The other figure, draped entirely in a black robe, seemed rather reticent.
The black robe shifted slightly, and a voice spoke with a rasp:
"Han Sijin... and Qisha's aura!"
With that, the Xutian Palace assassins had assembled three captains and thirteen operatives—a total of sixteen Heavenly Immortal realm assassins!
On Li Guanqi's side, there were merely seven.
Li Guanqi was clearly surprised by Ran Qingshuang's arrival, but he knew this was no time for idle chatter.
Han Feng, Lin Wujiu, and the others all wore solemn expressions, evidently prepared for a brutal battle.
After all, the two captains who had arrived later possessed strength that could not be taken lightly.
Yet just as everyone was bracing for a fight to the death,
a large white radish squirmed and wriggled out from the void.
Without uttering a word, Pengluo turned into a streak of flowing light, burrowed into Li Guanqi's body, and merged with him.
In an instant, Li Guanqi's already formidable aura surged upward once more!!!
Han Feng frowned slightly and murmured in a grim voice:
"A Divine-Patterned Sky Radish!"
*Boom!!!!*
Li Guanqi's aura skyrocketed in an instant to the fifth tier of the Heavenly Immortal realm!!
Behind him, his dao rings of spiritual charm increased out of nowhere to five.
Only, this fifth dao ring of spiritual charm was not purple, but a pure, jade-like white.
Beneath his mask, the spiritual sigil of the Spirit-Devouring Dao Physique at Li Guanqi's glabella flashed incessantly.
A serene clarity filled his mind, and he murmured silently to himself...
"Since no one in the Immortal Realm can resonate with me, then I shall be the first to cast a spirit incantation!!"
"Henceforth, whenever cultivators of the Spirit Realm ascend to the Immortal Realm and wish to employ spirit incantations... they shall revere me like a god!!"
The moment this thought arose, it actually brought the grand momentum of heaven and earth crashing down in suppression!!!
For a hundred li around, the wind and clouds roiled, howling gales tearing through the skies!!
Loose stones rolled across Ziyun Pass before the wind, and as the tempest swept past peaks and precipices, an eerie wailing echoed.
The oppressive weight of heaven and earth rivaled a Heavenly Immortal tribulation, causing everyone's faces to pale in shock.
Only Li Guanqi looked up toward the firmament.
"I may not?"
Just two words. No one knew to whom Li Guanqi was speaking.
Only Lin Wujiu caught an inkling of the truth, his eyes brimming with sheer shock.
Because... Li Guanqi's words were a question addressed to the heavens!!!!
*Rumble!!!*
Beneath the night sky, dense dark clouds swallowed the remaining moonlight, plunging heaven and earth into pitch blackness.
Looking up, one could only see terrifying lightning churning and flashing intermittently amid the clouds, as if in response to Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi looked calm. The immortal primal energy within him roared, and an inexplicable aura washed over the battlefield.
Liu Xiong knitted his brows tightly. Glancing at the thunderclouds in the sky, he sent a grim voice transmission:
"Strike with everything you have and slaughter them! If we delay, things will go wrong!"
"Move!!!"
At those words, all the black-clad figures erupted into motion!!
Over a dozen dark shadows vaulted into the sky, picking their targets and lunging in for the kill.
Han Feng charged at the forefront, sword raised, going straight for Liu Xiong!
From start to finish, Ran Qingshuang had not said a single word to Li Guanqi; leveling her spear, she charged forward, fiercely thrusting to engage three black-robed assassins at once!!
Lin Wujiu's blood churned as though ablaze, leaving him no time for care.
Gripping the Red Lotus Sword, he faintly showed signs of initiating Red Lotus's soul liberation.
Yet the power of his Sword Ruins was far too weak, unable to sustain Red Lotus in completing the soul liberation.
Even so, Lin Wujiu felt his killing power was at least thirty percent greater than before!!
The Lin family elders sprang forward into the fray as well.
Li Guanqi alone remained still.
He simply looked up at the sky and murmured softly:
"Spirit Incantation: Three Phantasms Jinling Gates!"
"The Three Phantasms of the Human Spirit Realm manifest in beastly form, forging an original power of suppression and sealing."
"Today, I, Li Guanqi, redraw the Three Phantasms... and with..."
"Heaven, Earth, and Man! I redraw the power of the Three Phantasms!!"
The spiritual sigil between Li Guanqi's brows shone with blinding silver brilliance.
At this moment, Li Guanqi's thoughts connected to high heaven; his intent merged into singularity.
*Boom!!!!!*
An anomaly appeared across the heavens. Li Guanqi formed a hand seal with his right hand, altering the gesture guided by heaven's resonance.
In this instant, the oppressive might of heaven and earth reached its absolute zenith.
Everyone felt a majestic heavenly might.
*Boom!!!!*
Above the firmament, three terrifying fissures dozens of zhang wide abruptly tore open.
Even the assassins of Xutian Palace glanced up in shock, wondering if some True Immortal had intervened.
Yet immediately after... within the fissures, immortal primal energy, blazing flames, and thunder abruptly coalesced.
Three pitch-black gates, each a hundred zhang tall, plunged down from the heavens!!!
Primitive and archaic in form, the pitch-black gates were formed of pure immortal primal energy.
Black as slate, with crimson flames sketching celestial phenomena!
Carved upon each of the three gates were profoundly abstruse patterns, symbolizing the power of the three phantasms: Heaven, Earth, and Man.
Lightning gleamed in Li Guanqi's eyes as he roared furiously:
"Immortal Incantation: Three Phantasms Heavenly Gates!!!"
*Boom!!!!*
The heavenly gates settled into three directions, and an overwhelmingly monstrous suppressive force crashed down without warning.
This technique was very much like the immense oppression Li Guanqi had exerted in the Human Spirit Realm when dragging opponents into his domain.
Almost every cultivator from Xutian Palace was suppressed by a full tier at this moment!!
Liu Xiong's expression changed drastically, his eyes flooded with horrified shock.
Even his speech faltered into a stammer:
"Th-this... th-this is impossible!!"
"A newly created technique acknowledged and guided by the Heavenly Dao!!!"
"Just who is this guy?!"
The young man with the wicked aura who had mocked Liu Xiong earlier now wore an exceptionally grim expression.
Why Liu Xiong had been driven to such desperate straits no longer needed saying.
From Li Guanqi, he could actually feel an unprecedented sense of oppression.
And the scent of death...
Beneath his mask, a sharp glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes.
An abstruse, wondrous realization faintly dawned upon him.
This feeling... was as if he were the sovereign master of this immortal incantation art!!
He could transmit the hand seals, naturally forged by the Heavenly Dao, along with this comprehension to others.
And others would likewise be able to cast the immortal incantation he had created!!!
The manifestation of this incantation completely shattered Li Guanqi's understanding of the Youhuang Realm.
Perhaps...
the secrets of the Youhuang Realm were far more numerous than he had ever imagined.
Whether it was the method to open a spiritual ruins or the very form in which spirit incantations existed,
each and every one underscored how peculiar the Youhuang Realm was.
Yet doubts also lingered in his mind.
Had this uniqueness existed all along, or...
had this transformation only begun with Grandfather Su Xuan?
Neither the Lin family nor the Ran family knew the method of opening a spiritual ruins.
Furthermore, he had never encountered any other cultivator who had opened a spiritual ruins.
It was as though... this extraordinary art belonged solely to the Youhuang Realm.
One must realize that in the Youhuang Realm, even a minor sect like the Ziyang Palace could help its disciples open a spiritual ruins.
Back then, the Great Xia Sword Sect had also known the method, but lacking the necessary resources, they had been forced to take their disciples to other sects to have their spiritual ruins opened.
Li Guanqi's eyes glinted, the corners of his lips curling into a bloodthirsty, murderous smirk.
Suppressing the tangled thoughts in his mind, he lifted his eyes toward Liu Xiong and the others in the distance.
"Today... every last one of you will die here!"
Chapter 1688