"Heh, that truly is a marvelous technique."
"Only..."
"How many more times can you cast something like that?"
A playful smirk played across Youming's face, his gaze sweeping over them as though looking at trapped beasts within a cage.
He was not arrogant, yet an amused contempt inevitably lingered.
From the very beginning, he had fought with all his might, and in his eyes, their attacks were utterly pathetic.
Youming looked up at the terrifying thunderclouds churning across the firmament—clouds the world had never witnessed before. There was not the slightest fear in his eyes, only uncontrollable excitement!
"Ten thousand years... A full ten thousand years has passed since anyone ascended to the Immortal Realm."
"Today is the day I, Youming, ascend! No one can stop me!"
As he spoke, Youming's gaze turned chillingly cold.
By now, Li Guanqi had already been struck from his list of suspects.
If Li Guanqi truly were the person the Upper Realm sought, Youming refused to believe he could still hold back any trump card under Lu Tian's oppressive assault.
Including... now!
Boom!
The aura exclusive to the Tribulation Transcendence realm erupted in full force!
Under this staggering pressure, breathing became excruciatingly difficult for everyone, and even lifting an arm required a monumental struggle.
The absolute suppression of cultivation realms ground the circulation of primal energy within their bodies to a halt.
Only Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu could still force their primal energy to flow, though it was sluggish in the extreme.
Everyone's faces tightened as the stench of death descended upon them, thick and inescapable.
In the distance, the man stepping slowly onto the Immortal Ascension Platform raised his sword high. Terrifying demonic qi and blood-red light surged and recoiled incessantly along the blade.
Frightful sword qi ran rampant through the void, casting an overwhelming pall of dread over their hearts.
Such power was no longer something they could hope to withstand.
Li Guanqi urgently asked, "Pengluo! How is it going!"
Having reverted to his true form, Pengluo was currently wedged halfway inside a spatial rift.
Yanking himself free, his face flushed red with desperate anxiety. "I... I can't break through the space here! It's too solid!"
With the choking aura of death enveloping them, Li Guanqi's face darkened. Gritting his teeth, he shattered every purple gold crystal on his person.
A thick torrent of spiritual energy formed a rushing river, swiftly absorbed by the group.
Jiuxiao's draconic eyes flashed. He closed them for an instant as furious thunderous power sparked along his horns, followed by a metallic sheen rippling across every scale of his body.
His golden slitted pupils cast a deep look back at Li Guanqi. Then, rearing his colossal form upright, Jiuxiao slammed himself violently into the void!
Thud!
"Jiuxiao!"
"Brother Jiu!"
With that single impact, heaven and earth trembled. The void warped violently, threatening to shatter under the staggering force at any moment.
The scales at the center of Jiuxiao's forehead burst apart, and dark golden blood seeped from the wound.
Yet Jiuxiao seemed entirely oblivious to the pain. Rearing high once more, his horns erupted with dazzling purple lightning as he hurled himself against the void a second time!
Thud!
A deafening roar tore through the air, and the warping distortion of the void widened further.
A flash of heartache swept through Li Guanqi's eyes. In tacit understanding, the others struck simultaneously.
The moment Jiuxiao slammed into the void once more, every one of them attacked with everything they possessed.
Youming watched the spectacle with indifferent detachment. With a slight hook of his finger, crimson light flooded the void.
The warping, twisted space instantly smoothed back into stillness.
The power gathered within his sword was already enough to wipe out every living soul within this domain.
"Enough. All of you can die now."
"I've had my fill of playing cat and mouse..."
"You will be the last lives I take before I ascend."
Before his voice even faded, his sword traced an unfathomably profound arc and plunged downward with cataclysmic force!
In an instant, an overwhelming pressure pinned them all in place, rendering them unable to move a muscle. Their primal energy froze, leaving them to watch helplessly as the sword light descended upon them!
Li Guanqi did not hesitate for a second to call upon the sword spirit!
Compared to exposing her existence, he was far less willing to watch anyone beside him perish!
Over all these years, everyone had bled and fought desperately just to bring Ye Feng back and reunite like this.
If they died here...
He would never allow such a thing to happen!
Li Guanqi's chest heaved slightly. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes, resolve set in stone.
"Sword spirit, help me!"
Within the sword coffin space, the sword spirit merely lifted her gaze and glanced toward the distant Immortal Ascension Platform.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, she gave a firm nod. Parting her fine lips, she spoke with calm composure.
"Very well!"
Clearly, she too was prepared to expose herself.
Simply because Li Guanqi had asked.
Yet just as she took a step forward, she drew back her foot, her eyes flickering as she turned her head toward a certain direction.
By now, the horrifying sword light had already engulfed everyone in its shadow.
Li Guanqi shouted in desperation, "Sword spirit!"
Watching the lethal strike bear down upon them without the power to move even their primal energy or divine sense, the rest could only await their deaths.
Even Meng Wanshu could only force up her primal energy to erect layer upon layer of frost barriers before them.
Yet they all knew full well that such defenses could never halt that sword light.
Suddenly!
A pair of small hands pressed firmly against Li Guanqi's back.
Right after, intricate purple divine patterns surfaced across Li Guanqi's brow!
In an instant, Li Guanqi's primal energy surged like a raging torrent.
Immediately after, Jiuxiao flashed beneath his feet, rearing high and glaring forward with blazing fury.
Feeling the surging power coursing through his veins, Li Guanqi gripped Red Lotus tightly and charged straight ahead rather than retreating, meeting the incoming sword head-on!
With the full power of his Sword Ruins unleashed, sword intent soared to the heavens, and a blood-red phantom materialized behind him.
"Boundless: Sword Prison!"
The Thunder Scabbard emitted an agonized crack. Li Guanqi's sea of consciousness was nearly drained hollow in that single instant, and his primal energy followed suit.
Pushing the third layer of Divine Punishment to its absolute limit, dragon scales covered his upper body, and the blood vitality within him roared.
The Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art reached its pinnacle peak.
"Red Lotus: Asura World Annihilation!"
Boom!
A blood-red beam of lightning sword light slashed outward in a flash. A flicker of surprise crossed Youming's eyes, but it was merely surprise and nothing more.
Boom! Crack!
Pfft!
Li Guanqi's pinnacle strike shattered in an instant. The crimson sword light surged forward unabated; even Jiuxiao's thunderous breath, charged with destructive might, failed to impede it in the slightest.
Jiuxiao threw his body into the path of the blow. Had Li Guanqi not kicked him aside in the nick of time, the dragon would have been severed clean in two.
The sword carved a gruesome, horrific wound across Li Guanqi's body.
The gash stretched from his chin all the way down to his lower abdomen, cutting so deep that bone showed through mangled flesh, stark white ribs exposing ruptured internal organs.
Youming flashed into view, planting his foot squarely upon Li Guanqi's head. But just as he raised his sword to finish him off—
Heaven and earth shuddered. The void convulsed, and the domain was forcibly torn asunder.
A man's deep, resonant voice slowly echoed in everyone's ears.
"A mere ant... yet you dare dream of becoming an immortal?"
Chapter 1146