Li Guanqi had no idea what Meng Wanshu had said to Xiao Chen, but seeing her playfully wink at him, he nodded in agreement, feeling somewhat sheepish.
After all, Xiao Chen had finally calmed down a bit; Li Guanqi certainly didn't want to set him off again.
Even Li Changqing couldn't bear to watch any longer. He sighed, slowly walked out the door, and patted Xiao Chen on the shoulder as he passed.
It was truly...
Xiao Chen's gaze toward Li Guanqi was also fraught with an eerie gleam. He eyed Li Guanqi askance, grinning continuously in a way that gave Li Guanqi goosebumps.
Along the journey, Xiao Chen seemed in extraordinarily high spirits, as if he no longer dwelled on the fact that any romantic hope between him and Meng Wanshu was completely gone.
Every day, Xiao Chen dragged Li Guanqi and Ye Feng into sparring matches. Even when beaten black and blue every single time, he still giggled foolishly.
On the third day, just as Xiao Chen was about to knock, the door was abruptly yanked open by a grim-faced Li Guanqi.
Without a word, Li Guanqi dragged Xiao Chen into a newly opened pocket dimension to spar.
Or rather... it was Li Guanqi venting his frustration one-sidedly.
Before long, a bruised and battered Xiao Chen was tossed back out.
Xiao Chen pointed at Li Guanqi and cursed, "Is this how you treat your elder brother?! Dammit, you hit way too hard today!"
Li Guanqi snapped, "You knock on my damn door eight hundred times a night! You bastard, you're definitely doing it on purpose!"
Xiao Chen gave a sly chuckle, naturally refusing to admit it was intentional.
Lying on the floor and feeling the aches across his body, his heart actually felt a little lighter.
Li Guanqi plopped down beside him, brought out two jars of strong wine from his storage ring, and said softly, "How about... you beat me up once?"
Hearing that, Xiao Chen bolted upright and stared at Li Guanqi. "Really?"
"Yeah, really."
"The kind where you don't hit back?"
"Yeah. Well, are you going to do it or not? Why are you dragging your feet?"
Li Guanqi had thought Xiao Chen would leap at the chance, but to his surprise, Xiao Chen merely gave him a deep look, then shook his head with a chuckle.
"At least you've got a bit of a conscience, even if it isn't much. But forget about beating you up. It's enough that you offered."
Li Guanqi gazed into the pitch-black void and asked softly, "Have you truly let it go?"
Xiao Chen replied with casual ease, "What else can I do if I don't? I can't beat you in a fight, and besides... Wanshu's heart was never with me. Rather than make everyone miserable, it's better if we're all happy."
Li Guanqi fell silent for a long moment upon hearing those words.
"In magnanimity... I am not your equal."
Xiao Chen scoffed, shaking his head without a word.
After a while, Li Guanqi said softly, "I'll return the Great Sky Rosy Flame to you."
Xiao Chen froze, his wine jar suspended motionless in midair. "Can that thing even be returned?"
Li Guanqi shrugged. With a flick of his hand, a wisp of spiritual light floated toward the space between Xiao Chen's brows.
Xiao Chen did not refuse. Opening his mind, he drew the wisp into his spiritual terrace.
A moment later, Xiao Chen leaped to his feet, staring at Li Guanqi in sheer disbelief.
"Th-this... this cultivation art! It's at least Heaven rank! You're just giving it to me like this?! Aren't you afraid I'll give it to someone else?"
Indeed, Li Guanqi had imparted the entirety of the Flame Devouring Art to Xiao Chen.
Li Guanqi smiled faintly. "Would the prestigious young master of the Shenbao Domain's Xiao clan stoop to such base behavior? As for the art... to be frank, I give it to you of my own free will."
Xiao Chen went silent. From the very beginning, he had resigned himself to completely forfeiting the flame.
He had never expected such an unexpected turn of events—that he could actually reclaim his heavenly flame.
Overjoyed, Xiao Chen grinned ear to ear. "Heh, you're a good guy."
Xiao Chen could hardly be blamed for thinking so. Even though the Great Sky Rosy Flame was not ranked particularly high, it was still a heavenly flame! One of the few heavenly flames remaining in the world! Any cultivator who acquired a heavenly flame gained an immense advantage!
Yet Li Guanqi was willing to return it to him of his own accord...
Li Guanqi had little choice. Over the past two days, whenever he thought of Xiao Chen's face, his nights were flooded with guilt. If Xiao Chen had flown into a rage and hurled threats, it would have been easier to bear. Instead, Xiao Chen pretended not to care just so everyone else could be happy.
Li Changqing stood behind them and said quietly, "Have you thought it through? Once returned, you really won't ever get it back."
The old man was merely teasing Li Guanqi, but Li Guanqi stood up, shrugged, and waved his hand dismissively. "It was his to begin with."
With that, he called Ye Feng over. Under Li Changqing's protection, the three of them swiftly separated the flame's power.
Having extracted the flame seed, Li Guanqi immediately dashed over to Meng Wanshu's room. He still had a Heavenly Flame Bead inside him, but now that he had purged the chaotic flame energies, he had no further need for it. Meng Wanshu, on the other hand, could carry it on her person to refine the cold poison caused by her cultivation.
As time slipped by, their bonds grew closer.
Only occasionally, when Li Guanqi walked out of the room looking thoroughly refreshed, Xiao Chen would feel immensely disgruntled, an uncomfortable knot twisting in his chest...
Several more days passed. Through their continuous deep communion and reinforcing of the seals, Li Guanqi's and Meng Wanshu's auras gradually stabilized. Breaking through repeatedly in such a short span had strained even Li Guanqi's formidable foundation. For a long time to come, he would likely choose to suppress his realm and consolidate his footing.
*Hum!*
That day, the cloud boat suddenly shuddered. Li Changqing flashed onto the gunwale in an instant, his chest rising and falling slightly as his taut nerves finally relaxed.
"We've finally arrived."
Xiao Chen also chimed in with smug pride, "Here at last, we're finally here! Now that we're on my turf, just tell me if anything comes up—I've got your backs!"
Ye Feng shoved his hand away and said crossly, "With that temperament of yours, you must have taken plenty of beatings out in the world."
Xiao Chen curled his lip. "Believe it or not, in the Shenbao Domain, no one has ever dared beat the daylights out of me the way you guys do... Do you think the six Body Integration Realm ancestors in my family are just freeloaders?"
"Uh... fair point, I suppose."
Ye Feng pondered it for a moment and found it made sense. Indeed... almost no one would dare provoke him.
Li Guanqi's eyes also gleamed. He had set out searching for the Tianji Chart to save his master, yet along the way he had drifted to the Lingxu Continent, then to the Taiqing Domain, and now he had ended up in the Shenbao Domain.
Even so, this journey to the Shenbao Domain was one he simply had to make...
*Buzz!*
A hundred-zhang rift abruptly tore open in the space before the cloud boat, followed by a radiant cascade of multicolored light streaming inward.
In quick succession, several dozen immensely powerful pressures faintly rolled through!
Not a single aura was weaker than the Void Refining Realm!
Among them, an aura resembling that of an ancient primordial demon suddenly emerged!
As the cloud boat soared out, Li Guanqi immediately caught sight of a man clad in an ornate navy-blue robe standing nearby with a dark expression.
Li Guanqi swallowed hard. Forcing a broad smile onto his face, he hurriedly flashed forward.
"Greetings, Father-in-Law!"
Meng Jiangchu's face was as black as the bottom of a wok. Hearing Li Guanqi's words, he ground his teeth together, his voice dropping into a dark growl. "Good... very good..."
Li Guanqi hastily bowed in salute upon hearing this. "Junior is naturally quite well! Having not witnessed Uncle Meng's majestic demeanor for so long, I missed you dearly. It just so happened I ran into Wanshu, so I immediately suggested we come pay our respects to Father-in-Law together!"
"You little bastard!"
*Boom!*
Seeing Meng Jiangchu erupt in fury, Li Guanqi turned on his heel and bolted. Ducking behind Meng Wanshu with only his head poking out, he cried hurriedly, "Father-in-Law, let's talk this out peacefully! Don't... don't resort to violence!"
Chapter 536