Striking, Forcing the Hand!!

The group followed Luo Cheng as he flew through the air, soon entering the territorial domain of Xutian Palace. Xutian Palace's protective grand barrier remained active year-round. The moment they passed through the rift, Li Guanqi sensed something was amiss, his brows furrowing slightly. *What a terrifying barrier... Is it a self-contained world?* *No... that doesn't seem right. There's no distinct transformation inside. A pseudo-world?* Even so, Li Guanqi was still shaken. Along the way, he witnessed firsthand the true foundation of a top-tier sect! Veins rich with celestial spiritual energy were casually left exposed halfway up the mountain slopes. Dense celestial spiritual energy condensed almost into tangible clouds and mist. There were even rumbling waterfalls of celestial spirit. The disciples within the sect all wore stern, formidable expressions, exuding heavy murderous intent! Furthermore, not a single one of these disciples was weak; they were far more powerful than any clan or sect disciples Li Guanqi had ever encountered. It was not just Li Guanqi—even the two from the Lin family and Ran Shiming showed slight shifts in expression. At their level of cultivation, they could perceive much more. Yet the more they perceived, the more their hearts unconsciously sank. Xutian Palace truly lived up to its name as the third-ranked superpower sect in the Fuyu Lands. Within the sect alone, there were no fewer than a dozen auras at the True Immortal realm!! Peaks stood in clustered profusion, each mountain representing something distinct. Luo Cheng’s expression remained indifferent, his gaze calm, carrying neither mockery nor any strange look. This put Li Guanqi even more on guard. People who appeared so completely free of worldly desire were always the hardest to deal with! Xutian Palace's main sect hall rose fully twenty zhang high and stretched a hundred zhang across. Solemn, austere, and overwhelmingly magnificent! The cultivators stationed at the entrance were at least in the Heavenly Immortal realm. Those two rows of guards alone exerted an inexplicable sense of oppression. Luo Cheng halted his steps. The grand doors of the hall slowly swung open, and he gestured with one hand. "Let's go. The Grand Elder is waiting inside." The others nodded and followed beside him into the grand hall. The vast hall was brightly illuminated, dazzling to the eye, with lustrous gems embedded into the stone pillars throughout. Seated at the head of the hall was a white-browed elder with crane-white hair and a youthful complexion. Sensing the group enter, the elder did not even lift his head, merely looking down to sip his tea. Li Guanqi frowned slightly, though he did not let his irritation show. Lin Jinting and the others bowed slightly in greeting and introduced themselves. The elder merely cast a single glance upward before setting down his teacup, raising his chin slightly to signal for them to sit. "Sit." After they took their seats, Li Guanqi knew his status and cultivation were insufficient to sit among them, so he simply stood behind Lin Jinting. The elder took a deep, lingering look at Li Guanqi, clearly having already deduced his identity. "This old man is Yang Qing. Speak. "To kill a disciple of my Xutian Palace, and yet dare to come to our gates... "Do you truly believe my Xutian Palace is so easily bullied?" *Boom!!!!* A monstrously berserk pressure detonated. A massive jade plate resembling a bright moon drifted into view behind the elder. The jade plate was a foot across, upon which two golden threads slowly swam!! *Boom!!!* The chairs beneath the three shattered violently. Their bodies dropped, nearly tumbling to the floor. Li Guanqi, by contrast, felt as though heavy mountains were crashing down upon him. Looking up, he saw Lin Jinting reach back with an empty grasp. The Nirvana Spirit Feather manifested behind him, shimmering with brilliant golden light. Blue veins bulged across Lin Jinting's forehead, his face flushed deep red. He glanced back at Li Guanqi and said in a heavy voice, "Be careful. This man is in the Golden Immortal realm!!" With that, he forced his head up to face the elder. "What is the meaning of this, Elder Yang? "Are you refusing to even talk?" The elder's slightly turbid eyes narrowed into slits, crow's feet deepening at the corners as he let out a sneer of utter contempt. "Talk? "With just your two families, what right do you have to negotiate with my Xutian Palace?" With a broad wave of his sleeve, the elder condensed two massive palm prints of immortal essence, violently hoisting them all into midair!! A tremendous divine sense surged forth like a tidal wave!! *Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* The storage rings on their fingers shattered one after another!! They could not withstand the force for even the slightest fraction of an instant!! Fortunately, Li Guanqi had long since placed the Rakshasa Ghost Mask and the Xue Ming Sword into the sword coffin's space. *Clatter!* Immortal crystals scattered across the floor, practically blanketing the entire hall. Li Guanqi alone carried a considerable number of second-grade immortal crystals, to say nothing of Lin Jinting and Ran Shiming, who had brought vast quantities of immortal crystals for this trip. Yang Qing frowned, an imperceptible chill flashing across the depths of his eyes!! His aura pressed down suffocatingly as he slowly rose to his feet. "Where is the Xutian Stone?" The sound of cracking bones echoed from Li Guanqi's legs, yet he still stood firmly in place. Looking calmly at the elder, he said softly, "Since Senior has no desire to talk, you might as well kill us all. "As for the Xutian Stone... let it be lost to the outside world forever." Yang Qing's brow knitted tightly at those words... Li Guanqi dared to speak this way because he was certain the other party would not give up on the Xutian Stone, nor would they willingly offend two major clans—the Lin and Ran families—over this! Given the connections of True Immortal clans, knowing a few friendly Golden Immortal cultivators was hardly an issue. As long as one was willing to pay a sufficient price, getting a Golden Immortal to take action was entirely feasible! Yang Qing narrowed his eyes, his gaze flickering as he stared deeply at Li Guanqi. With a flick of his hand, he sent the others flying back, then clenched his right hand in the air, violently hoisting Li Guanqi into midair!!! The elder's withered, massive hand locked around Li Guanqi's throat as his divine sense suddenly converged tightly around him. Clearly, he intended to search Li Guanqi's soul!! Li Guanqi sneered inwardly. With a single thought, he severed a piece of his divine soul and thrust it straight into the sword coffin's space!! *Buzz!!!* Just as Yang Qing pressed his left hand downward toward the crown of Li Guanqi's head, Lin Jinting's furious roar rang in Li Guanqi's ears!! "Stop!!!!" *Crack!* A jade slip, entirely fiery red, was clutched in Lin Jinting's grasp. Having scrambled back to his feet, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, Lin Jinting glared at Yang Qing with chilling eyes. "If you draw his soul, my Lin family will wage war against Xutian Palace! "It's only a Golden Immortal—my Lin family will empty our entire fortune, and we have no fear of being unable to hire one!!" The elder hesitated. He halted his hand, holding Li Guanqi aloft as he looked toward Lin Jinting. The Golden Immortal fluctuations radiating from that jade slip were even more potent than his own. He did not doubt that Lin Jinting had the ability to enlist a Golden Immortal cultivator. What he doubted was... whether Lin Jinting would truly burn all bridges for the sake of an outsider!! With a cold sneer, the elder squeezed. The bones in Li Guanqi's neck began to fracture, his face turning a dark, suffocated purple. Li Guanqi felt his life force slowly draining away, yet he was pinned so mercilessly by the elder's power that he could not muster even a sliver of strength. Blood vessels webbed Li Guanqi's eyes, tears brimming in his sockets, his lips straining with exertion. He tried to pry open the elder's fingers, but it was entirely futile. A massive patch of purplish-red bruising blossomed across his fair neck. *Bang!!!!* Gritting his teeth, Lin Jinting fiercely crushed the jade slip in his hand and roared, "If I die in Xutian Palace today, every last member of the Lin family will go underground, swearing an oath to slaughter every cultivator of Xutian Palace!! "We will exhaust all our wealth to hire Venerable Zhanhe to avenge me!!!" Even Ran Shiming found this spectacle completely incomprehensible. He could not understand. He could not understand what kind of magic Li Guanqi possessed that could make Lin Jinting stake his entire clan's survival in a fight to the death!! Though Lin Shengwu's brow was knit tight, he made no move to stop him. For he understood very clearly in his heart: before Yang Qing, they had to demonstrate their absolute resolve and intent! Only then would Xutian Palace sit down and negotiate properly. Li Guanqi turned his head with great difficulty toward Lin Jinting, a wave of deep emotion rising in his heart.