*Bang!!*
The ancient ring shattered, and an incomparably terrifying surge of spiritual light and pressure erupted outward.
*Clang!!!*
A swift, dazzling flash of sword light streaked across the void!
The hundred-foot giant sword shattered instantly upon contact. The bronze mirror fractured across its surface, instantly bursting into countless falling shards.
Before the man could even think to dodge, the strike slashed straight through him!
*Rumble, rumble, crash!!*
The sword light carved a massive trench over a thousand feet long across the earth behind him!
Clutching his neck as his life force drained away, the man stared in utter disbelief.
Li Guanqi swept out a shroud of heavenly flames, engulfing him whole.
Within breaths, the man turned into a blazing ball of fire, yet not even a whimper of a scream could escape the roaring inferno.
A storage ring tumbled from the air. Without a second thought, Li Guanqi snatched it and fled.
Before leaving, he did not forget to wipe away every trace of aura remaining on the ground.
Over a dozen formidable pressures were already converging rapidly on his location from all around.
One pressure, rending the clouds apart, arrived faster than all the rest.
Concealing his presence, Li Guanqi activated more than thirty teleportation talismans in rapid succession, shifting positions erratically.
The moment he reappeared, the silver glow on his body had not even faded before he spat out a violent mouthful of blood.
He looked down. The webs of his hands were mangled masses of flesh and blood, and his torn robes clung stickily to his wounded skin in a gruesome sight.
Six of his ribs had been snapped clean through. That he could even remain standing was purely by holding on with sheer grit.
Had he not made thorough preparations beforehand and kept healing pills ready in his mouth, he likely would have run out of immortal essence to support himself by now.
He glanced back over his shoulder, closed his eyes, and sensed outward. His expression darkened slightly, his brows furrowing deep.
He noticed that the inscribed talismans he had scattered were vanishing one by one!
"What a persistent nuisance!"
Not daring to linger, Li Guanqi remained concealed and sped away as fast as he could.
Retrieving the slain cultivator's storage ring, he sent threads of Spirit Absolution blood slamming against it relentlessly.
Only after the time it took to drink a cup of tea was the soul imprint upon it completely erased.
Popping a medicinal pill into his mouth, he felt its potent medicinal power course through his body, finally bringing him a measure of relief.
A blood-red pill caught his eye, brightening his gaze.
"Heh, a pill to replenish blood and vital energy! Good stuff!"
The Rakshasa ghost mask was so potent that it drained his essence and blood at a frightening pace.
Swallowing the pill, Li Guanqi felt the color return slightly to his pale face.
With a flick of light from his fingers, two silvery-white scrolls materialized in his hands.
Li Guanqi's eyebrows lifted.
"Random teleportation scrolls? Excellent finds!"
Seeing the rift in the distant cloud line suddenly vanish, Li Guanqi's eyes flickered with calculated resolve.
Without hesitation, he crushed one of the scrolls!
*Hum!!*
A faint spell of dizziness washed over him. When he reopened his eyes and cross-referenced his map, he discovered he had been transported a thousand li away!
This place was roughly twelve hundred li south of the Tianhua Sword Sect.
Even Chen Tianhua would never expect him to have covered such a distance.
Li Guanqi glanced at the sprawling city in the distance, his brow furrowing slightly.
In the end, he decided against entering. Turning around, he slipped into the surrounding mountains.
*Thud!!*
Breathing heavily, Li Guanqi finished slaying a leopard-shaped great demon.
He splashed the beast's blood around the mouth of a cave and pried open its skull with his sword.
Gazing at the fist-sized demon core in his palm, Li Guanqi clicked his tongue in wonder.
It contained a tremendous amount of power, but it was far too volatile for a cultivator to absorb directly.
Still, it would serve well for alchemy, artifact refining, or array formations.
After disguising and concealing the cave entrance, Li Guanqi collapsed deep inside against the cold stone wall, finally catching a moment's respite.
Blood continued to seep from his wounds, but he focused on circulating his immortal essence to refine the healing pills inside him.
Staring at the damp stone wall, his mind continuously replayed every detail of this assassination to see if he had exposed anything.
From the tavern to his movements over the past few weeks, down to everything today, he had not left behind a single drop of his own blood.
His current appearance was deliberately crafted to send a clear message to all: he harbored a blood grudge against the Tianhua Sword Sect!
Looking down at the fingers of his left hand, he could not help but sigh softly.
"I really owe Senior Lin for this one..."
Indeed, that final sword light had been the power sealed within the ring Lin Chuanqing gave him.
That was precisely why, after slaying that Heavenly Immortal realm powerhouse, he had risked being caught just to erase every trace from the ground.
***
Meanwhile, in the study of the Yuxu City Castellan Manor.
Lin Chuanqing paused his brush mid-air. He looked up toward the window, his eyes flickering with contemplation.
"He used it already...?"
Lin Chuanqing set down his brush and paced slowly through the study, hands clasped behind his back.
He had expected Chen Tianhua to come knocking on his door before long.
Yet, even as late night arrived, there was no sign of Chen Tianhua at all!
"Could it be... Chen Tianhua didn't find out?"
"That makes no sense. According to the reports, the Tianhua Sword Sect lost eighteen outer disciples and a consecrated elder at the Heavenly Immortal realm."
"Given Chen Tianhua's temper, if he knew my power was involved, he would never let this rest!"
Lin Chuanqing suddenly froze as a realization struck him.
"Could it be that Li Congxin kept me out of it?"
Once he grasped this possibility, the corners of Lin Chuanqing's lips curled into a faint smile.
"What a sensible fellow."
He drew out a jade slip, but after a moment's hesitation, decided against sending Li Guanqi a transmission.
Returning to his desk, Lin Chuanqing picked up his brush and wrote:
*"This youth is worthy of friendship; the Lin family shall treat him well.*
*If necessary, step forward to shield him!"*
***
On the other side of the region.
The Tianhua Sword Sect was ablaze with lanterns beneath the night sky, but the atmosphere was suffocatingly bleak.
Several desiccated corpses lay stretched out on the floor of the main hall.
As for the consecrated elder, not even a corpse remained.
Chen Tianhua clenched his jaws so tightly that his cheek muscles bulged, veins throbbing violently across his forehead.
His fists were clenched hard, his frigid gaze sweeping over the crowd bowed before him, and the fury inside his chest surged higher and higher!
"A pack of useless trash... You can't even catch a single Mystic Immortal, and you managed to lose a consecrated elder to him?!"
The hall fell dead silent; none dared even draw a breath.
Their opponent was simply too cunning, scattering teleportation talismans across a hundred-li radius in ways impossible to anticipate.
Murdering disciples in plain view on the streets—now the entire Northern Region knew that a mysterious sword cultivator had forged a bitter feud with the Tianhua Sword Sect.
A full eighteen disciples and one consecrated elder.
Against a mere Mystic Immortal, they had actually lost a Heavenly Immortal cultivator!
Chen Tianhua descended from the raised dais, his teeth grinding audibly.
"This doesn't end here! Send word out—raise the bounty on the black market to three million! I refuse to believe he can stay hidden!"
A white-browed elder frowned slightly and said in a heavy voice, "Sect Master, that brat is extraordinarily cunning. Our investigation today revealed that he left behind no traces whatsoever.
"I suspect he possesses exceptionally refined disguises and concealment techniques."
*Smack!!*
Enraged, Chen Tianhua struck the elder across the face, sending him crashing to the floor.
Chen Tianhua's face contorted savagely as he roared, "Bullshit! Absolute bullshit!!"
"Who doesn't know he uses disguises?! Do I need you to state the obvious?!"
"Can't you tell me something useful?! Incompetent fool! You're nothing but a useless old piece of shit!!"
"Tell me how to catch him!! What good does pointing out his disguises do?!"
"Our dead disciples' soul seals failed to brand him, and he didn't leave behind a single drop of blood where any of them died!!"
*Pant... Pant... Pant...*
Chen Tianhua's chest heaved violently, his head throbbing with incandescent rage.
"Get out! Get the hell out of my sight!!"
Chapter 1625