Li Guanqi’s aura began to plummet frantically, leaving him feeling as though he had been trampled under the iron hooves of a colossal beast.
Nearly every bone in his body was fractured, his muscles were torn, and hardly a single meridian remained intact. The crude, violent circulation of thunder primal energy had practically shredded every meridian inside him alive.
At his cultivation realm, the side effects of the Spirit Burst Pill grew increasingly severe.
His aura had already plummeted to the mid-stage Body Integration realm, and the decline showed no signs of stopping.
The consequence of the Spirit Burst Pill was that he would be completely unable to channel primal energy for a short period of time. Moreover, it was accompanied by an agonizing pain that seeped deep into the marrow of his bones. Yet Li Guanqi had forcefully swallowed two of them, along with a Frenzied Comprehension Pill to forcibly elevate his spirit comprehension rank.
It was precisely because he had pushed his spirit comprehension rank to the seventh rank that he had gained the leverage to threaten his foe.
Li Guanqi’s figure fell from midair, two streaks of bloody tears trailing from the corners of his eyes. His hands gripped his chest tightly, his brow locked in an agonizing furrow.
Shen Lan had long since fainted from overwhelming grief. Behind Li Guanqi, numerous hands suddenly reached out.
Their arms formed a solid, unyielding bulwark, gently catching and supporting Li Guanqi.
Wu Bing let out a heavy sigh, his expression solemn as he gazed at the nearly ruined Tianlei Peak, complex emotions flickering in his eyes.
"Take Junior Brother Li to rest first. Search the treasury and send over some healing pills."
"Raise the sect domain grand formation! Close our doors to all visitors!"
The crowd acknowledged his command. Gong Ze then led a group to inspect the disciples and ensure no lingering threats remained within the sect.
Tears welled in Qin Xian’s eyes, and he raised his sleeve to wipe them away.
Ling Daoyan remained utterly silent, standing suspended in midair and staring blankly at the spot where Li Nanting had stood just moments before.
After a long while, Ling Daoyan gathered the fragments of Li Nanting’s robes and quietly poured out a jug of strong liquor.
Everyone understood that Li Nanting... was truly dead.
His life jade slip had shattered. Even though his soul fragments had been reassembled by Li Guanqi through unfathomable mighty power, he would never wake again.
None of them knew exactly what had transpired.
Yet they all knew that the enemy was terrifyingly powerful—so mighty that they suspected a Mahayana realm cultivator had been orchestrating everything from behind the scenes.
The enemy’s methods were sinister to the extreme. First, they had abducted a patrolling disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect to implant foreign power within him, detonating it at the critical moment to erect a blood mist barrier over Tianlei Peak so no one could come to their aid.
Yet...
The most vicious part was that the enemy had actually exploited the bond between Li Nanting and Li Guanqi to force Li Guanqi to surrender the sword coffin!
This revelation cast everyone into deep contemplation.
A heaven-chosen prodigy and monstrous genius like Li Guanqi, already a late-stage Body Integration realm mighty expert, had truly been willing to lower his guard and let the enemy extract the sword coffin, all for the sake of a master who was merely in the Soul Formation realm.
On the other hand, they were even more shaken by Li Nanting’s decision.
To ensure he would not become leverage for the enemy to threaten Li Guanqi, he had unhesitatingly chosen to self-detonate his dantian!
What staggering resolve that must have taken... What a profound, unreserved devotion.
When Li Nanting detonated his dantian, he hadn't even had the chance to say a single word to Shen Lan.
Nor had he been able to give Shen Lan the wedding he had spent so long planning...
For a time, the entire Great Xia Sword Sect was shrouded in an atmosphere of suffocating sorrow.
Before long, rumors that Li Guanqi was heavily wounded, had "fallen in realm," or had even "lost his cultivation entirely" somehow slipped out into the world.
All at once, the gazes of every clan and sect across the Qingyun Continent converged upon the Great Xia Sword Sect.
Everyone knew that the Great Xia Sword Sect’s current rise rested entirely upon Li Guanqi, Xiao Chen, Ye Feng, Cao Yan, and a few others. But in recent years, Cao Yan and the rest had vanished without a trace, and even Li Guanqi had disappeared for more than two years.
Now, barely after word of Li Guanqi’s return had surfaced, such a catastrophe had struck.
Driven by the turmoil within the Great Xia Sword Sect, rumors spread like wildfire:
*A suspected Mahayana realm powerhouse struck within the territory of the Great Xia Sword Sect! Li Guanqi swallowed Spirit Burst Pills to fiercely battle and slay the enemy’s avatar projection!*
*Li Guanqi’s initiating master, Li Nanting, blew up his dantian and died for Li Guanqi’s sake... and Li Guanqi has temporarily lost his primal energy for reasons unknown.*
With the Great Xia Sword Sect now sealed behind its sect-protecting grand formation, no outsider knew what was truly happening inside.
Across the Six Domains, all the clans and sects monitoring the Great Xia Sword Sect fell silent, while speculation and gossip outside grew ever more turbulent.
Beyond this, many also noticed that the friction between Tianji Pavilion and Guanyun Pavilion had finally erupted into the open!
Neither side made any further effort to conceal their mutual hostility.
Tianji Pavilion even issued a declaration: a cultivator could hold either a Tianji jade pendant or a Guanyun Pavilion jade pendant, but never both.
By contrast, Guanyun Pavilion remained as immovable as Mount Tai, imposing no restrictions whatsoever upon cultivators.
Qianqiusui held firmly to what Tang Ru had taught her: since they operated a service, even a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator was their honored guest. Toward their guests, their sole duty was to serve them as well as possible; they possessed no right to be picky or demanding.
Guanyun Pavilion followed up with an announcement of their own, stating that they fully respected the choices of all cultivators, and that Guanyun Pavilion had no objection to cultivators holding jade pendants from both sides.
Coincidentally, this notice was released exactly two shichen after Tianji Pavilion’s decree.
Many cultivators holding Tianji Pavilion jade pendants had originally been neutral, but upon seeing Guanyun Pavilion’s response, many were provoked to anger and crushed their Tianji jade pendants on the spot, cursing indignantly.
Inside Guanyun Pavilion, Qianqiusui wore an exceptionally grim expression. She was well aware of the storm brewing outside.
Xi Yunhuai had already rushed over to the sect; she had to remain behind to oversee Guanyun Pavilion!
Meanwhile, Li Guanqi lay inside the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven. Sun Miao and the other alchemists were sweating profusely with anxiety.
*Buzz—!*
Two terrifyingly vast auras descended in an instant!
Zhou Yunqing appeared above the Great Xia Sword Sect with an imposing bearing. Wu Bing’s gaze shifted, and he hastily rose to lead the elders out to greet him.
Zhou Yunqing merely nodded in brief greeting, then closed his eyes to inspect the surroundings, his brow furrowing tightly.
"Indeed, a Mahayana realm cultivator acted from behind the scenes!"
"An avatar? Or a puppet?"
"*Hiss...* Why does this feel somewhat like a mysterious esoteric art?"
"I cannot trace even a sliver of their aura..."
*Boom!*
A spatial rift spanning ten zhang tore open instantly!
Immediately after, three figures filed out from the tear in the void.
The elderly man at the front spoke in frantic urgency: "Where is Little Friend Li? Where is he?"
Wu Bing froze slightly at the sudden appearance of the three elders. If his senses were not mistaken...
All three of them were Mahayana realm cultivators, weren't they?
And... the garments they wore were unmistakably alchemist robes!
Mahayana realm alchemists... Rank Eight!
Anxiety showed clearly on the faces of Jiang Qizhi and Guo Feng. As they closed their eyes to perceive the surroundings, the terrifying divine sense spreading outward nearly caused everyone’s hearts to stop beating for a moment.
Zhou Yunqing’s expression turned somewhat unnatural as he looked at the trio, a hint of obsequiousness even creeping onto his face.
"I am Great Xia Domain Master Zhou Yunqing. Greetings, Elder Jiang, Elder Guo, Elder Han!"
Han Yuan did not even spare him a glance, turning around to follow the other two as they headed straight for the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven.
Chapter 1020