Silence reigned. In the deep night, only the weeping wind and cold moonlight remained.
Chen Tianhua knew that his nemesis had to be watching him from somewhere in the dark.
Yet he was entirely helpless...
He was beginning to regret letting greed get the better of him.
The cost... was simply too great.
Seven days—seven whole days.
The gates of the Tianhua Sword Sect remained tightly shut, and not a single soul dared step beyond them.
During those seven days, Zhao Chengyong had tried every means at his disposal, yet failed to uncover the slightest trace of Li Guanqi.
The Hall Master of the Tianshu Ascension Hall, unmoved, swept Zhao Chengyong right out the door, expelling him from the hall entirely.
Left utterly alone, Zhao Chengyong hovered midair, gazing back at the Tianshu Ascension Hall with hollow, numb eyes.
In an instant, however, his gaze twisted into venomous malice!
"It's all because of you! Li Congxin!"
"You brought all of this upon me!"
"Fine! If that's how it is, then it's to the death between us!"
Zhao Chengyong had lost his son, and he had lost his power.
And now, a dull ache throbbed in his lower body.
He was on the verge of losing his dignity as a man as well...
With that thought burning in his mind, he strode out of the tavern and began pursuing every conceivable avenue to hunt down Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi knew nothing of this.
At that moment, he was cradling the Xue Ming Sword, his aura completely concealed as he hid among the mountains.
With his growth in strength, even if he were to face a cultivator newly stepped into the Heavenly Immortal realm, he now possessed the power to retreat safely.
Over this period, he had also been cultivating like a madman, slipping into the Sumeru Treasure Hall at a moment's notice to enter the Nirvana Pagoda to train.
His strength climbed at a blistering pace, and through constant life-and-death clashes, his insights deepened all the more.
Chen Tianhua had also enacted numerous countermeasures lately, bent on slaying Li Guanqi at all costs!
As a result, Li Guanqi had found few opportunities to strike in recent days.
Yet he was in no hurry. The one who should be panicking was the Tianhua Sword Sect.
And so, the bitter struggle between Li Guanqi and the Tianhua Sword Sect dragged on for eight full months!
Over those eight months, Li Guanqi's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching the seventh realm of Mystic Immortal!
The Tianhua Sword Sect, on the other hand, lost over thirty outer disciples and more than ten inner disciples.
When the corpse of yet another consecrated retainer—this one a first-realm Heavenly Immortal—was laid out before him, the gaunt, haggard Chen Tianhua looked as if his very spirit had been drained away.
Throughout these eight months, Li Guanqi had contacted no one.
The only proof to the outside world that he was still drawing breath was the fresh corpses that kept piling up outside the Tianhua Sword Sect's gates.
Several twisted scars now marked Li Guanqi's face, and crisscrossing sword wounds covered his body.
Over eight months, Li Guanqi's ferocious reputation spread through every street and alley of Qinzhou, reaching every clan and sect.
"He's a madman... Just because Chen Tianhua hunted him, he trapped and slaughtered the Tianhua Sword Sect all by himself for eight straight months!"
"Aye! Word is he's already slain two Heavenly Immortals."
"Tsk, that strength is downright terrifying."
"Heh, I wonder how the Tianhua Sword Sect plans to wrap this up. I heard disciples from several prominent clans have already temporarily departed the sect."
"Well, of course! Who'd dare stay inside the sect at a time like this? Who knows when he might sneak in and slaughter them in their sleep?"
Such chatter could be heard in practically every tavern across Qinzhou.
His face gaunt and worn, Chen Tianhua rose to his feet with stumbling steps.
"Sect Master..."
Chen Tianhua raised a hand, and everyone fell silent.
He flew out of the sect's grand hall.
Rising several hundred zhang into the sky, Chen Tianhua stood in silence for a long time...
His movements did not go unnoticed; meddlesome cultivators quickly took to the air to watch the spectacle unfold.
Chen Tianhua closed his eyes in agony, then clasped his fists and bowed deeply amid the stunned, uncomprehending stares of the onlookers.
He bent low toward the four directions, holding the bow for a long, agonizing moment.
"Fellow Daoist Li..."
"The Tianhua Sword Sect offers you our apologies."
"I, Chen Tianhua... apologize to you."
The man remained bowed, his head lowered, tears brimming in his eyes.
Humiliation. It was an utter, supreme humiliation.
Yet he had no choice.
Eight full months had drained centuries of accumulated resources from the Tianhua Sword Sect.
They couldn't catch him, couldn't kill him, had to keep their gates locked, and panic ran rampant...
Chen Tianhua drew a deep breath and spoke once more.
"The grudge between us... I beg you to be magnanimous and spare me—spare the disciples of the Tianhua Sword Sect."
"I was wrong. The Tianhua Sword Sect was wrong. We admit our fault to you... Please, kill no more..."
The world fell dead silent. Every cultivator who witnessed this was shaken to the core.
A rogue cultivator at the Mystic Immortal realm had slaughtered so thoroughly that an exalted True Immortal was forced to bow and beg for mercy.
"Chen Tianhua... has yielded..."
"*Gulp*... What in the world am I witnessing?"
"Li Congxin... rogue cultivators really are all lunatics!"
When Lin Chuanqing saw this, his fists clenched tightly.
Far away in the Pill Hall of Qingxuan Province, Qi Mobai leapt up with a loud cheer, paying no mind even when the cauldron of pills before him exploded.
At the Lin family estate in Qinzhou:
Lin Wujiu sat in his study, the corners of his lips curling upward as he watched the images and heard the sound coming from the shadow-casting stone before him.
"Just as expected of you."
Standing atop a mountain dozens of li away, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, turned slowly, and walked away.
A passing cultivator happened to catch sight of this and hurriedly used a shadow-casting stone to record the scene of Li Guanqi turning his back.
Supposedly, a single copy of that recorded scene could fetch over a hundred immortal crystals on the black market!
With that, the war between Li Guanqi and the Tianhua Sword Sect came to a decisive end.
Not long after returning to the sect, Chen Tianhua naturally saw the recording as well, and the breath he had been holding finally left him in relief.
From that day forth, Chen Tianhua entered secluded cultivation, refusing to show himself.
And the Tianhua Sword Sect was thoroughly reduced to the laughingstock of the entire province.
Basked in warm sunlight and gentle breezes, Li Guanqi wandered between heaven and earth.
For eight whole months, the strings of his mind had been stretched taut to their limit.
Still, he had no intention of leaving Qinzhou just yet.
Through Qisha, he had learned that Zhao Chengyong had been expelled from the Tianshu Ascension Hall.
Zhao Chengyong seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth; even Qisha couldn't glean the slightest whisper of his whereabouts from the black market.
Having changed into a clean white robe, Li Guanqi stopped at a small town to rest.
On the third floor of a tavern, Li Guanqi sipped wine, his gaze drifting into the distance, eyes brimming with longing.
"I wonder how the others are doing..."
"It's been a whole year since I arrived in the Immortal Realm. I don't know where any of you are."
Hundreds of zhang beneath the earth in a qi-rich corner of the Qingming Lands:
A handsome young man lay curled on the ground, his face covered in soot and grime, wearing tattered rags.
A hole in his trousers exposed half his buttock, which was stamped with a small character: "slave."
As he slept, he reached down and scratched his rear.
*Tham!*
A fierce-looking man clutching a whip kicked the young man hard in the shoulder, bellowing, "Get up and work! Isn't sleeping for an hour enough for you?!"
A glint of murderous intent flickered in Gu Li's eyes. Glancing at his manacles and shackles, he had no choice but to get up, shouldering his pickaxe.
With a woeful grimace, he muttered under his breath, "When the hell is this going to end... Big Brother... save me..."
From behind, an emaciated man sneered.
"Save you?"
"Heh... I've been digging ore here for over two hundred years, and I've never seen anyone leave once they came in."
With that, the man shouldered his pickaxe and walked past Gu Li.
Gu Li curled his lip, completely unbothered by his current predicament.
Mining away in this pitch-black subterranean gloom, all that occupied his mind was how to craft inscribed talismans.
Pity... right now, he couldn't mobilize a shred of immortal essence in his body.
Suddenly!
A spark of inspiration flashed in Gu Li's eyes.
"Why do I have to mobilize spirit energy at all?!"
"Why can't I just use my finger as a brush and the immortal ore as my foundation?!"
Gu Li licked his lips. He raised his pickaxe, struck the immortal ore viciously, his eyes glittering.
"Just you wait. Yours truly is going to pull off something huge for you bastards!!"
Chapter 1635