Li Guanqi Turns the Tide!

Incessant rumbling echoed between heaven and earth as a thick stench of blood drifted through midair. The taste of copper filled Li Guanqi's mouth. Even so, he continued to hold something back. Just like his opponent, he would not resort to certain trump cards unless pushed to the absolute brink. Raising his arm, he gripped Red Lotus horizontally across his chest, his eyes fixed warily upon the other man. The scarred-face cultivator's appearance had undergone an earth-shattering transformation, his presence overwhelmingly oppressive. In an instant, his aura breached the boundary into the early Tribulation Transcendence Realm. The suffocating pressure from earlier surged even more violently. The entire battlefield was smothered beneath the man's aura. In that breath, the power atop the three colossal gates on the horizon erupted, their formidable suppressing might perfectly counterbalancing the man's crushing pressure. This allowed many cultivators of the Seventh Domain to breathe a secret sigh of relief. With Tang Ru and Gu Li bolstering them, the Seventh Domain's disadvantage was gradually being leveled. Now... everything hinged on the clash between Li Guanqi and the scarred man. Li Guanqi was not worried about Ye Feng and Meng Wanshu in the slightest. Both of them were extraordinarily powerful now. All he had to do was focus every ounce of his attention on the man before him. "Aaaargh!" A roar tore from the man's throat—not resembling anything human, but rather like the howl of a feral beast! Suddenly! The scarred man's screech grew shriller and was laced with excruciating agony. Spurt! Blood sprayed into the air as golden bones resembling the three-segmented walking legs of a spider burst straight through the flesh of his ribcage! Two sprouted on each side. The four spider legs were still coated in shredded flesh and fresh blood. The golden arachnid limbs gleamed with a metallic sheen, their needle-sharp tips utterly chilling to behold. Li Guanqi did not move. He watched the man hovering in midair with his head hanging low, his disheveled hair draped wildly as he panted in ragged gasps. The sword spirit's voice rang out in Li Guanqi's mind, speaking in a rapid cadence. "The Abyssal Red-Gold Spider, a rank-one Gu!" "It allows the user to break through the suppression of worldly rules and briefly elevate their strength for the span of an incense stick." Li Guanqi kept his guarded gaze locked on his foe, asking solemnly, "I can already feel it..." "With such terrifying power granted by this Gu, what is the price? Does it have any weaknesses?" The sword spirit narrowed her eyes and replied heavily, "Its weakness... lies in the abdomen of its true body!" "However, once fused with a cultivator, that abdomen is concealed, making it virtually impossible to strike." "On top of that, the defensive power of this type of Gu is extraordinarily high." "As for the price... after that incense stick burns down, even if he doesn't die, his realm will plunge to the third layer of Mystic Immortal upon returning to the Immortal Realm! It costs a penalty of at least six minor layers!" Hearing this, Li Guanqi closed his eyes slightly, instantly feeling an inexplicable weight pressing down on him. From what the sword spirit said, the Gu possessed almost no exploitable flaw, save for the exorbitant cost! "Phew..." Exhaling a long breath of turbid air, Li Guanqi suddenly caught the sharp sounds of rushing wind tearing through the sky beside his ears! "Sword Venerable! We have come to assist you!" "Young Friend Li, lead the assault; we shall support you from the flanks!" "This foe is far too powerful. You must take great care, young friend!" One silhouette after another forcefully broke away from their own skirmishes. Others took on staggering pressure to step in and intercept their abandoned adversaries! In the Seventh Domain, where casualties were already catastrophic, the few survivors had actually managed to divert three late Mahayana realm experts to his side! A tremor rippled through Li Guanqi, and an inexplicable surge of hot blood rushed straight to the crown of his head! All three elders were gravely wounded, their haggard faces smeared with blood, yet the determination in their eyes remained unshakeable! Li Guanqi even caught the fleeting glint of resolve to embrace death within their gazes! He froze. *Have they... already prepared to sacrifice their lives...?* In that fleeting instant, Li Guanqi realized that the cultivators of the Seventh Domain harbored an instinctive, protective duty toward the younger generation. That feeling... It was as if elders were willing to lay down their lives so their juniors could live! It was as though... here in the Seventh Domain, young people like them were meant to be shielded behind their backs! Right then, however, the distant scarred man slowly lifted his head. A fierce gust blew past. From beneath his tangled locks, eight crimson blood-eyes fixed upon the three elders, a sudden surge of murderous intent flashing across them! Swish! The scarred man vanished on the spot, without triggering even the faintest spatial fluctuation! He simply disappeared into thin air, utterly soundless. Suddenly! The man abruptly materialized behind a grey-robed elder. By the time the elder reacted, four razor-sharp spider legs had already splayed wide, thrusting viciously down toward his back! A chill swept down the elder's spine as the suffocating stench of death instantly enveloped him. "Old Wu!" "Behind you, watch out!" Several rays of sword light shot forth in an instant, but the scarred man did not even turn his head, simply condensing Geng Metal power behind his back to block them. With a twisted, hideous sneer, the scarred man was already picturing the scene of the elder's head severed from his body. Clang! Just as Wu Qingshan steeled his resolve to detonate his own core and inflict severe wounds upon the enemy, a hand tapped down hard against his dantian, abruptly halting the circulating primal energy primed for self-destruction. From the corner of his vision, the elder caught a brief glimpse of Li Guanqi's resolute face flashing past. An irresistible, colossal force seized him, hurling his body several hundred zhang away in the blink of an eye! Clang! The four spider legs were parried square-on by the crimson longsword! Boom! The horrifying impact shattered the surrounding void. With his upper torso clad in dragon scales, Li Guanqi's physical strength was operating at its absolute peak, and he did not yield an inch against that tremendous force. A frosty voice drifted slowly into the man's ear. "Your opponent is me." "Heh... hehehehe!" "Just you?" An eerie, deranged cackle spilled from the man's lips, his eight bloody eyes flickering with madness. Wielding his sword in his right hand, the man instantly condensed a golden spiritual sword in his left. Strange golden runes pulsed along the four spider legs extending from his ribs, enveloping them in a sheath of radiant golden light. A terrifying blast of golden energy rippled outward in all directions, rolling toward Li Guanqi with the crushing weight of towering mountains. Within ten thousand zhang of the surrounding void, virtually no one else dared to remain. The clash between these two had far exceeded their level; it was not a battle that anyone else could intervene in. Lifting his blade, Li Guanqi murmured softly, "Apocalypse: Red Lotus!" The sword spirit's voice sounded slowly in his mind. "Have Pengluo assist you. And... unleash your cultivation method to the fullest!" Li Guanqi nodded silently. The lightning primal energy inside him roared and surged through his meridians, circulating wildly along an extraordinarily profound pathway. In a flash, the jade crown atop Li Guanqi's head shattered. His long hair billowed in the wind, and his pristine white robes whipped violently in the air. Endless power of lightning descended from the heavens! Boom! The fourth layer of the Divine Punishment cultivation method—the Released Void Realm! Under a 1.5-fold enhancement, Li Guanqi's muscles bulged tautly, and his meridians strained beneath the immense pressure. Boom! Pengluo rolled his eyes in exasperation. In the blink of an eye, mysterious crimson-tinged markings spread outward from Li Guanqi's glabella! At this moment, Li Guanqi's countenance resembled that of a Wrathful Vajra, the cryptic markings lending him an extraordinarily ferocious aura! The two men's auras soared straight into the clouds, their presence so staggering that even the battlefield of the Third Domain could faintly sense the terrifying surge of Li Guanqi's might!