Xuanfeng Palace

Li Guanqi sneered, thinking to himself, *Looks like in this world, fists are still what do the talking.* With that, he cast these trivial matters to the back of his mind. Right now, he only wanted to quickly find the cross-domain teleportation array. Until that son of a bitch was dead, an unsettling itch would plague his chest. Furthermore... When it came to Cang Lu, there were still truths behind certain puzzles he had yet to unravel. Surging with primal energy, he sent a voice transmission. "When does Zhongnantian's cross-domain teleportation array open?" Before long, word came back from the Tianji Pavilion. "Zhongnantian's cross-domain teleportation corridor is jointly controlled by three major powers. Barring extraordinary circumstances, it will not be opened." Li Guanqi could not help frowning at the news. "It won't open? Which three powers? Who calls the shots?" "The Heavenly Demon Sect, Nether Shadow, and Xuanfeng Palace! Among them, Xuanfeng Palace holds supreme dominance and suppresses the other two." Li Guanqi nodded silently, committing this information to memory, and decided to take things one step at a time. He picked a decent restaurant inn at random, freshened up briefly, and headed back out. Dusk was falling by then. After searching the city for a good while, Li Guanqi finally found an establishment where he could listen to music. The moment he stepped through the door, he was surrounded by a crowd of scantily clad women. After all, in his current getup, he looked squarely like a foolish young master with far more money than sense. Li Guanqi grinned broadly and spent with lavish generosity. If one wanted to play the part of a dissolute playboy, one had to act the part, didn't they? Every tip he tossed out was a low-grade spirit stone. Even if they were small fragments, they were still spirit stones! Seeing this, the girls grew vastly more attentive. Flanked on both sides, Li Guanqi was escorted up to a private room on the third floor. "My, this way upstairs, Young Master~" "An honored guest for the Tide-Listening Pavilion~" Feeling the softness under his hands, Li Guanqi gently closed his eyes. *What a pity...* Once upstairs, however, Li Guanqi dismissed all the maids, claiming he was waiting for someone. The madam did not think much of it; she had seen plenty of patrons who came to such places to conduct private business. Before long, Li Guanqi was left alone in the spacious private room. Sitting by the window and watching the lively songs and dances below, his eyes were calm and placid. Untying the wine gourd at his waist, he was about to uncork it when he paused and set it down. He had said before that this jug of wine was reserved for Ning Xiu. Tucking his hands into his sleeves, his divine sense flooded out in all directions like a tide. Instantly, the conversations throughout the entire establishment rushed into his ears. The clamor of voices made Li Guanqi frown slightly. Nothing these people were saying held any real value, so he soon abandoned the idea of eavesdropping on the lower floors. The building had five stories in all, and his divine sense reached upward and around. *Pah! Filthy! Can legs even bend that way????* *Whoa... why is someone tied up with ropes and hung in the air?!* *Tsk, tsk... is that a rawhide whip? She's whipped her skin red.* His divine sense swept through, laying bare everything happening in the private rooms on the third floor. Li Guanqi looked on in sheer amazement. "Talk about an eye-opener." As his divine sense probed toward the fourth floor, he discovered that an array shielding against divine sense covered the entire level! Li Guanqi's eyes brightened. It seemed this establishment was far from ordinary. His divine sense hummed as he carefully nudged a tiny breach in the array. "Hehe, in three more days, Su Qian, the Saintess of Xuanfeng Palace, is dead for sure!" A man's lewd, sly voice suddenly reached Li Guanqi's ears. Sharp light flared in Li Guanqi's eyes as his divine sense cautiously crept closer to the room upstairs. "Shut up! Walls have ears!" The voice of another man gave Li Guanqi a brief start; he almost thought he had been discovered. "Right, right, Brother Zhao." "Three days from now, if Xuanfeng Palace's Su Qian still fails to show up, control of the cross-domain array will fall into our hands!" "Are you certain nothing can go wrong?" "Rest easy, sir, it's completely foolproof! This poison... has no antidote whatsoever." Sitting by the window, Li Guanqi's gaze shifted repeatedly. It seemed the overt and covert struggles between the city's factions were rather fierce... They were even brazen enough to plot against the Saintess of Xuanfeng Palace. Li Guanqi lightly tapped his fingers on the armrest. It appeared that if he wanted to leave the Lingxu Continent, Xuanfeng Palace was likely his only way in. Yet soon he scratched his head, muttering in minor frustration, "Detoxification isn't really my forte either..." Suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed in his mind, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smirk. Rising to his feet, he called out, "Call all the girls back in!" "Oh, Young Master, we were just waiting for your word! Girls, get in here quickly!" Around midnight, Li Guanqi left the establishment stumbling as if thoroughly drunk, drawing no suspicion from anyone. *Look up where Xuanfeng Palace is located for me.* After returning to his inn, Li Guanqi sat cross-legged, laid out a spirit-gathering array with spirit stones, and began to cultivate—without the slightest trace of intoxication. Early the next morning. Li Guanqi suddenly snapped his eyes open. The Heavenly Flame Bead and Heavenly Thunder Bead inside his body were now thoroughly refined. His cultivation realm had completely stabilized at the late Soul Formation Realm. Within his dantian, only a sliver of his Nascent Soul remained untransformed into an origin spirit. Yet his present power was many times greater than before. Rising and leaving the inn, Li Guanqi headed straight for the Piaomiao Immortal Valley in the Western Region of Zhongnantian! *Buzz!* Li Guanqi stepped slowly out of a spatial rift. Before him lay a vast valley shrouded in mist. Standing at the valley entrance, Li Guanqi frowned and murmured, "Xuanfeng Palace is here? I don't sense it." With a flash of lightning beneath his feet, he vanished from where he stood. The moment he entered the valley, Li Guanqi noticed something amiss. The dense mist all around was not mist at all. A confusion array lay within the valley; without knowing the correct technique and incantation, one would be trapped inside and take quite some time to find a way out. Li Guanqi curled his lip, casually drew the battered sword at his waist, and slashed out with a single strike! *Boom! Boom!* A terrifying flash of thunderous sword light erupted in an instant. Its formidable might ripped straight through the mist ahead, carving out a clearing dozens of zhang wide. Lightning raged and sword qi crisscrossed, gouging a deep trench across the earth. Having done this, Li Guanqi sheathed his sword and stood tall. The valley's array was thrown into utter disarray, the surrounding mist churning like boiling water on the verge of collapse. Suddenly! Five women clad in white-and-gold phoenix gowns materialized. *Clang, clang, clang! Clang, clang!* A succession of drawn swords rang through the valley. The woman in the lead had a frosty countenance, and cold glints flickered in her beautiful eyes as she glared at Li Guanqi. "Who goes there! How dare you trespass into the Piaomiao Immortal Valley!" The other four teleported to Li Guanqi's sides, surrounding him completely. A look of surprise crossed Li Guanqi's eyes. He had not expected that even ordinary disciples of Xuanfeng Palace would be in the Nascent Soul realm! *Buzz!* Li Guanqi released a wisp of his Soul Formation aura, instantly putting the women on high alert as if facing a mortal foe. The leading woman said coldly, "Hmph. A mere Soul Formation dares make trouble at our Xuanfeng Palace?" Li Guanqi was somewhat speechless and said directly, "I heard the Saintess of Xuanfeng Palace is afflicted with a lethal poison. I need to go to the Taiqing Domain, and you want to save a life. Let me try." "Save a life? Hmph!" The woman narrowed her eyes, cold light glinting within them. Without another word, she raised her sword and barked, "Form the array! Take him down!"