A little over ten li from the ice cave where Li Guanqi stayed, three cultivators—two men and a woman—were fleeing for their lives.
The woman was deathly pale, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, and her abdomen bore a gruesome, gaping puncture wound. One of the men was also gravely injured, leaving only the last one, sword in hand and pale-faced, supporting the other two as they sprinted.
All three grim-faced cultivators wore an ice-blue pendant around their necks. However, the woman's pendant was already shattered, and her face had turned a bruised, sickly hue—a clear sign that cold poison had seeped into her body.
Of the three, only the handsome man in the middle was slightly stronger, at the early Void Refining Realm. The other two were merely at the Soul Formation Realm.
A Bloodthirsty Violent Bear bounded after them on all fours, its crimson eyes glaring furiously at the trio.
The woman murmured weakly, "Brother Nan... put... put me down..."
Zhao Nan barked, "Shut up! What nonsense are you spouting?! I would never abandon either of you!"
As he spoke, the violent bear closed the distance to mere tens of zhang and slammed its massive paw against the ground.
In an instant, the glacier fractured, sending a jagged chasm tearing across the ice straight toward the three of them. Shards of ice shot into the air like ice spears, hurtling toward their backs.
Zhao Nan spun around and shattered the ice chunks with a sweep of his sword, yet the tremendous force still hurled all three of them flying through the air. They crashed to the ground, Zhao Nan spitting a mouthful of blood.
The Bloodthirsty Violent Bear moved with terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, it leaped into the air and swiped down viciously with its razor-sharp claws!
A look of despair flickered in Zhao Nan's eyes. "It's over..." he muttered.
Just as despair gripped their hearts, a thinly clad man materialized directly in front of them.
Li Guanqi stood with his back to the three of them. Zhao Nan blurted out in panic, "Get out of the way! Danger!"
The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth curved upward slightly. It seemed these people were not wicked or malicious.
Seeing another human dare to block its path, the Bloodthirsty Violent Bear grew even more enraged. Violent ripples of primal energy surged around its body, and a bloody radiance enveloped its paws, slicing the surrounding space apart.
Looking at the bear looming right before him, Li Guanqi threw a casual punch.
Thump!
Under the terrifying release of force, the Bloodthirsty Violent Bear's head exploded like a smashed watermelon. Its razor-sharp claws struck Li Guanqi's body, but he hadn't even bothered to erect a protective barrier. Glancing light rippled across his dharma robe, effortlessly neutralizing all the kinetic force.
With a heavy thud, the bear's corpse collapsed to the ground.
Seeing this, Zhao Nan and the other two instantly realized they had encountered a senior expert. They hurriedly supported the injured woman as they struggled to their feet and bowed deeply toward Li Guanqi.
His face pale, Zhao Nan said gravely, "Junior Zhao Nan thanks Senior for saving our lives!"
The young woman rasped, "Zhao Pei..."
"Junior Zhao Zhenkui thanks Senior for lending a helping hand."
Li Guanqi turned around, waved his hand with a smile, and glanced at the gruesome wound on the woman's abdomen. With a flick of his finger, a fingernail-sized pill shot into her mouth.
The bleeding stopped immediately as a surge of majestic medicinal power dissolved inside her. Zhao Pei's complexion improved slightly, yet the cold poison accumulated within her had already penetrated deep into her marrow.
Zhao Nan's expression grew grim. "Sister, your cold-warding pendant is shattered. We must get home as quickly as possible!"
With that, Zhao Nan looked at Li Guanqi, his eyes flickering as he inquired tentatively, "Senior, my sister has been invaded by cold poison and needs to return to our clan immediately. May we invite you to accompany us back, so that we may express our gratitude properly?"
Li Guanqi said softly, "Very well. The Beiming Glaciers are vast and sparsely populated; running into anyone is no easy feat."
Having said that, Li Guanqi looked at Zhao Nan and chuckled. "It's only cold poison. Leave your sister to me."
Zhao Nan gritted his teeth, his hesitation obvious. Reading his doubt, Li Guanqi simply stood in place and slowly opened his palm. In an instant, an utterly terrifying force erupted from within him.
The woman shut her eyes in sudden pain as a blue radiance seemed to flow through the meridians of her arm. Two wisps of frigid qi shot out from her wrists, and her complexion immediately improved by leaps and bounds.
Li Guanqi then casually took off one of his earrings and offered it over.
Zhao Nan took the pendant-like earring with trembling hands. The moment he held it, he could feel a gentle warmth radiating from it. Such a dharma artifact was far superior to the cold-warding pendants they carried.
A formidable rank-six Bloodthirsty Violent Bear hadn't been able to withstand a single blow from this man. In Zhao Nan's eyes, Li Guanqi had to be, at the very least, a Body Integration Realm grandmaster!
Seeing Zhao Pei fall into a deep, peaceful sleep, Zhao Nan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Afterward, eager to repay him, Zhao Nan led the group on their return journey. Along the way, Li Guanqi asked many basic questions about the Beiming Glaciers. Zhao Nan had long deduced that Li Guanqi was not a native of this realm and answered his questions as thoroughly as he could.
"Oh, right. Do you know of the Xuan family in the Beiming Glaciers?" Li Guanqi asked. "Well... though there might be many families named Xuan, this one should be quite powerful."
Zhao Nan and Zhao Zhenkui exchanged a glance. Zhao Nan replied solemnly, "Senior worries too much."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"In the entire Beiming Glaciers... there is only one Xuan clan!"
A faint smile touched Li Guanqi's lips. It seemed this Xuan clan would be even easier to find than he had anticipated.
Under Li Guanqi's lead, the three quickly returned to their clan.
Looking at the snow-covered pavilions and towers, Li Guanqi sighed softly in admiration; the Beiming Glaciers truly possessed a unique charm.
The moment they arrived at the Zhao family estate, the patriarch was already waiting at the main gate. But the instant the man laid eyes on Li Guanqi, his expression shifted drastically. He immediately sent out missives in all directions, and within moments, more than ten clan elders rushed over. Everyone stood respectfully before the entrance. Leading the Zhao family's upper echelon, the patriarch bowed deeply and said in a solemn voice, "Zhao Zhenting, Patriarch of the Zhao family, respectfully welcomes Senior's grand arrival!"
Zhao Nan was utterly dumbfounded, standing frozen in place with his mouth slightly agape.
His father was a genuine peak Body Integration Realm powerhouse! Yet when facing Li Guanqi, his father proactively took the stance of a junior, and fearful of offending Li Guanqi, had even summoned every senior elder of the clan.
Li Guanqi smiled and waved his hand, a gentle force lifting everyone up.
"There is no need for such formality," Li Guanqi said softly. "I am merely a newcomer passing through, and helping was no trouble at all."
Hearing this, Zhao Zhenting breathed a slight sigh of relief. If he hadn't already heard the circumstances from Zhao Nan, he would have been fretting over how to make amends for any slight.
Zhao Zhenting hosted a banquet of the highest honor in the manor to entertain Li Guanqi, after which the two chatted for a long time in the study.
Yet under the cover of night, Li Guanqi had already vanished from the Zhao Manor.
According to Zhao Zhenting, the conflict between the Xuan clan's two factions had grown exceptionally fierce, even resulting in casualties. Having obtained a map from Zhao Zhenting marking the Xuan clan's location, Li Guanqi departed without a moment's delay.
As he traveled, his eyes gleamed thoughtfully. From Zhao Zhenting, he had also learned a piece of vital information.
The Xuan clan's Southern Faction had produced a peerless, top-tier enchantress named Xuan Ji! Meanwhile, in the Northern Faction, a woman had reportedly appeared several years ago who was hailed as the one most likely in ten thousand years to claim the title of Empress of Beiming!
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, muttering in a chilling whisper, "Xuan clan... I hope you haven't made a terrible mistake."
Looking down at Meng Wanshu's intact life-bound jade slip, Li Guanqi finally let out a sigh of relief. Tearing open the void, he hurtled wildly through the nothingness.
Chapter 1104