Chapter 447: A Show of Force

The host of top-tier assassins, every one of them radiating a presence as oppressive as having walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, slowly straightened upright after Li Musheng gave his signal.

The young men and women collapsed weakly along the roadway could sense it clearly. These terrifying assassins from the Hidden Kill Pavilion, who had treated them as though they didn't exist, showed an attitude of extreme reverence when facing the young man seated atop his camel.

The intangible river of killing intent that had hung suspended above the road leading into White Emperor City had left everyone walking the road in a state of paralyzed terror, frozen in place, not daring to move a muscle.

The elite assassins of the Hidden Kill Pavilion, sent ahead to receive Li Musheng outside the city, stood arranged in two columns along either side of the road. At the front of the two columns stood a stunningly beautiful woman in a black dress and a man of unremarkable appearance.

The woman in black was Lianxing, who had once witnessed firsthand Li Musheng's battle with the Assassination Saint back in the Great Li imperial capital. The man of unremarkable appearance was Huan Hu.

Though Lianxing possessed striking beauty, her expression was perpetually flat and cold, like an exquisitely carved statue with no trace of emotion.

Even so, as she raised her eyes now to look at the future Pavilion Master of the Hidden Kill Pavilion atop his camel, an unmistakable ripple stirred within her gaze.

"Lead the way ahead."

Li Musheng gave a light wave of his hand, showing no surprise at all at the arrival of the Hidden Kill Pavilion's assassins.

After all, as a renowned assassin organization known throughout the entire martial world, the Hidden Kill Pavilion couldn't possibly have remained unaware of his arrival in White Emperor City.

Had the Hidden Kill Pavilion failed to come and welcome him, that would have been the genuine surprise, and would have suggested a lack of proper respect toward him as their future Pavilion Master, in which case he might have needed to teach them a lesson in response.

At this point, Lianxing, Huan Hu, and the rest of the assembled elite assassins of the Hidden Kill Pavilion all bowed in acknowledgment of Li Musheng's instructions.

The river of killing intent that had been hanging suspended above the road then began to disperse, generating an irresistible, intangible force that intended to push the martial world figures and common people previously walking the road off to either side, clearing an unobstructed path through.

But Li Musheng simply waved a hand once more, and the force generated by the river of killing intent silently dispersed into nothing. He shook his head, "I'm not someone who needs that kind of fuss. Everyone's free to use the road."

At those words, Lianxing and Huan Hu exchanged an instinctive glance, then both gave a nod in unison, and the river of killing intent that had hung above the road withdrew in an instant.

In a moment, the oppressive killing intent that had been pressing down on the martial world figures and common people along the road vanished as well, and everyone felt a sudden lightness in their hearts, drawing sharp, gasping breaths like drowning people who had just broken the surface for air.

Seeing this, Li Musheng patted the camel beneath him and, with Cang Yinyue and the rest of his group, made their way around the still-prostrate group of young men and women ahead, continuing on toward White Emperor City.

Lianxing, Huan Hu, and the rest of the Hidden Kill Pavilion's assassins stood quietly in place, waiting until Li Musheng's group had departed before following silently behind.

It was only once the assembled assassins of the Hidden Kill Pavilion had moved off into the distance that the young men and women previously sprawled on the ground attempted, with great difficulty, to climb back to their feet.

Everyone present felt as though they had just walked through death's door and back. Every face was as pale as paper, every limb weak and trembling, and their clothes were already soaked through with cold sweat.

Though the Hidden Kill Pavilion wasn't counted among the Western Desert's six great powers, its fearsome reputation was known throughout the entire Western Desert.

Particularly having experienced, at such close range, the overwhelming, oppressive aura of the Hidden Kill Pavilion's elite assassins, even these young people, with their considerable martial talent, had found it utterly unbearable.

"Just who exactly was that person? To have the Hidden Kill Pavilion send out so many assassins to come and welcome him."

Once they had recovered themselves somewhat, the assembled young men and women all looked, with lingering fear, toward the direction Li Musheng's group had departed.

Just moments before, their tone and attitude toward him had been less than polite, even going so far as to question him directly, yet fortunately the man hadn't held their disrespect against them.

This only deepened everyone's curiosity about his true identity, now that they had narrowly escaped with their lives.

Just then, someone among the group of young men and women suddenly seemed to recall something and spoke up, "Didn't the Hidden Kill Pavilion's assassins just now address that person as 'Your Highness'?"

At those words, everyone exchanged glances at once, and very quickly, almost simultaneously, they all recalled that particular piece of news concerning the Hidden Kill Pavilion.

"Could he be... that future new Pavilion Master of the Hidden Kill Pavilion who once defeated their Assassination Saint, the Eighth Prince from the Great Li dynasty?"

The moment this suspicion was voiced aloud, every one of the young men and women showed expressions of utter shock on their faces, mirroring one another.

Their own martial talent was nothing to scoff at, and though they were currently in the Western Desert, every one of them harbored ambitions of one day venturing out into the broader martial world beyond, drawn toward the wider, grander stage that lay outside the Western Desert's borders.

For this reason, they were all enthusiastic followers of news and dispatches from across the wider martial world on a regular basis, and in fact knew many martial world anecdotes more thoroughly than even the Yellow Spring Tribe's own Holy Lords.

And as for the stories surrounding Li Musheng, they naturally knew them better than anyone.

Though the Western Desert had also produced its own once-in-a-thousand-years martial talent in the form of this young prodigy, in the hearts of everyone present, the news surrounding Li Musheng was, without question, far more astonishing and shocking by comparison.

This man's exploits read like something straight out of a fabricated tale from some fantastical martial world storybook, filled with legendary, almost unreal qualities.

In fact, even this group of young people, so enthusiastic about news from across the martial world, had found Li Musheng's exploits so exaggerated that they had assumed they were simply false rumors that had grown more and more outlandish with each retelling as they spread through the martial world.

Even so, there was one thing they knew for certain to be true.

That was Li Musheng's battle against the Assassination Saint in the Great Li imperial capital, and the news that he was about to take command of the Hidden Kill Pavilion as its next Pavilion Master.

Because this particular piece of news had been openly confirmed and spread by the Hidden Kill Pavilion itself, and had by now circulated throughout nearly the entire Western Desert.

And with this confirmation directly from the Hidden Kill Pavilion's own mouth, naturally, no small number of people had also begun to suspect that the other extraordinary, world-shaking exploits attributed to this legendary Eighth Prince of Great Li might very well be true as well.

"If he really is that Eighth Prince of Great Li, then those so-called martial talents of the wider martial world really are just the bare minimum standard for getting an audience with him..."

Someone among the young men and women murmured this quietly to themselves, while everyone else around them, their expressions varying widely, fell into silence.

...

At the same time, the assembled assassins of the Hidden Kill Pavilion who had come out to welcome Li Musheng now followed close behind his group, slowly making their way toward White Emperor City together.

This scene naturally drew the attention of the martial world figures throughout the surrounding road, especially given the commotion caused by the river of killing intent that had just stretched all the way from the city to its outskirts, which had attracted the notice of no small number of martial world experts from various Western Desert factions currently within White Emperor City.

Lianxing, dressed in black, and Huan Hu, with his unremarkable features, exchanged a glance with one another. Both of these top-tier Hidden Kill Pavilion assassins occasionally let their eyes drift toward the three figures crammed together atop a single camel ahead.

Though these three kept their heads bowed and their faces concealed, covered in dust and sand in a deliberate effort to hide their appearances, the sharp-eyed Lianxing and Huan Hu still managed to recognize them as the three Holy Lords of the Yellow Spring Tribe.