Chapter 137: Do Not Touch Luoshen Peak

Half a stick of incense later.

On a shattered, debris-strewn street of blue stone slabs, Qin Hao took from Sha Wenshan a palm-sized, damaged jade pendant that the man had surrendered.

"Why did your Bai Sha Gang go to such lengths to obtain this thing?"

Gazing at Sha Wenshan, whose face was deathly pale and utterly drained of color, Qin Hao tore his eyes from the jade pendant and frowned at him.

Upon hearing this, Sha Wenshan coughed several times; the internal organs shattered by Cao Gaoshan's blade throbbed with unbearable pain, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, yet still managed to reply:

"It… was the Tianxia Alliance that ordered us to find this item. I know nothing of its secrets."

At these words, Shangguan Qingqing's eyes flickered upward, glancing at the white-clad young man, then exclaimed:

"So the power behind you is the Tianxia Alliance—one of the four supreme forces of the Great Li Jianghu. No wonder you're so arrogant."

The white-clad young man said nothing, but a flash of cold light passed through his eyes.

Under the current circumstances, their lives were in the other side's hands; all they needed was to make it clear that Bai Sha Gang had powerful backers, hoping the enemy would retreat. To show further arrogance would only backfire.

In his view, as long as he survived today, this grudge would be repaid a hundredfold in the future.

Meanwhile, Qin Hao, holding half the jade pendant, his expression shifting, glanced at Sun Shao standing nearby and asked:

"Has your Po Sha Gun Sect also joined the Tianxia Alliance?"

Sun Shao, holding his long spear, did not deny it; he nodded and said:

"The Tianxia Alliance's influence spans every province of the Great Li Jianghu, and its leader possesses divine martial prowess and noble virtue, deeply revered by countless martial artists."

"Now, the Tianxia Alliance has humbly called upon all sects to set aside their rivalries and unite to forge a glorious new era in the Jianghu. Naturally, our Po Sha Gun Sect has responded enthusiastically to our leader's call."

Qin Hao fell silent for a moment, then turned to Shangguan Qingqing beside him, exhaled softly, and sighed:

"Sister, their backer is too powerful. The Tianxia Alliance is such a colossal force—our Tianhedao Sect simply cannot match it."

Hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing immediately frowned, turning her head to speak to Qin Hao.

But the next instant, she saw Qin Hao's figure suddenly surge forward from his spot, his broadsword in hand, striking Sun Shao with the force of thunder.

Sun Shao had just felt a slight relief upon hearing Qin Hao's words, believing the other feared the Tianxia Alliance's power and would dare not act against them today.

Yet he never expected that the moment Qin Hao finished speaking, he would strike to kill him.

Instantly, his face turned ashen:

"Fool! You're bringing annihilation upon the Tianhedao Sect!"

But Qin Hao's face now wore a cold sneer; his blade blazed with murderous light as he declared:

"Who cares about consequences? First, I kill you to avenge my brothers and sisters!"

The broadsword descended with the force to split stone and shatter rock; Sun Shao, face darkening, immediately tried to counter.

But Cao Gaoshan's expression shifted—he unleashed a dominant blade aura that slammed onto Sun Shao, pinning him utterly immobile.

Sun Shao's face twisted in horror, and in the next instant, a flash of blade-light passed—his entire body was cleaved cleanly in two.

Witnessing this sudden scene, the white-clad young man froze, then without a word, slung Sha Wenshan onto his back and turned to flee in panic.

But Qin Hao clearly had no intention of letting them escape; he abandoned Sun Shao's bloody corpse and chased after the two.

"You… broke your word!"

Sha Wenshan, slumped on the white-clad man's back, cried out in fury and rage, turning to glare at Qin Hao.

"Honor only matters with the right people!"

Qin Hao's face was fierce and merciless; he unleashed his full strength, determined to cut down the two before him…

Not long after, Qin Hao returned from one end of the blue stone street, carrying the severed heads of Sha Wenshan and the white-clad man, then chopped off the heads of Sun Shao and the two other middle-aged men in the pit.

"With these heads, I can properly honor my fallen brothers and sisters."

Qin Hao gathered the heads together, then bowed again to Cao Gaoshan in thanks.

Cao Gaoshan merely narrowed his eyes slightly, waved his hand, and, seeing his task was done, turned and walked back toward the inn.

At this moment, Shangguan Qingqing, who had already eliminated the remaining Bai Sha Gang thugs, walked over to Qin Hao and patted his shoulder:

"You just scared me half to death—that's my brother! People of the Tianhedao Sect don't know what fear is."

Then she sighed softly and said:

"But leave the rest to you, brother. I'll go have tea, and when I return, we'll go together to wipe out Bai Sha Gang."

With that, Shangguan Qingqing's expression shifted, her face lighting up with joy as she hurried toward the inn.

Seeing this, Qin Hao hurried after her and said:

"Sister, I'll come with you—I must thank our benefactor in person."

…

Inside the second floor of the inn, silence reigned.

Some guests had seen through window cracks how Cao Gaoshan had acted—and had also seen the heads of the Bai Sha Gang boss and others cut off.

Thus, everyone now sat mute, afraid to speak.

Occasionally, their eyes flickered toward Li Musheng's table, each gaze filled with fear and deep wariness.

Cao Gaoshan recounted the general events of the street battle to Hu Rui and Li Musheng.

After all, this involved the Tianxia Alliance—one of the four great sects. Though their original mission was to exterminate Luoshen Peak, another of the four great sects, they currently had little interest in the Tianxia Alliance.

Still, to avoid unforeseen trouble, a little caution was never wrong.

After hearing Cao Gaoshan's account, Li Musheng showed no interest and paid it no mind.

Hu Rui, however, thought for a moment, then said slowly:

"In recent years, the Tianxia Alliance has steadily absorbed smaller and larger sects, growing ever stronger. This is no good for the imperial court."

Hearing this, Wu Shang, standing nearby, nodded slightly and said:

"I've heard the Tianxia Alliance, to attract martial sects, has opened its weapon vaults and freely gifted powerful, precious martial arts manuals—drawing in countless shallow-rooted factions, earning widespread praise. This Tianxia Alliance likely has grand designs!"

Hu Rui sighed softly, shook his head, and said nothing more.

At this moment, Shangguan Qingqing led Qin Hao up to the second floor with quick steps.

Then, she scanned the surroundings, and immediately walked over to Li Musheng with joyful excitement, lowering her voice to ask:

"Your Highness left Shangyang City to come here; could it be that you are traveling incognito?"

Hearing this, Li Musheng glanced at the other person, shrugged his hands, and said:

"It is obvious, Miss Qingqing guessed correctly."

Immediately, he signaled the other person to sit by the table, then poured her a cup of hot tea.

However, at this moment, a strange expression appeared on the face of Qin Hao behind him.

He quietly pulled at Shangguan Qingqing's clothes and urgently asked using true qi condensed into a line to transmit sound:

"Junior sister, could this benefactor be some Imperial Prince of the Great Li Dynasty?"

Hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing nodded slightly, but then very solemnly transmitted a warning via sound:

"Judging by the attire of Your Highness and the others, they must be acting in secrecy. Senior brother, do not spread this matter, or do not blame me for disregarding the senior-junior bond between us."

"Junior sister, rest assured; senior brother is not that kind of person. However, I do have an extremely important matter here that needs to be conveyed to the Great Li court."

Hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing immediately furrowed her brows and asked with suspicion via sound:

"What matter? How would I know?"

"This... it is a long story..."

At the same time, the gazes of Hu Rui'an and the others by the table all fell upon Shangguan Qingqing and the other person, their eyes strange.

At this moment, Li Musheng coughed once, raised an eyebrow, and said:

"Miss Qingqing, is it not a rather bad behavior for you two to gossip behind people's backs?"

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Qingqing realized what had happened and immediately waved her hands repeatedly, saying:

"I did not; how could I possibly speak ill of the number one under heaven?"

As she spoke, she extended one finger, pointed at Qin Hao behind her, shifted the blame onto the other person, and said:

"It is this senior brother of mine who said there is a great matter to tell you."

Hearing this, Hu Rui'an, Murong Xiaoya, and the others shifted their gazes, lingered for a while on Li Musheng before them, then looked at Qin Hao, all showing expressions of suspicion.

At this moment, Qin Hao gave a sheepish smile and immediately made a respectful bow with clasped hands toward Li Musheng, saying:

"Just now, thank you, benefactor, for your assistance. The benefactor has saved my life and helped me avenge my junior brothers and sisters; such grace is truly beyond repayment."

Li Musheng waved his hand, not minding this at all, but he did look at the other person with some curiosity and asked:

"What great matter do you have to tell us?"

Hearing this, Qin Hao quickly took half a jade pendant from his bosom and presented it with both hands to Li Musheng, saying:

"This jade pendant was just obtained from the leader of the Bai Sha Gang, but in fact, previously this jade pendant belonged to one of my junior brothers."

Then, Qin Hao sighed deeply and roughly recounted the details within.

Shangguan Qingqing left the Tianhedao Sect to avenge her junior sister and capture the flower-snatching thief, and once gone, she did not return.

Her master, worried she might meet with misfortune, sent Qin Hao to follow her tracks and search; a few days ago, Qin Hao accidentally discovered a distress mark left by a sect disciple while on the way.

He immediately followed the mark to find the person, but instead found a junior brother suffering deeply from injuries.

Seeing a fellow disciple so cruelly harmed, he naturally became extremely angry, yet when he found that junior brother, the other person was already on the verge of death.

Afterwards, Qin Hao only learned the full story of the entire matter from the other person's dying words.

"That junior brother and several senior and junior brothers and sisters were traveling together; on the road to Jingzhou, they encountered a messenger being pursued by others. Acting out of chivalry, they intervened, but the result was that they themselves met with a catastrophic disaster."

Qin Hao showed a sorrowful expression, looked at the jade pendant in Li Musheng's hand, and said:

"My junior brother also learned from the dying words of that messenger that the other person intended to convey an extremely important piece of intelligence to the Great Li court."

As he spoke, he gazed at Li Musheng and said:

"Although I do not know the details myself, the matter that messenger was determined to convey even at the cost of his life was: Do not touch the Fallen God Peak!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Rui'an and the others all furrowed their brows.

Then, Hu Rui'an raised his eyes to look at Qin Hao and asked with a serious expression:

"Do you know who that messenger was, and why the other person would spread such intelligence?"

Hearing this, Qin Hao thought for a while, then shook his head and said:

"That messenger only said he was a spy hidden in the martial world by the Great Li court; as for whether he was from the Six Gates, the Tianjin Guard, or the Hidden Intelligence Bureau, it was not clear."

As he spoke, he changed the subject and said:

"However, this half jade pendant was originally given to my junior brother by that messenger, but was later seized by the Bai Sha Gang; perhaps the intelligence the other person intended to convey is related to this."

Upon hearing this, everyone's gazes shifted, all falling upon the jade pendant in Li Musheng's hand.

Seeing this, Li Musheng casually handed the jade pendant to Hu Rui'an opposite him, letting him see exactly what the situation was.

To tell the truth, he was also somewhat curious about what that messenger had said.

After all, they were all on the way to exterminate the Fallen God Peak, yet suddenly such intelligence popped up, which was, more or less, somewhat unexpected.

At this moment, after Hu Rui'an took the jade pendant from Li Musheng's hand, he began to examine it carefully.

The jade pendant looked utterly ordinary, with some common landscapes carved upon it, and the material was not particularly precious.

But after Hu Rui'an looked for a while, a ball of crimson, scorching true qi suddenly arose in his hand, slowly brushing over the jade pendant.

Then, streams of martial true qi emerged from his eyes, which then glowed slightly, and he stared at the jade pendant in his hand without stopping.

After a while, Hu Rui'an's expression visibly became solemn.

He raised his head to look at Li Musheng; the next moment, an invisible true qi barrier expanded from him as the center, shielding Shangguan Qingqing, Qin Hao, and everyone in the inn from the outside.

Shangguan Qingqing and Qin Hao naturally perceived this scene; Qin Hao's face immediately showed alarm, and he quietly transmitted sound to Shangguan Qingqing, saying:

"This senior is actually a master of the Heaven and Man realm; the martial aura revealed in that moment just now, why does it feel even more powerful than my master?"

Shangguan Qingqing glanced at the other person and said:

"Senior Brother, must you be so ignorant? With the number one expert under heaven right before our eyes, what does a mere Heaven-and-Man expert amount to?"

Hearing this, Qin Hao frowned, sized up his junior sister with his gaze, and asked suspiciously:

"Junior Sister, this Imperial Prince has indeed saved our lives; we naturally ought to be eternally grateful. But... why do you keep calling him the number one expert under heaven? He is clearly so young, and there isn't a trace of martial true qi on his body."

Upon hearing these words, Shangguan Qingqing's heroic face immediately showed a look of disdain:

"Senior Brother, when you spoke those words, I never thought your knowledge was so shallow!"

Qin Hao:...

Meanwhile, after setting up the true qi barrier, Hu Rui turned to look at Li Musheng before him and said with a serious expression:

"Your Highness, this jade pendant is engraved with an extremely detailed topographical map of the Falling God Peak, including many precise internal defensive markings. Although it is only half, I can confirm that this object is absolutely top secret."

Hearing this, Li Musheng glanced at the jade pendant, raised an eyebrow, and said:

"So, that messenger was from the Shengzhou Shengzhou Tianjinwei?"

However, Hu Rui shook his head and said:

"It should not be. Although I know the method to decipher the information on the jade pendant, this method is equally applicable to other agencies within the Great Li court."

"Moreover, the map recorded on the jade pendant is clearly different in some places from the defensive map our Shengzhou Shengzhou Tianjinwei secretly obtained during this attack on the Falling God Peak."

(End of this chapter)