In the end, Li Guanqi could no longer endure the bickering among these elders.
Several old men were arguing so fiercely that they were on the verge of coming to blows right then and there.
Taking Meng Wanshu by the hand, Li Guanqi rose to his feet. "Gu Li, take us on a walk. There's nothing here that needs us anyway."
Setting down his talisman brush, Gu Li chuckled. "Right away. I've been wanting to slip out for a while now."
With that, he turned toward Xiang Huaizhi, bowed, and said, "Uncle Xiang, I'll take them out for a breath of fresh air, alright?"
Xiang Huaizhi was also locked in a heated shouting match with Han Yuan and the others. Without even turning his head, he simply waved a dismissive hand, gesturing for them to hurry up and get lost.
Only after Gu Li led the two outside did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. He glanced at Li Guanqi, pondering for a moment.
"I know of a thunder pool in the void that has gathered energy for a thousand years. Want to put Jiuxiao in there?"
Li Guanqi's eyes lit up. He already had more than enough medicinal pills to treat Jiuxiao's injuries.
If the dragon could soak in a thunder pool, it would naturally be ideal; Jiuxiao could absorb the power of lightning to help refine and assimilate the energy inside its body.
Gu Li grinned, flicking out inscribed talismans that attached to the two of them.
Silver light flared around the three of them, and their figures vanished instantly.
Not long after departing the Gu clan domain, the trio arrived in a stretch of the void.
Rumble!!
Thunder boomed in violent claps as rampant lightning coalesced a thousand zhang away.
A massive, dense thunder pool spanning a full thousand zhang came into view.
Sensing the immense, crushing pressure radiating from the thunder pool, Li Guanqi's eyes gleamed as he murmured, "What a great place! How did you know about this spot?"
Hearing that, Gu Li proudly waved the inscribed talisman in his hand and chuckled. "Did you think the talisman stuck on you merely crossed a distance?"
Li Guanqi closed his eyes to sense their surroundings and only then discovered that the three of them were actually inside an independent pocket domain!
This domain was nestled in an interdimensional layer, making it extraordinarily well hidden.
A playful smirk touched the corners of Li Guanqi's mouth, and he murmured softly, "I didn't realize the Gu clan's foundation ran so deep."
Gu Li pointed to himself with a smile and retorted in mock exasperation, "Did you forget what our clan does? This thunder pool was formed from accumulated pill tribulations. It's wonderfully beneficial for tempering the physical body. Want to hop in and take a soak? Just don't go into the center. The lightning in the central hundred zhang was all left behind from my dad refining grade-eight pills..."
Li Guanqi had not felt particularly tempted at first, but hearing this immediately piqued his interest.
He rubbed his palms together, eager to give it a try.
Turning around, he brought out three massive jade bottles and tossed them to Gu Li.
Gu Li froze when he saw the waist-high bottles, but then, as if realizing what they were, an expression of ecstatic joy broke across his face!
Catching the jade bottles, he could hardly wait to pop open the stopper, and a dense, oppressive dragon might slowly unfurled into the air.
Gu Li stammered, "T-True dragon blood!! You're really giving this to me? But isn't Jiuxiao injured? Can you really spare this? No, no... how can I accept this?!"
Li Guanqi laughed. "Keep it and don't worry. This was all shed from Jiuxiao's wounds; I didn't draw it from him."
Only then did Gu Li breathe a sigh of relief. He had thought Li Guanqi bled the dragon just for him, which had scared him half to death.
Swish!!
Jiuxiao's colossal form materialized in the void.
During the earlier shockwaves of battle, Meng Wanshu had shielded Jiuxiao long ago. Now, the moment Jiuxiao appeared, its draconic eyes snapped open.
Those frigid dragon eyes glared wrathfully at Gu Li standing nearby.
Without a word, Gu Li noisily whipped out over a dozen jade caskets, tossing shimmering, radiant pills toward Jiuxiao as though they cost nothing.
Jiuxiao hesitated briefly at first, but as the rich aroma of the flying pills reached its snout, it instinctively opened its maw and gulped them down.
Gu Li threw pills while shouting, "Brother Jiu, eat your fill! If it's not enough, I've got plenty more!! Once you're done eating, go take a nap in the thunder pool! When you wake up, I'll find four black flood dragons to keep you company in bed! Don't you worry, Brother Jiu—treat this place like your own home. If there's anything you want to eat, just tell your little brother!"
Jiuxiao let out a burp along with a puff of lightning, its eyes filled with utter disbelief, as if it could not trust its own ears.
The surging thunder pool beside it brimmed with pure lightning energy, an exceptional tonic for the beast.
And especially upon hearing 'four black flood dragons'... a distinct gleam flickered through Jiuxiao's eyes.
The gaze of those massive dragon eyes turned markedly gentler and friendlier as it looked at Gu Li.
Jiuxiao drifted over to Gu Li's side and actually rubbed its enormous head against him, while Gu Li whispered something into its ear.
Li Guanqi could not hear what they were whispering, but he could clearly feel Jiuxiao's mood leap with boundless excitement.
Jiuxiao and Gu Li exchanged glances, clearly plotting something in secret.
Immediately after, Li Guanqi saw Jiuxiao channel its internal power to mend its superficial injuries, after which it gifted all the shed dragon scales to Gu Li.
Then, with a swish of its tail, the dragon proudly held its head high and soared into the thunder pool.
Li Guanqi suddenly had a bad feeling. Watching Gu Li turn to leave, he spoke up, "You'd better not tell me that you're heading to the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect to steal their black flood dragons..."
With Gu Li tip-toeing away like that, one hardly needed to guess what he intended to do.
Gu Li turned around with an awkward chuckle. "Ahem, I already promised Brother Jiu. Besides, if Brother Jiu really leaves behind some bloodline descendants, the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect will probably shower the Great Xia Sword Sect with countless congratulatory gifts. It's a win-win!"
The corner of Meng Wanshu's mouth curved upward. Gu Li was probably the only person who could come up with such a bizarre angle for currying favor.
Yet thinking about it, he was not wrong; dragons were lustful by nature.
Perhaps it really was a good thing.
"Brother Qi, why not let Gu Li go?" she said. "Jiuxiao was badly hurt this time, suffering damage to his foundational vital blood. But now, with the aid of the Dragon Scale Divine Wood, numerous pills, and the thunder pool, he can likely seize this momentum to make a breakthrough. At a time like this, unless the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect is utterly foolish, they would be more than willing to deliver those sect-protecting black flood dragons right to our door."
Thinking it over, Li Guanqi realized that was indeed true. Due to the matter with Ye Bingxin, there had previously been some misunderstandings between the two sides.
If Gu Li made this trip, the misunderstandings would be thoroughly resolved, and a connection could even be established.
Ye Xuan would surely welcome such an arrangement as well.
"Hahaha, then off I go! Brother Li, you and Sister-in-law feel free to look around. Take a soak in this thunder pool whenever you like!"
With that, he bolted like a streak of smoke. Seeing the silver radiance flickering across Gu Li's body, Li Guanqi said in bewilderment, "The spatial fluctuations on that kid... Did he leave a spatial inscribed talisman coordinate in the Ethereal Immortal Domain???"
***
Ethereal Immortal Domain.
Above a desk inside the registry pavilion, spiritual patterns suddenly flashed, and Gu Li materialized with a whoosh, standing right atop the desk.
A room full of people exchanged blank stares as they looked at Gu Li, who had abruptly appeared standing on the desk, all of them thoroughly bewildered.
A black-armored man cursed with a darkened face, "Gu family brat!! Who the hell told you to leave spatial talisman runes here?!"
Gu Li crossed a thousand zhang in a single stride, his booming laughter echoing from afar: "My apologies, Uncle! Won't do it here next time!!"
Looking at the footprint left on the front steps, the black-armored man's mouth twitched. With a flick of his finger, he shattered the step, extinguishing the spiritual glow of the talisman runes that had just begun to fade from the footprint.
"Who did he pick up this habit from, leaving spatial talisman runes all over the damn place...?"
"Alright, what the hell are you looking at? The kid's a peak rank-seven Dao Comprehension talisman master. Even I want to beg him for a few inscribed talismans."
"Come on, I'll take the rest of you to register."
Chapter 862