A Duel to the Death—Do You Accept?!

By the time they reached Ziyang Palace, eight days had already passed. Over those eight days, Li Guanqi rarely found any opportunity to cultivate. Almost every day, Yu Sui'an dragged him here and there to look at this and that. Whenever Li Nanting relinquished control of the cloud boat and its speed slowed, the little girl would even pester Li Guanqi to take her flying on his sword. Though Li Guanqi doted on her, he did not indulge her every whim, telling her only that it was too dangerous. He urged her to apply herself to cultivation and strive to achieve Foundation Establishment as soon as possible. Yet the moment Yu Sui'an heard the word "cultivate," she clapped her hands over her ears and scurried away, turning around to bother Ye Feng instead. There were ten disciples in their party, three of whom were female disciples, all from Tianshui Peak. Every one of them treated Li Guanqi with immense respect; after all, his strength and talent spoke for themselves. Buzz! The cloud boat gradually slowed, soon descending beneath the cloud layer. Standing at the prow, Li Guanqi beheld an unimaginably vast sect! The sect's layout was symmetrical throughout, magnificent and imposing like an imperial palace in the mortal realm below. The entire complex was built atop a towering range of mountains, surrounded by swirling mist and the shrill calls of spiritual cranes. The moment they entered the territory of Ziyang Palace, Li Guanqi clearly sensed that the ambient heaven and earth spiritual qi had grown noticeably denser. Such an obvious difference left Li Guanqi marveling inwardly. It seemed Ziyang Palace possessed quite a few spirit veins within its grounds alone. Soon, the cloud boat came to a hover a thousand zhang outside Ziyang Palace. A cyan boundary barrier blocked their path. Before long, a streak of light flashed from within Ziyang Palace, and an old man clad in dark purple robes flew through the air toward them. The old man bore resolute features, though a long scar ran across his weathered face. Catching sight of the cloud boat's design, he furrowed his brows and said in a deep voice, "Is this the cloud boat of the Great Xia Sword Sect?" Li Nanting stepped slowly onto the deck, clasping his hands in a slight salute upon seeing the elder. "I am Li Nanting, an elder of the Great Xia Sword Sect. I have brought disciples here to test for the spirit ruins. Please open the barrier, honorable palace." Hearing this, the old man offered a faint smile. With a wave of his hand, he parted a gap dozens of feet wide in the barrier. Leaping onto the cloud boat, he cupped his hands and said softly, "I am Song Ru, a consecrated elder of Ziyang Palace. "I was assigned specifically to receive you all. I did not expect the Great Xia Sword Sect to arrive the earliest." After exchanging brief pleasantries, the cloud boat drifted through the barrier and entered Ziyang Palace. The moment they crossed inside, Li Guanqi detected heaven and earth spiritual qi several times purer than that of the Great Xia Sword Sect! Looking down, he saw several colossal martial arts arenas, each packed with at least a thousand disciples tempering their physical bodies. Earth-shattering roars echoed into the clouds, and countless disciples clad in dark purple robes flew on swords across the sky. Now and then, several streaks of light flashed and vanished—all figures of Core Formation realm cultivators. Yet Li Guanqi noticed that even these Core Formation cultivators wore the disciple robes of Ziyang Palace. Inwardly, he was astonished by the strength of Ziyang Palace's disciples! No wonder Ziyang Palace was counted among the top factions of the Qingyun Continent. Suddenly, Song Ru glanced repeatedly at the old man beside him, asking somewhat hesitantly, "Elder Li, were you the one who achieved the Nascent Soul realm a hundred years ago?" Li Nanting's expression remained unchanged as he murmured, "Heh, that is a matter of the distant past. In this lifetime, I may never step into the Nascent Soul realm again." Song Ru was slightly startled, thinking to himself, *So he truly is the Core Formation sword cultivator of the Great Xia Sword Sect renowned for having an eight-hundred-year lifespan!* His attitude softened considerably compared to before. He first guided them to moor the cloud boat, then arranged lodgings for everyone before saying softly, "I must trouble you all to wait two days for the other sects to arrive. "Over these two days, you may stroll about the palace as you please, but please be aware that certain areas may be off-limits. We ask for your understanding not to wander where you shouldn't." Li Nanting smiled faintly and cupped his hands. "Then we shall trouble Fellow Daoist for these two days." At this point, the disciples only wanted to return to their rooms and rest properly. Over these ten days aboard the cloud boat, they had neither eaten nor slept well. Li Nanting said gravely, "Those who wish to rest may head back and rest. But remember this. "This is someone else's territory. Rein in your tempers, and under no circumstances stir up conflict." Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement and hurried back to their rooms to rest. Li Guanqi, having cultivated persistently throughout those days, had by now thoroughly stabilized his realm at early Foundation Establishment. By his estimation, even with the assistance of Peiyuan Pills, breaking through to the mid stage was not something he could accomplish in the short term. Furthermore, the sword spirit had also been siphoning off his yuan power over the past few days. Fortunately, when he broke through to Foundation Establishment, he had opened all thirty-six acupoints, which significantly enhanced the speed at which he absorbed heaven and earth spiritual qi during cultivation. Even with the sword spirit drawing away half of his yuan qi, his cultivation speed remained exceptionally swift. However, after cultivating for only a brief while, Li Guanqi suddenly felt that something was amiss. *Did I forget something...?* Opening his eyes, Li Guanqi pondered for a long time before suddenly exclaiming, "Where's Yu Sui'an?!" Li Guanqi hurried to Ye Feng's room. Seeing Ye Feng sound asleep, he looked all around, but saw no sign of Yu Sui'an. Waking Ye Feng up, Li Guanqi asked anxiously, "Where is Yu Sui'an?" Bleary-eyed, Ye Feng jolted awake and replied, "Didn't she go look for you? She isn't with you?" Li Guanqi's face darkened, and he spoke rapidly: "No! Who knows where the little girl ran off to. I have to go find her." Throwing on his clothes, Ye Feng said, "Don't worry. That girl is sharp as a tack; nothing will happen to her." Li Guanqi said with a grim expression, "She's always so reckless. I just hope she hasn't caused trouble—above all, this isn't the Great Xia Sword Sect." Once Ye Feng finished dressing, the two hurried straight out the door. At that moment, Li Nanting was in the main hall of Ziyang Palace discussing the opening of the spirit ruins two days hence with their elders, unaware of what was transpiring outside. The two split up to search, their figures darting swiftly between the various grand halls. When the disciples of Ziyang Palace noticed the Great Xia Sword Sect robes on them, a hint of haughtiness showed in their eyes. Suddenly, a shrill voice reached Li Guanqi's ears. "Sorry? You think an apology settles it?" "Hahahaha, get on your knees!!" Thud! The sound of a heavy impact against the ground rang out. "Do you have any idea how precious the dharma robe on me is?!" "Heheh, I hear that guy cares about you a great deal?" Having said that, the youth turned toward the others with a smirk, lowering his voice. "If I cripple you, do you think that blind man will go mad?" Following the sound, Li Guanqi arrived just in time to see a youth clad in cyan robes pressing his foot down on Yu Sui'an's cheek, grinding it hard into the earth. A venomous, vicious look contorted the youth's face. He was lean, with slightly high cheekbones and narrow, sinister eyes. His cyan robe shimmered with a faint luster, yet a distinct grease stain marred the lower hem. Nearby, quite a few Ziyang Palace disciples sneered in mockery. "Look at that wild brat in her floral-quilted coat. Who knows where she crawled out from—maybe she's some bastard child, hahahaha!" "Dressed like a pauper. Who knows where she came from, yet she dared to run into Senior Brother Pang Li." "Senior Brother Pang Li's dharma robe was personally bestowed by Elder Li. He only just put it on, and now it's soiled. No wonder his temper flared." Listening to the mocking words, Yu Sui'an's eyes grew red, and she glared fixedly at him. "I didn't dirty it!! You're framing me!! "You saw me coming and poured it on your own clothes on purpose!!!" Seeing her defy him, the youth raised his right hand to deliver a slap, barking curses: "Hahaha, and what if I am framing you?! What can you do about it?!!" Smack!! Thud!! Just as that palm was about to strike, Pang Li suddenly felt his wrist seized violently in a vice-like grip!! Pang Li whipped his head around to look at the white-robed Li Guanqi, his eyes narrowing to slits. He sneered, "Who are you?" Li Guanqi looked down and saw Yu Sui'an's wrist, bruised red from being pinched, and said softly, "Great Xia Sword Sect, Li Guanqi." With that, beneath the stunned gazes of the Ziyang Palace disciples, Li Guanqi directly took out nearly a hundred low-grade spirit stones and dumped them onto the ground. *Gulp...* "Since when were disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect so rich?" "He casually tossed out a hundred spirit stones? Could he be a core disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect?" Pang Li watched coldly, then glanced down at his pinned wrist without a word. Having done this, the look in Li Guanqi's eyes turned chillingly cold. "Regardless of whether she dirtied it or not, these spirit stones... consider them compensation for cleaning your dharma robe." Hearing this, Pang Li showed a mocking sneer. He looked down and brushed his clothes nonchalantly, though a flicker of regret flashed in the depths of his eyes. He had originally intended to cripple the little girl to disturb Li Guanqi's state of mind; he had not expected him to arrive so quickly. He had been keeping an eye on this little girl for several days, discovering that she shared an extraordinarily close bond with Li Guanqi. *What a pity...* "Tsk, just these few spirit stones... what do you take me..." Bang!! Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, Li Guanqi lashed out with a brutal kick straight into Pang Li's abdomen! The kick carried tremendous power, sending Pang Li's body flying dozens of feet like a battered sack—and that was with Li Guanqi holding back his strength. Li Guanqi gently rubbed Yu Sui'an's arm, blowing on it softly to soothe her. "It's all right now. The blind man is here." Tears welled in Yu Sui'an's eyes, and she nodded, her mouth trembling into a pout. Li Guanqi slowly rose to his feet, his frigid voice enunciating each syllable: "The matter of the dharma robe is settled. "Next is the matter of you bullying my sister." Leading Yu Sui'an by the hand, Li Guanqi walked over step by step until he stood beside Pang Li, looking down at him as he asked in an icy voice: "A duel to the death. Do you accept?"