Chapter 123: You Have Ten Steps, Withdraw, or Die!
Step by step, Li Mu walked closer. His eyes were cool, his expression confident.
Blocking his path, the facial expression of Dark Asura Hall’s First Hall Master, Yuan Tianya, grew uglier and uglier. Sweat began to quietly gather on his forehead.
Right now, to withdraw or not had become his biggest conundrum. It was a most miserable position.
Hu Chi had died; Pu Jiao had also died, and what was worse was that they were killed in an instant. He didn’t even see what Li Mu did or feel any terrific waves of energy coming from him...
He still couldn’t detect Li Mu’s true realm!
That was why he didn’t dare act recklessly.
If he didn’t withdraw, he would face Li Mu’s unknown attack and possibly die...
However, if he did withdraw, then Icestone City would become a mark of shame for the rest of his life!
It would become the most shameful memory in his life, and it might even eat at his heart in the future and become a demonic barrier that will obstruct him from progressing further on the martial way!
A great struggle was taking place in his heart.
Countless gazes were focused on Yuan Tianya, watching his every move.
Li Mu’s strength was now deeply rooted inside the hearts of everyone present, causing all bystanders to shudder. No one dared to stand in his way, and they could only move as much as possible.
As the First Hall Master of Dark Asura Hall, Yuan Tianya was the next most likely contender for the position of Grand Hall Master. His strength was just as unfathomable, and as of late, he was on the rise, faintly displaying the atmosphere of an aspiring Grand Hall Master.
Now, the two characters were about to clash with each other and spark a violent collision. The mere thought caused everyone to feel excitement.
While following behind Li Mu, Qin Lie calmly looked at the crowd around them and read the many stunned expressions on their faces...
At this moment, he realized just how important it was to have the power to sweep through everything during a critical moment!
He also finally understood that every difficult obstacle and heavy restrictions could be broken apart with absolute power!
Li Mu continued forward with a jestful look in his eyes, casually looking at Yuan Tianya.
His expression was perfectly calm, causing everyone to feel as pressured as having a mountain sitting on top of them. It seemed that Yuan Tianya was nothing to him; he did not treat Yuan Tianya as a worthy opponent.
Yuan Tianya had the exact same feeling; in fact, he understood this better than anyone else. This caused a trace of bitterness to develop within his heart.
“You have ten steps. Withdraw, or die.” Li Mu suddenly grinned and slightly slowed down. His expression grew more relaxed as time pa.s.sed.
The sweat on Yuan Tianya’s face grew more obvious with each pa.s.sing moment. Everyone could see his tension and began to feel conflicted in his place.
To retreat, or not to retreat. It was just as hard a choice as ever.
It was then that Yuan Tianya saw the big wolfdog behind Li Mu; he saw a pair of icy-cold eyes with not a trace of humanity in it. The light in those cold and ruthless wolf eyes caused Yuan Tianya to abruptly shudder.
He suddenly recalled something...
“Move away! All of you, get out of the way!” Yuan Tianya’s expression changed ma.s.sively in an instant as sweat poured from his face like rain. While urging his subordinates, he too quickly moved out of the way while Li Mu continued proceed, step by step.
—He had backed down without a fight.
“Hehe.” Li Mu smiled before pa.s.sing through the pa.s.sage opened by Yuan Tianya’s group with Qin Lie and the big wolfdog. With that, they headed to the nearest city gate.
“Open the city gates and let them go!” instructed Yuan Tianya as he grit his teeth .
Yan Wenyan and Liu Yuntao were chilled from the bottom of their hearts. Immediately after, they ordered for the people by the side to report to the city gate as soon as possible. In addition, they forbade anyone from blocking Li Mu on his way out.
And just like that, bringing one man and one dog with him, Li Mu pa.s.sed through the center of the onlookers and leisurely made his way to the city gate.
“Hall… Hall Master.” Liu Yuntao’s tone was bitter.
Yuan Tianya’s expression was just as ugly. Staring at Li Mu’s back from afar, it took him a long while before he finally said, “That big wolfdog is the true king of beasts of the Arctic Mountain Range—the Icestone Snow Wolf King.”
The moment the words came out, every single one of their expressions changed.
“BOOM!”
It was at this very moment that Li’s Shop suddenly exploded into smithereens, instantly turning into a ruin.
The thick, solid ice that had frozen everything within thirty meters also turned into wisps of snow-white frost, flying towards the sky. The solid ice did not melt to become water, but instead, it somehow miraculously became thinner and thinner until it disappeared altogether.
“The Icestone Snow Wolf King!” Lu Li’s body shuddered slightly, and the strange light in her beautiful eyes was piercing.
“Miss?” Liang Zhong was a little unsure. “Is it as the First Hall Master claims? That big wolfdog… is really the Icestone Snow Wolf King that suddenly disappeared from the Arctic Mountain Range?”
“It is.” Xie Jingxuan nodded.
“Heavens…” Liang Zhong looked stunned. “Just who in the world is Li Mu?”
“G.o.d knows.” Xie Jingxuan s.p.a.ced out, staring in the direction the two men and dog disappeared to.
“This Qin Lie you’ve bonded with probably has quite the background,” said Tu Mo without warning after a long pause.
Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian, Kang Zhi, and the others were still wallowing in deep shock. They had also been intimidated by Li Mu.
…The master of the Icestone Snow Wolf King. Who exactly was Li Mu?
No would could provide an answer.
All the onlookers were completely shocked as they discussed in private, making their respective guesses about Li Mu’s true ident.i.ty. And yet, they could not figure out even a trace of it.
“Hall Master, are we going to just let go just like that? Even though a lot of my people died?” helplessly asked Nebula Pavilion’s Wei Xing.
“What are you saying?” Yuan Tianya glanced at him. “I lost a general and a commander, and I have no choice but to endure it. What do you think?”
“Forgive me, Hall Master. This subordinate knows his mistake.” Wei Xing looked fearful.
“Let’s leave it at this.” Yuan Tianya’s scowled. “We’ll return to Dark Asura Hall first. Once we’ve reached there, I will inquire about this Li Mu’s background and figure out what kind of person he really is.”
Once finished, Yuan Tianya led his subordinate commanders in the direction of Nebula Pavilion. It was as if he was afraid of running into Li Mu again along the way.
Once he left, Liu Yuntao and Yan Wenyan’s group also immediately dispersed. No one dared to investigate what was inside the shop’s ruins.
“Miss?” Liang Zhong bowed.
“With such an influential person like Li Mu watching over him, there is no need to worry about Qin Lie’s path in the future.” Xie Jingxuan frowned. “Let us return to Dark Asura Hall as well.”
“Mn.”
“Senior Sister Lu, should we be leaving now?” The arrogance on Li Zhongzheng’s face had dissipated a great deal.
“Let’s first go to the Ling Family and bring their clansmen along. We will use this opportunity to leave the city.” Lu Li’s mind was incredibly clear. “Right now, Liu Yuntao and his men’s courage has been completely shattered thanks to the shop owner, and they would definitely not dare to cause more problems at the moment. We can borrow Li Mu’s intimidation and exit Icestone City with ease.”
“Senior Sister Lu is most wise,” praised someone .
Lu Li no longer said anything, and while still wearing a cold expression, she went straight in the direction of Ling Family.
She was still experiencing the huge shock inside her heart...
Two years ago at Ling Town, she had once given Qin Lie a Natal Ordering Pill to make him forget about Ling Yus.h.i.+. She said that they would no longer belong in the same world.
She could still remember Qin Lie’s aggressive reactions. Furthermore, she could also remember his stubborness when he opened the door and angrily threw the pill back at her.
When she saw Qin Lie again, she thought that the reason he was able to reach the Natal Opening Realm was all thanks to the effects of Ling Yus.h.i.+’s secretly stashed away pills.
This caused her to grow more and more disdainful towards Qin Lie. She had a.s.sumed that he was the kind of person who was tough on the outside, but was actually a useless person who relied on a woman to aid in his breakthrough.
It wasn’t until the scene on the street where Qin Lie suddenly leaped down the window and, from out of nowhere, challenged Du Haitian to a fight even though there was a huge gap between their realms that she truly looked upon Qin Lie with admiration.
Later, he managed to kill mother and son, Du Jiaolan and Du Fei, and even killed Du Heng. Moreover, along the way, he slaughtered more than twenty Nebula Pavilion martial pract.i.tioners.
Qin Lie’s series of crazy actions not only shocked everyone in Icestone City, but her as well.
Now, she finally realized that there was no possibility that Qin Lie relied on Dark Fiend Valley’s pills to break through to the Natal Opening Realm. She could also now see that the person Ling Yus.h.i.+ could never forget was such a charismatic and spirited individual!
“She was right.” She couldn’t help but whisper to herself, “This Qin Lie… was definitely a someone special.”
At the city gate of Icestone City.
With a man and dog in tow, when Li Mu arrived at the city gates, it was opened wide, and every guard stayed far, far away from the entrance.
Li Mu gave a cool smile and walked right through with the big wolfdog and Qin Lie. They easily exited Icestone City.
Once outside, Li Mu confirmed where he was going and led Qin Lie and the wolfdog onward.
“Uncle Li, why were you in Icestone City?” asked Qin Lie after a long period of time where he could no longer hold it in and finally came clear with the doubts inside his heart.
“I’m here for him.” Lu Mu glanced once at the big wolfdog.
Qin Lie grew more and more surprised. “Him?”
“Mn.” Li Mu nodded, and as he steadily walked forward, he explained in a casual note, “When I was younger, I once honed myself inside the Arctic Mountain Range. At the time, he was just a normal snow wolf. He was my… friend during those years.”
“Later when I left the Arctic Mountain Range, he had stayed behind to continue his cultivation. In an instant, many years had pa.s.sed, and I traveled to many continents and experienced many important things in life. However, I came back because I promised him before that if I became accomplished one day, I would definitely come back to the Arctic Mountain Range for him.”
“So, after many years, I’ve returned yet again to fulfill my promise.”
“However, I did not expect that, after so many years, I wasn’t the only person who had become accomplished. He too had become the indisputable king of the Arctic Mountain Range…”
“He was a bit hesitant about leaving with me and said that he needed time to think. So I temporarily stayed behind at Commerce Street to wait for him to come around.”
Li Mu smiled and looked at the big wolfdog behind him. “Now that he has finally figured it out, naturally, I no longer needed to stay in Commerce Street.”
A trace of affection leaked out of the big wolfdog’s eyes. There even seemed to be a smile on the wolf’s face.
“...The indisputable king of the Arctic Mountain Range, Little Ice, the Icestone Snow Wolf King!” Qin Lie was shocked as he abruptly looked at the big wolfdog. He connected it with the thick, solid ice outside the shop and finally understood. “He’s actually the Icestone Snow Wolf King?!”
Li Mu smiled and nodded. “Exactly right.”
Qin Lie was dumbstruck.
He could not have possibly imagined that the big wolfdog that always appeared inside the shop and drank wine just like a person would be the true king of the Arctic Mountain Range—the Icestone Snow Wolf King.
“So the reason he suddenly disappeared was because he found his master. The reason he left gave birth to a new beast king in the Arctic Mountain Range, causing the spirit beasts and martial pract.i.tioners to fight each other for over a year.” After a long while, Qin Lie bitterly shook his head. “I could not have imagined that the true culprit behind these big changes was inside the yard right beneath my nose.”
“No, there is someone else who is the true culprit you’re referring to,” said Li Mu.
“Who is it?” Qin Lie exclaimed.
“The person you’re holding in your hand.” Li Mu turned around and looked at the wooden sculpture in his hand. “The person who gave you that wood carving is the true culprit that caused the ma.s.sive change in the Arctic Mountain Range. He is the one who gave Little Ice the true determination to leave!”
This Chapter’s Teaser