Burning the Boats

"Hahahahahaha!" "Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Sun Tianqi unleashed his full aura, his presence as sharp and unyielding as an unsheathed blade. Deep within his eyes gleamed an immense, arrogant pride. Looking down disdainfully at the youth below, he said coldly, "Back then, I could have killed you, yet I spared your miserable life, merely breaking your leg. "Who would have thought... that a stray dog would find a leash and dare come back to bite me?" The corners of Sun Tianqi's lips curled into a sneer as he said chillingly, "In that case... today I will shatter your sea of consciousness and destroy your origin spirit!" As the words left his mouth, a formidable aura exploded instantly. The combined pressure from the two blasted everyone within a thousand zhang backward. This included Li Guanqi. *Thud!* A terrifying, muffled rumble echoed as the earth shook, and Zhou Shiyu, heavy sword in hand, slammed a step forward! At that moment, his crippled leg seemed not to hinder his movements in the slightest. The muscles on his right arm bulged. The heavy sword swept in a wide arc, hacking toward Sun Tianqi's head like a battleaxe! Li Guanqi clearly saw Sun Tianqi's pupils constrict at the strike. Shifting his footing slightly, Sun Tianqi raised his sword and tapped the spine of the heavy blade! *Clang!* Sparks burst, yet the trajectory of the heavy sword didn't change in the slightest! Sun Tianqi's expression shifted drastically. Hurriedly executing his movement technique, he barely dodged the blow! Sun Tianqi flew back dozens of zhang, his cheek burning with stinging pain. Reaching up to touch it, he found that a large patch of flesh on his cheek had been scraped away by the sword qi! "You... No, that's not right..." Sun Tianqi narrowed his eyes, muttering inwardly, *This guy's cultivation rose so quickly... What is that chain piercing through his heart?* The sight made even Li Guanqi's eyelid twitch. This man's strength could almost rival his own when fully executing the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art. Moreover, his speed was extraordinarily fast; had Li Guanqi not fully mastered his own movement technique, he might even have been a fraction slower. The aura as heavy as a mountain lent him an added air of steadiness. Yet Zhou Shiyu's aura was far, far stronger than when Li Guanqi had first met him... Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, staring at the chain that pierced through Zhou Shiyu's heart, and muttered, "A spirit treasure? "Still... to gain such terrifying power... what kind of price did he have to pay?" Li Guanqi could not fathom what kept the man going, driving him to do this even at such an enormous cost... He could feel the excruciating agony the crippled youth was enduring at this moment. The muscles twitching involuntarily trembled slightly, and a dense sheen of blood beads coated the surface of his skin. That was a sign that the meridians within his body could no longer withstand the force and were bursting. Though his complexion seemed flushed, the power inside him was on the verge of collapsing. Zhou Shiyu slowly raised his head to look toward the mountain gate of the Six Ancient Sacred Sect, murmuring softly, "All of this... was lost by my own hands... "Then... let me... take! It! All! Back!!" *Boom!* Violent waves of pressure surged and erupted one after another. The flagstones beneath the youth's feet shattered layer after layer! Sun Tianqi's gaze grew exceptionally solemn. He actually felt an overwhelming sense of oppression emanating from his opponent. Which meant... The cripple whose leg he had broken with his own hands now possessed strength and cultivation nearly equal to his own! Sun Tianqi narrowed his eyes, a cold sneer tugging at his lips. As the name rune on his brow flickered, he chanted under his breath. In an instant, a pillar of golden light descended from the heavens! In a flash, Sun Tianqi's aura skyrocketed to the pinnacle of the Void Refining Realm—half-step Body Integration! At this moment, only a thin sheet of paper separated Sun Tianqi's aura from the Body Integration Realm. Yet that sheet of paper stood before him like an insurmountable chasm. Relying purely on external power, he could never break through this barrier. Sand and rocks flew across the ground, and the heavens and earth shook violently. Howling gales rose in all directions as the space between them cracked and collapsed, their violent domain powers grinding against each other! *Whoosh!* Both figures vanished from where they stood, and radiant, violent sword light burst forth between heaven and earth. The terrifying gale made it impossible for the onlookers to keep their eyes open. Under that suffocating pressure, none could maintain flight; one after another, they descended onto the mountain peaks to watch. Only Li Guanqi remained, hands behind his back, standing proud and unyielding between heaven and earth. The terrifying sword qi dissipated automatically within ten zhang of him, and the howling gale whipped his white robes, making them snap loudly in the air. In the center of the battlefield, the two figures shifted and clashed, violent flashes of sword light colliding in a frenzy. Zhou Shiyu swung his heavy sword with roaring gusts of wind, each wide, sweeping blow carrying the momentum to cleave mountains and split the sky! Sun Tianqi's sword light was nimble and swift, but his right hand had long lost all feeling, the torn skin at the webbing of his hand splitting open all the way down to his wrist. Even so, he relied on his formidable primal energy to firmly suppress Zhou Shiyu. Gradually, Li Guanqi's brow furrowed. Under the empowerment of the name rune from invoking an immortal's name, Zhou Shiyu was gradually falling into a disadvantage. Wounds multiplied across his body, and the strength within him was visibly waning into exhaustion... Just then, countless figures suddenly took to the air from within the Six Ancient Sacred Sect! Among them were disciples from the sect's six divisions, as well as withered, white-haired elders. Every one of them looked at Zhou Shiyu with burning eyes. *Boom!* Zhou Shiyu knocked Sun Tianqi back with a single sword strike. The disciples showed excitement, their eyes shining as they watched him. However, some of the formidable elders could tell that Zhou Shiyu was already a spent force. Li Guanqi looked at the white-haired elder leading them. The elder's cloudy, yellowed eyes were filled with deep heartache. Deep within his sleeves, the elder's withered hands clenched tightly, and a sudden resolve for death flashed in his gaze... Li Guanqi's heart gave a jolt. A faint deathly qi drifted around this elder, making it obvious he had reached the twilight of his years, merely lingering on borrowed time. Early Body Integration Realm... *At this level of cultivation... why didn't he step in to stop the Sun clan?* *Or... did someone from the Sun clan warn the Six Ancient Sacred Sect?* While thoughts swirled in Li Guanqi's mind, Zhou Shiyu's body was sent flying backward! *Thud! Boom!!* His body slammed violently into a distant mountain peak, and the youth spat out a mouthful of blood. His body had reached its limit; a mist of blood erupted from his skin. The muscles across his entire body seemed to fracture, tearing into lacerations. The purple-robed elder closed his eyes in agony, his voice trembling as he muttered, "Shiyu... enough... let it end..." Zhou Shiyu lay limp in the crater, disheveled hair obscuring his face. Blood spilled from his lips, yet when he spoke, his voice was remarkably resolute: "M-Master... Zhou Shiyu's life... was given by the Six Ancient Sacred Sect. "Yet I lost the sect... Hahahaha..." As he spoke, Zhou Shiyu suddenly snapped his head up!