Li Guanqi devoured the meal ravenously, yet Li Guilan hesitated to speak several times, an expression that tugged at his heart.
Setting down his bowl and chopsticks, Li Guanqi helped clear the table before sitting in the courtyard to brew a pot of tea for her.
By now, Li Guilan was a cultivator of the late Nascent Soul realm.
Handing her a cup of tea, Li Guanqi chuckled softly. "Mother-in-law, do not worry so much.
"After I leave here, I will make a trip to the Beiming Glaciers. Once I find Wanshu, I will let you know right away."
Only upon hearing this did a faint smile finally grace Li Guilan's face. She nodded gently. "Alright, I will leave it to you."
As she spoke, the woman suddenly froze slightly, then stood and leaned down slowly before him.
Before Li Guanqi realized what she was doing, he felt a sharp prick at the crown of his head, like a mosquito bite.
Li Guilan held a single strand of white hair in her fingers, her eyes abruptly reddening. "Silly boy, you must have suffered a great deal these past few years, haven't you?"
Li Guanqi pressed his lips together and forced a smile. "I didn't suffer much at all."
Beyond that, he did not say another word, terrified that speaking more would only make his elder worry.
Li Guilan cradled Li Guanqi's head and patted him gently. "How about... don't push yourself so hard anymore.
"Bring Wanshu back, get married, and have a few children. How wonderful it would be to live a leisurely, peaceful life."
Li Guanqi scratched his head in mild embarrassment and laughed softly. "I would love to do just that, but... there are some things that simply must be done."
*Smack!* Li Guilan struck him across the back and rolled her eyes, scolding, "You stubborn child, you always have your own ideas.
"Never mind, never mind. As long as you know what you are doing in your heart."
Li Guanqi rose slowly, bowed in farewell to Li Guilan, and then went to the study to cup his fists to Meng Jiangchu.
Meng Jiangchu instructed him warmly, "If there is anything you need help with, just say the word. Do not feel you must resolve everything on your own.
"We are family. Never think of it as troubling me."
Li Guanqi smiled and nodded. "Understood."
With those words, Li Guanqi bowed respectfully, took a single step, and vanished on the spot!
Meanwhile, within the Meng clan domain, Li Changqing suddenly started awake inside his quiet cultivation chamber.
He looked down in astonishment at three beads nestled in his robes, his eyes filled with sheer bewilderment.
Yet the moment he sensed the boundless, majestic power contained within those beads, he was shaken beyond measure.
Soon, Li Changqing caught sight of a stray arc of lightning and a familiar aura flashing past before disappearing.
The corners of the old man's mouth curled slightly. Standing, he cupped his fists toward the empty void.
"Many thanks for the gift, young friend!"
Li Guanqi smiled faintly, his presence fading entirely into the void.
He held deep respect for an elder like Li Changqing. Since he had such treasures on hand, it cost him nothing to lend a helping hand in passing.
Besides, having an additional Mahayana realm cultivator in the Meng clan in the future would only be a good thing.
Leaving the Shenbao Domain behind, Li Guanqi headed straight for the Ethereal Immortal Domain.
*Buzz!*
Arriving at the Coast of the Eastern Sea, Li Guanqi brought out a jade slip and said with a chuckle, "Old Qin, where are you? Come out for drinks."
Stowing the jade slip, Li Guanqi sped directly toward the Qin Imperial City.
However, even after flying for quite some time, he still received no reply from Qin Wushang.
Frowning slightly, Li Guanqi halted and contacted Qin Xiao instead.
"Heh, you certainly picked the wrong time to come."
"That brat just left, and even I have no idea where he went."
Li Guanqi's mouth twitched uncontrollably at the words. Without even thinking, he knew Qin Wushang had undoubtedly slipped away into some forbidden ground on his own.
On the surface, Qin Wushang had acted calm and unbothered when facing him.
Yet although his current strength was far from weak among their peers, he was surrounded by monstrous figures like Li Guanqi and Xu Junlin.
For someone as proud as Qin Wushang, falling behind was simply intolerable. What he had said back then had never been a joke, but his genuine plan for the future.
Li Guanqi shook his head with a bitter smile. He had not expected the fellow to be so ruthless with himself...
His own survival upon walking out of God Burial Valley had relied on countless bizarre flukes. Not a single place bearing the name of a forbidden ground was simple.
And yet...
Li Guanqi still chose to believe in Qin Wushang. With his strength and temperament, he would certainly manage to emerge alive.
It seemed he would have to find a chance to inquire where he had gone later, if only to bring him some wine.
Just then, however, Xu Junlin suddenly contacted Li Guanqi.
Xu Junlin's composed voice drifted out from the jade slip. "Do you have time? Care to drop by my clan for a visit?"
Li Guanqi's eyes glinted with an amused grin. It seemed that rascal Xu Junlin had also caught wind of his recent news.
"Send me the coordinates. I am in the Eastern Domain."
Xu Junlin did not provide them, asking instead for Li Guanqi's exact location.
Li Guanqi simply told Xu Junlin where he was, to which the other replied briskly, "Good. I will come pick you up."
Li Guanqi chose a scenic mountain peak and sat down cross-legged to wait.
A gentle breeze brushed across his face. Li Guanqi quietly felt the spiritual energy stirred up beside him; in his perception, it was a kaleidoscopic, fantastical world.
With every passing moment, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth underwent faint shifts—seemingly identical, yet entirely different.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi could not help sitting up straight. Spreading his divine sense slightly, he began to perceive heaven and earth with utmost care.
*Buzz!*
Wondrous, profound ripples emanated from within Li Guanqi's body.
A ring of ceaselessly dancing lightning arcs hovered around him as he sat cross-legged, expressionless.
Lightning was destruction, yet it was also rebirth.
Li Guanqi even felt an impulse: if he were to integrate his current primal energy into his flesh and blood, would the destruction of his physical body simultaneously herald rebirth?
However, such a method was far too startling, so he decided to find another time to test it alone.
Lightning was supremely rigid and yang, impervious to the worldly corruptions of evil and foulness, serving as an absolute restraint against all impure entities.
It naturally carried a sense of retribution—perhaps even... judgment!
Furthermore, the lightning that flashed and vanished amidst rainfall from the firmament did not possess unchanging, immutable power.
Within those fleeting arcs of lightning, the contained energy shifted in a myriad of ways, drawing far closer to the true essence of lightning itself.
What if...
What if his own power were like lightning—rather than deliberately maintaining its stability, what if he reversed convention and went with the flow?
Then, the moment he swung his sword, could he make the sword momentum and techniques transform instantaneously, unleashing the most terrifying power at the exact instant of impact?
Gradually, Li Guanqi's body grew slightly translucent, positioning him between illusion and reality.
At this moment, the spiritual energy within a thousand zhang around Li Guanqi boiled as if molten, and heaven and earth trembled.
Li Guanqi was immersed in an exquisite state of sudden enlightenment, his entire being fusing into heaven and earth, acutely perceiving every change in the world around him.
With eyes half-closed, Li Guanqi rose slowly. Lightning surged in his left hand, yet it did not condense into a thunder sword; rather, it looked as though he were gripping a cluster of raw lightning.
His left hand swept forward slowly, and a terrifying sword light burst forth in an instant!
*Screeech!*
The moment the sword light made contact with the earth, the mountains and rivers shook, and the ground quaked violently.
A gaping sword trench a full thousand zhang long carved its way across the land!
The lightning in Li Guanqi's hand dispersed, his eyes filled with pure marvel.
"It actually works!"
That strike had appeared ordinary, yet in truth, Li Guanqi had discarded many extraneous branches of his sword Dao, purely unleashing the raw, unbridled power of lightning with that single swing.
Chapter 1099