One had to know that this ancient tree was by no means weak. If Cang Lu had only possessed the strength he showed when tangled with the Sect Master and the others back then, he definitely would not have been able to tear a piece of trunk from it!
Li Guanqi pointed at the spiritual light projection beside him and asked softly, "Is he very strong?"
The ancient tree did not hesitate in the slightest. A pulse of will came through.
"Very... formidable!"
Li Guanqi asked again, "Compared to me?"
This time, however, the ancient tree did not answer immediately, causing Li Guanqi's eyes to narrow slightly.
After a brief pause, the ancient tree's will slowly drifted over.
"I... do not know..."
This answer was somewhat beyond his expectations.
At this point, the ancient tree was little different from his slave; it would never conceal anything from him.
Which meant... the strength he had displayed so far led the ancient tree's spirit to believe he was about on par with Cang Lu.
Or at the very least, unable to secure an absolute victory over him!
Li Guanqi nodded and raised a hand, slowly withdrawing the power of Spirit Absolution.
The ancient tree's spirit had not expected Li Guanqi to spare it so easily, showing no greed for its trunk.
Just as Li Guanqi turned and was about to leave, branches of the ancient tree suddenly appeared beside him.
Li Guanqi glanced at the branches at his side, then looked back toward the ancient tree.
A burst of golden light erupted from the ancient tree's body. Then, taking the initiative, it severed a section of trunk from itself—about two zhang long and arm-thick.
Li Guanqi looked at the trunk, across which golden patterns spread, hesitated briefly, and accepted it.
Glancing at the ancient tree's injuries, he raised a hand and tossed out several hundred mid-grade spirit stones, shattering them into pure energy.
The ancient tree swayed its branches with joy. A golden illusory figure slowly condensed, cupping its hands and bowing deeply toward Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi smiled and turned to leave.
After all, this was crafting material on par with an ancient treasure; only a fool would turn down free spoils.
*Whoosh!*
Looking up at the dense fog all around, lightning flashed beneath Li Guanqi's feet as he shot above the clouds like a streak of lightning.
Leaving Fumu Valley, Li Guanqi wore a grave expression, weighed down by heavy thoughts.
Taking out the jade slip Gu Yong had given him, he asked in a deep voice, "Where is Cang Lu right now?"
Soon, a reply came through the jade slip.
"The scouts were killed; the trail is lost."
Li Guanqi frowned upon hearing this. Tianji Pavilion's scouts were extremely well-hidden, and the ones they had tracking him were not necessarily cultivators.
They could just as easily be unremarkable commoners in city markets.
Yet despite that, Cang Lu had managed to slip away entirely.
"How many died in total?"
The jade slip flickered, and a line of small characters appeared before his eyes:
"One at early Void Refinement, seven at Soul Formation, eighteen at Nascent Soul, thirty-two at Core Formation, and six mortals."
When he saw that line of text, his brow furrowed even deeper!
He had not expected Cang Lu to have slaughtered so many people. Furthermore...
Li Guanqi knew full well how efficient Tianji Pavilion was, which meant...
"Cang Lu dragged all of them into his domain space in a single instant!"
"One man fighting seven Soul Formation cultivators and an early Void Refining Realm expert!"
From the very beginning, Cang Lu's strength had been a mystery. In fact, the more Li Guanqi thought about the man, the less he could see through him...
Solemnity filled Li Guanqi's eyes and brow. He could not understand why Cang Lu's strength had risen so quickly.
Or had Cang Lu possessed strength comparable to Void Refinement from the very start?
Now that even Tianji Pavilion could not trace Cang Lu's whereabouts, it seemed he could only rely on himself.
Lost in thought, Li Guanqi found himself unsure of where to go for the moment.
The world was vast; finding someone with strength on par with the Void Refining Realm and a knack for disguise was easier said than done.
Trying to locate a single person in the vast Taiqing Domain was no different from searching for a needle in the ocean.
And so, Li Guanqi flew aimlessly through midair, his divine sense expanding outward to encompass a radius of ten thousand zhang.
After seven straight days, he realized he was already drawing close to Zhongzhou in the Taiqing Domain.
The change in the density of ambient spiritual energy was stark. No wonder people said the Great Xia Domain had the thinnest spiritual energy of all.
As the evening sun sank in the west, Li Guanqi reeled in his divine sense, his mood inexplicably heavy.
Yet just as Li Guanqi was about to find an arbitrary spot to rest his feet—
Suddenly!
A boy's tender murmur drifted abruptly into his ear.
"Mother... bring... the knife over."
"The doctor s-said... if my kidney... is given to you... you can live..."
"Give me... the knife..."
The boy's voice was remarkably resolute, yet also extraordinarily weak.
Li Guanqi whipped his head around, looking in every direction!
He clearly sensed that this voice was not a divine sense transmission—it had surfaced directly in his mind!
Moreover, he had not been releasing any divine sense just now, so it could not have come from him probing his surroundings!
*How could the voice of a mortal appear directly in my mind?!*
*Boom!*
His divine sense surged outward in all directions like a tidal wave. A moment later, Li Guanqi, who had closed his eyes, snapped them open!
"Found him!"
Yet he had detected it dozens of li away.
Lightning flashed beneath Li Guanqi's feet, and his figure vanished in successive teleportations.
Within a few breaths, Li Guanqi arrived above a small village.
And the source of the voice lay in the small wooden cabin beneath his feet.
Li Guanqi descended slowly, coming to a halt about a dozen zhang outside the wooden cabin. Gently extending his divine sense, he finally saw everything inside.
A weather-beaten woman, pale-faced and dressed in clothes covered in patches, limped on one foot.
On the heated brick bed lay a boy who looked only seven or eight years old. A massive fleshy tumor grew from his neck, oozing yellowish pus.
Though the boy bore spirited features, his cheeks were sunken and his lips pale from being bedridden by severe illness.
The room was completely destitute, stripped bare of everything but four empty walls.
Tears brimmed in the woman's eyes as she tightly gripped the boy's hand, looking at him with immense heartache.
Her hands trembled as she held his, her lips quivering as she spoke through tears.
"Silly boy... don't you dare talk nonsense anymore! Do you hear me?!"
The expression on the boy's face seemed somewhat numb. His eyes stared blankly at the drafty roof, yet his voice remained steady as he spoke:
"Mother, I won't... make it through this... winter."
"The doctor a-already said... if my kidney is given to you... you can live..."
The woman reached out, wanting to cover the boy's mouth, but the boy held his mother's hand, still repeating:
"Mother... bring me a knife."
"I don't want to live... I want to die..."
As he spoke, two tears rolled from the corners of the boy's eyes.
From start to finish, the boy did not dare turn his head to look at his mother beside him.
Then, without the boy's lips moving, a voice once again entered Li Guanqi's ear:
*How wonderful it would be if immortals truly existed in this world.*
Suddenly, a cold snowflake fell onto Li Guanqi's face.
Li Guanqi was momentarily stunned, the look in his eyes shifting repeatedly as he gazed at the wooden cabin.
If his feelings toward Yu Sui'an had stemmed from pity over her childhood hardships, then this scene before him felt more like catching a glimpse of his former self.
Li Guanqi drew a deep breath and hesitated for a long while before taking a step toward the wooden cabin.
Chapter 468