Chapter 57: The Poison of the Jianghu

"My Lord Fu, do you think I am easily deceived? Do you not know what kind of power the Fallen God Peak is?"

Li Musheng chuckled, looking at Fu Qiwen sideways as he spoke.

Hearing this, Fu Qiwen lowered his eyes slightly, revealing nothing on his face, and said:

"The Fallen God Peak's reputation in the Jianghu is known to almost everyone. As one of the top four great sects in the Jianghu, it is indeed very difficult to deal with, but..."

Li Musheng waved his hand, cutting the other off directly, and stated plainly:

"Don't talk about 'buts' anymore. The job you're offering isn't easy. The silver and house Your Majesty gave aren't worth that price, are they?"

This time, it was Fu Qiwen's turn to show a strange expression. He raised his head, looking at Li Musheng in surprise, and asked suspiciously:

"Could it be that Your Highness intends to take on this matter?"

At this moment, Fu Qiwen truly found it hard to gauge the thoughts of this Eighth Imperial Prince before him.

Logically speaking, as long as the other party knew a little about the Fallen God Peak, they would refuse without hesitation, but the current situation was that the other party had not done so.

At this time, Li Musheng leisurely sized up Fu Qiwen for a while, stroking his chin and saying:

"The Fallen God Peak ranks as one of the four great sects of the Jianghu, with many martial arts experts, and its power spans across four provinces of Great Li. Dealing with it is extremely difficult."

Speaking thus, he suddenly shifted his tone, narrowing his eyes as he said:

"However, if you want me to agree, it is not impossible, it's just... conditions must be added."

Hearing this, Fu Qiwen said nothing, his gaze fixed on Li Musheng.

However, he did not see any trace of pretense on the other party; the other party always displayed a sense of casualness, and a mockery of himself that was not concealed.

"Your Highness must think clearly; this matter is by no means a game."

Fu Qiwen withdrew his gaze, his expression instantly becoming extremely serious. If the other party treated this matter as a joke, they would be gravely mistaken and would inevitably pay the price for it.

Li Musheng shook his head and smiled:

"I have thought very clearly. Now it is My Lord Fu who should think clearly. What conditions can you offer that would be worth helping me destroy the Fallen God Peak?"

Li Musheng saw clearly enough that even if Emperor Yuanwu had no affection for this son who had been lost outside for twenty years, he would not send him to his death right from the start.

Therefore, the matter of sending him to deal with the Fallen God Peak was definitely deliberately done by this middle-ranking official before him who looked kind but had a black heart.

Of course, Li Musheng also knew that Fu Qiwen did not actually intend to put him to death; even if he did, he would never use such crude methods.

He guessed...

Hmm... it was probably that this middle-ranking official saw him as handsome, while he himself was far inferior, so he could not stand him and wanted to deliberately make things difficult.

As for the matter of dealing with the Fallen God Peak, Li Musheng actually did not care. On the contrary, rather than letting Emperor Yuanwu and others in the capital entangle him with trivial matters, it was better to do something big directly.

Otherwise, always being a nominal idle Imperial Prince would indeed be of limited use for what he wanted to do.

At this time, after hearing Li Musheng's words, Fu Qiwen fell silent. Naturally, he did not think Li Musheng could deal with a martial world power like the Fallen God Peak.

But being questioned so aggressively by the other party made him somewhat unsure; where exactly did the other party's confidence come from?

Fu Qiwen frowned in thought for a moment, and finally, gazing at Li Musheng, asked:

"What kind of conditions does Your Highness want?"

However, Li Musheng waved his hand and said:

"What conditions will be discussed later. First, tell me, why do you want to deal with the Fallen God Peak?"

"To speak the truth, this approach is killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of one's own. Moreover, I do not think your Tianjin Guard can destroy such a huge Jianghu sect."

Hearing this, Fu Qiwen stared at Li Musheng for a while and said:

"Your Highness may not know, but now the five kingdoms of the world have been divided for a hundred years. In fact, each is tired of Jianghu powers. To subdue the outside, one must first pacify the inside. If these Jianghu powers that poison the land are not eliminated for a day, how can Great Li talk about contending for the world?"

"Therefore, Your Majesty had long planned to take action against the Jianghu powers of Great Li, but due to the unstable borders and the timing not being ripe, it has only been planned and never implemented."

Li Musheng raised an eyebrow, showing a look of curiosity, and said:

"Do you mean that now the timing is ripe and you are able to take action?"

However, Fu Qiwen shook his head and said:

"We have not yet prepared to take action."

Li Musheng frowned, about to speak, when Fu Qiwen immediately sighed and said:

"In my opinion, there will never be a time when the timing is completely ripe. We can strike at any time, but we cannot strike, because we do not have absolute certainty of destroying them."

"You might as well not have said anything."

Li Musheng pondered for a moment, waved his hand, and said:

"Give me a reason to destroy the Fallen God Peak. Even if their power is great and threatens the rule of Great Li, if they stay quietly in their own little patch of land and do no evil, you have no justification to wipe them out."

Hearing this, Fu Qiwen let out a slight cold laugh and said:

"There are too many reasons to kill them. Just the case files collected by our Tianjin Guard fill more than ten bookshelves."

"The so-called Jianghu sect powers are no longer simple martial arts sects. They are more like bandits who occupy land as kings. Without the constraints of imperial court law, they can act according to their whims. Bullying the weak and seizing by force are common occurrences."

"Otherwise, how do you think these powerful Jianghu powers have developed so rapidly, occupying various provinces to reach a strength that can rival the court?"

Li Musheng said nothing. He had stayed in Shun'an City for the past fifteen years and had not truly witnessed too many Jianghu powers.

On this journey to Shangyang City, he had indeed seen the Yuxue Alliance with his own eyes. The fact that the other party made Cang Cang Yin Yue unwilling to provoke them and detour around them showed the strength of martial world powers in this region of Great Li.

Moreover, on this journey, although he could not see the full picture of the Jianghu, he found that the Jianghu was indeed too chaotic, with sects fighting endlessly and bloodshed and conflict everywhere.

Except for Jingzhou, the people of the other provinces suffered greatly from this. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the people could not make a living.

Although Li Musheng knew that his own martial arts cultivation had long reached the absolute peak, making him an almost invincible existence, he was also clear that individual martial power was limited and could not change the reality of this world.

Therefore, he only wanted to pursue transcendence in the martial arts. As for the suffering of the common people, he could not manage it and was powerless to help.

Perhaps when walking the Jianghu, he would see injustice and root out the strong and evil, and with his strength, he could certainly do so easily.

Even if he felt like it and helped a small town eliminate a local evil force, he could be praised and lauded, winning the reputation of a great hero in the Jianghu.

But Li Musheng knew this was only temporary. Once one power was killed, another would soon rise again.

One crop after another, they could never be completely cut down.

(End of chapter)