Come Forth at Once!!

On second thought, however, Li Guanqi felt that something was amiss. "Could the Blood Blade Sect and the Illusory Spirit Sect really have such a death wish?" It was no wonder he found it baffling. Neither sect possessed much power. Furthermore, no matter how one looked at it, he had already earned a fearsome reputation across the lands. Add to that the inevitable rise of the Great Xia Sword Sect, and there was no logical reason why these two nearby sects would have the guts to pull such a stunt. By all rights, they should have been keeping their heads down and tucking their tails between their legs... With that thought, Li Guanqi took out a jade slip and sent a transmission. "Elder Qin, you know about Qiongtai Mountain Villa supplying spirit herbs to the sect, right? Have you noticed anything unusual?" Qin Xian, who had been meditating in cultivation, slowly opened his eyes. Not just anyone possessed his transmission jade slip. After taking out the jade slip and listening to the message, Qin Xian quickly realized the gravity of the situation. He immediately sent down orders to investigate layer by layer, and finally replied in a grave voice: "I looked into it. The quality of the spirit herbs supplied recently has been somewhat uneven, but they still meet our standards. "The steward in charge of procurement mentioned that over the past year, the shipments from Qiongtai Mountain Villa haven't been very stable and have occasionally arrived late. "Aside from that, there is nothing out of the ordinary." Li Guanqi lowered the jade slip, his expression thoughtful. Ye Tianying glared at his wife and sent a hushed voice transmission: "I told you... Don't say anything, don't say anything! See? Now you've put him in an awkward position." Su Xi retorted in annoyance, "You can't just keep swallowing your anger forever! Besides, we've always supplied the Great Xia Sword Sect. "Now that someone is trying to lay a finger on us, isn't it only right to ask Guanqi for help?!" Li Guanqi looked up at the couple and smiled. "Uncle Ye, Auntie Su, leave this little matter to me. "Still, I have a few questions about all this. I'll go and ask them personally." Hearing this, Ye Tianying blurted out, "Mm, good, ask them. Wait, what??????" "Ask them personally? Nephew, are you going to those two sects?" Clasping his hands behind his back, Li Guanqi chuckled softly. "For something like this, asking the parties involved directly is best." The moment the words left his mouth, his figure vanished into thin air! When he reappeared, he was already a thousand zhang away. With a sullen expression, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. There was definitely more to this than met the eye! No matter what, the leaders of those two factions would never choose to incur the wrath of the Great Xia Sword Sect at a time like this! The reason was simple: they wouldn't dare! How could mere Nascent Soul realm sect masters dare to clash head-on with the Great Xia Sword Sect, a power boasting seven Soul Formation cultivators? *Whoosh!* A white-robed figure tore through the pitch-black void, leaving behind a cleaved micro-storm and crackling arcs of residual lightning in his wake. Half a shichen later. Above a rugged, precipitous mountain range, the white-robed figure slowly materialized. Li Guanqi concealed his aura, noticing that the spiritual energy in the Blood Blade Sect's territory was astonishingly sparse. Moreover, the sect had barely more than two hundred disciples. "Just this?" "What gave him the nerve?" Two consecutive questions surfaced in his mind. Yet the questions that followed made his brow furrow even tighter. "How could such a tiny, insignificant sect have the audacity to do this..." "Could it be that because their disciples lack cultivation resources, they were driven to such desperate measures?" Li Guanqi shook his head; he couldn't even convince himself of that excuse. After some thought, he made a trip to the Illusory Spirit Sect. There, he discovered that the sect occupied an area abundant in resources. They were not lacking for the few spirit medicine peaks that belonged to Qiongtai Mountain Villa. His eyes narrowed slightly as he caught the faint scent of a conspiracy. Whether he was being overly sensitive or not, he couldn't shake the feeling that these two sects were merely puppets pushed to the front by a hidden hand. With that in mind, Li Guanqi took out his Tianji jade pendant and spoke in a deep voice: "Is there another power backing the Blood Blade Sect and the Illusory Spirit Sect?" The jade pendant flashed, and a single character appeared! *Yes!* Li Guanqi pressed on, "Which power is it? What is their objective?" This time, the Tianji jade pendant fell completely silent, only displaying a line of small golden characters: *Eight hundred mid-grade spirit stones.* Li Guanqi raised his hand, tempted to chuck the pendant away, but held himself back. "Bandits! Sheer robbery!" Even as he grumbled, Li Guanqi tossed the spirit stones inside. *Buzz!* A mysterious spatial fluctuation rippled out, and a line of small golden characters slowly surfaced: *Lingxu Continent, Juexian Mountain.* As the characters dissolved, Li Guanqi's brow knitted tightly! "Lingxu Continent? Isn't that the one adjacent to the Qingyun Continent?" "They've reached quite far..." Yet another thought crossed his mind. A light flashed on his storage ring, and an unusual purple jade slip appeared in his palm. "Sect Master, we need to be more careful regarding the cultivation techniques. "It seems we've been targeted by Juexian Mountain of the Lingxu Continent." He then relayed all the information he had gathered to Lu Kangnian. Sitting inside his secret chamber, Lu Kangnian narrowed his eyes. He had anticipated that people with ulterior motives would eventually eye their cultivation techniques. He had not expected someone to sniff out clues so quickly. He could not help but sigh softly. "It seems the Great Xia Sword Sect reemerged a bit too soon." Immediately after, Li Guanqi's voice continued from the jade slip: "I suggest inspecting all the spirit herbs and plants sent by Qiongtai Mountain Villa. "And... any disciples who have consumed pills refined from those herbs should also undergo an examination to see if there are any abnormalities in their bodies." Lu Kangnian's gaze sharpened, and he swiftly issued the necessary arrangements. Li Guanqi lowered the jade slip, his eyes turning frigid. Below him, surrounded by water, the islands of the Illusory Spirit Sect stretched in an unbroken chain—well over a hundred islets in all. With over four hundred disciples, the sect was considerably more prosperous than the Blood Blade Sect. Behind Li Guanqi, the sword coffin materialized and suddenly snapped open! The Red Lotus sword shot out instantly! *Screeech!* A piercing sword cry resounded between heaven and earth! Many disciples on the islands looked up at the sound, only to see a white-robed figure standing proud in the sky above. Immediately afterward, all the disciples discovered to their horror that their bodies were frozen stiff. A boundless, crushing pressure crashed down upon them! In an instant, the hundred-plus islands beneath Li Guanqi's feet shook violently, and massive boulders came tumbling down. Some of the smaller islets could not withstand the terrifying pressure and began crumbling apart! Fearsome flames swept across the sky, while thousands of lightning bolts formed a thunderous prison that enveloped the entire Illusory Spirit Sect! Looking up at the young man in sheer terror, someone cried out in horror: "Blood... Blood Slaughterer Venerable! Why is he here?!" "Li Guanqi! It's Li Guanqi! Does he intend to slaughter us all?!" "No! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" Li Guanqi completely ignored the disciples below. "Where is the Sect Master of the Illusory Spirit Sect? Come forth at once!" Outside the resplendent grand hall, a middle-aged man clad in a green python robe wore a grim expression. Yet he had no choice but to bow subserviently, keeping his head lowered as he flew into the sky to meet him.