Li Guanqi departed from the Golden Snake Sect, shrouded in a chilling murderous intent that kept everyone from daring to come even a fraction of an inch closer.
Fortunately, Elder Tu Shan was fundamentally unharmed.
If anything had truly happened to her, he would not have minded annihilating yet another sect...
At the thought of Sect Master Lu Kangnian finding out about this, a throbbing headache gripped his temples.
As he walked through the air, Li Guanqi's brows knit slightly. He reached out with his left hand, resting his palm against the woman's back.
A terrifying reservoir of primal energy poured into her body like a gentle trickle.
His formidable divine sense enveloped her completely, guiding the primal energy to clear her clogged meridians bit by bit.
It took an entire day and night for Li Guanqi to purge the congested channels within her.
He even went so far as to comb through and realign all the meridians in her body.
Sitting atop a mountain peak facing the setting sun, Li Guanqi exhaled wisps of turbid gray qi.
Strands of pure spiritual energy were drawn into his body like a pair of white dragons.
Even as he refined the spiritual energy, he continuously honed and perfected his two sword techniques in his mind.
Behind him, the woman lying on the grass slowly stirred awake.
Tu Shan was still clad in her tattered, aqua-blue robe.
"Who's there?!"
The moment Tu Shan opened her eyes, she realized she was in an unfamiliar place. Though dusk was gathering all around, it was no longer that rank, foul dungeon.
Hearing her call out, Li Guanqi rose and turned to look at her.
In that instant, Tu Shan felt as though her heart had stopped beating!
The young man before her radiated an irresistible, suffocating pressure.
Though he did nothing more than rise to his feet and stand there, his sheer presence inspired an inexplicable feeling of powerlessness in her.
A flicker of grief crossed her eyes. She gritted her teeth, a resolute wish for death flashing in her gaze.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi hastily spoke. "Li Guanqi, thirty-ninth-generation disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect, greets Elder Tu!"
The woman's retreating steps faltered. Her lovely eyes stared blankly at Li Guanqi, filled with disbelief.
"You say... you're a disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect?"
Seeing that she doubted him, Li Guanqi simply retrieved the jade pendant symbolizing his status as an elder and offered it to her.
Tu Shan drew the jade pendant across the air into her grasp. With a faint surge of primal energy, she confirmed at once that there was no question about his identity!
"You're...?!"
Li Guanqi nodded with a wry smile, pointing to his own face. "Traveling the world, I took on a different guise."
The woman let out a long breath. Only then did she realize that the meridians that had once been battered and blocked were now completely unobstructed.
Looking at Li Guanqi in astonishment, she asked, "You're the one who cleared my clogged meridians?"
Li Guanqi nodded with a smile. The woman murmured with deep emotion, "To think that in just over a decade, you've grown to such heights."
"To meet in the Luoxia Domain is truly the working of fate..."
Li Guanqi smiled. He hadn't expected to run into so many people tied to him in the Luoxia Domain either.
It left him rather puzzled.
"By the way, Elder Tu... why have I been running into so many familiar faces in the Luoxia Domain lately?"
"The Luoxia Domain is vast, and far from the Great Xia Domain. This isn't normal!"
Hearing this, Tu Shan relaxed completely and gave a soft chuckle.
"The Luoxia Domain is vast and sparsely populated, but its spiritual energy is dense."
"Because of that, many ferrymen from the Luoxia Domain travel to the Six Domains to ferry people across!"
A sharp glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes.
"You mean they're recruiting talent for the Luoxia Domain?"
Tu Shan nodded with a smile. "More or less."
Li Guanqi understood. No wonder...
Swish!
A storage ring appeared before the woman. Li Guanqi said with a smile, "Elder Tu, I'll stand guard for you nearby. Why don't you restore your realm first?"
The woman nodded with a smile, not turning down his goodwill.
Yet when she looked into the storage ring and saw the dense clusters of spirit stones packed inside, she was thoroughly stunned...
Though she had accumulated a fair share of cultivation resources over the years, where would she have ever seen thousands of high-grade spirit stones?...
Taking several deep breaths, she glanced at Li Guanqi, sat cross-legged where she was, and entered a meditative state.
Seeing that the woman had begun cultivating, Li Guanqi quickly pulled out a jade slip to report in.
"Ahem... Sect Master, I'm in the Luoxia Domain."
Before long, the jade slip began flashing with rapid, frantic light.
Li Guanqi held it a little further away...
"You little bastard, you finally remembered to let me know?!"
"Over a year!! It's been over a year without a damn peep from you!!"
"What the hell did you run off to the Luoxia Domain for?!"
Only after a long while did the shouting from the jade slip subside. Li Guanqi's eyes flickered, and he tentatively asked, "Did you break through?"
Lu Kangnian's voice carried a hint of swagger. "Nonsense, my talent is peerless. A mere year in seclusion was all it took to break through."
Li Guanqi's face darkened. "So you only just came out of seclusion?"
"Ahem... out with whatever fart you have to let."
"Uh... I ran into Elder Tu Shan."
Silence.
A few breaths passed before Lu Kangnian's deep voice slowly sounded.
"Good news or bad news?"
Li Guanqi grinned.
"Good news, of course. Would I dare mention it to you if it were bad?"
"Hahahaha, I knew you had it in you, kid."
"Well? Speak."
Li Guanqi recounted everything that had occurred from beginning to end. Lu Kangnian fell silent for a long time before finally speaking in a steady, solemn tone.
"Guanqi, thank you."
Holding the jade slip, Li Guanqi rubbed his nose, suddenly feeling unaccustomed to such earnest gratitude from the sect master.
Immediately after, Lu Kangnian's deep voice came through the jade slip once more.
"Tell her I want her back in the sect!"
"Huh?"
"Not just her. All the Great Xia Sword Sect disciples wandering outside, as well as our former elders—I want to call every single one of them back!"
Holding the jade slip, Li Guanqi's brow furrowed tightly!
This was no small matter...
Throughout the Great Xia Sword Sect's history, the number of disciples and elders who had departed was staggering!
Even including outer disciples and handymen, the current Great Xia Sword Sect numbered barely over three thousand people at most.
Yet if every last one of them were summoned back, the sect's numbers would multiply many times over!
At the very least, there would be no fewer than thirty thousand cultivators!
For such an immense host of cultivators, the daily consumption of resources would be an astronomical figure!
The resource problem was manageable enough; the Great Xia Sword Sect's Pill Peak had a formidable knack for turning a profit.
Besides, he had the backing of both the Treasure Pavilion and the Tianji Pavilion!
Though neither faction would unconditionally shoulder the Great Xia Sword Sect's resource drain, they could still form partnerships.
Li Guanqi frowned and pondered in silence for a long while.
He knew Lu Kangnian was not the sort of person who would make such a choice simply to expand his influence.
"Why?"
Atop Tianjian Peak in the Great Xia Sword Sect, Lu Kangnian, gentle as jade, sat amidst the clouds, holding a half-dead youth by the collar.
Tossing him casually outside the borders of the Great Xia Sword Sect, he lifted the jade slip and spoke in a quiet voice.
"Turbulence approaches the Six Domains. The Great Xia Sword Sect will never be able to stand aloof!"
"Rather than hiding away, we might as well rise, draw our swords, and let everyone see our fangs!!"
Chapter 663