Peak of the Wheel of Fate

Li Guanqi glanced at Xuan Lin, lowered his hand, and shrugged. "Boring." Cold sweat poured down Xuan Lin's skin. At that very moment just now, he had sensed an incomparably terrifying pressure! It felt as though... in that brief instant, Li Guanqi's physical strength had suddenly surged by nearly thirty percent! Staring at Li Guanqi's retreating back, Xuan Lin said in a deep voice, "The seals on the three peaks are broken, and the main peak is about to open. There is no need to keep fighting." "The Heavenly Flame Bead... you can have it." With that, he casually tossed over the Heavenly Flame Bead, an item comparable to an ancient treasure. Li Guanqi was not one to stand on ceremony, stowing the Heavenly Flame Bead away with a flick of his wrist. He was in no rush to figure out what practical use it held. Seeing this, the onlookers finally breathed a small sigh of relief. Li Guanqi had already shocked them beyond measure when he awakened the second stage of his Sword Ruins and severed the Nether King's avatar. Yet now, he had once again displayed horrific physical might to overpower Xuan Lin. Add to that his extraordinarily profound mastery of the sword, and they could hardly imagine what Li Guanqi was not capable of... Li Guanqi, the Yanluo Sword. Once this secret realm concluded, that name would surely resound across the entire Lingxu Continent. Yet it would likely be nothing more than a fleeting flash in the pan. Killing Ming Xiao, slaying the Nether King's avatar... The moment Li Guanqi stepped out of the secret realm, the Nether King would surely strike him dead. At the thought, the crowd could not help feeling a pang of pity for him. Li Guanqi surveyed the shattered peaks around him, curled his lip, and took out a jade pendant to transmit a voice message. Only after a good while did intermittent spatial fluctuations struggle through from the jade slip. "Will... protect... you..." Putting away the jade pendant, Li Guanqi muttered, "At least they've got some conscience." When he slew the Nether King's avatar, he had already planned his way out. After all, he was running errands for the Tianji Pavilion; they had to pull their weight somehow. Just then, Xuan Lin actually sent Li Guanqi a voice transmission: "After what you did earlier... the Nether King will definitely use every means at his disposal to kill you once you leave." Li Guanqi glanced at Xuan Lin and said with a faint smile, "What? Trying to get me to back off so I won't compete with you?" Xuan Lin let out a bitter laugh. He could not fathom why this fellow could still smile in the face of what was clearly a certain death sentence. Li Guanqi changed into a fresh white robe, standing as straight and tall as a sword. In an utterly calm voice, he said, "Even if I hadn't killed Ming Xiao, do you think he would have let me go? I'm definitely taking the things in here, and he wanted them too. Why else do you think he showed up?" Xuan Lin's eyes flickered slightly. He had to admit that Li Guanqi saw through things with absolute clarity. After a moment's hesitation, Xuan Lin said, "If... you join our Xuan family, I can ask the elders of my clan to step forward and protect your life!" Li Guanqi was taken slightly aback. He had not expected Xuan Lin to offer such a thing. Shaking his head, Li Guanqi chuckled softly. "Forget it. I appreciate the thought, but I won't be joining any other family." Hearing this, Xuan Lin said nothing more. He simply did not wish to see such a monstrous genius fall here. Li Guanqi hoisted his sword casket onto his back, and with a single step, his figure vanished, reappearing a thousand zhang away. The watching cultivators exchanged glances and surged into the air one after another! Even if they could not claim the finest treasures, whatever else remained would still be worthwhile. *Buzz!* "The Peak of the Wheel of Fate!" Li Guanqi wore an inscrutable expression as he looked toward the mountain towering into the clouds before him. Atop this colossal peak, a pillar of iridescent, seven-colored light swirled and churned. Within that pillar of light stood an extraordinarily tall, pitch-black tower! Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes slightly, let out a cold snort, and shot upward, skimming right alongside the sheer cliff face! His terrifying speed cleaved the lake below straight in two, kicking up waves dozens of zhang high. Beneath the billowing mist, the onlookers could only catch a blurry glimpse of a white-robed figure rocketing straight into the clouds! In the blink of an eye, he had vanished beyond the cloud layer. Seeing this, the others hurriedly took flight! Suddenly! *Plop!* *Plop, plop, plop!* One figure after another plummeted from the sky into the lake. "What terrifying pressure! We can't get up there!" "He made it look so effortless, I thought there wasn't anything there at all!" "Could it be... with so many of us here, not even one has the right to climb it?" While the crowd cursed in chaotic clamor, several figures had already vaulted into the air! A cold sneer tugged at the corner of Xuan Lin's lips as he murmured under his breath, "Why else do you think that guy snorted?" With that, immensely terrifying flame power surged around him, and he shot into the clouds in an instant! This colossal peak stood nearly a thousand zhang tall! Such a staggering height was rare even in the outside world; it was hard to imagine whether it was a natural wonder or carved by human hands. As the altitude increased, the pressure bearing down from the peak grew ever more horrific. With the sword casket on his back, Li Guanqi gazed calmly toward the summit, his speed not slacking in the slightest. Yet just as the soaked cultivators in the lake were wallowing in frustration, air-piercing whistles suddenly rained down from above! *Bang! Bang, bang!* One figure after another crashed down from overhead, throwing up splashes of every size. A bearded burly man gulped hard and muttered, "Even mid Soul Formation cultivators can't make it up? What the hell is this thing?!" Indeed, halfway up the mountain, the crushing pressure was already more than mid Soul Formation Realm cultivators could bear. *Boom!* Xuan Lin snapped his head up toward the sky above, only to see a blurred silhouette warping the space around it. A piercing sonic boom blasted into his ears! Licking his lips, Xuan Lin could not help cursing, "What an absolute freak! To accelerate under pressure this terrifying!" *Whoosh!* Li Guanqi was the first to set foot upon the summit! The instant his feet touched down, the horrific pressure that had threatened to crush his flesh vanished entirely. Yet Li Guanqi's expression only turned exceptionally grave. The hundred-zhang-tall black tower looming before him radiated an inexplicably overpowering sense of dread! Glancing back, he sensed that the others would soon arrive as well. With a flash of light beneath his feet, Li Guanqi appeared directly before the tower's main entrance! Hanging high above the massive entrance was a jet-black plaque. Upon it, four characters were written in vigorous, forceful strokes: Tower of the Wheel of Fate! The moment Li Guanqi looked up at those characters, an inexplicable shudder ran through the depths of his heart. This feeling... Within the vision of his mind's eye, the plaque began to blur... Suddenly! Li Guanqi clutched his head and dropped to one knee! Surge after surge of stabbing pain left him dizzy and disoriented. Only when he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of clotted blood did he begin to feel slightly better. Just then, Xuan Lin reached the summit as well. Seeing Li Guanqi crouched on the ground coughing up blood, he muttered, "I knew he had to have sustained internal injuries... Did he really think my fists were that easy to take?" Yet his gaze was also drawn helplessly toward that pitch-black plaque. "Fate..." *Bang!* As if struck by an immense force, Xuan Lin was slammed violently flat against the ground.