Hunter

"I was right after all." Li Musheng did not seem surprised by this.

"General Wu'an's manor had been secretly searching for the lost Seventh Prince, while those two fabricated identities and deliberately let themselves be discovered, only then following the people from General Wu'an's manor to Shangyang City."

As she spoke, Cang Yinyue glanced at the ugly woman on the ground.

The woman withdrew her gaze from the dead scholar, terror filling her eyes as she hurriedly said:

"Everyone in the martial world knows about the Great Li Court's Seventh Prince. My junior brother and I merely wanted to try our luck and see if we could muddle through. We thought that if we truly succeeded, endless riches and glory would await us."

Li Musheng wore an enlightened expression upon hearing this.

"Sure enough, the finest hunters often appear in the guise of prey."

Cang Yinyue's gaze shifted, and she suddenly asked:

"You seemed to have known long ago that there was something wrong with this scholar. How did you notice?"

Li Musheng stroked his chin.

"This scholar's disguise was rather poor. Whether it was traversing these steep mountain paths or later being hunted down by the Bloodbath Alliance, though he feigned exhaustion and weakness on the surface, he was actually at ease throughout."

"Not only was he completely uninjured, after being tossed about for an entire day, he was still fine as rain. That was highly abnormal."

"Of course, when his senior sister was being pursued by the Bloodbath Alliance, perhaps he worried about her and inadvertently leaked a trace of his aura. That was what confirmed for me that there was something wrong with him."

Cang Yinyue nodded thoughtfully.

After hearing Li Musheng's words, the ugly woman suddenly lowered her head and muttered:

"I knew junior brother couldn't possibly be heartless toward me... We were childhood sweethearts. When he was little, he even said he would marry me."

"If I hadn't disfigured myself by practicing poison arts and felt unworthy of him, perhaps we would already have become husband and wife..."

The ugly woman looked toward the scholar's mangled corpse and suddenly began to laugh.

"Junior brother also said that once he became the Seventh Prince, he would have the imperial physicians with the finest medical skills in the palace treat my face and restore my beauty..."

At that, the ugly woman fell silent for a while.

Then, tears streaming down her face, she slowly raised her head. Her gaze turned icy as she stared viciously at Li Musheng.

"You killed junior brother. I know I cannot escape death tonight, but even if I die, I will make you pay the price."

With that, the ugly woman suddenly seemed to bite down on something, then burst into a venomous laugh.

"Master will avenge us!"

Visible to the naked eye, her face began to corrode and melt from within, spreading across her entire body.

Within several breaths, the ugly woman's flesh, skin, and bones all turned into black water and thick smoke. An intensely foul stench dispersed in all directions, drifting up into the high air above the mountains.

Cang Yinyue's expression darkened at the sight.

"By doing this, she should be sending out a special signal. She is passing word to Old Man Wuxiang."

Li Musheng waved a hand before his nose and frowned.

"It stinks too badly. We should keep moving."

Cang Yinyue turned to look at him.

"Aren't you worried at all?"

Li Musheng glanced at the scholar's corpse, then leapt onto the mule horse with a chuckle.

"What the disciple failed to give me, the master has come all this way to deliver. That is rather thoughtful of her."

Cang Yinyue silently stared at Li Musheng for a while. Her curved brows furrowed unconsciously as she said:

"If you could kill that scholar, then you possess strength at least in the Martial Dao Grandmaster Realm. Though I know I should not pry too deeply into your affairs."

"I would guess that you must have encountered some great opportunity, one great enough to make countless people of the martial world fight until their heads were bloodied. Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to possess such astonishing cultivation at such a young age, as well as that rare martial art of striking acupoints from afar."

As she spoke, a complicated look rose in Cang Yinyue's eyes.

"Still, I must advise you: before your identity as a prince is confirmed, do not reveal your strength unless absolutely necessary."

"The imperial capital is far more complicated than you imagine. Before the dust has settled, anything can happen, and you could lose your life at any moment."

"Also, once we reach Shangyang City, do not trust anyone easily. Do not even trust me."

Li Musheng immediately looked surprised and asked curiously:

"Why?"

"There is no why. I have said all there is to say. Just remember what I told you tonight; I will not say it again in the future."

With that, Cang Yinyue turned and walked toward the valley, personally cutting off the heads of the three heavily injured Bloodbath Alliance experts.

Without question, those three were also on the Great Li Court's purge list.

Cang Yinyue then glanced at Meng Shan and Yuan Mei. In the end, she did not strike, instead returning to the side of the mountain path and lightly leaping back onto the mule horse.

"Let's go."

She called out calmly, then took the lead along the mountain path.

Li Musheng shrugged. After the other party had said so much just now, it had gone in one ear and out the other for him.

He immediately patted the mule horse beneath him and set off down the mountain road beneath the night sky. The moon had emerged by then, illuminating the forest ahead, making it seem especially quiet and pure.

The horse gradually moved farther from the valley strewn with gruesome corpses, as though they belonged to two different worlds.

Two days passed. Cang Yinyue and Li Musheng encountered no further obstacles along the way and smoothly entered Jing Province.

The moment he entered Jing Province, Li Musheng clearly sensed that it was different from the other provinces of Great Li.

The cities here were orderly, while farming and commerce alike flourished. People of the martial world carrying sabers and swords were not uncommon, yet throughout their journey, he had not seen a single scene of fighting or slaughter.

The martial world forces here seemed to have changed their nature, behaving courteously whenever they encountered government officials or constables.

They had even encountered, on the road, a grand procession of government troops heading to a mountain to suppress bandits. Among them were quite a few wandering heroes who had voluntarily joined them midway to lend their aid.

"Miss Cang, Jing Province looks quite good. Shangyang City is beneath the Son of Heaven's feet—could it truly be as terrible as you said?"

Ever since that night, whenever Li Musheng tried to speak with Cang Yinyue along the way, she had rarely responded, wearing an air of being weighed down by worries.

Li Musheng felt that the primary cause was likely that after he killed the scholar and revealed a little of his strength.

At the time, Cang Yinyue had said quite a lot to him. Though he had not taken much of it to heart, he had noticed every change in her attitude toward him, the Seventh Prince.

This girl is definitely hiding something from me.

Li Musheng looked at Cang Yinyue's back, lost in thought.

At that moment, Cang Yinyue suddenly turned around and said:

"Jing Province is indeed peaceful. If you were merely an ordinary commoner, you could spend your entire life here in stability."

"But unfortunately, you are not. Besides, when would tigers and venomous snakes easily reveal their claws and fangs?"

"When they bare their claws and fangs, it is time to devour people. And Shangyang City hides far too many tigers and venomous snakes."