That the Mo Family would direct their spearhead at the Great Xia Sword Sect was likewise within his expectations.
He simply had not expected them to make up their minds so quickly.
Yet in the jade slip Lu Kangnian had sent him, the sect master's voice had been exceptionally calm, brimming with immense confidence as he told him not to worry.
It seemed the Great Xia Sword Sect was far from as simple as it appeared on the surface!
Looking back now, the scene of him joining the sect was still vivid in his memory.
Thinking about it, if the Great Xia Sword Sect truly were only as simple as it looked on the surface, how could it have weathered thousands of years of storms, keeping its heritage unbroken and standing firm in the Northern Region?
Furthermore, up until now, he had rarely heard of any clan or faction having ancestors who had ascended to the upper realm.
Yet in a mere sect situated in the Northern Region, over thirty past sect masters had ascended.
Perhaps in the past, he had not fully grasped what this represented, but as his horizons expanded and his knowledge grew, the more he thought about it, the more astounded he became!
Perhaps to others, this was merely the Great Xia Sword Sect's past glory.
Yet in Li Guanqi's eyes, this was the very foundation that allowed the Great Xia Sword Sect to stand tall and unyielding throughout the torrential flow of millennia!
Perhaps from the very beginning, when facing Ziyang Palace, Lu Kangnian had never truly taken them seriously...
*Phew...*
Li Guanqi tended to his injuries while calculating matters concerning the Mo Family in his mind.
Faced with one of the Eastern Domain's few paramount clans, Li Guanqi had no real certainty either.
However... he had not the slightest regret about killing Mo Congyun.
Night fell.
*Whoosh!*
Li Guanqi suddenly opened his eyes. The wounds across his body had already begun to scab over.
His earlier injuries had mostly healed, revealing patches of tender pink skin.
Exhaling a breath of turbid air, he stood up and stretched his limbs.
Looking at Jiuxiao sleeping around his wrist, his expression suddenly turned strange.
Stroking his chin, Li Guanqi muttered, "Jiuxiao is a true dragon..."
"The Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art I cultivate requires the essence blood of great demons belonging to the true dragon or white elephant lineages..."
"What if... I skip the intermediate steps and just use true dragon essence blood directly..."
Thinking of this, Li Guanqi could not help raising an eyebrow.
Coiled around his wrist, Jiuxiao suddenly woke from its slumber. An inexplicable chill washed over it, making it shudder.
Opening its eyes, it saw Li Guanqi beaming at it with an affectionate, loving smile.
Li Guanqi's gaze gave Jiuxiao goosebumps, yet it still nuzzled affectionately against his palm.
This left Li Guanqi feeling a bit sheepish, but he genuinely felt the idea was feasible...
If worst came to worst, he could just nourish Jiuxiao with extra tonics every day.
"Heh heh, go back to sleep. I was just checking on you."
"There, good little one, go to sleep."
Jiuxiao shook its head and groggily drifted back to sleep.
Having figured this out, Li Guanqi was instantly in high spirits. Dammit, wasn't this looking for a donkey while riding one?
He already possessed the world's most supreme true dragon essence blood right by his side—why throw away watermelons to pick up sesame seeds?
Feeling the surging primal energy within him, Li Guanqi smiled faintly.
This feeling of possessing power instead of being weak gave him immense peace of mind.
Perhaps there had been too much slaughter recently, so much that he had had no time to catch his breath.
Only after wiping out two factions in succession had he finally found a moment of respite.
Stepping out of the inn, Li Guanqi walked slowly along the street, taking in the long-missed bustle of mortal life.
All around, lights shone brightly. Common folk of the marketplace, having bustled all day, sat in wine taverns clinking cups and exchanging toasts.
Vendors draped in sweat cloths busily called out to customers, and women walked down the street chatting and laughing with their children.
Li Guanqi walked down the street with a smile. With his altered appearance, he looked utterly ordinary.
Walking along the thoroughfare, he drew no one's attention.
Yet after walking like this for a short while, Li Guanqi's brows furrowed slightly.
The water flowing through the roadside ditches was mountain spring water, gurgling softly.
The two-story wooden pavilions looked just as they had before, with nothing amiss.
Every family along the street sat at their doorways catching the evening breeze, gossiping about domestic trifles.
Everything seemed so harmonious and tranquil.
Yet it was precisely this tranquility that stirred an inexplicable sense of discord within Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi maintained a calm expression as he walked, his divine sense faintly rippling outward into the surroundings. After a long while, Li Guanqi suddenly turned to look at the main doors of every household!
Double-leaf wooden doors—there was nothing overtly unusual about them; every household had doors crafted from old elm.
Yet it was precisely these wooden doors that made Li Guanqi sense something terribly off!
Reasonably speaking, in an ancient town with traditional folk customs like this, every household would paste spring couplets and pictures of door gods during the New Year!
They symbolized prayers for blessings and smooth fortune in the coming year.
Even if those couplets and door god prints faded or tore, they would not be taken down lightly.
Only on the eve of the following New Year would they be gingerly peeled away to make way for new couplets and pictures.
Even his tiny Fulong Village did so, let alone a town steeped in antique charm like this!
How could not a single household have them?
Beneath his white robe, his fists slowly clenched as his divine sense surged outward in all directions like a tide.
*Boom!*
In a single instant, Li Guanqi uncovered the truth, and shock gripped his heart!
The street that had just been bustling with people completely transformed!
Paper effigies appeared before his eyes, one after another! The vibrant, lively townsfolk from moments ago had all turned into paper figures!
The facial features on the paper effigies were drawn on, yet they lacked eyes. At each chest lay a trace of spiritual light that maintained the puppet's movements.
The moment Li Guanqi unraveled the secret, the people on the street began spontaneously combusting one after the other!
Within breaths, they reduced to piles of flying ash scattering over the ground.
The once brilliantly lit street dimmed into gloom.
The lanterns that had shed warm yellow light abruptly turned into an eerie, ghastly white glow!
Filtering through the blood-red lanterns, the pale white light was indescribably sinister and terrifying!
*Coo, coo!*
Upon the pitch-black street, a crow with crimson eyes slowly alighted on a rooftop beside him.
The crow's eyes stared intently at Li Guanqi, a bizarre sight that sent an involuntary chill down the spine.
Turning to look at the several heaps of ash beside him, Li Guanqi raised his head toward the sky.
A faint scent of blood drifted gently through the air.
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, a glint of cold light flashing within them!
He had already deduced what happened—fears were that the entire town... had been wiped out to the last soul.
When he first arrived here, he had been certain that the people in this ancient town were mere ordinary mortals.
There had not even been a single cultivator of the Qi Refinement realm...
*Caw, caw, caw!*
A flock of pitch-black crows slowly emerged at the end of the street.
Immediately after, an eerie black-robed figure with a short saber slung at his waist slowly materialized.
Chapter 363