Gu Li's primal energy had fallen into complete disarray, and a violent aura of pressure churned in all directions.
His turbulent mental energy began to physically manifest the inscribed talismans being formed in his mind one after another.
The sheer number of these inscribed talismans was staggering; just glancing across the space revealed well over a hundred thousand spiritual glows from talismans flickering madly.
This meant that within Gu Li's sea of consciousness, the number of talismans manifesting simultaneously was even greater!
Li Guanqi had no time to ponder. Taking a deep breath, he drew Yanluo and slashed over a hundred sword strikes in an instant.
Yet Gu Li's talismans seemed endless. As soon as thousands were shattered, others instantly filled the gaps.
Li Guanqi's figure flashed dozens of times as afterimages shattered one after another in midair, punctuated by continuous explosions.
Flames pierced through his lightning armor, prompting Li Guanqi to curse under his breath, "Talismans of all five elements, and even mutated primal energy attributes..."
"Just how strong is this fellow's affinity with spiritual qi?!"
Countless talisman chains shot forward once more as Gu Li subconsciously directed the talismans with both hands to attack Li Guanqi.
The instant Gu Li raised his hand, the hairs on Li Guanqi's neck stood on end, and his scalp prickled with dread.
An overwhelming, surging tide of diverse talismans gathered together across the sky!
Even Meng Wanshu, usually aloof and unperturbed by the world, parted her lips in shock at the spectacle.
"The number of talismans... far exceeds a million!"
A vast sea of talismans threatened to swallow the entire domain!
Li Guanqi's heart nearly leapt into his throat. If such an enormous quantity of talismans detonated at once, the entire domain would be instantly annihilated!
Making his decision in a flash, Li Guanqi took a deep breath, his momentum surging to its pinnacle with a boom.
"Apocalypse: Yanluo Immortal Slayer!"
Boom!
A terrifying ray of sword light shot forth, and Li Guanqi flitted forward right behind it, concealed within the glare.
The sword light was not aimed at Gu Li; instead, it soared right over his head.
The lightning-strewn sword light cleaved open the sea of talismans, setting off a continuous chain reaction of furious detonations.
As the talismans lit up one by one, Li Guanqi felt a sudden jolt in his chest and accelerated even further.
At last, he clearly saw the inscribed patterns on the final sheet of talisman paper.
Without hesitation, Li Guanqi pulled back thousands of zhang in an instant.
Yet the moment he disengaged, the vast sea of talismans seemed to lose its spiritual vitality, instantly retracting into thin air.
Li Guanqi was covered in blast wounds, dripping with blood.
His lightning armor had long since shattered into fragments. Standing in the distance, he gasped heavily for air.
He had never imagined a talisman master could be so formidable.
Their physical bodies were frail, and their primal energy was comparatively weak.
Yet today, Gu Li had completely overturned his perception of talisman masters.
Under the coverage of such terrifying mental energy, Gu Li's manipulation of talismans was breathtakingly fast.
Even the simplest Seventh-Grade Exploding Talisman unleashed unimaginable might when combined through the five elements.
An endless, boundless sea of talismans was truly a sight of despair.
No wonder Gu Li never stopped drawing talismans—just a few breaths of battle had consumed tens of thousands of them.
The sword spirit's voice echoed softly in his mind. "That will do."
Soon, the sword spirit's power surged through Li Guanqi's body, and a glint of crimson flashed across his pure white eyes.
Slowly raising his finger, he traced an outline through the empty air!
Lightning gathered at his fingertip, and a profoundly esoteric aura radiated from the spiritual patterns of the thunderous inscribed talisman.
Li Guanqi's body trembled slightly, as though every stroke he drew subjected him to immense agony!
Standing beside him, Meng Wanshu looked on with worry in her beautiful eyes.
She wanted to help, but upon sensing how strange Li Guanqi's aura had become, her outstretched hand froze in place.
She knew that at this crucial moment, she could not touch him under any circumstances.
With great difficulty, Li Guanqi completed a third of the talisman. The fluctuations stirred by his work quickly drew Gu Li's attention.
Gu Li rose dazedly, looked around, and finally fixed his gaze on the lightning talisman being drawn before Li Guanqi.
Although Li Guanqi did not know the deeper significance of this talisman, the fact that the sword spirit needed to draw it through his hands proved it was extraordinary.
In a flash of teleportation, Gu Li appeared before Li Guanqi, his bloodshot eyes staring intently at Li Guanqi's every move.
For a moment, his mental energy surged wildly, and the spiritual glows of hundreds of thousands of inscribed talismans manifested simultaneously in the void!
Amidst the flashing spiritual lights, Gu Li was actually deducing the subsequent spiritual patterns of the talisman on his own!
Suddenly!
Another talisman light flared brilliantly, shattering the other runes around it. When it reformed, it was already deducing the next phase based on that brilliant light.
And the strokes Li Guanqi laid down matched Gu Li's deductions perfectly!
Gradually, Li Guanqi's aura grew weaker and weaker. Even with his current realm of cultivation, the strain was becoming unbearable.
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth, refusing to slacken in the slightest. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and cold sweat drenched his forehead.
After another moment, only the final three strokes remained.
Gu Li's eyes were wide, crimson with an insatiable hunger for the Dao of talismans.
Finally, the moment Li Guanqi finished the last stroke, his sea of consciousness was completely drained.
His head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy sledgehammer. His eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious.
Meng Wanshu gently caught Li Guanqi around the waist, while Gu Li stood frozen in midair, his eyes vacant and dazed.
He murmured under his breath, "So... that's how it is... That's how it is!"
"Hahahaha, I understand! I understand! So that's how it is!"
Boom!
In an instant, Gu Li's aura surged upward, stopping only at the peak of the early Body Integration Realm, just a single step away from breaking through to the mid Body Integration Realm.
At the same time, his sea of consciousness—already terrifyingly vast—expanded once more.
The multitude of rune lights behind him finally formed into the shape of the talisman Li Guanqi had drawn, and began gradually evolving into other talismans.
Only at this moment did the spirited youth come back to his senses.
Looking at the domain frozen over thousands of li, he stood there completely baffled.
Then he looked down at the shattered crater beneath his feet, saw Li Guanqi covered in blood and unconscious, and looked up at the spiritual patterns of the lightning talisman floating in midair close at hand.
Gu Li immediately understood what had transpired.
Guilt welled up within him as he regained his clarity. At a total loss, he hurried over to Meng Wanshu, nervously clutching the hem of his robe with both hands.
His eyes were full of worry as he apologized profusely.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I had no idea things would turn out like this..."
"In that state, everything I did was completely unconscious. I... Is Brother Li all right?"
Meng Wanshu did not blame him. She merely signaled with her eyes that there was no need to worry, resting Li Guanqi against her shoulder before speaking.
"He's fine. The only reason he went this far is because you once treated him well."
"He believes it was worth it. There's no lasting harm; he has simply exhausted his mental energy."
Hearing this, Gu Li let out a sigh of relief and scratched his head. "I have pills here that can restore divine sense. We can give them to Brother Li."
With that, Gu Li produced a purple crystal jade case containing ten eighth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pills!
Meng Wanshu gave no thought to how precious these pills were; she merely felt that Gu Li was a good-natured person who was willing to give freely.
Even pills worth a fortune could not outweigh the guilt in his heart.
Reaching out, she took the pills, placed one into Li Guanqi's mouth, and said softly, "All right, let us go outside."
As her words fell, the frozen world beneath them instantly returned to normal.
Chapter 852