Looking at the sword spirit standing right before him, Li Guanqi felt an illusion.
In that instant, she seemed like an entirely different person.
Her whole being radiated a towering resentment, the indignation in her heart surging like a sprout bursting through suffocating earth.
Imbued with such emotion, the faint outline of a colossal pill furnace appeared in the void behind her.
Then the sword spirit raised a jade-like finger, slowly tracing spiritual light through the empty air.
A moment later, she had completely restored the missing portions of the incantation. Raising her hand, she pointed a finger toward the spot between Li Guanqi's brows.
Instantly, Li Guanqi froze where he stood, his state of mind aligning precisely with that of the sword spirit moments ago.
Only now did he understand—this Flame Devouring Art had actually been created by an alchemist without a fire spiritual root.
Unknown in name, weighed down by pent-up grief and indignation, the creator had forged an art meant to devour all flames beneath the heavens.
As Li Guanqi's state of mind aligned, he mastered the method.
Such a technique was no different from direct empowerment.
The sword spirit looked somewhat fatigued. Li Guanqi hurried to channel pure primal energy into her.
She smiled, waved her hand, and turned, vanishing from sight.
Opening his eyes, Li Guanqi exhaled a breath of turbid air. His mind had nearly been swallowed up by that person's lingering emotions, unable to extricate itself.
Lightning flashed beneath his feet, carrying him into midair in an instant.
With a wave of his hand, the lightning restraining the jade pendant dispersed. Without the slightest hesitation, he gripped the pendant and slammed it into the groove on the stone gate!
*Buzz!*
*Boom!*
As an extraordinarily mysterious ripple spread outward, the jade pendant suddenly burst into flames!
Having turned into a ball of blazing fire, the pendant exuded a scorching power that began coursing across the stone gate.
Right after, the magma beneath the abyss seemed to boil, rising frantically!
Within a few breaths, the magma had already submerged the suspension bridge from before.
The hundred-zhang-tall stone gate began absorbing the magma at its base, the searing liquid spreading upward along the lower sections of the gate.
Before long, the carved relief patterns on the stone gate were filled with boiling magma.
Yet standing with sword in hand, Li Guanqi also noticed that the magma was simultaneously being absorbed by the two stone sentries.
*Buzz!*
As the magma rose, it soon surpassed the sentries' ankles.
Suddenly!
A chill struck straight from the depths of his heart, and two cold glints accompanied by piercing shrieks of wind slashed abruptly toward him!
The greatswords the two sentries had planted into the ground suddenly swept out!
Facing the two massive swords sweeping horizontally, Li Guanqi twisted his waist and soared into the air, slipping through the gap between the two greatswords by the narrowest of margins!
Yet before he could stabilize his stance, an enormous fist crashed down toward him!
*Thud!*
Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed. Holding his sword in his left hand, he unleashed a fierce sword light!
"Demon Shadow Slash: Dark Night!"
*Boom!*
At the same time, clenching his right fist, his blood surging, he stepped on the void and twisted his waist as thunder seemed to roar. Coiled in arcs of lightning, he threw a punch with all his might!
*Boom! Boom!*
Sword light flickered, knocking that terrifying greatsword back by over a zhang.
Exploding fist force slammed heavily into the massive fist.
*Thud!* *Boom!*
Li Guanqi was instantly sent flying over a hundred zhang, crashing directly into the boiling magma!
Yet only a few hairline cracks appeared across the sentry's fist.
Li Guanqi roared, "Spirit Incantation 99: Lightning Armor!"
*Boom!*
In an instant, boundless lightning power erupted from deep within the vast magma!
*Thud!*
A violent detonation rang out, and a hundred-zhang-deep crater blasted open in the river-like expanse of magma!
Lightning raged within the crater, where a figure clad in dark-purple lightning armor stood proudly.
Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed slightly. He had not expected these two sentries to possess such overwhelming power.
With his current pure physical strength alone, he could do nothing against them.
*Phew...*
Wisps of white vapor drifted from Li Guanqi's mouth—his blood was burning with intense heat!
Primal energy roared within him, and the blood surging through his meridians echoed with the undulating cries of dragons and elephants.
*Thud!*
Under the explosion of terrifying strength, Li Guanqi's figure vanished from where he stood, leaving only an afterimage that lingered for a long time.
Meanwhile, the magma beneath his feet abruptly collapsed dozens of zhang!
Two figures strode across the magma, their movements blindingly fast.
Two longswords cleaved down at once!
Li Guanqi's expression darkened. He had already noticed something amiss with the stone gate!
This magma was the key to opening the gate, but it was also the seal that locked it!
Once the magma rose past the stone gate and submerged it completely, the gate would likely never open again.
Furthermore, the burning jade pendant was clearly beginning to dissipate, a small gap already having formed in its shape.
If he could not completely dismantle these two sentries within the time it took an incense stick to burn, the benefits right before his eyes would vanish into thin air.
Li Guanqi licked his lips. Powerful waves of pressure erupted from the armor encasing his body.
In an instant, sword light exploded across midair!
Yet the armored puppets were nothing like mindless objects; their shifts in technique and teamwork were seamless.
For a time, Li Guanqi was blocked outside, locked in a stalemate.
Yet the longer it dragged on, the calmer he became, constantly seeking an opening to break through their defense.
No matter how the sentries attacked, one always remained behind to guard the stone gate!
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Seeing this, Li Guanqi unleashed his ultimate power.
"Dragon Elephant Prison Suppressing Art!"
"Primordial Void Refinement Art!"
"Soul Release: Red Lotus!"
In an instant, Li Guanqi's aura erupted to its peak!
This was the first time he had circulated the arts at full power since the sword spirit taught them to him.
Boundless power burst from within his Nascent Soul, and primal energy coursed through his meridians like reckless, rampaging dragons.
Countless afterimages of sword light filled the air in rapid succession!
Within a breath, Li Guanqi had already arrived before the stone gate!
Behind him, the sentries' bodies suddenly began to shatter inch by inch!
Enveloped in lightning, the sentries' bodies collapsed with a resounding crash!
Two phantom figures drifted from their remains, dissipating into the world.
Li Guanqi's chest heaved violently. His primal energy was severely depleted; that burst of power in that single instant had consumed nearly seventy percent of his reserves.
Yet he knew he could not delay any longer. Any further hesitation, and the magma would completely submerge the stone gate.
Looking at the stone gate, which now had barely a zhang of height exposed above the surface, Li Guanqi erected a barrier of primal energy around himself and plunged into the magma.
*Rumble!*
Phantoms of a dragon and elephant manifested around him, and terrifying physical might forced the stone gate open!
*Buzz!*
A distorted pocket of space appeared behind the stone gate. Immediately after, a terrifying suction force seized Li Guanqi, dragging his body inside against his will.
With a heavy bang, the stone gate slammed shut, and at that very moment, the jade pendant atop it burned to ashes.
Outside, the magma gradually engulfed the entire chamber. Beneath the molten sea, the stone gate warped slightly and slowly vanished...
Chapter 336