Inciting War Between the Two Factions!

Li Guanqi pushed his aura to its absolute limit, drawing upon the nature of his Ethereal Dao Body to resonate with heaven and earth. He gathered the wandering ice-attributed spiritual energy between heaven and earth into an ethereal shroud around himself, disguising his aura as that of the old man who had traded curses with Xuan Lan. *Whoosh!* "Halt! Surrender now!" Beneath his black robe, Li Guanqi's face had long since taken on that old man's appearance through the face-changing bug. Facing the two cultivators barring his path, he reached out a withered hand and clenched his fist violently! A terrifying pressure erupted in an instant. Crushed by the folding space, both cultivators burst into clouds of blood mist! Without the slightest hesitation, Li Guanqi shattered the void and vanished. The entire sequence took less than three breaths. When Xuan Zhèn and the others emerged from the ice palace, they happened to catch sight of Li Guanqi killing the two clan cultivators and making his escape. Xuan Zhèn wore a magnificent ice-blue robe and a jade crown. His cheeks were somewhat gaunt with high cheekbones, monolid eyes, and an aquiline nose. His gaze turned grim as he stared in the direction the black-robed intruder had fled. "Clan Master, we found a torn scrap of fabric outside the palace, and..." Xuan Zhèn narrowed his eyes and took the piece of cloth, confirming that it indeed belonged to the Northern faction! "And what else? Stop stammering and spit it out!" The disciple's face paled slightly. He swallowed hard and said, "The hall has been breached." The group's expressions shifted. Xuan Zhèn flashed behind the hall, his brows knitting tightly at the thumb-sized hole. Turning to those beside him, he said in a chilling voice, "It seems Xuan Zhen and his people already know of our plan." One old man looked grim. "Dammit, someone slipped right under our noses and we didn't even notice!" With that, the old man looked up at the sinister-eyed man and asked in a heavy voice, "Clan Master, what do we do now?" Cold killing intent glinted in Xuan Zhèn's eyes. The surging aura billowing around him caused the surrounding temperature to plummet sharply. He slowly turned to face the crowd and commanded coldly, "Make preparations. We set out immediately!" "Seize the inheritance! Wipe out the Northern faction!" In an instant, the entire Southern faction sprang into action. One ice-blue combat cloud boat after another was brought out. Disciples hurried about, leaping aboard the vessels in steady streams. Meanwhile, having cleared the boundary seal, Li Guanqi wiped his face with a casual sweep of his hand, altering his appearance to that of a Southern faction elder. A cold sneer curved his lips. To him, both sides were birds of a feather. Both coveted the inheritance, yet both wore sanctimonious masks! He had originally thought that since the Northern faction was hostile, he might make common cause with the Southern faction. Now, it appeared the Southern faction was even more vile—they actually intended to extract the inheritance by refining flesh and soul! In that case... They had only themselves to blame. Speeding through the air, Li Guanqi pushed his pace to the maximum, thunder seeming to rumble through the void. A flash of purple lightning streaked through the emptiness, crossing ten li in a single breath! This time, Li Guanqi nearly doubled his speed, burning through his primal energy without reserve, and managed to reach the Northern faction's clan compound before the enemy arrived. After restoring his primal energy to its peak, he concealed himself within the void once more. He did not intend to start killing just yet. The Southern faction had not arrived; attacking now would only alert the enemy. It was better to search for Meng Wanshu's whereabouts. Once the two factions clashed, he could fan the flames and whisk Wanshu away amidst the chaos. Pushing his breath-concealment technique to its limit, Li Guanqi traveled through the void interlayer and slipped into the Xuan clan estate. Knocking out a disciple, he tossed him directly into his domain, changed into his clothes, altered his appearance and aura, and blended in with the Xuan clan disciples. He carefully expanded his vast divine sense, only to find that the patrolling disciples were deliberately avoiding certain rooms. Having weathered countless storms, Li Guanqi recognized the trap at a glance. Those rooms harbored faint spatial fluctuations. Subtle as they were, they could not escape his divine sense. Frowning, Li Guanqi wondered where Wanshu could be if she was not in the Xuan clan estate. Suddenly! A sharp rebuke rang out. "Xuan Suyang! What the hell are you still loitering around here for? You're almost late!" Looking at the fierce-faced man, Li Guanqi immediately adopted a panicked, uneasy expression. "Right away, right away! I'm going, I'm going!" With that, Li Guanqi hurried outward. At the same time, he used his divine sense to pull out the knocked-out disciple's soul. Rifling through the soul's memories, he finally understood what his task was. Following another disciple, he collected a storage ring from the clan storeroom, and the two walked together toward the rear mountain. Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. Their task was to replenish ice crystal stones for a certain formation. Passing through layers of checkpoints, verifying identity tokens and passphrases, they finally arrived at a mysterious ice cellar. Reaching this place, Li Guanqi breathed an inward sigh of relief. Had he not performed soul searching beforehand, he would have exposed himself long ago. Within this ice cellar lay an extraordinarily powerful sealing boundary. Without someone opening the boundary, even he would have had to expend considerable effort to break through. A cold glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. His terrifying divine sense instantly seized control of the youth beside him. Gazing at the azure, hundred-foot formation before him, his eyes flickered. He obediently set the ice crystal stones into place one by one. Under his feet, he imperceptibly slipped an inscribed talisman shimmering with spiritual light beneath the ice—and beneath the formation itself. This inscribed talisman would suffice to let him bypass the boundary here. Having finished, Li Guanqi called out, "What are you daydreaming for? We're done. Let's go." "Oh, oh, right! Heh, I haven't been sleeping well these past couple of days, so my head's in a daze." A faint sneer touched Li Guanqi's lips as he followed the youth out of the boundary. Casting a casual glance back, he had already sensed Meng Wanshu's aura behind the formation. Li Guanqi's eyes flickered thoughtfully. It seemed Wanshu was sealed in a space beneath this boundary screen. Moreover... her current state seemed more akin to a deep slumber. Just as Li Guanqi departed, the atmosphere throughout the Xuan clan estate grew tense. A cold sneer tugged at Li Guanqi's lips. It seemed the Southern faction had arrived. In that case... he needed to conceal himself well. Whether it was Xuan Zhen or Xuan Zhèn, neither was an opponent he could contend with right now. The best scenario was for him to vanish from both sides' sight. *Hum!* Li Guanqi vanished without a sound. The Xuan clan fell into utter chaos, countless cultivators moving about in haste with grim expressions. A suffocating tension spread through the Xuan clan. Clad in silver-blue armor, Xuan Zhen stepped into the void. His expression was chillingly stern, his eyes fixed on the distant squall of swirling snow. Within the blizzard, several massive shadows slowly emerged. There were six or seven immense cloud boats, each dozens of zhang in size. Every expert on Northern faction leader Xuan Zhen's side took to the air, forming a dense throng of nearly a thousand cultivators! All wore solemn expressions, staring coldly into the distance. Cold sweat broke out on Xuan Zhèn's face. Seeing Xuan Zhen and the others already waiting in battle array only solidified his conviction that the previous infiltrator had indeed been from the Northern faction. War hung by a thread. Hiding in the shadows, Li Guanqi frowned. *Why isn't Xuan Lan here? Even if he's all show and no substance, he's still a Mahayana realm cultivator.* At that thought, a strange smile curved Li Guanqi's lips, and he vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was actually inside the Xuan clan's ice prison! Xuan Lan was lying bored on a bed, and there was even a maidservant by his side! A look of amusement flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. Suddenly! Heaven and earth shook, glaciers shattered, and the entire ice prison rocked violently. Li Guanqi was slightly taken aback; he had not expected the battle outside to erupt so quickly. It seemed the grievances between the two factions ran deep indeed...