The commotion here, however, quickly drew the attention of several Wind Thunder Sect elders.
Mainly, how could they not notice?
What on earth was that? Half of the Wind Thunder Sect's Thunder Pool Peak had just been brought crashing down in an instant!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several figures appeared in midair.
Yet what met their eyes was an upright figure clad in white.
Only, at this moment, the figure looked rather embarrassed.
"Um... Elder Li, what is this...?"
Li Guanqi replied somewhat sheepishly, "I put a bit too much force into my cultivation."
The elders were dumbfounded. There was clearly no remnant of primal energy on this shattered mountain peak.
It looked far more like it had been violently smashed apart with raw physical might...
Which meant...
The elders looked up at the blood-soaked youth whose vitality was surging like an ocean, at a complete loss for words.
They had all guessed something: it was very likely that Li Guanqi had smashed it with a single punch.
Yet they all knew that the youth before them, not even eighteen years old, was clearly a spiritual cultivator!
With a punch like that, even a fourth-rank martial cultivator might not have been able to cause such terrifying devastation, surely?
The rock of Thunder Pool Peak was already as hard as iron to begin with, to say nothing of being nourished by the thunder pool for thousands of years.
A random stone plucked from here would rival a low-grade spirit tool in hardness.
Buzz!
A pitch-black rift abruptly tore open in the void, and an elderly figure slowly emerged from within.
Chu Xingxian didn't react too strongly at first to seeing half of the thunder pool shattered, but when he saw that the thunder pool was completely empty, he nearly passed out on the spot.
"Li Guanqi!"
"Do you have any idea how much effort this old man poured into this thunder pool?!"
"You brat, you just drained it dry like it was nothing!"
Seeing that things looked bad, Li Guanqi hastily slipped away, his figure as swift as thunder.
Only Li Guanqi's slightly apologetic voice drifted back from afar:
"Sorry, Old Chu! I didn't expect that to happen either!"
The elders exchanged looks, holding back their laughter.
Chu Xingxian's look of having suffered a catastrophic loss made it terribly hard for them to keep a straight face.
With a darkened face, the old man barked, "What are you laughing at? Hurry up and restore it!"
"Damn it all! A loss! A real loss! What a colossal loss!"
At this moment, feeling the majestic vitality inside him, Li Guanqi felt even more awe toward that body tempering technique.
Such a technique... if revealed to the outside world, could stir up a bloodbath across an entire domain.
If even the slightest rumor leaked, he would be hunted down by countless experts!
He definitely couldn't let anyone know about this!
And during this recent period, he also had an inexplicable sensation.
Back when he was still together with Ye Feng and Cao Yan, he had felt an uneasy prickling inside.
After breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm, he would occasionally perceive a faint, elusive sense of being watched.
Yet he couldn't be certain whether it was an illusion; whenever he investigated, he found nothing.
He had also asked the sword spirit, but her current strength was intimately tied to his own.
She hadn't sensed anything either.
However, during this time since arriving at the Wind Thunder Sect, that sensation had vanished completely.
This made him all the more certain that someone had been watching him from the shadows.
Though regarding this matter... he was puzzled as well.
After all, he hadn't made any enemies during that period—or rather...
That feeling had existed back when he was in the Core Formation realm, and now he was already in the Nascent Soul realm.
If someone truly harbored ill intentions toward him, why hadn't they struck back when he was only in the Core Formation realm?
Li Guanqi shook his head helplessly. Since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped dwelling on it.
Soldiers to counter generals, earth to stem the flood; since the other party chose to follow him, they would surely show themselves at some point.
Faced with the unknown, all he could do was pour everything into increasing his strength.
Whatever lay ahead, that alone was the foundation he could rely upon!
Looking around at the figures practicing cultivation all across the Wind Thunder Sect, Li Guanqi grinned.
"Little guys, I've broken through. I wonder how all of you are doing!"
Over the days that followed, everyone learned that Li Guanqi had broken through to a new level.
Mid-Nascent Soul realm!
When the disciples heard the news, wails of despair erupted everywhere.
Even Liu Man, a favored child of heaven, sighed in resignation.
"This isn't even a matter of being a genius or a monster anymore. This guy... simply isn't human!"
"For a Nascent Soul expert, breaking through a minor realm in one or two hundred years is already considered impressive. Even geniuses require decades of foundation."
"And he..."
Tang Jing's eyes shimmered with light, something that could only be called adoration.
Even baby-faced Zheng Yao gazed at Li Guanqi with worship, murmuring in a clear, sweet voice, "So handsome... Have you noticed?"
"His build seems sturdier, he's taller than before, and his face... well, he's even more good-looking."
Liu Man gave her a sharp swat on the head in exasperation. "Still drooling over whether Elder Li is handsome or not? There are only twelve days left until the assessment! What are you going to do about your cultivation realm?"
Hearing this, Zheng Yao's expression instantly turned miserable, and she slumped onto the ground looking utterly bereft of the will to live.
Over the days that followed, the disciples of the Wind Thunder Sect suffered sheer torment.
Li Guanqi's twisted sense of fun was no longer limited to dragging demon beasts into the Wind Thunder Sect.
Instead, in the middle of the night, he would quietly kidnap disciples and dump them straight into the deep mountains and primeval forests.
Curses echoed endlessly through the pitch-black woods.
Yet this training method of his caused everyone's strength to advance by leaps and bounds.
After all, no one wanted to open their eyes in the middle of cultivating only to find themselves tossed into a demon beast nest.
While Li Guanqi would watch from overhead to safeguard their lives, when it came to missing limbs or broken bones, he truly didn't lift a finger!
Boom, boom, boom!
That night, several heavenly tribulation thunderclouds gathered in succession above the dark mountain range.
Li Guanqi tossed down the pills and array discs he had long prepared for breakthroughs.
The reason he had chosen not to leave immediately was also that he needed to stabilize his own realm.
Roar!
"Help! Holy crap! A mid-to-late fourth-rank Red-Armored Centipede!"
"Run! Watch out for the poison gas!"
Soon, desperate cries for help rang out one after another!
The ground shook violently, setting the entire mountain range trembling!
A shrill hiss shattered the silent night.
Countless birds took flight in panic as towering clouds of dust suddenly surged from the mountain depths!
With a calm expression, Li Guanqi circulated his movement technique, vanishing in an instant.
Deep in the mountain range.
A centipede of a hundred legs, crimson all over and well over thirty zhang long, burst violently from the earth!
Liu Man and the other inner disciples instantly moved to shield everyone behind them!
The centipede, rearing upright, exuded an overwhelming pressure. Its three pairs of compound eyes glared fixedly at the crowd, glinting with cold, murderous light!
Chapter 309