Battle! Epiphany! Heal! Battle again!!
For three days and three nights, Li Guanqi fought Xuan Yue without a moment's rest.
His injuries grew increasingly severe, and both men's strikes took on a touch of real anger.
Xuan Yue even pushed his power from fifty percent to sixty percent.
The rigid dao platform, spanning ten thousand zhang across, was now utterly ravaged.
Everywhere lay deep craters smashed open by fist astral energy, alongside deep crisscrossing trenches carved by sword qi.
Li Guanqi had used his Sword-Drawing Stance and Dao Fall Sword more times than he could count.
Now, Li Guanqi lay on the ground, half of his cheek caved in, his face battered beyond recognition.
The scales across his entire body were shattered, his chest sunken, his broken ribs piercing through skin.
With his limbs broken, he lay on the ground, his chest heaving violently.
At his side, Pengluo flusteredly crushed a finger, letting drops of spirit liquid fall into Li Guanqi's wounds.
Shiwu guarded Li Guanqi with an icy face, killing intent gleaming in the gaze he cast into the distance.
Li Guanqi lay on the ground, his eyes bloodshot, staring blankly upward.
"The Four Kings... their strength is truly... terrifying..."
Even now, he felt the Four Kings were unfathomably powerful.
His cultivation realm had completely stabilized in the late Tribulation Transcendence realm.
Yet facing King Xuan, he had been thoroughly suppressed from start to finish.
Whether in combat instinct, speed, strength, or reaction time...
Even the rain of sword strikes he had thought airtight could be penetrated by openings his opponent found.
At times, the very instant he drew his sword, the other man had already countered.
That kind of ability...
"It's very similar to my Illusory Form's power, yet it leans more toward instinct and accumulated experience."
The Illusory Form from the Sword Ruins possessed the inherent ability to see through deception.
However, every single strike from his opponent had been genuine; there had been no feints at all.
Li Guanqi's eyelids felt heavy, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help curving slightly upward.
He could only describe these three days as having benefited him immensely!
Several hundred zhang away, within two deep, hundred-zhang trenches...
Drip! Drip!
Burly Xuan Yue stood inside the crater, his legs trembling faintly, the ground beneath his feet soaked in blood.
His hair hung disheveled over his bare torso, where two gruesome, bone-deep wounds crossed each other over his chest.
Blood seeped from the corners of his chapped lips, his aura fluctuating wildly.
Blood ran down his forehead, dripping into his eyes and blurring his vision.
"Heh, what a monster..."
"In three days, his refined sword dao has grown stronger at a visible rate."
"His learning ability and comprehension are both monstrous."
Xuan Yue took a deep breath. He truly had not underestimated Li Guanqi.
With late Tribulation Transcendence realm strength, Li Guanqi had gone toe-to-toe against sixty percent of his power.
If Li Guanqi were given time to consolidate his foundation and reach the peak of the late Tribulation Transcendence realm...
Wouldn't Xuan Yue be forced to go all out?
Xuan Yue glanced at the blood beneath his feet, then flickered to Li Guanqi's side in a flash.
The instant Shiwu sensed danger, he struck out furiously!
Boom!
Explosive flames condensed upon his fist, slamming toward Xuan Yue's flank like a massive drill.
Yet Xuan Yue merely raised a palm slowly, looking at the flame spirit with contempt.
Reaching out, he crushed the flames. Though his palm was scorched black, the man's expression did not waver.
Looking haughtily at the flame spirit, he caught his arm and casually threw him aside.
"A mere flame spirit dares to raise a hand against me?"
Boom!
The mighty pressure of the Black Tortoise instantly blanketed the area!
Shiwu's body was slammed forcefully against the ground, pinned so hard he could not move.
Xuan Yue looked down at Li Guanqi, withdrew his pressure, and grinned.
"By the way, you take a beating quite well! Hahahaha!"
"Cultivate hard. I'll wait for you at the Hall of Heavenly Kings."
With that, Xuan Yue pointed at the scar left by his healed wound and said softly, "I'll keep this one. I'll wipe it away next time I beat you."
Laughing heartily, the man departed, heading straight for the Hall of Heavenly Kings.
Indeed, Xuan Yue believed Li Guanqi definitely possessed the strength to become the fifth Heavenly King!
At the man's acknowledgment of his strength, Li Guanqi forced a faint smile.
"A Heavenly King?"
"Heh... that's not enough..."
Recalling how quickly the man's wounds had healed, Li Guanqi was somewhat shaken.
That recovery speed was not inferior to his Demon King Physique in the slightest!
Yet throughout their battle, the man had never revealed it at all.
Li Guanqi wore a bitter expression and murmured inwardly,
"Right... he's King Xuan, the bearer of the Black Tortoise's soul."
"How could his defense and recovery be limited to only that?"
"I'm still too weak..."
Lying on the ground, Li Guanqi felt as though his entire body had fallen apart.
Flesh, blood, and bones wailed in agony, and piercing pain surged over him in wave after wave.
Even with Pengluo's help and after swallowing medicinal pills, Li Guanqi lay on the ground for nearly three shichen.
Shiwu guarded at Li Guanqi's side, his eyes flickering.
He had also felt an overwhelmingly terrifying pressure from Xuan Yue.
If that man truly wanted to kill him... he likely possessed the means to do so.
Shiwu's intervention touched Li Guanqi, and after recalling him into his body, he offered a few words of comfort.
Primal energy surged, gradually mending the shattered meridians within his body.
After a long while, Li Guanqi slowly pushed himself up. Blood surged within him, and he spat out a large mouthful of purplish-black blood.
Only then did he exhale a long breath, feeling his breathing ease significantly.
Stretching his limbs, Li Guanqi gave a light chuckle. "Let's go. Time to head back!"
Pengluo nodded slightly, supporting Li Guanqi as they flew toward the Realm of Celestial Spirits.
Along the way, they encountered numerous cultivators. After pausing to salute, seeing Li Guanqi so severely wounded, they all began speculating about what he had been up to.
Yet when they noticed Li Guanqi had come down from the Fifth Domain, their expressions changed drastically.
Back when Li Guanqi had challenged the Eight Generals from the Fourth Domain, it had caused quite a commotion.
Now that he had descended from the Fifth Domain gravely injured, people could not help suspecting that he had gone to challenge the Four Kings!
All at once, rumors spread like wildfire across the Seventh Domain. Some believed Li Guanqi had challenged the Four Kings.
Others believed he had simply gone to the Fifth Domain to temper himself.
When Li Guanqi returned to the White Jade Tower, everyone was there.
Meng Wanshu looked at him with heartache in her eyes, flickering to his side to support him.
"Honestly... you've gone and covered yourself in wounds again!"
Li Guanqi gave a sheepish grin and said nothing.
Yet Meng Wanshu, Ye Feng, and the others all noticed the change in Li Guanqi.
It was a transformation that came from the inside out.
Ye Feng's gaze turned solemn.
If previously he could still vaguely sense Li Guanqi's aura and strength, now he could no longer perceive the gap between them at all.
An inexplicable pressure filled his heart.
It wasn't just Ye Feng; Cao Yan, Xiao Chen, and the others felt the same.
Originally, they had still been privately pleased about breaking through to the Tribulation Transcendence realm.
Tribulation Transcendence cultivators with an average age under forty...
Such an achievement was beyond what words like 'favored prodigies of heaven' could describe.
Yet what about Li Guanqi?
Late Tribulation Transcendence, challenging the Four Kings...
Li Guanqi was always walking ahead of everyone, leaving them able only to gaze at his back.
Chapter 1450