He Yuning on the Brink of Death! Captured!

At the sight before him, Li Guanqi's eyes blazed with fury, threatening to tear at the corners! He roared in rage, "Cang Lu, how dare you!" Yet Cang Lu suddenly tossed out a shadow-casting stone. Gripping the Red Lotus sword bound in black threads, he thrust it viciously toward He Yuning's heart! "No!" From the fluctuations Cang Lu emitted, He Yuning finally understood that the Li Guanqi hurtling toward them from the distance was the real one. Li Guanqi still harbored hope in his heart, believing He Yuanting would have left He Yuning plenty of defensive treasures. And it was indeed as he had expected. The bamboo flute, jade pendant, and other trinkets at He Yuning's waist were all treasures refined through the formidable methods of an almighty expert. Yet a tiny square seal currently shielded He Yuning's entire presence—or rather, masked it so thoroughly that even though He Yuanting was not far away, he could not detect anything amiss here. The sword coffin on Li Guanqi's back swung wide open, and an entombed sword flew into his grip in a flash. Shadowless! Within the Sword Ruins, a blood-red sword instantly erupted with unimaginably immense power. Lightning burst around the invisible blade! "Soul Release: Shadowless!" Boom! The blade released a ringing cry, accompanied by an ominous groan and creak as if it were straining beyond its limits. Scorching flames and the luster of thunder surged across the originally invisible sword. At this moment, Li Guanqi was less than a hundred zhang from Cang Lu, but he was already running out of time. He stomped viciously against the empty air, shattering the sky beneath his feet. The Shadowless Sword was drawn from its sheath of coalesced thunder in an instant! "Sword Draw Stance!" Boom! In the distance, the numerous cultivators rushing over to watch suddenly saw a colossal, terrifying sword beam manifest between heaven and earth. In an instant, the winds and clouds shifted, and thunder crashed! Myriads of lightning bolts rained from the firmament. Wherever the sword light passed, the earth was cleaved into a deep chasm. The sky was torn asunder; the might of this single strike was not in the least inferior to the full-strength blow of an early Void Refining Realm cultivator. Cang Lu's pupils instantly shrank to needlepoints! The hairs on his arms stood on end, yet he dared not slow the motion of his hands by even a fraction. At this moment, Cang Lu revealed not the slightest fluctuation of primal energy, swinging Red Lotus with pure physical strength alone. To the cultivators several thousand zhang away, only the presence of Li Guanqi and He Yuning could be vaguely perceived. Spurt! A spray of crimson blossomed beneath the setting sun... Having prepared well in advance, Cang Lu flared with bright silver light and vanished on the spot. He had pulled He Yuning directly in front of him to receive Li Guanqi's sword beam. That loathsome sneer nearly drove Li Guanqi to madness. Exerting every ounce of strength, Li Guanqi forcibly dispersed the sword beam. A surge of blood welled up in his throat, but he swallowed it down by force. Yet the scattering sword energy still struck He Yuning, slashing open numerous wounds that tore his flesh to ribbons. At the same time, a shadow-casting stone shattered in midair! The image showed the sword light cleaving toward He Yuning, followed by a cut to the Red Lotus sword piercing straight through his heart! Li Guanqi teleported to He Yuning's side, desperately funneling primal energy into him to staunch the bleeding. Pengluo appeared instantly. Without the slightest hesitation, he plucked a green leaf from his head and shoved it straight into He Yuning's chest. The green leaf gave off a faint, gentle glow as waves of potent life force enveloped him. Meanwhile, the expressions of the earliest batch of cultivators who had gathered to watch changed drastically. Sensing He Yuning's fading aura, they muttered with exceedingly grim faces: "Li Guanqi... actually... actually killed He Yuning!" "He Yuning is dead! Heavens... this is madness..." "With He Yuning dead, He Yuanting will go insane!" They had not seen Cang Lu at all, nor had they sensed the presence of a third person. From beginning to end, all they had "seen" were Li Guanqi and He Yuning. The projected scene from the shadow-casting stone continued in the sky, and many cultivators took out their own shadow-casting stones to record it. Furthermore, the residual aura lingering on He Yuning's chest belonged unequivocally to Li Guanqi's personal weapon, the Red Lotus sword! Li Guanqi pulled out all of his healing pills and shoved them into He Yuning's mouth all at once. His face deathly pale, He Yuning parted his lips to speak, but the moment he opened his mouth, thick blood gushed forth. He wanted to raise his hand, only to find he lacked even an ounce of strength. His once-bright eyes gradually dimmed... Far away at the Taixuan Sword Sect, He Yuanting suddenly felt He Yuning's life force rapidly draining away. His expression shifted violently. Whirling his head around, he blurted out in anguish, "Ning'er!" With that, a majestic, crushing pressure instantly swept across a radius of a hundred li! With a single thought, he appeared directly behind Li Guanqi! Li Guanqi looked up at He Yuanting, immediately scooping He Yuning into his arms as he rose. "Save him! Quick, save him!" He Yuanting's face was as dark as stagnant water. Without a word, he retrieved a purple crystal jade bottle and poured the translucent, emerald-green spiritual liquid within straight down He Yuning's throat. Then, using his mighty power, he sealed the wound in He Yuning's heart and continuously circulated the young man's blood with his primal energy. Gradually, the drain on He Yuning's life force slowed considerably. Yet at a time like this, a treasure capable of repairing his heart had to be found! The current measures merely treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Just as Li Guanqi breathed a sigh of relief, however, the surrounding space was suddenly locked down completely! Consumed by fury, He Yuanting clenched his hand toward the void. In rapid succession, six pitch-black stone locks tipped with sharp spikes thrust brutally into Li Guanqi's body! "Dragon-Trapping Lock!" Thud! Thud! Thud! In the blink of an eye, Li Guanqi's limbs and shoulder blades were pierced through! A dark stone cage formed, trapping Li Guanqi inside. The primal energy in his dantian was instantly sealed. At this moment, he was no different from an ordinary mortal, stripped of all power. No matter how fiercely he struggled, he could not break free from the stone locks! There was no telling what material the locks were forged from; though visibly made of stone, they were unnaturally cold and gleamed with a metallic sheen. The power within them sealed both the primal energy and the vitality within Li Guanqi's body! Waves of intense weakness washed over him, leaving his head heavy and dizzy. Roar! Jiuxiao erupted into action, snapping open its cavernous maw to bite down fiercely at He Yuanting! Yet He Yuanting merely spread his palm, and dozens of chains shot forth, pinning the massive form of Jiuxiao firmly in midair! Blood rushed to Li Guanqi's eyes at the sight, and he roared, "No! Don't kill it!" "I didn't kill him!" A cold glint flashed in He Yuanting's fierce eyes, and he barked, "Shut your mouth!" In his towering rage, He Yuanting raised a hand and confiscated both the sword coffin on Li Guanqi's back and the storage rings on his person. Flicking a finger against the sword coffin, golden patterns of a seal instantly locked it down. The connection between Li Guanqi and Pengluo was severed in that very moment! The spectating cultivators fell as silent as cicadas in winter, turning and flying away in haste. He Yuning was on the brink of death! The culprit... Li Guanqi! The news swept across the entirety of Zhongzhou in an instant. And Li Guanqi, locked within the cage, was taken back to the Taixuan Sword Sect.