Above the Dao platform, dark clouds gathered densely, and a chilling aura filled the air.
Both combatants were top-tier powerhouses in this heaven and earth, even if a vast disparity lay between their cultivation realms.
Yet the sheer ruthlessness Li Guanqi displayed in combat still earned Xuan Yue's genuine respect.
Throughout his life, Xuan Yue had fought countless battles and witnessed no shortage of vicious men.
However, those people had mostly been making desperate, dying counterattacks when all hope of survival was lost.
Yet someone like Li Guanqi, who severed his own limbs without the slightest hesitation, was a first for him...
And the sole reason he had done so was merely to break free and wound Xuan Yue.
Xuan Yue still felt a lingering dread toward Li Guanqi's sword as well.
He could not understand why the blade itself could not pierce his defense, yet its very tip could!
Assuming the Cloud Hands stance, Li Guanqi let divine patterns flicker across his body, radiating tremendous power.
This time, he chose not to fuse with Pengluo.
After all, this was meant to temper himself; relying on external strength would defeat the purpose.
At this moment, Li Guanqi felt as though the blood throughout his entire body were boiling.
A parched dryness in his mouth and throat made him lick his lips unconsciously.
Then, transforming into a streak of lightning, he vanished from where he stood in an instant!
Watching from outside, the other three kings felt a jolt of surprise!
Li Guanqi's current speed was several times faster than before!
Even they could only make out blurry afterimages, though it was not yet beyond their ability to track.
Bie Ruxue's beautiful eyes remained fixed intently on Li Guanqi's figure, her pupils darting rapidly.
"Within his lightning wings lies the power of the Devouring Void Sacred Flame!"
His brows knitting tightly, Bai Su said in a low, heavy voice, "His comprehension of the Laws of Lightning... is remarkably profound!"
Wen Guyan nodded slightly, looking toward the Dao platform with keen interest.
Li Guanqi's comprehension of the laws was indeed profound now.
His understanding of lightning's power was no longer confined merely to its destructive might.
Purple lightning shifted positions wildly across the Dao platform.
Yet in the next breath, the lightning split into nine streaks!
Nine streaks of lightning darted chaotically through the arena, and in an instant, everyone lost their sensory lock on Li Guanqi.
Xuan Yue's eyes narrowed slightly. As he closed his eyes to concentrate, the phantom of the Black Tortoise behind him slowly opened its eyes!
The moment the Black Tortoise phantom opened its eyes, the pupils of the man's eyes transformed into flickering rings of earthy-yellow light.
His burly body moved swift as an escaped hare, and the instant the ground beneath his feet shattered, the man's face suddenly appeared right before Li Guanqi.
At the same time, the man's palm-leaf-sized hands slowly clenched into fists.
As those fists clenched, Li Guanqi actually saw the space surrounding the man's palms warp and wrinkle under the strain.
Li Guanqi wanted to retreat, only to find an earthy-yellow rampart already blocking him from behind.
A glint of cold sharpness flashed through the depths of his eyes.
Thunderclouds surged in the heavens, and in an instant, dozens of thunder spears boxed the man in.
Yet a spirit incantation of this caliber could not halt the man for even a single breath before being shattered.
Still, that fraction of a breath was enough for Li Guanqi.
Dozens of spirit swords materialized beside him. Infused with the power of Devouring Void, they slashed and shattered the rampart behind him under Li Guanqi's control.
A fist swept across toward Li Guanqi's temple.
Leaning back slightly, Li Guanqi felt the wind of the punch scrape bloody furrows across his face, even tearing away dragon scales.
His right foot kicked out like lightning into the man's chest, using the recoil to fling himself violently backward.
Yet in the briefest pause required to execute that kick, the man lunged forward a step, shifting his sweep into a downward smash.
It slammed straight down toward Li Guanqi's knee!
Sword light surged from the blade in Li Guanqi's left hand as he slashed horizontally toward the man's eyes!
Drawing back his right leg, he snapped his knee up violently into the man's arm!
Bang!
Slash!
The two figures instantly separated by scores of zhang.
Li Guanqi's entire leg throbbed with excruciating pain, hairline fractures crisscrossing his kneecap, leaving the limb completely numb.
Looking at Xuan Yue, his right hand was held before his face.
A long bloody gash ran from his palm all the way down his forearm.
Li Guanqi's breathing grew ragged; a single exchange had already proved this perilous...
Bai Su's eyes brightened, and he marveled, "Good grief... What rapid reflexes. Such incredible combat instincts. It seems there was good reason this kid managed to topple the Eight Generals after all!"
Bie Ruxue said nothing, but the look in her eyes turned grimmer and more focused.
Li Guanqi's combat prowess and lethal might were astonishingly formidable.
They had originally assumed Li Guanqi merely possessed exceptional cultivation talent.
Yet watching him in earnest now, she realized that his lethal might could by no means be measured by his cultivation realm alone.
After that opening probe, both combatants became noticeably more cautious.
Xuan Yue looked down at the wound on his arm, his eyes flickering.
When he looked up, primal energy surged through his entire body, and for the first time, he unleashed his aura of pressure!
Boom!
Li Guanqi's face paled, and his body sank abruptly!
Forcing himself against the crushing pressure, he slowly raised his head, monstrous waves churning in his heart.
*So this... is an expert of the Four Kings' level! What terrifying pressure! How is an aura like this any different from an Ascension Realm cultivator's?!*
Boom!
Primal energy roared within Xuan Yue, forming a suit of earthy-yellow armor over the surface of his body.
The man's clenched fists were as large as clay pots, exuding an unmatched, suffocating oppressiveness.
Circulating his divine sense, Li Guanqi forcibly suppressed his emotions to calm himself.
The instant their eyes met, both vanished from their spots almost simultaneously!
Boom! Boom!
Two deafening detonations rang out as the ground where they had stood shattered in an instant.
Sword light burst outward, and the clash of iron and steel erupted!
A barrage of dense collisions exploded across the field.
With his sword in his left hand and forming seals with his right, Li Guanqi unleashed a tempest of lightning serpents that instantly ran wild across the entire arena.
Yet the man moved like a primordial beast; none of the lightning's binding restraints could slow his advance in the slightest.
The sky full of spirit swords and Thunder Spears failed to breach his defense, ignored completely!
"Spatial Barrier!"
Boom, boom!
The heavy spatial barrier had barely formed before the man violently smashed right through it.
A massive fist came crashing toward Li Guanqi.
Beating his lightning wings, he dodged to the side, letting the loose stones blasted from craters in the ground pelt against him.
His sword drew afterimage upon afterimage in his left hand.
"Demon Shadow Slash: Dark Night!"
"Boundless: Sword Prison!"
Boom!
The sky darkened abruptly as the sword light seemed to swallow all illumination in an instant slash.
This strike was swift and executed from an incisive angle, launched at the very instant the man broke through the barrier.
Yet with an impassive expression, the man merely planted his feet, twisted his waist, and threw a punch wrapped in primal energy straight out!
Boom!
Thud!
Under the force of the fist astral wind, the sword light shattered. Li Guanqi crossed his arms before his chest.
His barrier of primal energy instantly shattered, and the concussive force hurled his body back more than two hundred zhang before he finally ground to a halt.
Both arms were fractured, his dragon scales splintered, and the armor across his chest dripped with blood as though crushed beneath a colossal behemoth.
The surface of the Dao platform before Li Guanqi looked as if it had been plowed up by the thrashing of an earth dragon...
In disbelief, Li Guanqi raised his head and looked into the distance...
Only to see that a huge, gaping hole had been blasted through the hundreds of layered boundary barriers.
Even the seal of the Four-Direction Heaven-Reaching Pillars had been pierced clean through.
And only after tearing through all of that had the fist astral wind struck him.
Chapter 1446