Hearing this, the old man was instantly seized with shock and rage, so much so that he couldn't even process what was happening for a moment.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi simply teleported onto the stage, grabbed the old man by the collar, and threw him straight out!
*Whoosh!*
All anyone saw was a dark blur flash through the air, and then the old man was hurled outside like a battered sack.
Flung past the doorway, the old man felt utter humiliation. An aura rivaling the peak of the Core Formation realm erupted from him with a roar as he prepared to demand an explanation.
Yet a single glance from the youth inside the hall cast his entire body into what felt like an icy abyss!
That kind of look... could only belong to someone who had slaughtered countless lives!
The palpable killing intent was not masked in the least. The old man's throat bobbed with difficulty, and in the end, he didn't dare utter another word.
With a cold snort and a flick of his sleeves, he turned to find the sect elders in charge.
He refused to believe any random young upstart could strip him of his eldership!
Yet just as he was about to leave, a thought struck him:
*I'm the one who got thrown out! Why should I leave?*
Still, the moment he recalled the youth's terrifying pressure, he halted his steps.
Remembering everything that had just occurred, along with the youth's blatant disdain for his teaching, he chose simply to stand by the entrance and not step back inside!
Seeing this, Li Guanqi paid him no mind. If he wanted to listen from outside, let him listen.
He didn't plan to linger at the Wind Thunder Sect for long anyway. As soon as he resolved the initial entry hurdles of the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art, he would take his leave.
By now, every trace of drowsiness had vanished from the disciples in the hall.
All eyes stared in shock at the youth on the stage; some hadn't even fully wrapped their heads around what had happened.
One youth, his eyes still half-asleep, gripped his companion's arm and muttered, "Lao Zhao, am I seeing things...?"
"The guy up there... just threw Elder Li straight out!?!?"
"More importantly... Elder Li didn't even let out a peep??? Is that really him??"
*Gulp...*
Beside him, his companion swallowed hard.
The chubby youth's eyes widened as he mumbled, "Unless we're having the exact same dream and our eyes are playing tricks on both of us, you definitely saw right..."
With that, the hall erupted into an uproar. No one had any idea what was going on.
Li Guanqi, however, merely lit a stick of incense with a calm expression, gazing silently toward the main entrance.
Watching the burning sandalwood incense, none of the disciples knew what it signified.
Yet the faint, lingering pressure wafting around Li Guanqi kept them from daring to chatter aloud.
Still, every one of them was overwhelmingly curious about this youth's identity.
The itch of curiosity was like tiny bugs crawling all over them, terribly unbearable.
At this time, more and more Wind Thunder Sect disciples began trickling into the spacious hall!
Someone couldn't help exclaiming, "What... why are even the inner sect senior brothers and sisters here??"
"Exactly! They joined the sect years before us!"
"*Hiss*... Senior Brother Wang Yang came too!"
Suddenly!
Several youths looked toward the entrance in excitement and cried out, "It's Senior Sister Liu Man, Senior Sister Zheng Yao, and Senior Sister Tang Jing!!"
Before their shouts could die down, another cluster of girls shrieked,
"Junior Sword Marquis Ling Rui and Gale Sword Xu Hao are here too!!"
Watching these figures appear one after another, the crowd gasped in amazement.
"What's going on today? Almost all the prominent senior brothers and sisters from the inner sect have gathered here!"
Right then, a disciple realized something. The chubby youth from earlier turned toward the white-robed youth on the stage, clearly putting the pieces together.
Swallowing hard, he muttered, "Heavens... could it be... related to him?"
Li Guanqi slowly lifted his head. His mind's eye perceived everyone who had arrived, but he paid them little mind.
When his attention fell on Tang Jing, he gave her a faint smile and a nod.
After all, she had gone to great lengths to prepare everything for him yesterday.
Zheng Yao, who loved nothing more than a spectacle, shook Tang Jing's arm in excitement upon seeing this. "Whoa, he's looking at you!"
"So handsome... too bad he's blind."
Her words brought an instant blush to Tang Jing's cheeks, though she quickly collected herself.
Liu Man's words from yesterday had made her realize that they walked entirely different paths, and there was no future between them.
It was best to extinguish such thoughts before they grew.
By now, however, almost everyone throughout the Wind Thunder Sect had heard of Li Guanqi's presence, which was why so many inner sect disciples were rushing over.
Among those who arrived, quite a few possessed formidable strength.
Take Zheng Yao and Liu Man, for instance. Zheng Yao might look like an innocent girl with her baby face, but she genuinely possessed a wood heavenly spiritual root and an extraordinary cultivation talent.
Liu Man, on the other hand, was the only one in their batch of disciples with a water-attribute king-grade spiritual root!
Even within the inner sect, Yun Mengxi had to respectfully address her as Sister Man whenever they met.
Furthermore, Liu Man's strength was the highest among the three of them: mid Core Formation realm.
Thus, Liu Man commanded immense prestige throughout the entire inner sect—a prestige not derived from her status as a direct disciple, nor from her beauty or aloof temperament, but from her formidable prowess.
This was the first time Liu Man had laid eyes on Li Guanqi in person. Although Tang Jing's description had given her some idea of him, seeing him face-to-face still proved surprising.
What caught her off guard was not Li Guanqi's appearance, but the indescribable presence he carried.
From Tang Jing's account, she had imagined a monstrously gifted genius who would naturally be proud and arrogant.
Yet in his eyes, she saw only calm.
However, when her gaze shifted to Xu Hao and the others, her brow furrowed.
Back when the affairs of the Great Xia Sword Sect in the Northern Region caused a massive uproar, who hadn't heard of the blind swordsman named Li Guanqi?
Back when the Great Xia Sword Sect raised their swords against Ziyang Palace, Chu Xingxian had even prepared to ride out alone to reinforce them.
After all, if an Eastern Domain sect openly intervened in a Northern Region conflict, it would be difficult to explain to the Four Heavenly Kings.
Yet everyone knew how it ultimately played out.
At that time, Chu Xingxian had recounted Li Guanqi's feats to all his disciples.
This had led several conceited disciples within the sect to harbor jealousy, especially since Li Guanqi's cultivation realm hadn't been that high back then.
One had to realize that Li Guanqi had only broken through to the Core Formation realm during that very conflict with Ziyang Palace.
Meanwhile, disciples in the sect like Xu Hao and Ling Rui had already reached the early Core Formation realm long before.
They had always felt resentful about why their Sect Master held this youth in such high esteem.
Just then, Li Guanqi glanced at the incense stick that had burned down to its end. Ignoring the group of people walking toward the hall from outside, he slammed the hall doors shut!
*BANG!*
"Wait!!"
Liu Man's shoulders flinched, and she abruptly whipped her head toward the outside of the hall.
Chapter 299