A Resounding Victory!

Whether a clan or sect was taken seriously by the world hinged on a single benchmark: the presence of a Mahayana realm cultivator. Now that Li Guanqi had defeated a Mahayana cultivator with cultivation at the peak of the Body Integration Realm, the world was all the more galvanized. Li Guanqi entering the Mahayana Realm was merely a matter of time; no one doubted that he could break through. Yu Hua's eyes flickered. She felt the wisest decision she had ever made was never having entertained the thought of making Li Guanqi her enemy from the start. She was infinitely relieved that she had gambled her life on that risk—and won! Tang Wei's eyes gleamed with even greater exuberance. As long as they steadily absorbed the remaining pills and inventory left behind by Tianji Pavilion, and then waited several years before selling off those pills and spirit herbs, the billion spirit stones he had invested would turn into three billion, or perhaps even more! Li Guanqi tore through the void, speeding toward the Great Xia Domain. Dressed in his bloodstained white robe, he tilted his head back and drank from his wine gourd. His eyes were slightly vacant. When a person had nothing left to do, an active mind naturally began to wander into wild thoughts. To this day, he still had not uncovered who had stolen the sword coffin. Li Nanting's death weighed heavily on him. The man who had introduced him to the path of cultivation had met such an end all because of him. Even though he had prepared countless contingencies, he still could not undo what had happened. The desire to ascend to the Immortal Realm burned ever stronger in Li Guanqi's heart. Once he reached the Immortal Realm, there would surely be a way to remold a physical body for Li Nanting. Now that the conflict between the two pavilions was settled, the remaining matters could simply be left to the others to handle properly. As for the matter with Tu Kui... Li Guanqi sighed. Human emotions and desires were truly the hardest things to fathom. He wondered how much of Ye Feng's divine soul had been corrupted by now; time was running short. He had to project an image of strength before everyone. Only then would the others draw inspiration and courage from him, remaining full of confidence. And yet... Only he knew the truth. Whenever he finished dealing with the matters at hand, endless guilt wrapped around him like a festering mire. Standing in the bog, he could only let the mire swallow him inch by inch, encasing him as he sank. The suffocating inability to breathe oppressed Li Guanqi entirely; only by gulping down mouthful after mouthful of the liquor in his hand could he find some relief. Was he running away? No... he knew full well that if he did not face everything head-on, he could never truly escape it. More and more people were targeting him now. It seemed everyone held immense curiosity toward the sword coffin in his possession. They... seemed to want to verify something through the sword coffin. Whatever it was, it was of paramount importance to those from the upper realm. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. An inexplicable thought suddenly flashed across his mind. "Could it be... they are actually afraid?!" Li Guanqi's eyes widened abruptly, as if he had seized upon something. Perhaps only this could explain why those from the upper realm sought the sword spirit at any cost. Perhaps only a conjecture like this made everything fall into place logically. Suppressing the stray thoughts in his heart, Li Guanqi took a deep breath and exhaled a long breath of stale air. His gaze gradually hardened into unyielding resolve. His current gloom and turbulent emotions could change nothing. Since mood swings could alter nothing that had already transpired, he could only look forward. He had to try every possible means to break free of his present predicament! Li Guanqi's eyes flared with sharp light as he muttered under his breath, "Strength. When all is said and done, it all comes down to strength! "Only by growing strong—strong enough to make heaven and earth tremble, strong enough for my sword to shatter the nine heavens—can I truly take control of everything!" *Phoo...* Li Guanqi tipped back his head to down the potent liquor. Lightning surged around him as he sped directly toward the Great Xia Domain at blinding speed. The backlash from the Spirit Burst Pill and the Wild Comprehension Pill left him exceedingly weak, his aura even tumbling down to the mid-Body Integration Realm. Yet after ingesting the Wild Comprehension Pill this time, Li Guanqi had gained a far deeper understanding of the thunder power governed by his spiritual root. Moreover, each layer of comprehension in the cultivation art Divine Punishment brought about a fundamental transformation in power, directly altering the very nature of primal energy. Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. He could clearly perceive that this cultivation art held strict limits and requirements regarding spirit comprehension tiers. If his spirit comprehension tier did not advance, he would be unable to comprehend the next layer of the art. The third layer of Divine Punishment was named the Chenming Realm. The third layer's amplification of power was a staggering one hundred percent! In other words... The power Li Guanqi could unleash with his cultivation art would completely double under the third layer of Divine Punishment. It would increase his strength by another fifty percent compared to when he fought Gu Yong! Yet he could also sense that without entering the Mahayana Realm and raising his spirit comprehension to the ninth tier—the absolute pinnacle—he definitely could not step into the third layer! Nonetheless, this cultivation art was already heaven-defying; its current might was enough for him to crush any prodigy or monster in the Body Integration Realm. Yet he had also noticed something: it wasn't that the sword spirit had held back or refused to teach him this art earlier. Rather, the demands this art placed on innate comprehension were far too high. Even at his current level, he found it somewhat taxing and frequently felt perplexed. Had the sword spirit imparted this art to him at the very beginning, he might not have been able to comprehend even the first layer by now. Li Guanqi slowly slipped off the bloodstained white robe and looked back at his spine. Of the Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Immortal-Slaying Sigils, only a final red tattoo running down his spine remained. He was quite curious as to what changes would occur once he broke through to the Mahayana Realm. The Mahayana Realm... Li Guanqi drew a deep breath and sped forward, heading straight for the Great Xia Domain. *Buzz!* When Li Guanqi appeared within the Yunding Auction, standing on the stage was a woman in a purple-and-gold waist-cinching gown. Qianqiusui's eyes sparkled brilliantly as she struck the auction gavel with exuberant energy. Watching the woman after her breakthrough, Li Guanqi let out a soft sigh of relief. Looking at the packed hall filled with tens of thousands of cultivators attending the auction, Li Guanqi felt an inexplicable sense of pride in his heart. Standing in a corner of the auction hall, Li Guanqi watched the scene unfold with a faint upturn of his lips. Soon, Xi Yunhuai and Yu Hua arrived at Li Guanqi's side, bowing with smiles gracing their faces. Xi Yunhuai spoke softly, "By the way, that person... is in the Earth Private Box. Do you want to go over and see him?" Li Guanqi could not help but chuckle. "Well, well. Quite a few familiar faces came this time." After pondering a moment, Li Guanqi smiled softly and said, "I'll see the others in a bit; you've already arranged everything anyway. "I'll go find Li Song first. Just keep an eye on things—hardly anyone should dare cause trouble here." The two nodded with a smile, then took their leave to attend to their respective duties. Li Guanqi went to the Earth Private Box alone. Pushing open the door, he saw a white-haired young man sprawled out casually on the couch.