The surroundings of the entire Qilin ruins gradually began to fade.
Li Guanqi could feel the power of the pocket realm slowly draining away.
Turning to look at Jiuxiao, who was still deep in comprehension, Li Guanqi took a deep breath and spoke softly.
"Let's go. It's time for us to leave too."
Suddenly!
A palm-sized qilin jade seal, completely wrapped in lightning, slowly coalesced before Li Guanqi.
Seeing the seal, Li Guanqi froze for a moment.
An ancient voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"Thou hast earned the recognition of the Qilin Clan!"
Immediately after, a streak of spiritual light containing terrifying power surged straight into Li Guanqi's body!
"*Qilin Transformation*! This is... a physical body technique?"
Li Guanqi's expression shifted slightly, a gleam of delight flashing in his eyes.
Boom!
The surrounding environment shattered completely, leaving Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu standing in a quiet, serene void, looking at each other in surprise.
Li Guanqi frowned, baffled by what had just occurred.
He retrieved a jade slip and sent a message: "Xuan Lin, how did you get that qilin jade seal in the first place?"
Xuan Lin, who was drinking wine with Ling Daoyan on the back mountain, was taken aback upon hearing Li Guanqi's voice. He asked in bewilderment, "Uh... did you see that stone gate? If you stand in front of it, doesn't a beam of spiritual light just drift out to you?"
Li Guanqi nearly ground his molars to dust.
Although he had known Xuan Lin could never have cleared the layers of trials within, he had never imagined that Xuan Lin was simply one of the chosen ones.
In other words...
Xuan Lin's qilin bloodline was so well-aligned with the Fire Qilins that the spirit of the qilin had gifted him without him ever stepping through the gate.
Having waited quite a while without hearing a reply from Li Guanqi, Xuan Lin suddenly seemed to realize something.
His lips twitched. Holding the jade slip, he said, "Don't tell me that stone gate could actually be opened?"
Li Guanqi snapped crossly, "Forget it, it's nothing."
After he lowered the jade slip, Meng Wanshu beside him could not help but chuckle.
"It seems Xuan Lin's talent really is quite formidable, to have the Fire Qilin clan bestow a qiyin upon him to complete his bloodline transformation."
Li Guanqi shook his head, then listened through the series of transmissions flashing one after another from the jade slips in his hand.
"You brat, have you lost your mind?! There's only a quarter of the flame seal left!"
"Li Guanqi! What are you doing?! It's down to a third! Did you run into some kind of danger?"
"You little bastard! Tell me where you are, I'm coming over right this second!"
Looking at the green jade slip in his hand and hearing Meng Jiangchu's roars ringing in his ear, Li Guanqi could not resist thrusting the slip toward Meng Wanshu.
"Um... Wanshu, how about you talk to Father-in-law?"
Meng Wanshu pressed her lips together and stifled a laugh. "No way. If anyone talks, you do. You deserve every bit of that scolding."
Left with no choice, Li Guanqi had to bite the bullet and explain everything that had happened to Meng Jiangchu.
"What?! You found both the Seven-Colored Glazed Flower and the Qilin Soul? Good, good, good! Don't head home yet, you and Wanshu hurry straight to the Gu clan domain!"
Li Guanqi hesitated for a moment, then replied in a low, firm voice, "Father-in-law, I still plan to take Wanshu home for a couple of days before heading over!"
Meng Jiangchu immediately discerned that there was more to Li Guanqi's words. Something must have happened for Li Guanqi to be so determined to bring Meng Wanshu home first.
Meng Jiangchu pondered for a moment before transmitting, "All right. We're still waiting on Xiang Huaizhi to arrive anyway. After you return home, stay for two days and then come over immediately."
Meng Wanshu walked ahead, listening to Li Guanqi's voice and smiling softly.
Lowering the jade slip, Li Guanqi finally let out a sigh of relief. He then pulled out a purple jade slip and transmitted a message to Lu Kangnian.
"Sect Master, I have gathered all the materials needed to repair my divine soul. Has anything happened with the sect recently? How are Cao Yan and the others doing?"
Before long, Lu Kangnian, waking from his cultivation, took out his jade slip and replied with a smile.
"You found them all? That's wonderful! Set your mind at ease. Nothing has happened in the sect, so there's no need to worry. The Spirit Fish Clan and the Fire-Pupiled Demon Fox Clan get along very well. Currently, the Fire-Pupiled Demon Fox Clan has a separate domain of their own to recuperate and thrive. Just like the Spirit Fish Clan, they took the initiative to sign a racial covenant with me!"
Hearing this, Li Guanqi smiled faintly. It seemed the patriarch of the Fire-Pupiled Demon Fox Clan was very well-versed in the ways of the world.
The Great Xia Sword Sect was the Great Xia Sword Sect, and Lu Kangnian... was the Great Xia Sword Sect!
Lu Kangnian then continued in a subdued tone.
"Cao Yan and the others have mostly recovered from their injuries now. Ever since Cao Yan woke up, he has been cultivating like a madman, running outside time and again, only coming back every few days to keep cultivating. After Xiao Chen woke up, he went to visit the Ye family. His expression was grim when he came out, but the Ye family didn't seem to make things difficult for him. Perhaps seeing the state of the Ye family just weighed heavily on his heart. Tang Ru is still cultivating the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art, and his comprehension is very sharp. Gu Li has holed up on your Yuhu Peak, drawing talismans every single day... muttering under his breath, though no one knows what he's saying. In any case, the disciples passing by all say Gu Li seems unhinged, looking at everyone as if they were thieves."
Li Guanqi's expression shifted slightly. It seemed what had happened to Ye Feng had dealt them all a massive blow, leaving every one of them burning with pent-up resolve.
Gu Li's behavior, on the other hand, was easy to understand. After such a fierce battle, his stockpile of spirit talismans was depleted, leaving him feeling utterly insecure.
Li Guanqi said softly, "I must trouble Sect Master to guide them a bit. Just make sure they don't go to extremes. I expect it will still be some time before I return. When I do, I will take them away with me for a while."
Hearing this, Lu Kangnian offered a few more words of caution before finally lowering the jade slip.
Gazing around his cultivation chamber shimmering with spiritual light, a hint of helplessness showed in Lu Kangnian's eyes.
Perhaps he would have to occupy this seat of Sect Master for quite a long time to come...
After putting away the jade slip, Li Guanqi did not contact anyone else.
At a time like this, Cao Yan and the others would not listen to anything said to them, and Li Guanqi knew that finding any trace of the Sha organization right now was as difficult as ascending the heavens.
Perhaps sensing that Li Guanqi was in low spirits, Meng Wanshu took the initiative to hold his hand, quietly staying by his side.
It was as if she were telling him not to fear; whatever came, she would face it together with him.
Li Guanqi smiled faintly. Pengluo, using a thread of primal energy looped around Jiuxiao's neck to lead it, was sprawled across Li Guanqi's shoulder.
It muttered under its breath, "Tsk, I've walked dogs before, but walking a dragon is a first! Hehe."
The current Pengluo felt as if it had been reborn, unrestrained and carrying a breezy carelessness.
Li Guanqi traveled swiftly toward the Shenbao Domain with Meng Wanshu. Along the way, he shared his insights on increasing speed with her.
Yet the more he taught her, the more astonished Li Guanqi grew—Meng Wanshu's grasp and comprehension were not the slightest bit inferior to his own!
In just a few hours, she was already able to integrate her spirit comprehension into her movement techniques.
Her level of spirit comprehension was not as high as Li Guanqi's, yet even so, her speed increased by a full thirty percent!
Seeing Meng Wanshu's delighted smile, Li Guanqi smiled warmly as well.
Letting out a soft sigh, he murmured inwardly, *There's still so much left to do...*
*Still...*
*Though the road be long, one arrives if one keeps walking;*
*though the task be arduous, it is done if one perseveres!*
Chapter 977