Li Guanqi: I'll Hold Him Off!

One after another, black-clad figures pierced the barrier, trod the air, and looked down at the Castellan Estate. The two sides were more than two to one, and the outcome was impossible to call. Xiahou Cang leapt up, sword in hand, and spoke in a cold voice. "Ha. Lou Fuchang, Zhao Mu — all these years, and the two of you still haven't given up on my Xialin City!" Lou Fuchang sneered. "Xialin City alone, and you mean to swallow the Cold Soul Jade Glaze? You're dreaming." Xiahou Cang did not bother arguing. He only turned his head toward the burly man gripping the giant axe behind him and said mockingly. "A stray dog of a man — whoever feeds him, that's who he wags his tail for, is that it?" Huyan Lie gave a cold laugh. "Heh. Xiahou Cang, today is the day you die. Say all you like now — soon you won't have a voice to say it with." As the words fell, the pressure of three True Immortals burst out as one and came crashing down on the Castellan Estate. In an instant, every building in the estate was reduced to rubble!! Many servants and maids who had no time to flee were crushed to death where they stood! Xiahou Cang's eyes were grave beyond measure. One against three — even he could not guarantee his own survival. And then, Li Guanqi slowly stepped forward!! His eyes fixed on Huyan Lie, who had only recently broken through to the second level of the True Immortal realm, he said softly. "Leave him to me. Hold out a little longer — reinforcements will be here soon." Huyan Lie threw back his head and laughed, a laugh like a great bronze bell. "You? Hahahahaha — you think you can stop me?" "A mere third-level Heavenly Immortal, and you dare try to bar my way?" Lou Fuchang and Zhao Mu were both at the second level of the True Immortal realm as well. They too jeered at Li Guanqi's wild words. "Xiahou Cang, the man you've taken in really is fearless in his ignorance. What nerve!" Xiahou Cang's expression was frightful as he swept out his hand and pushed Li Guanqi behind him. "Hah... I'll hold all three of them off! You get word to Chu Yuan and Chen Ce as fast as you can!" Li Guanqi reached out and peeled the man's hand away. "Castellan Xiahou, I'd better take Huyan Lie." As the words fell, Li Guanqi's white robe snapped and cracked in the wind. "He's nothing but a True Immortal at the second level — and an unstable one at that." "If the third level of the Heavenly Immortal realm isn't enough... then I'll simply take one more step." BOOM!!! All at once, over a thousand immortal crystals beside Li Guanqi shattered. The broken crystals poured out immortal spirit mist so thick it was nearly solid, and it rushed into Li Guanqi's body. RUMBLE!! Thousands upon thousands of bolts of lightning burst forth, and in that instant Li Guanqi's aura broke through with a roar into the fourth level of the Heavenly Immortal realm. The sight made many of those present go cold inside. But the fourth level of the Heavenly Immortal realm alone was still far below his opponent's cultivation. As Li Guanqi's aura erupted, the crowd also sensed something that was not quite right. His cultivation was at the fourth level of the Heavenly Immortal realm, yet the pressure he gave off was comparable to the sixth level, even the seventh! The next moment, Li Guanqi drew out a Fanged Ghost Mask, its red and black patterns interwoven, and slowly put it on. BOOM!!!! The winds and clouds of the heavens churned. Lightning flickered endlessly within the cloud layers, and the thunder was deafening!! Li Guanqi's Dharma robe cracked in the wind, his long hair whipping wildly about him. A strange, ferocious longsword came slowly into his hand. An inexplicable power washed outward. "Revelation: Blood-Dyed Twilight Sky!" HUM!! The tentacles at the shoulder of the Xue Ming Sword stretched out in an instant, whipping and dancing wildly! Li Guanqi's arm was cased in purple dragon scales, the qi and blood in his body roaring, the power of the Demon King Physique pushed to its absolute limit. Peak Heavenly Immortal! Then a streak of white light shot into Li Guanqi's body. Purple patterns spread from the brow of the ghost mask, and in the space of a heartbeat his aura broke past the limits of the Heavenly Immortal realm altogether, comparable to a True Immortal!!! Behind Li Guanqi, nine Dao Rings of Spiritual Charm rose and fell in layered rings. On his back, faint purple spirit light even shaped the beginnings of Nirvana Spirit Feathers — the mark of the True Immortal realm. All these changes took no more than the blink of an eye. And when that surging, churning sword intent pierced the clouds. Lou Fuchang could wait no longer. He swept out his hand and roared. "Kill them all!!" BOOM!!! Huyan Lie's eyes were grim as he gripped his giant axe and charged at Li Guanqi. Xiahou Cang, one against two, in an instant dragged Lou Fuchang and Zhao Mu with him up into the high sky. Outside. Chu Yuan and Chen Ce were frantic with worry. They swiftly gathered the strong men of their estates and split into two forces. One went to attack Beizha City; the other led men charging toward Xialin City! Chen Ce, Castellan of Donglin City, sent a voice transmission, his eyes dark. "Old Chu, do you think Huyan Lie has really turned on us?" Chu Yuan's eyes flickered. He brooded for a long while. "I can't say for certain..." "But that young man surnamed Li told us to attack Beizha, so we attack!" "Move faster — don't let them seize the first move!" Meanwhile, the whole of Xialin City had fallen into chaos. Countless cultivators scrambled to flee. None of them knew what was happening, but all of them knew they could not stay in the city now. The Castellan Estate was surrounded!! That thick barrier was not something ordinary cultivators could break through in any short time. And Castellan Xiahou Cang was fighting two True Immortal cultivators at once, death brushing him at every turn. The cultivators and retainers in the estate were dead or wounded, one after another! The strong men of the two southwestern cities had joined with those of Beizha City; the disparity in numbers between the two sides was far too great. But what no one had expected was that on the other side, Li Guanqi, locked in savage combat with Huyan Lie, was not giving ground in the slightest!! Li Guanqi activated the power of the Sword Ruins Illusory Form, barely able to catch a few flaws in his opponent's strikes. He twisted aside from an axe chop, and the mighty axe light slid past his body and fell inside the Castellan Estate. Dust and smoke billowed up at once, and a deep ravine opened in the earth. In Li Guanqi's hands the sword momentum grew heavier and heavier. He no longer sought speed; instead he raised his own strength to its utmost limit. Even so, facing a True Immortal cultivator in the truest sense, Li Guanqi still felt the strain. Suddenly the speed of his sword soared to its peak. Huyan Lie's expression tightened; he gritted his teeth and brought his giant axe back again and again to block. Clang, clang, clang!! Clang, clang!! The impacts came thick as rain, sparks flying from the giant axe — and fine cracks began to appear across it! The two traded blow for blow in deadly fashion; one slip, and it would end in death and the scattering of one's Dao. Li Guanqi's figure drifted like a shadow, his sword carrying a lightning-flame power of overwhelming force, wrapped in Sword Po realm sword intent, savage to the extreme!! Huyan Lie's eyes were full of gravity. In the middle of his retreat he suddenly exploded into an attack!! "Mountain-Shaking Axe!" BOOM!! The giant axe was wreathed in an earthen-yellow halo. The big man twisted his body, swung the axe up, and brought it down in a slanting cut!! The axe light was dazzling. It shattered the sword light Li Guanqi had sent out and came on unstoppably!! Li Guanqi's sword light was broken. Blood surged backward in his body, but he forced it down. He narrowed his eyes at that axe light. He pulled back and retreated violently, his feet carving two warped trails through space. A sword cry split the air, and the Xue Ming Sword was cloaked in a layer of blood-red light. Li Guanqi's whole bearing changed utterly. His sword momentum surged!!! SCREEE!! A shrill sword cry rang out, and everyone felt the crushing pressure of an incomparably powerful sword momentum. "Blood Twilight: World Annihilation!" BOOM!!!! A flash of sword light, swift beyond all reckoning, cut out in an instant!!! The terrifying power tore space itself apart, leaving a pitch-black rift hundreds of zhang long in its wake!!! BOOM!! RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!!