Ye Lingyun

Li Guanqi frowned slightly. He had not even seen clearly when the fellow on the second floor had made his move. Narrowing his eyes, he looked up toward the second floor. The young man slowly rose to his feet, casting a look of disgust down at the stains on his chest. Walking over to the railing, he looked down and met Li Guanqi's gaze. The youth possessed a formidable aura, far stronger than Li Guanqi's. His presence was equally unfathomable. In short, Li Guanqi felt that the way the youth looked at him was no different from how one would look at an ant. Beneath that handsome exterior lay an arrogant heart and calm eyes. Those golden eyes seemed devoid of any emotion, offering Li Guanqi merely a cool, indifferent glance. Then, he raised a hand and waved it lightly. A middle-aged man clad in a dark navy robe strode forward toward Li Guanqi. According to Li Guanqi's senses, this man's cultivation was around the fourth stage of the Heavenly Immortal Realm. Looking up at the young man who was about to return to his room, Li Guanqi said in a deep voice, "No matter what happened, could you please release my master first?" As if he had not heard Li Guanqi at all, the young man completely ignored him and walked toward the private dining room on the second floor. The man before Li Guanqi snorted coldly, drawing his saber with a backhanded motion and hacking straight down toward Li Guanqi's head! Though the man had seemed to be merely striding forward, there was profound subtlety hidden in his movement; in a single step, he had already appeared right before Li Guanqi! His speed was astonishingly fast, and his saber momentum was ferocious. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, and the Xue Ming Sword instantly entered Apocalypse! Sidestepping the blade, he raised his voice and shouted, "I was speaking to you..." The gleam of the blade swept down practically brushing against Li Guanqi's body. The saber qi split the tavern doors apart, and the flagstones on the ground shattered in an explosion of stone! Li Guanqi's left hand shot out like an iron clamp, seizing the man by the shoulder. With a twist of his waist, boundless immortal essence rippled outward, and two thick dao rings of spiritual charm manifested behind him. With a backhand strike, the Xue Ming Sword slashed out faster than the naked eye could track, executing the technique of the Sword-Drawing Stance. The sword momentum was ethereal yet swift, severing the man's entire arm in a single stroke! "You!" "Did you not hear me?!" As the severed arm and the saber flew spinning into the air, Li Guanqi leaped up and kicked the hilt of the blade. The long saber instantly transformed into a flash of cold light, shooting straight toward the young man. Piercing through the floor of the second story, it flew at an angle toward the youth's shoulder. The youth frowned slightly. Shifting his body just a fraction, he lifted a hand. That ferociously flying saber was caught effortlessly between his fingertips. Looking back down over his shoulder, he flicked the blade behind him with his left hand. *Pfft!* Li Guanqi staggered, blood spraying into his peripheral vision. His body was violently hurled backward by an irresistible force. *Crash!* Li Guanqi smashed through a stone pillar and was thrown out onto the street. His shoulder was impaled by the very saber he had just kicked upward. Li Guanqi's expression turned grim. The other man's strength far exceeded his perception. Even though he had clearly seen the attack coming, he had been entirely unable to dodge it! The youth seemed to have changed his mind. Turning around, he walked over to the edge of the second-floor platform and leaned against the railing, looking outside. His handsome, bewitching, narrow eyes looked Li Guanqi up and down, the corners of his mouth curving slightly. He first glanced at the one-armed man, then down at the sword in Li Guanqi's hand, his eyes narrowing. "Somewhat interesting." He waved his slender, elegant fingers in the air. Only then did the man below let go of Li Nanting, dragging the old man up from the ground. Just as Li Guanqi was about to pull the saber from his shoulder, the man said with a mocking look, "I'd advise you to leave it in for now." Li Guanqi's face tightened as he suddenly felt a scorching, burning pain radiate from the wound, his body temperature rising continuously. Wisps of dark smoke began to curl from the impaled wound, and the scent of charred flesh drifted into his nose. Li Guanqi's throat bobbed, and for a moment, he dared not act rashly. After Li Nanting got to his feet, his face was pale with fear, anxiety flickering in his eyes. "Congxin... I... it's all my fault..." Li Guanqi raised a hand to signal that the old man need not blame himself. Leaving the saber stuck in his shoulder, he slowly stood up, looked up at the youth, and said in a deep voice, "I am Li Congxin. May I ask what brought all this about?" By now, a chorus of hushed chatter was drifting from the onlookers gathered behind Li Guanqi, allowing him to piece together the gist of what had happened. "Ah, that old fellow was clumsy too. Couldn't even keep his footing and fell straight down from the fourth floor." "And wouldn't you know it, he just had to knock over that young master's food and wine, overturning the whole table." "Who knows who that young man is, but he clearly isn't ordinary... Doesn't look like a local from Lanyang City either." The young man seemed utterly unconcerned by the incident, his interest solely fixed on Li Guanqi. "Li Congxin, is it? Heh, rather interesting." With that, the youth waved his hand, and the attendant below released Li Nanting. However, the old man was now covered in spilled dishes and liquor, his hair disheveled and his appearance thoroughly disconsolate. Li Nanting looked mortified, but he forced a smile, looked up, and explained, "I had just stepped out the door... and only then realized how overwhelming the pressure here was. I couldn't keep my balance." "Ha... I've embarrassed you like this." Looking at the old man hanging his head, at a complete loss, Li Guanqi felt a sharp pang in his heart. Without the slightest hint of disgust, Li Guanqi reached out and picked the vegetable leaves from his master's clothes, smiling as he said, "It's nothing. Just a little tumble, that's all." Having said that, Li Guanqi slowly drew the saber from his shoulder, inch by inch. The blade was like a red-hot branding iron, searing and binding the flesh to itself; as it came out, it tore away a large chunk of flesh. Scorched flesh clung to the blade. Watching this, many of the surrounding cultivators grimaced in sympathetic pain, clicking their tongues in wonder. Meanwhile, Li Guanqi kept his eyes fixed upon the young man standing on the stairs. "Might this fellow Daoist leave me his name?" The young man wore a crown of gold and jade, two strands of hair dangling before his forehead. His skin was pale. He turned his head to look at Li Guanqi. Staring at him with amusement, he spoke in a remarkably magnetic voice. "The Zhongtian Lands, the Ye family, Ye Lingyun." "If you feel that I humiliated your master today, you are more than welcome to seek vengeance against me in the future." "Though, as far as I am concerned, I have already shown great mercy in sparing his life." At that point, Ye Lingyun turned and resumed walking upstairs, not sparing Li Guanqi another glance. "The only reason I have told you my name..." "...is that you were able to draw that saber and suppress the bit of power I left behind, which earned you a shred of my respect." "Nothing more." With that, the man flickered and vanished into the pavilion. Li Guanqi stood with a calm face, murmuring softly, "The Zhongtian Lands, Ye Lingyun." Li Guanqi drew a deep breath, lamenting inward that there were always heavens beyond the heavens, and men beyond men. If Li Guanqi's conjecture was correct... That young man, who appeared to be in his thirties at most... ...had in all likelihood already broken through to the True Immortal Realm! A whole major realm higher than himself! The residual power he had left inside Li Guanqi's body was simply beyond anything a cultivator of the Heavenly Immortal Realm could compare to! The people of the Ye family cast a deep, lingering look at Li Guanqi before following upstairs one after another. Li Guanqi took a deep breath and chose to lead Li Nanting away from the area. Walking along the street, the old man kept his head down, his spirits dampened. Li Guanqi found a random tavern, had bathwater prepared in a room, and told the old man to take a bath. Although the old man could easily have used primal energy to cleanse his entire body and simply changed into fresh clothes, Li Guanqi insisted that he take a proper soak.