The heart was a deep purplish red, still faintly beating.
The sheer oppressive pressure radiating from that single heart made even Lu Kangnian's breath hitch.
Qin Xian fared even worse, dropping directly onto one knee, his face as pale as paper.
Beads of sweat the size of beans pattered against the ground.
He stared in sheer horror at the heart and the monster core.
In all his years of cultivation, Qin Xian had never seen a monster core so massive, nor had he ever heard of one.
Lu Kangnian turned slightly pale, the circulation of primal energy within him suppressed to a near standstill.
Seeing them like this, Pengluo, whose mouth was stuffed to bursting, scrambled up and mumbled around his full cheeks,
"Mmph... 'kay..."
With that, he snatched up both items and bolted out the door. Meng Wanshu's chest heaved slightly, and only then did she finally let her heart settle.
Just as she was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness, Li Guanqi's tender, aching voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.
"Wife, you've worked so hard."
The moment he spoke, the sky full of lightning dissipated, and a boundless momentum sealed the courtyard where Meng Wanshu lay.
Not only Lu Kangnian, but even Qin Xian and Sun Miao were displaced out of the courtyard.
Qin Xian stared in brief bewilderment at the barrier before him, then turned toward the rear mountain and roared furiously, "You little bastard!! You don't even trust this old man?!"
Sun Miao merely curled his lip and stroked his little mustache, already calculating whether he could talk Li Guanqi into letting Cao Yan take him as his master!
Inside the secluded cave, the stone hanging over Li Guanqi's heart finally fell away.
Just moments ago, he had examined the woman's physical condition; with Pengluo present, nothing would go wrong.
Reaching out, he tore open the void and drew the two items inside, letting out a long breath of relief.
It took a full incense stick of time for Li Guanqi to calm his mind before resealing the cave's barrier.
Outside, Ye Feng cast a sidelong glance down at Pengluo, whose throat bulged so heavily his face had turned red, yet he still refused to spit out even a crumb.
Ye Feng crouched down and smacked Pengluo on the head with his fist, forcing the stuck pills down the sprite's throat in a single gulp.
Before Pengluo could glare and start cursing, Ye Feng offered a hollow, taunting smile.
"How was it, Brother Luo? Was the bathwater of Tianshui Peak's female cultivators tasty?"
Sensing trouble, Pengluo scrambled to flee.
"Hmph! What the hell do you know? Yours truly was helping others out of the goodness of his heart..."
By the end, however, even he sounded entirely lacking in confidence.
Seeing this, Cao Yan couldn't help but chuckle. "The little fellow really is quite loyal."
Ye Feng nodded and murmured, "Yeah... a rank-seven great demon, and he actually didn't run. I really didn't expect that."
Glancing behind him, Ye Feng said quietly, "Why do I get the feeling that Boss's Void Returning this time is a bit strange...?"
To his surprise, Cao Yan froze upon hearing his mutterings.
"Uh... are you serious, Second Brother?"
Seeing Ye Feng nod, Cao Yan couldn't resist looking back as well. "Actually, I had the same feeling, but I can't imagine what kind of bizarre stunt Boss could possibly pull during Void Returning."
Ye Feng shrugged and curled his lip. "If Boss didn't pull some bizarre stunt, I'd probably feel out of sorts instead. Come on, the rest isn't up to us."
The two of them looked back toward the cave and the courtyard, then walked side by side toward the three thousand odd peaks of the rear mountain.
Ye Feng had his own cultivation peak, but at times like this, he still preferred heading over to Li Guanqi's Yuhu Peak.
They had both simply built small wooden cabins at the peak's summit.
Sitting atop the mountain, the two lit an oil lamp and sat shoulder to shoulder, drinking wine while feeling the clear breeze brush their faces.
The splashing sounds of waves echoed in their ears.
Cao Yan sat cross-legged at the edge of Yuhu Peak's cliff, clasping his ankles with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
His gentle voice rose slowly. "Second Brother, I like it here."
Hearing that, Ye Feng's mouth curved upward. He cast a proud glance in all directions and smiled.
"This place... is worth anyone liking."
As he spoke, Ye Feng's gaze drifted, his mind wandering back to an afternoon long ago beneath a blazing sun.
That gentle woman had stood on the lecture platform, teaching them when they were newly initiated disciples.
Back then, he had rested his chin on his hands and stared at her, thinking how beautiful she truly was.
Especially when she was angry.
Unfortunately... once certain people were gone, they were gone forever.
"Sigh..."
Ye Feng stood up. With his back turned to Cao Yan, he murmured, "I'm going out for a bit. Drink by yourself for a while."
Without waiting for Cao Yan to reply, he flickered away.
Watching Ye Feng's departing silhouette, Cao Yan suddenly felt that his friend's mood seemed a bit mournful.
Before he could dwell on it, an uninvited guest arrived atop Yuhu Peak.
"Haha, Kid Cao, this old man isn't interrupting your drinking, is he?"
Cao Yan smiled faintly, brought out an extra jug of wine, and handed it to the old man with a chuckle. "Changing drinking companions isn't bad either."
With that, the two began a masterclass in verbal tug-of-war.
Meanwhile, within Li Guanqi's seclusion cave in the rear mountain, Li Guanqi's voice suddenly rang out, sharp and incredulous.
"What!????"
"Tear apart my origin spirit—the three souls and seven corporeal spirits—to reach Void Returning???"
"Wait... have you lost your mind?"
"Why?"
Li Guanqi stared in utter bewilderment at the sword spirit before him.
The red-robed woman gathered her skirt and sat cross-legged across from him, her peerless, realm-toppling countenance entirely serene.
Her fox-like eyes looked at Li Guanqi as she spoke softly.
"Do you trust me?"
Li Guanqi took a deep breath and said in a heavy voice, "I do!"
With a flick of her hand, the spirit ruins between Li Guanqi's brows were abruptly torn open by a tremendous power!!
The sword spirit rose, plunged her hand violently into his spirit ruins, and actually dragged out the blood-red broken sword within!!!
Witnessing this, Li Guanqi's eyes widened, stormy waves surging through his heart!
Immediately after, Li Guanqi finally saw the full form of his Sword Ruins!
It was a three-and-a-half-foot blood-red long sword, entirely crimson as though drenched in the blood of tens of millions of lives.
A bizarre red mist obscured most of the blade, yet it still could not hide the razor sharpness of its edge.
Holding the crimson long sword, the woman seemed like an entirely different person.
If the sword spirit before had been like a water lily amid towering waves,
then now...
clutching the sword of the Sword Ruins, she was a peerless god of slaughter standing upon mountains of corpses and seas of blood, capable of shattering the heavens with a casual wave of her hand!!
The sword spirit's temperament changed abruptly, her eyes gazing back at Li Guanqi with haughty disdain.
Her cool voice drifted slowly into his ears.
"Remember these strikes of mine."
Li Guanqi focused his spirit with everything he had, fixing his eyes on the sword spirit.
Immediately, an overwhelming battle intent and a boundless aura of the sword dao rushed over him!!
Li Guanqi's black hair whipped into total disarray, his white robe fluttering violently behind him.
The aura was utterly berserk, yet the surrounding space did not crack in the slightest—what kind of mastery over power was this?!
Then, a streak of ferocious resolve flashed between the sword spirit's brows and eyes, and the sword in her hand slashed three times in rapid succession!!!
These three strikes were as swift as lightning, the phantom long sword erupting with an eerie, dark-red radiance.
In an instant, the land for a hundred li around the Great Xia Sword Sect shuddered violently!!
Lu Kangnian and the others underwent a drastic change of expression, leaping into the air to look toward the rear mountain.
"Order an immediate lockdown on all space within the sect's borders! If anyone dares pry, kill without mercy!!"
Li Guanqi seared those three strikes into his mind with unyielding focus.
Crack!
Crack, crack!!
The sounds of space shattering rang out one after another, like paper being torn apart.
Li Guanqi's expression shifted slightly. This power...
Chapter 595