Seeing Pengluo breathing like a gossamer thread, the frightened Flame Spirit hurriedly enveloped him in flames.
Only after a long while did Pengluo finally come around.
With a purplish-blue face, Pengluo knelt on the ground, panting heavily.
Yet the Flame Spirit frowned slightly.
He realized that through gnawing on the ghost-faced spider's flesh again and again, some change was actually taking place in Pengluo.
Pengluo's poison resistance was steadily rising bit by bit.
Pengluo waved his hand and ducked straight into the sword coffin's space.
That wretched meat tasted awful. If not to put the Flame Spirit at ease, he wouldn't have bothered doing all this.
The only reason he treated the Flame Spirit so well now was entirely because of Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi had previously treated the Flame Spirit with great coldness.
That had led Pengluo not to dare get too close to the Flame Spirit either.
Yet for some reason, over the past few days, a subtle shift had occurred in their relationship.
Soon enough, Li Guanqi woke from his cultivation.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the Flame Spirit behind him refining the monster core's power and channeling it into him.
Li Guanqi smiled and said softly, "All right. Absorb some of the monster core's power for yourself to stabilize your origin.
"I can handle the rest on my own."
The Flame Spirit hesitated briefly, then gave a slight nod. Li Guanqi tore through space, placing the heavily injured Ye Xuan and Ye Bingxin on the ground.
He called out gently, "Pengluo."
A purple-faced Pengluo poked his head out.
"Whaddya want? What's up?"
Li Guanqi's brows knit slightly.
"What happened to you...?"
From behind, the Flame Spirit spoke up: "He ate spider meat and got poisoned. Well... he went stiff."
Pengluo instantly felt a bit embarrassed.
Inside the sword coffin's space, he had taken a few detoxifying pills and some spirit herbs.
By now, he had mostly recovered.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi found it amusing. It was certainly something Pengluo would do.
He glanced down at Jiuxiao coiled around his arm and gave him a gentle pat.
"Do you have any stash left? First stabilize their injuries."
Reluctantly, Pengluo took out some dried radish.
Li Guanqi gave him an exasperated look.
"Bring out the plump ones! You're practically addicted to snapping off your own fingers.
"Besides, I don't know if you've spent too much time around Gu Li, but he hoards inscribed talismans and you hoard fingers, is that it?"
Seeing himself exposed, Pengluo scratched his head in sheepish embarrassment.
"Hehe, I just think Old Sixth makes a lot of sense!
"Hoarding more is just preparing for a rainy day, right...?"
With that, Pengluo hurriedly took out two translucent, crystalline fingers.
Li Guanqi shook his head with wry helplessness. Having these fellows together was truly a headache.
"Break off fewer of them. It always costs you some vital energy."
Pengluo grinned foolishly and nodded.
"Mm-mm, got it, got it."
As he ducked back in, Pengluo's heart felt warm. Anyone else would wish he snapped off pieces every single day.
Perhaps only Li Guanqi cared about him so much.
Li Guanqi placed the radish fingers into the mouths of the father and daughter.
The injuries across Ye Bingxin's body immediately began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
After thinking for a moment, Li Guanqi took out a robe and draped it over the young woman.
Before long, a centipede-like gu insect crawled out of Ye Xuan's mouth.
A glint flashed through the Flame Spirit's eyes, and he reduced it to ash with a burst of flame.
Soon, Ye Xuan slowly came to his senses. His dantian felt completely empty, leaving him terribly weak.
His primal energy fluctuated violently. By the time it stabilized, his cultivation had plummeted to the late Mahayana realm.
If Li Guanqi hadn't stepped in, his realm likely would have dropped all the way to early-mid stage.
Upon waking, Ye Xuan was pale-faced with peeling lips, his glazed eyes struggling to focus.
That gu insect had drained far too much of his vital energy and primal energy.
His ability to erupt with such terrifying strength had been achieved through destroying his foundation.
Had Li Guanqi not brought him under control so quickly, the consequences would have been unimaginable!
Gradually, Ye Xuan's pupils tightened slightly.
He saw Ye Bingxin breathing steadily beside him and let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking up at Li Guanqi, whose aura was likewise fluctuating heavily, an intensely complex look filled his eyes.
The man sat there with his hands splayed open, swaying unsteadily, and spoke in a raspy, guilt-ridden voice.
"I'm sorry... I... didn't know when..."
Li Guanqi waved his hand and said softly, "No need to apologize. Everything remained within my control."
Then, an unactivated inscribed talisman suddenly appeared in Li Guanqi's hand.
Meanwhile, another inscribed talisman slowly burned away from Ye Xuan's back.
Ye Xuan frowned, sensed it, and said in a heavy voice, "You've been monitoring me all along?
"Then when was I poisoned with the gu?"
Li Guanqi looked up at the shattered sky and murmured, "This time... it truly was a grand game."
With those words, Li Guanqi turned to look at the Flame Spirit and said softly, "Give me that thing."
Hearing this, the Flame Spirit's expression turned incomparably solemn.
Reaching his hand into the void, he brought out a palm-sized, square flame box.
Seeing this, Ye Xuan could not help but frown slightly, for he could not perceive what was inside.
A cold gleam flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. Inside the box... there was actually a dark remnant soul!
Clutching the flame box in his hand, Li Guanqi muttered, "You truly hid deep..."
The remnant soul said nothing. This time, he had lost completely.
Yet before dying, he still wanted to know the full truth!
"Can you tell me... how did you notice?"
That voice...
Ye Xuan's pupils contracted to needlepoints!
"Is... is it Xun Tian?!"
Li Guanqi said nothing. Looking down at the remnant soul of Xun Tian inside the flame box, he pondered for a brief moment.
"Let me think about where to start..."
Li Guanqi's thoughts drifted, his voice filled with lament as he murmured, "Back then, I went through immense pains to kill you and absorb your Demon King Physique.
"At that time, I never suspected a thing. And it was precisely because I didn't suspect anything that you found an opening.
"You actually hid your remnant soul within the Demon King Physique, so much so that it took me a very long time without ever truly refining it entirely.
"It wasn't until not long ago, when I subdued Shi Wu, that I barely managed to fully master the Demon King Physique."
At this point, Li Guanqi's voice paused slightly.
"Back then, I had only broken through to the mid Tribulation Transcendence realm, yet throughout that process, the refinement of the Demon King Physique was suddenly completed in one go.
"Thinking back now, it truly was bizarre. Why would a Demon King Physique that remained unrefined for so long happen to finish refining just when I subdued Shi Wu?"
Li Guanqi raised the box before him, his gaze mocking as he sneered, "Because you were afraid. You were afraid that once I subdued Shi Wu, I would use his power to refine the Demon King Physique and discover you!
"So you simply gave up resisting entirely, using your final power to blend into my soul and flesh, growing faint as smoke, leaving no trace to follow.
"Yet at the same time... your strength also became incomparably weak..."
Li Guanqi's voice gradually turned chilling.
"And yet... you didn't give up. You turned around and began influencing my mind, my temper, and my disposition!"
Chapter 1411