The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly upward. The brothers exchanged glances, and a burst of hearty laughter erupted among them!
From this moment forth, not a shred of estrangement remained among the six brothers.
Back before they had officially sworn their brotherhood, there had always been awkward or slightly uneasy moments between them.
Now, Tang Ru had broken through to the Mahayana realm, narrowing the gap between himself and the others.
Moreover… this sworn brotherhood ceremony had been far more formal and solemn than the one they had held years ago.
Tang Ru's and Gu Li's eyes were rimmed with red. Among them all, perhaps they were the two who cared most deeply about this.
They were newcomers, plagued by worries that the others might never truly accept them or harbor lingering misgivings.
As the heavenly phenomena gradually faded, Li Guanqi's gaze swept over their faces, and he spoke softly.
"From now on, we are family. If anything comes up between brothers, don't keep secrets or bottle things up. We are each other's closest kin!
"Never worry that you're troubling anyone.
"On the contrary, whenever you need help, the very first people you should turn to are us!"
Hearing this, the group nodded in unison. An unspoken bond seemed to draw all of their hearts firmly together.
Yet just as their emotions were surging, Gu Li suddenly raised a hand and said weakly, "Um… my fine brothers, your Sixth Brother really does have a small favor to ask!"
The moment the words left Gu Li's mouth, the cultivation chamber went dead silent!
Just as Gu Li assumed they were waiting for him to elaborate, an overwhelming flurry of hands clamped tightly over his mouth!
Ye Feng was the first to roar in pure horror, "Shut up! Not another word!"
Xiao Chen and Cao Yan each pinned down one of Gu Li's arms.
Even Li Guanqi pressed down on Gu Li, holding a hand over his mouth!
There was no helping it…
Who didn't know what Gu Li was plotting right now?
He definitely wanted his brothers to act as guinea pigs so he could test his Forced Conception Talismans.
However…
No matter what, every single one of them cared about their dignity. Besides, this was the Immortal Burial Realm.
There was no way they were going to head up above with swollen bellies to fight to the death against Immortal Realm cultivators!
If it really came to that, their opponents wouldn't even need to strike—they would probably die of laughter on the spot…
After a long while, Gu Li gave a helpless shake of his head, and only then did the others release him.
With his hair in disarray, Gu Li lay sprawled on the ground, muttering with a face full of despair.
"We just swore brotherhood, and you said to turn to our elder brothers when facing trouble…
"Yet when little brother actually comes to his big brothers, you don't seem very willing at all.
"Sigh… I don't blame you, brothers. It's my fault for thinking I could count on you.
"Now it seems little brother was overthinking things and causing trouble for his brothers…"
Ye Feng's mouth twitched. Turning to a helpless-looking Li Guanqi, he couldn't help grumbling, "How did I never notice this kid was so passive-aggressive before?"
Cao Yan and Xiao Chen shuddered with disgust, and even Tang Ru cast a look of utter revulsion at Gu Li.
"Uh… Old Six, you couldn't possibly be into men, could you?"
The moment those words dropped, the entire room fell dead quiet.
Gu Li bolted straight up from the floor.
"Fatty Tang! You're the one who likes men!"
Yet with a sudden change of thought, Gu Li feigned an exaggeratedly delicate and effeminate air. Pulling down his collar, he exposed a pale shoulder.
Pinching his fingers into an orchid gesture, he cast a sultry, flirtatious glance at Tang Ru.
"Brother Tang~ you look quite handsome like this right now~"
"Blech…"
"That's just repulsive…"
With a grave expression, Li Guanqi turned to look at Ye Feng, nodding as he said in a low voice, "Should we reconsider this carefully? I don't think he's pretending."
Ye Feng nodded in solemn agreement.
"I really don't think he's pretending either."
Seeing that the two highest-ranking elder brothers had spoken, Gu Li yanked his robes back up in a flash.
Dropping into a knee slide right before them, he grabbed their legs and wailed, "Don't, please! It was a joke! I was acting! I swear I was just acting!"
The others burst into uproarious laughter.
Li Guanqi cleared his throat twice. Watching the brothers revel in their laughter, he spoke softly.
"All right, come sit over here. I have something important to discuss!"
At once, everyone reined in their playful demeanor and gathered in a circle.
Inside the quiet chamber, not a single person spoke.
Li Guanqi laid down several restrictive barriers one after another. Not stopping there, he simply shifted everyone directly into his Sword Prison.
Their expressions shifted slightly. None of them knew what monumental matter Li Guanqi wanted to discuss that warranted such extreme caution!
Li Guanqi swept his divine sense through the storage ring, unable to keep from marveling at what Su Xuan had left him.
This time, even Ye Feng frowned slightly, feeling that Li Guanqi was being overly cautious.
Li Guanqi spoke in a solemn voice, "I don't want anyone to know about what comes next!"
Everyone nodded. When it came to matters of discretion, they knew their boundaries.
Li Guanqi took a deep breath and looked toward Cao Yan, Xiao Chen, and the others.
"Among you… right now, the one with the lowest spiritual root should be Tang Ru."
Tang Ru looked rather embarrassed upon hearing this.
A heavenly spiritual root was an aptitude that core disciples in countless sects and clans could only dream of.
Yet within their small group, it could only be considered the weakest!
And yet, Tang Ru had reached his present heights precisely on the back of this supposedly 'weakest' heavenly spiritual root.
The others looked at Tang Ru without the slightest change in their regard.
Even if Tang Ru was still the same Fatty Tang today—even if his strength and realm were several levels below theirs—they would treat him as an absolute equal.
Tang Ru sighed and silently lowered his head.
He possessed a Metal-attribute heavenly spiritual root, which made his innate talent the lowest among the brothers.
"Gu Li, you have a King Grade spiritual root, correct?"
Gu Li was taken aback, then gave an astonished nod.
"Cao Yan already has a Saint Grade spiritual root, while Xiao Chen has a King Grade spiritual root.
"However, Cao Yan has a mutated Fire-attribute spiritual root, so his cultivation speed is decent.
"Xiao Chen, with your dual Wind-and-Fire King Grade spiritual root, your talent is among the strongest here."
Had this been in the past, Xiao Chen's personality would have led him to show off a little.
Now, however, he looked somewhat abashed upon hearing Li Guanqi's words and said in a subdued tone, "Yet my cultivation realm hasn't pulled ahead of Second Brother and Third Brother."
Li Guanqi smiled faintly. The current Xiao Chen was far more mature and steady than before.
Taking a deep breath, Li Guanqi did not bring up Ye Feng.
That was because Ye Feng's spiritual root had already been elevated to Saint Grade years ago thanks to the item gifted by Long Hou.
Back then, Cao Yan's talent had also been elevated to King Grade with Long Hou's assistance.
Just as everyone wondered what he was getting at,
Li Guanqi suddenly produced four radiant, swirling orbs of spiritual light!
The instant the four luminous masses appeared, the spiritual qi within Li Guanqi's Sword Prison surged like a raging torrent, boiling into a frenzy!
The pupils of Tang Ru, Gu Li, and the others contracted to needlepoints!
Staring in sheer disbelief at the objects before them, Xiao Chen felt his throat go bone-dry.
Pointing at the radiant spheres, he stammered incredulously, "This is…"
Chapter 1224