A faint smile curled at the corners of Li Guanqi's lips. Even though he knew she could not see the sword spirit, he was still amazed by her sharp perception.
Hong Zhi looked at Li Guanqi and said softly, "I've heard about you from A Long. Not bad at all."
"My name is... Hong Zhi. You may call me Aunt Hong."
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. Offering a respectful bow with a faint smile, he said, "Junior Li Guanqi greets Aunt Hong."
Hong Zhi wore only a slight smile, yet her impression of Li Guanqi was quite favorable.
Li Guanqi straightened and relayed the sword spirit's words through voice transmission.
To his surprise, Hong Zhi's expression turned solemn, and she bowed respectfully. "Junior Hong Zhi will certainly not fail Senior's expectations!"
This sudden development startled Li Guanqi. He had not expected a figure like Hong Zhi to take the sword spirit's words so seriously!
With her hands clasped behind her back, the sword spirit gave Hong Zhi an indifferent glance before nodding with great satisfaction.
The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched, though he dared not show the slightest hint of it on his face.
Hong Zhi looked at him and said softly, "It was thanks to you and your companions that I was brought back this time."
Li Guanqi scratched his head and said gently, "Aunt Hong, please don't mention it... Truth be told, back then I just had a feeling you were on my grandfather's side."
"Also, Aunt Hong... who could have injured you so severely?"
Hearing this, Hong Zhi frowned slightly. A glint of killing intent flickered across her calm eyes, and she said coldly, "The leader of the Sha organization. Very strong! Extremely strong!"
At those words, Li Guanqi's breath hitched for several moments!
He had known that Sha was powerful—otherwise, Uncle Long and the others would not have intervened together.
Yet even a woman as powerful as the one before him had failed to capture or kill them?!
Hong Zhi said softly, "It's fine. You don't need to worry so much about that organization. We will handle it."
With that, the woman turned to glance at Ye Feng and the others.
"Those young brothers of yours are all quite good."
"A pity... not one of them studies the saber..."
Li Guanqi's eyes lit up, but then he curled his lip as if remembering something.
"Let's go over and see them."
Li Guanqi led the way by Hong Zhi's side as they walked toward the mountain peak.
Meanwhile.
Having survived the heavenly tribulation, Song Zhi'ang muttered in his heart as his eyes flickered, *How could I bear to hurt him?*
*You want to use me to harm him... How could I ever agree to that...*
*He can only belong to me...*
Just as Li Guanqi was introducing the people around him to Hong Zhi, her expression suddenly changed drastically!
Not only Hong Zhi—Ji Yuchuan's face darkened as well, the jade pendant in his hand flashing frantically.
At the exact same time.
The entire Great Xia Sword Sect territory trembled violently!
The ground quaked across an area spanning a thousand li in radius.
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth rampaged, and a mountain peak within the Great Xia Sword Sect suddenly exploded!
Li Guanqi's face changed drastically. He grabbed Ye Feng, who was meditating with closed eyes, and bolted.
As he ran, he shouted through voice transmission, "Old Lu!! The boundary of the Abyss Sealing Grounds has shattered! Come quickly!!"
"Uncle Xi! Brother Ji! Follow me!!"
"Old Third, Old Fourth, help me guard the sect!!"
"Pass the command: all disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect enter wartime readiness!! Raise the sect-protecting grand formation!!!"
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
The Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven was torn open, and everyone was thrown into chaos.
The disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect were stunned, their ears filled with one command after another issued by Li Guanqi.
All they could see was a mountain peak in their territory violently exploding, followed by sky-blotting pitch-black demonic qi surging forth.
At this moment, the sect was filled with countless experts. Over a hundred figures arrived via teleportation, exchanging glances with one another.
Without the slightest hesitation, they began joining forces to lay down an incomparably formidable sealing boundary.
At that moment, both Li Guanqi and Ye Feng wore grave expressions. Ye Feng had yet to completely refine the Geng Metal Spirit within his body.
Forcing his body to hold together, he handed the jade pendant fragment that served as the key to Li Guanqi and said in a heavy voice, "Boss... I... need a bit more time..."
Li Guanqi took the jade pendant fragment without a word and directly sent Ye Feng into his own domain.
He had already sensed that the seal he and Ye Feng had jointly placed was broken!
*Whoosh!*
Forcefully suppressing the fluctuations of his impending breakthrough, Lu Kangnian opened the boundary space together with Li Guanqi.
The instant it opened, boundless demonic qi and hundreds upon thousands of Abyss Demons rushed out!
Light flashed in Li Guanqi's left hand as the Moonlock Sword materialized in an instant. Within a single breath, he had assumed his Apocalypse form.
Amid flickering lightning, he single-handedly sealed all the escaping Abyss Demons within his Sword Prison space!
Lifting the sword in his left hand, he slashed downward while his right hand tore toward the sky. Thousands of thick bolts of lightning poured down in tandem, crashing like a torrential rainstorm.
"Moon Fiend: World Extinction!!!"
*Boom!*
Empowered by sword intent at the Sword Heart Realm, an impossibly swift sword ray flashed and vanished.
Drawn by this sword ray, the thousands of thunderbolts crashed down in its wake.
*Rumble!*
This single strike completely purged all the low-tier Abyss Demons within the Sword Prison space!
Even Hong Zhi could not help but feel her heart shake at the sight.
*Is this... a sword strike swung by him?! What terrifying strength!!*
*No wonder he could fight three opponents at once and slay three Mei rank assassins!*
*Such power is far greater than mine was back then.*
Hong Zhi tilted her head slightly and sent a quiet voice transmission, "A Long, what on earth happened?"
His eyes shut tight, Long Hou looked extremely grim.
In a heavy voice, he replied, "Hong Zhi, almost all the Abyss Sealing Grounds across the Six Domains ran rampant at the same time. What's more... nearly seventy percent of the clans and sects suppressing the Abyss Sealing Grounds have fallen!"
"You and I must leave."
"A riot of this scale is no longer something that can be resolved by just the few of us. We must return to the Seven Domains as quickly as possible to see what the Domain Lord arranges."
Hong Zhi nodded, then looked at Li Guanqi and said softly, "Little fellow, I must take my leave."
Li Guanqi paused, then nodded without saying much.
Hong Zhi tilted her head in thought, walked past Li Guanqi, and slowly approached the rift of the Abyss Sealing Grounds.
The moment her foot stepped onto the altar's rift, all the surging, spewing demonic qi seemed to be weighed down by something.
Hong Zhi glanced down, then turned her head and said, "Not bad. You can handle the strongest ones."
"That little fellow over there, come seal this."
Xi Yunhuai swallowed hard and scampered over to reinforce the seal. Ji Yuchuan also began inscribing sealing talismans and affixing them along the edge of the altar.
Outside, the sky was still shrouded in demonic qi, but not a single Abyss Demon or wisp of demonic qi surged from the rift.
No one on the outside knew that the broken seal was able to remain so tranquil simply because a woman had placed one foot upon it.
Once the seal was reinforced, Hong Zhi nodded to Lu Kangnian, then looked at Li Guanqi.
"A Long is waiting for me. I must return."
With that, she left a jade slip for Li Guanqi, turned around, and departed.
After the woman left, Lu Kangnian's expression remained grim as he said, "The Great Xia Domain... has fallen!!"
"The Qingyun Continent and Lingxu Continent are already plunging into utter devastation..."
*Hoo...*
Lu Kangnian took a deep breath, turned around, and commanded in a frigid voice, "The entire sect hear my command!!"
"Form groups of one hundred and rush to reinforce the clans and sects across the four domains of Qingyun Continent!! Slay the Abyss Demons!"
Li Guanqi took a long, deep look at Lu Kangnian. Perhaps this was the very reason Li Guanqi respected him from the bottom of his heart.
He... truly cared for the world!
At a time like this, the Great Xia Sword Sect could easily have seized the opportunity to rise, holing up within their sect and ignoring everyone else's plight!
Chapter 761