Suppressing His Realm, Challenging the Dragon King's Heroic Spirit!

When Li Guanqi walked out of the high tower, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. The Four Kings stood waiting by the entrance, glaring at him with bitter indignation. Not only Xuan Yue and Bai Su, but even Wen Guyan looked at him with an unfriendly gaze. A rare trace of jealousy showed on Wen Guyan's face. "Fine, fine, fine! You brat actually leaped across the chasm and reached the Ascension realm!" "Not only that, you... became someone like the Realm Lord, didn't you?" "Sigh... I... you... forget it..." Li Guanqi did not dare speak. He could tell that Wen Guyan was likely the person closest to his own path. Only then did Li Guanqi notice that all four of them had imprinted their projections! Looking back... "Thirty-fifth floor heroic spirit: Wen Guyan, sword cultivator, peak of the Tribulation Transcendence realm..." The last few words were slightly indistinct. Li Guanqi furrowed his brows. "Half-step Ascension?!" "No wonder the others fear the Dragon King so much!" Li Guanqi marveled internally. He had not expected Wen Guyan's strength to be this formidable! The other three kings were at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence realm, and only the words denoting Wen Guyan's cultivation realm appeared somewhat illusory. With both hands clasped behind his back, Wen Guyan walked slowly toward Li Guanqi, only to brush right past him and head straight for the top floor of the Hall of Heroic Spirits! "I'm going to test you today, come what may!" Li Guanqi scratched his head. If he had forcibly broken through relying on the power of the Starfall Cold Lotus, he might still feel a bit uncertain facing the Dragon King. But now... With a century of accumulation and a fully stabilized foundation, he truly feared nothing. He was eager to battle Wen Guyan, so he simply turned and walked toward the thirty-fifth floor! Seeing Li Guanqi walking side by side with him, Wen Guyan curled his lip. Li Guanqi smiled, saying nothing. Yet just as Wen Guyan was about to step onto the thirty-sixth floor, his voice suddenly reached Li Guanqi's ears. "Bai Su possesses a thunder spiritual root." *Buzz!* Li Guanqi's figure vanished into the Hall of Heroic Spirits. Having stepped onto the thirty-fifth floor, Li Guanqi whipped around! His eyes narrowed slightly, Wen Guyan's words echoing repeatedly in his mind. His eyes flashed. Li Guanqi raised a hand and gently tore open the void. He stepped straight from the thirty-fifth floor into the thirty-sixth floor! Wen Guyan stared in shock at the warping space, from which Li Guanqi slowly emerged! "You... Isn't this an independent space? You can even break into this?" Li Guanqi shrugged and said calmly, "It's all just space, merely partitioned and stacked. It just takes a little effort; the essence is the same." At this, Li Guanqi paused. His gaze turned sharp as he looked at Wen Guyan and frowned. "Senior, what did you mean by those words just now?" Wen Guyan's expression turned calm. With one hand clasped behind his back, he turned to face Li Guanqi. He could feel an intensely powerful pressure radiating from Li Guanqi—a pressure none of the other three kings could exert on him. That overwhelming sense of danger caused his muscles to tense involuntarily. He sighed internally. He had never anticipated that Li Guanqi would become this powerful after opening the immortal path with his sword. Gathering his thoughts, Wen Guyan pondered for a moment before speaking. "The reason I came down was that Bai Su was the first to do so." The handsome man wearing an earring looked at Li Guanqi with an intriguing gaze. "Because... you blocked his path." Hearing this explanation, Li Guanqi threw his head back and laughed uproariously, rocking back and forth until tears welled in his eyes. "Hahahahahahaha!" "Blocked his path?! Hahahahaha!" "Hahaha." Watching Li Guanqi suddenly burst into laughter, Wen Guyan frowned, unsure of what was so funny. After a long while, Li Guanqi wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and took several deep breaths to compose himself. "Blocked his path?!" "He failed to take that step for thousands of years, and now he turns around and blames me for blocking his way?" "What a... splendid excuse for his own uselessness." "Does that mean every cultivator under heaven with a thunder spiritual root should bear a grudge against me?" Li Guanqi shook his head with a laugh, hardly taking the matter to heart. If Bai Su had the guts to confront and question him face-to-face, he might still regard Bai Su as someone of consequence. To bottle up these petty thoughts inside, stewing in secret resentment—how utterly lacking in grace. Li Guanqi said softly, "Let him think whatever he wants." "Even if he genuinely hates me, it doesn't matter." Pausing slightly, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning sharp. "However, if he harbors malice and does anything detrimental to the Human Spirit Realm..." "Then don't blame me for disregarding past relations." As Li Guanqi spoke those last words, he made no effort to conceal his killing intent. Between people, whether they saw eye to eye or not mattered little to him. Yet if someone redirected that narrow-minded resentment into harming the common people of the realm, then... Wen Guyan said softly, "You needn't worry about that." "If such a thing truly comes to pass, you won't need to act. I will kill him myself." "Enough. If there's nothing else, head down. I want to test this Hall of Heroic Spirits too!" Li Guanqi nodded, cupped his hands in farewell, tore through space, and departed. However, he did not head to the thirty-fifth floor; instead, he arrived at the twenty-second floor! Gu Li sat cross-legged in midair with a dejected expression. The twenty-ninth floor had been snatched by an old senior from the Fourth Domain. Even with their strength, they were not as powerful as some of those veteran experts. Seven or eight floors in between had been occupied by cultivators who stood at the absolute pinnacle of their respective realms. *Buzz!* Gu Li looked forward in surprise. "Uh... Big Brother, why are you here?" Li Guanqi smiled and weighed his hands slightly. "Do you have any inscribed talismans capable of surveillance?" "The premise is that it cannot be detected, and the target is very strong." Gu Li frowned and tilted his head to look at Li Guanqi. "Big Brother... I remember giving you quite a few before. Are they not high enough in grade?" As he spoke, Gu Li retrieved a dark-gold inscribed talisman from his storage ring. Li Guanqi held it between his fingers and frowned. "No, this is still too easy to notice." Gu Li raised an eyebrow at that, stood up, leaned close to Li Guanqi, and whispered, "Who are you trying to monitor? Even this grade isn't enough?" Li Guanqi said nothing. He opened his hand, curled back his thumb, and lifted his white robe. *Five, four, white...* Gu Li understood instantly. His brows knitted tightly as he pondered for a long time. "The Fifth Domain, the Four Kings, Bai Su!" "That's rather tricky... His perception is far too sharp." Seeing Gu Li lost in deep thought, Li Guanqi waved his hand, shrouding him in a swath of silver light. Gradually, Gu Li closed his eyes and sat cross-legged. Talismanic inscriptions of spiritual light flickered across his body; he had clearly entered an epiphany. Li Guanqi did not disturb him and returned alone to the thirty-fifth floor. He also wanted to see the current gap in strength between himself and the Dragon King! Thirty-fifth floor heroic spirit: Dragon King, Wen Guyan! Smiling faintly, Li Guanqi sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, projecting his consciousness into the void space. Ten yards across from Li Guanqi's newly condensed form stood a man clad in green robes, holding a three-foot azure blade. The Red Lotus manifested. Li Guanqi suppressed his cultivation to the half-step Ascension realm as well, and both figures shot forward in an instant!