The fissure closed, and heaven and earth returned to silence.
Hands clasped behind his back, Su Xuan stood above the void and said softly, "Everyone return. We should have peace for a few days."
With that, the old man took a single step and vanished on the spot.
His golden armor shattered, Long Hou bowed to the four figures standing highest in the firmament.
"Long Hou shall take his leave first."
He too flickered and disappeared.
Xiang Huaizhi had already departed with the wounded, while Li Guanqi invited the remaining cultivators to the Great Xia Sword Sect.
Even Gu Lie was among them, and the old man did not refuse, as Meng Jiangchu was traveling with them as well.
Along the way, Gu Lie pulled Meng Jiangchu aside to chat about various matters.
Meng Jiangchu was rather curious about this eighth-rank martial artist who had turned into an alchemist, so he indulged him in idle conversation.
Throughout the journey, Li Guanqi remained silent. For his own injuries, he did nothing more than swallow a few pills.
He kept his head lowered, eyes vacant, lost in thought.
Before long, the group returned to the Great Xia Sword Sect.
Lu Kangnian led the sect elders out to welcome them. The Great Xia Sword Sect had never witnessed such a grand occasion—hosting so many Mahayana realm powerhouses at once.
Every one of them possessed strength on par with a Domain Lord.
Yet the moment Lu Kangnian saw the figures emerging after the rift opened, his expression changed drastically!
Taking a step forward without even greeting the others, he stopped in front of Li Guanqi. His throat bobbed, and only after a long pause did he ask in a heavy voice, "Where is Ye Feng?"
Li Guanqi looked up, his lips parting silently, but Meng Wanshu stepped in to briefly recount what had happened.
To their surprise, Lu Kangnian let out a quiet sigh of relief upon hearing the story.
Li Guanqi looked up at him. Lu Kangnian met his gaze with focused eyes.
Placing his hands on Li Guanqi's shoulders, he gave them a firm, encouraging squeeze and spoke through a soft voice transmission: "Rest assured, Ye Feng is definitely not that kind of person! Even if he was taken by Sha, he will remain true to his heart."
Straightening up and lowering his hands, Lu Kangnian murmured with deep emotion, "It's enough that he is alive. Being alive is better than being dead."
Li Guanqi froze slightly, repeating the words under his breath.
"Alive... is better than being dead..."
A flicker of light returned to his eyes. His chest rose and fell as he exhaled a long breath of turbid air.
With a fraction of his spirit restored, Li Guanqi offered everyone a faint smile, as if reassuring them that he was all right and there was no need to worry.
Afterward, Lu Kangnian led the assembled experts to the main hall to rest.
At the same time, he generously unsealed two Xiu River pocket domains that were exceptionally suited for healing.
Many chose to enter the domains right away to tend to their wounds, while Li Guanqi walked alone to the Great Xia Sword Sect's demon-subduing grounds.
Looking at the long-shattered altar, a cold light flickered in his eyes.
Taking out a jade pendant, Li Guanqi spoke with a frigid voice: "Pass down the order: the three pavilions will join forces to purge the remaining Abyss Demons! Spare no cost to completely eradicate every scattered Abyss Demon! A bounty of one million spirit stones for every head from the Sha organization!"
Putting away the transmission piece, Li Guanqi trembled slightly, his gaze brimming with icy murderous intent.
Forcibly suppressing his urge to kill, he closed his eyes and stood in place, taking deep breaths for a long time.
This time, Li Guanqi was truly enraged!
Pengluo poked its head out timidly and whispered, "Master, the trace of aura I left on Ye Feng was erased."
Li Guanqi took another deep breath and replied softly, "Alright, I understand."
*Buzz!*
Two exceptionally discreet spiritual fluctuations rippled out.
"Brother Ji, please help me locate Ye Feng."
In the distant void, the countless beams of spiritual light swirling around Ji Yuchuan suddenly extinguished. Holding his jade slip, he let out a sigh.
"Understood," he said gently. "I will mobilize all my power to track down his whereabouts. Don't be too anxious. Aside from that... certain events have recently unfolded in the Seventh Domain, and I may need to make a secret return trip. You might have to oversee the affairs of Guanyun Pavilion in person for a while."
Li Guanqi nodded and replied quietly, "Understood. I will handle everything."
Ji Yuchuan smiled and said, "Xi Yunhuai will remain at the pavilion. If anything comes up, speaking to him is the same as speaking to me."
Pausing briefly, Ji Yuchuan lowered his voice in transmission: "This time... Youming has completely cleared his name. 'I' watched the battle unfold with my own eyes. That fellow didn't hold back at all—in fact, he fought with ruthless ferocity. There shouldn't be any connection between Youming and Sha."
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. Setting aside the jade slip, he soon received the second message.
"Big Brother, rest easy. I'll use all my connections to find Second Brother Ye!"
The voice coming from the jade slip was none other than Li Congxin's.
Putting away the slip, Li Congxin turned to a youth in opulent robes sitting beside him, who asked through a drunken haze, "Brother Li, what happened? Why do you look so grim?"
Li Congxin rose slowly and said solemnly, "Eight-hundred-and-ninety-second Brother, Sister-in-law, I have a favor to ask. Help me find someone!"
Hearing this, the youth leapt straight to his feet!
"Just say the word, brother! Finding someone is a trivial matter—leave it to me!"
Li Congxin produced an imprint of Ye Feng's portrait and aura, left it with the youth, and immediately took to the sky.
Along the way, he pulled jade slips from his storage ring one after another. Finding it too troublesome to handle them individually, he simply dumped several hundred out at once...
As soon as his messages went out, the slips began lighting up in rapid succession—not a single one went unanswered!
A faint smirk curled at the corner of Li Congxin's mouth as he murmured, "Having powerful backers really does make a man feel secure..."
Alone, Li Congxin was the equal of an entire intelligence network.
Back at the sect, Li Guanqi turned to look at the now-empty Abyss Demon rift beneath the altar and walked toward it.
Peering down into the depths of the chasm, he found only a dead, empty void; not even a trace of demonic qi remained.
Stepping out of the demon-subduing grounds, Li Guanqi raised his hand, condensing a colossal hundred-zhang lightning sword suspended upside down above the mountain peak.
He believed Ye Feng would survive...
"Sect Master, I need Ye Feng's life-bound jade slip!"
Lu Kangnian stood up from his chair, cupped his hands to the surrounding cultivators, and flickered to his side. "Come, I'll take you."
A moment later, with Qin Xian and Ling Daoyan working together, the three opened a mystical domain space.
The chamber was densely packed with the life-bound jade slips of the sect's disciples.
With a wave of his hand, Lu Kangnian drew Ye Feng's golden slip into his palm and handed it to Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi stared down at the golden jade slip in a daze.
Seeing the threads of demonic qi clinging to its edges, his expression turned complicated. He rubbed at them, yet no matter how hard he tried, they would not come off...
His fingertips turned red as he rubbed harder and harder, his eyes welling with unshed tears.
Lu Kangnian grasped his hand firmly and said softly, "Guanqi, that's enough."
In the hollow interior of the mountain, only Li Guanqi and Lu Kangnian remained.
With bloodshot eyes, Li Guanqi looked up at Lu Kangnian, his lips trembling slightly as he choked out in a raspy voice, "Sect Master... Ye Feng... he... he did this... all for me..."
Chapter 933