After fifteen years of cultivation, he finally reached the pinnacle of the first rank!

Chapter 287 The Death of the Martial Saint
However, just as Ji Qingcheng was about to leave, the big black cat suddenly leaped down from the roof of the inn across the street, bringing with it a gust of demonic wind.

Then, it blocked Ji Qingcheng's path, glaring at her with its bright green cat eyes.

It immediately started meowing eagerly at Li Musheng and gesturing incessantly with its nimble paws.

Seeing this, Ji Qingcheng stared at the large black cat in front of her, her heart suddenly sinking, and she thought to herself:

"Could it be that we still can't leave?"

Then, Ji Qingcheng took a deep breath, looked at Li Musheng, and asked:

"What does this mean?"

At this point, Li Musheng was able to barely understand what the big black cat meant.

At this moment, the other party was undoubtedly vehemently accusing Ji Qingcheng, urging Li Musheng not to let her go.

"It means that you lied just now, girl, and you are very likely from Luoshen Peak."

Li Musheng offered an explanation, then began to scrutinize Ji Qingcheng before him.

Ji Qingcheng's heart tightened immediately, and a hint of annoyance also appeared on her face.

If she wasn't the only one lying, why would she be afraid?
However, Ji Qingcheng appeared calm on the surface, keeping a straight face as she looked at Li Musheng and said:

"I'm not!"

Faced with someone who was boasting, she even felt more confident in lying.

Upon hearing this, Li Musheng withdrew his gaze from Ji Qingcheng, then waved his hand and said:
"Don't be nervous, it's okay even if you're from Luoshen Peak."

With that, he gestured for the big black cat to make way, allowing Ji Qingcheng to leave on her own.

Seeing this, Ji Qingcheng's cold eyes flickered slightly, as if to confirm that Li Musheng really didn't have any other thoughts about her.

While she remained secretly on guard against the other party's attack, she suddenly vanished into thin air.

Upon seeing Ji Qingcheng disappear, the big black cat immediately rushed up and scratched the air with its claw.

Immediately, it turned to look at Li Musheng, clearly not understanding why Li Musheng had let this remnant of Luoshen Peak go.

"Why are you, a cat, always thinking about fighting and killing? Spend more time studying the 'hidden kill order' on your neck."

Li Musheng glanced at the big black cat, his gaze fixed on the spot where Ji Qingcheng had disappeared, and stroked his chin, saying:

“The divine talents and abilities of divine beings are indeed all unique.”

Given the abilities Ji Qingcheng displayed, it would be difficult for him to prevent her from leaving unless he used his true martial intent to lock onto her or sealed off the entire world.

If other martial arts masters encountered this kind of ability, they would probably have no way to deal with it.

However, Li Musheng is now increasingly looking forward to the fact that the people of the Divine Nature Cult can decipher the secrets of the Divine Talent Stele as soon as possible.

"Alright, let's go back to the inn first."

Li Musheng called out to the big black cat, and then his figure disappeared from the spot.

Upon hearing this, the big black cat had no choice but to follow.

……

At the same time, Ji Qingcheng appeared in a small alley about a hundred feet away from the Yunlai Inn.

However, she did not relax at all; instead, she frowned and seemed quite uncomfortable.

Then, Ji Qingcheng turned around and glanced in the direction where Li Musheng was. The invisible pressure that seemed to come from the dark slowly dissipated and eventually disappeared completely.

Only then did Ji Qingcheng finally relax. Her cool eyes flickered with a complexion as she thought to herself:
"Even my 'flying ability,' which ranks among the top of all innate divine abilities, cannot escape the opponent's control."

"As expected of someone capable of destroying Fallen God Peak, their methods are truly awe-inspiring!"

Ji Qingcheng let out a soft breath, then looked away.

Fortunately, she never intended to seek revenge against Li Musheng; otherwise, she probably would have followed in the footsteps of her nephew, the sect leader, after that ordeal.

Thinking of this, Ji Qingcheng was unwilling to stay there any longer. After pondering for a moment, she disappeared from the spot once again.

Li Musheng is currently staying at the Yunlai Inn. If she wants to continue taking those golds from the inn, she will definitely make quite a fuss.

Therefore, she decided to first find out where the Second Young Master Wang's residence was, and then go there in person to ask for it, which would be more prudent.

Time passed, the sun set, and the entire city of Yundu was illuminated by lanterns.

The city of Yundu was still shrouded in mist at night, and the mist was even thicker than during the day.

As night fell, Ji Qingcheng's figure slowly appeared in front of the gate of a luxurious mansion.

She looked up and saw a vermilion gate with copper rings in front of her, and the two large, gilded plaque above the gate read "Prince's Mansion".

"This should be it."

Ji Qingcheng nodded slowly, glancing around for a moment.

The palace gates were tightly closed, and the place was very quiet, showing no sign of anyone intending to transport ten thousand taels of gold to the Yunlai Inn.

"It seems they didn't take my threat seriously, so I'll have to come and get the gold myself."

Ji Qingcheng's eyes were cold, as if they contained a layer of ice that had never melted for a thousand years.

Immediately, she walked forward and knocked on the door.

However, the next moment, she discovered that the gate of the Prince's mansion seemed to be unlocked. After knocking a few times, the gate was shaken open a narrow crack.

Ji Qingcheng frowned slightly and casually pushed open the large copper ring gate in front of her.

Soon, she realized that something was wrong.

The entire palace was eerily quiet, and there seemed to be a faint smell of blood in the air.

In an instant, Ji Qingcheng's delicate brows furrowed even more deeply.

She stepped into the mansion and immediately moved deeper into the back. After some investigation, she found exactly what she had expected.

The entire royal palace had been slaughtered; not a single person survived.

"What should I do now?"

Ji Qingcheng stood beside the corpse of the Second Young Master Wang, whose forehead had been pierced by a finger, and several servants were lying beside him.

Even the old man with considerable martial arts skills whom they had met during the day was already dead.

Ji Qingcheng only went to ask for gold and never thought of killing anyone. She never expected that everyone in the Prince's mansion would die like that.

She looked around. The incident must have happened recently, but the murderer was obviously extremely ruthless. Everyone in the Prince's mansion was killed in one move, and the murderer had already left and disappeared.

Ji Qingcheng stared at the corpses scattered on the ground, hesitated for a moment, and finally shook her head:
"Forget it, death absolves all debts, so I don't need the gold. I'll do a good deed and report you to the authorities first." Then, Ji Qingcheng's figure disappeared from the spot and headed towards the government office in Yundu City.

Not long after Ji Qingcheng left, a figure dressed in black night clothes walked out from the shadows of the mansion. He stared at the spot where Ji Qingcheng had disappeared, stood there for a moment, and then vanished without a trace.

……

Not long after, when Ji Qingcheng kindly arrived at the Yundu Prefecture government office, just as she was about to report the case on behalf of the Prince's Mansion, she discovered that something seemed amiss.

It turned out that before she arrived at the government office, two other groups of people had already come to report the case.

However, the case reported by the other party was not about the Prince's Mansion, but about the Ye Mansion and Xiao Mansion in the city.

What's even more bizarre is that, like the Wang family, the Ye and Xiao families were all massacred, with no one surviving.

Upon learning that the Ye and Xiao families had been wiped out overnight, the entire Yundu government office was thrown into chaos. They immediately ordered all officers to be recalled and promptly notified the Six Doors and Tianjin Guards in the city.

Upon seeing this scene, Ji Qingcheng hesitated, wondering whether she should reveal the massacre of the Prince's family and add fuel to the fire.

However, she eventually grabbed a passing constable in a hurry and told him directly about the incident at the Prince's mansion.

The constable who was about to leave the government office was visibly stunned after hearing what Ji Qingcheng said.

"Three families... even the Wang family is in trouble... could it really be that someone is targeting the Martial Saint?"

The constable muttered to himself, his expression filled with suspicion and uncertainty. Then, he suddenly looked at Ji Qingcheng before him and asked sharply:
"Is what you say really true? Deliberately filing a false report is punishable by caning."

Upon hearing this, Ji Qingcheng nodded, but then asked with some curiosity:

"You just said that someone is targeting that Martial Saint. What's going on here?"

The martial arts master on Yuming Mountain was known to everyone in Yundu City, and Ji Qingcheng naturally knew his status in the martial arts world.

Moreover, given that the opponent's martial arts prowess is almost unparalleled in the entire Dali martial arts world, it's hard to believe that anyone would dare to attack him.

The constable seemed to sense Ji Qingcheng's confusion, but shook his head with a grim expression and said:

"The heads of the Ye family, the Xiao family, and the Wang family you mentioned are all disciples of the Martial Saint. Now, all three families have been wiped out overnight. If this wasn't targeting the Martial Saint of Yuming Mountain, then who else could it be targeting?"

Seeing that Ji Qingcheng was just a woman, the constable stopped talking to her.

After instructing her to find someone else in the yamen to explain the matter of the Prince's Mansion, he hurriedly left, clearly heading towards Yuming Mountain to deliver a message.

Seeing this, Ji Qingcheng frowned.

If what the constable just said is true, then the destruction of the three families is indeed very likely an attack targeting Yuming Mountain.

After all, given Mu Tianxing's reputation as a martial saint in the martial arts world of Dali, even if there were any real grudges, no one would dare to do something as extreme and provocative as wiping out the entire disciples of three families.

"The incident at Luoshen Peak was not long ago, and now there is another change at Yuming Mountain. It seems that the Jianghu of Dali is really going to be in chaos."

Ji Qingcheng thought to herself, then shook her head.

Perhaps, from the moment Li Musheng led the Tianjin Guard to wipe out Luoshen Peak, the entire martial arts world was no longer at peace.

Next, Ji Qingcheng found a constable from the Yundu government office, told him about the massacre of the Wang family, and left without waiting for the constable to ask any more questions.

After all, she was only there to report a crime and didn't want to get involved in such deadly feuds and conflicts.

Moreover, she had some entanglement with that Second Young Master Wang during the day. If she stayed any longer, she might get herself into trouble and be mistaken for a murderer. That would be shooting herself in the foot, and she would have no way to defend herself.

About an hour after Ji Qingcheng left, the messenger rushed back, bringing extremely alarming news to the Yun Du City government, the Six Doors, and the Tianjin Guard.

"When the Martial Saint was in seclusion on Jade Bright Mountain, he was ambushed and seriously injured. He is now on his deathbed and it is estimated that Jade Bright Mountain will soon announce his passing to the martial arts world!"

The constable was pale. After learning the news from Yuming Mountain, he hurriedly informed the other party of the massacre of the three families and immediately rushed back.

The death of the Martial Saint was an indisputable major event for Yundu City, affecting not only various forces within the city.

The fall of one of only two martial saints in the entire Dali martial arts world will inevitably cause an unimaginable shock in the martial arts world.

Moreover, there is the murderer who was able to ambush and kill Martial Saint Mu Tianxing.

Generally speaking, even if it's a sneak attack, how many people in the entire martial arts world can kill a Martial Saint through assassination or sneak attack?

Clearly, the murderer's martial arts skills must have been unfathomable.

Such a dangerous person is now in Yundu City, and everyone who knows about this is bound to be on edge.

Inside the main hall of the government office in Yundu City.

"The matter of the Martial Saint of Yuming Mountain must be kept secret for the time being and must not be revealed to the outside world. Right now, we should first investigate the case of the massacre of the Ye, Xiao, and Wang families."

The official in charge of the Yundu Prefecture government affairs spoke up, discussing the next steps with a Golden Waist Constable from the Six Doors and a Commander from the Tianjin Guard.

Upon hearing this, the head constable, whose expression wasn't very pleasant, shook his head and said:

"The news of the Martial Saint's accident is not something we can suppress at will. If the news spreads throughout the martial arts world from Yuming Mountain, it will probably spread throughout Yundu City very quickly."

As he spoke, he looked at the stern-faced commander beside him, and asked with clasped hands:

"What is your opinion on this matter, Vice Commissioner?"

Since the news of the Tianjin Guard's overnight annihilation of Luoshen Peak spread, the status of the Tianjin Guard in the imperial court system in various prefectures has risen accordingly.

At this moment, even the Six Doors lowered their stance.

Upon hearing this, the solemn-faced deputy commander shook his head and said:

"It's hard to say, but I think it's best if we don't get involved in the affairs of the Ye, Xiao, and Wang families for the time being."

"Judging from the current situation, the massacre of the three families and the ambush on the Martial Saint are likely the work of the same person or the same group of people. If we act rashly, we may very well bring about our own demise."

Upon hearing this, the people in the main hall of the government office pondered for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

"In that case, let's hold back, temporarily seal off the three residences, report the matter to higher authorities, and wait for Yuming Mountain's response before making a decision."

Finally, the golden-waisted constable of the Six Doors spoke.

Yundu City is a martial arts city, gathering many martial arts figures. Even the Six Doors and the Tianjin Guards have to be very careful when they are here.

……

The next morning.

After resting for a night, Li Musheng and his companions had breakfast at the Yunlai Inn before setting off to leave Yundu City.

However, it seems that something big has happened in Yundu City today, with martial arts practitioners hurrying about everywhere on the streets.

Just as Li Musheng and his companions were leaving Yunlai Inn, several martial arts practitioners carrying knives rushed in and, without a word, kidnapped the waiter who had made things difficult for Ji Qingcheng the day before.

(End of this chapter)