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

Chapter 362 Testing
Li Musheng withdrew his gaze from Zhao Kuang, his face expressionless, and said:
"Then tell me, where is your father, the emperor?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire palace was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The eyes of all the martial arts masters darted back and forth between Li Musheng and Zhao Kuang.

In the end, they all stared intently at Zhao Kuang with sharp eyes. Clearly, if the other party could find the Great Xuan Emperor, that would be fine, but if not, then they could kill the dog prince in front of them.

At this moment, Zhao Kuang didn't say anything more, and then immediately used his martial arts true energy to strike the surrounding walls with several palms.

Immediately afterwards, with a loud metallic clanging sound, the wall that Zhao Kuang had struck suddenly began to shake like ripples in water.

Then the entire heavy iron wall was transformed into hundreds or thousands of iron blocks that rapidly changed positions, eventually arranging themselves into a gate-shaped outline about ten feet high.

Immediately, Zhao Kuang struck out with several more palms, and the iron blocks within the door-shaped outline slowly opened into a heavy door.

Only then did Zhao Kuang turn to look at Li Musheng and say:
"Please come with me."

After saying that, Zhao Kuang took the lead and walked into the open door.

"Young hero, be careful, it might be a trap."

Upon seeing this, one of the surrounding martial arts masters immediately spoke up to warn them.

However, Li Musheng didn't say anything, but just waved to Zhao Muning and followed Zhao Kuang ahead.

Zhao Mu Ning glanced at Crown Prince Zhao Kuang's retreating figure, her eyes flickering slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

However, she immediately stayed by Li Musheng's side and was noticeably closer to him than before.

Upon seeing this, the group of martial arts masters from the Great Xuan Sect exchanged glances and said nothing more. They then silently followed, leading the white-haired Taoist nun and the others.

After entering the gate, the group arrived at a huge underground space, where a dense array of black caves stretched out before them.

At this moment, the heavy iron bricks behind them moved rapidly, and the door that everyone had entered through quickly closed, turning into an iron wall in the blink of an eye, completely obscuring the shadow of the door from before.

"Young hero, where is that dog prince?"

The group of martial arts masters from the Great Xuan Sect looked around but did not see Zhao Kuang. They were all immediately taken aback.

Upon hearing this, Li Musheng turned and glanced at everyone, saying meaningfully:
"He went to find his father, the emperor."

Just then, Zhao Kuang's voice suddenly came from the dense cluster of caves ahead:
“Your Excellency, I have already checked, and my father is not in seclusion here.”

Upon hearing this, all the martial arts masters of the Great Xuan Sect frowned. A murderous glint flashed in the eyes of the Fiery Cloud Evil God as he gazed at the cave ahead and said in a deep voice:

"Since the Great Xuan Emperor is not here, why don't you quickly lead us away?"

However, after the Fire Cloud Evil God said this, Zhao Kuang's voice was silent for a moment before he slowly spoke:

"Gentlemen, there are 127 caves in front of you, which also means there are 127 passages. However, only one of the caves is a way out, while the other caves are equipped with various traps and weapons, and are all dead ends."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of all the martial arts masters changed. The face hidden beneath the Fire Cloud Evil God's hair turned extremely gloomy, and he said:
"What do you mean?"

However, Zhao Kuang did not answer the Fire Cloud Evil God's question. His voice came from the dense caverns, making it impossible to discern its source, and he said:
"Please do not misunderstand me. I do not intend to trap you here. Rather, I am a naturally cautious person, and I must be extremely careful about cooperating with you, since this matter is of great importance and I am gambling with my own life."

"Moreover, you may not know this, but my father is unfathomable and has countless experts around him. I have almost no chance of winning against him."

"Your Excellency is my only reliance. Therefore, I must confirm that you truly possess sufficient strength before I can make the decision to cooperate with you."

Upon hearing this, the faces of the group of martial arts masters, including the Fire Cloud Evil God, immediately turned extremely ugly, and they all looked at Li Musheng.

Li Musheng's face showed no emotion, but he turned to look at Zhao Muning beside him.

Just that one glance was enough to startle Zhao Muning, who stared at Li Musheng in disbelief, as if she had encountered something incredible.

And all of this was because Li Musheng casually asked her a question when he looked at her:
"Young lady, have you ever considered becoming the emperor of the Great Xuan?"

……

Zhao Muning was naturally unable to answer Li Musheng's question; she was simply somewhat stunned.

At this moment, Li Musheng seemed not to have expected Zhao Muning's answer either. Instead, he turned around, looked at the dense cluster of caves in front of him, and asked calmly:
"That's interesting. How do you intend to assess my strength?"

Upon hearing this, the entire vast underground space fell into a profound silence, so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop. After a moment, Zhao Kuang's voice finally echoed from among the hundreds of caves:

"If you can emerge from this 'Earthly Vault Palace' within an hour, I will certainly agree to your cooperation without hesitation."

"Moreover, after the matter is accomplished, I will appoint you as the emperor's tutor, second only to the emperor of the Great Xuan."

After a pause, Zhao Kuang continued:
"Of course, if you are unable to break through the mechanism here within an hour, you need not worry. I will personally open the mechanism to release you, and in the future, I will also appoint you as the Crown Prince's tutor."

"Please don't bring up the matter of saving lives again, as we are no match for Father Emperor."

Upon hearing this, Li Musheng almost laughed at Zhao Kuang's words, and said:

"I've discovered that you're quite persistent; no matter what, you absolutely must become my disciple."

Meanwhile, the group of martial arts masters around them all had grim and uncertain expressions. Clearly, these old hands who had been through thick and thin in the martial arts world had experienced all sorts of deceit and treachery.

They didn't believe the prince's words at all, but they were helpless against the mechanisms of the "Earthly Vault Palace" and had no choice but to swallow their anger for the time being.

"Young hero, what should we do next?"

Someone asked aloud, while secretly using their inner energy to send a telepathic message:
"This prince is clearly no good, young hero, you must be careful."

Zhao Muning, standing to the side, glanced at Li Musheng with a slight glint in her eyes and secretly transmitted her thoughts through her inner energy:

“If you, young master, cannot break through the mechanisms here, you can use me as a hostage. This way, the crown prince will be hesitant to act rashly and at least will not resort to other means.”

Upon hearing this, Li Musheng glanced around and said:
"To be honest, if this place can really trap me, then my trip to the Great Xuan Imperial Palace won't have been in vain."

"But unfortunately... this mechanism really can't hold me in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Musheng casually swept his hand across the dome of the entire underground space. Instantly, all the martial arts masters of the Great Xuan Sect held their breath, as if the entire underground space had frozen in place.

At that moment, an indescribable sense of oppression suddenly surged into everyone's hearts, and even their consciousness went blank for a moment.

Everyone subconsciously looked up, only to see a blade of light about ten feet long, seemingly traversing the distance from the ground to the dome in an instant, silently slashing into the incredibly thick iron dome.

Then, the dome was sliced ​​open like tofu by a blade, turning into a shower of iron filings that fell down.

The seemingly insignificant blade of light continued to slash upwards without any hindrance or decline.

Just then, Li Musheng's voice rang in everyone's ears, saying:

"Keep up, everyone."

Immediately, Li Musheng grabbed Zhao Muning's arm and moved upwards following the flash of the blade.

Upon hearing this, the group of martial arts experts immediately reacted without any hesitation. They took the head manager of the Jubao Chamber of Commerce and several others and leaped into the air to follow Li Musheng.

As the group climbed higher, they became increasingly alarmed.

Above this dome, forged from refined iron, lies not only an extremely deep iron wall, but also countless hidden mechanisms, gunpowder, mercury, poison sacs, and so on.

Especially those poison sacs, after being pierced by the blade, some knowledgeable martial arts masters recognized some of the poison gas and venom hidden inside.

All of them are extremely rare and deadly poisons that strike fear into the hearts of people in the martial arts world. Some of these poisons can erode the defenses of martial arts true qi, while others are colorless and odorless, and inhalation can cause people to lose their martial arts cultivation. Even masters of the Celestial Realm would find it difficult to resist.

If it were a single poison, these people wouldn't be afraid, but when various rare poisons are combined, the quantity is extremely large.

Moreover, in such a confined space where the true energy of heaven and earth is extremely scarce, even the Fire Cloud Evil God felt that he would not be able to withstand it.

More importantly, these mechanisms seem to conceal some extremely strange martial arts formations, which, once triggered, will generate a powerful, invisible devouring force that consumes the martial arts true energy within everyone's body.

This underground space is already lacking in the true energy of heaven and earth. If their martial arts true energy is also sucked away, under these various dangerous traps, even if their martial arts cultivation is high, they will only have one way to wait for death.

However, the blade light that Li Musheng unleashed seemed to be indestructible and could break through anything!
Whether it was the towering iron dome, the numerous traps, the countless poisonous creatures, or the formations that could devour martial arts true energy, all of them crumbled and shattered under this one strike.

The group of martial arts masters following Li Musheng were only slightly affected by the poisonous gas traps and formations.

"Look, that blade of light showed no sign of weakening from beginning to end, and the martial arts energy within your body, young hero, seems inexhaustible!"

"I truly cannot fathom just how high your martial arts cultivation is, young hero?"

The fat old man exclaimed in surprise.

Although they had not yet escaped, the fear they had felt when facing the Earthly Vault Palace had completely dissipated in the face of Li Musheng's strike.

If even someone as terrifyingly skilled in martial arts as Li Musheng couldn't escape from here, then there's really nothing to say about them perishing here.

At this moment, Zhao Muning was looking at Li Musheng beside her. Ever since the other party grabbed her, her gaze had not left him for even a moment.

The man before her was not only excessively confident, but also excessively strong in martial arts. Every move he made shattered her understanding of martial arts prowess.

To be honest, she had never seen anyone with such high martial arts skills in her entire life.

The old eunuchs in the Great Xuan Imperial Palace were no match for her, and her master, uncles, and senior uncles were far inferior to her.

Why did you ask me that question just now?

At this moment, Zhao Muning suddenly spoke up, staring into Li Musheng's eyes and asking a question.

Upon hearing this, Li Musheng did not look at Zhao Muning, but instead said calmly:
"There's no reason why, it's just that I don't like the Great Xuan Emperor, nor do I like the Great Xuan Crown Prince."

Upon hearing this, a strange feeling arose in Zhao Muning's heart, and for a moment, she didn't know what to say next.

At this moment, Li Musheng casually waved his hand, and the blade light above suddenly flashed and disappeared, directly breaking through the ground made of refined iron and rushing out of the Earth Vault Profound Palace.

Li Musheng and Zhao Muning reappeared in the magnificent palace, followed closely by a group of martial arts masters.

Having finally escaped underground and sensing the rich spiritual energy of heaven and earth around them, all the martial arts masters breathed a sigh of relief.

However, these old men had not forgotten how they escaped, and they all rushed to Li Musheng's side immediately, expressing their gratitude and praise endlessly.

They'd lived most of their lives, and to be honest, they'd never truly admired anyone so completely.

The terrifying martial arts strength displayed by Li Musheng was completely beyond the reach of these martial arts masters of the Great Xuan. At this moment, his status in their hearts was even a level higher than that of the three martial arts gods who were masters of martial arts in the martial arts world!
Just then, a jade staircase in front of the palace slowly opened, and then Crown Prince Zhao Kuang hurriedly walked out of the underground passage.

Then he hurriedly went to Li Musheng's side, bowed deeply, and said:
"Your strength is unparalleled and unmatched. I am completely convinced and deeply admire you."

"I am willing to take you as my teacher in the Great Xuan Dynasty and do my utmost to rescue Daoist Qingyu."

Seeing this, the surrounding martial arts masters all looked coldly at Crown Prince Zhao Kuang, but no one spoke or made a move against him.

Although many experts harbored deep resentment towards Zhao Kuang because of his previous actions, with Li Musheng present, the other party was unlikely to cause any trouble.

They dared not interfere with Li Musheng's thoughts, and they would never object to whatever Li Musheng wanted to do with the other party.

At this moment, Li Musheng glanced at Zhao Kuang, seemingly not taking the previous incident to heart at all, and said meaningfully:

“I understand that you want to test my strength, but I’m a little disappointed with the mechanism you found.”

After saying that, Li Musheng waved his hand and said:

"Now there's only one place left where the Great Xuan Emperor might be in seclusion. You continue leading the way."

Upon hearing this, Crown Prince Zhao Kuang glanced at Li Musheng almost imperceptibly, but saw that his expression was not unusual.

He slowly straightened up, breathed a sigh of relief, and a look of ecstatic joy immediately welled up in his heart.

Because he made the right bet!
(End of this chapter)