The inscribed talismans burned, and in an instant, Xiao Chen and Cao Yan closed the distance by over a thousand zhang.
Yet over a thousand zhang still lay between them and the old man. Coming to his aid was already too late...
Right at that moment, scenes of the old man and him together flashed through Xiao Chen's mind.
Treating him to wine, chatting with him, softly warning him like an elder to guard against arrogance and rashness.
In that instant, Xiao Chen suddenly erupted!
Planting his feet, shattering the void beneath him, the God-Shooting Spear in his hand erupted with a dazzling, blinding red.
The Great Sky Haze Flame burst into blazing crimson tassels, and arcane blood-red patterns flickered along the shaft of the God-Shooting Spear.
Xiao Chen dropped into a horse stance right where he stood, feet rooted, torso twisting.
The muscles of his right arm gripping the spear bulged taut and corded as the surging power within his body poured tempestuously into the weapon.
The spear shaft trembled, emitting bursts of ringing hums.
"In all my years cultivating the Dao, if I can't even protect the people I care about..."
"...then what the hell am I cultivating for?!"
Boom!
With a throwing heave, Xiao Chen hurled the God-Shooting Spear!
Boom! Thud!
A piercing sonic boom rang out.
The long spear transformed into a crimson beam of bloody light, piercing through the void and shooting forward in an instant!
Scorching flames incinerated the void into a warped expanse.
Its speed reached the absolute extreme—to the naked eye, only a blurry red line flickered and was gone!
Cao Yan moved like a startled swan, pushing his body to its absolute limits to run neck and neck with the hurtling spear!
Gritting his teeth, Cao Yan said nothing. His feet shifted in an astral step, and the momentum in his fists grew even fiercer.
Light swirled across the Lone Sun Fist Armor, flickering incessantly as if feeling Cao Yan's fierce will.
Boom!
A blue-purple astral fist projection a hundred zhang across smashed toward one of the enemies in an instant!
Flames swirled within the astral fist, lightning crackling ceaselessly.
Just as the saber and sword were about to cleave into Sun Changlin's neck...
Thud!
Boom!
The man with the saber hadn't even reacted, his mind still immersed in the joy of being about to slay the old man.
A blood-red spear flashed by!
Bang!
His upper body instantly disintegrated into a cloud of bloody mist and minced flesh, leaving only his lower half to tumble into the void.
The sword of the other man had just pricked Sun Changlin's neck when, right before his eyes, his companion was reduced to half a body.
Immediately after, the astral fist erupted, and the man's body was blown to pieces on the spot!
On their way over, Li Guanqi, Meng Wanshu, and the others were thoroughly shocked by the sight.
Sun Changlin looked at the two of them with reddened eyes. Dizziness washed over him, and he pitched forward headfirst.
Suddenly!
Two large hands caught the unconscious old man.
Cao Yan said in a deep voice, "Pull him into your domain."
Xiao Chen nodded without the slightest hesitation. After pulling out a medicinal pill and feeding it to the old man, he tore open his domain and sent him inside.
At this moment, nearly all the cultivators stopped fighting.
Li Guanqi swept a quick glance around; very few cultivators remained behind them now.
One person, however, caught Li Guanqi somewhat by surprise.
Kong Ming!
The man who had once presented an immortal pill as a gift to Tang Ru!
Kong Ming was in a miserable state now. One eye, along with the eye socket, had been cleaved open by a sword.
His left hand was severed clean off, and the wounds covering his body were a mangled, bloody mess—a gruesome sight.
Yet when he felt Li Guanqi's gaze, he grinned.
"I said back then I didn't give that immortal pill to the wrong guy!"
"Damn it, if not for that fat bastard, I'd have bought the farm here today."
"If I make it out alive, tell him I'm buying him drinks!"
Not only him—Ye Mohan was even more heavily wounded.
He had harbored a death wish to begin with, and had already killed six enemies.
Seeing that everyone else was in similar shape, each severely wounded...
Li Guanqi looked up at the enemies a hundred zhang away. Nearly a hundred remained...
Of the thirty colossal thunder gates, seven had now been destroyed.
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth and made a decision that shocked everyone!
First, he looked at his sworn brothers and transmitted his voice softly:
"Six against a hundred. Any confidence?"
The brothers' pupils shrank...
Yet when they looked back at the crowd behind them, they understood why Li Guanqi was doing this.
These people had virtually no combat capability left.
Staying here any longer would only be throwing their lives away...
Even if they managed to kill some foes, it would amount to dragging a few down with them at most.
The brothers turned back to Li Guanqi and nodded slightly.
Having received their response, Li Guanqi stepped in front of everyone, raised his hand, tore open the void, and opened his domain.
Taking a deep breath, his emotions were conflicted.
He knew that this decision was equivalent to thrusting the few of them into absolute peril.
Yet he did not want any more senseless deaths.
Perhaps to them, these people were merely strangers, names they had never known.
Yet... they too had struggled for hundreds or thousands of years just to ascend to the Immortal Realm.
Compared to him and his brothers, their desire to ascend was even stronger.
Yet for the living beings of the Human Spirit Realm, they had chosen to suppress their desires and wills to fight to this point.
With a slight tremor in his voice, Li Guanqi spoke:
"Everyone, enter my domain."
Ye Mohan, looking half-mad with disheveled hair, suddenly jerked his head up!
A sliver of clarity returned to his bloodshot eyes.
In a hoarse voice, Ye Mohan said, "If we leave, you're courting death."
Kong Ming frowned deeply and said in a grave voice, "No! There are still so many enemies left. If we leave, you won't be able to hold out!"
"If we die, we die together!"
"Having us flee without a fight, dumping everything onto the shoulders of you juniors..."
"I, Kong Ming, cannot do that!"
As his words fell, Li Guanqi saw that the people behind him remained completely motionless; clearly, not one of them wanted to be a deserter.
Deeply touched, Li Guanqi spoke softly, "We will buy you time to recover from your wounds. Leave it to us."
"Only when your injuries are healed can you better assist us."
"Senior Hong Zhi and the others are striving out there in the Six Domains right now."
"All the more reason we must hold the Fourth Domain."
At these words, Kong Ming's eyes wavered. He looked back at the others and saw that their injuries were dire.
In such relentless, fierce combat, even breathing was a luxury, let alone finding a chance to recover from injuries.
In the end, Kong Ming gritted his teeth and took the first step into the domain.
Looking back at the others, he urged in a deep voice, "Guanqi is right! If you're not resigned to this, hurry up, heal your wounds, and kill the enemy!"
After he finished, the others exchanged glances and darted into the domain one after another.
And inside Li Guanqi's domain, medicinal pools, spirit stones, and other resources were already prepared.
Ye Mohan did not move.
Seeking death anyway, he murmured softly, "Count me in. Seven is better than six."
His gaze unconsciously swept over Ye Feng and the others.
Tears seemed to glisten incessantly in his eyes.
Looking at them, he couldn't help thinking of his own sworn brothers.
Li Guanqi shook his head, his gaze toward Ye Mohan deeply conflicted.
"They... must have told you to ascend and become an immortal, to see the Immortal Realm on their behalf."
"To go up there on their behalf and hurl a curse or two at all those immortals."
Chapter 1302