Clatter!
Clatter...
"What kind of garbage is all this?"
"Medium-grade spirit stones? Doesn't keeping this junk inside just waste space?"
Eight or nine storage rings lay discarded on the ground.
The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched.
"Looks like life for these Immortal Realm cultivators isn't quite as plush as I imagined."
A pile of useless low-grade robes and magical artifacts lay strewn across the dirt.
Their defensive capabilities were not even a match for Li Guanqi's physical body.
Finally, Li Guanqi rummaged through Zhao He's storage ring.
A glittering expanse of stark white immortal crystals nearly blinded his eyes.
"Tsk, tsk, truly loaded—a full two hundred thousand immortal crystals."
"And so many pills! What's this? Xuantian Pills? Heh, a massive haul."
All told, there were over a dozen bottles of assorted pills.
Eight bottles alone contained Xuanyuan Pills meant for Mystic Immortal cultivators.
Li Guanqi swept the immortal crystals, pills, and other goods into his own storage ring, sighing with deep satisfaction.
"Tsk, tsk. Robbery really is the quickest way..."
Sorting through the rest, Li Guanqi suddenly uncovered an extraordinarily lavish jade slip.
From its material and craftsmanship alone, it was plainly no ordinary object.
Several large characters were carved upon it:
'Vice Hall Master'
Li Guanqi's expression shifted, and he muttered with a frown, "How does a mere vice commander have a jade slip from the Vice Hall Master?"
"And by the looks of it, this is a private transmission slip."
After a moment's hesitation, Li Guanqi masked his aura to mimic Zhao He's and channeled a wisp of immortal primal energy into it.
The jade slip promptly replayed the familiar voice from the earlier transmission:
"Son..."
*Snap!*
Li Guanqi lowered the slip and clasped it with both hands, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.
"S-son?!"
Convinced he had misheard, he hesitated, then picked up the jade slip and channeled another wisp of immortal primal energy into it.
"Son, Father..."
Li Guanqi's throat bobbed, his mouth going dry.
"Dammit!"
"An illegitimate son?!"
He channeled yet another wisp of immortal primal energy...
"Son, Father is about to break through to the fifth level of Heavenly Immortal... when that time comes..."
*Crack!*
Li Guanqi expressionlessly snapped the jade slip in two.
"Heh... heheh..."
"Even the Immortal Realm plays this game?"
An illegitimate son. The Vice Hall Master of the Tianshu Ascension Hall. Peak fourth-level Heavenly Immortal.
His suspended heart finally plummeted into cold dread.
Now Li Guanqi recalled the two hundred thousand immortal crystals and the pills.
Even thinking with one's toes, anyone could tell that this Vice Hall Master placed immense importance on Zhao He.
After all, among the other Mystic Immortal black-armored guards, the wealthiest had barely two hundred immortal crystals in his storage ring.
The poorest of them even kept medium-grade spirit stones.
Two hundred thousand...
The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched.
"Could this Vice Hall Master's legitimate children all be daughters or something?!"
With that thought, he finally understood why Zhao He acted with such unbridled arrogance.
He had absolute backing!
In truth, Li Guanqi did not know that Zhao He possessed so many immortal crystals primarily because of the payoffs he received from secretly trafficking ascended cultivators into slavery.
Li Guanqi maintained a calm mindset. Since things had already reached this point, there was no use dwelling on it.
As for being targeted by a mighty Heavenly Immortal cultivator, he had no good solution at the moment anyway.
His only immediate priority was finding a way to purge the trace Zhao He had left within him.
With a flip of his hand, he pulled out a jade slip containing a map.
The Tianshu Ascension Hall should be located in the east of Fuyu Land.
Channeling his immortal primal energy, a magnificent, sprawling map materialized before his eyes.
Li Guanqi swallowed hard. The immense spiritual glow nearly filled the entire cave.
A map over ten zhang across accounted for less than one percent of the eastern region!
Staring at this map, which was larger than the entire Six Domains, Li Guanqi was struck speechless for a long time.
He finally understood what it truly meant for the Immortal Realm to be vast beyond measure.
Fuyu Land alone was thousands of times larger than the entire Human Spirit Realm.
Li Guanqi glanced at the map and discovered that his current position lay right near the easternmost edge of Fuyu Land.
According to the map, a three-thousand-li radius around him fell within the bounds of the Chiyu Mountain Range.
And in the upper corner of the map, another ascension hall was marked.
Studying it, Li Guanqi put the map away, deciding it would be best to find a populated area to settle down first.
He knew nothing of the Immortal Realm.
He needed to find a place where he could gather information.
Checking the map again, he noted a region called Qinzhou, which was home to several cities and sect powers.
Stowing the map, Li Guanqi collected the inscribed talismans at the cave entrance.
The inscribed talismans Gu Li had left them were mostly utilitarian.
Once used, each was gone for good; he had to conserve them.
Thinking of this, Li Guanqi touched the gilded pendant on his ear.
Looking up toward the cave entrance, he murmured, "I wonder how they're all doing..."
"The Immortal Realm is fraught with danger. Tread carefully, brothers."
Little did he know that at this very moment, all of his sworn brothers were undergoing varying degrees of pursuit!
After all, apart from cultivators from the Youhuang Realm, exceedingly few ascended to the Immortal Realm while still in the Tribulation Transcendence realm or even the Ascension realm.
Thus, every cultivator who ascended at the Tribulation Transcendence realm became an object of prime scrutiny!
Li Guanqi donned a black robe and flickered away, vanishing from the cave.
Once outside, he headed straight for Qinzhou.
Along the way, in a scenic spot within the Chiyu Mountain Range, stood a small earthen mound.
Li Guanqi took a deep breath, planted burning incense beside the mound, and set a simple stone before it to serve as a grave marker.
Having done all this, he cast a sorrowful glance back before concealing his figure and departing.
Along the journey, Li Guanqi relied on his keen divine sense to steer clear of numerous great demons.
Demonic beasts of rank seven and above were everywhere!
Most ranked great demons were in deep slumber, though some were out hunting for prey.
Toward these ranked great demons, Li Guanqi was exceptionally cautious.
Every single one of them was wary to a fault, treacherous and cunning.
Li Guanqi moved forward with great care.
He also attempted to tear through space along the way, only to find that his current strength was limited to warping space at best...
By his estimate, tearing open space would require reaching at least the Golden Immortal realm.
After an unknown span of time, the surrounding mountainous terrain finally fell away, replaced by rolling peaks and sprawling plains.
The land of Qinzhou.
Following the directions on the map, Li Guanqi flew through the air for over a dozen shichen before finally spotting the distant outline of a colossal city.
Yuxu City.
Its towering, majestic architecture drew a sigh of marvel from Li Guanqi.
The city walls, constructed of cyan bricks, stood over thirty zhang tall, and the black-armored guards patrolling atop them were all in the Mahayana realm.
There were twelve gates in total across the four directions—one large and two small on each side.
The colossal redwood gates stood a full ten zhang high, flanked by side doors five zhang tall.
A massive plaque hung suspended above the city gate.
The main gates were not open. Clad in his black robe, Li Guanqi walked steadily toward the entrance.
Just as he reached the gate, a black-armored cultivator blocked his path.
"City entrance fee: ten immortal crystals."
Li Guanqi tossed him ten immortal crystals, yet the guard kept his arm raised.
"Identity jade slip."
Li Guanqi glanced at him: first-level Mystic Immortal.
He did not want to cause trouble, but having fought his way out of the ascension platform, where was he supposed to get an identity jade slip?
Pondering for a moment, Li Guanqi produced another ten immortal crystals and tossed them over, deliberately dropping his voice into a slightly raspy tone.
"I'm here on business and wish to keep a low profile. I ask for your leniency."
The man looked at Li Guanqi, discreetly pocketed the immortal crystals, and stepped aside.
"Don't cause trouble once you're inside."
Beneath his black robe, the corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curled upward.
When traveling far from home, money truly did make things easy...
Chapter 1572