Half-Step Mahayana, Seventh Rank of Spirit Comprehension!

This time, however, perhaps because of their location, Li Guanqi did not sense the presence of any living stranger. After stowing away the items, Li Guanqi immediately turned and left. Without knowing how many times he had changed directions, Li Guanqi finally came to a halt beside a deserted cliff face. There was nowhere nearby to conceal himself, and his divine sense could only extend about three zhang outwards. It was virtually useless for scouting the terrain or his surroundings. Reaching the cliff face, he rested for a moment, then took out a medicinal pill for healing and recovering primal energy and swallowed it. He possessed plenty of pills, most given to him by Han Yuan and the others, as well as Gu Changsheng. Even so, Li Guanqi could hardly cultivate here in peace. After a moment's thought, Li Guanqi raised a hand and murmured softly, "Sword Prison!" Hum! A blurred gateway of light appeared before him, and Li Guanqi breathed a sigh of relief. He then stepped into his domain, which shrank into a speck of dust and vanished from where he stood. In the outside world, he would never dare do this; a sweep of divine sense from other powerhouses would easily expose it. Yet this was God Burial Valley! Aside from him, no cultivator here could mobilize the divine sense within their sea of consciousness. Inside his domain, Li Guanqi finally exhaled, letting his guard down slightly for what felt like the first time since entering God Burial Valley. Keeping one's nerves perpetually taut was enough to exhaust anyone, but in a place like this, failing to remain vigilant meant death. Looking at the six Bone Spirit Beads in his hand, Li Guanqi's eyes lit up. Sitting down cross-legged, he set up a formation and began absorbing the Bone Spirit Beads. The power contained within each Bone Spirit Bead was terrifying; to him, a single bead held several times more energy than even a purple gold crystal. Yet it was a double-edged sword. The energy within the beads was exceedingly chaotic and impure; without a sufficiently high-grade cultivation method, one could not thoroughly refine it at all. At this moment, Li Guanqi was immensely grateful that he had comprehended his technique, Divine Punishment, so early on. Taking a deep breath, Li Guanqi set the Bone Spirit Beads before him, closed his eyes, focused his mind, and entered a state of cultivation. As the power within the Bone Spirit Beads was refined bit by bit, that inexplicable suppression between heaven and earth gradually began to weaken. As time passed, the aura around Li Guanqi fluctuated violently. A full month passed. When the final Bone Spirit Bead shattered... The thunder throughout the entire domain seemed to boil, raining down from the heavens like a deluge. Violent surges of primal energy rolled around Li Guanqi, whose eyes were still gently closed. Boom! Hundreds, thousands of thick lightning bolts crashed down from the firmament, shattering the domain in an instant. Li Guanqi snapped his eyes open with a thunderous roar, raising his hand to shatter ten whole purple gold crystals at once. His cultivation method spun at full throttle, his body acting like a bottomless abyss as it swallowed the dense spiritual energy around him in vast gulps! Rumble! Above his head gathered a terrifying thundercloud spanning three thousand zhang across. Even the thick mist of God Burial Valley could not obscure it, as an overwhelming aura of destruction crushed down upon heaven and earth. Thunder roared, and terrifying arcs of lightning continuously leaped from the churning clouds, striking down around Li Guanqi. In an instant, an area of several hundred zhang around Li Guanqi looked as though a heavenly tribulation were descending; tens of thousands of lightning bolts blossomed, carving deep craters into the ground. Something inside Li Guanqi's body seemed to rupture all at once, and terrifying shockwaves swept outward in rapid succession. Caught in the violent aftershocks, surrounding stone pillars and cliff faces blasted apart, bursting into countless fragments that were hurled into the air. Li Guanqi's white robes flapped wildly, his jade crown shattered, and his long hair whipped about in the gale! A fearsome pressure erupted from his form! A sharp gleam shone in Li Guanqi's eyes. Feeling the surging primal energy within him and a level of strength greater than ever before, a faint smile finally touched his lips. "Half-step Mahayana, the seventh rank of Spirit Comprehension!" "Finally... I'm one step closer to my goal..." Furthermore, with the aid of the Bone Spirit Beads, the suppression on Li Guanqi's sea of consciousness had lessened considerably. He could now extend his divine sense across an area of roughly fifty zhang. Yet the dense mist's suppression on the sea of consciousness felt like an invisible pair of massive hands bearing down; the moment his divine sense extended outward, it endured that unrelenting weight every single second. The commotion of Li Guanqi's breakthrough was hardly small, and it had already attracted considerable attention. He even sensed several concealed presences closing in at an extraordinary speed. The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth curved upward; he remained where he was without fleeing. "Three, four... five?" Two of the five auras were much weaker, seemingly in the late and peak stages of the Body Integration Realm. A cold sneer surfaced on Li Guanqi's lips. Concealing his aura, he vanished on the spot in an instant! Five people—since they've come, none of them will be leaving! Li Guanqi's target was clear: make an example of the two weaker ones first. A pale-faced man draped in black robes darted across the ground, his eyes flickering and his aura cloaked. Looking toward the clouds that had just dispersed ten li away, he murmured, "Is that the one who came in recently... What on earth did he obtain to break through so quickly?" The man had resolute features and sharp contours, marred only by a palm-sized white patch on his cheek. Suddenly! The man's pupils constricted to pinpricks. His heart felt as though it had been violently squeezed by a giant fist, and a chill crawled up his spine! A young man's chilling voice rang in his ear: "Are you... looking for me?" Boom! The man thrust his sword backward with savage force. Li Guanqi's left hand shot out, his arm coiling past the blade like a serpent to crush the man's hand into pulp. Pfft! Li Guanqi clenched his right hand into a fist and hammered it forward! Thud! "Firmament Shatterer: Ten Thousand Mountains!" The punch was heavy and ferocious, carrying the momentum to split open the heavens. Gritting his teeth, the man cast out layer upon layer of primal energy barriers. As precious primal energy surged forth, a twinge of heartache flashed in the man's eyes, but he knew this was no time to be stingy. Even so, he had still underestimated Li Guanqi's strength. With the punch detonating, the man's body flew backward like a kite with a severed string, half of the bones in his body completely crushed! With this breakthrough, the Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Immortal-Slaying Sigils upon Li Guanqi's back now had only half their original size remaining. Li Guanqi could even faintly sense the true essence of the third layer of Divine Punishment. Tumbling through the air, the man didn't hesitate for an instant upon hitting the ground; he spun around to flee! Whoosh! Li Guanqi inexplicably appeared right along the man's path of retreat, raising his hand as a sword ray flashed. In the man's eyes, the surrounding void suddenly plunged into darkness, leaving only that blinding, resplendent arc of sword light sweeping across his vision. "Demon Shadow Slash: Dark Night!" Slash! A head tumbled to the ground. Li Guanqi gathered all the items and the storage ring from the man's corpse, then faded from view... Elsewhere, another man cloaked entirely in black robes whipped his head around, staring in that direction.