Standing on the stage, Li Guanqi could barely suppress the smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth beneath the mask.
*Damn, no wonder some people love showing off...*
*This actually feels pretty good...*
In an instant, every eye in the courtyard converged upon Li Guanqi.
The deafening cheers roared on, leaving several clan elders who had never heard of his exploits utterly bewildered.
Ran Shiming smiled faintly. A prodigy like this was truly once-in-a-blue-moon.
The sheer momentum he displayed now was extraordinary.
Slaying foes across realms... In the Ten Lands, very few possessed such ability.
Li Guanqi gently exhaled a breath of turbid air, his expression beneath the mask turning solemn.
He did not draw his sword. Instead, with a wave of his hand, immortal primal energy surged, condensing into a thunder spear!
Gripping the spear with both hands, he settled into an opening stance, and his entire demeanor underwent a radical shift!
The spear was the king of all weapons, formidable in assault and impenetrable in defense.
In standard combat, a spear cultivator held every advantage of distance and reach, dominating time and ground alike.
Sword cultivators struggled to close the distance against them, perpetually suppressed by the spear's length.
Li Guanqi had felt this profoundly back when he challenged Long Hou in the Seven Domains.
A spear could serve as a staff; chopping, smashing, and sweeping were all expressions of peak physical force.
On the stage, Ran Qingshuang’s expression shifted the moment she saw how he held the weapon!
Neither his stance nor his aura resembled a sword cultivator in the slightest!
He looked far more like a seasoned master of the spear.
What Ran Qingshuang did not know was that Li Guanqi, much like Qisha, was proficient in all eighteen classes of weaponry.
Ran Shiming narrowed his eyes, his gaze growing somber.
Li Guanqi’s aura... was not a shred weaker than his precious daughter's.
As their eyes locked, the surrounding cacophony seemed to fade into nothingness.
Ran Qingshuang twisted her wrists slightly around her shaft, her figure vanishing from the spot like a startled swan!
*Clang!*
A booming clash rang out as two afterimages locked together in the center of the arena, the tips of their spears colliding midair.
Li Guanqi pulled back and smashed downward; she raised her shaft to parry.
*Clang!*
The shock numbed Ran Qingshuang’s arms. Li Guanqi's physical strength was terrifying.
Tightening her grip, she swept her weapon along the lightning shaft straight toward his face!
The clash was fiercely intense. Every strike of Li Guanqi's drove directly toward her vitals, sweeping and smashing with wide, sweeping motions that left no openings whatsoever!
Instead, it was Ran Qingshuang who found herself completely suppressed by his spear momentum!
Li Guanqi thrust like a dragon, the spear light falling dense as rain, refusing to grant her even a single breath of respite.
Right then, his voice suddenly reached her ears.
"The warm-up is over. Let's get down to business..."
Ran Qingshuang froze for an instant.
"Warm-up?"
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Bang!*
A heavy lash struck the flank of Ran Qingshuang's spear, hurling her back dozens of yards.
Her feet gouged two deep trenches into the stage, churning up the stone tiles as a trace of blood spilled from the corner of her lips.
Yet at that very moment, Li Guanqi's aura shifted entirely!
In an instant, storm clouds roiled above the Ran Residence, and lightning danced wild!
*Rumble!*
The deafening roar reverberated like the pounding of war drums.
Dragon scales emerged across Li Guanqi’s right arm, which swelled visibly in size.
In his mind's eye surfaced the scene from years past when Long Hou wiped out Mingchuan with a single strike...
One strike to level Mingchuan!
*Hum!*
A fierce, sharp spear momentum surged around Li Guanqi.
Drawing the spear behind him, his right hand gripped the butt of the shaft, his wrist angling inward to channel full force.
The martial stage shuddered relentlessly. Every onlooker tightened their expression, watching with rapt solemnity.
Ran Qingshuang gripped her spear with both hands, the shaft gleaming with an eerie blue light as a spiritual imprint manifested between her brows.
Driven purely by Li Guanqi's surging aura, she had been forced to tap into her spiritual physique!
Suddenly!
Li Guanqi let out a thunderous roar, shearing the clouds overhead in two!
"Ha!"
He strode forward, the Dao platform fracturing beneath his left foot.
The thunder spear shook the heavens as he swung it down in a full, crushing arc!
Its momentum was terrifying. To Ran Qingshuang, it felt as though a mountain-cleaving axe was crashing straight down upon her head.
The razor-sharp wind tore at her robes, bringing a crushing, suffocating weight that dropped like the sky itself.
Paling, her calloused hands drove the spear into motion!
"Moon Frost Mountain-Breaking Spear!"
Her weapon surged with boundless immortal primal energy as she thrust it upward!
*Boom!*
A tremendous explosion erupted. The entire Ran family mountain trembled, and dust billowed in all directions.
Every eye turned instinctively toward the high stage.
In that moment, the Ran clan disciples seemed to completely forget that Li Guanqi was a sword cultivator.
Such spear momentum had even condensed a distinct intent within it!
On the stage, Ran Shiming stood before his daughter, catching Li Guanqi's strike with a single bare hand.
Ran Qingshuang stood dazed, her face bloodless.
The skin between Li Guanqi's thumb and forefinger had split. Dispersing the thunder spear, he gave a light shrug.
Ran Shiming’s gaze shifted repeatedly as he looked at Li Guanqi, and he actually dipped into a slight bow.
"Many thanks for your guidance, young friend."
Li Guanqi took off his mask and cupped his hands in return.
"Senior need not be so courteous."
With that, Li Guanqi inscribed all his insights from that strike into a blank jade slip and tossed it to Ran Qingshuang.
The young woman caught it in a daze. A quick sweep of her divine sense revealed what it contained, and deep gratitude filled her eyes.
She asked urgently, "What is this technique called?"
Li Guanqi pondered for a moment.
"I don't know either, but... perhaps it can be called Pingchuan—Leveling the Plain."
Her eyes brightened as she murmured the name under her breath: "Pingchuan..."
Ran Shiming was shaken to his core. Never had he imagined that Li Guanqi possessed such terrifying strength.
He was not alone; the surrounding disciples were just as stunned.
The sheer brilliance of that spear strike had left an indelible mark on their minds.
Many disciples who practiced the spear experienced sudden epiphanies and darted away in haste to cultivate.
Seeing this, Ran Shiming could not help a slight smile.
"Your talent is truly beyond words, young friend. A sword cultivator, yet your spear art reaches such heights.
"I can hardly imagine what kind of extraordinary figures your elders must be."
Li Guanqi smiled without responding. Ran Shiming continued:
"Come, let us head to the main hall to sit and rest."
Li Guanqi did not refuse. Along the way, Ran Qingshuang barraged him with questions about the strike's intricacies and insights.
Li Guanqi held nothing back, guiding her through each point.
To her, nothing mattered now except that breathtaking strike.
"Do you have a place to settle in the Immortal Realm, young friend?" Ran Shiming asked after they sat down.
Li Guanqi smiled. "I do."
Understanding his meaning, Ran Shiming sighed with regret.
"What a pity..."
Their conversation drifted, every remark laden with the patriarch's desire to recruit him.
After Li Guanqi offered a clear, polite refusal, Ran Shiming let the matter drop.
"Are you merely passing through Yongjiang City, young friend?"
"More or less. I have a few matters to handle, so I'll be staying for a couple of days."
"Oh? Could it be that you are also here for the auction in two days?"
Li Guanqi set down his teacup and nodded.
Ran Shiming laughed. "I didn't expect you to be after those immortal ores as well. You certainly possess deep pockets."
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered.
"Uh... Senior is interested in the ores at the auction house?"
Ran Shiming said candidly, "Indeed. Qingshuang's spear is of too low a rank, and there happens to be an ore exceptionally well-suited for it."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi rubbed his nose, pulled out the inventory list given to him by the auction house, and pointed to it.
"Which one?
"I can just have Wanxiang Tower deliver it over directly. Why bother going through all that trouble?"
Ran Shiming stared at Li Guanqi in astonishment, his mouth hanging slightly open.
"Young friend... do you mean..."
"Yeah. Those immortal ores were put up at Wanxiang Tower by me. There's no need to make things so complicated."
Chapter 1670