Pursuit! Venturing Deeper! The Ancient God Bead!

Li Guanqi sped forward at full speed, not daring to make the slightest sound. His face deathly pale, he narrowed his eyes. In his perception, a full three Mahayana realm cultivators were hunting him down! What was more, the aura of one of the three was murky and difficult to discern clearly. Judging by that, the pursuer's strength was definitely beyond the early Mahayana stage. Without that person, Li Guanqi was confident he could take on the other two early Mahayana cultivators at once and slay them both. After all, these people had gone far too long without spiritual energy to replenish themselves; their dantian primal energy was utterly depleted. His own strength remained at its peak, so if it really came to a fight, he had a decent chance of prevailing. Yet if all three joined forces against him, fleeing for his life would be his only option! At the thought, Li Guanqi did not hesitate to keep running. He dared not take that gamble. As he sped along, the scenery flashed past on either side. Massive skeletons rose here and there, sending subtle chills through him. Jagged, grotesque stone pillars made the atmosphere feel even more eerie. The scent of decay permeating the air grew distinctly thicker. Li Guanqi frowned slightly. He seemed to be... venturing even deeper into God Burial Valley. Yet this was clearly no time for hesitation. With the presence behind him closing in, Li Guanqi swallowed a medicinal pill to replenish primal energy without hesitation. His speed surged once more, putting hundreds of zhang between himself and the trio in the blink of an eye. All the while, Li Guanqi kept a keen eye on his surroundings. Suddenly! Li Guanqi paused, then turned and bolted toward a secluded mountain fissure. The fissure appeared to be a natural crack in the mountain face, barely two palm-widths wide. After a brief thought, Li Guanqi crushed a bit of the fissure's edge into crumbs with his hand, then turned and dashed deeper into it. Spotting a crevice in the ground below, he leaped in and held his sword in one hand, carving out a hollow in the chasm wall. Stuffing the stones back in place to seal the cavity, he used his primal energy to arrest his heartbeat, stopped circulating energy, and transitioned his breathing into internal respiration. And so, oblivious to the passage of time, Li Guanqi remained concealed deep within the earth of the abyss for a full half-month! Not until the second Death Storm descended did Li Guanqi slowly open his eyes!! Color gradually returned to his bloodless cheeks, and Li Guanqi gasped heavily for breath. The faint glow emitted by an array plate enveloped him. Li Guanqi had not anticipated that his pursuers would actually search this area for more than ten days! And this time, he sensed an inexplicable aura. The scent of decay grew so dense it seemed almost tangible, right before the Death Storm erupted. Li Guanqi muttered internally, *It seems that thickening stench of decay is the omen of an impending Death Storm.* A splitting ache wracked his divine soul; he had been enduring the wound inflicted earlier by the Ancient God Illusory Soul all this time. Taking out a purple gold crystal, he held it in his palm and quietly absorbed its energy, letting the wound on his divine soul slowly heal. Though he had medicinal pills capable of mending such trauma, he felt this type of injury could heal naturally through the absorption of spiritual energy, making the consumption of pills unnecessary. Uncertain how long this Death Storm would last, he simply brought out the bead dropped earlier by the Ancient God Illusory Soul. Gazing at the bead in his palm, Li Guanqi frowned slightly. For he, too, had no idea what it was; there was no mention of such an item in the old man's memories. It seemed that whenever any expert in God Burial Valley encountered an Ancient God Illusory Soul, their only choice was to flee... With their seas of consciousness heavily suppressed, they could not coat their weapons with divine sense, leaving them utterly unable to harm the entity. After deliberating for a moment, Li Guanqi gritted his teeth and decided to absorb the bead first! Armed with the cultivation art Divine Punishment, he could even refine Bone Spirit Beads; he wanted to see what use this thing had as well. No sooner thought than done, though he made a few preparations first. Li Guanqi preemptively plastered himself in the inscribed talismans Gu Li had gifted him. Gu Li had given him so many anyway, enough that he stuck them all over his forehead as well. If Gu Li ever found out, he would probably jump up and down, cursing him for being so wasteful. Setting up a spirit-gathering array disc beside himself, he slotted a purple gold crystal into it. He resolved that he had to restore himself to peak condition before venturing outside again. Closing his eyes, he watched as the milky-white bead hovered gently before his chest. As he circulated his cultivation art, a massive devouring force erupted from within his body in an instant! The moment he began drawing on it, the bead blazed with brilliant radiance!! Immediately after, insights into the sword Dao and cultivation realizations from the old woman's lifetime surfaced in Li Guanqi's mind like an epiphany. Furthermore, the energy contained within the bead could actually counter the suppressive effects of the mist and even strengthen his divine sense! In an instant, Li Guanqi entered a state of sudden enlightenment. At the same time, beneath Li Guanqi's white robes, the blood sigils on his back seemed to burn, gradually dissipating upward from his tailbone!! Though the dissipation was exceedingly slow, it was clearly visible!! The very last blood sigil of the Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Immortal-Slaying Sigils!! The final seal suppressing Li Guanqi's Ethereal Dao Body. Li Guanqi had once imagined what it would be like when the seal was completely undone. Yet he had never imagined that the seal would begin to dissolve at a time like this. Sensing this anomaly, Li Guanqi had no spare attention to dwell on it, for what he was currently experiencing felt as though a supreme expert were selflessly transmitting their lifelong cultivation to him. Li Guanqi could absorb all of her sword Dao insights to his heart's content, including her comprehension of spirit comprehension. Though the old woman had not cultivated lightning primal energy in life, Li Guanqi could still contemplate everything from the perspective of an onlooker. This time, Li Guanqi truly experienced the might of the later stages of spirit comprehension. It was an understanding and realization of the very essence of one's primal energy; perhaps what each person realized was different. Yet every Mahayana realm expert was invariably one who wielded complete mastery over their own power. Thinking back now, Li Guanqi realized that the inexplicable pressure he had felt while battling Gu Yong likely stemmed from the essence of power itself. Gradually, Li Guanqi's entire mind became immersed in his realizations. As time passed, this comprehension became like a secluded cultivation session, lasting for nearly half a month! *Buzz!* Seated cross-legged deep within the wall cavity, Li Guanqi slowly opened his eyes. Within his white pupils, a spark of lightning flashed and vanished in an instant!! His chest rising and falling gently, Li Guanqi exhaled a breath of turbid air, his open eyes shining with radiant clarity. He now held a far deeper understanding and insight into the essence of his lightning, which elevated his spirit comprehension rank by a massive stride. Though it had not yet reached the pinnacle of the sixth rank, it was not far off. Upon waking, Li Guanqi felt an abrupt lightness throughout his entire being. His divine sense could now extend outward a full three zhang!! Moreover, the silver radiance atop the Dao platform in his sea of consciousness was nearly saturated, and the sea of consciousness itself had expanded by a full ring. Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. He had never expected this bead to grant him such a terrifying boost. After waking, the wounds on his divine soul had completely recovered as well, and his primal energy surged like a torrent. Li Guanqi murmured softly, "Could it be... that not a single cultivator in all of God Burial Valley has ever seen this thing before?" "Why not... just call it the Ancient God Bead."