The Lu Clan, Lu Tao!

Listening to Ji Yuchuan's words, Li Guanqi roughly understood what had happened. No wonder he had been unable to contact Xu Li the entire way here. It seemed their storage rings had all been confiscated... By then, others had also noticed the two figures standing in the void in the distance. At the center of the square, an old man whose limbs had all been broken lay prone on the ground, his breathing faint and weak. Fresh blood stained his white hair red and blurred his vision. Xu Li was waiting for death in despair. After all, with the Great Xia Sword Sect dispatching such a massive force of cultivators to reinforce allies across the realm, it was entirely possible no one would realize their group had run into trouble. Moreover, the moment these people from the Ancient Clan appeared, they had crushed everyone with overwhelming, irresistible force! The barrier laid down by the array plate made the jade slips in their hands utterly useless; not a shred of information could be transmitted outside. Zhou Canghua, Sect Master of the Qianlin Sect, slumped on the ground with old tears streaming down his face, his heart laden with guilt as he looked back at the disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect. Looking at the fading, dazed old man on the ground, he said in a trembling voice, "Brother Xu... it's... it's our Qianlin Sect that has drag—dragged you into this..." Xu Li gave a bitter laugh as he lay there. Just as he was about to speak, his blurred vision caught sight of two familiar figures. Unable to believe his eyes, he rubbed his head vigorously against the shoulder of his robe. At last... he could clearly see the figures drawing nearer and nearer. Beside him, Zhou Canghua was still railing against the Lu clan's atrocities in grief and fury. Yet Xu Li took a deep breath, looked back toward the comrades behind him, and murmured under his breath: "We're... saved. The sect... has never forgotten us!!" "We... are not disposable..." Looking at the despondent comrades behind him, in whose eyes flared a ferocious resolve to fight to the death, Xu Li suddenly surged with strength and bellowed, "Snap the hell out of it, all of you!!" "We have never been forgotten!!" Boom!! Listening to the old man's roar from inside the barrier, a nameless fury flared violently within Li Guanqi's heart. A terrifying pressure erupted in an instant. The void within a hundred zhang around him shattered violently, and the collapsing space finally drew the attention of the Ancient Clan cultivators. "Who goes there?!" "The Lu clan is conducting business here. Leave at once!!" "Piss off! Don't go looking for trouble." Sneering, many of them barked insults. But since the barrier blocked the pressure, how could they have felt it? Boom!! Li Guanqi raised a hand, drawing myriad bolts of lightning together. In the blink of an eye, a hundred-zhang lightning sword took shape. With a gentle flick of his palm— The hundred-zhang lightning sword cleaved straight down toward the barrier cloaking the sky above the Qianlin Sect!! "Hmph, overestimating yourself! You think a mere spirit sword of primal energy can break our Lu clan's Constellation Xuanwu Formation?" "Wait, why does that guy look familiar?" "He really has a death wish!" Yet in the very next breath, that thick, earthy-yellow barrier shattered with a deafening crash!! The sword light tore through the formation screen with crushing momentum; the barrier did not even hold for a single breath. Countless cultivators took flight, desperately fleeing the area covered by the sword light. As fragments of the barrier rained down from the sky, Li Guanqi strolled inside with Ji Yuchuan, completely composed and at ease. At this moment, the Lu clan's experts realized Li Guanqi had come with hostile intent. Drawing their sabers and swords, they barked coldly, "Move!! Take him down!" Boom!! Swish, swish, swish, swish!! In an instant, dozens of figures took to the air. Nearly all of them were Soul Formation Realm cultivators, and there was even one Void Refining Realm cultivator among them. Ji Yuchuan kept his hands slightly lowered, standing quietly beside Li Guanqi without making a move. Li Guanqi cast an indifferent glance around him. Immediately, a boundless momentum rivaling the pressure of heaven and earth erupted from his body!! Boom!! The moment that terrifying pressure manifested, the cultivators hurtling through the air plummeted from the sky like dumplings dropped into a pot. Their bodies slammed heavily into the ground, pinned down so completely by that momentum that they could not rise at all. The blue pavers on the ground shattered, fracturing for more than ten zhang around each fallen cultivator—a testament to just how immense the force was! Whether Soul Formation or Void Refining, not a single member of the Ancient Clan could withstand this pressure!!! Every one of them was forced to their knees, unable even to lift their heads!! Tap! Tap! Stepping across the blue pavers, Li Guanqi's eyes flickered with icy glints. He spoke softly: "Find someone who can stand on their feet to talk to me." As he spoke, a gentle power lifted all the Great Xia Sword Sect cultivators. He walked over to Xu Li, gently helped him up, and slipped a thin white slice into his mouth. In an instant, the old man's internal injuries began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye! Xu Li looked at Li Guanqi, his face flushed with emotion. Li Guanqi said softly, "You've suffered, Elder Xu." "It's Elder Li!! He came to save us!!!" Though the pressure around them was suffocatingly dense, they did not feel the slightest trace of it. Behind them, Ji Yuchuan threw out a golden talisman. As if resonating with something, the talisman tore a pitch-black rift directly through the void, constructing a silver spatial teleportation gate in the blink of an eye. Li Guanqi said softly, "Elder Xu, take everyone back to the sect first." Hearing this, Xu Li's brows shot up, and he said firmly, "No, we're not leaving!!" "How could we leave you to face the Ancient Clan alone?!" Li Guanqi smiled, and the pressure around him intensified further. The knees of the surrounding Lu clan members shattered completely. Their bodies sank three inches deeper into the ground. With his hands clasped behind his back, Li Guanqi said softly, "In that case, you might as well stay and watch." Li Guanqi turned his head toward the leading Lu clan elder, who was also the only Void Refining cultivator among them. However, he was merely an early Void Refining cultivator, completely incapable of contending with Li Guanqi. "Does no one in the Lu clan care whether you live or die?" "If that's the case, I'll start killing." Hearing that, the Lu clan elder sneered, "Kill us? Hahahahaha!!!" "Do you dare?!" "From the moment you showed up until now, all you've done is suppress—!" Splat!!!! The elder's arm flew through the air. Li Guanqi appeared before him in a flash. Holding the elder's severed arm, Li Guanqi slapped the old man's cheek with it, producing crisp smacking sounds. Li Guanqi crouched before him and asked softly, "Do you know why I haven't killed anyone until now?" "Did you think I was afraid?" As he spoke, he took out that small purplish-black tower. With just a gentle shake, chilling, curdling shrieks echoed from within. Li Guanqi placed the tower directly atop the elder's head. The frigid resentment radiating from it caused the old man to shudder uncontrollably. "I slaughtered the entire Liu clan. I killed Sun Tianqi and Sun Zhen of the Sun clan too." "The only reason I haven't killed anyone yet is solely because you haven't taken any lives from the Great Xia Sword Sect." "But... I have a rather contrary streak..." As he spoke, dozens of lightning swords materialized around him and shot toward the Lu clan cultivators with explosive speed!!! "Since you still don't care to show your face, then there's no need to ever meet, right?" Boom!!! Behind the elder kneeling before Li Guanqi, a cold-faced young man suddenly stepped forward. Raising a hand, he unleashed dozens of sword qi bursts that collided with the incoming lightning swords. Looking down at Li Guanqi, who remained crouched before the elder holding the severed arm, the young man's lips curled into a faint smile. "The Lu clan, Lu Tao."