By now, the disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sword Sect and Zixiao Pavilion had already leaped into the city.
Rumble! Rumble!
Li Guanqi’s brows twitched. Just as he thought!
Those two massive city gates were slowly closing.
The disciples of Qinglong Island and the Qixian Sect were also gradually closing in on Li Guanqi.
Before the two figures from the Qixian Sect even reached him, several dozen concealed weapons flew at him in rapid succession.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Air whistled as the sword in Li Guanqi’s hand danced furiously, each stroke precisely deflecting the projectiles.
The ten-zhang distance vanished in an instant.
All seven immediately surrounded Li Guanqi.
Already at the eleventh layer of Qi Refinement, Li Guanqi held his ground against the seven disciples alone without yielding an inch.
Relying on his formidable physique and razor-sharp swordsmanship, he actually stalled the group's advance.
The tenth-layer Qi Refinement leader from Qinglong Island looked back and saw that the gate had only about a zhang of clearance left.
He shouted urgently, "Retreat, retreat, retreat! Move! The gates are closing!"
The seven disciples unleashed an explosive burst of attacks that forced Li Guanqi back several zhang, hurling out countless concealed weapons and flame-burst pellets.
The exploding flames and the projectiles hidden within forced Li Guanqi to give ground.
Watching the closing gates, Li Guanqi roared as he sprinted forward, "Ten Thousand Immortals Sword Sect! Zixiao Pavilion! If you dare shut those gates, bear the consequences!"
Bang!
The heavy gates slammed shut with a deafening crash right after Qinglong Island and the others slipped through.
Clenching his fists, Li Guanqi cursed inwardly.
The rest of his party caught up behind him, while the overwhelming horde of spirit beasts was now less than a hundred zhang away.
Suddenly, the sword spirit's voice rang in his mind.
"Head east! At a hundred and fifty zhang, there’s a rock protrusion. There should be a secret passage there!"
Without a second word, Li Guanqi led everyone toward the east!
None of the Great Xia Sword Sect disciples questioned him at a time like this.
They trusted that Li Guanqi would not lead them into a dead end.
Shen Qi of Zhenyue Mountain hesitated for only a fraction of a second before following close behind.
*I hope I can trust you!*
Li Guanqi sprinted in silence, sweeping his divine sense across the towering wall.
The roaring of the spirit beasts to their left grew closer and closer, now a mere ten zhang away!
"Found it!"
Li Guanqi swung the sword casket off his back and hurled it forward with tremendous force. It struck the protruding rock with a heavy thud.
Clack! Clack!
The stone wall lifted, revealing an opening barely three chi wide, just large enough for a person to crawl through on their belly.
Li Guanqi grabbed the sword casket to use as a shield and barked, his right hand gripping his sword, "Get in, fast!"
Ke Qin and the others were the first to crawl inside. Ye Feng stood by Li Guanqi's side and shouted, "All of you, hurry! Old Li and I will cover the rear!"
Ye Feng was the second-strongest among them, so no one tried to dissuade him. Shen Qi stayed behind as well.
Yet just as the two wounded Zhenyue Mountain disciples finished crawling through, the beast horde behind them arrived!
Two tiger-like spirit beasts lunged through the air straight toward Li Guanqi and the others.
Li Guanqi planted his feet firmly. He swung the sword casket with his left hand, forcefully batting one beast away, while his right hand thrust the sword forward with lightning speed as he leaned into the strike!
The blade ripped open the tiger's belly, spraying blood everywhere.
Ye Feng nimbly maneuvered past a White Demon Bird, coating his longsword with the piercing sharpness of metal spiritual energy as he slashed out viciously!
Shen Qi conjured a massive silver shield in his hands, bracing it beside the two of them.
"Come on!" Shen Qi roared as a layer of earthy-yellow spiritual energy enveloped the silver shield.
An Earth Mountain Rhino slammed violently into the shield!
The savage impact instantly cracked Shen Qi’s right arm, and the force nearly threw him into the air.
Li Guanqi spun around, slinging the sword casket onto his back, and slammed his shoulder into Shen Qi, knocking him through the opening.
Gripping the shield with one hand, Li Guanqi slammed it into the ground. As the Earth Mountain Rhino shifted its head, Li Guanqi heaved the shield upward.
He actually sent the beast, weighing several thousand jin, flying through the air.
"Hurry!"
"Ye Feng, get in too!"
With sword in one hand and shield in the other, Li Guanqi held the ground three paces in front of the opening alone.
Without looking back, Ye Feng yelled, "You hurry up too!"
With that, he swiftly scrambled into the passage.
The corpses of several spirit beasts blocked more from squeezing forward.
Li Guanqi braced the shield with his left hand and backed into the secret passage.
With a thought, he stored the shield into his storage bag and slapped the rock beside him.
Bang!
The stone wall descended, shutting all the spirit beasts out completely.
Lying inside the passage, Li Guanqi gasped for breath, pulling out two spirit stones and gripping them in his hands.
After such prolonged sprinting and intense fighting, the vital energy in his dantian was nearly eighty percent depleted!
Fortunately, after the sword spirit modified his cultivation technique, his rate of absorbing spirit stones was terrifyingly fast.
In just a few breaths, he had already restored ten percent.
Yet Li Guanqi frowned slightly.
Up until now, he had not heard a single sound from anyone.
The pitch-black passage was so dark he could not see his hand before his face.
"Ye Feng? Lin Dong!"
He called out twice in succession, but no one responded.
Li Guanqi’s heart sank. He quickly finished absorbing the spirit stones in his hands, pulled out more, and tucked them against his chest to continue absorbing.
After crawling for dozens of zhang, a faint light finally appeared ahead.
Yet when he emerged, he found himself standing in a vast, empty hall, with no sign of anyone else.
"Sword spirit, what’s going on?"
The sword spirit’s impatient voice sounded once more.
"Isn't it obvious? There's a randomized teleportation array at the exit.
"Many sect passages are set up like this to prevent anyone from lying in ambush inside."
Li Guanqi nodded slightly, feeling somewhat relieved. Had they run into the disciples of those four sects right now, a battle would have been unavoidable.
Since he had not fully recovered his strength yet, caution was best.
"Human nature really is selfish."
"Qinglong Island, Ten Thousand Immortals Sword Sect..."
"Sword spirit, I feel the bottleneck of the twelfth layer loosening."
The sword spirit offered no praise in return.
Rubbing his nose in slight embarrassment, Li Guanqi picked a random direction and began walking.
Almost the entire sect was constructed from stone, but the place was filled with an atmosphere of utter ruin.
This desolation was not merely the erosion of time; it looked more like the aftermath of widespread, deliberate destruction.
Before long, Li Guanqi spotted several secret chambers sealed by stone doors.
He exerted considerable effort before finally shoving one open.
Whoosh!
A light breeze drifted past, and the various weapons lining the interior instantly crumbled into ash.
A look of disappointment crossed Li Guanqi's face. He had hoped to find some dharma artifacts or the like.
He pushed open the next stone door, only to find the room completely bare except for a few damaged neck collars.
This made him even more certain that this place had once been a beast-taming sect.
Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many beast-taming collars. Yet when he pushed open the final stone door, delight surged in his heart!
Neatly arranged across the shelves were various jade bottles, and at the very back sat two well-preserved jade boxes.
Meanwhile, the disciples of Zhenyue Mountain and the Great Xia Sword Sect found themselves being hunted down.
Chapter 48