Li Guanqi froze for a moment, then frowned and looked at Pengluo. The two exchanged a long look.
"Is it the kind of donkey I'm thinking of?"
Pengluo nodded, speaking playfully. "That's right, Master, exactly the kind you're thinking of... the kind they keep at the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect..."
Li Guanqi cleared his throat in slight embarrassment. "Ahem... Well, in that case, there shouldn't be any danger to his life. If anything, they'll be serving him the finest food and drink."
Pengluo nodded slightly. "That's true... He won't be mistreated, though he certainly won't have any freedom."
Li Guanqi felt a bit relieved. As long as Jiuxiao's life wasn't in peril, it was no great disaster.
Having come to that conclusion, Li Guanqi murmured softly, "Still, why Jiuxiao would end up in the Spirit Realm in the first place is rather suspicious..."
Pengluo thought about it and agreed. His own arrival had just been mindless wandering, but Jiuxiao was a true dragon—a pureblooded Thunder Dragon of considerable standing. For him to end up in the Spirit Realm...
Li Guanqi recalled what his grandfather had once told him, and his heart skipped a beat.
*Don't tell me Grandfather went to the Dragon Clan and snatched a dragon egg?*
Unable to figure it out anyway, Li Guanqi simply pushed the thought aside.
He rode his sword forward while Pengluo leaned into the wind.
"Master, where are we heading next?"
Li Guanqi pondered for a moment, recalling the closest territory to Qinzhou on the map. "Quping Prefecture. I hear it's a blessed land blessed with remarkable people and spiritual energy. There should be plenty of lucky encounters and opportunities there."
Pengluo bared his teeth in a nod, his eyelids drooping as he mumbled, "Then, Master, I'm going to sleep for a bit..."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than gentle snores drifted down from atop Li Guanqi's head.
Li Guanqi smiled softly. Celestial charm surged around his body, acting like a pair of giant hands that cradled Pengluo securely.
Three purple ribbons of thunder fluttered in the wind.
Dressed in white robes, Li Guanqi looked like a banished immortal, treading upon his flying sword and casually taking sips from his wine gourd. He was already at the peak of the eighth layer of the Mystic Immortal realm, poised at any moment to step into the ninth layer and attain the pinnacle of Mystic Immortal.
Cleaving through the sea of clouds like a billowed sail riding the waves, his passage caught the attention of many cultivators below. When they saw Li Guanqi's commanding presence, their eyes filled with deep envy.
The sprite perched atop his head was clearly no ordinary creature, and the sheer momentum of his sword flight was awe-inspiring.
"Such an immortal bearing—he is certainly no ordinary figure."
***
Meanwhile, the Lin family had closed its gates, plunging all of Qinzhou City into a grave, tense atmosphere.
The Lin family's Tiger Forest Army mobilized to patrol Qinzhou City!
Lin Ruhu guarded the city gate from above, strictly scrutinizing every spy and cultivator entering the city.
The entire Lin residence was occupied with an undertaking of paramount importance. Following the massive commotion Li Guanqi and the others had caused, the Lin family had secretly relocated the grand array, concealing it deep within the mountain ranges under their territory.
Because of this matter, Lin Wujiu's standing within the family soared until it reached the very pinnacle! All four True Immortals of the Lin family fully backed him, to the point where the family patriarch nearly passed down the mantle ahead of time.
***
Along the way, Li Guanqi stopped and went at his own pace, taking in the local customs and scenery of the Immortal Realm.
He expended a considerable number of immortal crystals, but being wealthy now, he didn't care in the slightest. Aside from the immortal crystals set aside to concoct pills for Qisha and Qi Mobai, he still carried nearly four million immortal crystals on him, alongside countless medicinal pills and a vast stash of unrefined immortal ores.
Flying from Qinzhou all the way toward Quping Prefecture took Li Guanqi nearly two whole months.
During those two months, Pengluo's cultivation broke through from the first layer of the Mystic Grade, climbing steadily before finally halting at the fourth layer!
With every breakthrough, Li Guanqi couldn't help but wonder just how many immortal herbs Pengluo had actually swallowed!
Only after Li Guanqi subjected him to a rigorous interrogation did Pengluo finally confess.
"Well... not that many, really... just around two hundred grade-one immortal herbs..."
Li Guanqi was utterly dumbfounded when he heard that.
Back then, the single spirit herb he had snatched from the Cloud-Winged Demon Fox had granted him a hundred years of cultivation, and that had merely been a slightly higher-quality grade-one herb.
"Is the energy accumulated in your body enough for you to break through to the Heaven Grade?"
Pengluo scratched his backside, answering sheepishly, "Not quite... I probably need to eat six grade-two herbs."
Li Guanqi gave him a frosty, forced smile. "How many?"
Pengluo shuddered all over, timidly holding up three fingers. "Three... just three is enough."
After another stretch of time, Pengluo suddenly cried out in delight, pointing toward the sprawling mountain range brimming with spiritual energy ahead. "Master! We've entered the borders of Quping Prefecture! Ahead should be Wuxiang Ridge."
Li Guanqi nodded slightly, exhaling a soft breath of turbid air.
Only now did he truly understand the sheer vastness of the Immortal Realm. It really was far greater than the Spirit Realm...
Just as they stepped into Wuxiang Ridge and advanced a mere thousand zhang, Li Guanqi's figure suddenly froze!
*Boom!*
A powerful wave of pressure instantly blasted Pengluo hundreds of zhang away.
Immediately after, Li Guanqi's eyes flickered as he swept his gaze across the surroundings, fixing his sight upon a mountain hollow. His figure flashed forward. Drawing Red Lotus, he unleashed several sword strikes in rapid succession, blasting open a crater over a dozen zhang deep in the hollow floor!
Li Guanqi dropped down into the sword-carved crater. A massive boulder, taller than a man, appeared before his eyes.
Looking at the boulder, an instinct stirred within Li Guanqi. He sat down cross-legged atop it.
A seven-colored halo instantly enveloped him.
Li Guanqi retrieved a spirit-gathering array disc, slotted dozens of immortal crystals into it, and hurled out over a hundred more, shattering them into pure mist. Immortal primal energy roared through his body as the Thunder Tribulation Divine Art began circulating on its own.
Li Guanqi slowly closed his eyes and gently exhaled, his entire body enfolded in dense celestial spiritual energy. His breath rose like a rainbow, drifting between his nose and mouth like two wandering white dragons.
Pengluo tumbled several times before steadying himself, only then noticing the massive boulder.
His eyes widened as he mumbled in disbelief, "Whoa! An Immortal Comprehension Stone! One this huge! Are you kidding me? My master really does have heaven-defying fortune on his side!"
Li Guanqi had no idea what the stone was. He had merely felt an intuitive pull, never expecting it to be a special stone. Assuming it was something like the Dao comprehension stones from the Spirit Realm, he had simply sat down on it.
Yet the moment he did, he discovered that the stone contained an extraordinarily immense power—and his body seemed to crave that power desperately.
Gradually, the clouds within a radius of several hundred zhang turned deep and heavy, and the leaves of the ancient trees rustled softly.
One moment Pengluo was grinning foolishly, but the next, his brows drew together in a tight frown!
Several incomparably powerful auras suddenly swept in from afar. In the distance, three black dots were rapidly hurtling across the horizon.
"Damn it, three Heavenly Immortal cultivators! Is there some major sect nearby?"
At that moment, Li Guanqi was entirely focused on absorbing the power within the Immortal Comprehension Stone. His blood boiled and his immortal primal energy surged violently. The final shackle binding his nascent soul began to show faint cracks. His immortal primal energy roared like dragons, slamming fiercely against the internal constraints.
Yet the figures on the horizon drew closer and closer.
Pengluo gritted his teeth and formed hand seals as purple divine markings surfaced across his skin. Thrusting his hand forward, he sent out a wisp of spiritual light that concealed Li Guanqi's figure within the mountain hollow.
Power surged through Pengluo's body. His face flushed bright red as an immense aura erupted from him, breaking through two realms in rapid succession!
Sixth layer of the Mystic Grade!
Blood trickled from Pengluo's seven facial orifices; breaking through multiple realms within a mere two months was already destabilizing his foundation. But his sudden burst of aura was instantly detected by the approaching powerhouses on the horizon.
Without a second thought, Pengluo spun around and bolted madly back toward Qinzhou!
*I hope I can buy him some time!*
Chapter 1659