The person who had delivered the sword to him was none other than Yu Hua.
This was at Li Guanqi's deliberate request; after all, she was currently the strongest person in Guanyun Pavilion.
Not only had Yu Hua brought Li Guanqi this spirit-treasure-grade demon sword, but she had also brought him a full fifty thousand purple gold crystals!
That was equivalent to five million purple crystals, or five hundred million high-grade spirit stones.
Everyone knew Li Guanqi had just broken through and needed to consolidate his cultivation realm, so she had brought medicinal pills and other necessities as well.
In return, Li Guanqi handed Yu Hua thirty Ancient God Beads. Once he explained their miraculous effects, Yu Hua was shaken to her core, utterly unable to fathom how Li Guanqi could possess so many of such an invaluable treasure.
Yet she had one great virtue: she never pried into what was none of her business.
Carrying the demon sword, Li Guanqi was cloaked entirely in black robes. No one knew the whereabouts of the man who had vanished for years.
Many had spread rumors with absolute certainty that Li Guanqi had stepped into God Burial Valley.
No one had walked out of God Burial Valley alive for several thousand years! For all who entered, there was never any return.
Unable to believe Li Guanqi could ever emerge, people had churned up endless whispers and rumors over the past few years.
Fortunately, with Xi Yunhuai and the others holding Guanyun Pavilion together, hardly anyone within their circle believed Li Guanqi would actually perish in God Burial Valley.
Li Guanqi had no idea how long he had walked. With a single casual step, he crossed ten thousand zhang.
He had chosen not to take any teleportation arrays simply because he wanted to savor the taste of freedom.
In the past, he had taken it for granted, never thinking that freely roaming between heaven and earth was something to cherish.
Only during those years inside God Burial Valley did Li Guanqi truly understand what freedom meant.
God Burial Valley... was truly like a prison, and all of them were outcasts.
At this thought, an old beggar in a city came to Li Guanqi's mind.
*You and I are both wanderers; only the manner of our exile differs...*
Nanjiang.
Li Guanqi did not pass through Zhongzhou, where the three strongest sects were said to hold sway, earning the region the name Nine Emperors Zhongzhou.
The heart of Nanjiang was a vast, boundless green forest—the Emerald Forest Sea.
Towering ancient trees rose straight into the sky, their lush foliage spreading like a colossal green dome. Dappled sunlight filtered through the dense leaves, casting patterns of light and shadow like natural palaces carved of emerald.
Within this sea of trees, rare herbs and extraordinary flowers grew in harmony, and precious birds and exotic beasts roamed at ease, brimming with life and vitality.
Meandering along the outer edge of the Emerald Forest Sea flowed a spirit creek of rippling azure waters—the Biyu River.
The waters were crystal clear, winding through rugged mountains flanked by sheer cliffs thousands of ren high and craggy rocks, resembling an ink wash painting come to life.
Arriving in Nanjiang for the first time, Li Guanqi could not help but sigh in admiration. "In a place blessed with such spirit and beauty, it's only natural that monstrous geniuses would emerge."
A land like this was far richer than either the Dao Chan Domain or the Setting Sun Domain.
By comparison, even the eastern seaboard where the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect and Prince Qin City lay seemed pale in contrast.
Before long, Li Guanqi sped through the air into the heart of northern Nanjiang.
Deep within this territory, he beheld a magnificent, towering mountain range.
Jiuli Divine Peak!
The peaks were steep and perilous, rising in layer upon layer amidst swirling clouds and mist.
Soaring into the clouds, the mountain looked like a celestial realm on earth, where white cranes occasionally glided past.
Stretching endlessly across the mountain were grand, majestic pavilions and halls.
Li Guanqi gazed at the spectacle expressionlessly. Reaching behind him, he drew out a jade pendant and murmured softly,
"Wushang, how are your preparations?"
Qin Wushang's voice brimmed with indescribable excitement.
"Brother, sealing off the boundary of one of the Six Domains' masters—who the hell has ever done something like this before?!"
"Just say the word, and I can immediately sever the Xuanmen Domain Lord's realm from heaven and earth!!"
"My father will personally step in to suppress it!"
Li Guanqi lowered the jade slip and murmured softly, "Then seal it for me."
With those words, Li Guanqi stowed the jade slip and slowly pulled off the black robe that concealed his form!!
When Li Guanqi sought vengeance, he never needed to hide!
His eyes turned unimaginably cold!!
Slowly, Li Guanqi nudged the sword from its sheath.
With that single slight movement, Li Guanqi's spirit merged seamlessly with the longsword Blood Slaughterer.
The blade, feared by all as a demon sword, became as docile as an obedient lamb before Li Guanqi.
His attainment in the sword dao was simply too immense—so overwhelming that Blood Slaughterer dared not muster the slightest thought of defiance.
Unlike the cultivators it had once turned upon, it sensed that Li Guanqi was powerful enough to destroy it effortlessly.
*Skreee!*
A clear, resounding sword cry pierced the firmament.
*Rumble!*
In an instant, the winds and clouds shifted, and a gale howled.
The clear, cloudless sky spanning thousands of li was abruptly swallowed by a hundred li of dark clouds!
As the fierce winds swept past, the ancient trees of the mountains below rustled violently.
*Crack-boom!*
Purplish-black lightning danced and flashed through the heavy clouds, which churned like boiling water.
A terrifying, suffocating Mahayana realm pressure erupted from Li Guanqi's body!!
His long hair whipped wildly, and his flowing white robe snapped loudly in the gale.
Thousands of slender lightning bolts crashed down from the clouds toward Jiuli Divine Peak!!
The drizzle turned to a torrential downpour in a heartbeat. The horrific pressure startled every clan and sect within a hundred-li radius!!
Countless cultivators took to the skies to investigate.
Yet to their horror, an overwhelming pressure descended upon them in that very instant.
Those below the Mahayana realm were stripped of the very right to take flight!!
All beneath the Mahayana realm were mere ants! A Mahayana realm expert was actually moving against the Imperial Clan Yu family!!
*Rumble!*
The moment the thick lightning bolts descended upon Jiuli Divine Peak, an azure barrier abruptly rose around the thousand-zhang mountain!
When the lightning struck, crashing like a violent tempest into a frigid pool, intense ripples spread across the azure barrier!!
A dense cracking sound arose. The barrier of a powerhouse as mighty as an Imperial Clan proved as fragile as porcelain under this assault!
"Who is that? How dare he attack the Yu family directly at Jiuli Divine Peak?!"
"Madness... Even though the Yu family's Tribulation Transcendence ancestor has fallen, they still have more than five Mahayana realm cultivators!"
"Just how deep is this grudge... to come knocking right on their door for an open battle!"
"The pressure radiating from this man is terrifying. Since when did the Misty Immortal Domain produce such a peerless powerhouse?"
In merely three breaths, the immense azure barrier shattered with a thunderous crash!!
Like fractured porcelain, fragments of azure light rained down across the mountain.
"Hmph! Who dares strike against our Yu family?!"
*Boom!*
A powerful aura surged forth in an instant.
Peak early Mahayana realm!!
A gray-haired elder teleported into midair, coming to a halt a hundred zhang from Li Guanqi as their gazes locked.
Recalling Yu Changbo's appearance, Li Guanqi pushed off with his feet.
The pupils of the elder in the dark-blue robe constricted, and he drew his sword in a flash!
A dreadful pressure saturated the void as azure sword light began to coalesce.
Yet Li Guanqi had already closed the distance to within three feet. Those calm, white eyes struck a chill deep into the elder's soul.
This was the first sword strike Li Guanqi would unleash against a foe since walking out of God Burial Valley.
Parting his lips, he uttered softly, "Shura Sword!"
*Boom!*
With a thrust of his palm, Li Guanqi forced back the hand the elder was using to draw his blade, then brought his own sword slashing down!!
Amidst a sky full of blood-red light erupted a sword gleam of lightning swiftness!!
A thousand-zhang sword ray flashed and vanished!
*Rumble!*
Though a cultivator of the early Mahayana realm, the elder was nearly cleaved in two by the blow. Severed limbs flying, he retreated in violent haste!!
In that single instant, it felt as though all the power of heaven and earth across a hundred li had fallen entirely under his opponent's command.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
A deafening explosion rang out. The towering Jiuli Divine Peak was cleaved clean in half down the middle by that terrifying strike!!
Watching from afar, the onlookers stared in sheer horror, gasping in disbelief.
At long last, someone recognized Li Guanqi's identity!!
*Hiss...* "The Yanluo Sword, Li Guanqi! He vanished for six whole years, yet he's broken through to the Mahayana realm!!"
"How did Li Guanqi cross paths with the Yu family?!"
"Heh, now we're in for a show. This Yanluo Sword Venerable never pulls his punches!"
Li Guanqi's gaze remained utterly placid throughout, his peak Sword Soul realm sword intent surging like a roaring ocean.
His white robe snapped in the wind. With droplets of blood splashed across his tranquil face, he pointed his sword toward Jiuli Divine Peak and bellowed with biting coldness:
"Yu Changbo, get the hell out here!!"
Chapter 1090