Kill!!!

Sword in hand, Li Changqing stood atop the gunwale, his expression serene as though he had anticipated this all along. He looked down at the three grim-faced youths below and said softly, "It's time for you three to pull your weight." Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, and the sword coffin slowly rose behind him. Xiao Chen rolled his neck, and a blood-red spear abruptly materialized in his grasp. Ye Feng licked his lips and drew his waist-slung sword with a single hand. The three exchanged nods and vanished in unison, reappearing right outside Meng Wanshu's cabin door. With a flick of the old man's hand, an incomparably sturdy, terrifying barrier snapped into place! Inside the cabin, Meng Wanshu sat with a conflicted look on her face. She knew the enemies beyond the cloud boat had come for her. Yet for now... she could only hide within this barrier. In a situation like this, not getting captured was the greatest help she could offer them. Though she was no weaker than anyone outside, she could not make a move. The cloud boat gradually ground to a halt, and the hidden experts within the cabins emerged one after another! Every one of them was clad in an ice-blue robe and wore a pitch-black mask. Among them were three Void Refining experts alone! And there were as many as ten at the Soul Formation Realm. Li Guanqi and his companions had long sensed their presence, but had paid them no heed. Knowing Meng Wanshu's status, their presence came as no surprise. Holding a sword in each hand, Li Guanqi slowly rose into the air. "You two provide support from the flanks. Under no circumstances are you to leave the perimeter of the cloud boat!" Ye Feng nodded firmly to show he understood, and Xiao Chen did the same, offering no objection. *Buzz!* The primal energy domains of all three expanded outward three hundred zhang in an instant, enveloping the entire cloud boat. Each possessed a grand heavenly flame within their bodies. As the flames coalesced, they formed a blazing barrier of heavenly flame! The power of these combined flames was terrifying, dyeing the surrounding dark void a vivid, bloody crimson. At this moment, the flames' combined might was rivaled only by the top fifteen heavenly flames! Even the old man ahead glanced back with a look of surprise. The three worked in perfect harmony, withholding nothing from one another. Only with such complete trust could their heavenly flames blend so placidly. Had any one of them harbored foul intentions, they could have easily used the flame's power to severely wound the others. Xiao Chen's gaze turned razor-sharp, killing intent churning in his eyes. "Who dares strike at us?" *Buzz!* Out of the pitch-black void, two colossal black cloud boats abruptly materialized! *Skreech!* A shrill, eerie crow's cry rang out. Li Guanqi's face changed drastically! "Dark Crow!" A name that had lain dormant in his memory for so long had surfaced once more. Ever since he arrived on the Lingxu Continent, he had been constantly on guard against them. Yet the organization had seemed to give up on hunting him, making no move whatsoever. Consequently, he had buried the matter in the back of his mind. Later, after making his way to the Taiqing Domain, the people around him were all figures of immense stature. He Yuanting and the others were all mighty experts of the Body Integration Realm. Perhaps Dark Crow had felt they stood no chance of killing him, which was why they had stayed their hand until now. As his strength rapidly surged, the Dark Crow organization had surely found him an unbearable headache. Yet now... *Buzz!* Two mysterious figures cloaked in black robes abruptly emerged. A terrifying pressure instantly saturated the void! *Boom!* The overwhelming might instantly crushed the outer barrier shielding the cloud boat! *Bang! Rumble!* The combined pressure of two Body Integration experts pulverized the cloud boat in an instant. As the vessel detonated, the sheer force pinned Li Guanqi, Ye Feng, and Xiao Chen where they stood! Li Guanqi felt like a lone leaf tossed upon a boundless, dark sea, utterly helpless against the tempestuous waves. It seemed as though a single crest could capsize all three of them. Li Guanqi swallowed hard, his heart clenching. He had thought that breaking through to the Void Refining Realm would allow him to face many things on his own. Yet only when standing face-to-face with a true Body Integration powerhouse did he realize just how laughable that notion was. *Buzz!* Li Changqing's expression remained unchanged. Primal energy surged around him, and a terrifying pressure erupted with a roar! *Dong!* The void across a radius of a hundred li trembled violently! The crushing pressure around Li Guanqi and the others vanished in an instant—the old man had taken the full brunt of the force entirely upon himself. Sword in hand, Li Changqing leveled his blade forward with a sneer. "Only two early Body Integration cultivators? Are you looking down on me?" With that, the old man abruptly crushed a jade slip and spoke in a deep voice. "Domain Lord, we are under ambush. Dark Crow... can be erased from the Shenbao Domain." He then turned to look at another tall man in black nearby, his eyes narrowing in thought. "And just who might you be?" Neither of the two black-robed figures replied. They merely exchanged a glance, both catching the gravity in each other's eyes. *Middle Body Integration Realm!* This was vastly different from their intelligence, which had reported Li Changqing as merely a new Body Integration cultivator! *Swish! Swish! Swish!* A continuous stream of black-robed cultivators shot out from the opposing cloud boats. The expressions of Li Guanqi and his companions darkened slightly. There were eight cultivators at the Void Refining Realm alone! As for the Soul Formation cultivators, there were more than double their own numbers—nearly twenty at the peak of Soul Formation! Ye Feng's right eye swirled with eerie ghostly weeping, his face tinted with a bloodthirsty edge as he murmured, "Boss, this looks a bit sticky." Li Guanqi's gaze was heavy as he sent a voice transmission: "Watch out for a traitor." Those words made Ye Feng and Xiao Chen freeze! Li Guanqi had just driven home a grim realization. Only Li Changqing and the helmsman could have known their flight path! *Boom!* While the two sides were locked in a standoff, a white-browed elder standing nearest Meng Wanshu's cabin suddenly slashed his sword straight toward the room's barrier! In his hand, the elder crushed a scroll! A frightful, razor-sharp sword ray erupted from within the scroll with ferocious power! *Boom!* The golden sword ray sent a shock through everyone present. Yet just as the beam was about to strike Meng Wanshu's room, a cold glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. With a shift of his will, he shifted the entire room behind himself. Even so, the sword ray was far too fast, and it clipped the corner of the room all the same! *Boom!* The barrier shattered. Li Changqing turned pale, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his lips. The strike tore directly through the heavenly flame domain forged by Li Guanqi and the others. Linked to the domain, all three spat a mouthful of blood. That scroll had contained an attack from a Body Integration expert! Seeing this, the black-robed leader fiercely waved his hand and roared, "Strike! Leave none alive!" *Dong!* A beam of blood-red spear radiance abruptly pierced the void and burst forth. "You're courting death!" Furious, Xiao Chen unleashed the full Apocalypse release of his Blood God Spear, hurling it with all his might! Before the white-browed elder could even react, the spear punched straight through his skull. *Bang!* Li Guanqi's gaze turned chillingly fierce as he growled, "Kill!"