The Will to Sever the Heavens

BOOM! A colossal explosion detonated within the Immortal Spirit Realm. Boundless thunderous flames permeated the void, gently buoying the man suspended in midair. Seeing this, Su Xuan let out a long breath, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward. "Not bad, brat. To think you actually broke free from the void realm of the Heart-Calming Cloud Rainbow by force!" "This power... is formidable." Li Guanqi’s head, which had been tilted backward, snapped forward! Opening his eyes, arcs of lightning flashed through his gaze. With a ferocious expression, Li Guanqi regained control over his own physical body. Heaven and earth trembled, and infinite thunder surged into the void as though welcoming the sovereign of lightning. Li Guanqi took a slight step forward, and lightning blossomed into a ten-foot lotus beneath his feet, bearing him aloft. A razor-sharp sword intent surged straight into the clouds! Infused within that sword intent was towering fury. The sky and earth shifted as violent winds whipped up, thunder shrilled, and the clouds darkened. The rotation of the three thunderstorm eyes abruptly hitched, showing faint signs of collapse! Li Guanqi's own aura of pressure was actually contending on equal footing with the heavenly tribulation's thunderstorm! After a long silence, Li Guanqi called out within his mind. "Sword spirit?" A moment later, a woman's voice gently sounded, rich with complex emotion. "I am here." "I have always been here." Li Guanqi’s eyes reddened; surely the sword spirit understood what he had been through. "Shiwu?" "I'm here." Li Guanqi pressed his lips together, tears welling in his eyes. These names were words he had called ten million times in that dead, silent void. At last, he had received an answer. Almost instantaneously, the power within Li Guanqi's body calmed and settled. Under Shiwu's astonished gaze... With an overwhelming, unstoppable momentum, Li Guanqi suppressed the turbulent primal energy in his body in the span of a breath. Furthermore, the primal energy flowed through his meridians at an incredible speed. A profound, enigmatic power erupted from within him. A look of surprise flashed across the sword spirit’s eyes. She could clearly sense the transformation in Li Guanqi. It was not merely the stabilization of his cultivation realm, but an elevation in his sword path attainments and a leap in his sword intent. Boom! Skreeee! A resonant sword cry pierced the firmament. The Red Lotus sword transformed into a crimson beam of light, instantly flying into his palm. With Red Lotus in hand, that familiar warmth finally returned... Skreeee! The sword sang with joyful excitement; Red Lotus could likewise sense the change in Li Guanqi. He had grown far stronger—so strong it made heaven and earth tremble! Li Guanqi slowly looked up, the anger in his eyes threatening to coalesce into a towering inferno. Thunderous flames surged behind him, overlapping like waves gathering momentum. Merely by standing there, Li Guanqi seemed to become the center of all the thunder in heaven and earth. Violent power of laws surged and washed out, ripples of thunderous tides spreading in every direction. Li Guanqi raised his head toward the firmament, murmuring in a chilling voice, "Just because of you bastards... I had to stay trapped in that space for an entire century..." "A hundred years... That was far too long." "Just let me become this Human Spirit Immortal. Why did you insist on obstructing me?" "A pointless meddling. What was the point?" Though his voice was still somewhat hoarse, he desperately wanted to speak. It didn't matter what he said, as long as he could speak... RUMBLE! A deafening roar resounded as the three thunderstorm eyes simultaneously unleashed tens of thousands of lightning bolts, hurtling down at Li Guanqi! The brilliant glare of the falling lightning lit up virtually the entire Immortal Spirit Realm like broad daylight. The space spanning ten thousand zhang around them completely shattered, utterly unable to withstand this force. The lightning was as swift as thought, enveloping Li Guanqi in the blink of an eye! Charged with destructive might, the bolts sought to obliterate him entirely. Li Guanqi watched the falling lightning with a calm gaze. In his eyes, the blindingly fast lightning seemed slowed down by countless folds. Primal energy instantly coursed through his entire body, pouring into his blade as the Red Lotus blossomed. "Slow... Far too slow..." BOOM! In an instant, myriad rays of sword light erupted like fireworks. Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom! Rumble! The sea of thunderous flames surged, and boundless sword qi swept across the eight directions, weaving into a vast sword screen across the heavens. Several breaths later, Li Guanqi's figure stood proudly where he was. Not a single wound marked his body; only the expanse of shattered void had widened. Not a single wisp of energy from his sword qi had leaked or been wasted. His control over his power was terrifying to the extreme! Li Guanqi cast a provocative glance toward the firmament. "Is that all you've got?" The cloud layers surged violently, as if brewing an even more devastating strike. Yet before the heavenly tribulation could fall, Li Guanqi slowly walked toward the thunderstorms in the sky. He only stopped when he was three hundred zhang away from the three thunderstorms. Li Guanqi stared calmly straight at the tempest above. "I know you possess a wisp of consciousness." "Let one strike decide the outcome." "If you win, I die." "If I win, this path of the Human Spirit Immortal... step aside and let me walk it." Rumble! The thunderclouds churned as if in contemplation. Perhaps through the preceding assault, it had also realized that the current Li Guanqi was different from before. Such a furious, torrential barrage had accomplished nothing at all. Suddenly, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed to be sucked dry, uncontrollably rushing into the thunderclouds! Li Guanqi's expression shifted slightly. He looked down at the fractured Celestial Spirit Mountain Range below. The mountain range was gradually collapsing, transforming into celestial spiritual energy that surged up into the clouds. With a wave of Li Guanqi's hand, thunderous flames filled the sky, and Shiwu began madly devouring the power of the Celestial Spirit Mountain Range. Li Guanqi sneered, "I won't let you have this, either." Yet no sooner had he spoken than a bloated sensation struck his abdomen. Shiwu's tearful voice sounded beside his ear. "I can't take any more... I really can't take in any more..." "Any more and I'll explode!" Li Guanqi's expression turned grim. Most of the Starfall Cold Lotus's power within his body was already sealed away. Now his origin spirit was bloated, and his dantian was exceedingly engorged. Even Shiwu could no longer refine any more. Gritting his teeth, Li Guanqi waved his hand to tear open more than ten domain spaces, stuffing the fragmented Celestial Spirit Mountain Range inside them. "If I can't absorb it, you can't have it either!" Gradually, the thunderstorms in the firmament began to shift and coalesce. A terrifying thunderstorm eye spanning five hundred zhang across coalesced in an instant. The horrifying pressure caused the Immortal Spirit Realm to crumble at an accelerating pace. The Immortal Spirit Realm, which had once been as vast as two entire continents of the Great Xia Domain, was now reduced to a mere thousand li. The collapsing space trembled violently, on the verge of complete destruction at any moment. Li Guanqi sensed that this pressure had completely surpassed the scope of an Ascension Realm heavenly tribulation. The monstrous power harbored within was enough to obliterate any cultivator newly stepped into the Ascension Realm! The expanse of thunderclouds shrank as all its power condensed into the eye of the storm. The light grew increasingly blinding, and the low rumble sounded as if holding back an apocalyptic eruption. Licking his lips, Li Guanqi unleashed his full power without hesitation! Transforming into his half-dragon form, blood and qi surged through him while immortal primal energy churned. Activating the fifth layer of the Divine Punishment technique, a three-fold enhancement catapulted Li Guanqi's power to an unbelievable height. BOOM! His sword intent pierced the heavens! A peak Sword Po realm sword intent, infused with the will to sever the heavens. Profound, enigmatic power of Dao arts surged about him as Li Guanqi slowly raised his sword toward the sky. Streams of sword qi swirled and danced around his form.