Li Guanqi's heart stirred as the sword spirit's confident, powerful voice echoed in his mind.
"Go ahead and accept this power. There is no danger!"
Li Guanqi did not say a word, merely extending a finger to quietly trace the word "absorb" into Meng Wanshu's palm.
Meng Wanshu gave no outward sign, letting the golden spiritual radiance drift down onto the two of them.
*Buzz—!*
"From this day forth, remember My name and sing My praises daily. I shall sense it and bestow My protection upon you."
As his voice faded, cries of excitement burst from many commoners afflicted with grave illnesses.
Some who were crippled or frail were completely restored—a scene nothing short of a miracle!
Li Guanqi's expression was grave as he allowed the overwhelming deluge of golden motes of light to merge into his body.
What was more, the motes gathering over Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu were even more numerous.
This prompted waves of astonishment from the crowd, with many singing praises of Cizhi's benevolence and virtue.
After all, Li Guanqi had been disrespectful earlier, yet Cizhi held no grudge and still bestowed blessings upon him.
To these ordinary folk, Li Guanqi left a poor impression; they thought him arrogant, willful, and overbearing.
Before an immortal, he had refused to kneel and kowtow, and had even spoken wildly.
Now, the immortal Cizhi showed great magnanimity, setting aside past grievances to shower even greater blessings on the pair.
For a time, everyone praised Cizhi's broad-mindedness, their devotion deepening all the more.
Li Guanqi did not care in the slightest about what these people thought. He closed his eyes and sensed the power merging into him.
Dense clusters of golden motes sank into his flesh, permeating his skin and burrowing inside.
This permeation was impossible to block!
It was as though the golden motes possessed life and consciousness of their own; the moment they entered his body, they surged straight toward his sea of consciousness!
*Boom!*
In that instant, Li Guanqi's sea of consciousness felt as if it were about to burst. The boundless power even gave him the illusion that his divine sense rivaled that of a Mahayana cultivator!
Once the illusion receded, however, Li Guanqi discovered that his divine sense and primal energy had both grown noticeably!
Li Guanqi's expression shifted, turning somewhat grim.
*Could I truly have misjudged him?*
*It really is just pure power.*
Meng Wanshu opened her eyes in surprise as well, astonishment flickering in the depths of her lovely gaze.
She looked at Li Guanqi with an inquiring look, but Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes slightly, signaling her not to act rashly yet.
His gaze darted toward the cages brought by Pan Yi's group, filled with suspicion.
*Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!*
One cultivator after another broke through under the influence of this power, and some even drew down heavenly tribulations to break through major realms.
Wild laughter erupted, while many stared fanatically at Cizhi's projection high in the sky.
At this moment, everyone's adoration of Cizhi reached its peak.
Pan Yi opened his eyes, the primal energy around him surging violently. He exhaled a breath of turbid air, then slowly rose to bow toward Cizhi's projection. Dropping to his knees, Pan Yi said in a deep voice, "Please allow me to present my finest offering to You!"
Hearing this, Cizhi smiled without a word, merely nodding slightly, his eyes gleaming faintly.
Pan Yi quickly had men carry up the cages.
When the cages were opened, several carcasses of great demons lay inside, already dead.
Yet Li Guanqi furrowed his brow; these were clearly nothing more than utterly ordinary sixth-rank beasts.
Whether by species or bloodline, there was nothing extraordinary about them—in fact, their quality was inferior to the ones Li Guanqi had offered.
Yet he clearly sensed that Cizhi was far more interested in the corpses of these great demons.
Pan Yi ordered the carcasses carried out, preparing to cast them down into the altar's formation screen.
Li Guanqi's eyes suddenly went wide!
Although he had not released his divine sense, he detected a faint wisp of a familiar aura inside the corpse of that blazing flame spider!
"Don't move!"
*Boom!*
Li Guanqi's power erupted to its absolute limit, before dipping slightly.
For reasons unknown, the sword spirit had drawn out all the power Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu had just absorbed.
Li Guanqi's formidable pressure was likely the second strongest here, surpassed only by the immortal projection overhead.
In an instant, Li Guanqi single-handedly suppressed the entire city!
Every single commoner rolled their eyes back and fainted on the spot. Under the spread of terrifying frost power, Meng Wanshu shifted all of them into her domain.
A city of over three hundred thousand people turned completely empty in a flash.
Save for the several hundred cultivators, everyone else vanished into thin air.
This sight left everyone stunned, at a loss as to what Li Guanqi intended to do.
Pan Yi's expression changed drastically. His eyes darkened as he looked at Li Guanqi and snapped in a chilling voice, "What do you think you're doing?"
Li Guanqi looked at Pan Yi with an icy expression and sneered. "What am I doing? Heh, you seem frightened?"
The immortal projection overhead wore an exceedingly gloomy look. The colossal phantom slowly leaned forward to look down at Li Guanqi.
His pressure grew several degrees heavier, and his voice sounded chillingly cold: "Boy, are you intentionally crossing me? I already showed you plenty of face. Don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."
Li Guanqi scoffed with a cold sneer. "Dropping the noble act already? Oh... could it be because there are no commoners left to watch?"
With that, Li Guanqi's pressure abruptly exploded. In an instant, the Pan family group was pinned to the ground by an irresistible force, shattering the flagstones beneath them, rendered utterly immobile.
This sight terrified Liu Qin and the others, their expressions draining of color as they finally realized just how horrifying Li Guanqi's cultivation realm truly was.
Even so, Liu Qin took a step forward and warned in a severe tone, "Fellow Daoist, watch your words! Do not offend an immortal!"
Li Guanqi's eyes turned icy, and he roared, "Get lost!"
*Slash!*
Two arcs of lightning sword qi slashed through the void, dragging long black rifts in their wake as a violent sword intent soared into the sky!
The entire plaza ground was split in three. Liu Qin's arms, along with his shoulders, were severed in an instant!
Blood splattered in all directions as the old man's body was sent flying back.
A mighty aura rippled in all directions. Li Guanqi ignored everyone, as well as the hostile pressure exuded by Cizhi overhead.
Enduring the force comparable to a Mahayana cultivator's power head-on, he paced forward slowly.
When he reached the corpse of the blazing flame spider, his expression turned dark. He slowly extended a hand, condensing a flash of sword qi!
*Rip!*
A sound like cutting through thick leather echoed out. Accompanied by a sloshing splash, a figure wrapped in a white mucous membrane tumbled out from the beast's abdomen!
Li Guanqi's throat bobbed slightly as he stared at the figure wrapped in the white membrane. His chest heaved violently, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
"Xuan Lin..."
Looking at the young man who had been reduced to a limbless human stump, Li Guanqi had never imagined that this affair would reach such an outcome.
Looking at the youth whose breath was faint and fleeting, Li Guanqi finally understood what Liu Qin of Qixia Academy had meant when he said the immortal would surely be satisfied...
The possessor of a Qilin bloodline was indeed exceedingly precious!
Li Guanqi looked up with icy eyes, staring straight at the hypocritical Cizhi, a cold sneer on his face. "What a truly sickening display of hypocrisy..."
Chapter 949