Urgent

"Senior Ye, don't panic. Take your time and tell me what happened." From the other end of the jade slip, the man's voice gradually steadied after a brief silence. "I don't know the exact details either, only that my daughter suddenly vanished from the sect." "Her quiet cultivation chamber is completely intact. I don't know what transpired, but the ink flood dragons are all still there without any signs of disturbance!" Li Guanqi could hear the sheer panic in Ye Xuan's voice. Ye Bingxin's disappearance was exceedingly abrupt; neither the sect's experts nor the ink flood dragons had noticed anything amiss. It sounded as though she had inexplicably vanished into thin air from inside her secluded chamber. A solemn look flickered across Li Guanqi's brow. If he remembered correctly, Ye Xuan was not the only Mahayana realm cultivator in the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect. Were that not the case, Ye Xuan would never have readily chosen to enter the Seventh Domain alongside Qin Xiao. Yet even so, someone had managed to abduct Ye Bingxin right under the noses of so many experts? "Senior Ye, think carefully. Does the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect have any enemies within the Misty Immortal Domain?" "Also... has anyone contacted you?" Ye Xuan was currently pacing in frantic circles in the Realm of Immortal Spirits, but without the permission of the Four Kings, ordinary cultivators were not allowed to leave at will. At the moment, he was still awaiting word from the Four Kings. Beside Ye Xuan stood Qin Xiao, Meng Jiangchu, and the others. "No. Not a single person has contacted me so far." "The Nine Dragons Immortal Sect has been rooted in the Misty Immortal Domain for so long; our enemies are too numerous..." "Yet... as for someone bold enough to make a move and leave behind no traces whatsoever, I can't think of anyone." Ye Xuan's voice sounded rather powerless. Li Guanqi made a prompt decision, putting aside the jade slip to contact Dragon King Wen Guyan. "Senior Wen, the daughter of Ye Xuan, Sect Master of the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect, has been abducted. Could you permit him to leave the Immortal Burial Realm and return for a time?" Wen Guyan awoke from his meditative state. Taking out his jade slip, he was slightly surprised to hear Li Guanqi's voice. Upon learning the full circumstances, Wen Guyan waved his broad sleeve and transmitted in a soft voice: "Very well." Immediately following that, Ye Xuan received word that he was cleared to leave. With a grave expression, Qin Xiao rose, took hold of Ye Xuan, and spoke in a deep voice, "Be careful. There is a high chance they are coming for you!" Meng Jiangchu nodded slightly at those words. After all, there was presently no strife in the Misty Immortal Domain, not even regarding resource disputes. Ever since Ye Xuan's departure, the disciples of the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect had kept a low profile and avoided stirring up trouble. Yet such a sect had still been targeted. A brief thought was enough for Qin Xiao to realize this matter was far from simple. His thoughts in complete turmoil, Ye Xuan spoke in a chillingly cold tone, "Hmph! Even if they are coming for me, they shouldn't lay a finger on my daughter!" "Whoever it is, I will make them pay the price!" Meng Jiangchu's brow was tightly knit. This incident certainly was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. "Old Ye, once you go out, discuss things thoroughly with Guanqi before making a move." "Don't let the kid's youth fool you—he is remarkably shrewd and calculating. You won't go wrong consulting him whenever something comes up." Meng Jiangchu said this not simply because Li Guanqi was his son-in-law, but because Li Guanqi's actions over all these years had proven his formidable intellect and shrewdness to everyone. Hearing this, Ye Xuan's eyes flickered, and he gave a slight nod. Li Guanqi traversed the void without continuing to converse with Ye Xuan. Given the present situation, Ye Xuan likely had no idea what was truly going on either. Taking a deep breath, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes... "Are they coming for Ye Xuan... or for those nine ink flood dragons?" "Or perhaps... they are coming for me!" Li Guanqi was not simply jumping at shadows. How could there be such coincidences in the world? If the culprit were after the nine ink flood dragons possessing thin traces of true dragon blood... there would be no need for such complications. If they were capable of abducting Ye Bingxin right under the eyes of numerous cultivators, they would have been fully capable of crushing the cultivators and taking the ink flood dragons away directly. Therefore... Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. The first suspect that leaped into his mind was Gu Xici! Aside from him, who else would strike at a time like this? In the Misty Immortal Domain, only two factions had ties to him. One was the Qin clan, and the other was the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect. As one of the Nine Imperial Cities, the Qin clan possessed a foundation that the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect could not hold a candle to. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and murmured softly, "It seems... your strength isn't so overwhelming that you can recklessly crush the Qin Imperial City!" "Calculating it this way... the person pulling the strings behind Ye Bingxin's abduction is, at most, at the Tribulation Transcendence realm." Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed. This was merely his roughest estimation of the situation. The reason he had not assumed the mastermind was at the peak of the Mahayana realm was something he had learned from Tang Ru: when the full picture is unknown, prepare for the worst plausible case. And the reason he did not estimate the enemy to be in the Ascension realm stemmed from their method and manner of kidnapping Ye Bingxin. If the culprit truly was Gu Xici, he had already lost an avatar at the late Ascension realm or even stronger. If Gu Xici could still maintain Ascension realm cultivation under such conditions, that would be terrifying beyond measure. An Ascension realm cultivation would be more than enough to crush the present Li Guanqi. The moment Li Guanqi arrived in the Misty Immortal Domain, the enemy could have struck directly to suppress and slay him! In the face of absolute might, there was no need for hollow conspiracies and machinations. Thus, Li Guanqi assumed the enemy was a Tribulation Transcendence realm cultivator, yet he could not afford to be careless because of it. "Could it be..." "Is Ye Xuan leaving the Seventh Domain also within their calculations?" At that thought, Li Guanqi halted his figure at once, produced a jade slip, and asked: "Lao Liu, during the battles earlier, did you leave an inscribed talisman on Ye Xuan?" Gu Li was slightly taken aback, and only after asking Tang Ru did he realize who Ye Xuan was. "I did!" Hearing that, Li Guanqi let out a sigh of relief and said gravely, "Can you link the fluctuations of the talisman on him to the talisman on me?" Gu Li felt somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this. Since Li Guanqi could bring it up, he had clearly seen through some of his little tricks. "I can, don't worry. But it can only detect subtle fluctuations and changes; it can't exert control over it." A brilliant glint flashed deep in Li Guanqi's eyes, and he said softly, "Good. Do it now—it's urgent!" Hearing this, Gu Li lowered the jade slip and began rummaging through his storage ring for the secondary talisman paired with Ye Xuan's. Li Guanqi's eyes glinted as he transformed into a streak of lightning, shooting toward the East Sea. After an unknown span, Li Guanqi's figure emerged in the firmament. Looking down at the sect enshrouded by a dense defensive barrier, his heart sank. Whoosh! Teleporting ten thousand zhang in an instant, Li Guanqi appeared directly above the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect.