Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, staring at the approaching man in the distance and murmuring, "A Mystic Immortal?"
Not far to his side, the burly man tossed another cultivator away like trash.
Bang!
The burly man's chest heaved slightly as he took a step forward, watching the immortal approaching from afar. Flames twined about his body, radiating an aggressive presence. His eyes gleamed with savage ferocity, especially when he caught sight of the beast-taming collar around the roc's neck.
At that moment, the numerous cultivators across the plaza fell to their knees one after another.
"Greetings, Commander Zhao!"
"Greetings, Commander Zhao!"
Li Guanqi noticed that these people all seemed terrified of this newcomer.
Riding the roc, the man slowly touched down onto the plaza. The roc bowed low, pressing its head to the stone paving, and the man stepped down smoothly. With one hand clasped behind his back, he glanced at Li Guanqi and the near-dying youth pinned beneath him, then turned toward the burly man and gave a slight nod.
"You two aren't bad. You may address me as Commander Zhao."
With that, he turned his expressionless gaze upon Li Guanqi. "Release him and come with me, both of you. I can arrange for you to join a sect or faction. Having just ascended, you possess neither resources, nor background, nor cultivation methods. Joining a faction will at least give you a place to gain a foothold."
If Li Guanqi did not know the truth of this place, hearing those words might have made him think this fellow was a decent person. And not just him—even the platform guards on the plaza were muttering among themselves in low voices.
"What lucky bastards..."
"No kidding. They won't be bought and sold as slaves, and that's only because they're reasonably capable."
"Being able to enter a sect right after ascending is a tremendous stroke of fortune."
Yet the man's tone suddenly shifted. His gaze sharpened as he glared at Li Guanqi, immortal might surging outward to press down upon the two of them in a suffocating wave!
Li Guanqi's frame sank slightly. The sudden weight bearing down from thin air felt nearly unbearable—partly from the other's Mystic Immortal pressure, and partly because he had not yet fully adapted to the Immortal Realm.
The burly man fared even worse; his knees buckled and almost gave out beneath him. Yet veins bulged across his neck as he forcefully straightened his spine beneath that stifling pressure, his tiger-like eyes glaring fixedly at Commander Zhao.
A glint of surprise flitted through the commander's eyes; clearly, this resistance was unexpected. Commander Zhao chuckled, then pointed at the youth pinned to the ground and said to Li Guanqi, "However, if you kill him... you will die right here."
"Oh? Is that so? By what right?"
Hearing Li Guanqi's retort, Zhao He burst into laughter. "By what right? By the right that he is a native of the Immortal Realm! For an ascender from the lower realms to offend his superiors is already a cardinal offense! If you kill him, you die."
Zhao He's pressure was meant to put them in their place, to teach Li Guanqi that no matter how lethal newly ascended cultivators might be, they still had to lower their heads and know their place!
Beside him, the burly man clenched his fists so tightly that blood vessels crawled across his eyes.
Li Guanqi looked straight into Zhao He's eyes with a calm, steady gaze.
Like a drowning man grasping at a lifeline, Zhou Xuanze reached toward Zhao He with all the strength he had left, pleading with his eyes.
Li Guanqi tilted his head slightly, licked his lips, and murmured softly, "What a fine 'offending your superiors.' What a fine 'lower-realm human slave'!"
His voice rose higher and higher, fraught with mounting fury. He could sense that this man was at least a second-tier Mystic Immortal cultivator. Yet he carried unyielding pride in his bones—he had no intention of bending and breaking here!
Everyone watched as Li Guanqi slowly leaned down.
A glint of disappointment flickered in the eyes of the burly man who had ascended from the Beast Spirit Realm. Just as they all assumed Li Guanqi was about to bow and accept Zhao He's benevolence, the sword in Li Guanqi's hand moved, cleanly severing the youth's head right before everyone's eyes!
Li Guanqi bent down and lifted the head by the hair, speaking in a chilling voice: "The cultivators of the Immortal Realm stand so high and mighty. Then I, a mere ascender, shall see for myself... just what makes you so noble!"
Boom!
Circulating his cultivation technique to its utmost, all the primal energy within Li Guanqi—having undergone the baptism—had now completely transformed into immortal primal energy!
Boom!
Wild lightning wreaked havoc in all directions, and the source of Shiwu within him had likewise ascended to the level of an immortal spirit! Terrifying flames gathered into a vast sea of fire, the scorching heat causing space itself to warp.
Li Guanqi lifted his chin slightly, looking down on Zhao He with disdain in his eyes. "Make me bow and submit? What kind of thing do you think you are?!"
Zhao He's expression darkened, his gaze locking onto Li Guanqi with frigid killing intent. "Good, good, good! State your name. I will remember you."
Li Guanqi offered a nonchalant smile. "Human Spirit Realm, Li Congxin."
As he spoke, Li Guanqi violently hurled the severed head forward.
Bang!
Ten zhang before Zhao He, the head detonated with a deafening boom, crushed to powder by an unseen force. Zhao He's face turned utterly grim. He had never imagined that Li Guanqi would dare execute the captive in front of everyone, sweeping his dignity entirely into the dirt.
Zhao He had already made up his mind: he would cut Li Guanqi down beneath his blade and hang the corpse above this plaza as a warning to all!
"Li Congxin, was it? Good, good, good. You have guts. Since you dare to do this... you must be fully prepared to die."
As Li Guanqi circulated his cultivation technique, immortal primal energy surged and roared, his vitality churning like a raging inferno. The wounds he had sustained during the great battle in the Human Spirit Realm had long since healed beneath the baptism. At the peak of his power, his aura was in no way inferior to a cultivator who had just entered the Mystic Immortal realm!
Lightning coiled around him, space faintly distorted, and dark clouds roiled across the heavens amidst rolling celestial thunder. Wind and clouds shifted between heaven and earth as violent gales raged. That such a phenomenon could be summoned by a mere Ascension realm cultivator left quite a few onlookers astonished.
Right at that moment, Li Guanqi's voice sounded in the burly man's ear. "Want to join forces? You won't escape this place on your own. You're better off teaming up with me."
Without hesitation, the man nodded. In an instant, a tempestuous fire law diffused outward!
A pair of horns sprouted from his head, and his frame grew even more colossal. Li Guanqi was momentarily taken aback; he actually felt an immensely familiar bloodline resonance radiating from the man.
"Your true form is..."
The man's deep, resonant voice echoed slowly. "A fire qilin! The name is Shi Lin. Can I trust you?"
Li Guanqi glanced sideways at Shi Lin and parted his lips. "Trust me, and we still have the strength to fight for a sliver of hope. Don't, and both of us die here today!"
A sharp glint flashed in Shi Lin's eyes. He shook his head, his fiery red hair whipping in the wind like flickering tongues of fire. In a flash, he stepped up beside Li Guanqi, glanced down at the companion who was much shorter than himself, and grinned.
"I like your temper."
Li Guanqi offered a faint smile. "Likewise."
Reining in his expression, Li Guanqi knew better than to be careless against an Immortal Realm cultivator in the second tier of the Mystic Immortal realm. His eyes hardened, and he roared in a low, thunderous voice:
"Kill!"
Chapter 1557