Ye Feng, Mo Da!

Meng Wanshu's delicate brows knit slightly. Just as she was about to step forward, Li Guanqi held her back. "I can stop him." Li Guanqi shook his head and murmured, "There are more behind him." Hearing this, Meng Wanshu's pupils contracted. Only then did she sense several auras lurking hungrily in the surroundings. She took a deep look at Li Guanqi. His perception had become extraordinarily sharp... Watching the rift on the verge of fading away, Li Guanqi muttered under his breath, his voice ultimately reaching Zhuang Yan's ears. "I will kill every last one of you, one by one." Within the void, Zhuang Yan's lips curved faintly upward. He replied softly, "Heh. I'll be waiting." *Buzz!* Heaven and earth returned to silence, leaving only a river of blood flowing among the corpses scattered across the mountains. Meng Wanshu lightly tapped the ground with the tip of her foot. A terrifying surge of frost instantly froze all the corpses and mountain peaks completely! "Have your people come investigate later." Li Guanqi nodded, his eyes glinting as he said in a low voice, "Let's go first." Reaching out to tear open space, the two stepped into the void and sped away. Looking at Li Guanqi, who had closed his eyes to focus his perception, Meng Wanshu felt a sudden realization. *Could it be... he left a hidden measure inside the man's divine soul?* Indeed, it was just as Meng Wanshu suspected. From the moment the enemy called for help, Li Guanqi had anticipated that someone would come to retrieve him. That was why he had not rushed into a soul search at the very start, choosing instead to plant a wisp of a lightning mark within Mu Congyi's divine soul! From beginning to end, that fellow was never Li Guanqi's true objective. Even killing him held no real meaning. He had only one goal: to find Ye Feng! Sure enough, Zhuang Yan had arrived! The intruder had "gotten his wish" and carried off Mu Congyi's divine soul. Given how formidable Mu Congyi's strength was, the Heavenly Demon Hall would certainly not allow Li Guanqi to kill him and suffer the loss of a major general. Li Guanqi still remembered that when Lu Tian reappeared back then, his realm had not been particularly high—merely around early Mahayana. Yet now, he had managed to nurture subordinates to such heights. Judging by the information Mu Congyi had revealed, the current Ye Feng was likely extraordinarily powerful, yet he still retained his memories! That was good news... Meng Wanshu could sense the anxiety radiating from Li Guanqi. He was genuinely nervous. A jade hand slipped into his palm. Li Guanqi opened his eyes to look at the woman beside him, immediately understanding her feelings. Calming his agitated heart, Li Guanqi forced his emotions into composure. "I'm fine." "Mm. I'm with you." "Yes!" After an unknown amount of time, the two crossed two domains and arrived in the Daochan Domain! Li Guanqi's brow furrowed tightly. Could the branch Zhuang Yan belonged to actually be situated in the Daochan Domain? When passing through the Luoxia Domain, Li Guanqi had clearly sensed that the other party had not paused for even an instant. Separated by a thousand li, Li Guanqi dared not draw too close, yet he could not fall too far behind either. Once the distance exceeded a thousand li, even he would struggle to perceive the lightning mark he had left behind. Daochan Domain, Xiantu Cliff. Located in the Western Region of the Daochan Domain, it was encircled by several mountain ranges—a barren expanse overgrown with withered peaks and jagged rocks, where spiritual energy was exceedingly scarce. Even demonic beasts rarely appeared here; it was an utterly desolate wasteland. Beside a chasm of ten thousand zhang, legend had it that someone had once ascended to the Immortal Realm here, earning it the name Xiantu, a homophone for "the path to immortality." When Li Guanqi arrived, he likewise sensed faint demonic qi permeating the air. In his perception, the target's presence had vanished right at Xiantu Cliff. Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu changed into black robes, concealed their auras, and hid atop a towering peak. This time, Li Guanqi did not intend to alert the enemy. He planned to lie low for a while and see if an opportunity to infiltrate arose. Thus, Li Guanqi concealed himself within the void interlayer with immense patience. Before long, however, Li Guanqi's expression changed abruptly! "What happened?" Meng Wanshu asked with a frown. Li Guanqi took a deep breath. With his eyes closed, he spoke in bewilderment. "Mu Congyi's soul... was crushed..." Li Guanqi's heart sank inch by inch. It seemed that in Lu Tian's eyes, these so-called Seven Heavenly Demon Scions were not irreplaceable after all! Yet he had no idea that the one who destroyed Mu Congyi's divine soul was not Lu Tian, but... Ye Feng! "Mo Da! What is the meaning of this?! Why did you kill the third brother?!" "Give me a reason!" Seated in the primary seat, the black-robed man slowly raised his head. His face was covered in a crisscross of whip scars. Crimson eyes stared at Zhuang Yan, while his hand held the soul fragments left behind by the shattered divine soul. The one-armed man had grizzled hair, its disheveled strands veiling his brows and eyes. He slowly looked up at Zhuang Yan, his voice somewhat hoarse. "A reason?" *Bang!* Zhuang Yan's body flew backward like a blur of afterimages, snapping several thick stone pillars in midair before finally halting. *Spurt!* Zhuang Yan hunched like a boiled shrimp and dropped to his knees, blood gushing violently from his mouth. Ye Feng lifted his gaze and stared coldly at him, then extracted a strand of lightning from the shattered soul fragments. His expression remained impassive, his eyes devoid of any emotional ripple. Looking at Zhuang Yan, he said chillingly, "Fool." At this point, everyone present understood what had happened. The remaining four men fell silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to utter a single word. Clearly, Zhuang Yan had been used by Li Guanqi. Ye Feng slowly rose to his feet and said icily, "Relocate. Right now, Li Guanqi is very likely waiting right outside." Zhuang Yan turned deathly pale. Even though he had found traces of information about Li Guanqi in Mu Congyi's divine soul, he still found it hard to believe that Li Guanqi had truly trailed him all the way from the Xuanmen Domain to Xiantu Cliff! "He couldn't have followed me! I was being careful the entire time!" Ye Feng did not reply, merely shaking his head in disdain. He sneered mercilessly, "You still understand him far too little." "You returned alive not because he feared you due to the presence of the other protectors." "Rather... you simply weren't worth killing. Coming back here, on the other hand, made you useful." Ye Feng slowly raised a blackened arm. With a wave of his hand, a light screen materialized before everyone. Right then, Li Guanqi's entire body tensed outside. With a flick of his hand, a beam of sword light slashed toward the void behind him! A speck of spiritual light detonated. Li Guanqi snapped to his feet and barked, "Strike! They've found me!" Seeing Li Guanqi's decisive strike on the screen, the others finally realized the mistake Zhuang Yan had made. As for Ye Feng... From start to finish, he seemed to view all of this as entirely expected. Or perhaps... Li Guanqi's place in Ye Feng's heart was just like Ye Feng's place in Mu Congyi's heart—or perhaps even higher! Ye Feng said chillingly, "Prepare to relocate the branch." "Furthermore... prepare to fight to the death..." The others hurriedly voiced their agreement. Ye Feng turned and walked toward the rear hall. Yet the moment he turned his back, those dull, lifeless eyes of his could not help but glisten with tears, his rims faintly reddening.