Li Guanqi straightened his robes. As the face-changing bug squirmed slightly beneath his skin, his appearance underwent an earth-shaking transformation.
His golden hair was exceptionally striking.
Li Guanqi was thoroughly pleased with his new look.
Mimicking Ye Feng's flamboyant manner, he tossed his hair theatrically, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
*Buzz!*
Suddenly, Li Guanqi's brow furrowed, an icy murderous intent flashing in his eyes!
The entire teleportation passage began to tremble violently. Immediately after, an overwhelming, irresistible spatial force began furiously tearing at his flesh.
The passage's exit, which had been right before his eyes, was now rapidly drifting further and further away.
Primal energy roared within Li Guanqi's body. Pushing his movement technique to its absolute limit, he tore through space, yet he still could not catch up to the dissipating barrier of light!
*Crack! Crack, snap!*
The space within the passage abruptly descended into total chaos as the spatial forces surged toward him in a grinding vortex.
Li Guanqi circulated his cultivation technique frantically. Terrifying primal energy surged and roared through his veins, while his vitality and bloodline power elevated his physical strength to its utmost peak.
In the blink of an eye, Li Guanqi gripped the four-foot Red Lotus and struck out with all his might!
This strike was the absolute limit of what he could unleash.
"Apocalypse: Sword Draw Stance!"
*Boom!*
The passage snapped shut, and that near-destructive, horrific power instantly crashed down upon Li Guanqi.
Within a single breath, the flesh of his upper body had already been brutally flayed with deep wounds.
Every bone in his body creaked and groaned under the crushing strain.
*Boom!*
The sword glow erupted. A terrifying blade of light surged upward, imbued with powerful sword intent and blazing flames.
*Riiip!*
Right at the moment the spatial storm was about to grind him to dust, the sword glow tore open a sliver of a rift.
Li Guanqi's chest caved in violently as every single rib snapped!
He opened his mouth and spat a massive mouthful of blood. His arm was brutally broken by the twisting spatial force, bent at an unnatural angle.
The veins on his neck bulged, his face turned the color of pig liver, and fine beads of blood seeped from his skin.
The instant he caught sight of that spatial rift, he stepped through without the slightest hesitation.
Though he had no idea where the rift led, anything was better than dying here!
*Buzz!*
*Rumble!*
The teleportation passage collapsed in an instant, and the void returned to silence.
***
Amidst the pitch-black void, a woman dressed in white sat cross-legged beside the unconscious youth.
Her face was expressionless, her gaze distant, lost in thought.
Suddenly!
A soft gasp of surprise drifted from the depths of the void.
An aged voice rang out abruptly:
"Tsk, tsk. To think I'd stumble upon such a treasure here."
"Eh? A spirit?"
Coming back to her senses, the sword spirit gazed calmly into the depths of the void, not uttering a single word.
After a long pause, the aged voice spoke again, laced with a menacing edge:
"You intend to protect him?"
Only then did the sword spirit finally speak, uttering a mere four words:
"Strike, you die."
Silence. The pitch-black void was utterly soundless, terrifyingly quiet.
A full ten breaths passed before the old man cautiously retreated.
The sword spirit looked down at the unconscious youth and whispered in a voice only she could hear:
"Don't worry. I'm watching over you."
***
After who knew how long, Li Guanqi finally drifted back to consciousness. The moment he opened his eyes, the sheer agony racking his body made him grimace and bare his teeth.
He cursed under his breath, "Which son of a bitch closed the passage?!"
He didn't believe Chu Menglan had done it; the woman was no fool.
Running out of spirit stones was even less likely, considering Qi Rongxuan had personally embedded them.
The only possibility was that people from the other two sects had come knocking.
And just as Li Guanqi had deduced, by the cross-domain teleportation array, three factions had gathered with swords drawn.
Chu Menglan pointed her sword at the man before her and fumed, "Lu Ke! You seek death!"
Yet the man in the cyan robe sneered, devoid of fear.
Toying with the two fish pearls in his hand, he mocked, "Chu Menglan, Xuanfeng Palace isn't following the rules, are you? To activate the cross-domain teleportation array without authorization while its control is being renegotiated? Do you have any idea how many resources it takes to maintain the array after a single activation?"
To the other side stood a tall, grim-faced man holding a folding fan, watching with cold detachment.
Chu Menglan's eyes narrowed to slits as she said coldly, "If anything happens to the person inside, your Heavenly Demon Sect and Nether Shadow Palace will all be buried with him!"
Just as Lu Ke was about to speak, a pitch-black rift tore open in the void beside them.
An old man flew out with sheer terror in his eyes, and without a word, he slapped Lu Ke across the face.
Though the slap carried little force, it was humiliating to the extreme.
Stunned, Lu Ke cursed, "Who?! Who the fuck wants to die?!"
Before Lu Ke could finish, Qi Rongxuan slapped him across the face once more.
"Who, who, who! I'm your father!"
Scrambling to his feet, Lu Ke stood rooted to the spot, baffled as to why this particular figure had been disturbed.
Paying him no heed, Qi Rongxuan hurried to Chu Menglan and asked frantically, "What happened to the passage?! Did he make it through?"
With an unsightly expression, Chu Menglan shook her head and spoke with a dry, hoarse voice:
"Just a bit more... He was just about to step through when the people from the Heavenly Demon Sect suddenly shut it down."
Upon hearing this, Qi Rongxuan flew into a thunderous rage. Although his cultivation realm could not match the masters of the three sects present, his special status was beyond question.
Only now did Lu Ke realize he might have kicked a hornets' nest.
To make someone of Qi Rongxuan's stature so deeply anxious... just who was inside that passage?
"Heh, Old Qi... what brings you here?"
Qi Rongxuan glared coldly at the man and took out a unique jade slip right before his eyes.
The words that followed plunged Lu Ke straight into an ice cellar.
"Someone has attempted to assassinate Young Master Li. I formally request the pavilion's Tianji Guards to eradicate the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Nether Shadow Palace."
The old man's voice carried not a trace of emotion, as if he were discussing something completely inconsequential.
Yet those casual words were nothing short of a death warrant from King Yanluo for the two major sects.
The expressions of both Lu Ke and the cold, watching middle-aged man changed drastically!
"Old Qi! Old Qi!! Th-that person might not even be dead!"
"Exactly, Old Qi, we beg you! We had no idea the person inside possessed such exalted status!"
Qi Rongxuan's eyes narrowed, killing intent churning within them.
"Regardless of whether he is dead or alive, the moment you dared to shut the passage, you sealed your fate!"
Without waiting for another word, Qi Rongxuan and Chu Menglan vanished from the spot together.
Only the two terrified men were left frozen in place. Then, almost simultaneously, they shot backward into flight.
*Flee!*
That was the singular thought left in their minds.
The Tianji Guards... were not an existence they could ever hope to oppose.
***
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth and set the bone of his arm back into place. Glancing at the sword spirit beside him, he grinned.
"If not for my strong physique, I probably wouldn't have even survived the first wave of spatial crushing."
The sword spirit smiled faintly, rising and fading into the void.
"Practice your sword well."
Chapter 463