Inside the secret study chamber of the Xialin City Castellan Manor.
After a flash of silver light, Li Guanqi's figure materialized in an instant.
"Pfft!"
Li Guanqi coughed up a mouthful of blood, the charred wound on his body showing no sign of recovery.
Beneath his mask, Li Guanqi's expression was grim. He realized he had still been too arrogant.
To think he had dared to cross an entire major realm to clash with a bona fide monster prodigy.
He had underestimated the immense realm gap and suppression between a Heavenly Immortal and a True Immortal.
The pseudo–True Immortal realm he had fought with everything he had to step into was nothing more than the starting line for someone like Ye Lingyun.
Back when he had fought the "traitor" Huyan Lie, it had given him the false impression that he could truly stand toe-to-toe with a True Immortal.
Rumble!
Violent explosions suddenly detonated again amidst the mountains dozens of li outside Xialin City.
The entire earth of Xialin City shook.
The six-city boundary that had been raised earlier remained intact, its thick perimeter resembling a cage trapping beasts!
A searing pillar of fiery light shot straight into the clouds, and immediately afterward, Ye Lingyun, the spiritual mark flashing between his brows, burst forth from the pillar!
Whoosh!
Screeech!
A clear, resounding sword chime rang out as the young man rose into the sky, his piercing gaze sweeping across the entirety of Dixiu Bay in an instant.
His divine consciousness surged outward like an overwhelming tidal wave.
In the blink of an eye, it spanned ten li.
In the secret chamber, the moment Li Guanqi felt the room shake, his expression changed drastically!
"So fast?"
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. Gritting his teeth, he raised his hand and swallowed several healing medicinal pills, letting their medicinal efficacy suppress the force wracking his wound.
Immediately after, he activated the Dark Concealment ability of his Demon King Physique and slipped away in stealth.
Yet before he had even covered a hundred zhang, a terrifying ray of sword light blasted directly toward the spot where he was hidden!
Li Guanqi could not even maintain his stealth. Driving his movement technique to its limit, the immortal essence in his body roared.
He dodged the sword strike by a hair's breadth.
However, the momentum of the sword light did not lessen in the slightest, carving straight through numerous buildings and pavilions within the castellan manor!
The searing flames incinerated all the structures to ash, leaving a bottomless, pitch-black trench in the earth.
Scorching fire still lingered along the edges of the chasm.
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth and fled frantically!
Yet his pursuer was even faster. Employing some unknown secret art, Ye Lingyun could cross a thousand zhang in a single breath!
Gripping the Xue Ming Sword tightly, Li Guanqi's eyes darted as thoughts raced through his mind.
He now possessed countless resources—enough to support his cultivation all the way to the Golden Immortal realm.
But the problem at hand was how to escape!
The power his grandfather had left him was meant to flow steadily like a gentle stream, and furthermore, he had sealed that power away.
If he were to unseal it now, the consequences would be catastrophic.
For one, its aura would inevitably leak out into the open.
For another, he simply could not withstand the sudden torrent of its might; before he could even refine it, it would burst his body apart!
Li Guanqi's face darkened. Transforming into a streak of purple lightning, he sprinted madly toward the six-city boundary.
Behind him, Ye Lingyun pursued relentlessly. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them had closed to a few hundred zhang.
At this moment, Ye Lingyun's golden eyes were filled with frigid killing intent.
Now that he had decided to act, he would not give Li Guanqi any chance whatsoever!
Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit!
As the eldest direct son of the Ye family, Ye Lingyun had understood from an early age that to eliminate an enemy, one had to pull them up by the roots.
Watching the frantically sprinting figure ahead, Ye Lingyun's chest swelled high, and a piercing, shrill cry erupted from his mouth!
The screech resembled the mournful shriek of an avian beast.
Ear-splitting sonic waves violently rippled outward in all directions, centered upon the young man!
"Brilliant Flame: Phoenix Cry!"
Boom!
Ye Lingyun hovered in midair. With him at the center, all the buildings below shattered with a deafening roar the moment the sonic ripples washed over them!
Wave after wave of invisible sonic force expanded wildly into the surroundings.
Li Guanqi immediately sealed his five senses with immortal essence.
Yet that terrifying sonic wave seeped through every crevice.
The attack treated his immortal essence as if it were nothing, piercing straight into his sea of consciousness in an instant!
"Aaargh!"
A scream of agony tore from Li Guanqi's throat.
Clutching his head, he plummeted from the sky. Fractures instantly spiderwebbed through his sea of consciousness, his eardrums ruptured, blood leaked from his seven apertures, and his eyes became bloodshot.
A splitting headache, a chaotic sea of consciousness, blurred awareness...
Li Guanqi crashed to the ground with a thud, clutching his head as he writhed and struggled.
This sonic spiritual attack had nearly demolished his sea of consciousness entirely!
Its power was not one bit inferior to a full-force strike from a True Immortal!
And it had targeted the sea of consciousness—a cultivator's most fragile point.
A cold sneer curved on Ye Lingyun's lips.
"Nothing more than this."
With a flap of the wings behind him, his figure turned into a fiery streak, hurtling straight toward Li Guanqi.
Holding his sword high, an eruptive sword momentum rose abruptly, flames engulfing the void.
Searing fire ignited along the blade, sword light spitting several inches out. The blistering force cracked and shattered the void around Ye Lingyun.
"You... can die now."
Before his words even finished echoing, the sword in his hand had already fallen.
Yet right at that moment...
The young man who had been writhing on the ground and groaning in low anguish suddenly erupted!
At some point, the Xue Ming Sword in his hand had been replaced by a crimson blade.
Li Guanqi's face was as pale as paper. The bleeding from his seven apertures was real, and the fractures in his sea of consciousness were real.
Yet his endurance had also been real!
"Revelation: Red Lotus Heavenly Dance!"
"Ruin: Open!"
"Killing Power, Illusory Form, Blade Break, Spirit Absolution!"
Boom!
The ground beneath Li Guanqi's feet abruptly caved in!
The muscles across his entire body bulged, dragon scales covering him, while the crimson eyes beneath his mask flashed with madness.
Boom! Bang, bang!
A terrifying sword intent shot straight into the clouds, churning the wind and clouds!
A pit dozens of zhang wide collapsed beneath his feet, the stone pavers shattering and spreading in a spiderweb pattern.
The buildings and pavilions on both sides of the street abruptly crumbled.
Li Guanqi let out a frenzied roar.
"Red Lotus: Dao Fall!"
Boom!
A blinding red flash erupted from the tip of Red Lotus!
The tip sliced through the void, revealing pitch-black nothingness as effortlessly as a knife cutting through tofu.
In practically an instant, Li Guanqi's aura surged until it rivaled the peak of the first-tier True Immortal realm!
Even the Nirvana Spirit Feathers behind his back unfurled. The massive spiritual feathers, spanning a full three zhang, startled Ye Lingyun inwardly.
Ye Lingyun had thought Li Guanqi was entirely stripped of the power to resist—a lamb awaiting slaughter.
He had never expected that after taking the spiritual attack of Phoenix Cry, Li Guanqi would still have the strength to fight back!
Caught unprepared, the young man swung his sword downward in a furious counterstrike!
"Azure Flame Earth-Splitting Slash!"
Boom!
The searing fiery sword light stretched nearly thirty zhang, while Li Guanqi's sword ray was only a little over ten zhang across.
Rumble!
A terrifying explosion instantly echoed through the heavens.
Practically the entire street was reduced to ruins under the clash of their power.
Chapter 1760