Throughout the transaction, the atmosphere across the entire first-floor hall grew stiflingly oppressive.
Not a single person dared to underestimate the man before them in the slightest.
Ever since he entered the city, he had drawn countless watchful eyes, and his manner was entirely that of an unbridled wicked cultivator who answered to no one.
Li Guanqi had not even cared to learn the heckler's identity. He had zero patience to waste words on an idiot who had picked a fight without using his brain.
Reaching out, he claimed the man's storage ring, only to find that everything in it added up to barely three thousand high-grade spirit stones.
"Bah! Only three thousand, and you acted like such a big shot."
Saying that out loud left him feeling thoroughly satisfied. After all, he had just spent four thousand, and in the blink of an eye he had recouped three thousand.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Li Guanqi strolled forward with a faint smile. Rumor had it that deep within Mingchuan lay a place called the Yin-Yang Market. However, he had no time to visit it right now.
Looking up at the powerful ripples continuously welling across the firmament, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes.
"Such powerful spatial fluctuations... What on earth is in there?"
He shook his head. The wares on the roadside stalls were truly wretched to behold.
"Burning newspapers at a grave—trying to fool the ghosts..."
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind. He turned around and headed toward the southern part of the city.
"Well hello there, master, come on in and have some fun!"
"We have humans, ghosts, and demons alike—a uniquely novel experience, guaranteed to satisfy you!"
Li Guanqi gave two dry coughs and strode into the pleasure pavilion.
As soon as he stepped inside, he held up three fingers. The woman immediately nodded with practiced understanding.
"Rest assured, master, I will arrange it right away."
By late night, Li Guanqi had not touched a single drop of liquor. Stepping out of the establishment, he could not help exclaiming, "Tsk, tsk, truly an eye-opener..."
Lowering his head, he pulled aside his robes to look at the blood runes across his body, muttering with a wry, mournful expression, "To hell with having to remain a virgin until these blood runes fade. Could the old man be swindling me...?"
Even though forty percent of the blood runes had dispersed, at this rate, if he wanted to experience true tempering of the heart in the mortal realm, he would have to wait until he ascended to the Immortal Realm at the earliest.
Harboring a bit of gloom, he returned to his inn, sat cross-legged on the floor of his room, and entered meditation.
Over the past few days, he had been pondering a certain issue: the powers he currently possessed were far too varied and motley, mixed together in disorder.
He loved the sword. Especially when he had spoken those words, a strangely intense resolve within him had helped him break through the shackles of his sword intent.
The sword intent that had once sought only to dominate the world had also subtly transformed, taking on a far fiercer killing edge.
Li Guanqi opened his eyes and whispered softly, "Yanluo..."
"If that is so, from this day forth, it shall be called the Yanluo Sword Intent."
"Since the troubles of this world are endless..."
"Then..."
"I shall wield three feet of clear steel to slaughter until the heavens and earth turn dark!"
"Slaughter my way to the peak, undefeated!"
"Slaughter my way until the nine heavens shatter and immortals and devils tremble!"
At this moment, a subtle shift occurred in Li Guanqi's entire demeanor.
Alongside this shift in his state of mind, Li Guanqi resolved to completely sever the path of spirit incantations.
The two great flame powers within him were relegated entirely to supporting roles. The origin flame seed still emitted a faint, shimmering glow, yet the heavenly flame would no longer serve as the principal force in his pursuit of the pinnacle of the sword.
Gradually, Li Guanqi found the path of the sword that truly belonged to him.
Whether it was the Tyrant Sword or Yanluo, both existed solely for the supreme freedom and liberation in his heart.
All he wanted was to act as he pleased, untethered and unrestrained.
If any restraint arose, then he would cleave it apart with a single sword!
*Hum!*
With his eyes closed, the power inside Li Guanqi began to churn like boiling water, as though forging his very self and purging every impurity.
He sought the ultimate peak of the sword path!
A mysterious, profound enlightenment suddenly welled in his heart. The Heaven Breaker Sword Art began circulating entirely on its own, and the name of the art's third strike gradually surfaced in his mind.
"Immortal Slayer!"
*Hiss...*
"Demon Subduer, Heaven Shatterer, and the final strike... is named Immortal Slayer!"
An ethereal spark of inspiration bloomed in Li Guanqi's mind.
Slowly, he rose to his feet. His left hand gripped the empty air as if holding an invisible longsword, and he began swinging it gently in the room.
At the same time, the Red Lotus sword within the sword coffin began trembling faintly.
It seemed as though the Red Lotus were expressing its joy, radiant light blazing from its blade.
Yet just as Li Guanqi was entirely immersed in his comprehension of the sword, a plump white radish slowly awoke.
The moment Pengluo woke, it found itself lying on a strange altar.
Terrified, it pumped its two stubby legs at top speed, screeching as it fled.
Suddenly, Pengluo slammed into something, a thin line of blood slicing open its forehead.
Looking up, it saw the blade of the Red Lotus gleaming with crimson radiance.
"Aaaah! Someone's trying to murder a radish!"
"Aaaah! Don't kill me, can't I just slice off a piece of myself for you?"
Pengluo clutched its forehead and dropped flat to the ground, too terrified to twitch.
The pressure radiating from the Red Lotus sword at this moment was simply monstrous.
Sprawled on the floor, Pengluo trembled uncontrollably, muttering under its breath, "An Apocalypse-grade sword! Whose blade is this?! A second awakening!"
Yet after a long while, nothing happened. Seeing this, Pengluo looked up at the motionless Red Lotus, then scrambled to its feet and sprinted away.
It had only run a few paces when it looked up and saw an incomparably gorgeous woman floating quietly in midair.
Within her still somewhat ethereal body rested a pure white bone sword.
Only now, the bone sword had already become the woman's skeletal frame.
The woman's eyelashes fluttered faintly, a sight that set Pengluo's heart fluttering.
*Whoosh!*
The wound on Pengluo's forehead had long since healed. Seeing the woman suspended without moving, it drooled and flew right over.
Landing upon her belly, its two white-radish-like arms reached toward those towering peaks, just moments from touching them.
Pengluo's eyes went round with excitement...
Suddenly!
As if sensing something, the slumbering woman furrowed her brows faintly and sent Pengluo flying with a single slap.
*Smack!*
In midair, the purple patterns all over Pengluo flared with light, its plump, round body squashed halfway flat.
That single slap nearly detonated Pengluo on the spot.
Pengluo shed bitter tears of regret in midair, still muttering, "Just a tiny bit! I was just a hair away!"
Li Guanqi slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air. Primal energy surged through him, shaking off a coating of foul sweat.
"Immortal Slayer... What an exquisite sword strike!"
"Hm?"
*Hum!*
Li Guanqi's divine soul phantom manifested inside the sword coffin space.
Looking down at Pengluo lying half-dead on the ground, he muttered in bewilderment, "Was my punch really that heavy? It still hasn't woken up?"
Hearing Li Guanqi's voice, Pengluo shot upright from the floor. Its eyes glowing with fierce determination, it slid across the ground on its knees and dropped in front of Li Guanqi.
"Please, bro, I'm following you from now on!"
"My only condition is that you betroth that broad to me!"
Li Guanqi's eyes went wide. Filled with utter disbelief, he followed Pengluo's pointing finger to the slumbering sword spirit.
The corner of his mouth twitched, and cold sweat broke out across his brow.
His throat bobbed with difficulty as his stiff body turned toward the sword spirit.
"You're my big bro..."
Chapter 426