Looking for "You"

Upon hearing this, the old man immediately knitted his brows, unable to understand why Qin Wushang had traveled thousands of li from Qin Imperial City to the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect to look for Ye Bingxin. Even so, he offered a polite smile. "Young Master Qin, the Saintess attended the auction in your city and has yet to return. Why not come inside and rest for a while?" Qin Wushang walked past the elder and sat down directly atop the mountain gate of the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect. Resting his foot on the head of a flood dragon carving, he flipped back the hem of his robe and pulled out a flagon of wine. "No need. I'll wait for her right here." The elder's eyelids twitched at the sight, but given the young man's background... Helpless, the elder could only report the matter up the chain. Sipping his wine, a faint glint flickered in Qin Wushang's profound eyes. He drank extremely slowly, clearly lost in thought about something else. Elsewhere, the auction house attendants had placed Zhao Zongcheng, Meng Jiangchu, and the others in the same room. Meng Jiangchu and Gu Changsheng were frantically trying to contact Li Guanqi and Gu Li, but found it impossible to reach them. At that moment, Li Guanqi was racing back to the Great Xia Sword Sect at full speed, having no time to check the messages in his storage ring. Buzz—! Swish! The moment Li Guanqi emerged from the cross-domain teleportation array, he crushed several teleportation scrolls in quick succession. Enveloped in silver light, he reappeared in the sky above the Great Xia Sword Sect. The unconscious Gu Li's aura had grown exceedingly faint. Sensing Li Guanqi's presence, Lu Kangnian was momentarily taken aback. Li Guanqi had only just left; how was he back already? "Greetings, Elder Li—" Whoosh! Li Guanqi carried Gu Li straight into the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven. No sooner had he entered than Ye Feng arrived. Seeing the blood staining Li Guanqi's clothes, Ye Feng knitted his brows, then looked at Gu Li, who lay severely wounded and unconscious in his arms. "Big Brother, what happened?" "No time to explain. Get Sun Miao over here, and bring that purple-skinned ginseng too." With a solemn nod, Ye Feng complied. After Sun Miao examined Gu Li, the alchemist breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Rest assured, young friend. His life is not in danger. They're mostly superficial wounds; his foundation wasn't damaged. "I'll fetch some medicinal pills right away, and freshen up the medicinal pool while I'm at it." Gathering up the hem of his robe, the old man rushed off, well aware of what took priority. Only after lowering Gu Li into the medicinal pool did Li Guanqi breathe a little easier. Sun Miao returned and began tossing precious heavenly and earthly spirit herbs into the pool while heating the water with flames. Just then, Cao Yan's eyelids fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes. An immense, formidable pressure erupted in an instant. Yet the pressure vanished just as quickly as it had come, like a flash of lightning slicing through the night sky. A fiery light flared in his deep eyes! When Cao Yan opened his eyes and saw Ye Feng and Li Guanqi by the edge of the pool, he froze for a moment. Turning his head, he noticed several figures in the water: Xiao Chen, Li Congxin, Zhou Shiyu, Jiuxiao, and Pengluo. In the center lay a stranger who looked gravely injured. Beside the pool, a purple-skinned ginseng held a small dagger and was diligently slicing pieces off itself, its posture and expressions virtually identical to Pengluo's. Shaking off the grime coating his body, Cao Yan rose, flickered over to Li Guanqi's side, and grinned. "Boss, what happened here?" He pointed at Gu Li with a puzzled look. After all, he had never seen the man before, though he could sense his strength. Li Guanqi's expression was grim. Before he could speak, Xiao Chen surged upright in the pool and stretched lazily. "Hahahaha! Young Master is back from the dead!" "Huh? Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, are you all waiting for me?" "Damn, who's this bloody mess of a guy?" Drawn by the stirring of qi, Zhou Shiyu slowly opened his eyes as well. Two glints of light shot from his gaze; his cultivation had completely stabilized in the late Void Refining Realm, faintly bordering on the peak. He looked around at the circle of people with some confusion. With several pairs of eyes staring straight at him, he felt rather embarrassed. "Uh... Brother Li." After changing into clean clothes, Xiao Chen reached out a hand to pull Zhou Shiyu up. Grinning broadly, he said, "Not bad, Old Zhou! Second Brother told me all about it. You're fierce." Zhou Shiyu scratched his head awkwardly. None of the fellows before him were weaker than he was. Xiao Chen might look harmless, but his spearmanship was extraordinary. Even though he had lost, his strength was not to be underestimated! Zhou Shiyu also changed his clothes, feeling completely refreshed. Even the old ailments within his body had largely healed. Evidently, the Great Xia Sword Sect had treated him generously after he was injured, sparing no precious treasures on his recovery. Li Guanqi had not expected all of them to wake at the same time. Holding nothing back, he recounted everything that had transpired. "By now, my father-in-law is probably going out of his mind looking for me. "In the end, if Gu Li hadn't used a Position-Swapping Talisman to switch places with me, the one lying in that pool right now would be me." Li Guanqi looked down at the thumb-sized corner of the talisman remaining in his hand, still bearing scorch marks... At the final moment, Gu Li had thrown out at least tens of thousands of defensive inscribed talismans to cocoon himself; otherwise, with his strength, he would have perished long ago under that bewildering, dense hail of sword light. Narrowing his eyes, Ye Feng said coldly, "The plot to frame Boss isn't clever, but it leaves you with no way to explain yourself. That makes it tricky!" Li Guanqi nodded. He knew full well that no amount of explaining would clear his name right now. Suddenly noticing how much the ginseng's size and appearance had changed, Li Guanqi frowned. "How did its cultivation progress so fast?" Ye Feng shrugged and said softly, "Senior Nangong gave Pengluo some spiritual liquid wine, and Pengluo gave it all to the ginseng." Li Guanqi nodded quietly. Stepping up to the purple-skinned ginseng, he said softly, "Thank you for your hard work. Once this storm passes, I'll make sure you and Pengluo are rewarded handsomely." Its eyes shining with delight, the ginseng rubbed against Li Guanqi's calf and handed him a slice of ginseng, gesturing for him to place it in Gu Li's mouth. Once he was certain Gu Li was safe, Li Guanqi looked at the brothers beside him and said, "Phew... Let's go. Come with me to talk things over with the sect master. "Old Zhou, come along with us." Zhou Shiyu hesitated briefly, but did not decline. On the way, Li Guanqi took out a jade slip and sent a voice transmission: "Father-in-law, I'm fine. Gu Li sustained some injuries, but nothing life-threatening. "A mysterious figure framed us. Zhao Bin was killed long before, but..." Li Guanqi explained how the mysterious attacker had used the seal to borrow someone else's knife. By the time he put away the jade slip, they had arrived outside Lu Kangnian's study. Seeing that everyone had recovered from their injuries, Lu Kangnian breathed a sigh of relief, though he could sense that something grave had occurred. Once seated, Li Guanqi brought out Zhao Bin's corpse and gave a brief summary of what had happened. Lu Kangnian spoke with a dark look on his face. "The Ethereal Immortal Domain... I recall hearing sect seniors mention it in the past. "The Zhao family belongs to the Ancient Clan. Could someone be trying to stir up conflict between the Great Xia Sword Sect and the Ancient Clan?" Li Guanqi pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Unlikely. If they wanted to stir up a feud between us and the Ancient Clan, killing Lu Wuhen during the arena wager would have been the easiest trigger! "A mere Zhao family doesn't carry enough weight." Pausing briefly, Li Guanqi frowned in perplexity. "Yet who could command a late Body Integration Realm almighty expert to pull this off? "And what is the mastermind's true goal...?" At the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect. Qin Wushang slowly rose to his feet as he watched two figures flying back in the distance. Her expression cold, Ye Bingxin slightly furrowed her delicate brows upon seeing Qin Wushang atop the dragon gate. Beside her, the Dao protector elder looked even more displeased. Ye Bingxin demanded coldly, "Qin Wushang, what are you doing here?" The corners of Qin Wushang's mouth curled into an enigmatic, sinister smile. Staring intently at her with an inscrutable gaze, he spoke. "Naturally, I came looking for *you*... Ye Bingxin." He placed heavy emphasis on the word *you*. Ye Bingxin's brows furrowed.