The man was astonished by Li Guanqi's sharp perception.
Moreover, he had believed his scheme was exceedingly well concealed.
Never did he expect Li Guanqi would notice, even tracing things all the way back to the time of Tu Shan!
Yet before he could speak, Li Guanqi's next words shocked him even more, causing him to drop all pretense and bare his killing intent without restraint!
Li Guanqi murmured in an ice-cold voice, "Cang Lu was likely your first test of me.
"Pity that in the end, he was still killed by me."
At this point, Li Guanqi could not help but let out a self-deprecating smile.
"Originally, I thought the person behind Gu Yong was someone else.
"Only recently did I realize that the one behind him had to be you as well—you simply adopted a different style on the board."
Li Guanqi's eyes glinted with a chilling gleam as he whispered coldly, "So... through the power of the Dayan Tianji Chart, what I saw was you! Not your true self!
"And through that glimpse, you still didn't find what you wanted on me.
"Whether Lu Tian or Youming, neither of them figured out what they were looking for until the day they died."
As Li Guanqi casually struck at his heart with each piercing remark, he clearly sensed the other's murderous intent mounting ever higher!
The black-robed man let out a long sigh and murmured in a grim voice, "You are truly remarkable.
"Your intellect and shrewdness have far exceeded my expectations. I never imagined you would see through so many of the contingencies I arranged."
Li Guanqi countered, "Actually, I'm curious about a few things...
"You repeatedly placed obstacles in my path and trapped me in death zones, yet you never thought of having Gu Yong kill me outright?
"Back then, Gu Yong possessed the strength to crush me utterly. Why didn't you have him strike and finish me?"
Yet the moment he asked, Li Guanqi answered himself:
"Could it be... you wanted to see how the person behind Lu Wuhen would react?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Guanqi clearly sensed a slight tremor in the man's aura.
"Heh, seems I guessed right...
"Even you are somewhat wary of them, aren't you? Or rather... you have no choice but to be wary of their clone's strength in the lower realm?"
By this point, the man's killing intent could hardly be contained.
Though he had already rated Li Guanqi's cunning highly, hearing him calmly lay bare so many secrets made him realize he had still underestimated him.
Perhaps... to force Li Guanqi to reveal his trump card, he would have to do it himself!
*Buzz!*
Fierce spatial fluctuations rippled outward in an instant. The void shuddered slightly as one black-robed figure after another, each exuding a formidable aura, strode out from cracks in the emptiness.
Every single one of these figures carried a presence at least at the Mahayana realm.
One after another, the figures twisted faintly and merged into the black-robed man's body. His aura skyrocketed madly, arriving at the terrifying realm of half-step Tribulation Transcendence in the blink of an eye.
Li Guanqi's eyes flashed. The sword in his hand suddenly erupted with an aura so horrifying that heaven and earth trembled!
Just beneath the tip of the Red Lotus sword, blood-red light seemed to churn.
The black-robed man's aura hitched abruptly, and even his movement of absorbing his clones froze.
Beneath the black cowl was the face of a handsome man with sword-like brows, starry eyes, and a deep gaze.
His pupils shrank to pinpricks. He had sensed what he had sought for so long!
The muscles in Li Guanqi's left arm tightened around the hilt, and without hesitation, he slashed multiple times in succession!
This time, terrifying sword qi instantly severed the void. Under the tremendous enhancement of Li Guanqi's current cultivation realm, even the black-robed man had to evade its edge!
*Crack!*
A series of crisp fractures rang out.
The bead sealing Lu Kangnian shattered on impact.
Under the enhancement of the sword spirit's true body fragment, even Red Lotus could barely bear that frightening power, let alone this bead.
The instant the bead broke apart, Li Guanqi gathered up all the shattered pieces—this was the capital for Lu Kangnian to break through to the Mahayana realm.
Without a word, he swept the worried-looking Lu Kangnian into his domain.
With a ferocious expression, he looked up at the man in the distance.
Lightning flared beneath his feet, and he shot forward like an arrow released from a bow!
The surrounding space had already been torn apart by Li Guanqi's three earlier strikes.
Beneath that sword light, the divine ancient seal possessed virtually no power left to suppress anything.
Red threads burst from Li Guanqi's blade, binding the ancient seal tightly.
In a flash, the red threads contracted. The dharma artifact—ranked even higher than a spirit treasure—shattered into countless pieces.
Robbed of the ancient seal's suppression, the surrounding space became exceedingly fragile.
The man took a deep look at Li Guanqi, turning to leave.
Having finally cornered the mastermind, how could Li Guanqi possibly let him slip away?
"Hmph! You showed up, and now you think you can just walk away?"
The man looked back with a sneer. "If I want to leave, you alone cannot stop me."
As the words fell, several clones attacked Li Guanqi simultaneously.
Yet the man failed to notice that a mysterious inscribed talisman had ignited once more.
*Buzz!*
Just as the man tore through the void and stepped inside, a blazing blood-red spear cloaked in terrifying spear brilliance burst out from the fissure!
His face grim and gaze piercing, Xiao Chen shot out from the void, gripping the spear with both hands.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
*Boom!*
The void cracked open as wild heavenly flame blanketed an area ten thousand zhang across!
Frowning slightly, the man shattered the spear brilliance with a flick of his sword. The immense force knocked Xiao Chen flying backward.
Yet the impact also forced the man back half a step.
A searing purple flame flashed in the corner of his eye.
Donning gauntlets, Cao Yan's eyes flared with blue-purple fire, frightening blue flames roaring all around his body.
His fists blurred into afterimages as he pounded toward the man!
The black-robed man's expression darkened. Shifting his footing back dozens of zhang, his sword traced countless afterimages, deflecting every single one of Cao Yan's strikes.
Not only that, even while parrying Cao Yan's fist barrage, he still had enough power to mount a counterattack.
Yet Cao Yan and Xiao Chen were not the only ones to arrive. Xu Junlin stepped up beside Xiao Chen, and the two flanked him from left and right.
Looking at the remaining three clones, Qin Wushang turned his head to Gu Li and murmured, "I'll take two, you take one."
Gu Li curled his lip and rolled up his sleeves...
Lining his two arms were over thirty storage bracelets.
Five of the bracelets shattered in an instant. A sea of inscribed talismans blanketed the void across a ten-li radius.
A raging wave of divine sense surged forth like a tidal bore. At the sight, Qin Wushang's mouth twitched and his pupils shrank.
If his calculations were correct, those five bracelets alone contained a full five hundred thousand inscribed talismans!
Then he looked at the ten storage rings on Gu Li's fingers...
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Guanqi plunged into the fray.
"Pin down the clones! Don't let him keep merging!"
Li Guanqi's expression turned ferocious as he experienced the overwhelming might of the sword spirit's true body fragment for the very first time.
"You bastard, I'm definitely keeping you here today!!"
Chapter 1163