Seventh Prince

Yet Cang Yinyue merely cast a cold glance in Li Musheng's direction and said nothing.

The air fell silent for a moment. In the end, she spoke somewhat reluctantly:

"Don't worry. Whether you're truly the Seventh Prince or not, I'll do everything in my power to ensure your safety."

Li Musheng shrugged and smiled.

"That's not what I meant. I just think that if I trot all the way to Shangyang City, only to turn out not to be a prince, wouldn't that be a little awkward?"

At this, Cang Yinyue gave a cold snort.

"I understand what you mean. If I really got it wrong, I'll compensate you with another hundred taels of silver as travel expenses for this trip."

Li Musheng immediately beamed and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Miss Cang is truly generous, worthy of being an expert from the Hidden Spy Bureau."

Cang Yinyue kept a stern face, folding her arms across her chest.

"Don't think that reaching the innate realm of martial arts means you can let your guard down. An innate expert may indeed run rampant through Shun'an City, but in the whole of Great Li, they amount to nothing."

As she spoke, she sighed softly.

"I know you must have encountered some opportunities, or else a tiny martial arts school in Shun'an City could exhaust its entire fortune and still struggle to produce an innate expert."

"But beyond mountains lie more mountains, and beyond men lie greater men. Once you reach Shangyang City, you'll learn that there will always be astonishing geniuses in this world, people whose necks you cannot even hope to glimpse from behind."

Li Musheng poked the fire with a wooden stick, making the campfire before him burn brighter, and asked:

"Such as?"

"I've never left Shun'an City, so I don't know much about the outside world. Miss Cang, feel free to tell me more. I enjoy hearing about such things."

But Cang Yinyue shook her head and sneered.

"There's no use telling you more. You'll understand once you see them with your own eyes."

"Still, I can tell you this: the 'Seventh Prince' currently imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison is one blessed with peerless talent. Not only does he possess the ability to govern the realm, his talent in martial arts leaves countless people choking on his dust. Before this incident happened, he was even one of the princes most likely to ascend to the position of Crown Prince."

Li Musheng froze for a moment, then said regretfully:

"That's truly a pity. Imprisoning such an outstanding talent in the Heavenly Prison is absolutely a loss for Great Li."

Cang Yinyue glanced at Li Musheng. For some reason, a flicker of anger flashed through her eyes, and she suddenly snapped:

"In my eyes, you are the true Seventh Prince. If he were released, how would you conduct yourself then?"

"Those things were originally yours. He has taken them all from you for twenty years—how many more twenty years do you have to lose?"

As she said this, Cang Yinyue seemed to realize that she had become overly emotional. After a pause, she said:

"Bringing you back to Shangyang City is merely my duty. As for everything afterward, you'll have to rely on yourself. Otherwise, in that imperial capital, you may well be devoured until not even your bones are left."

Li Musheng frowned as he watched Cang Yinyue, who had suddenly become angry for some unknown reason.

Why was this girl getting more and more worked up?

It wasn't as if he'd said he wanted to let people carve him up as they pleased.

But on further thought, Li Musheng realized that she did not actually mean him any harm.

And after saying all that, Cang Yinyue simply closed her eyes and ignored Li Musheng.

Seeing this, Li Musheng grumbled inwardly:

She swore up and down that she believed I'm the Seventh Prince, yet this is her attitude? Is this how she treats a prince of Great Li?

As he thought this, he reached into his robes and suddenly spoke.

"Miss Cang, during the half-incense stick of time you left Shun'an City today, did you go to the Yu Family Martial Arts School?"

At this, Cang Yinyue abruptly opened her eyes and fixed Li Musheng with a sharp gaze.

"You followed me?"

But soon, she shook her head and muttered to herself:

"Impossible. If you had followed me, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed."

Li Musheng spread his hands.

"I didn't follow you, but I guessed that you must have gone to the Yu Family Martial Arts School and taken from that old man Yu the item the Scum River Seven Bandits wanted."

"What makes you think so?" Cang Yinyue asked.

"Because before today, you weren't just following me—you were also following the Scum River Seven Bandits. So you knew what they were after."

Li Musheng rummaged in his robes and took out a brown wooden box, six-sided and carved with floral patterns, turning it curiously in his hand.

"If you didn't care about the thing old man Yu had, there naturally wouldn't have been that half-incense stick of time. Since there was, it means this thing must be quite important to you."

By then, Cang Yinyue's expression had already changed. She reached into her bundle, only to find that the item which had been there was gone.

Cang Yinyue slowly straightened from where she had leaned against the tree, the campfire before Li Musheng reflected in her phoenix eyes.

"When did you steal it?" Cang Yinyue asked calmly.

As her words fell, her slender figure vanished into the dusk.

In the dim light, only a sharp gust of wind swept past, making the burning campfire sway without end.

When Cang Yinyue appeared again, she was already behind Li Musheng.

One hand reached for the six-sided wooden box in Li Musheng's grasp, while the other rose high. Her jade-white palm became a hand blade and chopped toward the back of Li Musheng's neck.

"You wouldn't happen to be planning to knock me out, then tie me up and haul me off to Shangyang City, would you?"

Li Musheng's voice sounded beside Cang Yinyue's ear.

Her pupils immediately widened. Only then did she discover in shock that all her movements had frozen in midair, and that at some point, she had become completely unable to move.

"You... how did you do this?"

Cang Yinyue opened her mouth and found that she could still speak.

"Just an acupoint technique. Who told you to suddenly appear and scare me?"

Li Musheng chuckled. Looking at Cang Yinyue so close at hand, an idea struck him, and he suddenly reached out to remove the veil from her face.

"Don't!"

Cang Yinyue hurriedly stopped him.

But Li Musheng did not stop.

"Don't be so feudal and hidebound. A beautiful face is a gift from Heaven; you should learn to share it. What's the point of keeping it all covered up and sneaking glances at it by yourself?"

However, when Li Musheng had lifted Cang Yinyue's veil halfway, he hastily put it back on.

By then, Cang Yinyue's eyes had turned red, and she glared at Li Musheng with boundless fury.

"Hey, look at you, getting all worked up. Isn't it enough that I won't look?"

After carefully fixing her veil in place, Li Musheng withdrew his hand.

Still, a nearly imperceptible trace of guilt appeared in his eyes.

His gaze lingered on the campfire before him for a moment, then Li Musheng lowered his head and resumed fiddling with the wooden box in his hand.

At that moment, Cang Yinyue closed her eyes, then slowly opened them again. Taking a deep breath, she asked:

"What acupoint technique was that just now? How was it so fast?"

Without turning his head, Li Musheng answered:

"It's called the Sunflower Acupoint Hand. You probably haven't heard of it, though, because I created this martial art myself."