Chapter 169: Hesitation

That young voice was neither loud nor soft, but to Bili Changfeng's ears, it struck like a thunderclap, deafening and overwhelming.

Bili Changfeng snapped his head up, staring at the carriage before him, but when his gaze swept over the four Shadow Crows beside him, his entire body froze abruptly.

Then, on his chiseled face, a look of terror became visibly apparent, his pupils contracting sharply.

At this moment, Bili Changfeng's eyes fell upon the four Shadow Crows—clearly, the four who had just moments ago formed a triangular formation guarding the carriage now stood utterly motionless in place.

But what shocked him beyond measure was that, on their foreheads, there now appeared, inexplicably, a blood hole piercing clean through their skulls.

The life force of the four Shadow Crows had long vanished—they had each been killed by a single blow, yet Bili Changfeng, standing mere steps away, had sensed nothing at all.

Suddenly, Bili Changfeng realized the truth, his face turning pale as he stared at the carriage before him.

The young voice echoed in his mind; he opened his mouth silently, but only a trembling sound escaped his throat:

"I…"

Yet before he could utter another word, the carriage before him suddenly began rolling forward, continuing down the long street ahead.

At the same time, a young voice drifted out from within the carriage, whispering softly into Bili Changfeng's ear:

"You hesitated."

The next instant, Bili Changfeng's entire body stiffened, his eyes glazed over, and his life force vanished in an instant.

Behind him, the hundred mystic armor heavy cavalry stood in perfect formation—now visible was a blood hole, clean through front to back, in Bili Changfeng's skull.

Gulu, gulu!

The empty street lay utterly silent; the mystic armor heavy cavalry, gleaming with cold steel, stood frozen in place—only the sound of rolling wheels remained clear.

The lead black-maned warhorse nervously stamped its iron hooves; the commandant immediately pulled the reins tight, pressing down hard on the horse's head with his left hand.

His other hand instantly hovered over his waist saber, his breath halting in that single moment.

The next instant—"clang!"—a hundred horizontal blades simultaneously unsheathed, their icy glint weaving a blazing silver river across the silent street.

In an instant, the blades vibrated with a fine, humming buzz, the warhorses neighed in long cries, and the clashing of iron armor sounded like heavy rain striking iron basins.

The still air of the entire street shattered—hundred mystic armor heavy cavalry unleashed a sky-piercing aura of deadly ferocity; the blue bricks beneath their iron hooves cracked with a "crack—," spreading rapidly, kicking up clouds of dust and debris.

Yet despite the terrifying, overwhelming might of the iron cavalry, only the fading sound of the carriage wheels could be heard—the hundred mystic armored riders remained nailed to the spot like statues, not a single hoof stepping forward.

At this moment, an indescribable feeling, like an inescapable shadow, settled over the hearts of the hundred warriors—as if taking another step would mean instant death.

Simultaneously, the warhorses beneath them trembled like sieves, whinnying mournfully—they were utterly terrified, their spirits broken!

"Commandant?"

One cavalryman slowly turned his head toward the leader, his voice trembling.

The leader's heart was filled with shock, his expression solemn.

Hearing his subordinate's voice, he drew a deep breath, forcing down his fear, then gave an immediate, unwavering order:

"Send someone back immediately to report this situation. All men, retreat ten zhang."

…

The carriage reached the end, about to vanish around the corner.

Cao Gaoshan, riding ahead on horseback, glanced back at the retreating mystic armor heavy cavalry, then turned his gaze toward the carriage behind him.

Then his eyes met those of Wu Shang, seated beside the driver; the three exchanged a look, each seeing the same unusual expression in the others' eyes.

At this moment, they all silently shared the same thought:

"Whenever the Imperial Prince strikes, he kills in one blow—just how far has his martial cultivation advanced?"

Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Hu Rui'an and the other two kept glancing at Li Musheng.

Though all knew his martial prowess was unfathomable, to kill Bili Changfeng—head of the family second only to Shengzhou's top martial clan—so casually still left them deeply shaken.

Moreover, all three had been with Li Musheng the entire time, yet not one—not even Hu Rui'an—had seen any sign of him moving to strike.

The same had been true when he killed the White-Haired Yama and others; this time was different—Bili Changfeng was no match for the White-Haired Yama.

For Hu Rui'an and Shen Anran, the only time they had ever seen Li Musheng strike was when he punched Shen Juesheng into the air.

"Lady Murong, stop staring at me—keep your eyes on the road, don't lead us astray."

Li Musheng glanced at Murong Xiaoya; her lovely face instantly flushed crimson to her neck, and she quickly looked away, hastily pulling back the carriage curtain to stare out the window.

Seeing this, Li Musheng turned to Shen Anran beside him—her features were like a painted scroll, her bright eyes fixed on him without the slightest hesitation.

Li Musheng coughed, thinking to himself:

"She's got a crush. Can't reason with her."

He immediately turned to Hu Rui'an across from him; Hu Rui'an, seeing Li Musheng look his way, quickly said:

"Your Highness is wondering whether killing Bili Changfeng will bring consequences?"

"Your Highness need not worry—we already killed his son; Bili Changfeng was already determined to kill us. So killing him changes little for us, and instead will intimidate the rest of the Bili family."

"But now, since we had no prior ties to the Murong family, after this, the martial clans opposed to the Murongs—and behind them, Han Chuiyuan—will likely see us as enemies…"

Seeing Hu Rui'an about to continue, Li Musheng raised a hand to stop him, raising an eyebrow:

"Did I ask you any of this?"

At that moment, hearing Hu Rui'an's words, Shen Anran, seated beside Li Musheng, suddenly frowned slightly and asked him:

"Your Highness is a prince of Great Li—Han Chuiyuan wouldn't dare defy you, would he?"

Hu Rui'an shook his head:

"It's hard to say. Though I don't understand the full details, from what we see now, the conflict between the Murong family and Han Chuiyuan seems irreconcilable."

"If they're certain Your Highness stands with the Murongs, they may resort to desperate measures."

Hearing this, Murong Xiaoya turned back, glanced at Hu Rui'an, then fixed her gaze on Li Musheng; after a moment's hesitation, she whispered:

"Your Highness and my lord need not involve yourselves with the Murong family—we have our own way to resolve this."

At these words, the three inside the carriage all turned to look at her.

Li Musheng rubbed his chin—he didn't recall ever saying he'd help the Murong family.

The reason for killing Bai Li Wei was simply that the other party initiated the attack to block the road, while the reason for killing Bai Li Changfeng was that the other party sought to kill him to avenge his son.

From beginning to end, it had nothing to do with the Murong family; at most, it was a mere gesture of help for Murong Xiaoya.

He had not the slightest intention of getting involved in the struggles of these martial arts factions, yet the current situation seemed to be deviating somewhat from his plans.

Could this be the so-called "a person in the Jianghu has no choice"?

Li Musheng frowned slightly, but after thinking it over, he did not care; after all, these trivial matters could not affect him in the slightest.

At this moment, Hu Rui glanced at Murong Xiaoya and spoke thoughtfully:

"It seems the Murong family must have another trump card; as the number one martial arts family in Shengzhou, they must possess reserves unknown to us."

Hearing this, Murong Xiaoya did not deny it, merely nodding lightly.

Afterwards, the carriage continued forward; under Murong Xiaoya's guidance, the group encountered no further obstacles and finally arrived before the Shengzhou Prefecture Office.

Meanwhile, Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle had already arrived at Murong Fu with two hundred mystic armor heavy cavalry and two thousand armored soldiers.

Waving his hand to give the order, the many soldiers surged toward the surroundings of the Murong family residence like a tide, orderly and neat, quickly surrounding the Murong Fu before them as tightly as an iron bucket.

At this time, the forces of the Yuan, Zhu, and Cen families also arrived in succession; for this siege against the Murong family, the heads of the three families even personally took action.

Upon seeing the people of the Bai Li family arrive, the three family heads, accompanied by several martial arts experts, came over together toward this side.

However, after the three arrived, they saw only Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle present, but could not see the other party's figure.

The faces of the three all changed at once, becoming somewhat unpleasant.

The one who took the initiative to launch this siege against the Murong family in advance and fully led and facilitated this matter was Bai Li Changfeng.

Among the reasons were that the Bai Li family was the number one power among the four great martial arts families in Shengzhou Prefecture City, excluding the Murong family, and the other three great families all implicitly took them as their leader.

Additionally, the three families, seeing that the other party had lost his son the day before and witnessing his overwhelming grief and anger, found it truly difficult to refuse his face, so they agreed to his suggestion: today, the four great martial arts families of the prefecture city would join hands to strive to take down the Murong family in one blow.

But what they did not expect was that the three of them, as family heads, had all personally taken the field today, yet he, Bai Li Changfeng himself, was cowering and not appearing, his figure nowhere to be seen; this was truly too outrageous!

"Where is the master of the Bai Li family? Why is he not here?"

Yuan Shanbiao, the head of the Yuan family, was a straightforward man; he rode forward, glanced around, and then directly shouted and questioned the Bai Li family's clan uncle.

Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle glanced at the three arriving family heads, saw their displeased expressions, seemed to discern the thoughts of the several people, and hurriedly said:

"Family heads, please calm down; Changfeng has discovered the whereabouts of the true culprit who killed his grandson-nephew, and halfway there he has already led people to launch a siege; I believe he will return very soon."

Hearing this, the heads of the Yuan, Zhu, and Cen families exchanged glances, and their faces became somewhat better.

"So that is how it is; I imagine that with Brother Changfeng personally taking action, there is absolutely no possibility for the true culprit to survive; this expedition will surely avenge the great grievance."

Yuan Shanbiao, the head of the Yuan family, shifted his tone and spoke a sentence in a deep voice.

The head of the Zhu family and the head of the Cen family also both nodded and spoke in agreement.

However, just at this moment, a sound of urgent horse hooves suddenly came from the long street behind the crowd.

Soon, a Bai Li family mystic armor cavalryman galloped over, then sharply pulled the reins, causing the warhorse to rear up and stop abruptly.

Next, the armored soldier flipped off the horse, hurriedly ran to the front of Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle, squatted down half-kneeling, and reported:

"Great trouble! The master of the Bai Li family has met with disaster!"

Upon hearing these words, Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle's expression changed; a bad premonition instantly arose in his heart, and he immediately shouted in a deep voice:

"What has happened?"

At the same time, the other three martial arts family heads who witnessed this scene nearby all looked over with strange expressions on their faces.

The armored soldier's face appeared somewhat pale; he swallowed hard, then immediately lowered his head and said:

"The master of the Bai Li family and four experts besieged and killed that culprit, but the other party's strength was too powerful; the master of the Bai Li family and they... have all perished!"

Upon hearing these words, the surroundings suddenly fell silent; after Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle reacted, the figure seated on the horseback moved instantly, arriving before the armored soldier in an instant.

The terrifying martial arts aura he released directly pressured the other party as he asked:

"Repeat what you just said; exactly what happened?"

Hearing this, the armored soldier dared not disobey and immediately recounted everything he had witnessed, telling the whole story in full detail.

And after listening to his words, the three martial arts family heads, whose figures had arrived nearby at some unknown time, all spoke together in disbelief:

"How is this possible!"

Obviously, the three of them at this moment found it utterly difficult to accept the news that Bai Li Changfeng, leading four martial arts experts to besiege and kill, had ended up being completely wiped out by the other party.

After all, they knew to some extent the martial arts strength of Bai Li Changfeng; among the martial arts families of the entire prefecture city, excluding the few reclusive Laozu Sect elders.

The other party's martial arts strength was only slightly inferior to Murong Hong, the head of the Murong family, yet now he had been casually wiped out by a group of people from who knows where; this truly does not make sense.

"Lead the way immediately; I must go personally to confirm!"

At this moment, Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle's face changed rapidly for a while; suppressing the panic in his heart, he spoke in a deep voice with an extremely unpleasant expression.

He knew in his heart that the armored soldier before him would absolutely not dare to lie about this matter, but unless he confirmed it personally, he could absolutely not accept such a cruel message.

Soon, Bai Li Changfeng's clan uncle led people and followed the armored soldier to depart in haste.

The three remaining family heads watched the backs of the crowd as they departed, exchanging glances with each other.

At this time, the faces of the three were likewise not pleasant; although they found it hard to believe in Bai Li Changfeng's death, judging from the current situation, this matter looked very likely to be true.

"Brother Yuan, if this matter is true, what should be done?"

The head of the Zhu family looked at Yuan Shanbiao, the head of the Yuan family; the other party pondered for a while, beckoned a close aide beside him to give a few instructions, and then ordered him to depart quickly.

Next, he glanced at the two family heads beside him and said:

"I have already notified General Han of this matter; I believe the other party will make a decision regarding this."

Not long after, the news of Bai Li Changfeng's death was confirmed by his clan uncle; the Bai Li family did not conceal it but immediately informed the other three great martial arts families.

After learning of this matter, the three family heads, while shocked, also had to face an extremely thorny problem before them: whether the siege against the Murong family should continue?

(End of this chapter)