Cold qi surged crisscross as thunder roared.
The battle between the two had shifted from initial probing into an all-out clash.
*Whoosh!*
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
In an instant, the void trembled. Fissures spiderwebbed across the entire domain, as if it could no longer withstand the sheer force of their battle.
Half an hour later, the domain they had painstakingly constructed was utterly battered and ruined.
Both wore solemn expressions.
Meng Wanshu had not expected Li Guanqi's attainment in the sword dao to be so profound, nor that his repertoire would be so remarkably vast, encompassing all between heaven and earth.
Li Guanqi, meanwhile, had not anticipated that despite merely having accepted an inheritance, Meng Wanshu could so deftly wield numerous ice arts and divine abilities he had never even seen before.
*Bang!*
Li Guanqi smashed the ice cage enclosing him with a single punch, only to be met head-on by a chilling ray of sword light.
The biting cold lashed against his cheeks. Treading the void, he exerted force in an instant and dodged sideways, unleashing a flurry of backhanded slashes to cut off Meng Wanshu's advance.
Yet Meng Wanshu moved like a swimming fish, slipping right through that impenetrable web of sword light.
A terrifying arc of sword light slashed down instantly!
Li Guanqi frowned and raised his spiritual sword horizontally to block. In an instant, the weapon bore immense force alongside a terrifyingly bitter chill.
That primal energy sought to freeze the spiritual sword in Li Guanqi's hand.
Fortunately, as the Thunder Lord, how domineering was Li Guanqi's primal energy?
With a surge of primal energy along the blade, the chill was shattered.
From head to toe, both bore quite a few minor and major wounds.
Li Guanqi rapidly absorbed combat experience through the fight, while Meng Wanshu's progress was downright miraculous.
From being crushed by Li Guanqi at the start to standing on equal footing, it had taken her merely the time it took an incense stick to burn.
And by now, she was even faintly suppressing him!
*Swish!*
A cold flash grazed Li Guanqi's cheek and drove straight for his throat!
Li Guanqi pressed his sword toward the woman's neck.
Both froze and lowered their weapons, standing face to face.
Suddenly, smiles blossomed on their faces. Neither could deny how formidable the other was.
Looking at the shattered domain around them, Li Guanqi shrugged and said somewhat helplessly, "Seems I can't beat my own wife."
Hearing this, Meng Wanshu smiled faintly. Her peach-blossom eyes curved with amusement as she dissolved the ice sword in her hand. "What? You still want to hit me?"
Li Guanqi rubbed his nose sheepishly. After expelling the cold poison from his body, he murmured, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare."
Afterward, they tended to their injuries. As they flew shoulder to shoulder, Meng Wanshu knew that both had held back and hadn't fought with everything they had.
Unable to curb her curiosity, she asked, "If you went all out without holding anything back, how much stronger would you be than just now?"
Li Guanqi smiled at her, playfully keeping her in suspense. "How much difference do you think there is between a sword cultivator holding a sword and one without?"
Meng Wanshu furrowed her brows, pondering for quite a while before venturing an answer. "Fifteen percent?"
Li Guanqi shook his head. Perhaps for cultivators at their realm, having a sword or not didn't seem to make much difference.
However, Red Lotus was different, and his Sword Ruins was different.
Li Guanqi sent a voice transmission to the woman beside him:
"For me, holding a sword makes me at least thirty percent stronger than I was just now."
"Apart from Yanluo, Red Lotus is currently the only sword capable of withstanding the power of my Sword Ruins."
Meng Wanshu's pupils contracted sharply. She had not expected his sword to matter so much!
Though she had held back as well, she knew Li Guanqi possessed many exceptionally devastating sword forms and stances—some even surpassing Heaven rank cultivation techniques.
With a sigh, she realized that in terms of sheer strength, she was still no match for him.
Yet how could she know the tumultuous storm this battle had stirred in Li Guanqi's heart!
Li Guanqi's gaze was heavy as he murmured inwardly, *The present Wanshu is probably much stronger than even Xu Junlin!*
*With such terrifying ice power, even I found it troublesome when it invaded my body, let alone anyone else.*
*It seems that when Xuan Zhen and Xuan Zhèn fought earlier, things were far from peaceful...*
The more he thought about it, the more Li Guanqi felt that Meng Wanshu had held back many trump cards.
For instance... the Bingqi Divine Art!
He didn't believe Realm Lord Bingqi's sword art wasn't part of that inheritance. If the cultivation method was there, how could the sword art be missing?
Both carried their own thoughts, but that did not keep them from chatting and laughing together.
Over the next few days, they occasionally exchanged cultivation insights, each gaining fresh perspectives.
Their time together made the days feel slow and leisurely, and the emotional distance between them gradually softened.
At the very least, that initial estrangement was gone.
*Hum!*
Above a boundless expanse of vast mountains, clouds and mist drifted. From deep within the lush forests came occasional cries of birds and beasts.
In the distance, eighteen peaks were draped in mist, faintly discernible.
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, his heart sinking involuntarily. This place was very likely the location of a Heavenly Demon Hall branch!
Closing his eyes slightly, he soon caught a strange anomaly.
The Heavenly Demon Hall... had made no effort to conceal their tracks whatsoever!
If that were the case, why hadn't Guanyun Pavilion detected them?
At that moment, Li Guanqi suddenly realized what was happening!
Due to his unique constitution, he keenly perceived that the Eighteen Misty Peaks had been arranged by mighty means into a massive, concealed formation.
Ordinary formations usually had only one to three formation cores, while more advanced ones might have a few more.
Yet this formation possessed a staggering nine formation cores!
In his "sight," an extremely subtle spatial fluctuation rippled in the space ahead.
Within that invisible barrier swirled thick, wispy strands of demonic qi.
To the outside world, everything appeared ordinary, but in Li Guanqi's eyes, demonic qi raged to the heavens!
Seeing his expression, Meng Wanshu frowned. "What is it?"
Li Guanqi blinked, asking with a touch of perplexity, "You didn't sense it?"
Meng Wanshu extended her divine sense across ten li in an instant, then withdrew it and shook her head.
"There's nothing. Aside from some mid-grade spiritual herbs and plants, along with a few demonic beasts."
"Did you find something?"
Li Guanqi smiled, though his gaze gradually turned cold. Narrowing his eyes toward the distance, he murmured softly, "Of course. Some scoundrels are hiding right under our noses..."
As his voice fell, Li Guanqi's figure turned into an afterimage, appearing directly above the center of the Eighteen Misty Peaks in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, he unleashed a resonant sword cry that pierced straight into the heavens!
*Skreee!*
The Red Lotus Sword trembled slightly. A great storm churned in Li Guanqi's heart; he did not know whether he would see Ye Feng here.
He felt apprehensive, yet plagued by conflicting fears of loss and hope.
In an instant, dark clouds rolled across the previously cloudless sky. Thick, terrifying arcs of thunder flashed and leaped within the churning bank of clouds.
Li Guanqi snapped his eyes open, his gaze filled with frigid murderous intent.
Red Lotus in his hand flared with a crimson glow, and with a sweep of his arm, several terrifying rays of thunder sword light crashed down upon the towering central peak!
Chapter 1122