Clashed with Nangong?

Standing atop Guanyun Pavilion, Li Guanqi wore a grave expression. A man capable of enduring thousands of years over the hatred of being banished from his sect... Li Guanqi found it hard to imagine the sheer endurance and patience of such a person. Someone like that had to be killed in a single blow, given not the slightest breathing room! And yet... could a man who had vanished for seven whole millennia truly be acting purely out of hatred for the sect? Li Guanqi shook his head. He did not know the man's true objective. His mind replayed everything that had happened. The other party had gone to great lengths to return the corpse of a sect disciple. Moreover, he had included a message, openly declaring his identity and stating he had come for vengeance. Revenge was all too common in the cultivation world. Even if other clans and sects learned of it, they wouldn't think anything was out of the ordinary; after all, seeking vengeance was as common as could be. Yet Li Guanqi could not shake the feeling that something was amiss. Li Guanqi lowered his head, rubbing his chin, his fingers moving lightly in the air as if playing a game of chess. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him! Since the other party had exposed himself voluntarily and stepped out of the shadows, everything would leave a trail. Li Guanqi murmured under his breath, "Revealing his identity was backed by immense strength." "Sending back the corpse... was a warning to the Sect Master not to act rashly, since he still has so many disciples in his hands." "Yet what is his purpose in doing this?" Li Guanqi's face gradually darkened. "He didn't storm the gates outright despite his overwhelming power. Could he be wary of something?" "Is that why he had to resort to threatening the lives of the sect's disciples?" At this thought, the corners of Li Guanqi's lips curled up slightly. "It seems... he has an underlying motive after all." "Either that, or he is laying an overt trap to lure and kill the Sect Master!" "Given the Sect Master's temperament, if he learned where the disciples were held, he would definitely take the risk to try, perhaps without even telling me." Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and murmured softly, "What a shrewd, calculating fellow. Playing a game, are we?" "Yet... there is nothing here for me to gain. Who are you playing against?" Yu Hua had been standing outside the door the entire time, secretly stunned as she listened to Li Guanqi's muttered musings. Coming back to his senses, Li Guanqi turned and beckoned. "Any news?" Yu Hua did not give a definitive answer. She handed three jade slips to Li Guanqi and said softly, "These are the suspicious massacres I compiled from the years when the Abyss Demons rampaged across the Six Domains." "Among the hundreds of tragedies, far too many evil cultivator organizations were involved." "Moreover, Guanyun Pavilion's foundations are still shallow, so there are many things we cannot thoroughly investigate." Li Guanqi nodded slightly, then dismissed Yu Hua. Closing the door, Li Guanqi crushed the jade slips with a wave of his hand. His vast divine sense began analyzing every shred of evidence across the hundreds of tragedies. After an incense stick's time, Li Guanqi committed two massacre locations to memory. The death toll of these two tragedies reached several thousand, and the fabricated traces were remarkably subtle. Aside from those disguised traces, the perpetrator had left behind no evidence whatsoever! Clean... far too clean... And precisely because of this, Li Guanqi strongly suspected that the culprit behind both tragedies was Duan Xian! Without formidable strength, silencing so many people without a trace would have been impossible. Li Guanqi gathered the spiritual light before him into a blank jade slip, his eyes flickering in thought. He then handed a storage ring to Xi Yunhuai and transmitted his voice softly: "Deliver this secretly to the Sect Master." Afterward, Li Guanqi stepped into the void, vanishing from the Guanyun Domain Boundary and leaving the Great Xia Sword Sect without a sound. After an indeterminate time, Li Guanqi appeared in the Daochan Domain, cloaked in black robes! Then, concealing his form in the void, he shot forward at blinding speed. An hour later. Li Guanqi abruptly appeared outside a secluded courtyard. Song Yunshu instantly tensed as if facing a great enemy. With a flick of her hand, a long sword flew into her grasp, and she snapped, "Who goes there!" As she spoke, her gaze inadvertently swept toward the concealed spirit sword, only to find that it hadn't reacted in the slightest. Li Guanqi took off his black robe, a warm smile gracing his face. "It's me." Song Yunshu was momentarily taken aback, her expression softening. She walked quickly to the gate, opened it, and asked softly, "Why are you here?" Li Guanqi did not answer her question, only saying, "I'm here to see your grandfather." At that moment, Gu Yong was reclining in a rocking chair in the backyard, sipping tea. Song Yunshu said softly, "Grandfather is in the backyard. Go on back yourself." These days, Song Yunshu was no longer afraid that Li Guanqi would make trouble for Gu Yong. Everything had been made clear last time; she simply didn't understand why Li Guanqi would come all the way to the Daochan Domain specifically to seek out her grandfather. Li Guanqi smiled, then vanished from where he stood. The entire backyard was enveloped in an invisible barrier. Gu Yong sensed someone standing before him and assumed it was Song Yunshu. Opening his eyes, he was slightly startled. "Young friend, what brings you here?" Li Guanqi got straight to the point: "Old Master Gu, do you happen to know of a prodigy the Great Xia Sword Sect once had?" "His name was Duan Xian." Gu Yong frowned. After pondering for a long time, he offered a bitter smile. "I don't recall. From what era?" Li Guanqi hesitated slightly. He hadn't expected that even Gu Yong wouldn't know. "Seven thousand years ago." Gu Yong shook his head. "Tianji Pavilion was founded only a little over three thousand years ago. Figures from that era were older even than me. I have no impression of him." Li Guanqi nodded. With a ripple of divine sense, he projected the details of the two massacres he had analyzed before the old man. Though Gu Yong had lost his cultivation, his keen eye remained, and he spoke bluntly: "The mastermind behind this was extremely cautious. Yet because he was so careful, leaving behind virtually no clues, his strength must be formidable!" Li Guanqi nodded slightly. It seemed his speculation was correct: the other party had indeed made a move during the Abyss Demons' rampage. Just as Li Guanqi felt at a loss, Gu Yong suddenly spoke up: "You should seek out the Eight Generals." Hearing this, Li Guanqi's eyes lit up. Gu Yong continued, "They were the most dazzling prodigies of their respective eras. It was only seven thousand years ago; perhaps they might know something." Hearing that, Li Guanqi cupped his fists in gratitude and said softly, "The matter is urgent, so I will not linger." With that, Li Guanqi vanished without even stopping to say goodbye. Gu Yong felt a warm current flowing through his body. Smiling, he instead let Song Yunshu absorb that wisp of power. This energy could not restore his cultivation, nor did he have any ambition to cultivate again. Living out a carefree century as an ordinary mortal old man was enough for him. Having left the courtyard, Li Guanqi retrieved a jade slip and said in a heavy voice, "Uncle Long, do you know a man named Duan Xian?" "He was once a disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect." Hurtling through the void, Li Guanqi held the jade slip tightly. Only after quite some time did it light up again! Yet the voice reaching his ears was not Long Hou's, but Nangong Xuandu's! Nangong Xuandu's voice sounded somewhat grave as he asked, "Duan Xian? How did you come across that name?" Li Guanqi briefly recounted what had recently happened in the sect. Afterward, Nangong Xuandu took a deep breath and said heavily, "Many years ago, I fought him once! A very troublesome opponent!" Gripping the jade slip, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. "That guy... has already broken through to the Tribulation Transcendence realm."