When Meng Jiangchu returned bearing the gravely injured and comatose Li Guanqi, the entire Meng clan domain erupted into an uproar.
Many disciples of the younger generation idolized Li Guanqi as a revered powerhouse.
Over the years, through his sheer, terrifying strength, Li Guanqi had forged a formidable reputation that echoed across the Six Domains!
Among the disciples of every major sect and clan across the Six Domains, who did not know the renown of the Yanluo Sword, Li Guanqi?
And yet...
This time, Li Guanqi had been brought back personally by the Domain Lord—and critically wounded, at that!
"Heavens, who could possibly beat the Sword Venerable into such a state?"
"Could it be the chosen prodigies who have emerged from the Ancient Clans?"
No sooner had the woman gasped behind her hand than a stern-faced youth beside her spoke with a cold scowl.
"Impossible! Even if the chosen prodigies of the Ancient Clans ventured into the world, they would never be a match for the Yanluo Sword Venerable!"
Naturally irked at being rebuked for no reason, the woman snapped back, "Then who do you say it was?!"
The youth answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world: "It had to be an expert in the Body Integration Realm who struck!
"Otherwise, in a fight between equals in cultivation, there is no way the Yanluo Sword Venerable would lose!"
Hearing this, the woman rolled her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest, and sneered.
"A Body Integration expert? Why don't you just claim a Mahayana cultivator did it?
"If an expert in the Body Integration Realm had truly made a move, it would have been a devastating, overwhelming crush. How could he have gotten away with mere heavy injuries..."
Her implication was crystal clear: against an expert in the Body Integration Realm, someone in the Void Refining Realm would be completely overwhelmed.
There wouldn't have been the slightest sliver of hope for survival!
Meng Jiangchu had no mind to entertain such chatter. He had ordered a medicinal pool prepared well in advance, and he had even retrieved numerous priceless pills from the treasury to feed Li Guanqi.
Watching those pills unsealed one by one from their purple-gold jade caskets, Pengluo practically drooled.
Yet to the very end, Meng Jiangchu never offered it a single one.
Paddling around in the pool, Pengluo muttered under its breath, "Stingy little geezer..."
Floating on its back in the dark-green medicinal pool, Pengluo produced a kitchen cleaver from out of nowhere.
After rubbing the blade clean against itself, it sat up, scrambled onto the edge of the pool, snapped off a section of its own arm, and began shaving slices into the water.
When one section was shaved away, it snapped off another...
"Master, oh Master... why do your injuries get worse every single time?
"Just look at you—your face has gone completely dark.
"Sigh, if Brother Jiu found out, who knows what kind of fit he'd throw."
Perched by the pool's edge, Pengluo babbled on and on.
Yet Li Guanqi remained completely unconscious, unable to hear a word of Pengluo's display of loyalty.
Pengluo's cultivation realm hadn't advanced in the slightest during this time, but it had nourished its little body into tip-top shape.
It had no idea how long it would take for Li Guanqi to wake up.
Ever since Li Guanqi had fallen unconscious, however, it had not left the medicinal pool by half a step.
Watching this scene, even Li Changqing within the domain could not help praising the creature before Meng Jiangchu. "What a fiercely loyal spirit creature..."
Meng Jiangchu's mouth twitched as he looked up from a stack of clan affairs. He chuckled and scolded, "I might believe that if the little rascal wasn't sneaking gulps of the medicinal water!"
Li Changqing started in surprise; he hadn't noticed that at all.
Meng Jiangchu said exasperatedly, "That radish was shaving off slices with one hand while mumbling, 'I'd better drink a couple of extra mouthfuls to nourish myself'... If you don't believe me, go take a look for yourself."
Rendered utterly speechless, Li Changqing's cheeks twitched, and he let the matter drop.
Instead, his expression turned grave as he asked in a low voice, "Domain Lord, how did he suffer such terrible injuries this time?
"Who harmed him? The fiendish demonic qi pooled within him right now rivals that of an actual Abyss Demon, to say nothing of his near-depleted essence blood and shattered meridians...
"Had it been me... I likely would not have survived at all!"
At those words, Meng Jiangchu's countenance darkened completely. He slammed the jade slip in his hand onto the desk.
Looking at the dense sea of jade slips spread before him, a throbbing headache gripped his temples.
At least forty percent of these slips concerned the Sha organization; several clans and sects responsible for suppressing the Abyss Demons had already come under attack.
Though he knew the Seventh Domain had dispatched personnel, even this... was merely the outcome after Long Hou and the others had contained the situation!
It was terrifying to think how many clans and sects across the Shenbao Domain would have met with disaster had they not intervened in secret!
Closing his eyes and kneading the bridge of his nose, Meng Jiangchu murmured softly, "He was ambushed by three Mei-rank assassins from Sha."
Li Changqing frowned deeply, his tone turning frosty. "Mei rank? How does that compare to the Xuan rank from last time?"
Meng Jiangchu opened his eyes and said in a low voice, "Half-step Body Integration!"
"What! Mei rank is already at half-step Body Integration?"
"Then according to the order of Chi, Mei, Wang, and Liang, won't the ranks above be even stronger? Body Integration is a certainty, but could there even be... Mahayana cultivators?"
Li Changqing's voice trembled with sheer disbelief.
It was inconceivable that a sinister organization that had emerged out of nowhere could possess powerhouses of that caliber!
Leaning back in his chair, Meng Jiangchu tapped his fingers lightly against the desk and said coldly, "Presently, Sha is a thorn driven straight into the hearts of all six Domain Lords!"
Li Changqing sighed in wonder. "Since three half-step Body Integration powerhouses struck together, it is already an incredible feat that he held out and escaped with merely severe injuries."
The elder spoke this way precisely because he had crossed paths with Sha's assassins before.
Not to mention, Mei-rank assassins were far more formidable than Xuan rank; their methods and strength would only be deadlier than anything he had encountered.
A faint smirk curved Meng Jiangchu's lips. Looking at the elder, he said with palpable pride, "Who told you that I was the one who stepped in?"
The elder froze on the spot. After taking several moments to process what he had heard, he stared incredulously at the man and swallowed hard.
"Don't tell me... he was by himself... and killed three half-step Body Integration experts alone..."
Meng Jiangchu nodded. While infuriated by everything else going on, he couldn't help feeling immensely proud whenever this matter came up.
Li Guanqi was his son-in-law, after all. With such a magnificent feat of arms, he was naturally unsparing with his praise.
Seeing the man nod, the shock within the elder's heart reached its absolute zenith.
Even without witnessing the battle firsthand, he could deduce the truth well enough from the state of Li Guanqi's wounds.
It had undoubtedly been a horrific, life-and-death struggle of extreme peril!
"Phew... It truly makes one feel old! The youth these days are simply..."
Meng Jiangchu raised a hand to dismiss Li Changqing. Sitting back in his chair, he closed his eyes, his brow deeply furrowed.
"The Six Domains have begun descending into chaos.
"If things continue like this, I fear our only choice will be to ask the Ancient Clans to help suppress the Abyss Sealing Grounds!
"And if it truly comes to that, the Ancient Clans entering the secular world will inevitably clash violently with the existing clans and sects."
The man sighed and murmured softly, "When that time comes, who knows how many more lives will be lost."
With those words, Meng Jiangchu retrieved the pitch-black awl and murmured, "Just whose hand was behind that blood array? The mastermind controlling Sha?"
Chapter 721