*Buzz!*
An irresistible, powerful suction erupted from within the lightning pagoda.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
One illusory soul after another was drawn into the pagoda, their harrowing wails and shrieks piercing the sky!
Countless dense arcs of lightning tore at their divine souls, the agony of a ripped soul a thousandfold, ten thousandfold worse than any blade carving into flesh or axe cleaving bone.
Yet Li Guanqi seemed concerned that the cultivators around him might miss the sound; he let those piercing shrieks ring out so that everyone could hear them.
Liu Peiyuan watched helplessly as one illusory soul after another was torn to shreds by lightning.
His jaws clamped tight, the old man's shoulders trembling faintly.
Yet Li Guanqi's next action nearly provoked him into striking!
Li Guanqi reached out, drawing over the flames of his two heavenly flames and plunging them into the pagoda!
Instantly, every soul was subjected to the torment of burning souls.
Some watched with their own eyes as souls detonated themselves, unable to endure it, while others tore their own souls apart in a desperate bid for death.
Li Guanqi watched with icy indifference until every single soul was shattered.
Then, Li Guanqi formed a seal with one hand, his terrifying divine sense instantly surging into the pagoda.
Under Liu Peiyuan's astounded gaze, Li Guanqi inverted the hand seal in his right hand, and a voice that chilled him to the bone rang out slowly:
"Soul Gathering."
*Buzz!*
An overwhelmingly powerful force flooded the pagoda, and the shattered souls were suddenly reunited and gathered back together!
The Liu clan cultivators who witnessed this burst into fury, leveling their swords at Li Guanqi and roaring:
"Li Guanqi, you go too far!"
"How is this any different from the deeds of an evil cultivator?!"
"Kill him!"
The battlefield, which had briefly quieted, erupted into violence once more.
Jiuxiao swung his dragon tail, instantly knocking several people flying, while Ye Feng, right behind him, unsealed his ghost hand and slashed out with several sword strikes!
Looking toward Li Guanqi, the sullen-faced Liu Yunxuan felt an inexplicable chill creep into his heart.
He pulled away, striking down Pengluo with a slash, and flashed across to intercept Ye Feng's fatal sword blow meant for an elder.
"Heh, the power of an Abyss Demon! Interesting."
*Boom!*
Ye Feng blasted Liu Yunxuan back with a sword strike and said, his eyes chillingly cold:
"Killing you is something our boss needs to do himself.
"Still... beating you half to death works just fine!"
As he spoke, Ye Feng's figure blurred into three, lunging at Liu Yunxuan from three different directions.
At his words, the young man broke into wanton, manic laughter. "Hahahaha! What brazen words! Kill me?"
*Boom!*
Deep-azure astral qi suddenly surged around Liu Yunxuan's body!
The terrifying astral wind shredded the other two afterimages to pieces. Ye Feng slashed rapidly with his sword, yet a large chunk of flesh was still sliced from his shoulder.
Liu Yunxuan sneered, "Kill me? How truly absurd!"
In the distance, Liu Peiyuan stared fixedly at Li Guanqi and said in a frigid voice,
"You have gone too far!
"Death is but a drop of the head! How does such conduct differ from that of an evil cultivator?!
"Besides, sins should not be visited upon one's family! There are so many innocents in the Liu clan—do you never consider that when you take lives?"
Li Guanqi snapped his head up to glare at the old man, his bloodshot eyes blazing as he roared, "Shut your mouth, you old dog!
"If you want to strike, then strike! If I, Li Guanqi, flinch for a second, I'll take your family name!
"Sins don't visit the family? Lecturing me on morals?
"Hahahahaha!"
Li Guanqi violently crushed the lightning pagoda. Over a hundred illusory souls let out shrieks and howls of sheer agony.
Immediately after, figure after figure burst into pieces, only to converge together once again!
For Li Guanqi was actively feeding them the purest origin power.
Before the reconverged pagoda could hold together for a single breath, Li Guanqi crushed it again!
*Bang!*
*Bang! Bang, bang! Bang, bang!*
Li Guanqi crushed faster and faster, until the illusory souls burst the very instant they were reassembled.
Li Guanqi stepped forward, stomping the vault of heaven into fractures.
He craned his neck toward the old man, clutching the pagoda with a snarling, monstrous visage as he bellowed,
"An evil cultivator? A demon? Hahahahaha! I don't give a damn!
"I will kill them all! And not just kill them—this agony of lightning punishment and soul-scorching, I will make them endure it for thousands, tens of thousands of years!
"I, Li Guanqi, swear an oath this day!
"If I do not slaughter the Liu clan to the last, I am no man!
"As long as I draw breath for a single day, every last soul of your Liu clan will suffer these torments for me!"
*Boom!*
The hair tie atop Li Guanqi's head shattered. His black hair whipped wildly in the wind, his white robe fluttering fiercely in the air, looking utterly demented and consumed by madness.
"Kill!"
With Li Guanqi throwing himself into the fray, the disadvantaged battlefield was leveled out in an instant.
Seeing this, Liu Peiyuan could no longer remain composed. Gritting his teeth, he raised a hand and drew forth a red-gold glazed bell!
Light swirled across the surface of the magic treasure, its mystic patterns glowing with a misty brilliance.
A terrifying spatial power erupted in an instant!
Immediately, waves of golden halos rippled across the heavens, forcefully blasting Li Guanqi and his companions back!
That power was completely irresistible; Li Guanqi watched powerlessly as they were on the verge of being driven out of the Liu clan domain!
At the same time, the entire Liu clan domain was enveloped by the ancient bell, seemingly about to vanish into nothingness.
Li Guanqi roared, violently slashing out with sword strike after sword strike!
"You aren't going anywhere!"
*Dong, dong, dong!*
The others struck together as well, but their attacks landed on the massive ancient bell only to leave shallow marks.
Liu Peiyuan had already made up his mind: he could not allow these people to keep slaughtering his clansmen like this.
If this continued, he feared he wouldn't be able to hold himself back from striking.
In that case... leaving here came first!
After all, Youming had only told them to leak the news; he had never said they had to stretch their necks out for Li Guanqi to chop.
Li Guanqi also perceived his intention, and with eyes nearly splitting with rage, he roared, "Sword spirit! Strike!"
The sword spirit sighed inwardly, yet she still stepped forward slowly.
Li Guanqi knew full well how heavy a price having her strike entailed, yet he chose to do it anyway...
Yet she was his sword spirit; she would never refuse Li Guanqi's plea.
The cool, aloof sword spirit lowered her head and cast her eyes toward Liu Peiyuan in the distance.
Though she did not know why he hadn't struck, she felt that since she was going to act,
she might as well resolve it for him completely!
The sword spirit's cool voice echoed in Li Guanqi's mind:
"This strike will hurt very badly."
Li Guanqi nodded without the slightest hesitation!
In an instant, an aura that made heaven and earth tremble abruptly radiated outward from Li Guanqi's body!
As the Sword Ruins between Li Guanqi's brows hummed, a sword of pure crimson merged with the Red Lotus.
In the mere instant of contact, the petals at the hilt of the Red Lotus abruptly shattered!
For hundreds of li around, the spatial void seemed severed by a mysterious force.
The sword spirit took control of Li Guanqi's body, taking over all of his power.
"Killing someone at the mid-Body Integration stage... is simpler than expected."
*Boom!*
Chapter 639