Breakthrough! Body Integration Realm!

Rumble! Rumble! Above the two of them, the lightning nearly merged into an unbroken sheet. The terrifying bolts measured a full ten zhang across, rendering the silhouettes suspended in midair infinitesimally small. Li Guanqi flicked his tongue over his dry, cracked lips. Holding his sword in both hands, his aura surged to its absolute peak in an instant! Dong! The void shattered, and he shot straight up into the clouds! Lu Wuhen took a different approach. Treading the empty air, he remained rooted where he stood, his spirit, energy, and will peaking as he gripped his sword in both hands. Facing the massive bolt of lightning, Lu Wuhen unleashed a terrifying sword ray that sent a shudder even through Li Guanqi's heart! Li Guanqi's expression remained unchanged. With both hands on his hilt, violent primal energy abruptly erupted as he slowly raised his blade toward the heavens. His bearing mirrored the sword strike that had once severed the domain boundary when possessed by the sword spirit. "Apocalypse: World Extinction!" Boom! Two terrifying lightning sword rays rose straight from the ground, forcefully cleaving that massive pillar of lightning in two down the center. Stray lightning ceaselessly washed over Li Guanqi's body. With a ferocious snarl, Li Guanqi opened his mouth and roared, his eyes bloodshot. "Ahhh!" "Ahhhhh!" The sword ray did not lose its momentum, cutting straight through the enormous thundercloud overhead! The dense, suffocating crimson cloud layer was severed in two. Dissipating lightning pierced Li Guanqi's flesh, but he trapped it ruthlessly within his body to refine it. Suddenly, a thick, heavy pressure of heaven and earth enveloped the blood-drenched Li Guanqi! At the same time, Li Guanqi froze slightly, looking momentarily dazed. Nangong Xuandu narrowed his eyes, a faint smile touching his lips as he murmured softly, "What a formidable heavenly bestowal!" Not just Li Guanqi—Lu Wuhen, whose entire body was charred black, was the same. A dense, swirling mist of light enveloped him as well. Separated by a thousand zhang, their respective auras shattered through their shackles at this very instant, fully stepping into the early Body Integration Realm! Weng! A suffocating pressure erupted from both of them! Violent auras burst forth from their bodies, one golden pillar of light and one purple rocketing straight into the sky! And at this moment, Li Guanqi fully touched upon the shadowy outline of the Sword Soul Realm. The reason he could grasp the threshold of the Sword Soul Realm was, first, his consummate mastery of the Sword Heart Realm. Second was the sword spirit's guidance. But most crucial of all was that during the heavenly bestowal, he had entered an epiphany. Intricate, complex crimson patterns gradually surfaced across Li Guanqi's back and shoulders, and as he broke through to the Body Integration Realm, one of these patterns dissolved away! Of the seals placed upon him, only two blood marks remained! Whoosh! Li Guanqi snapped his eyes open. Two streaks of lightning flashed and vanished as his aura violently flared! Lu Wuhen's wounds were also rapidly healing, his eyes tightly closed as if savoring the feeling. The light at the tip of his sword grew brighter and brighter, and the sword intent around him surged fiercely, yet he still could not break through that final barrier. Feeling the boundless strength and vibrant vitality within him, Li Guanqi could not help but marvel... He had just turned thirty-one, and already possessed a lifespan of ten thousand years? Yet only he knew that his divine soul remained flawed—like a round piece of porcelain missing a chip no larger than a mung bean. Though small, it still existed. However, such a flaw would not hinder his battle strength! Watching Lu Wuhen clench his fists across the distance to gauge his newfound power, Li Guanqi took a step forward. That single step crossed a distance of a thousand zhang without disturbing space in the slightest, bringing him noiselessly right in front of Lu Wuhen. With a casual sweep of his sword, violent lightning energy surged forth. His primal energy flowed as naturally as moving his own limbs, without the slightest friction. His meridians, tempered by the celestial lightning, had become thick and resilient; the power behind this strike was many times greater than before. Lu Wuhen, initially brimming with confidence, drastically paled the moment he felt the force of this sword strike! Rumble! Raising his sword, he forced his way through the sword ray, but his body was blasted backward like an artillery shell! Bang! Boom! Lu Wuhen crashed violently through a mountain peak, ending up lying in a deep crater with blood spilling from the corners of his mouth, his internal organs displaced. He stared at Li Guanqi in sheer terror, his gaze filled with disbelief. Looking down at the bone-deep wound across his chest, he could not help muttering, "Impossible... How could he be this strong?!" A cold sneer touched Li Guanqi's lips. The vast majority of the heavenly bestowal he received upon breaking through to the Body Integration Realm had been channeled into the sword spirit. The sword spirit's power had surged dramatically in an instant, and even her projection in the Sword Ruins had grown far clearer. To the point that the Red Lotus was currently trembling slightly, struggling to bear the weight of her might. Right now, Li Guanqi felt as though the power inside him was inexhaustible. He instantly shifted the circulation method of his cultivation technique, switching to the simpler, more brutal Ancient Clan method. Refusing to accept defeat, Lu Wuhen leaped from the deep crater, his sword flaring with blinding crimson radiance as he unleashed a sky full of sword rays! Terrifying sword rays tore through the heavens, filling the space around Li Guanqi with thousand-zhang fissures that sought to swallow him whole. Li Guanqi held his sword with both hands. Behind him, a terrifying crimson phantom abruptly manifested. The phantom was around a zhang tall; its full appearance could not be discerned, nor could one tell what it was. Yet the moment that phantom appeared, Li Guanqi's sword intent skyrocketed! Nangong Xuandu's eyes widened, and he breathed, "The rudimentary form of Sword Soul Realm sword intent! Isn't this kid's talent far too monstrous?!" Seeing this, Lu Wuhen sneered, "The threshold of Sword Soul Realm sword intent? Then I'll let you see what true Sword Soul Realm sword intent really is!!" Boom! The sword ray expanded with the wind. In an instant, the weather shifted across the sky and earth, wild gales whipping up clouds of gravel and shattered stone. A golden phantom of sword qi surfaced beside Lu Wuhen, and the violent sword rays grew even denser. Li Guanqi held his sword in both hands and stood motionless in midair. Lightning rampaged in every direction, cleaving that torrential rain of sword rays to nothingness in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, Lu Wuhen appeared directly before Li Guanqi, raising his sword with a ferocious expression and slashing toward him! This strike was exceedingly abrupt, its speed pushed to the absolute extreme! With no time to think, Li Guanqi raised the Yanluo Sword horizontally to block in front of him, while his left hand reversed the Red Lotus to stab straight at Lu Wuhen's throat! Clang! Screech! Sparks flew wildly. Yet at that exact instant, Li Guanqi caught the cold sneer playing on his opponent's lips. Clang! The moment Yanluo made contact with the tip of the Dengxian Sword, it was knocked from his hand and sent flying! Li Guanqi saw with perfect clarity that the instant the tip struck Yanluo's blade, the Yanluo Sword let out a mournful wail, and a soybean-sized chip shattered out of its edge! He sped up the thrust with his left hand, but Lu Wuhen had anticipated it; twisting aside, the blade only grazed his shoulder, slicing away a sliver of flesh!