The Divine Martial Stars

Chapter 420 Committing Murder Through the Hands of Another

Li Mu’s name started to make countless people shiver in fear.

Many forces, tycoons, and giants began to find Li Mu unfathomable.

Since the boy’s rise in Taibai City, he had never been defeated through all kinds of battles. Every time he dueled with someone much more famous and holding a much higher rank, the outsiders all thought he would get killed in the fight, but the results of all those battles were surprisingly consistent—

All those who were mortal enemies with Li Mu had been killed.

And Li Mu maintained his legendary unbeatable records.

Slowly, many people came to realize that a new legend of martial art was gradually taking shape. Li Mu was like the sun rising from the east that began to shine brilliantly. His brilliance was already so dazzling that the others could hardly open their eyes.

Gusts of wind mixed with the smell of blood blew across the land.

In a lifeless, empty city, blood was flowing. Yue Guoxiang, who was licking the blood on the corner of his mouth, found himself soaked in cold sweat after reading a message he just received.

“This Li Mu turns out to be so mighty. Emperor Qin Ming has learned all the skills of the Heavenly Devil Sect. Even our Tianyi Palace has to show some respect to him. But Li Mu is able to kill Emperor Qin Ming who had inherited the legacy of the Heavenly Devil Tactics… It seemed wise to leave Lin’an directly that day. If I had provoked him on the spur of the moment, perhaps I was already killed by Li Mu.”

Suddenly, Yue Guoxiang no longer felt ashamed when recalling that day he had to use the Heavenly Gate Apricot Yellow Banner to escape from Li Mu’s pursuit.

After all, Emperor Qin Ming, the master of the first level of Heavenly Devil Tactics, was killed by him. By comparison, the fact that he had escaped proved his capability in return.

“It’s time to speed up the recovery.”

Hovering over the empty city covered in blood, Yue Guoxiang brooded about what he should do next.

“Such a small city holds not more than a million people. It won’t make up for much blood even if I devour all of them. Seems I’ve got to check for some larger cities. Well, I remember the map shows there is a third-graded martial art sect 1,000 miles away that calls Cyan Wave Sword Pavilion. The blood of martial arts practitioners affords me more energy. Haha… Anyway, such low-level creatures are humble like ants. It doesn’t matter how many I kill.”

He turned into a jet of silver light and flew towards the gate of Cyan Wave Sword Pavilion.

Behind him, all the small human cities within tens of thousands of miles, including that empty city he just devoured, had been converted into blood prisons. All the people in those cities were dead, their blood converging into a road leading to death.

At the same time.

In Northern Song’s second-graded Flower Valley, the Saint of the Blood Sea seized the neck of a twitching female Celestial Being, opened his mouth, and sucked away all the blood in her body.

The beautiful female Celestial Being, with resentment and unwillingness in her eyes, turned into a dried body at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

“Ah, the blood of a pure Yin female Celestial Being is surely delicious.”

He tossed the dried body aside.

The wind blew, carrying the chilling smell of blood.

The Flower Valley, a sect that recruited only female disciples, had just been wiped out.

As if beautiful flowers suddenly withered, nearly 10,000 female disciples became dried corpses. As the wind swept by, those bodies rolled over like weightless dead flowers. Gorgeous clothes were still wrapped around those dried corpses, billowing miserably in the wind.

“Your Highness, I am afraid that Li Mu will participate in the treasure hunt in the Tomb of the God of Sin. After all, he has old friends in Lin’an city, so he might have already heard something about it,” said Bloody-moon Evil Master who was standing next to him.

The Saint of the Blood Sea smiled. Then, he abruptly asked. “Tell me, when two beasts have a fight and one is killed, how is the other doing?”

Bloody-moon Evil Master’s eyes lit at once. “He is wounded?”

When the two tigers fought, one of them would certainly get injured.

Now that Emperor Qin Ming was dead, how could Li Mu remain unscathed?

Therefore, though Li Mu’s prestige was spreading all over the world at the time and people all began to believe he was almost invincible, maybe those days were also his weakest period.

“Then, Your Highness, shall we sound him out?” Bloody-moon Evil Master suggested, who seemed eager to give it a shot.

The Saint of the Blood Sea glanced at him and said, “Never do things that won’t benefit us.”

A little taken aback, Bloody-moon Evil Master said, “Then what—?”

“Let’s spread the news. Too many people in this world want to achieve something. It’s cold and lonely at the top. Who doesn’t want to sit on the throne of the top one in the world anyway? They may even scramble to touch the boots of the top one in the world.” Blood Sea Saint hinted.

Bloody-moon Evil Master immediately understood what the Saint saying.

He intended to kill Li Mu through the hands of another.

“Well, we have to hurry on for the next sect. I’ve only recovered less than half of my cultivation so far. I still need at least thousands of Celestial Beings’ blood to get a full recovery. Only then will I be eligible to go and compete for the treasure in Tomb of the God of Sin.”

Then, the Saint of the Blood Sea drifted away.

He was not like that Yue Guoxiang from Tianyi Palace.

He was a picky eater who would not feed on ordinary people.

Li Mu from Taibai County was seriously injured and on his death bed.

That news, like a clap of thunder, spread wildly among the three great empires.

There was no doubt that the explosive news, with Li Mu beheading Emperor Qin Ming and ascending to the throne of the top one in the world, was even more wildly spread than the previous news.

By far, there was no evidence to prove whether the news was true.

Nevertheless, most people chose to believe it at once.

After all, when the two tigers fought, one of them must be wounded.

Emperor Qin Ming was the most powerful man who had murdered one of the Nine Superbs. He was the ruler of a great empire, and the soldiers and experts serving him were innumerable. Li Mu, even though he was incredibly strong, could not have retreated unscathed after killing such a powerful man. It’s impossible for him to be totally unharmed after that battle.

After all, considering the records of the previous battles, though Li Mu was strong, he was not that strong as to be immune to injuries.

Logically speaking, it was more natural to see one get killed and the other severely injured after a fierce fight between two strong parties.

And emotionally speaking, most forces and giants preferred to see Emperor Qin Ming dead and Li Mu gravely hurt.

Otherwise, if the young man under the age of 16 was really that nature-defiantly powerful, wouldn’t the whole continent be manipulated at Li Mu’s will in the upcoming thousands of centuries? In that case, who in that world would dare to disobey the boy called Li Mu?

For them, the best result was they had both died in the fight.

Only then could the rest of the people have a chance to rise to power.

In troubled times, whose heart was not burning with ambition?

The appearance of an exceedingly strong figure was not what they expected to see.

That was the view of those politicians and ambitionists.

Meanwhile, for many outstanding martial art practitioners, they had seen the chance to challenge the world’s top one.

They would like to take advantage of Li Mu’s illness to give him a deadly blow.

Even if they failed to defeat Li Mu, as long as they survived, they would definitely make a name for themselves. And later, they could also pat my chest with confidence and gloat about how many strikes they had taken from the world’s number one practitioner that year and still managed to retreat unscathed…

What’s more, some even reckoned if they took the opportunity and killed Li Mu, they would be the new top one in the world, wouldn’t they?

After all, what was the fastest shortcut for a martial art practitioner to become famous?

It was not by doing good deeds or displaying chivalrous spirits.

Instead, it was by stepping on the body of an already well-known strong practitioner.

Even though there are many retiring experts who valued talents and were not willing to take advantage of others, in that world, a great number of practitioners were still crazy about fame and fortunes. In fact, that kind of man was as numerous as the fish in a river.

Therefore, in the martial art circle of a certain high level, throwing down the gauntlet to Li Mu had quietly become a phenomenon.

Rogue cultivators began to rush to the Longcheng Pass in the Western Qin.

And some ancient factions, noble families, and old freaks started to hatch secret plans and schemes, striving to maximize the probability of letting the rising star in their family defeat Li Mu, so as to take the golden opportunity for fame.

At the same time, some conspiracies that were not meant to be put on the table were also quietly carried out.

In Taibai City.

“I’m going Longcheng Pass.” Shangguan Yuting pronounced each of the words with stress.

But next second, she put on another expression and sneered. “To find that stinky man? Why bother? Just let him die.” That was Bai Mochou speaking, for her soul had dominated Shangguan Yuting’s body again.

“I’m going.” Shangguan Yuting ‘s voice was firm and resilient. She was not asking for the others’ advice but already made a decision.

“Ting’er, my sweet sister, don’t be so impulsive. That stinky boy is way more potent than you thought. How could he be seriously injured?” Bai Mochou persuaded bitterly. “You have not fully mastered the Secret Art of Souls. I suggest you not going on long trips.”

“Sister Bai, I forbid you from upsetting Brother Mu or badmouth him anymore.” Shangguan Yuting sounded a little angry, and her tone was a bit stiff.

She was not the kind of person who quibbled over every trivial. In most circumstances, she did not care to dispute with anyone, but that did not mean she would tolerate and stay aloof about anything.

She, too, had some sore spots.

In the past, when Bai Mochou was disrespectful to Li Mu, Shangguan Yuting just laughed it off, because she knew that her Brother Mu didn’t mind, and she also understood that Sister Bai was just trying to protect her.

But now, with her Brother Mu in such a dangerous state, Bai Mochou still taunted him and even abetted her in leaving Li Mu alone. That had almost crossed her bottom line.

Seeing her so resolute, Bai Mochou immediately adopted another tone.

Having lived in the same body, Bai Mochou knew Shangguan Yuting very well. She was a woman who was soft on the outside but strong on the inside. Although she looked as harmless as the water, as quiet as a paint, and usually always agreed with the others, she did have her own ideas, and once she made up her mind, nothing could shake her resolution.

It looked like Bai Mochou could only go along with her.

“Fine, fine, then let’s go. It won’t hurt to take a look at him. In fact, I do care about that stinky boy.” Resigned to the fact, Bai Mochou compromised.

Having finished packing in the Knife Hut, Shangguan Yuting took Xu Wan’er, Jiang Shengnan, Long’er, and the other girls out together.

Qiu Yin wanted to accompany them, but Bai Mochou, who had once again controlled Shangguan Yuting’s body, directly threw him off. Qiu Yin had no complaint about that, because nothing could happen to the girls with Bai Mochou taking charge, and he still needed to protect Taibai City.

Just before setting off, the girls ran into Qin Zheng, the younger prince who came to the Knife Hut to ask Bai Mochou some questions about martial arts study.

“Master, are you going on a long journey?” Qin Zheng asked in surprise.

In those days, Qin Zheng was quite valued by Bai Mochou. She often gave him instructions, which were not only about martial arts practice but also the arts of ruling an empire and improving people’s livelihood. Bai Mochou had offered Qin Zheng quite a few amazing arguments and stunning insights, which benefited him greatly.

Few people had seen what Bai Mochou was like when she was dead serious about something.

Qin Zheng was probably one of the only two people.

The other one was Princess Qin Zhen.

After hearing about Bai Mochou from his brother’s lips, Princess Qin Zhen went to the Knife Hut and visited Bai Mochou in person.

For a beauty like Qin Zhen, it was rather easy to have a meeting with Bai Mochou.

The two of them talked in a room for six whole hours that day. No one knew what they had discussed. But in the end, about half a month later after that meeting, Qin Zheng went through a ceremony of inviting teaching and formally took Bai Mochou as his master.

Up to that day, the little prince named Qin Zheng still behaved like a disciple before Bai Mochou.

“Well, Zheng, your timing couldn’t be better. You might as well go on the journey with your master. A calm lake can never train a good sailor. You need to practice in the big ocean.” Bai Mochou said, her eyes gleaming. She reckoned it was a good opportunity to take Qin Zheng out and see the magnificent view in the border area.