The reason Liu Man was somewhat surprised was that the voice outside belonged to none other than the First Elder's sole direct disciple, Tang Chuan!
He was also currently the foremost of all the inner sect disciples!
A half-step Nascent Soul!
Yet with an expressionless face, Li Guanqi shut the doors of the main hall directly.
Outside the hall, a figure surrounded by a crowd arrived, his expression turning extremely dark.
Tang Chuan was tall and slender. His features were not particularly handsome, but they could be considered resolute. Paired with those eyes of his, he appeared quite spirited and gallant.
He was not wearing the somewhat plain sect uniform. Instead, he was clad in an extraordinarily extravagant low-tier magic robe. This had been gifted to him by his master when his cultivation made a slight breakthrough. The splendid garment pleased him immensely, so he simply stopped wearing that plain, unsightly sect robe altogether. Moreover, because his talent and strength were top-notch, it was merely a sect robe, so no one dared criticize him over it.
Ever since yesterday, he had heard that Li Guanqi was coming to their sect to serve as a guest elder for a time. He had long wanted to see what this fellow—who had been praised to the heavens—actually looked like. So upon hearing that he had appeared here, Tang Chuan immediately rushed over. But never did he imagine that his arrival would be met with a door slammed right in his face!
Several people beside Tang Chuan whispered, "Eldest Senior Brother, why don't... why don't we wait a bit longer?"
Another monkey-faced fellow with pointed ears also spoke up with a chuckle: "Yeah, Eldest Senior Brother, we're in no rush anyway. We can just wait for him to come out."
Yet the more they said this, the more Tang Chuan felt as though his face was being slapped repeatedly. Within the Wind Thunder Sect, even the guest elders greeted him with smiling faces! Which disciple in the entire sect wasn't utterly respectful toward him? A mere Li Guanqi actually dared to make him stand outside the door in such a humiliating fashion!
Yet Tang Chuan had no idea that the old man standing beside him had just been grabbed by the collar and hurled off the stage by Li Guanqi. The reason the old man hadn't left was precisely because he wanted to see what this arrogant youth was truly capable of! Thus, he hadn't bothered warning Tang Chuan that the youth had a foul temper.
Inside the hall.
Li Guanqi tucked his hands into his sleeves and looked down, his gaze calm and devoid of the slightest emotion. A stifling, heavy atmosphere began to coalesce throughout the hall. Uttering not a single word, Li Guanqi carried a terrifyingly immense sense of oppression!
He looked at the dense crowd below the stage, nearly a thousand strong!
Li Guanqi finally spoke softly, uttering his first words: "I finally understand why Old Chu was so frantic to call me here."
Hearing this, everyone was inwardly shocked. None of them had expected him to dare address their sect leader like that! And judging by his tone, the sect leader had been the one to seek him out!
Yet standing upon the stage, Li Guanqi continued to speak words that shocked everyone to the core: "To think that the renowned Wind Thunder Sect would actually harbor such trash disciples like you."
*Boom!*
The moment these words left his mouth, the Wind Thunder Sect disciples below instantly erupted into an uproar!
Furious indignation surged onto everyone's faces, and looking up at Li Guanqi with impassioned outrage, they cried out one after another.
"Who the hell do you think you are to talk about us like that?!"
"Exactly! How our Wind Thunder Sect runs things isn't for you to poke your nose into! Who do you think you are?!"
"Hmph! And here I thought disciples from the Great Xia Sword Sect were something special; turns out they're nothing much either."
"The Sect Leader must have lost his mind! For this guy?!"
"What shameless arrogance!"
Watching the indignant crowd below, Li Guanqi nodded inwardly. *Not bad. At least their sense of sect pride is fairly strong.*
Hearing those words, Tang Jing couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for Li Guanqi. She hadn't anticipated that he would say such things right off the bat. Moreover, this was the Wind Thunder Sect's grand hall. If he didn't have the sect leader backing him, the people below probably would have started throwing eggs long ago.
Faced with their furious shouts, Li Guanqi remained completely unfazed. He spoke softly, "Not convinced? Or do you think... what I said isn't the truth? Oh, right. Many of you probably still don't know who I am. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Li Guanqi, disciple of Tianlei Peak of the Great Xia Sword Sect."
*Whoosh!*
With these words, the entire hall was stunned!
"He really is Li Guanqi! I thought he was just someone with the same name!"
"Wow! I'm finally seeing him in person! He's so handsome!"
"Isn't the Great Xia Sword Sect in seclusion right now? Why is he here?"
"This oppressive presence... As expected of the foremost disciple of his generation in the Great Xia Sword Sect."
"Wait... didn't I hear that the new guest elder was in the Nascent Soul realm? Could it be..."
When this person spoke, he instantly drew the gazes of everyone nearby. Seeing everyone looking at him, the youth shrugged helplessly. "Hey, I didn't make that up. An elder said it."
At those words, the clamor in the hall gradually died down. Everyone stared in silence at the figure on the stage.
Looking down at them, Li Guanqi said calmly, "When compared to disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect, your attitude toward cultivation... even the chickens roaming our back hills cultivate more diligently than you!"
These words were utterly merciless, no different from delivering a vicious slap across their faces.
As he spoke, Li Guanqi casually produced two shadow-casting stones. With a slight infusion of primal energy, two massive light screens unfolded instantly!
In an instant, everyone saw that in the dead of the pitch-black night, points of firelight dotted the craggy, jagged Three Thousand and Seven Peaks! On nearly every torchlit summit, people were either breathing and cultivating or painstakingly practicing the sword. Some even bore giant boulders on their backs, bare-chested as they scaled cliffs with their bare hands! Beneath mighty waterfalls, countless figures sat meditating against the plunging torrents, remaining motionless even as the battering left their skin bruised and black!
And this was merely the tip of the iceberg of what Li Guanqi displayed.
When the morning sun first rose, disciples breathing and cultivating could be seen everywhere across the pavilions and mountains throughout the Great Xia Sword Sect. Everyone moved in hurried strides. Whenever lectures were held in the halls of the Great Xia Sword Sect, every seat was filled, and everyone arrived punctually. During the day, the Great Xia Sword Sect was even more bustling, but that bustle was made of the shouts of training echoing everywhere; practically no one went to sleep!
Even Ye Feng, who joined later, never slept at night.
The images cut off abruptly. Li Guanqi looked down with a calm expression. Countless disciples lowered their heads one after another, feelings of shame welling up within them.
Li Guanqi had not expected to change them drastically in a single day. In his eyes, these people had simply been living far too comfortably. The Wind Thunder Sect provided them with a sea of cultivation resources, yet hadn't even established a Mission Pavilion. These disciples were like frogs in warm water; if this kept up, they would all eventually drown in the pot! And what he needed to do was stoke a roaring blaze under that pot, scalding them into jumping out.
Thinking this, the corner of Li Guanqi's mouth curled slightly. Just as he was about to speak, the doors were kicked wide open with a sudden crash!
A contemptuous voice sneered, "The Great Xia Sword Sect is poor, so of course they have to work themselves to death! Our Wind Thunder Sect has no such need! Besides, even so, you can't deny that we still cultivate hard! On what grounds do you get to dismiss everyone's efforts the moment you arrive? Just because your cultivation is higher?"
Tang Chuan strode in with his two lackeys behind him, though it was obvious the two beside him were somewhat intimidated.
Watching Tang Chuan walk in, Li Guanqi's face gradually darkened.
Outside the door, the old man poked his head in, watching like a spectator enjoying a show. "Tsk, tsk. An ignorant little brat who doesn't know how high the heavens are. I'd like to see how you deal with this."
Chapter 300