A mere inadvertent flicker of killing intent in her eyes had been enough for Ye Feng to notice something amiss.
Afterward, her trail had been exposed, and Ye Feng had come to confront her.
Step by step, things had culminated in the present situation.
Li Qingchan did not know how to describe what she was feeling—it was utterly tangled and complex.
Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that amid a scene where over a hundred people were undergoing breakthroughs and sudden epiphanies,
Ye Feng had kept a trace of his attention fixed on Li Guanqi every single moment!
The very instant she opened her eyes, he had caught it.
This so-called brotherhood was something completely beyond her comprehension.
Perhaps only Ye Feng would still spare a portion of his mind for Li Guanqi under such circumstances.
Because in Ye Feng's eyes, that was when Li Guanqi was at his most vulnerable.
Even if he himself entered an epiphany, he had to keep watch over Li Guanqi at all times.
Li Guanqi's voice cut through her thoughts.
"Have you made up your mind?"
Li Qingchan gave a bitter smile.
"Rather than waiting for death, I might as well risk it all."
"At least there's a slim chance of survival."
With those words, Li Guanqi nodded, then tore space apart to form a domain!
Ye Feng entered as well.
However, the two merely exchanged a glance without saying a word.
No matter what, what had happened before had left a thorn in Ye Feng's heart.
Flipping his hand, Li Guanqi condensed four prayer mats from lightning power, which possessed the effect of suppressing evil and clearing the mind.
Sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat, Li Guanqi turned to Tang Ru and said softly, "Fifth Brother, in a moment I need you to cast your Yin-Yang arts to veil the heavenly secrets."
Tang Ru, seated on Li Guanqi's right, nodded gently. "Don't worry, Eldest Brother. Leave it to me."
Turning to Gu Li on his left, Li Guanqi instructed quietly, "In a moment, I need you to shape a clone of her!"
"To transfer the soul contract onto."
Gu Li shrugged. "No problem. But... that's provided she opens her mind completely."
Li Qingchan slowly sat cross-legged before Li Guanqi and said softly, "Rest assured. Since I've already decided to do this, I won't resist."
Smoothing her long gown, Li Qingchan fixed an intense gaze on Li Guanqi's eyes.
Her voice calm, she spoke slowly.
"His name is Gu Xici."
Li Guanqi's expression hardened, and he repeated the name under his breath. "Gu Xici?"
Li Qingchan slowly closed her eyes and completely opened her mind!
Li Guanqi took a deep breath, glanced at Ye Feng, and remarked, "You brat, here I thought it was something serious."
Ye Feng scratched his head in mild embarrassment and grinned.
Li Guanqi said softly, "All right, I'll help her end the trouble once and for all!"
"It's also fortunate that you noticed it in time. Everything can still be salvaged..."
Buzz!!!
Powerful lightning flickered endlessly through the surrounding world, and an overwhelmingly formidable pressure erupted from within Li Guanqi!!
"Sword Ruins: Spirit Absolution!!"
Buzz!!!
Tens of thousands of red threads burst forth, depleting Li Guanqi's divine sense at a visible rate.
The red threads sank into the woman's body, swiftly locating the soul contract melded into her divine soul!!
After inspecting it closely, however, Li Guanqi frowned slightly.
Meanwhile, Tang Ru began executing the Nine Palaces Bagua Diagram. The diagram constantly shifted and spun gently,
completely veiling the aura of the entire domain!
Gu Li stood by, waiting for Li Guanqi's next command.
He had to wait until Li Guanqi was certain he could sever and extract the contract.
At that moment, Li Guanqi woke Pengluo and explained the current situation in the briefest words possible.
Pengluo scurried out and merged with Li Guanqi.
Through Li Guanqi's senses, it also caught sight of the contract residing within Li Qingchan's body!
"Tsk, whoever placed this contract is pretty vicious!"
Li Guanqi frowned slightly. "Oh? Why do you say that?"
Pengluo explained, "There are three mainstream types of contracts: master-servant, equal, and life-bound."
"There are plenty of others too, but this soul contract is uniquely troublesome."
"Even if the physical body is destroyed, as long as a sliver of the soul remains, this contract will persist forever!"
"In other words... even if only one soul remains out of your three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls, it will still be there."
"Even if you seize another body through possession, the contract will still remain!"
Li Guanqi shared his train of thought, and Pengluo's eyes lit up.
"This method should work!"
"However... whether you can extract the entire contract intact is one thing, and Gu Li must also have the clone and the split soul ready."
Li Guanqi gave a slight nod. Once confirmed feasible, they got straight to work!
Rampant power erupted instantly. The power of Spirit Absolution surged, violently suppressing the contract's power inside Li Qingchan's divine soul.
Spiritual light flashed as the runes of the soul contract were peeled away bit by bit by Li Guanqi's power!
At the same time, Gu Li's power began intervening in Li Qingchan's body as well.
Several inscribed talismans hovered around Li Qingchan. After they burned away, a mysterious power surged forth.
Gu Li began using Li Qingchan's divine soul to reconstruct a clone bearing an aura identical to hers!
For the physical vessel, he merely used ordinary materials.
Tang Ru was also striving with all his might to mask every disturbance here.
In the distance, Ye Feng paced restlessly, clearly anxious.
Before long, relying on the tremendous power of Spirit Absolution, Li Guanqi stripped away all the runes of the soul contract!
Yet just as Li Guanqi breathed a sigh of relief, his expression abruptly shifted.
Pengluo's heart sank violently as it noticed something wrong as well.
"Not good—a double-layered soul contract!! That bastard wants her dead!"
The runic power of the soul contract flared madly. Li Qingchan's divine soul shuddered violently, already showing signs of collapsing!
Under such circumstances, Gu Li didn't dare make any reckless moves.
With urgency in his voice, he cried, "Eldest Brother, her divine soul is showing signs of dissipating, and her aura is plummeting rapidly!"
"What do we do?"
Beads of sweat soaked Li Guanqi's forehead, while Ye Feng clutched his fists tightly in the distance.
Right at that moment, a woman clad in a red dress appeared behind Li Guanqi. Her voice sounded soft and gentle:
"Let me."
Li Guanqi finally let out a sigh of relief. Those two simple words from the sword spirit brought him immense peace of mind.
"Steady your minds and do what you must. Leave the rest to me."
Boom!!!
The sword spirit closed her eyes slightly and channeled the power of Spirit Absolution, stripping away the second layer of the soul contract with startling speed.
Finally, after the time it takes an incense stick to burn, both layers of the contract were completely extracted!
Using his own power, Gu Li also finished crafting an identical vessel for Li Qingchan.
Though the three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls within it were frail, its aura was indistinguishable from hers.
Guided by the power of Spirit Absolution, the force of the soul contract was transferred onto the clone in an instant!!!
Having completed all this, the three were drenched in sweat, their mental energy heavily drained.
Li Qingchan had also fallen unconscious, yet before blacking out, a faint smile graced the corner of her lips.
It was the long-lost freedom that came with shedding the shackles in her heart!
Chapter 1345