Sun Zhen lay in the deep pit, utterly dazed. His neck had nearly been snapped clean by that kick!
The stone skin he had forged from earth-attribute primal energy through an ancient secret manual had proved so laughably frail before his opponent's crushing might.
At this moment, half of Sun Zhen's body was numb, though his flesh and blood were regenerating at a visible rate. Cold sweat poured down his back when he heard Li Guanqi telling him to keep going.
Gritting his teeth, Sun Zhen pulled out an aromatic medicinal pill and swallowed it. Crisp cracking sounds immediately echoed from his bones, and his broken neck snapped back into place.
*Whoosh!*
Sun Zhen landed several zhang away from Li Guanqi. The moment he caught the burning gaze in Li Guanqi's eyes, he waved his hands frantically.
He could clearly sense the vitality and blood surging inside Li Guanqi—several times more ferocious than before!
Swallowing hard, Sun Zhen blurted out, "No more, no more! I can't beat you!"
Li Guanqi blinked, caught off guard by how decisively the man surrendered.
Frowning slightly, Li Guanqi looked at Sun Zhen and asked in a low voice, "You... didn't you enter the secular world to seize Baizhang Prison for yourself?"
Sun Zhen gave a wry smile. "Where on earth did you get that idea?
"It's true I stepped into the secular world to find a suitable place for the Sun Clan, but... we only want to partner with an existing sect!"
With that, he pointed at Wei Qian. "If I really wanted to take Baizhang Prison by force, do you think he could stop me? Besides..."
Sun Zhen glanced down at his disciple robes. "Do you think I'd have bothered joining the sect for so long?"
Li Guanqi considered it; that did make sense. With Sun Zhen's strength, forcibly taking over Baizhang Prison wouldn't have required such roundabout effort.
Li Guanqi frowned and pointed at Qianqiusui. "Then what was the deal with the Zen Sound Fruit?"
Sun Zhen smiled bitterly. "How should I know how Wei Qian interpreted what I said? I heard the grand finale of the Yunding auction was a Zen Sound Fruit, so I mentioned that I wanted it, and I said I'd pay for it. Who knew Wei Qian would resort to these tactics to 'invite' Fellow Daoist Qian here?"
Sun Zhen sounded thoroughly innocent. If he had wanted to conquer Baizhang Prison, wouldn't a single punch have settled it?
At this, Sun Zhen curled his lip, glanced around, and scoffed, "Besides, even when our Sun Clan integrates into the secular world, we probably wouldn't pick Baizhang Prison. This sect has problems from top to bottom."
Li Guanqi shrugged. He had genuinely not expected that an Ancient Clan like the Sun Clan would seek cooperation with local sects rather than dominating them by force.
Still, a breath of fiery energy was pent up inside Li Guanqi, and it felt genuinely uncomfortable not letting it out. He had just comprehended the first strike of Firmament Shatterer...
Licking his lips, Li Guanqi looked eagerly at Sun Zhen. "How about drawing your sword?"
Sun Zhen shook his head like a rattle-drum. He had long sensed that Li Guanqi's sword attainments were just as terrifying. The casual conjuring of a lightning blade earlier had already set off alarm bells in his mind.
"Hell no! Are you trying to hack me to death?
"Besides, what faction is backing you anyway? How have I never heard your name before?
"Li Wuji... it makes no sense. Someone of your caliber would definitely be talked about among the Ancient Clans!"
Li Guanqi impatiently cut through his muttering, his eyes burning with excitement. "I'm just a rogue cultivator. What do you care who I am?
"Come on, be a good sport. I won't draw a sword. I just want to throw one punch, all right?"
Feeling the vitality and blood surging from Li Guanqi's physique like an ancient primordial demon, Sun Zhen felt a little nervous. "Uh... how about... you hold back your power a bit and I'll give it a shot?"
Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow and nodded eagerly in agreement.
He then circulated the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art up to its fourth tier. Yet even the power of the fourth tier was enough to match Sun Zhen after he had unleashed his secret technique.
Neither of them had lowered their voices, so their exchange was heard by all. The sect elders of Baizhang Prison and Qianqiusui were dumbfounded.
Two men who had just been fighting to the death had suddenly shifted into sparring partners trading moves?
Hadn't the tables turned a bit too fast?
The youth named Sun Zhen possessed terrifying strength that struck fear even into their sect master, Wei Qian. Yet a man like that had been whipped half to death by a single roundhouse kick from the blind youth...
*Gulp.* "Who on earth is he?!"
*Hiss.* "He's even stronger than that Sun Zhen! And what the devil is an Ancient Clan? What is that?"
Wei Qian stood with hands hanging low, terror flickering deep in his eyes. The turn of events had caught everyone off guard.
Bowing low, Wei Qian approached Qianqiusui, turning his wrists so that two jade vials appeared in his palms. "Fellow Daoist Qian... here is the Soul Formation Pill you requested, along with some humble trinkets. This whole matter was a misunderstanding. I beg your magnanimity—please do not take it to heart."
Looking at the man bowing and scraping before her, Qianqiusui felt utterly disgusted. When she had been at a disadvantage earlier, his arrogant, towering attitude had humiliated her deeply. Who would have thought that with just a slight shift in the wind, he would change face faster than a woman changes her mind!
Yet she understood the situation clearly: this outcome was entirely due to borrowing Li Wuji's momentum, not because Wei Qian feared her personally.
Her eyes rippled with grace as she extended a slender, jade-like hand to accept the items, smiling pleasantly. "Whatever are you doing, Sect Master Wei? A humble woman like me cannot accept such grand deference from you. Yunding will still rely on your esteemed patronage in the future. Since it was all a misunderstanding, clearing it up is all that matters."
Hearing this, Wei Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Qianqiusui accepted the gifts, that man likely wouldn't make things too difficult for him.
Midair, primal energy circulated through Sun Zhen's body, and a presence as steady and imposing as a great mountain rose from the ground!
*Clang!*
A longsword glinting with cold light instantly materialized in his palm.
The moment he grasped the sword, Li Guanqi felt that steady mountain take on an intensely sharp edge!
This kind of aura...
He had felt it on his sect master before. It was just that the aura on Lu Kangnian had not been this strong, and Lu Kangnian had felt more wild and uninhibited!
Sword in hand and blood vitality surging within, Sun Zhen growled, "Come on!"
Li Guanqi gave a slight nod. His eyes half-closed, he loosely curved his hands into fists and assumed a boxing stance.
*Boom!*
A sudden explosive roar rang out!
The void for a hundred zhang around Li Guanqi's feet abruptly shattered.
Li Guanqi's low voice rolled out steadily.
"Firmament Shatterer: Thousand-Layer Waves!"
*BOOM!*
A terrifying pressure instantly flooded the void as raging lightning coiled around Li Guanqi's left fist.
In an instant, wind and clouds altered the sky. Amidst flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder, Sun Zhen's pupils contracted violently.
Before his eyes surged layer upon layer of lightning waves a hundred zhang high!
Hundreds, thousands of monstrous, sky-spanning waves swept relentlessly toward him!
Chapter 654