By now, Geng He was completely dazed.
The old man before him was none other than the Pavilion Master of the entire Taiqing Domain's Tianji Pavilion!
A figure of such stature was far beyond his level; on ordinary days, Geng He only ever heard the name, never meeting the man himself.
He stared at Li Guanqi in sheer terror, unable to keep his thoughts from racing.
*Just who on earth is this guy?*
*How could someone from the Tianji Pavilion treat him with such respect—or even... be terrified of something happening to him?*
Still, Geng He knew better than to push his luck in the current situation, nodding repeatedly. "No problem at all, no problem at all."
Chu Jingze curled his lip and muttered under his breath, "Making such a big fuss over this pile of junk. I'll have my subordinates contact you later."
With that, the old man withdrew his hands with a genial chuckle, turned to Li Guanqi, and said with a light laugh, "Young Master Li, you needn't worry about matters here. Leave everything to me."
Li Guanqi smiled, nodded, and bowed alongside Meng Wanshu. "Then I'll trouble you, Old Chu. My apologies for inconveniencing you again."
Seeing Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu bowing to him together, Chu Jingze's expression changed dramatically in fright.
He hastily dodged to the side and stammered, "Young Master Li, please don't, absolutely not... The lady beside you is of no lesser standing than this old man, to say nothing of yourself. Aren't you trying to shave years off my life?"
In the distance, Shen Bing and Ji Shaolin stood utterly flabbergasted at the sight of the old man acting so humble and fawning.
Ji Shaolin swallowed hard, looked at Shen Bing, and sent a hushed voice transmission. "If I go over and drop to my knees to beg his forgiveness right now, is it too late?"
Shen Bing glanced at him, then back toward Li Guanqi, shaking his head. "Knowing his temperament... probably not."
Ji Shaolin's face turned extraordinarily grim, yet he could not bring himself to kneel before Li Guanqi in front of everyone.
He simply waved his hand and turned away. "I'm heading back. Over at the Taixuan Sword Sect... it seems nothing serious has happened with He Yuning after all."
Seeing this, Shen Bing gave a slight nod. "Let's go together."
Yet the instant the two turned around, a sharp ray of sword qi shot violently from behind them!
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Sword in hand, Li Guanqi leveled Yanluo toward them and said softly, "Hold on."
The onlookers' dormant appetite for gossip instantly reignited.
"Here it comes, here it comes, it's starting again!"
"He's looking for trouble again!"
"Good grief, did he come to Zhongzhou just to offend three grand sects all at once?!"
"Does he have a grudge against the other two sects as well?!"
Hearing Li Guanqi's voice, Ji Shaolin shuddered violently from head to toe. Without another word, he dropped to his knees with a loud thud.
The sight nearly caused the onlookers' jaws to hit the floor.
Forcing an awkward smile while craning his neck, Ji Shaolin blurted out, "I'm sorry, I was wrong!"
Deep down, Ji Shaolin was thoroughly terrified. The backing Li Guanqi had displayed was simply too overwhelming.
The sole daughter of the Shenbao Domain Lord alone had already filled him with dread, to say nothing of the newly arrived Body Integration Realm monster—the master of the entire Taiqing Domain's Tianji Pavilion.
And all of this was only what was visible on the surface... Neither Li Guanqi's clan nor his family elders had even appeared yet!
From what Meng Wanshu had said, the two had grown up together as childhood sweethearts. What kind of formidable clan and elders must a man possess to have grown up alongside the only daughter of Domain Lord Meng Jiangchu?
Ji Shaolin swore he had never feared anyone's background so deeply in his life.
Yet to his surprise, Li Guanqi merely gave him a passing glance before turning toward Shen Bing.
"You wouldn't mind if I killed someone, would you?"
Shen Bing's expression shifted slightly. He had not expected Li Guanqi to point the spearhead at him.
Turning around to look at the elders behind him, Shen Bing's eyes grew cold. Li Guanqi demanding to kill one of his men before the eyes of all Zhongzhou's cultivators... Wasn't that slapping him squarely across the face?
Yet in the next moment, Shen Bing turned around with a polite smile. "You may kill him, but give me a reason."
Li Guanqi fixed his gaze on an elder clad in grey standing behind Shen Bing, speaking calmly. "Shall I strike, or will you self-detonate?"
Upon hearing those words, the elder discarded his panicked facade, lifting his head to look directly at Li Guanqi. "How can you be so certain?"
This very elder was a guest elder of Qingyang Palace who had served the sect for over a century.
The exchange left the surrounding crowd completely bewildered.
Li Guanqi sneered coldly and slowly raised his right hand. A silver thread manifested from divine sense connected his fingertip directly to the elder's hand.
A flicker of astonishment crossed the elder's eyes, followed by a faint smile at the corner of his lips.
Immediately after, his body began to swell rapidly!
Chu Jingze let out a cold snort, raised his hand toward the elder, and clamped his fingers shut!
Boundless primal energy surged forth in an instant, manifesting a colossal hand tens of yards across that firmly trapped the swelling elder within its grip.
The surrounding space was torn to shreds by the giant hand.
A deafening explosion rang out, yet not a single trace of the shockwave leaked beyond its grasp.
Watching this, Meng Wanshu also looked bewildered. She nudged Li Guanqi's arm and asked in a low voice, "Why did you have that thread on you? And how were you so sure he wasn't dead?"
Both of them knew full well who that person was—it was Cang Lu, who had supposedly died!
Evidently, this elder was merely another avatar of the mastermind behind him.
Li Guanqi recounted how Cang Lu had previously plotted to seize the sword. "So... the only ones who could have come into contact with my sword intent in the Sword Abyss were those few individuals from Qingyang Palace back then.
"Pengluo's secret technique traced Cang Lu's location, and I followed that aura right to him. But by the looks of it, this avatar's strength was exceedingly feeble."
Meanwhile, Shen Bing stood nearby in a complete daze.
That elder had been at his side for an entire century, yet he had no idea when the man had been replaced by an impostor!
Li Guanqi paid him no mind. Had it not been for the mastermind's uncanny, supernatural disguise techniques, he would not have found this so vexing.
Now that the elder had self-detonated, Li Guanqi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Though he did not know whether that hidden schemer would strike at him again in the future, the man would at least not dare show himself before Li Guanqi anytime soon.
Having dealt with this, Li Guanqi turned to the plump old man beside him with a complex expression, asking in a low voice, "Since Senior already knows what happened here, and He Yuanting left earlier... does that mean He Yuning's situation has taken a turn for the better?"
The old man's expression relaxed, and he said gently, "Rest assured, Young Master Li. He Yuning's life... has been saved. It's even possible that his future cultivation might reach even greater heights."
At this point, an unmistakable look of heartache crossed the old man's face at the cost incurred.
Li Guanqi fell silent in thought for a moment, then turned to gaze at the distant sky; Jiuxiao's lightning tribulation was nearing its end.
He looked toward Meng Wanshu and said, "Let's go check on Jiuxiao, then bring Ye Feng along so we can visit He Yuning together."
Suddenly, as if recalling something, he added with a teasing grin, "To think the blind date my father-in-law arranged, whom I haven't seen in so long, actually turned out to be He Yuning..."
Meng Wanshu blushed slightly at his words, but then her expression chilled. "You're still going to see him? After how He Yuanting treated you? Since he won't die anyway, why bother visiting him?"
Li Guanqi halted his steps upon hearing her, murmuring softly, "As you said, that was He Yuanting's doing.
"It has nothing to do with He Yuning.
"Though... there probably won't be any dealings between me and the Taixuan Sword Sect in the future, the reason He Yuning ended up like this was ultimately because of me."
Chapter 509