Chapter 488 - There Are Many Paths

The crowd watched a white-robed figure walk slowly out of the sword cut, radiating great power, sword intent roaring around him.

There was no joy on Li Guanqi’s face, only ice-cold killing intent. The disciples did not dare make a sound.

His aura was simply too strong. He was only at the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm, but his aura rivaled that of an Illusory Refinement Realm cultivator.

Ice-cold killing intent spread through the entire Sword Abyss. Many Nascent Soul Realm disciples shivered as the temperature dropped rapidly.

Wu Changfeng moved forward in a flash, blocking the path between Li Guanqi and Zhao Ling.

Li Guanqi shot him a questioning look. “Elder Wu, are you trying to stop me?”

His tone was calm, but in a way that made it impossible to read him. The disciples all frowned. Wu Changfeng, as the elder in charge of the sect’s daily affairs, held a high status and outranked some of the other elders.

Lu Zhong looked at Li Guanqi with a mix of admiration and irritation. Li Guanqi had received his master’s sword intent, but his attitude irritated Lu Zhong a little.

Lu Zhong narrowed his eyes and asked coolly, “Are you thinking of attacking?”

While Li Guanqi respected certain individuals, no one could stop him if he truly wanted to attack.

Li Guanqi looked at Lu Zhong with narrowed eyes and nodded woodenly. “That’s right. I do want to attack. Not just that—I want to kill him.”

His words were like a boulder crashing into a quiet lake, triggering a wave of shock in the crowd. Lu Zhong gripped his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white, glaring at Li Guanqi with hostility.

Zhao Ling had fainted from his severe wounds. The elder tapped the air, and spirit light shot into Zhao Ling’s body to stop the bleeding. However, Zhao Ling’s severed limbs had long since turned to ash from the lightning flashes. He was a mess of blood and flesh, but even his physical wounds paled in comparison to the mental trauma he’d sustained.

Wu Changfeng glared at Li Guanqi. His eyes were filled with determination, with no intent of negotiating. “What Zhao Ling did was dishonorable, but... no matter what, he is still a disciple of the Great Profound Sword Sect. The sect should be the one to punish him!”

Li Guanqi stared at the old man.

The tension in the Sword Abyss was palpable. The disciples did not dare breathe.

Wu Changfeng met Li Guanqi’s gaze. As a sect elder, he couldn’t allow an outsider to kill a disciple in front of him, no matter what.

Li Guanqi looked at him calmly. After a pause, his sword retracted back into a three-chi blade, and his surging vital force retreated.

Everyone sighed in relief, though none of them noticed the drop of cold sweat next to Elder Wu’s hairline.

He couldn’t explain it, but Li Guanqi’s stare sent a chill through him.

Li Guanqi glanced at the unconscious Zhao Ling, then took a long look at the old man. “I hope the Great Profound Sword Sect will deal with this matter fairly. I don’t care about the results.”

If this had happened in the Daxia Sword Sect—a disciple ambushing another out of jealousy—he would have killed them.

But this was the Great Profound Sword Sect.

Li Guanqi didn’t leave. Instead, he turned to look at the sword cut, now completely silent. A trace of sadness flickered through him. That Cliff Drop Sword Intent was the clearest sword intent he had ever comprehended.

The old man’s consciousness had demonstrated the sword intent he was proud of without holding back at all. And even after Li Guanqi declined, the old man still did the same.

Suddenly, Li Guanqi sensed a powerful group of auras fast approaching. He turned to look at the horizon, gripping his sword tightly. At least a dozen Illusory Refinement Realm auras were in this group, as well as three that were countless times stronger. One Divine Transformation Realm aura belonged to He Yuning.

Though they were ten thousand zhang away, they arrived at the depths of the Sword Abyss in the blink of an eye, appearing a dozen zhang in front of Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. There were fifteen or sixteen of them. Their leader was a middle-aged man who looked very similar to He Yuning. However, unlike his son's scholarly air, he exuded the killing intent of a warrior who ruled with an iron fist. He wore white brocade robes, luxurious but not extravagant, with a jade pendant at his waist. His hair floated gently above his shoulders, and his tiger-like eyes were filled with light. He had prominent features and stood ramrod straight.

He strode over to Wu Changfeng like a charging tiger, and the old man quickly bowed. “Greetings, Sect Master!”

The surrounding disciples all fell to one knee and cried in unison, “Greetings, Sect Master!”

Li Guanqi looked at the man, then at He Yuning, who kept shooting him looks. He bowed in greeting. “Greetings, Senior He. I am Li Guanqi of the Daxia Sword Sect.”

He Yuanting’s tiger-like eyes shone. He smiled as he looked at Li Guanqi.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“

Haha!

You’re the good friend Yuning mentioned? Indeed, you’re an outstanding prodigy! No need to be so uptight. Perhaps when we meet again after many years, I’ll have to call you Fellow Daoist.”

It was really high praise. He Yuanting was the sect master of the Great Profound Sword Sect, a Combined Body Realm cultivator. His words weren’t just because Li Guanqi got along with his son; he truly meant them.

After Li Guanqi’s arrival, He Yuanting had sent someone to investigate him. The results had shocked him, and when his investigative efforts were suddenly interrupted, he realized that the faction backing Li Guanqi had to be far stronger than the Great Profound Sword Sect.

Even the Great Profound Sword Sect wasn’t strong enough to cause the entire Hell Rivers region to disappear overnight.

When he saw Li Guanqi in person, he realized his son was the one benefiting from their friendship.

As for the incident at the Sword Abyss, he didn’t care. Zhao Ling’s injuries were insignificant. The Great Profound Sword Sect could train ten, or even a hundred more like him. In contrast, Li Guanqi was ‌one of a kind.