The moment Li Guanqi saw that hand, his scalp went completely numb, and every hair on his body stood on end!
An inexplicable terror seized his entire mind in a flash.
That irresistible dread froze him in his tracks.
Yet immediately afterward, a surge of hot blood rushed straight to his crown!
Boom!
A terrifyingly fierce battle intent, mingled with surging sword intent, soared straight into the clouds.
Beneath Li Guanqi's feet, the altar violently shattered and exploded outward from the soles of his boots, dense cracks spreading in all directions like a spiderweb.
Li Guanqi jammed his right hand hard into the barrier of the azure spirit bead. The flesh and blood on his fingers dissolved away, yet he did not retreat half a step.
At the same time, the sword in his left hand swept out horizontally!
"Apocalypse: World Annihilation!"
A dark shadow in the shape of a man slowly emerged from the void.
Tossing out an ancient seal with his left hand, the man murmured, "Qiankun Heaven-Suppressing Seal."
Buzz!
Ripples of golden halos drifted with Sanskrit runes, suppressing the heavens. The inscribed talisman on Li Guanqi's chest was snuffed out in an instant.
At that exact moment, the terrifying blood-red sword light crashed violently against the ancient seal.
Blinding light flashed incessantly; that terrifyingly formidable sword light was stopped cold by the ancient seal!
Clang! Boom!
The violent rumble was deafening.
Struggling desperately to support the spatial rift, Pengluo sprayed a mouthful of blood and was thrown backward.
"Pengluo!"
Pengluo's eyes flashed. His flying silhouette vanished into the void in an instant, and when he reappeared, he had clung directly to Li Guanqi's back.
With both arms wrapped around Li Guanqi's neck, an awe-inspiring pressure erupted.
Immediately afterward, the purple divine patterns of the Divine Pattern Heavenly Radish clan surfaced between Li Guanqi's brows.
The divine patterns blazed with dazzling radiance. Li Guanqi's eyes flickered as an inexplicably powerful force surged into his body.
Without hesitation, he pushed his cultivation technique, Divine Punishment, to its peak.
Boom!
The altar beneath his feet disintegrated completely. Li Guanqi's brows knitted sharply, his fierce visage resembling a wrathful Vajra.
Violent lightning erupted from within him as he pushed the power of the Thunder Lord to its limit, filling the void with crackling lightning.
His long hair whipped in the wind and his white robe billowed in midair. With his upper body dragonized, even his cheeks were covered in dragon scales.
His muscles swelled, and with the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art pushed to its absolute limit, the sheer physical might caused even the void to tremble slightly.
Pengluo's body transformed into a streak of light and entered Li Guanqi's forehead!
Li Guanqi's heart leaped. Pengluo's power was currently at its weakest; had Li Guanqi wished to seize the power of Pengluo's divine patterns, it would have been effortless.
What kind of trust could make Pengluo dedicate himself so selflessly...
The thought flashed through Li Guanqi's mind and vanished. His aura had soared straight to the late Mahayana realm!
And what was more... an exceptionally powerful one at that!
If anyone else had been present, they might have had the illusion that Nangong Xuandu himself had arrived.
Hardly hesitating, Li Guanqi slashed his sword toward his opponent like a phantasm!
Yet the other person merely conjured a milky-white spirit sword in hand. As their blades clashed repeatedly, Li Guanqi actually felt suppressed at every turn!
The shockwaves from their battle were suppressed entirely by the divine seal overhead. Space trembled and warped slightly, yet it still did not shatter.
Suddenly!
The opponent unleashed several consecutive slashes, all converging toward Li Guanqi's wrist.
A ruthless glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. Utterly disregarding the incoming sword light, he drove the Red Lotus straight toward his foe's head!
Trading an arm to take a life—it was an exchange he could afford!
The man cloaked entirely in black robes hadn't expected Li Guanqi to be so decisive. He raised a foot and kicked Lu Kangnian's body into midair.
How could Li Guanqi simply let him snatch Lu Kangnian away?
He unleashed tremendous spatial power, preventing the other party from seizing Lu Kangnian instantly.
Enveloped within the bead's spatial shroud, Lu Kangnian wore an anxious expression, completely unaware of what was happening.
Yet at that moment, the power devoured by the bead grew stronger and stronger.
It was not only the life force in his body, but also the immortal incense he had absorbed—everything was being completely drained!
Li Guanqi took just one glance, his face turning terrifyingly grim.
The opponent was clearly using Lu Kangnian as a vessel so that the power accumulated within the bead could ultimately be refined with ease.
Meanwhile, all the side effects and repercussions were borne entirely by Lu Kangnian!
"Guanqi! What is going on?!"
Boom!
Sword lights intertwined in a dazzling blur as a thunderous roar erupted. Li Guanqi and his adversary both fell back dozens of zhang, standing opposite one another.
Holding the Red Lotus in hand, Li Guanqi spoke at lightning speed within his mind.
"Sword Spirit, can I use only the power of the tip?"
"You mean... the fragment seized from Lu Wuhen?"
Li Guanqi said gravely, "Yes!"
"With Red Lotus's current divinity and level, it cannot break open that bizarre bead at all."
"In front of him, I don't want to expose your power. It seems the only way is to integrate the tip's power into Red Lotus!"
The sword spirit pondered for a brief moment before nodding in agreement, saying softly,
"Red Lotus won't be able to endure my power for long, but it shouldn't be a big problem. After this, nurturing it for a while will restore it."
Li Guanqi kept his eyes fixed firmly on the foe. From start to finish, the level of power displayed by his opponent seemed only around the peak Mahayana realm...
This was far different from the strength he had envisioned for the mastermind!
"Who are you?"
The black-robed man did not answer. He merely raised his head to look in Lu Kangnian's direction.
By now, more than half of Lu Kangnian's life force had drained away. The man slowly lowered his head to gaze at Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi licked his dry lips, his gaze still unable to see through the visage concealed beneath the black robe.
"What grand scheming. Laying plans for more than twenty years—just what are you trying to find on me?"
Even as his words fell, Li Guanqi had already begun quietly fusing the sword tip fragment of the sword spirit's true body into the Red Lotus.
The Red Lotus trembled slightly, as though enduring immense agony.
The other party had remained silent from the beginning. Just as Li Guanqi assumed he would never speak,
a raspy voice, unmistakably disguised, slowly sounded:
"What I want... you should know very well."
"Hand it over, and I will let you become an immortal—an existence second only to one, and above all others!"
Li Guanqi sneered and could not resist quipping, "So... your true body in the Immortal Realm is quite formidable?"
"Hmm... let me take a guess."
"Now that the power to summon others has been suppressed, the power inside Tu Shan must have been crushed by Ye Feng."
"Your plan to use Tu Shan to threaten the Sect Master's life has already failed."
"And returning to the matter between you and me..."
Li Guanqi stared fixedly into the darkness under the black robe, murmuring in an utterly resolute voice:
"Judging by my grandfather's methods, transmitting any message between the Human Spirit Realm and the Immortal Realm is likely no easy task."
"Especially for more powerful immortals in the Immortal Realm, and cultivators in the Human Spirit Realm beyond the Tribulation Transcendence realm!"
"For you lot... I imagine even the slightest movement would be detected, wouldn't it?"
"Were that not the case, you wouldn't be meeting me with only the power of the peak Mahayana realm."
"Therefore..."
"As long as I kill you before the Human-Immortal Realm Barrier breaks, you won't be able to deliver any word back to your true body!"
His hands hanging loose at his sides, the black-robed man tilted his head slightly toward Li Guanqi and could not help but sigh in admiration:
"You really are... very clever."
Chapter 1162