Back to back, Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu unleashed everything they had to resist the storm of sword blades sweeping toward them.
Terrifying sword qi crisscrossed the air; in the blink of an eye, fresh wounds covered their bodies.
A streak of sword light shot straight for the back of Meng Wanshu's head. Li Guanqi reached out, grabbed her, and yanked her behind him.
He raised his blade and slashed horizontally, but the impact blasted him back several hundred zhang. Spewing blood, he shot backward through the void.
An uncanny figure materialized behind Li Guanqi, thrusting a palm forward to seize him viciously by the throat.
Yu Qingkun sneered, "Pointless resistance from mere ants."
The moment that large hand brushed Li Guanqi's neck, Li Guanqi whipped his blade around and slashed twice.
"Heaven Breaker: Demon Subduer!!"
The terrifying sword light swept toward the man's arm like a pair of shearing blades.
Yet the man remained completely unfazed, not even bothering to take a defensive stance as an ancient, palm-sized seal hurtled toward Li Guanqi.
It smashed through the two streaks of sword light with brute force, its momentum unabated.
The delicate ancient seal ballooned upon meeting the wind, expanding in the blink of an eye into a massive stone seal ten zhang across that plummeted from above.
On the underside of the square, earthy-yellow seal, four large characters were carved in seal script:
*Suppress Evil, Slay Demons!*
The four-character seal shimmered with a faint, luminous glow, conjuring a ten-zhang square barrier that snapped shut in an instant, trapping Li Guanqi within.
Seeing this, Meng Wanshu arrested her backward momentum, and the sword in her hand let out a piercing shriek.
*Skreee!*
As the clarion sword chime rang out, Meng Wanshu froze, inexplicable memories suddenly flooding into her mind out of nowhere.
Her body seemed to dissolve into a shower of frost blossoms, vanishing from the spot in an instant.
Reappearing atop the ancient seal, she raised her hand and unleashed hundreds of slashes in rapid succession, frigid sword light enveloping Yu Qingkun like blooming flowers.
Even Yu Qingkun dared not take that dreadful, freezing power lightly. Forced back a hundred zhang, he furrowed his brows as he stared at his frost-covered wounds.
It was merely ice-attribute primal energy; by all rights, it should never have pierced his protective barrier, let alone wounded him.
Yu Qingkun licked his lips, his eyes gleaming slightly as he stared at the woman's curvaceous figure.
Clearly, he had realized something. Her strength previously had been entirely incapable of breaking his defenses.
For her to injure him now and shatter his protective barrier was decidedly out of the ordinary.
Regardless of whether his suspicions were correct, he had to capture this woman.
A woman of such cultivation and strength possessed primordial yin energy far superior to ordinary yin-nourishing treasures.
Catching the man's disgusting gaze, Meng Wanshu parted her lips and murmured coldly, "I'll be sure to let Pengluo smash you to his heart's content."
Her words barely faded when power exploded beneath her feet.
A dazzling azure glow erupted from her boots, unleashing an instantaneous force rivaling the full-strength strike of a Mahayana cultivator.
*Boom!*
Endless lightning exploded into being, turning ten thousand zhang of the surrounding void into a sea of thunder.
With the flame seal's suppression inside him dispelled, Li Guanqi's aura was only near the peak of the early Body Integration Realm, yet with his primal energy running rampant, his combat power was easily comparable to that of an ordinary late Body Integration cultivator.
Maintaining his clarity of mind as best he could, Li Guanqi struck from within while Meng Wanshu struck from without, forcefully breaking through the ancient seal's imprisonment.
Having broken free, Li Guanqi wore an exceptionally grim expression. Closing the distance to Meng Wanshu, he said in a low voice, "When is your father getting here? Things are looking pretty bad."
Before his words had settled, Yu Qingkun murmured coldly, "Seems I truly have to get serious..."
*Whoosh!*
Several afterimages flashed around the two, moving at a speed so terrifying that not even divine sense could track his movements.
*Bang! Bang!*
Yu Qingkun's figure abruptly materialized between them, slamming a fist into the flat of Li Guanqi's Red Lotus blade.
The blade bent like a bowstring as the force punched through the metal, striking Li Guanqi squarely in the chest.
In a single instant, the horrific force shattered Li Guanqi's ribs and ruptured his internal organs. Had he not protected his heart vessels with all his might, that single punch would have been enough to mortally wound him.
Yu Qingkun kicked Meng Wanshu in the waist; bone-cracking snaps rang out as the flexible armor around her waist burst apart instantly.
Both of them hurtled backward more than a thousand zhang, their minds and spirits reeling under the venting of such terrifying power.
The chasm between cultivation realms was glaringly obvious. When they were at lower realms, they could still fight across realms and even slay their foes.
Now, however, as their cultivation advanced, the gap between realms grew ever wider.
The techniques they took pride in were full of flaws before him; he could effortlessly pinpoint the weak spot in every attack.
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth, calling out to the sword spirit in his mind.
This time, the sword spirit did not ignore him, though she scolded irritably, "I told you to pursue spirit enlightenment earlier, but did you listen? If you had reached the deeper layers of spirit enlightenment, what could he have done to you today even if you had forcefully broken through your realm?"
Li Guanqi had no way to argue. He could only nod silently, saying in a low voice, "I know I was wrong, but now isn't the time. You can lecture me another day!"
Her face frost-cold, the sword spirit snapped, "Be ready to let me take over at any moment. Wait just a little longer!"
Li Guanqi gritted his teeth, forcibly enduring the violent energy raging within him as blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, and shot forward once more.
The void beneath his feet collapsed across a hundred zhang as his entire body turned into a streak of thunder, teleporting right in front of Meng Wanshu.
Just as Yu Qingkun's fingers were about to brush against Meng Wanshu's waist, Li Guanqi flew into a towering rage.
Ruthlessness flashed in his eyes, and he roared, "You're courting death, you bastard!!"
The berserk power nearly drowned the entire void; the remaining elders of the Yu clan could not even get within ten thousand zhang of the battlefield.
Having made his way back, Pengluo suddenly emerged from the void.
The markings across Pengluo's body flashed frantically, and right before everyone's eyes, he split into two identical bodies.
Perching on the necks of Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu respectively, the two Pengluos, without another word, threw themselves into snapping off their own arms to feed them.
Jiuxiao's draconic eyes glinted. Taking advantage of the shockwaves from the earlier clash, he lunged straight into the cluster of Yu clan members.
Seeing the colossal dragon over a hundred and fifty zhang in length charging toward them, the Yu clan members showed no fear.
Three elders darted out, their eyes flashing with an eerie crimson glow as three layers of ocular techniques struck Jiuxiao's sea of consciousness in unison.
Jiuxiao's golden vertical slits instantly dilated, black pupils spreading until they nearly engulfed his entire eyes.
The primal energy inside his massive body vanished abruptly, and the colossal form that had soared into the air plummeted downward...
The three sneered, sharp light in their eyes. Unable to contain their eagerness, they flew forward with specially crafted chains ready to bind Jiuxiao.
Yet the moment the three lowered their guard and drew near, Jiuxiao's eyes snapped back to normal.
Perched on Li Guanqi's neck, Pengluo jeered, "Don't you even know that the dragon race ignores all ocular techniques?"
Chapter 887