The group flew en masse toward the White Jade Tower.
Meng Wanshu remained quietly by Li Guanqi's side the entire time. Her slender, jade-like hand was enveloped within his broad, warm palm, giving her an inexplicable sense of peace.
She knew she had undergone changes, but they were beyond her control. Due to the ice spiritual root she cultivated, her demeanor had grown increasingly aloof and haughty. Yet from beginning to end, Li Guanqi had not shown the slightest hint of distance, which brought an extraordinarily deep sense of stability and security to her heart.
After Li Guanqi led everyone back to the White Jade Tower, he caught out of the corner of his eye that Li Qingchan had slipped away at some point.
He sent a low voice transmission to Ye Feng: "What's the matter with you, kid? Where did Li Qingchan go?"
Ye Feng shrugged with some helplessness. "She wanted to leave on her own. I couldn't stop her."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi almost rolled his eyes and couldn't resist muttering a curse under his breath. "Are you an idiot? She said she wanted to leave, so you just let her walk away?"
Ye Feng took it as a given. "What else was I supposed to do?"
Li Guanqi took a deep breath and transmitted his voice softly: "Gu Xici isn't entirely dead; his remnant soul escaped. Li Qingchan is definitely still feeling panicked and uneasy right now. This is when you should be staying by her side, even if you don't say a single word."
Ye Feng stood frozen in place, realizing what Li Guanqi said made complete sense.
Li Qingchan had finally escaped Gu Xici's clutches once and for all, no longer a puppet on a string, so her emotions were bound to be tangled and complicated. Having Ye Feng by her side right now would bring her comfort when she needed it most.
Watching Ye Feng hurry off, Li Guanqi couldn't help a faint smile touching the corners of his lips. In his eyes, Ye Feng and Li Qingchan were quite well-suited. Though their ages differed greatly... for cultivators, age was perhaps the last thing two people needed to consider.
Meng Wanshu glanced at the departing Ye Feng, raising a brow with an inquiring look.
Li Guanqi smiled and gave her a brief recap of what had recently transpired.
After hearing the tale, Meng Wanshu's beautiful eyes sparkled, and the corners of her mouth curved upward. Perhaps listening to gossip was second nature to women. She liked it, enjoyed hearing it.
Yet beneath that, a flicker of worry crossed her eyes. She hadn't expected Li Guanqi to protect her so thoroughly, keeping her completely in the dark about matters as monumental as Gu Xici and the Flame Spirit.
Watching the man chatting and laughing freely with the others, Meng Wanshu's eyes were filled with nothing but him.
Her voice was gentle as she spoke: "In the future... please be sure to tell me everything."
Li Guanqi paused, turning to look at her, only to see resolute determination in her gaze.
He smiled, gently squeezing her soft hand. "All right. From now on, I'll tell you everything."
"Because... I now have the strength to face whatever comes together with you!" Meng Wanshu said, her gaze firm and her tone resolute.
From his initial casual demeanor, Li Guanqi turned to face her with genuine seriousness. He realized that he had indeed been treating Meng Wanshu as someone who constantly needed protection, forgetting that she had once been one of the few unrivaled pride-of-heaven geniuses on the Six Domains Continent. Now, having inherited the legacy of the Frost Master, her strength had surged at a dizzying pace. Even with all the immense fortuitous encounters that had graced him, he had still not pulled too far ahead of her.
Back at the White Jade Tower, Li Guanqi ultimately couldn't refuse Xiang Huaizhi's pestering and had no choice but to summon the Flame Spirit before everyone.
The proud Flame Spirit stood before Li Guanqi like an obedient grandson, head slightly bowed, dropping to one knee. But when he rose and cast his gaze upon the rest of the gathering, his eyes turned fierce, and a bizarre smirk curled at the corner of his mouth!
*Boom!*
A terrifying pressure erupted from the Flame Spirit in an instant!
Among the three of them—Meng Jiangchu, Gu Changsheng, and Xiang Huaizhi—Xiang Huaizhi was already in the Tribulation Transcendence realm, while Meng Jiangchu and Gu Changsheng were both in the half-step Tribulation Transcendence realm. Yet despite possessing such high realms and formidable prowess, their figures sank abruptly the moment the Flame Spirit unleashed his pressure!
Even Xiang Huaizhi, the strongest among them, was no exception.
Within the bodies of the three men, flames surged, leaking out uncontrollably.
Five Yang Ghost Flame, Xuantian Divine Flame, Scarlet Yang.
The three heavenly flame spirits manifested and knelt trembling on the ground.
Five Yang Ghost... Xuantian, Scarlet Yang—the three flame spirits beheld the Devouring Void Sacred Flame as if gazing upon a god.
Confronted by the pressure of the heavenly flame ranked number one, the three heavenly flame spirits wished they could suppress their own fires deep within their cores. They knelt on the ground with hands cupped upward in supplication, an act of absolute reverence from inferiors to a superior.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi gave a couple of awkward coughs.
Shiwu twitched his lips, flicking his fingers to send three thumb-sized wisps of flame darting toward the three heavenly flame spirits.
The moment Five Yang Ghost Flame accepted the wisp, its form shuddered violently. Immediately afterward, its flames blazed brightly as an extraordinarily dense power of fire-affinity laws spread outward.
The flame spirits of Xuantian and Scarlet Yang reacted the same way!
This was an absolute disparity in flame hierarchy!
For lower-ranked flames, even a mere wisp from Shiwu brought immense benefits.
Xiang Huaizhi chuckled and rubbed his fingers together as he looked at Li Guanqi. "Brat, couldn't you give me a bit more?"
To his dismay, Li Guanqi merely shrugged, and the Flame Spirit, catching the cue, instantly dissolved into a streak of fire and vanished.
"Oh, Senior Xiang, it's not like I can ask for too much of the Flame Spirit's origin flame, right..."
Xiang Huaizhi's mouth twitched, itching to strangle Li Guanqi. "Bullshit origin flame! If it were really origin flame, would you have parted with it so easily? That's just ordinary flame! Che, stingy brat."
Watching Xiang Huaizhi act like a child, Li Guanqi couldn't help laughing. "If I'm so stingy, why don't you have Scarlet Yang return the wisp it just took?"
Xiang Huaizhi immediately stepped back two paces, eyes full of wary defense. "No way in hell."
At that, everyone burst into laughter.
Then Xiang Huaizhi's expression grew solemn, and he said in a low voice, "By the way, when you have time, tell Gu Li and Tang Ru to drop by the Fourth Domain often."
Here, Xiang Huaizhi adopted a serious tone. "And you brothers as well—come visit us when you have the chance. Gu Li's Dao... is very eclectic, but exceptionally formidable!"
Li Guanqi also nodded solemnly, taking the advice to heart.
"Also, Long Hou will probably look for you in the next day or two. You can just head up when you're free."
"Hmm? Does he need something from me?"
"Yeah, there's a matter he wants to discuss with you."
"All right. I'll head over in a couple of days once I finish up here."
With that, Xiang Huaizhi departed. Gu Changsheng was grinning from ear to ear after gaining the benefit.
Gu Li shook his head and covered his face, unable to hold back: "Is my old man really this shameless?"
Cao Yan shrugged and said frankly, "Not really... after all, not everyone can obtain such a boon. Probably only Uncle Meng, being the future father-in-law, doesn't have to worry in the least."
"Hahaha, that's true! Uncle Meng really sits secure and unperturbed, confident as can be."
Meng Wanshu looked at Meng Jiangchu putting on airs and couldn't help covering her mouth with a giggle.
Chapter 1368