A Meeting

"Not only did the Fourth Prince not die...but he actually killed a good number of assassins?"

In the Eldest Prince's palace...

His advisers read the news over and over, each sporting different looks on their faces.

Most wore blank expressions, which gave none of their actual thoughts away.

"He was sent on practically a suicide mission with no chance of survival, yet something like this has actually happened instead. There can only be three possibilities as to why this happened. One: Clan Zhao went easy on him. Two:  the Fourth Prince has actually sided with Clan Zhao and is setting us up. Three:  he is actually very powerful."

"You can immediately rule out the second possibility. The Fourth Prince has been in the palace for many years and has never ventured outside. The possibility of being in bed with Clan Zhao is nil. And if he were to actually have been in bed with Clan Zhao, doing something like this would simply have been  too obvious," the Eldest Prince said.

"We can also rule out the third possibility. But, after what just occurred, the Fourth Prince could definitely leave this impression in the minds of the people. Your Highness, I think you should try to win him over."

"We'll talk about that in the future. Let's talk about the possibility of Clan Zhao going easy first."

"Simple. That was done to attract more princes to head to the front lines. Killing a good-for-nothing prince would serve little use after all."

"How about we speed up the process and push for yet another prince to be sent there then?"

…...

In Clan Zhao's camp...

"Seven of our inner-circle disciples have perished in a single place in just a few days."

Huo Fei and several other disciples looked at each other after receiving the news.

"Did some formidable warrior from the royal family finally made a move?"

"Doesn't look like it."

"Regardless of what it looks like, we can't afford to let someone who killed so many inner-circle disciples get away with it."

"I'll kill him!"

A disciple at tier two of the Saint level stood up.

"Be careful. Old Demon Han and that Perfected Person have not been found yet," Huo Fei reminded him.

If it hadn't been for wanting to apprehend both Old Demon Han and the Perfected Person warrior, they wouldn't have been sitting around here and waiting.

There was no way they could take on someone at the Perfected Person Realm.

Both the number one elder and the sect master were out looking for that man.

Old Demon Han was nowhere to be found, so they decided to fight a war of attrition, grinding down the State of Xia and closing in slowly, to see if they could lure those two out.

"Isn't it what we wish for, for those two to emerge?"

They all nodded.

Swoop~

They all turned around to find someone standing in their midst who was completely dressed in bright green.

They took a closer look and realized that they didn't know this person.

"Who are you?"

"Good day! The person you've been longing to see has arrived."

Li Mu walked to the center of the group slowly and sat down, picking up a piece of fruit from the table and chewing on it.

"Who...are...you?"

"I've already told you! Weren't you all talking about me just moments ago? Well, here I am. What's that look on your faces, eh?"

Ptuih~

Peehh~

Li Mu took another bite of the fruit, chewing it for a bit, and then spitting it out.

"Man, this is f*cking awful!"

"You…"

The personal disciples stared at the man in green.

None of them were able to see through him, and, furthermore, they had no idea how he had managed to appear in front of them.

"So, you are that Perfected Person?" Huo Fei asked doubtfully.

They saw Li Mu nodding as soon as Huo Fei had finished asking the question.

All of them were stunned.

They all were wondering why he was appearing there at this time.

Everyone in the room stood up right away.

"Yes, I'm that Perfected Person warrior that you lot have been looking for. No need to be so surprised why I'm here. The guy from your sect who you sent after me was somewhat lacking," Li Mu elaborated plainly.

Li Mu had sensed the other Perfected Person warrior as soon as the latter had appeared at Mount Yan.

This was all thanks to that round piece of jade that Old Demon Han had given him.

The artifact enabled him to hone his mental powers.

The other person was at tier two of the Perfected Person Realm, and his powers were slightly lower than Li Mu's.

However, the other man's mental powers were far inferior to his.

He was able to anticipate every move that the other man made.

"You…dare…"

"It's almost time. Better send you people on your way."

Li Mu swung his sword.

A flash of his sword could be seen, and right away the room was filled with dead bodies.

Li Mu began cleaning up the bodies.

"Nice blade. Better than the one I've been using."

He took Huo Fei's sword as his own and looted the bodies in the room. Then he left without making a sound.

"It's time to meet up with the Perfected Person warrior outside Mount Yan. Check in."

Li Mu did his check-ins in a frenzy, after having been hiding for so many days.

He was finally confident enough to take on that other Perfected Person warrior.

While he had no idea why the other man hadn't acted sooner, he nonetheless now deemed that the other man had just lost any chance of winning against him.

The sect master would have cried his eyes out if he had been able to hear what Li Mu was thinking.

It was not that he hadn't wanted to make a move sooner.

It was simply that he had been unable to find Li Mu.

In the Hall of Soul Flickers of the Xuan Sect...

Poof~

Poof~

Poof~

One soul flicker after another was extinguished.

Zhao Wu was still training in a side hall, completely oblivious to the soul flickers being extinguished.

Other than being due to his perception powers of someone at the Spirit Manipulation Realm being lower than that of Saint level, it was also because he hadn't expected anything would happen to his brothers on that trip.

The more time he got to train, the sooner he got to the Saint level, which in turn meant that the sooner he got to go home.

...

At this same time, both the Third and the Sixth Princes had gathered a huge group of warriors and were heading toward the front lines.

This was a great way of earning merits, and they naturally wouldn't let such a chance pass.

That good-for-nothing fourth brother of theirs had been able to score so many kills already after all.

That meant that they would also be able to do so, given the fact that they both had so many warriors serving under them.

"I really don't know what big brother is thinking by not going out into the front lines. Doesn't he know that riches can only be earned in dangerous places? We don't even need to win. Going back alive would already be good enough. Hee, hee, hee."

The Third Prince had volunteered to be sent to the front lines.

He was obviously able to see the happy look in the emperor's eyes, as well as the admiration on the faces of the ministers.

He deemed that he would definitely be able to become the crown prince after returning.

...

The camp at the front lines by the Tianlong River was about ten miles away.

Liu An placed the bags of black powder neatly and cautiously.

He'd managed to kill two assassins at once by using that very method.

"Your Highness, we will definitely win all our battles from here on out with these things on our side."

The general who was standing behind Liu An had been very impressed by him.

Whether it was in military strategy or in his personal cultivation in the arts, the prince was obviously educated well above them.

The military always sought out the strongest. 

Liu An's performance in all areas was deemed extremely satisfactory.

If even a prince could perform so admirably, there was no longer any need to worry about the state's future.

Furthermore, the Fourth Prince had access to things like gunpowder.

"Keep the knowledge of these things to yourselves for the time being. We would be in real trouble if the enemy discovered what we were doing. We can perfect the formula when we have more time."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Your Highness, the Third Prince and the Sixth Prince are now both at the front lines. They are about to take over military command."

A general came in at that moment.

"Let them have it then. They won't have too many days to live out here anyway," Liu An replied.

The fact that they had killed seven inner-circle disciples of the Xuan Sect meant that the other side would be very, very frustrated at the moment.

That meant that he had to lay down firepower that packed an even greater punch.

He totally hadn't expected someone would come up and help him draw the enemy's attention.

The Third Prince?

The brother who has been bullying me forever.

The Sixth Prince?

The one who never called me a brother and gave me dirty looks at every opportunity he got.

It seemed that this was how things had always been with all of his brothers.

...

100 miles away on the northern side of Mount Yan...

Li Mu stood on a hill and let a bit of his presence leak out.

Swoop~

A middle-aged man with a long beard opened his eyes wide. He was in a cave less than 25 miles away from where Li Mu was.

"He is finally here."

Swoop~

He made his move right away and headed straight for the place where Li Mu was.

It was as if he feared that Li Mu would run away that very next second.

"Are you that Perfected Person who killed my disciples?" The sect master approached Li Mu and asked.

"Indeed."

Li Mu checked over the sect master with a long beard from top to toe.

The man looked unassuming, just like many of the ministers in court.

In contrast, his clothes seemed plainer than theirs, although the air around him seemed to have more elegance.

The sect master was checking out Li Mu at the same time.