Grade Three Immortal Ore!!

Li Guanqi's heart instantly tightened. He became even more vigilant. Examining the corpse of the Tianhua Sword Sect disciple closely, he discovered that the man had not died from an external assault. It seemed more as if... something had killed him in an instant, striking from the inside out, extinguishing both body and soul. Every trace of flesh and blood had dissolved, leaving jade bones stripped of any lingering spiritual light. Li Guanqi frowned deeply, reaching down to scoop up a handful of mud from the toxic swamp. He realized that the mire alone could never have corroded a Mystic Immortal cultivator to such a degree. Pushing aside his chaotic thoughts, Li Guanqi concealed his aura and advanced inward with utmost caution. Before long, he came upon a second corpse, then a third. Without exception, each had died in the exact same manner as the first. Moreover, all of them wore the sect robes of the Tianhua Sword Sect. Which meant... The two previous times the secret realm had been opened, it had been disciples of the Tianhua Sword Sect who entered. Without the slightest hesitation, Li Guanqi closed his eyes and sensed the position of the disciple upon whom he had planted an inscribed talisman. Opening his eyes, he darted through the toxic mire like a phantom shadow. Along the way, he witnessed Tianhua Sword Sect disciples hunting down and slaughtering the rogue cultivators. Their strikes were decisive and vicious, bereft of any mercy. Once they struck down a cultivator, whether the victim was dead or alive, they bound and imprisoned them all. Concealed behind a massive lotus leaf rising from the swamp, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, his brow furrowed tight. From start to finish, this secret realm had reeked of conspiracy. *Why are they killing so many people?* *And... what truly is this secret realm?* It was only natural for Li Guanqi to wonder. Ever since entering, he had found virtually nothing of value. On top of that, one could not inhale too much of the miasma. If an excess seeped into the body, even a Mystic Immortal would find their immortal essence progressively suppressed and sealed. Fortunately, Li Guanqi possessed the protection of the Devouring Void Sacred Flame within him, which purified every wisp of poison that entered his body. Soon, Li Guanqi followed a squad of Tianhua Sword Sect disciples through the dense miasma and out of the toxic marsh. The sprawling ruins of a fallen sect emerged before his eyes. A towering, crumbling mountain gate stood amidst a vast expanse of interconnected pavilions nestled in the surrounding peaks. For a fleeting moment, Li Guanqi almost seemed to glimpse an illusion of an overwhelmingly powerful ancient sect. Every detail spoke of past glory and absolute supremacy. Yet now, it was buried under yellow earth, its structures overgrown with dark green moss and creeping vines. Without pausing for a moment, the squad of disciples headed straight for the heart of the ruins. Li Guanqi trailed directly behind them. Upon crossing into the grounds of the sect ruins, Li Guanqi silently spread his divine sense outward. He quickly discovered that the places where pills and dharma artifacts had once been stored were already picked clean. Just then, Li Guanqi's brow twitched. He cast a glance toward the speeding Tianhua Sword Sect disciples and slipped away. No longer tailing them, he stepped into the crumbling walls and broken pillars of another ruined section. A once-lofty, magnificent hall had long collapsed, stirring up a swirl of dust as he drew near. Li Guanqi extended his divine sense a hundred zhang around him, and soon pushed open a battered door. *Creak!* Stepping inside, Li Guanqi saw furnace-like implements scattered throughout the room. Li Guanqi paused. He had seen plenty of such things back with Meng Jiangchu. Though differing in shape and size, he recognized what they were at a glance. Forging furnaces! Li Guanqi leaned down and lightly touched one, and the massive furnace instantly crumbled into a drift of flying ash. *Was this the sect's forging quarters?* Without dwelling on it, Li Guanqi scanned the area and prepared to leave. Yet at that moment, he spotted a small pile of white ash in the corner of the room. He flashed to the mound of ash and swept his hand through it twice, uncovering an identity jade slip and a storage ring on the verge of fracturing. The moment his divine sense brushed the storage ring, it shattered into pieces. "As expected..." Beneath the relentless march of time, nothing endured. Yet as he rose, he noticed that the pitch-black jade slip remained intact. "Hm?" Li Guanqi waved his sleeve to disperse the bone ash, and the inscribed characters on the jade slip slowly grew clear. "Xuanming Sect... is that the name of this sect?" However, the jade slip was completely drained of spiritual nature. Aside from the sect's name, he found no other records. Li Guanqi got up and departed, inspecting the remnants of several more halls. Without exception, each yielded nothing, offering no further clues. From what he could deduce, this place had once belonged to an exceptionally powerful artifact-forging sect. Yet he failed to uncover anything of value. Curling his lips in disappointment, Li Guanqi was about to turn away when— Suddenly! A dark shadow flitted past the corridor outside! Li Guanqi immediately held his breath and focused his mind. The newcomer had not detected him. His eyes flickered, and he vanished from the spot without a sound. A moment later, tracking the shadow's aura, Li Guanqi arrived beneath a thoroughly concealed pile of rubble! The black-robed figure held half a broken jade slip, which still flickered with faint traces of spiritual light. The man's aura fluctuated violently, his mind clearly in great turmoil. Soon, a hidden stone door appeared before them. The man pressed the broken jade slip directly against its surface. *Rumble!* The ground shook, and Li Guanqi's gaze sharpened. *That's quite a commotion...* The black-robed man evidently realized the same. The instant the stone door parted, he blurred into an afterimage and darted inside. Li Guanqi followed right on his heels, only to be met by a streak of sword light hurtling straight for his face the moment he crossed the threshold! Li Guanqi took a step back, and the black-robed figure materialized right before him! *Clang!* Red Lotus cleared its sheath, and the sword in his hand slashed out in a furious counter with thunderous speed! *Clang! Clang! Clang!* Li Guanqi forcefully halted his backward momentum, his sword surging with immortal essence in an overwhelming display of dominance. The black-robed man had fought for a platform spot to enter the realm. As a fourth-tier Mystic Immortal, his strength was nothing to scoff at. Though suppressed by Li Guanqi, he still mounted a ferocious retaliation. Li Guanqi frowned. He knew full well that he could not drag this out. The commotion here would inevitably draw countless cultivators. Gritting his teeth, his immortal essence roared and his blood surged, causing his strength to skyrocket as his aura climbed. *Clang! Clang! Clang!* The instant Li Guanqi deflected the man's blade and knocked him back, he pressed the offensive instead of retreating, closing the distance in a flash. His fist smashed into the man's elbow, while endless thunder and flame manifested as lightning pythons that bound his foe tightly. Terrifying spatial suppression formed a cage around them as his sword slashed out in fluid succession! *Boom!* A sky full of thunderous flames crashed down like towering waves. A cold glint flickered like lightning, gone in a flash! "Red Lotus: World's End!" *Boom! Boom! Boom!* The sword light burst forth, carving a chasm tens of zhang long across the stone wall behind. A severed head tumbled across the floor. Li Guanqi swiftly stripped the storage ring from the dead man's finger and incinerated the corpse. Scanning his surroundings, his breath caught in his throat... All around the chamber lay dense piles of rare, multicolored ores. Beams of celestial radiance flickered ceaselessly, illuminating the entire secret room as bright as day. Colors shifted and flowed through the minerals, resembling strands of gold drifting through the rock. Li Guanqi swallowed hard. "Just how bloody much... is all this worth?!" There were no fewer than a hundred chunks of varying sizes. The largest, a fiery red mineral, was taller than a grown man. Others, dark and gold, were merely the size of a palm. Yet without exception, every single stone thrummed with immense, potent energy. With no time to dawdle, Li Guanqi channeled his immortal essence. Under the sudden shockwaves, several weathered pieces shattered to dust. He discarded the broken immortal ores and swept all the rest into his ring! Stashing away the remaining minerals, Li Guanqi spun around and fled without a moment's hesitation. *Rumble!* The ruins trembled. Tumbling rocks cascaded down, nearly filling the corridor. In Li Guanqi's perception, several powerful auras were rapidly closing in. Yet he noticed that the aura of the Tianhua Sword Sect disciples was on the verge of fading away, so he quickened his pace at once.