Chapter 478 - Li Guanqi's Final Trick

Li Guanqi kept his guard up. He didn’t know whether He Yuning had truly come out of concern—they were strangers who’d only met once, and He Yuning was risking the ire of Heavenly Cloud City’s entire black-armored guard corps. The trade-off seemed poor.

Guo Xuelin frowned. He eyed Li Guanqi and his lightning sword sheath, then glanced at the other two guards. “We can sit down to talk, but Young Sect Master, have him put away his sword sheath first.”

Guo Xuelin, hailing from the Great Profound Sword Sect, couldn’t say no to the young sect master. The other two had no objections either. They had to give He Yuning face.

Seeing the trio relent, He Yuning sighed in relief. He turned to Li Guanqi and sent him a voice transmission. “Brother Ye, I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding. If you trust me, let’s sit down and talk.”

After a moment’s consideration, Li Guanqi slowly dispelled the lightning that had gathered in his hand.

If the trio truly wanted to attack, He Yuning’s presence wouldn’t save him. Working together, they could still trap him. And without He Yuning’s intervention, even if Li Guanqi severely injured one of them, he’d still lose.

He slid the Red Lotus Sword back into the sword coffin on his back, no longer bothering to hide it. He removed his Face-Changing Bug, revealing his true face.

The trio had seen through his disguise long ago, so only He Yuning stared with widened eyes. Li Guanqi had already used his sword coffin and Red Lotus Sword, meaning they’d be getting intel on him soon.

He’d caused quite a commotion at the Hell Rivers, and the Soaring Heavens Continent was close to the Taiqing Territory. News traveled quickly.

He Yuning was in disbelief, pointing at Li Guanqi, about to say something.

Li Guanqi cut him off. “I’m sorry, Brother He. I had to be careful while traveling. I wasn’t trying to deceive you.”

Guo Xuelin’s gaze locked onto Li Guanqi. Shocked, he said, “Yanluo Sword from the Daxia Territory, Li Guanqi!”

He Yuning’s finger was trembling. “You’re Li Guanqi! Damn it! I kept wondering why such a powerful cultivator wasn’t famous!”

He continued, “

Tsk tsk!

I’ve heard about dragon riders, but this is my first time meeting a dragon swordsman. Is the dragon’s blood pure? The Great Profound Sword Sect has two demons guarding the sect, and they’ve got real dragon blood in them.

Woah...

That’s your sword box? How many swords can it fit? I heard you’ve got a really high-tier sword spirit void. Just now, you activated its second phase, didn’t you?”

His barrage of questions reminded Li Guanqi of Ye Feng. Both of them were incredibly chatty. It was only natural, as everything about Li Guanqi was fascinating. Any cultivator who ranked as a top prodigy in their territory inevitably got compared to Li Guanqi of the Daxia Territory.

He Yuning had heard a lot about him. He’d never imagined that he had already met Li Guanqi.

Snapping out of his shock, He Yuning said hurriedly, “I trust Brother Li’s character completely. A few days ago, while I was traveling, I heard a regular mortal’s prayer. At the time, only Brother Li and I heard it. That’s why I’m certain Brother Li didn’t harbor any malicious intent when he attacked in Heavenly Cloud City.”

Only people with pure, righteous hearts could hear that boy’s prayers.

The three guards paled at the word “prayer.”

The old man said, “In that case, we’ll talk when we return to Heavenly Cloud City.”

While their suspicion that Li Guanqi was a spy from a rival group lessened, they still needed to hear what he had to say.

Li Guanqi hesitated, then nodded. Before he left, he had Peng Luo leave a spatial mark. If they attacked him, he could shatter a teleportation scroll and escape.

If they trapped him with a spatial seal, both Peng Luo and Nine Heavens could break it easily.

However, if a Combined Body Realm cultivator attacked him directly, no amount of preparation would be enough.

Li Guanqi followed them back to Heavenly Cloud City. They tore through the void and emerged directly in a large pavilion. Many black-armored guards flew through the air, patrolling the area. It was the city’s main military base.

They took seats in the main pavilion. The trio sighed in relief, taking some pills to treat their wounds. The man with frost powers was the most frustrated since he had the worst injuries. If they’d known from the start that He Yuning knew Li Guanqi, they wouldn’t have needed to fight at all.

He Yuning sat beside Li Guanqi. Among them, Guo Xuelin was the highest-ranked person, and He Yuning had no intention of overriding that.

“Li Guanqi, right? Come, tell me what happened,” Guo Xuelin said.

Li Guanqi took out his jade slip and replayed Lu Kangnian’s furious command.

“Cang Lu has betrayed the sect! Kill him at all costs!

[1]

”

“I’ve been tracking him all the way from the Daxia Territory. When I found him in Heavenly Cloud City, I couldn’t hold back. That bastard is good at hiding. Now that I’ve lost him...” Li Guanqi sighed. “It’ll be tough to find him again.”

He felt that Cang Lu would go into complete hiding once he sensed danger. He’d spent so much effort tracking Cang Lu down, and now he was back to square one.

Guo Xuelin nodded. Anyone would be furious at a traitor in their sect, especially one who had attempted to kill their master. Li Guanqi’s rage was understandable.

Li Guanqi had merely incapacitated the black-armored guards temporarily, nothing fatal. Guo Xuelin said, “I see. Since no one died, I’ll let this matter rest.”

The other man was circulating his vital force to recover. Before Li Guanqi left, he called out, “

Ah

, Senior? You might want to wait before healing those wounds.”

The man froze. “Why?”

Li Guanqi shrugged. “I planted Yin Hellfire flames in your meridians. If you keep that up, they’ll flare up in half an hour.”

The man’s face went white. He swept his divine consciousness across his body but found no trace of them. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

1. This is from chapter 410 ☜