Xiao Chen... Has a Good Elder Brother!

Before meeting Li Guanqi, Xu Junlin had thought of him merely as someone with a bit of skill. Yet the moment he saw Li Guanqi with his own eyes, he knew that this man was strong! Extremely strong! Only after exchanging blows did he realize he had still underestimated the world's heroes. Li Guanqi was the only peer in the same realm who could contest him in raw strength—an evenly matched rival! If Li Guanqi had not been distracted and pulled his strength, Xu Junlin never could have broken the other man's fingers. Deep down, Xu Junlin even had the feeling that had their contest of strength continued, he surely would have been the one to lose. Not only was his opponent's physical body terrifyingly potent, but the boost to his power after dragon scales coated his arms was a method Xu Junlin had never even heard of. Before ever laying eyes on Li Guanqi, he had looked down on him from the bottom of his heart. He had even harbored a touch of hostility toward him on Xiao Chen's account. Yet after meeting Li Guanqi, that hostility had mostly dissipated—it was practically gone. Especially when Li Guanqi offered the medicinal pill without calling it an apology, Xu Junlin suddenly felt the mutual respect shared between the truly powerful. There was also a sliver of envy he did not want to admit... He envied Xiao Chen for having such an elder brother. Just then, Yu Hua arrived at the doorway and said softly, "Pavilion Master, the auction is on recess for an hour." Li Guanqi nodded gently and instructed casually, "Bring out the finest spiritual wine, and have some spirit fruit sent over as well." Yu Hua nodded gently, then turned to attend to the task. Watching the woman's retreating figure, Xu Junlin murmured softly, "Yu Hua, Palace Master of the Xiaoxiang Palace. Who would have thought that after the Xiaoxiang Palace was wiped out, she would end up with you?" Li Guanqi's expression remained impassive, and he spoke in a calm voice. "When the six sects, including the Xiaoxiang Palace, laid siege to the Great Xia Sword Sect, Yu Hua gambled that I could save her and rebelled against the Heavenly Demon Hall at the critical juncture." "So I took her in." Xu Junlin had not thought much of it at first, but hearing the Heavenly Demon Hall made his brows furrow. Taking a seat beside Li Guanqi, he personally poured him a cup of spiritual tea and spoke in a deep voice. "Sha changed his name to Lu Tian. You've met him before—what did you think of him?" Li Guanqi placed a degree of trust in the Eight Generals and their candidate successors. Seeing Xu Junlin take the initiative to ask, he pondered for a long moment before murmuring, "Hard to say..." Sitting beside the two, Qin Wushang frowned. "What do you mean, 'hard to say'?" Li Guanqi glanced at him, then turned back to them both and said gravely, "You both know that the hatred between Sha and me is irreconcilable." "Because of that, the memory of his aura is deeply etched in my mind." "However, the last time Sha took the name Lu Tian, he also cast aside the name of the Sha Organization and renamed it the Heavenly Demon Hall." "During that meeting... I felt as though his entire aura had undergone a complete upheaval, and his physical body had been reshaped." "His sinister, bewitching demeanor is still vivid in my mind. What's more, Lu Tian's origin power seems to align far closer with that of a true demon!" Xu Junlin frowned. "A demon?" Li Guanqi nodded, his tone grim. "Yes, a demon! That kind of power... is even purer than the origin power of an Abyss Demon." As he spoke, Li Guanqi turned his wrist, and a wisp of black mist materialized within his palm. This strand of demonic qi had been drawn directly from between Yu Hua's brows. Even the old man who had been sitting in the corner could not help but rise and walk over to the three men. Looking at the writhing black mist, the old man furrowed his brows and said in a heavy voice, "This aura is indeed dozens of times purer than the demonic qi of an Abyss Demon!" "Furthermore..." Li Guanqi had noticed this old man long ago; before him, the elder's aura was like a shroud of fog, impossible to see through. The old man narrowed his eyes, a glint of chill flashing through his clouded gaze. "Within this demonic qi... is contained the power of countless wronged souls. The sheer number of them... is unimaginable!" Hearing the old man's words, a flash of insight struck Li Guanqi's mind. His eyes widened, and he said in a chilling voice, "The power of wronged souls... Could it be..." "The power of the souls of civilians and cultivators slaughtered during the previous outbreak of Abyss Demons in the Six Domains?" Once those words left his mouth, everyone in the room fell silent. All of them felt that Li Guanqi's conjecture was very likely the truth. If that were so, when merely a single strand was enough to control an expert like Yu Hua... Just how vast was the power amassed from the wronged souls of so many innocent civilians and cultivators who had died before! Li Guanqi took a deep breath. With tacit understanding, none of them spoke of the matter any further. A shroud of gloom settled over everyone's heart. The Heavenly Demon Hall, which no one had taken seriously at first, now weighed heavily upon them all. It seemed... The matter of the Heavenly Demon Hall could not be left unchecked! Xu Junlin looked up at Qin Wushang and said gravely, "Once this matter here is concluded, the rest of us should meet. Perhaps the Eight Clans can join forces to track down the Heavenly Demon Hall's whereabouts." "It absolutely cannot be left unattended!" A rare look of earnest gravity surfaced on Qin Wushang's face as he nodded and said in a deep voice, "I'll inform my father shortly. When we return, we will discuss this together." Li Guanqi's mind had grown considerably heavier as well. He rose and cupped his hands to Xu Junlin. "Then I shall not disturb Brother Xu any longer." "If you happen to see that good-for-nothing brother of mine in the future, help me beat him a few more times." "I would be very grateful." A trace of a smile surfaced on Xu Junlin's face. Looking with complicated eyes at Li Guanqi, who still stood with cupped hands, he said softly, "That bastard Xiao Chen... has a good elder brother." Li Guanqi smiled faintly without saying more. He gave a slight bow to the old man at the side, then turned and walked toward the door. Yet just as he was about to step past the threshold, Xu Junlin said, as if guided by impulse, "Let's drink together next time." Once those words were spoken, not only Li Guanqi, but even Qin Wushang and the Xu family elder were taken aback. With a somewhat unnatural yet composed expression, Xu Junlin added, "We were in a rush this time, but next time, we ought to have a drink at least." Li Guanqi smiled and nodded. "All right. Next time we drink, no one leaves until we're drunk!" Xu Junlin smiled, suddenly feeling that Li Guanqi was quite a good man. "Xiao Chen... has made the most terrifying progress of anyone I've ever seen." "He has a terrible temper and a foul mouth, but his tenacity is extraordinary. I can sense that deep down, a conviction has always been driving him forward." "Truth be told, I've always wondered what could possibly make him crawl back to his feet and thrust his spear at me time and time again." Hearing this, a flash of sorrow passed through the depths of Li Guanqi's eyes. Qin Wushang quickly interjected, "My father is still waiting for us. If there's anything else, we can talk next time." With that, Qin Wushang transmitted his voice to Xu Junlin. *Stop asking. You'll know once you ask around later.* Li Guanqi said nothing, merely nodding before taking his leave. Xu Junlin's eyes flickered, and he murmured, "Elder Xu, look into what happened to Li Guanqi and his brothers." The old man nodded and promptly sent down instructions. Xu Junlin then handed his jade slip to Yu Hua, who entered shortly after, having her pass it along to Li Guanqi. The corner of Xu Junlin's mouth hooked up slightly, but the moment he remembered that fellow Xiao Chen, his lips could not help twitching. He resolved in his heart that when he returned this time, he would thoroughly temper him!