Who Says Women Cannot Match Men!

Li Guanqi stood where he was, frowning. He had no idea why, but the female cultivator before him suddenly radiated killing intent, her aura surging with overwhelming might! Li Guanqi closed his eyes, let out a sigh, and raised a hand with a furrowed brow. "That spirit monster has sworn a master-servant contract with me. You snatched my friend, so naturally I have to take you to task!" As he spoke, Li Guanqi glanced over at Pengluo, whose eyes were rolled back and foaming at the mouth. The little fellow was hardly hurt at all; he was merely unconscious for the moment. Ran Qingshuang’s brow furrowed slightly as she heard this. Turning her head, she glanced at the spirit monster trapped within the cage of immortal primal energy, sending forth a wisp of energy to inspect it. Her frown deepened slightly. *He... didn't lie.* *This really is a spirit monster under contract with him.* Without hesitating, Ran Qingshuang shattered the cage with a flick of her hand and sent Pengluo drifting over to Li Guanqi. "Someone else was hunting it earlier. I took it from their hands." Li Guanqi had not expected her to be so forthright. Flipping his grip on his sword, he clasped his fists. "Thank you." Looking down at the dead-faint Pengluo, Li Guanqi frowned slightly. He swiftly retrieved several medicinal pills and fed them into the creature's mouth. At this moment, the qi within Pengluo’s body was somewhat erratic, his foundation unstable, and he even showed signs of regressing in cultivation. Under the guidance of Li Guanqi’s circulating power and the medicinal effects of the pills, his aura finally stabilized. Only then did Li Guanqi carefully store him away inside the sword coffin's space. Ran Qingshuang’s eyebrow twitched, surprised by the sight. *This guy definitely possesses a spatial immortal artifact!* Yet she did not dwell on it. Holding her spear in one hand, she stepped slowly forward. "My name is Ran Qingshuang. What is yours?" Li Guanqi cupped his hands and said softly, "Li Congxin. Thank you for returning him, fellow Daoist. I am deeply grateful." Ran Qingshuang frowned faintly; she had never heard of such a name in Quping Prefecture. Just as Li Guanqi was about to leave, Ran Qingshuang spoke up, her expression dead serious. "Earlier, you said... if I refused to let him go, you would kill me?" "Are you truly that confident in your strength?" Li Guanqi cast a flat glance at her and replied earnestly, "You are very strong. Among all the spear cultivators I know, plenty of men cannot compare to you." His calm words bore not the slightest emotional ripple; he was merely stating his honest assessment. This actually took the edge off Ran Qingshuang’s lingering irritation. Yet Li Guanqi’s next sentence thoroughly ignited her stubborn, unyielding pride! Li Guanqi looked straight into her eyes and murmured, "If it truly came down to a life-and-death struggle... killing you would take me no more than the time to drink a cup of tea." Ran Qingshuang’s brow furrowed tightly into deep ridges. Her face turned as cold as frost, and she took a sudden stride forward, stopping a mere three feet from Li Guanqi! Spear in hand, her immortal primal energy surged around her. The ice-blue immortal primal energy caused the temperature of the surrounding void to plummet drastically. Li Guanqi merely curled his lip, muttering inwardly, *Her ice power is leagues below Wanshu's... far too impure.* Immediately after, the woman barked in a frigid tone, "What preposterous arrogance!!" "A mere ninth-layer Mystic Immortal daring to boast that killing me would take no longer than the time to drink a cup of tea!!" "I, Ran Qingshuang, have battled a fourth-layer Heavenly Immortal cultivator without suffering defeat! What right do you have?" Li Guanqi shrugged rather helplessly. This woman was clearly a martial obsessive. Since he owed her a favor for returning Pengluo, he had no desire to clash with her. He turned to leave. "Believe it or not. Just take it as me bragging." In a flash, Ran Qingshuang darted across to bar his path! The long spear was thrust horizontally between the two of them. Her beautiful eyes glared fixedly at Li Guanqi as she spoke with absolute solemnity. "I ask fellow Daoist to spar with me!" Li Guanqi sighed inwardly. To be fair, the woman was indeed very powerful. Yet to him, she was not extraordinary enough to command special reverence. If Lin Wujiu or Qisha were to reach the Heavenly Immortal realm, Li Guanqi would never utter such words to them. Without waiting for his response, she tossed out a Dao platform. The Dao platform expanded against the wind, swelling to a thousand zhang across! Its jet-black floor tiles appeared exceptionally sturdy. The woman flashed onto the platform, her gaze locked onto Li Guanqi. Left with no choice, Li Guanqi stepped onto the platform as well. The moment his feet touched down, an azure barrier formation abruptly rose into the air. Li Guanqi looked up at the barrier shielding the interior from the outside world. Not wanting to waste too much time here, he stowed away Red Lotus and drew out the Xue Ming Sword. When Ran Qingshuang saw the white-bone scabbard in Li Guanqi’s hand, her expression shifted drastically. "Third rank? No... it could be fourth rank!!" Ran Qingshuang took a deep breath, shifted her stance, and gripped her spear with both hands, bracing herself on full guard. Right after, Li Guanqi slipped on the Rakshasa Ghost Mask with a backhanded motion, and a terrifyingly sinister aura surged into the sky! The immortal primal energy within Li Guanqi roared, the lightning seed of his origin spirit flickered, and his blood vitality surged violently. Dragon horns sprouted from his head, subtly piercing through the ghost mask, while the crimson glow across the mask flowed like fresh blood. Li Guanqi’s aura soared to an unbelievable height. The terrifying, fanged ghost mask slowly parted its gaping maw, tiny arcs of lightning escaping from its mouth. Li Guanqi lowered his stance slightly, his left hand gripping the white-bone scabbard tightly while his right hand slowly closed around the hilt. In that instant, Ran Qingshuang’s breath hitched, the hairs on her arms standing on end. At this moment, Li Guanqi made her feel as though an enormous, malevolent wraith had spread its arms wide, looking down upon her from above. Such matchless oppression was something not even the fourth-layer Heavenly Immortal cultivator she had once fought to the death could rival! "Ugh!" Ran Qingshuang bit the tip of her tongue, forcing herself to stay alert rather than succumb to the intimidating pressure of his aura. Leveling her spear toward Li Guanqi, her knuckles turned white, veins bulging across her hands. "Moonlight!!" As her voice rang out, an ice-blue sigil at the center of her forehead began to glow. Behind the mask, Li Guanqi’s eyes flashed with surprise. *A spirit physique?* In an instant, the light within the barrier seemed to dim abruptly. Countless rays of cool moonlight converged within the woman’s body. The tip of her spear trembled, issuing soft hums. Bathed in moonlight, Ran Qingshuang’s strength increased by nearly thirty percent to Li Guanqi’s senses! Thunder and flames erupted, and Po realm sword intent manifested in the void! Li Guanqi’s raspy voice drifted slowly from beneath the mask. "Are you ready?" Having pushed both her will and power to their absolute limits, Ran Qingshuang gave a nod... *Awoooo!* The shrill shriek of a solitary wraith abruptly shattered the air! A burst of spear light erupted forward! Yet in the next instant, a cold flash flickered past! With a flick of his wrist, Li Guanqi sheathed his sword. *Thud!* A large chunk of flesh was carved from the woman’s shoulder, and a thin, tight line of blood appeared on her neck... Li Guanqi took off the mask and shrugged. In truth, given his current cultivation realm, fighting a monstrously talented Heavenly Immortal powerhouse like her was still somewhat stretching his limits; after all, there was a vast chasm between a Mystic Immortal and a Heavenly Immortal, along with realm suppression. But... with the mask on, killing a third-layer Heavenly Immortal was child's play for him. "You are very strong, but... there are differences between geniuses as well." With that, Li Guanqi turned, leapt off the Dao platform, and soared into the high skies. Only after Li Guanqi had departed did Ran Qingshuang finally come back to her senses. Clutching her shoulder, she looked up sharply, only to catch sight of Li Guanqi’s dashing figure fading into the distance. He was holding that big white radish in his hand, murmuring something under his breath... "Hey! Wake up! It's all clear!" "Aaaah! Master! I had a nightmare!!" "It was terrifying! That broad almost ripped the scalp right off my head!!" "Then she hit me with a knee strike at the end, and I swear I saw my great-grandmother!!" "Thank goodness I woke up..." Listening to Pengluo’s ramblings, the corners of Li Guanqi’s lips curled upward. Recalling the gallant, spirited demeanor of the woman earlier, he could not help but voice his admiration. "Who says women cannot match men! Ran Qingshuang truly yields nothing to any man! Quite a formidable spear cultivator..." Back on the Dao platform, Ran Qingshuang’s eyes gleamed with brilliant light. She had never encountered such a terrifying sword cultivator! Had he not held back, the might of that single strike would have been enough to crush and kill her, even after she had played her trump card. Watching the direction in which Li Guanqi had disappeared, she slowly pushed herself up, murmuring under her breath, "Sword cultivator Li Congxin... I will remember you."