Du Zhonglai's sword was swift and vicious; in the blink of an eye, he slaughtered the two of them.
With a flash of his silhouette, Li Guanqi immediately retrieved the male corpse, stripping it bare of its robes and the jade token at its waist.
Du Zhonglai was a step too slow, leaving him no choice but to begrudgingly take the woman's robes and jade token.
He glared malevolently at 'Yin Zisheng'.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi was not about to coddle him. He scoffed and cursed, "What the hell are you looking at? Want to fight?"
Du Zhonglai's chest heaved. Suppressing the murderous urge in his heart, he let out a cold snort.
Li Guanqi mocked him unceremoniously, "Old fart. If you're not satisfied, kill me. Look at you, pulling your head in like a cowardly turtle."
"You—!"
"What about me? If you don't want to go in, let's have a fight right here."
Du Zhonglai flicked his sleeve with a cold huff and spoke no more.
The remaining few looked at one another.
There were still five people left among them. Li Guanqi swept a vicious gaze over them. Lifting his hand, he shook the Tianhua Sword Sect jade token and spoke, mimicking the youth's voice:
"A few more people, and a few more corpses."
As soon as the words fell, Qisha and the black-robed man who had been lurking in the corner exploded into motion simultaneously.
*Puff! Puff!*
Gleams of saber and sword flashed past. The cultivators beside them did not even have time to react.
Li Guanqi's hand plunged through one cultivator's chest, leaving the man's eyes filled with disbelief.
At the same time, beneath Li Guanqi's feet, three silver inscribed talismans were buried into the broken stones.
Qisha sheathed his saber, and the other person slowly sheathed his sword as well.
Qisha cast a deep glance at the person beside him.
From beginning to end, this individual had shown nothing particularly noteworthy. Yet in that brief instant just now, the power that had burst from him was far from weak! Even a cultivator at the Fifth Layer of Mystic Immortal would have to think twice before making a move against him.
Then, Qisha's gaze casually swept past Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi gave him a playful, mocking look, then turned his eyes away.
The black-robed man lowered his voice, saying calmly, "Four people. That is enough."
Pausing briefly, he continued, "Do we join hands... or does each rely on their own ability?"
Du Zhonglai gave a cold laugh, turning around to conceal his figure as he waited for disciples of the Tianhua Sword Sect to appear.
"Join hands? When each of us harbors our own schemes, it's better that everyone relies on their own ability!"
Having said that, he did not forget to glare at Li Guanqi.
Those words were likely directed at Li Guanqi. After all, among the four present, Li Guanqi alone gave off an unpredictable, bloodthirsty vibe.
Soon enough, with a distortion in space, two more cultivators stepped out.
*Boom! Shing, shing! Splat!*
All four struck at once, annihilating the two cultivators in an instant.
Li Guanqi and the others put on the sect robes of Tianhua Sword Sect and hung the jade tokens from their waists. Next, they destroyed the facial features of the previously slain disciples and subtly altered their auras.
After donning the robes, the four of them each displayed their supernatural skills to change their appearances.
Du Zhonglai had no choice but to begrudgingly transform himself into the likeness of that female disciple.
Li Guanqi teased, "Old fellow, you look quite charming."
With that, he actually pulled Du Zhonglai over and rested a hand on his shoulder.
This terrified Du Zhonglai. One had to remember that 'Yin Zisheng' was a poison cultivator! His methods of poisoning were uncanny. Du Zhonglai tried to break free, but Li Guanqi's voice reached his ears:
"You'd better act a bit more coquettish. It wouldn't do if you blew our cover."
Du Zhonglai was burning with fury, yet he gritted his teeth and forced out a flirtatious, seductive gaze.
The sight sent a wave of disgust through Qisha.
The four exchanged glances and channeled immortal primal energy into their jade tokens.
A shimmering haze flickered, and with a slight distortion of space, they vanished from the spot in an instant.
Beneath his robe, Li Guanqi flicked his wrist, producing a shadow-casting stone and slipping it inside the corpse in his grasp. He popped two Xuanyuan Pills into his mouth, keeping their medicinal potency wrapped at the back of his throat.
He constantly felt that something was off...
A little caution was never a bad thing.
Moreover... the moment they stepped through the threshold was rather interesting.
Du Zhonglai wanted Li Guanqi to walk ahead and reached out to tug at the corner of Li Guanqi's robe, only to be met with a kick from Li Guanqi...
"Old bastard, you'd better behave."
Qisha and the black-robed man guarded against each other, walking side by side behind Li Guanqi.
The moment he stepped into this domain space, Li Guanqi felt the surrounding temperature drop dramatically.
A sickly sweet stench of blood permeated the air!
Around a colossal altar that spanned a hundred zhang stood disciples of the Tianhua Sword Sect, numbering over forty. It seemed they had also suffered casualties during the process.
A young man's harsh rebuke echoed by their ears:
"Hurry it up! What are you dawdling for?!"
Li Guanqi bobbed his head and bowed obsequiously, carrying the corpse forward. The shadow-casting stone within the corpse recorded everything around them.
The others behind him said nothing either, keeping their heads lowered as they followed Li Guanqi forward.
Passing through the crowd, Li Guanqi witnessed a horrifying sight that chilled him to the marrow.
In the center of the vast, purplish-black altar stood a stone pillar as thick as a water barrel. Plunged atop the pillar was a purple longsword of bizarre and hideous design, radiating an aura remarkably similar to the Rakshasa Ghost Mask.
And beneath that stone pillar... lay a small mountain of grim white bones.
Scattered around were a dozen shriveled corpses, as though their flesh and blood had been drained away in a single instant. Among them were many familiar auras. It seemed Tianhua Sword Sect's killing and corpse-gathering had all been for this!
Li Guanqi laid the corpse on the ground, quietly palming the shadow-casting stone from inside.
*Thud! Thud!*
After dropping it, Li Guanqi slowly retreated into the crowd, intending to step further back, yet he found that the woman behind him had turned pale, her hands pressed firmly against his back, blocking him.
Li Guanqi frowned slightly. He noticed that Du Zhonglai and the others were encountering the same thing.
With no other choice, he could only remain standing at the very front.
From within the crowd, Pei Tianchen, a figure of striking demeanor, strode slowly toward the corpses. With a wave of his hand, surging immortal primal energy lifted the corpses into midair, and he slowly closed his hand in a loose grip.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Several corpses exploded. Li Guanqi's brow furrowed slightly.
Blood poured like a torrent, flooding into the altar below.
With the addition of fresh blood from several corpses, the altar beneath their feet trembled faintly. Bizarre, blood-red patterns spread across the entire altar, surging toward the central stone pillar.
The blood patterns, glowing with a red sheen, climbed up the pillar.
In the blink of an eye, they spread over the entire pillar, and the longsword radiating an eerie aura erupted with a terrifying, soul-crushing pressure!
Pei Tianchen looked up, clenching both fists as a gleam of greed flashed across his eyes.
"Come! Step up, one by one!"
"This is a monumental opportunity! Claim it, and you shall soar to the heavens in a single leap!"
"Not only that, but upon returning to the sect, the Sect Master has promised the position of a direct disciple of the inner sect, along with rewards of cultivation techniques and immortal crystals!"
Yet for some reason, despite such an enticing reward, not a single person stepped forward.
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. He had just noticed several tattered robes atop that small mound of withered bones.
Evidently, disciples of Tianhua Sword Sect had already attempted it...
And without exception, every single one had died.
Li Guanqi kept his head down, betraying not the slightest anomaly.
Pei Tianchen let out a cold snort. Raising his hand, he manifested a giant hand of immortal primal energy, casually grabbing a youth at the Third Layer of Mystic Immortal, and said chillingly:
"You go."
Chapter 1609