Slaying Xuan Ji!

"Don't worry about me. The two brothers have turned against each other and are locked in combat; I only need to maneuver on the periphery." From Meng Wanshu's tone, Li Guanqi could tell that the situation was still under control. In that case... Li Guanqi looked toward the woman crawling out of the deep crater a hundred zhang away and slowly raised his sword. "Come. Let me see what makes you think you can posture before me." Xuan Ji's expression turned freezing cold. Between her brows, a mysterious ice-flower sigil glowed with radiant light! An inexplicable aura radiated from her body, sending a sudden chill through Li Guanqi's heart the moment he sensed it. *This aura...* Indeed, Li Guanqi sensed an aura within Xuan Ji that was extraordinarily similar to Meng Wanshu's inheritance. It seemed some of the scattered inheritance fragments Meng Wanshu had acquired back then had been absorbed by Xuan Ji... The woman's long hair whipped wildly without any wind. "I am the true Ice Lord!" Looking at her manic frenzy, Li Guanqi could not help but pity her slightly. Boom! Her aura detonated in an instant, surging to its absolute pinnacle in the blink of an eye. And that was not all—the spiritual energy between heaven and earth seemed to run rampantly amok, carrying an inexplicable cosmic momentum. Li Guanqi frowned. He was all too familiar with this sensation. When his Ethereal Dao Body was unsealed and his spiritual root advanced, the commotion had been far greater than this. Buzz! A faint blue halo radiated from Xuan Ji's eyes, and her entire temperament underwent a subtle transformation. Li Guanqi's expression shifted slightly. He clearly detected that Xuan Ji's spiritual root had crossed the chasm of Saint Grade and was transforming toward divine grade! He did not know whether this transformation would affect Meng Wanshu. But... if there was even the slightest possibility, he would never leave it unchecked! In an instant, the space beneath Li Guanqi's feet shattered. The terrifying speed unleashed by his physical body was faster still. *Whoosh!* Li Guanqi gripped Red Lotus tightly and struck with a swift barrage of sword blows! *Clang, clang, clang, clang!* The clashes of colliding blades rang rapid and dense. Under the terrifying discharge of power, Xuan Ji was forced back retreat after retreat. The suppression of raw physical power compensated for the gap in their cultivation realms. Xuan Ji's eyes filled with supreme solemnity. It was at this very moment that her spiritual root's transformation ground to a halt. Li Guanqi dodged the edge of her blade, sidestepped, and knocked her back with a counter-slash. The two parted, standing several zhang away from each other. Li Guanqi glanced at the frost covering his dragon scales, feeling as though his entire arm were about to lose sensation. "A pseudo-divine-grade spiritual root, is it...?" At this moment, Xuan Ji's arm was charred black. Lightning ran rampant inside her, ravaging her meridians, leaving a numbness that was difficult to dispel. Her blue eyes flickered with faint light as she glared at Li Guanqi with utmost wariness. Li Guanqi did not waste any time. Since someone threatened Wanshu's position as Ice Lord, he would simply obliterate her! Boom! Instantly, clouds roiled across several tens of li around them. Amidst this land of perpetual ice and snow, thunder roared. In that moment, lightning spiritual energy between heaven and earth surged uncontrollably, giving rise to raging storms of spiritual energy! Watching this scene, Nangong Zhou and the others were all thoroughly stunned. No wonder Li Guanqi had spoken such ruthless words to them before. Seeing it now, Li Guanqi truly possessed both the capability and the strength to back them up. Li Guanqi murmured softly, "Boundless: Sword Prison." Buzz! A purple halo expanded across ten thousand zhang. Xuan Ji's expression changed abruptly! In her perception, the ten-thousand-zhang area had now become just like Li Guanqi's domain boundary! Yet... She was clearly still standing right where she had been. What kind of technique was this? "A spell?" Li Guanqi sneered. This was a divine ability! Within God Burial Ridge, Li Guanqi had learned far too much. "Boundless" was a method that forcefully dragged an opponent into one's own domain without the need to construct a separate origin energy domain boundary. Within the domain, Li Guanqi stood upon the void, surrounded by lightning. The snow-white glaciers were nowhere to be seen—everywhere the eye could reach was filled with lightning! The violent power carried a terrifying force of destruction, as if poised to upend this entire stretch of heaven and earth. Xuan Ji stared blankly at the white-robed youth. In his disdainful gaze, there was not the slightest fear of the frost. His white robes fluttered loudly in the wind, his gaze cold and focused. Xuan Ji had never imagined that someone in this world had already claimed dominion as one of the Seven Elemental Lords—and of the lightning attribute no less, renowned as the absolute pinnacle in lethality and domineering might! *Exhale...* Crack! A bolt of lightning struck down toward Xuan Ji, but before it could land, a wave of frigid air froze it solid! Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. Xuan Ji's strength was indeed not to be underestimated. However... Thump! Li Guanqi vanished from his spot in a flash; only after half a breath did his afterimage dissipate. By the time Xuan Ji reacted, Li Guanqi had already closed in upon her. *Clang!* "Apocalypse: Weeping Cold Abyss!" Buzz! The ice-blue blade underwent a drastic transformation in an instant. The blade, already freezing cold, now turned translucent and crystalline like pure glacial ice. A terrifying power of frost detonated from the blade! *Clang, clang! Clang!* Li Guanqi retreated sharply through the air, glanced at the frost coating his blade, and gave his wrist a light flick to shatter it. The two swiftly tangled in fierce combat, but Li Guanqi's talent in the Dao of the sword was simply too overwhelming. Before long, several bone-deep gashes covered Xuan Ji's body. Her eyes narrowed, and forming a seal with one hand, she tossed her sword to hover before her. "Cold Abyss: Interlocking Flower Shadows!" Buzz! Space warped, and beneath the eruption of dreadful frost power, dozens of Xuan Ji's afterimages materialized around Li Guanqi! Li Guanqi's expression remained unchanged. Watching the afterimages attacking from all directions, he swung his sword to parry! In an instant, sword light churned into chaos, and sword qi crisscrossed violently, wreaking havoc through the void. Splashing sword qi gouged deep ravines across the earth. The power displayed in their battle already exceeded most cultivators' understanding of cultivation realms. Pure ultimate ice; world-destroying heavenly tribulation lightning! Watching such a clash made even Dugu Chongming shudder with dread. Nangong Zhou sent a low transmission: "Be careful. The powerhouses of both the Northern and Southern factions have begun surrounding us..." The others nodded slightly in tacit understanding, standing back-to-back in vigilance. Suddenly! Clouds of bloody mist burst from Li Guanqi's body. With a savage horizontal slash, Li Guanqi swept his sword in a full circle! A terrifying arc of lightning sword light extended several hundred zhang, shattering the afterimages to pieces! Li Guanqi stood in place, panting heavily, blood from head to toe dyeing his white robes crimson. The dense wounds covering him were all frozen into a purplish black by the frigid ice power. The cold poison inside him wildly ravaged his meridians; wherever it passed, the meridians turned extremely brittle, shattering the instant primal energy circulated through them! Before he could catch his breath, dozens of afterimages struck again! A glint of cold light flashed through the depths of Li Guanqi's eyes. "Mirror Flower, Water Moon!" Li Guanqi's form distorted like shattered porcelain, vanishing from the spot in an instant. Reappearing a hundred zhang away, he formed a one-handed seal and said coldly, "Art: Body Becomes Nine Dragons!" Boom! Violent energy erupted thunderously, and divine sense as vast as an ocean surged forth to blot out the sky! Suddenly! A sharp glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes, and he spoke in a bone-chilling voice: "Red Lotus: God Burial Dance!" In an instant, the watching crowd saw hundreds of terrifying hundred-zhang-long lightning sword qi saturating the void! The terrifying lightning sword qi densely sliced the void, leaving virtually not a single patch of intact space. Suddenly! Xuan Ji's figure, submerged within the deluge of sword light, shot out. Her body was covered in sword gashes. Yet before she could breathe a sigh of relief, her hair was seized in a death grip by a large hand reaching out from the smoke and dust! Amidst shattered lightning and shards of ice, Li Guanqi's calm face emerged. In his left hand, the sword was raised slowly overhead, violent power accumulating within the blade! Xuan Ji was finally terrified; sheer horror filled her beautiful eyes. The phantom of a Thunder God manifested, yet Li Guanqi spoke with icy detachment: "World Annihilation!" Boom! The sword slashed down from the firmament toward the glacial earth. The glaciers shuddered as a pitch-black rift pierced clean through heaven and earth. Snow and ice whirled above the frozen ground, lightning screeched with piercing screams, and the shattered space retained terrifying remnants of sword intent and thunder. Two glaciers in a row were split clean down the middle, leaving a lightning-scarred trench over seven hundred zhang long and tens of zhang wide carved into the glacial earth. "Xuan Ji... is dead..." "So powerful... outrageously strong!" "Now it all comes down to whether we can leave." *Swish!* Suddenly! A blood-soaked silhouette of a graceful woman burst violently out of the void! Immediately afterward, a giant hand of spiritual light shot out in pursuit. Seeing this, Li Guanqi bellowed, "Pengluo!" *Tear!* The void tore open, and Pengluo grabbed Meng Wanshu in a swift yank, vanishing from the spot. At the same time, Li Guanqi and the others were all engulfed in a mysterious ripple, vanishing from their positions in an instant! His face drenched in blood, Xuan Zhèn stared blankly at all this in a stupor. And in his hand, he still held a massive severed head. "My daughter!" "No! Li Guanqi! I'll have your life!"