Chapter 122: Suffer the Consequences
Originally, Yuan Tianya had no intentions of interfering with this small matter. He wasn’t concerned with Du Haitian’s death, and naturally, he cared even less about Qin Lie.
However, now that an anomaly has happened at Li’s Shop and everything within thirty meters of it was frozen in ice, the matter now had his complete attention.
He stood on the streets covered in thick ice, looked to Li’s Shop, and asked, “Who are you, sir?”
Xie Jingxuan, Lu Li, Tu Mo, Pan Jueming, and many characters of all kinds were scattered on the outer edge of Li’s Shop. All of them gazed at the shop with an attentive expression.
They all wanted to know the answer.
Inside the shop, Li Mu leisurely laid on the rocking chair, slowly shaking and ignoring the Nebula Pavilion martial practitioners around him.
The snow-white wolfdog knelt quietly beside him with equally indifferent eyes. It seemed like it didn’t mind about the threat outside at all.
Meanwhile, Qin Lie had been placed on the table. His body stank of thick alcohol as his breathing gradually turned even.
“May I ask who you really are?” Outside, Yuan Tianya frowned and asked again with a solemn voice.
“What do you care,” Li Mu replied impatiently.
At the end of the sentence, the tightly shut door suddenly opened wide, showing his figure.
Everyone’s pupils became locked as they all gazed at him. Some of them even lifted their heads up high in a hurry to see Li Mu, wanting to know what he looked like.
There were many people who frequented Commerce Street, and there were also plenty that walked passed Li’s Shop, but there were very few people who actually entered the shop before.
Therefore, there weren’t many people who had actually seen Li Mu yet.
“Qin Lie has disobeyed Nebula Pavilion’s rules and murdered Du Haitian in a challenge. While he was to be detained by Nebula Pavilion, he had then went to the Du Family’s courtyard to commit murder, killing both mother and son, Du Jiaolan and Du Fei. Then, he returned to the street and shot Du Heng to death. These cruelties have greatly exceeded Nebula Pavilion’s tolerance!”
Liu Yuntao took one step forward and, with a dark face, yelled, “While he was escaping, he also killed Fang Tong, Pei An, and dozens of Nebula Pavilion personnel. He should be eliminated immediately in accordance with Nebula Pavilion’s laws!”
“What? Du Jiaolan, Du Fei, and Du Heng were also killed?” many people cried out.
Many of those who had come here did not know what happened during the latter half of the night. Now they heard that after Qin Lie had taken Du Haitian’s head, he actually went to the Du Family to kill Du Jiaolan and Du Fei instead of immediately fleeing. In the end, he even returned to the where he had first committed murder and shot the remaining Du Heng to death…
Everyone who was hearing about this for the first time was shocked due to how brutal and insane the killings were. It was almost unbelievable to think that the low key Qin Lie would have such a violent side to him.
“What has been killed has been killed. If you plan to carry out your punishment in accordance with Nebula Pavilion’s laws, then why don’t you come in and try.” Li Mu narrowed his eyes and glanced once at Liu Yuntao while standing thirty meters away, smiling. “I’ll be right here. Anyone who plans to commit murder in my shop shall suffer the consequences.”
Dark Asura Hall’s First Hall Master, Yuan Tianya, did not continue to speak after the shop’s door had flung open.
He simply looked deeply at Li Mu, focused his mind, and observed Li Mu’s every move. In addition, he had even quietly let out his mind consciousness in an attempt to detect Li Mu’s true realm.
However, when his mind consciousness spread out, he felt as if he was trapped amidst clouds; it was as if his perception was stumped by thick fog, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t enter Li Mu’s surroundings.
Naturally, he could not determine Li Mu’s cultivation.
Therefore, Yuan Tianya continued to keep silent. He dared not act rashly, and instead, motioned to Liu Yuntao to test Li Mu’s depths and probe deeper before deciding on his next course of action.
“Elder Ye!” Liu Yuntao exclaimed before looking for Ye Yangqiu.
Ye Yangqiu, Gao Yu, and the group from Discipline Hall were also in the crowd. At the moment, Gao Yu was telling Ye Yangqiu something with a dark expression and his head bowed.
Ye Yangqiu nodded again and again with locked eyebrows. He appeared to be troubled by something.
Hearing Liu Yuntao’s yell, Ye Yangqiu steeled himself and walked out. He glanced once at the bodies that were frozen into ice sculptures, bowed slightly, and said, “Discipline Hall’s Ye Yangqiu, at your service.”
“What is Qin Lie’s punishment according to the penal code of Nebula Pavilion?” coldly asked Liu Yuntao.
“Death,” Ye Yangqiu answered.
“Then why has the Discipline Hall not acted yet?” Liu Yuntao glared.
“We do not wish to be completely destroyed.” Ye Yangqiu paused for a moment as his expression grew colder. “If the Pavilion Master insists that the Discipline Hall should walk to their own deaths, then I will lead the sons of Discipline Hall myself and detach us from Nebula Pavilion!”
The moment he said those words, noise filled the field.
No one had expected that Ye Yangqiu would directly disobey his orders, with the price of leaving Nebula Pavilion resist the operation to enter the shop no less.
At this moment Pan Jueming’s cynical voice leisurely came over, “Elder Ye, if you can’t stay in Nebula Pavilion any longer, you can always come to Armament Sect. I can introduce you.” He then looked at Han Qingrui and Kang Hui before smiling, “Elder Han and Vice Pavilion Master Kang, both of you are welcome as well. Armament Sect has always been looking for talent, and you are just the kind of people we’re lacking.”
“Mister Pan, isn’t it a little disrespectful of you to try to poach right in front of me?” Yuan Tianya frowned.
After Chu Yan died, Nebula Pavilion’s influence had declined, and now that Du Haitian had also been killed, if Kang Hui, Han Qingrui, and Ye Yangqiu all left Nebula Pavilion as well, then Nebula Pavilion’s true strength would take a massive hit and might not even be qualified as a Limestone power anymore. This wasn’t a good thing for Yuan Tianya.
“Armament Pavilion is right here in Commerce Street. Isn’t it a little disrespectful of you to have people fight here?” Pan Jueming snorted once.
“I will give you a proper account of the matter later.” Yuan Tianya seemed to be wary of the Armament Sect behind Armament Pavilion as well. “From today onwards, there will no longer be any fights in Icestone City, and the business in Commerce Street will be even better than before. Conflicts will definitely not arise on the streets any longer, and I can also guarantee Armament Pavilion’s safety.”
While they were negotiating, Li Mu suddenly stood up from his rocking chair, causing the people at the surroundings to tense up in response.
“Don’t worry, I’m just making something to eat.” Li Mu’s expression was indifferent as he headed straight to the backyard. His voice came out leisurely, “As long as you don’t enter my shop, I couldn’t care less about your shit…” He really did go to the kitchen and busy himself with culinary stuff, leaving the onlookers stunned.
“First Hall Master?” Liu Yuntao found it difficult to stop halfway, and he did not know Li Mu’s true depths. Therefore, he had no choice but to consult him again.
Yuan Tianya turned his head and glanced once behind him.
A black-iron, heavy-armored commander at his back suddenly pointed at a general. “Hu Chi, go over and have a look!” That person was a martial practitioner in the early stage of the Manifestation Realm.
“Yes sir!” The general had a rough-looking face, was about two meters tall, and was clad in Beastskin Armor.
His tiger-patterned, spirit light barrier covered his entire body as he stepped onto the stone floor covered in solid ice and walked towards Li’s Shop one step at a time.
“Twenty meters!”
“Ten meters!”
“Eight meters!”
Someone kept softly shouting and accurately reporting the distance between him and the shop. Everyone’s gaze was focused on this Dark Asura general named Hu Chi.
A cold, white frost abruptly spread out from the solid ice underneath his feet. It flooded him in an instant.
“Crack Crack Crack!”
The tiger-patterned, spirit light barrier on Hu Chi’s body broke apart like an egg shell, and wisps of cold, white frost slipped in through the cracks.
A layer of thin ice first formed on Hu Chi’s chest area before rapidly spreading out. Even more layers of ice began to form on his feet, arms, neck and face.
Light waves exploded and wildly shot from Hu Chi as he attempted to break through the ice with force. But he could not overtake the rate at which the frost froze him.
Seven seconds later, Hu Chi, in the early stages of the Manifestation Realm, had transformed into a fresh ice sculpture!
Under the glory of the rising sun, the many glistening ice sculptures refracted countless shiny rays of cold light.
The cold light was like needles inside every onlookers’ heart, causing them to feel chilled from the bottom of their hearts. Seeing that, the crowd’s murmurs were abruptly silenced.
All the martial practitioners gathered around Li’s Shop seemed to have turned into mutes. They were all quiet and kept their mouths tightly shut.
“Stop looking already; leave and do what you’re supposed to do.” Li Mu’s tone was impatient. “Qin Lie is about to wake up, and once we’ve eaten some food, we’ll be leaving Icestone City.”
“You killed my men!” Severeness shone in the commander’s eyes who had ordered Hu Chi to move in. “How can someone who has killed my, Pu Jiao’s, men leave Icestone City!”
“Then I’ll kill you as well.” Li Mu raised his hand and pointed from afar at commander Pu Jiao’s forehead.
Everyone looked at Li Mu, carefully looking for even the slightest changes in the energy of the world in attempt to understand the origin of the killing blow.
However, they could not detect anything.
On the other hand, a new bloody hole had been added to Pu Jiao’s out of nowhere, and when a drop of blood dripped out of it, Pu Jiao’s tall and wide body crashed to the ground.
In an instant, Commerce Street had fallen silent.
All that was left were simply the numerous slightly-heavy breaths.
“Uncle Li…” It was at this moment, Qin Lie slowly woke up and weakly called out.
“I made you some porridge, it will be done in just a moment.” Li Mu cracked open a grin. “Once you’ve finished the porridge, we’ll leave.”
Qin Lie no longer said anything.
He saw the parade outside the shop; saw the familiar faces of Lu Li, Xie Jingxuan, Tu Ze and Zhuo Qian; and saw the countless expressions that showed how they had been shocked to the very core…
“What happened?” asked Qin Lie in shock after a while.
“It’s nothing.” Li Mu’s expression was cool as he went to the backyard and brought out a bowl of steaming hot porridge. “Eat something first. We’ll be leaving Icestone City soon. This place is no longer fun anyway.”
Qin Lie was dazed.
“Sir!” Dark Asura Hall’s First Hall Master, Yuan Tianya, yelled coldly.
Li Mu frowned and said impatiently, “What are you nagging about? If you want to take revenge for your subordinate, then get over here already. There isn’t too much of a difference between killing a commander and a hall master anyway.”
Yuan Tianya’s expression turned cold, but he dared not take a step closer.
The others’ expression had also changed.
After that, the crowd could only look in shock and fear towards Li’s Shop, helplessly watching Qin Lie restlessly drink his bowl of thin porridge and Li Mu’s perfectly indifferent look.
“Let’s go.” A while later, Li Mu walked out of Li’s Shop with the snow-white wolfdog following close behind.
Although Qin Lie had a whole bunch of questions he wanted to ask, the only thing he could do now was to keep quiet. Just like that, he followed behind Li Mu and the large wolfdog, taking step after step towards the front.
The martial practitioners from all forces surrounding Li’s Shop subconsciously moved away the moment they saw Li Mu coming out.
A grand path towards the outside was made by the crowd on their own, and Yuan Tianya and his subordinates were the only ones still standing unmoving at the center.
Yuan Tianya’s expression was ugly as he stared straight at Li Mu as Li Mu walked in his direction. He experienced a great internal struggle inside him.
“Give way, or die.” Li Mu’s footsteps never stopped as every step pressed hard against the ground as he leisurely walked towards them.
Qin Lie closely followed in tow.