Critically Injured

Not a trace of fear showed in his calm gaze. Letting the old man finish preparing, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes slightly and abruptly spread his left hand. In an instant, the space around the old man distorted violently. Layer upon layer of dense spatial barriers began to stack around him! The old man had never expected that the youth could comprehend the mysteries of spatial power in such a short time. Nor had he imagined that Li Guanqi could apply it so proficiently! The heavy spatial barriers filled his heart with dread. He hurriedly raised his sword and slashed out several frantic bursts of sword light! Yet the spatial barriers compressed the area he occupied to a mere zhang or so. A full eighteen layers of spatial barriers! Having done all this, Li Guanqi glanced around and murmured softly under his breath. "I wonder if this place will work..." After thinking for a moment, however, he abandoned the thought. Sensing the spatial barriers shattering layer after layer, Li Guanqi hesitated no longer. Assuming the opening stance of his sword technique, he lowered his body slightly, his eyes locked solely onto the struggling old man. The several Nascent Soul realm experts watching from the perimeter were all secretly appalled. Looking at the old man struggling like a trapped beast, chills ran down their spines. The youth's comprehension was simply monstrous. He had clearly just broken through, yet the primal energy circulating within him did not hitch in the slightest. Moreover, tearing through space and deploying spatial barriers were skills he had learned during this brief clash. Seeing this, the elder surnamed Gu could not help but exclaim in wonder. "Such innate comprehension is rarely seen in a lifetime!" Yet in the next breath, everyone felt the spatial turbulences and spatial storms within a thousand zhang around slightly freeze. Immediately following that, a lightning sword ray flashed abruptly! Boom! "Heaven Breaker: Demon Subduer!" Carrying an unstoppable demon-slaying momentum, the sword strike swept through the spatial cage in an instant! Terror filled Zheng Yuanzhong's eyes. In desperation, he swung down the banner in his hand! The banner burst with blinding radiance, shattering all the surrounding spatial barriers in an instant! Yet the moment the spatial barriers collapsed, several dozen arcs of lightning whipped around the old man like ropes! "What?! When did he cast a spirit incantation?!" Boom! As the sword light bore down on him, despair flashed in the old man's eyes. Mustering all his strength, he slashed out a terrifying sword ray several hundred zhang in size! The old man poured every ounce of his strength into this strike! Yet that earthy-yellow sword ray was torn to shreds beneath Li Guanqi's lightning! The incomparably condensed sword light bore down upon him virtually unimpeded! A deathly resolve flashed through the old man's eyes. His abdomen began to swell crazily, and he roared with lunatic fury. "Little bastard! If I'm going down, you're coming with me!" Sensing this frenzied aura, the onlookers broke into cold sweats! "Run! He's going to self-detonate!" "Run, hurry!" The sword light flashed past, severing the old man's head from his body. Yet at that very moment, his Nascent Soul began swelling at a frantic pace! Li Guanqi tried to retreat, but it was already too late. In his helplessness, he could only erect barrier after barrier around himself, pushing his primal energy to its absolute limit! Yet he was simply too close to the old man—so close that evading was impossible. He could only endure the brunt of it head-on! Boom! A deafening explosion roared! A blast covering a full five hundred zhang erupted violently. The terrifying shockwave flung the fleeing spectators more than a thousand zhang away! "Pfft!" "Gah! Cough, cough..." Gu Yan felt the spatial barriers behind him shatter one after another, and his back burned with scorching pain. The others fared little better; almost all of them sustained light injuries. Several of them tore through the void one after another to flee the scene. No one believed the youth could survive Zheng Yuanzhong's self-detonation. Yet Gu Yan paused in his tracks. Although he could not detect any signs of life either, he could not shake the feeling that the youth wasn't dead! Doubling back, he indeed spotted a figure floating in midair several thousand zhang away. Circulating his movement technique, Gu Yan flashed over to the youth's side. By now, the youth's flesh was torn and mangled, more than half of his bones were shattered, and even his heartbeat was exceedingly faint. Gu Yan's expression changed. Raising a hand to seal the youth's heart vessels, he hurriedly hoisted him onto his back. The sword spirit detected no malice from him and chose not to stop him. Furthermore, this old man was an alchemist; at least he could be of help right now. If the elder harbored any ulterior motives, the sword spirit would not hesitate to strike. A clash that shook the entire Nanze City thus came to an end. A family with a thousand-year lineage had two Nascent Soul cultivators slain in a single night—all stemming from a petty conflict among the younger generation! Gu Yan carried Li Guanqi straight to a manor in Nanze City. This was his temporary lodging. The moment he returned, a youth clad in a lavish white robe ran into the room, shouting, "Grandpa! Grandpa! You're back?" Yet as soon as he stepped through the door, he discovered someone critically injured and near death lying on the bed. The youth, whose face was fair as jade, pointed at the person on the bed with wide eyes. "Him! Him! He's the guy I told you about, the one who flies faster than a cloud boat!" "Why is he here?" "Grandpa, did you bring him back? How did he get hurt?" "Grandpa, let me tell you, the Zheng Clan in the city got wiped out by someone!" Unable to endure his precious grandson's endless chatter any longer, Gu Yan spoke up. "Little Yi, go outside first. "Without my permission, no one is allowed near the rear courtyard!" Seeing the grim look on the old man's face, Gu Yi wiped away his playful demeanor, nodded, and walked out. Stepping out of the room, a touch of authority settled over Gu Yi's face. Summoning the manor's head steward, he commanded, "Without my grandfather's orders, no one is allowed to approach the rear courtyard! "Remember, no one!" The old man clad in coarse hemp robes bowed hurriedly. "Understood, Young Master." As soon as the steward left, Gu Yi shook his wide sleeves and trotted back. He had no idea why that guy had been saved and brought home by his grandfather. Once everyone had departed, the old man erected several barriers in the room! Reaching into his robes, he brought out a jade casket crafted from high-grade spirit stone. Taking out a medicinal pill that wafted rich fragrance, he placed it into Li Guanqi's mouth, using his primal energy to dissolve it, before setting and bandaging his shattered bones. Then, using his primal energy, he reconnected the severed meridians bit by bit. Gu Yan did not know why he had decided to save him. Perhaps he simply could not bear to see such a talented youth perish so prematurely. Or perhaps it was his professional calling as an alchemist... By the time he finished, it was already late into the night. Weary, Gu Yan turned and left the room. Whether the boy could pull through would depend on himself now. The sword spirit sat by the bedside, resting her chin on her hand as she watched Li Guanqi. The corners of her lips curved slightly into a murmur. "Brat, you're really lucky. You certainly have no shortage of benefactors in your life."