This sight only stoked the fury of the watching cultivators!
Nearly five hundred cultivators had gathered here.
Yet the two disciples of the Ancient Clan showed such a fawning, bootlicking attitude only toward those three powerful old men.
However, the uprising Li Guanqi had expected did not occur.
"Those three are... mighty Void Refining Realm experts?"
"They must be! Why else would those two be so attentive? Look at them—acting like they've just seen their own fathers."
"Sigh, well, those three seniors certainly won't be affected by this."
"Indeed. In the end, the Six Ancient Sacred Sect and the Ancient Clan will probably entertain them with utmost hospitality. It never hurts to curry a bit of favor."
"I wonder if those three experts have any disciples to inherit their mantles?"
"Pfft, don't even dream about it with someone like you. Even a dog would be picked before you."
Listening to these murmurs around him, Li Guanqi felt somewhat helpless.
Why did these people take it for granted that the three Void Refining Realm cultivators deserved such special treatment?
They did not utter even a single word of complaint.
Li Guanqi cast a slight glance behind him. At some point, Kong Xun had left the other two behind and come to his side.
Noticing Li Guanqi's expression, Kong Xun cupped his hands and said softly, "Fellow Daoist."
After a moment's hesitation, Kong Xun spoke again.
"Does Fellow Daoist find this somewhat unbelievable?"
Li Guanqi paused slightly. "What do you mean, unbelievable?"
Kong Xun pointed at himself and smiled. "Unbelievable how people like us think."
Li Guanqi nodded. Watching the Ancient Clan youth bowing and leading the three old men through the grand gate, he replied, "A bit, yes."
Kong Xun pondered for a long while, staring at Li Guanqi with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Finally, he said via voice transmission, "Perhaps in Fellow Daoist's mind, when encountering such injustice, one ought to resist."
"And perhaps you feel that resisting is only natural and right."
Li Guanqi nodded slightly.
Kong Xun continued through voice transmission, "However, the reason you have such thoughts, Fellow Daoist Li, is likely because you possess the strength to demand that so-called justice!"
Li Guanqi turned to look at the young man beside him.
Kong Xun did not look back. He merely watched the three mighty Void Refining Realm elders soaring through the sky with their heads held high as if it were only their due, never even deigning to cast a glance at the crowd below.
A self-deprecating smile touched Kong Xun's face. "And the reason we never harbor such thoughts is that we lack the strength and standing to reason with others."
"Hierarchy has always existed."
"Sometimes, perhaps Fellow Daoist has simply never experienced it."
"Take these Void Refining Realm experts, for instance. Even the Ancient Clan dares not offend them lightly; instead, they will exhaust every means to win them over and curry favor."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi showed a thoughtful look. In truth, he had never felt much of this dynamic himself.
After all, whenever he went to a faction, he was either there to kill people or on the way to kill people...
As for the other sects, when he looked back carefully, it truly was so.
A glint of sharpness flashed in the depths of Li Guanqi's eyes. To think he would actually learn quite a bit from a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Li Guanqi gave Kong Xun a deep look and said softly, "You saw through me?"
Kong Xun's expression stiffened slightly. Naturally, he knew Li Guanqi was asking how he had realized he was no ordinary person.
Kong Xun shook his head with a bitter smile. "I lack such ability. It was merely a gut feeling that Fellow Daoist is far from ordinary."
Li Guanqi smiled faintly. Casually slipping a Tianji jade pendant into Kong Xun's palm, he murmured, "I will contact you in the future."
Looking at the Tianji jade pendant in his hand, Kong Xun's heart pounded wildly!
*A Tianji jade pendant! Just who on earth is he?!*
*Gulp...*
A Tianji jade pendant was something not even one in a thousand Nascent Soul cultivators might possess!
It was not merely a symbol of wealth, but also proof that one's status, strength, or certain capabilities had earned the recognition of the Tianji Pavilion.
The Tianji Pavilion's intelligence was not something anyone could simply buy just because they wanted to!
Yet Li Guanqi had handed him a Tianji jade pendant so casually. In Kong Xun's eyes, Li Guanqi's identity grew vastly more mysterious!
Originally, Kong Xun was merely an outer consecrated elder of the Tian'e Sect, which was why core disciples like Pei Shishi treated him with such casual disregard.
Now that the Tian'e Sect was on the verge of being swallowed up by the Ancient Clan, if he could follow Li Guanqi, he would sever ties with the Tian'e Sect without the slightest hesitation!
Kong Xun cupped his hands, gave a slight nod, and inconspicuously tucked away the Tianji jade pendant.
Li Guanqi's mind stirred. *Investigate the background of Kong Xun from the Tian'e Sect. See if he is worth recruiting.*
Soon, Ji Yuchuan's voice resonated in Li Guanqi's mind.
"Understood, Pavilion Master. I shall report back to you in the time it takes an incense stick to burn."
Li Guanqi was very satisfied with Ji Yuchuan's and Su You's attitude toward him. On one hand, his actions within the Tianji Pavilion had earned their genuine admiration.
On the other hand, at the end of the day, it was the promise he had given them.
Once the three old men vanished into the light barrier of the grand gate, the crowd immediately grew restless once more.
The commotion reached a point where it could no longer be suppressed merely by the Ancient Clan disciple acting fierce.
Cold light flickered relentlessly in the gloomy-faced youth's eyes, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
Seeing that the situation was on the verge of spinning out of control, he was debating whether to forcefully strike and kill a few troublemakers to make an example of them!
Suddenly!
*Buzz!*
An incomparably immense pressure suddenly bore down from the mountain.
A deep voice rolled down from the summit.
"Enough!"
Resonating like a great bronze bell, the shout rang in everyone's ears!
At once, the uproar ceased, for the newcomer radiated the aura of a Void Refining Realm grand cultivator—someone none of them could afford to provoke!
Hearing this, the Ancient Clan disciple breathed a sigh of relief. Behind the grand gate, the barrier rippled slightly.
A tall youth with a sullen face strode out slowly.
A playful smile curled at the corner of Li Guanqi's mouth. The newcomer was none other than Sun Zhen, whom he had seen not long ago!
*To think that after I left, the Sun clan still didn't give up and came all the way from the Luoxia Domain to the Daochan Domain...*
Looking at Sun Zhen's stern countenance, the youth bowed and saluted. "Second Young Master."
Sun Zhen gave him an indifferent glance, then turned to look down upon the crowd, his voice heavy and firm.
"All cultivators, you may enter using your previously purchased tokens, but..."
"Each person must pay half of the original token fee as a supplement. That is our bottom line!"
"If you are unwilling, you may take your token, get a refund, and leave."
Sun Zhen's voice was steady and powerful, setting forth the terms clearly for both staying and leaving.
As soon as these words fell, much of the resentment among the cultivators dissipated. Although they still had to part with some additional spirit stones, at least their earlier spirit stones had not gone to waste. Nearly everyone agreed to this solution.
Only Li Guanqi's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at Sun Zhen, murmuring inwardly,
*The Sun clan... their ambitions are far from small!*
At this moment, Pei Shishi of the Tian'e Sect suddenly stepped forward. Taking flight through the air, she landed beside Sun Zhen, curtsied politely, and chuckled softly.
"You must be Second Brother, right? I am Pei Shishi of the Tian'e Sect—your elder brother's fiancée."
Chapter 701