
Sun Shao, having heard what Qin Hao said, had felt a small measure of relief in his heart, assuming the man was intimidated by the Alliance Under Heaven's power and would not dare lay a hand on him today.
But the very last thing he expected was for the man to go for his life the instant the words left his mouth.
In that instant, his expression changed drastically, and he snapped back, "Fool, you're bringing extermination down on the Tianhe Blade Sect!"
Yet a cold smile had spread across Qin Hao's face. The blade light in his hand surged with lethal intensity, his killing intent rolling like a tide, as he said, "What does any of that matter? I'll kill you first and avenge my junior disciples, then worry about the rest."
The broad saber cleaved down with the force of something that could split stone monuments, and Sun Shao's face darkened as he moved to resist at the first possible moment.
But Cao Gaoshan's expression shifted, and a surge of domineering blade energy erupted from his entire body and pressed down squarely onto Sun Shao, pinning him so completely that he could not move so much as a single inch.
Sun Shao's face filled with terror, and in the next moment a flash of blade light swept past in an instant, leaving him split in two with an expression of absolute horror.
Witnessing this without warning, the young man in white froze briefly, then without a word turned and fled in panic, carrying Sha Wenshan on his back.
But Qin Hao clearly had no intention of letting them go. He left the blood-soaked corpse of Sun Shao behind and charged after the two of them.
"You... gave your word and broke it!"
Sha Wenshan, lying on the young man in white's back, turned his head in furious shock to glare at Qin Hao.
"Honor only goes to those who deserve it."
Qin Hao's face was merciless, and he struck out with everything he had without the slightest hesitation, swearing to cut down both men before him.
Before long, Qin Hao walked back from one end of the stone-paved street carrying the severed heads of Sha Wenshan and the young man in white, then went on to claim the heads of Sun Shao and the other two middle-aged men in the pit.
"With these heads as offerings, the memorial to my junior disciples should be fitting enough."
Qin Hao gathered the heads together, then once again clasped his hands toward Cao Gaoshan in a bow of thanks.
Cao Gaoshan narrowed his eyes slightly and waved a hand in dismissal, then, seeing there was nothing more for him to do, turned and walked back toward the inn.
At this point, Shangguan Qingqing, having finished dealing with the remaining White Sand Gang fighters on her end, walked to Qin Hao's side and gave him a pat on the shoulder, saying, "You gave me quite a fright just now. This is the senior brother I know. No one from our Tianhe Blade Sect has any business being afraid to die."
Then she let out a soft sigh, saying, "However, I'll leave the rest of this to Senior Brother to handle. Once I've had my tea, I'll come back and we'll go wipe out the White Sand Gang together."
With that, Shangguan Qingqing's expression brightened at once, and she headed off toward the inn with quick, eager strides.
Seeing this, Qin Hao hurried to follow, saying, "Junior Sister, I'll come with you. I want to thank our benefactor in person."
...
The second floor of the inn was now utterly silent.
Several guests had peeked through the gaps in the windows and naturally witnessed Cao Gaoshan making his move, and seen the White Sand Gang leader and the others lose their heads as well.
As a result, every one of them was now sitting as still as a mouse, not daring to make a sound.
The occasional glance they cast toward Li Musheng's table betrayed nothing but fear and deep, unmistakable wariness.
Cao Gaoshan gave a rough account to Hu Rui'an and Li Musheng of what had unfolded on the street afterward.
After all, this touched on the Alliance Under Heaven, one of the four great sects. Although their current journey was to exterminate Falling God Peak, also one of the four, they had no particular concern about the Alliance Under Heaven for the time being.
Even so, a slight degree of caution was not unwarranted to avoid any surprises.
After hearing Cao Gaoshan out, Li Musheng showed no reaction and displayed no particular interest.
Hu Rui'an thought it over for a moment, then said slowly, "The Alliance Under Heaven has been absorbing sects and factions of every size across the martial world in recent years, and its power has grown increasingly formidable. That is not a welcome development for the imperial court."
Wu Shang standing in attendance gave a light nod, saying, "I've heard that the Alliance Under Heaven has been opening its arsenal and freely distributing all manner of powerful and valuable martial technique manuals to win over various sects, drawing in many factions of modest standing who have flocked to join them and praised the Alliance widely throughout the martial world. The Alliance Under Heaven's ambitions are likely very great indeed."
Hu Rui'an let out a quiet sigh and shook his head, saying nothing further on the matter.
Just then, Shangguan Qingqing came hurrying up to the second floor with Qin Hao close behind.
She swept a glance around the room, then made her way to Li Musheng's side with light, joyful steps and lowered her voice to ask, "Your Highness has left Shangyang City and come to this place... could this be an incognito inspection?"
Hearing this, Li Musheng glanced at her, then spread his hands, saying, "Quite right. Miss Qingqing guessed it."
He then gestured for her to take a seat at the table and poured her a cup of hot tea.
At this point, however, Qin Hao behind her wore a peculiar expression.
He quietly tugged at the hem of Shangguan Qingqing's clothing and transmitted his voice urgently through True Qi, asking, "Junior Sister, is this benefactor of ours actually a prince of Great Li?"
Hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing gave a slight nod, but immediately followed it with a grave word of caution through her own voice transmission, saying, "Judging from the appearance of His Highness and his party, they seem to be traveling incognito. Senior Brother must not breathe a word of this, or don't blame me for showing no regard for our bond as fellow disciples."
"Junior Sister, rest easy. I am not that kind of person. However, I do have a matter of the utmost importance that I need to pass on to the Great Li imperial court."
Hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing's brow furrowed at once, and she transmitted back in puzzlement, saying, "What matter? How come I know nothing of this?"
"Well... it's a long story..."
At the same time, the gazes of Hu Rui'an and the others at the table had settled on the two of them, their eyes curious and watchful.
At this point, Li Musheng gave a cough, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Miss Qingqing, carrying on a secret conversation behind people's backs like this is not particularly good behavior, is it?"
"Huh?"
The moment those words fell, Shangguan Qingqing came back to herself and immediately waved her hands in denial, saying, "I wasn't doing that. How could I possibly say anything bad about the number one under heaven?"
As she spoke, she extended one finger and pointed at Qin Hao behind her, shifting the responsibility squarely onto him, saying, "It's this senior brother of mine, who says he has an important matter to tell you."
Hearing this, the gazes of Hu Rui'an, Murong Xiaoya, and the others shifted, lingering on Li Musheng before them for a moment, then turning to look at Qin Hao, all of them wearing curious and puzzled expressions.
At this point, Qin Hao gave a somewhat sheepish smile, then clasped his hands toward Li Musheng with considerable gravity, saying, "Many thanks to our benefactor for your aid just now. Your beneficence in saving my life and helping me avenge my junior disciples is a kindness I truly have no way to repay."
Li Musheng waved a hand, dismissing the matter without a second thought. Even so, he looked at Qin Hao with a degree of curiosity and asked, "What important matter did you have to tell us?"
Hearing this, Qin Hao quickly took out the half jade pendant from inside his robe and presented it with both hands to Li Musheng, saying, "This jade pendant was just recovered from the White Sand Gang leader's hands. In truth, it originally belonged to a junior disciple of mine."
He then let out a long sigh and laid out the full story.
Shangguan Qingqing had left the Tianhe Blade Sect to help avenge her junior martial sister and apprehend the philanderer, and had not been heard from since.
Her master, worried she had come to harm, dispatched Qin Hao to trace her path and find her. Several days ago, however, Qin Hao had come across the distress signal left behind by a sect disciple halfway along the road.
He had immediately followed the signal in search of the person, but what he found was a junior disciple who had been gravely wounded.
Furious at seeing a fellow disciple so brutally harmed, he had arrived just in time to hear the man's dying words, and it was through them that he came to learn the full sequence of events.
"That junior disciple and several others were traveling together when they encountered a courier being hunted on the road leading to the capital province. Acting out of a sense of righteousness, they moved to help, but ended up bringing utter calamity down upon themselves in the process."
Qin Hao's expression was sorrowful as he looked toward the jade pendant in Li Musheng's hand, saying, "My junior disciple only learned of the extremely important intelligence the courier was trying to deliver to the Great Li imperial court from the man's own dying words."
With that, he looked directly at Li Musheng and said, "Though I myself do not know what lies behind it, the one piece of information that courier was determined to deliver even at the cost of his life was this, do not, under any circumstances, move against Falling God Peak."
The moment those words fell, Hu Rui'an and the others all furrowed their brows at once.
Then Hu Rui'an raised his eyes toward Qin Hao and asked in a grave tone, "Do you know who that courier was, and why he would send out such a piece of intelligence?"
Hearing this, Qin Hao thought for a moment, then shook his head, saying, "The courier only said he was a spy for the Great Li imperial court hidden in the martial world. Whether he came from Six Doors, the Tianjin Guards, or the Hidden Intelligence Bureau, I have no idea."
Then his tone shifted slightly, saying, "However, this half jade pendant was given by the courier to my junior disciple. It was only seized by the White Sand Gang afterward. The intelligence he was trying to deliver may very well be connected to it."
The moment those words landed, everyone's gaze shifted and settled on the jade pendant in Li Musheng's hand.
Li Musheng handed the pendant casually over to Hu Rui'an opposite, asking him to take a look and work out what was going on.
Frankly speaking, he was somewhat curious about the courier's message himself.
After all, they were currently on their way to exterminate Falling God Peak, and to have this piece of intelligence suddenly surface was, to say the least, somewhat unexpected.
At this point, Hu Rui'an, having taken the jade pendant from Li Musheng's hand, began examining it carefully.
The pendant looked entirely unremarkable, carved with some ordinary landscape patterns, and was not made of any particularly precious material.
But after looking at it for a while, Hu Rui'an suddenly generated a mass of blazing crimson True Qi in his hand and passed it slowly over the surface of the pendant.
Then threads of martial True Qi seeped up into his eyes, which began to glow faintly, as he fixed his gaze on the jade pendant in his hand once more.
After a moment, Hu Rui'an's expression became visibly grave.
He looked up at Li Musheng, and in the next instant an invisible True Qi barrier radiated outward from him as its center, blocking out Shangguan Qingqing, Qin Hao, and all the other inn guests entirely.
Shangguan Qingqing and Qin Hao naturally sensed this, and Qin Hao's expression shifted in sudden surprise as he transmitted quietly to Shangguan Qingqing, saying, "This senior is actually a Heaven-Human expert. The martial Dao aura he let slip just now... somehow feels even more formidable than our master."
Shangguan Qingqing glanced at him and said, "Senior Brother, can you try not to be so easily impressed? With the number one under heaven sitting right in front of us, what does a mere Heaven-Human expert amount to?"
Hearing this, Qin Hao furrowed his brow, gave his junior sister an appraising look, and said with suspicion, "Junior Sister, this prince has truly shown us the kindness of saving our lives, and we should naturally be deeply grateful. But... why do you keep insisting that he is the number one under heaven? He is clearly so young, and does not carry even the faintest trace of martial True Qi."
Upon hearing those words, Shangguan Qingqing's spirited and pretty face took on a look of unmistakable disdain, saying, "Senior Brother, at the moment you said that, I have never felt your understanding of the world to be quite so shallow."
Qin Hao: ...
...
At the same time, having set up the True Qi barrier, Hu Rui'an turned to face Li Musheng with an expression of utmost gravity, saying, "Your Highness, this jade pendant contains an extremely detailed topographical map of Falling God Peak, along with a great many precise internal defensive markings. Even though this is only half the pendant, I can say with certainty that this object is classified intelligence of the highest order."
Hearing this, Li Musheng glanced at the jade pendant, raised an eyebrow, and said, "In that case, the courier was a Tianjin Guards operative?"
However, Hu Rui'an shook his head, saying, "Probably not. While I do know the method for decoding the intelligence on the pendant, this method is used equally by other institutions of the Great Li imperial court."
"Moreover, the map recorded on the pendant differs noticeably in certain areas from the defensive layout the Tianjin Guards obtained covertly for this operation against Falling God Peak."