Liu Xiong narrowed his eyes, gripping the twin short blades in a forward hold as immortal primal energy surged violently.
Behind him, his dao ring of spiritual charm flared with radiant bursts of light, instantly enveloping Li Guanqi in a heavy, suffocating pressure.
Beneath his mask, Li Guanqi’s gaze hardened. He sensed an indescribable suppression of cultivation realms radiating from the man.
Liu Xiong shifted his stance slightly and leaped into the air!
“A mere Mystic Immortal courting death!”
*Hum!*
Li Guanqi’s frame sank abruptly as an immense pressure crashed down upon him.
This feeling...
It was just like back when he was still in the Void Refining Realm in the Human Spirit Realm and suddenly encountered a Mahayana realm cultivator.
The pressure weighed on his shoulders like a mountain ten thousand zhang tall.
Li Guanqi gave a cold snort. With his blood and qi surging, he unleashed his trump cards in succession.
When the blood-red eyes of the Rakshasa Ghost Mask emerged, the pressure radiating from Li Guanqi became indistinguishable from Liu Xiong’s!
Forcibly withstanding the oppressive aura, he raised his sword and charged!
*Clang!*
Blade met sword, churning the wind and clouds!
The towering ancient trees around them shattered in an instant.
Within a thirty-zhang radius, a violent shockwave erupted, blasting outward in every direction.
The two figures flashed past each other.
Two bloody slashes appeared across Li Guanqi’s chest.
On Liu Xiong’s neck, a thin cut opened, leaving his face slightly pale.
Strangely, no blood flowed from the man’s neck. Only after two full breaths did fresh blood finally begin to well up.
Liu Xiong’s face grew paler, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Standing with his back to Li Guanqi, his expression shifted erratically...
In that split second just now, had he not dodged in time, he would have been decapitated.
Even after evading the fatal strike, that sword had swallowed nearly a fifth of the blood essence in his body!
What a bizarre sword!
With his back to the man, Li Guanqi looked equally solemn beneath his mask.
His opponent’s blades... were fast!
This man was the very first person Li Guanqi had encountered who wielded twin short blades with such finesse.
*Crack, crack!*
In the distance, a massive tree slowly toppled over, signaling the resumption of their clash.
Almost in unison, both men whirled around and charged each other once more.
Only this time, they fought with far greater caution.
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The two clashed furiously, trading over a hundred blows in the span of a single breath.
The chilling glints of blades and swords flickered through the silent forest.
The clamor of clashing metal fell dense as driving rain. Their figures intertwined, locked in an impasse where neither could gain the upper hand.
Li Guanqi felt a jolt in his heart, certain that this man was undoubtedly a master of assassination!
His opponent never adhered to standard forms or routines.
Every strike was lethal, featuring bizarrely twisted joints and unexpected angles of assault.
Even as he slashed with his blades, his elbows and legs were never idle.
Yet against Li Guanqi, that alone was far from enough...
For what Li Guanqi excelled at was precisely this sort of tempestuous, relentless offensive!
Li Guanqi kicked at his opponent’s knee before it could rise, flipping airborne.
Seeing this, Liu Xiong immediately closed in!
Yet as Li Guanqi twisted in midair, he gripped with his right hand, summoning Red Lotus into his palm!
*Boom!*
Thunder and flame flared brilliantly. Amid the blossoming crimson lotus, a resonant sword cry rang out.
Sword intent mingled with soaring battle intent as Li Guanqi pounced like a ferocious tiger upon Liu Xiong, who had not yet recovered his balance!
A torrential flurry of sword light lit up the night sky, its crimson glow bathing the surrounding tree trunks in dark red.
*Clang, clang, clang!*
*Clang, clang!*
Liu Xiong’s expression turned utterly grim. At this moment, his twin short blades had become a near-fatal disadvantage.
Li Guanqi’s mastery of dual-wielding swords was even greater than his own!
For a moment, he genuinely suspected that Li Guanqi had always been a dual-wielding sword cultivator.
Xue Ming in one hand, Red Lotus in the other.
Li Guanqi was actually able to execute two completely different sword momentums simultaneously.
The chilling sword light pressed in mercilessly. Fresh wounds multiplied across Liu Xiong’s body, and the loss of his blood essence grew increasingly dire.
Just then, two auras rapidly approached from the distance.
“Brother!”
*Slash!*
With a single strike, Li Guanqi knocked aside both short blades, and the Xue Ming Sword slashed down into Liu Xiong’s shoulder.
The blade sank three finger-widths deep, cleaving straight through the man’s collarbone.
Just as Li Guanqi bore down with his left hand, aiming to cleave his foe in two, a piercing screech suddenly tore through the air behind him.
Liu Xiong raised his right blade to parry Xue Ming while hurling the short blade in his left hand to slash horizontally at Li Guanqi’s throat!
Beneath the ghost mask, a flash of regret passed through Li Guanqi’s eyes.
Pulling back to retreat, the Xue Ming Sword ground against the incoming short blade in a shower of sparks, and with a flick of his wrist, Li Guanqi slashed outward!
*Rip!*
A large chunk of flesh was sheared from Liu Xiong’s right shoulder. The wound looked withered and shriveled—clearly the consequence of its blood being devoured.
Leaping backward, Li Guanqi backhanded his sword to shatter the incoming sword light.
He darted over the cold pool, scooped the immortal herb into his pouch, and vanished into the distance.
From the moment Li Guanqi withdrew his sword and left, Liu Xiong stood frozen where he was, not moving an inch.
He had a premonition...
Had he struck just now when Li Guanqi turned away...
He would have died!
The instant he locked eyes with those blood-red pupils behind the ferocious, fanged ghost mask as Li Guanqi glanced back, a bone-deep chill had swept through his entire body.
Without him even realizing it, cold sweat had soaked the back of his robe.
“Brother! Are you all right? Who was that just now?”
Liu Nansheng arrived with Chen Zixuan, his brow furrowing slightly as he looked at the corpses on the ground.
The woman, having largely recovered from her injuries, grew exceedingly reserved upon seeing Liu Xiong, keeping her head lowered behind Liu Nansheng.
Liu Xiong frowned slightly at the sight.
With trembling hands, he slowly sheathed his weapons, took out a healing medicinal pill and swallowed it, followed by a blood-replenishing pill.
Gazing in the direction Li Guanqi had disappeared, he said in a deep voice, “The ghost-masked sword cultivator, Li Congxin!”
Liu Nansheng’s brow furrowed tightly as he asked grimly, “Brother, are you sure it’s that fellow from Qinzhou?”
Liu Xiong did not answer him. Instead, he closed his eyes, his brow furrowing deeper.
Expressionless, Liu Xiong carefully replayed what he had sensed earlier, murmuring silently in his heart, *Why did he carry... the aura of the Death Pool?*
*Though faint, the aura of Xutian Palace’s Four Pools is exceptionally unique. There is no mistaking it!*
After a long silence, Liu Xiong opened his eyes, scowled at Liu Nansheng, and snapped, “Your cultivation progresses so slowly—still at the eighth layer of the Mystic Immortal realm without entering the ninth! What do you spend your days doing?”
As he said this, Liu Xiong shot a cold, hostile glare toward the woman behind his brother.
Liu Nansheng hurriedly offered an explanation.
“If not for that fellow who suddenly showed up last time, that Moonlight Lingxi Grass would have been mine, and I would have stepped into the ninth layer long ago.”
A flash of fury crossed Liu Nansheng’s eyes; that setback had left him unable to focus on his cultivation lately.
Hearing this, Liu Xiong said nothing more. His brother was not the only one who had been beaten to the prize.
He, too, had just been robbed—the only difference being...
This time, he had been robbed right to his face, and he had been utterly powerless to stop it!
Liu Xiong bound his wounds, dealt with the corpses on the ground, and then looked toward the depths of the valley, speaking coldly.
“Let’s travel together. Be careful. Quite a few people have entered this time; even I cannot guarantee I can control the situation.”
Furthermore... Liu Xiong’s primary objective in coming this time was not the Soul-Nourishing Nectar!
Chapter 1674