With an ashen face, how could Meng Jiangchu not be furious?
Rolling up his sleeves, he raised a foot, ready to strike, but at that moment Meng Wanshu called out reproachfully, "Father..."
Yet Meng Jiangchu snapped with a cold face, "Shut your mouth! Nothing is even set in stone yet, and you're already shielding him like this?"
Li Guanqi thought, *Trouble. Looks like I won't be escaping a beating today.*
Meng Wanshu shifted her footing, still shielding Li Guanqi, her gaze resolute as she stared silently at Meng Jiangchu.
Seeing this only stoked the man's fury. He barked, "Move aside!"
Meng Wanshu lifted her chin stubbornly. "I won't."
"Fine, fine, fine."
Just as the man was about to act, a tremendous force caught Meng Wanshu and pulled her behind him.
With a calm expression, Li Guanqi stepped forward unhurriedly until he stood directly before the man.
"If Uncle Meng wishes to strike, go ahead and thrash this junior. After all, I can understand why you're upset."
Li Guanqi did not even bother offering an explanation for why it had happened.
Yet if even he could understand it, how could Meng Jiangchu fail to understand?
Thinking back to those years in Fulong Village, Meng Jiangchu had never struck him as an ordinary rustic peasant.
He had always spoken unhurriedly and eaten with measured grace.
Back then, Li Guanqi had felt that a man like Meng Jiangchu ought to have been a nobleman, prince, general, or minister at the foot of the mountain.
The man stared intently at Li Guanqi, his raised hand poised to strike.
"Father!!"
The man checked his hand. Seeing that Li Guanqi showed not the slightest intention of dodging, irritation surged within him.
If he didn't beat him, his daughter's purity had already been taken.
If he did beat him... the situation at the time had left no other choice; in fact, one could argue that Li Guanqi had saved Wanshu's life.
Yet if he didn't beat him now, doing so later would be far more awkward.
Unable to swallow his anger, Meng Jiangchu lashed out with a kick squarely against Li Guanqi's backside.
The kick carried no small amount of force, sending him flying several hundred zhang through the air.
*Bang!!*
"Dammit... I guarded against everything, but I still couldn't keep away a bastard like you."
Seeing this, Xiao Chen felt an indescribable surge of satisfaction.
Ye Feng merely shrugged. At a time like this, he wouldn't dare interject—a father-in-law disciplining his son-in-law...
Meanwhile, the twenty-odd cultivators in purple-and-gold robes who had arrived with Meng Jiangchu wore exceedingly strange expressions.
That blind young man just now... his cultivation was by no means low!
Furthermore... Meng Wanshu's aura was astonishingly powerful right now, exuding a tremendous pressure that weighed heavily even upon them.
*Whoosh!*
Rubbing his bruised backside, Li Guanqi came scampering eagerly back.
The moment he returned, he enthusiastically seized Meng Jiangchu's arm and grinned broadly.
"Aiya, Uncle Meng still cares for me after all. That kick barely had any force behind it."
Standing to the side, Meng Wanshu noticed Li Guanqi's heavily swollen rear and couldn't help covering her mouth to stifle a giggle.
Seeing him greeting her father with a beaming smile and flattering words, a wave of warmth and sweetness filled her heart.
Ever since childhood, Li Guanqi had possessed an unyielding nature. He might seem cynical and irreverent on the surface, but his inner pride was extraordinarily fierce.
One could tell that much from what had happened with He Yuanting back then.
He could clearly have spoken gentle words in private and revealed the truth to He Yuanting ahead of time.
Perhaps he could have spared himself physical torment and avoided being tortured so brutally.
Yet simply because He Yuanting had acted without distinguishing right from wrong and imprisoned him to protect his pathetic dignity as an expert, Li Guanqi's stubborn pride had made him refuse to reveal the truth at that moment.
He had chosen to be imprisoned instead!
By contrast, the Li Guanqi who was now offering soft words and deference seemed exceptionally sensible.
His yielding was entirely for her, Meng Wanshu.
"Uncle Meng, after all these years, your imposing grace remains unchanged. Have you grown accustomed to life again since returning to the Shenbao Domain?"
"How is Aunt Li's health these days? What cultivation realm has she reached? This junior has gathered quite a few good things, which I'll bring along for her later."
"All these years, I've missed you terribly, Uncle Meng."
"Please don't be angry; there really was no other way back then."
As he spoke, Li Guanqi rolled up his sleeve to show the man an unhealed wound on his arm.
He lifted his arm close to the man's face. The wound looked gruesome, still tainted with residual, terrifying cold poison.
Putting on a sorrowful, tearful tone, Li Guanqi said, "Uncle Meng, you weren't there at the time, so you have no idea how terrifying the eruption of that cold poison was... *tsk, tsk*."
"If not for me charging in heedless of my own life..."
Meng Jiangchu's cheek twitched. Beside them, Xiao Chen couldn't help muttering, "Is he usually this smooth-tongued?"
Ye Feng threw his hands up and said candidly, "To be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen it too."
"In front of me, Boss always acts cold and aloof. Seeing him play the sycophant like this—*tsk, tsk*—is truly a rare sight, hahahaha."
The man glared at Li Guanqi, slapped his arm away, and grumbled, "Even if you're trying to take credit, you brat, there was no need to deliberately leave a wound unhealed for this long just to show it off to me!"
Li Guanqi lowered his sleeve with some embarrassment and said, "Well, I was just afraid you'd think this junior had it easy."
The man closed his eyes, let out a sigh, turned around, and said, "Let us return first before discussing this."
Hearing this, the group set off at once.
Along the way, Meng Jiangchu kept his hands clasped behind his back, his expression still dark, not uttering a single word even to Meng Wanshu.
Meng Wanshu took the initiative to hold Li Guanqi's hand and sent a low voice transmission: "Once we're back, if my father keeps berating you, I'll go fetch my mother!"
Li Guanqi was momentarily taken aback and couldn't help asking via voice transmission, "Uncle Meng has already resumed his identity as the Domain Lord, and Aunt Li still scolds him regardless????"
Seeing the smile curving Meng Wanshu's lips, Li Guanqi inwardly gave Aunt Li a huge thumbs-up.
Walking in front, Meng Jiangchu naturally overheard these transmissions. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, his eyes filled with helpless resignation.
The group boarded the cloud boat brought by Meng Jiangchu and returned to the heart of the Shenbao Domain's mainland.
Along the way, Li Guanqi observed the Shenbao Domain. He discovered that the air here was remarkably dry.
The activity of fire-attribute spiritual power far surpassed that of any other element!
Reaching out, he gave a subtle tug at the surrounding air. In an instant, a wisp of fiery thread abruptly manifested!
Fire-attribute spiritual energy danced on his fingertips, causing Li Guanqi a slight stir of surprise.
*For Wanshu to cultivate ice-attribute power to such an extraordinary realm in a place like this...*
*Just how much effort and what enormous price did Old Man Meng have to spend?*
Looking down at the cloud boat beneath his feet, the golden vessel spanned a massive hundred zhang, inscribed with fiery red patterns.
The entire cloud boat radiated a faint, shimmering luster, brimming with the aura of treasures, clearly no ordinary craft.
Moreover, virtually all the cultivators who had accompanied Meng Jiangchu possessed fire-attribute spiritual roots. Every one of them was tall, sturdy, and exceptionally robust, radiating raw physical strength.
Perhaps noticing Li Guanqi's bewilderment, the young woman seated beside him smiled softly.
"Find it strange?"
Li Guanqi gave a slight nod. She then said softly, "That is because all of them are sixth-tier weapon refiners."
Li Guanqi's eyes widened in shock, and he blurted out, "Sixth-tier? Every single one of them???"
Meng Wanshu covered her mouth and chuckled. "Otherwise, why do you think the Shenbao Domain is known as the holy land of weapon refining?"
Chapter 537