*Hum!*
A wave of dizziness washed over him. By the time Li Guanqi opened his mind's eye again, he found himself standing in an unfamiliar space.
"This place really isn't simple."
A voice suddenly sighed with emotion right next to his ear, giving him a fright.
He grabbed whatever was sitting on his shoulder and hurled it away.
Bolstered by terrifying force, Pengluo shot out faster than a cannonball, slamming with a bang into the mountain range below his feet.
*Rumble!*
"Brother Li! Did you have to throw me that hard?!
"Without three elixirs, I'm never getting back up!"
Only then did Li Guanqi come to his senses. Looking down into the dense jungle below, where smoke billowed, he heard Pengluo's voice floating up.
Li Guanqi knitted his brows. Lightning flashed under his feet, and he vanished, appearing instantly within a deep crater on the mountainside.
"Weren't you inside? How did you get out?"
Pengluo shrugged, wearing an innocent expression. "You mean that space inside?
"Piece of cake! After going in a few times, I can come and go as I please. It's my special ability.
"Otherwise, how do you think I managed to stay safe and sound in Mingchuan City for all those years?"
Li Guanqi remained skeptical.
The sword casket space was no ordinary shattered pocket realm, but a complete, independent space!
Yet without his consent, this creature could come and go at will!
*Buzz!*
As the two spoke, the distant void suddenly reverberated with rolling explosions.
Lightning flashed under Li Guanqi's feet as he shot toward the noise in an instant.
*Whoosh!*
*Boom, boom, boom!*
"Meng Jia! You dog! I've known you for three hundred years, and you ambushed me?!"
A blood-soaked man clutched his abdomen, roaring with a savage grimace.
The man pursuing him was clad in black robes, though the fabric was already shredded, revealing a sullen face.
"Xiang Yuanming, you'd best hand over the Flying Cloud Fruit," the pursuer said. "For the sake of our three centuries of friendship, I will spare your life."
Even as he spoke, he slashed several sword strikes in rapid succession. The heavily wounded man resisted desperately.
Violent earth primal energy coalesced around him into countless spikes that shot at his pursuer.
Yet to the black-robed man, these attacks were mere tickles. He darted past the spikes and struck the wounded man across the back with his blade.
Li Guanqi watched with cold detachment, murmuring under his breath, "Flying Cloud Fruit?"
Pengluo, perched on his shoulder, transmitted its voice softly: "Tsk, tsk, good stuff! If you eat it, it could push you right up to the peak of the middle stage of Soul Formation!"
Li Guanqi curled his lip. "At most, it'll give me a slight boost. Your big brother here possesses a saint-grade spiritual root."
Pengluo had suffered so many shocks today that it was practically numb to them.
"Uh... having an Ethereal Dao Body is truly something else—even your spiritual root is saint-grade...
"Still, that Flying Cloud Fruit really is rare."
As they spoke, the man called Xiang Yuanming gritted his teeth.
Reaching into his robes, he whipped out a snow-white fruit surrounded by wisps of white mist and hurled it backward.
A look of delight crossed the black-robed man's face. Catching the Flying Cloud Fruit, a bizarre smirk touched the corners of his mouth.
Having cast the spirit fruit away, Xiang Yuanming immediately invoked an escape technique to flee into the distance.
Yet in the next breath...
*Pfft!*
In utter disbelief, the man slowly looked down at the blade piercing his body. He twisted his head with great effort and snarled in fury, "Meng Jia! You... you're despicable!"
"Heh, after all these years, you still hadn't figured out how despicable I am?"
*Slash!*
A cold gleam flashed across the blade, dicing the man's body into countless pieces.
Yet the moment Meng Jia turned around, every hair on his body stood on end!
A peculiarly dressed young man, carrying a massive black coffin on his back, stood a mere three feet behind him, staring straight at him.
A chill surged from the soles of Meng Jia's feet straight to the crown of his skull, and uncontrollable dread flooded his heart.
He had no idea when the other had appeared behind him, which meant the man's strength surpassed his own by far too great a margin.
Trembling, Meng Jia raised both hands, offering the Flying Cloud Fruit.
"C-Could you... spare..."
*Spurt!*
A head flew high into the air, its eyes brimming with indignation and regret.
Li Guanqi raised a hand to collect both of their storage rings, then glanced toward a figure in black standing a hundred fathoms away.
Perhaps sensing that Li Guanqi was not someone to cross, the figure turned and vanished without hesitation.
Li Guanqi looked around, releasing his divine sense like a tidal wave rolling across the surroundings.
He brought the Flying Cloud Fruit to his mouth and took a bite. Beneath its white skin lay azure flesh.
With that single bite, sweet richness filled his mouth, the juices transforming into pure primal energy that surged straight into his dantian.
Pengluo drooled as it watched from the side. In the end, Li Guanqi left it a mouthful, and sliced off another small piece to toss to Jiuxiao.
Pengluo hugged the piece and gnawed ravenously, even gulping down the fruit's pit in the end.
Once finished, tears welled in its eyes as it cried, "Damn it all, what I've eaten today is better than everything I had in the past five hundred years combined!"
Ignoring its outburst, Li Guanqi realized he was likely situated in the outer periphery of this spatial realm, surrounded on all sides by continuous mountain ranges and dense forests.
Yet even here in the periphery, countless immortal herbs and spirit fruits lay concealed.
Continuous rumbles echoed through the surrounding void.
Counting those who had hidden in the shadows, nearly four hundred cultivators had entered the secret realm earlier.
Quite a few reckless Nascent Soul cultivators had dared enter as well.
Yet in the span of merely an incense stick's burn, more than half of the hundred or so Nascent Soul cultivators who entered had already perished.
Li Guanqi shook his head. He found that this secret realm encompassed a vast expanse, nearly a thousand li across.
Moreover, the space was exceptionally stable; even if he used his full might, he could only warp it slightly.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Guanqi murmured softly, "It seems the only way out is to wait until the secret realm opens again."
Scanning his surroundings, Li Guanqi did not hesitate to head toward the depths of the realm.
Soaring high into the air, he finally gained a clear view of the realm's overall landscape.
Below lay an endless, expansive mountain range, winding and undulating in rugged layers.
The peaks were steep and perilous, shrouded in swirling mist and clouds—a magnificent sight.
Furthermore, these clouds and mists were formed from exceptionally rich worldly spiritual energy, and the forests below flourished with an abundance of immortal herbs and spirit fruits.
Along the way, he saw many cultivators engaged in fierce combat, but he had no interest in the trinkets they fought over and did not wish to waste time in the outer reaches.
Looking deeper into the distance, he could see a soaring mountain towering high above the rest.
The peak was extraordinarily majestic, piercing straight into the clouds!
Astride this mountain stood a magnificent, golden-glowing pagoda.
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. The most important treasure in this place was likely housed within that tower.
Yet he also noticed that around the perimeter of that central peak stood three other mountains.
One peak exuded a terrifying, razor-sharp aura.
Another was enveloped in multicolored flames.
On the summit of the third, thunderclouds churned endlessly, unleashing bolts of lightning that struck its crest.
From each of these three peaks, a pillar of light shot into the heavens, binding the central peak like some sort of seal.
Even from dozens of li away, the clashes unfolding around the three peaks could be distinctly sensed.
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered, and he shot directly toward the lightning-shrouded peak!
He had a hunch that whatever lay upon that mountain was vital to him!
Chapter 430