Chapter 1016 - A Sudden Change

Li Nanting was teaching in Heavenly Lightning Peak’s main hall, unaware that several disciples from other peaks had slipped in. This was common at the Daxia Sword Sect. Whenever an elder gave a particularly good lecture, disciples from other peaks would come to listen.

Li Nanting continued explaining the differences between the Golden Core Realm and the Nascent Soul Realm, along with how the cultivators of each realm wielded their power. Then the five latecomers abruptly shot to their feet.

Li Nanting frowned. “We’re still in the middle of a lesson. It was bad enough that you five came in late, but why are you standing? Sit down!”

The other disciples frowned as well. They had been completely absorbed in the lecture. The five had already caused a distraction when they entered, and now they had stood up too.

“Hey, Meng Anlong, hurry up and sit down!”

“If you’ve just returned from patrol, go rest! If you’re here for the lecture, then listen properly. Why are you standing around? Don’t you know Peak Master Li only lectures once a month now?”

“Exactly! Sit down already!”

Murmurs filled the hall, and several hot-tempered disciples of Heavenly Lightning Peak rose to their feet.

However, Li Nanting sensed that something was wrong. The five disciples’ eyes were vacant, as though they could not hear the voices around them.

His expression shifted. He leaped to his feet, his lightning vital force flooding the hall. “Everyone, get out!”

One of the taller disciples had just placed a hand on Meng Fanlong’s shoulder. Li Nanting gritted his teeth and unleashed his spatial force, enveloping every disciple in the hall to transport them away.

But just as he was about to move everyone...

Boom!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five explosions rocked the hall in rapid succession as the five disciples’ bodies swelled and burst. The combined force of five Golden Core Realm cultivators self-destructing tore the hall apart.

Splintered wood and debris flew in every direction, and more than thirty disciples were thrown across the room. Their seas of consciousness reeled. The shockwave ruptured their internal organs, and they collapsed to the ground with blood gushing from their mouths.

“Peak Master!”

“W-what happened...?”

“They’re dead...? They self-destructed?”

“Were they insane...?”

Boom!

Mountains and rivers trembled. Everyone throughout the Daxia Sword Sect had sensed a mysterious burst of power.

Gong Ze and the others shot to their feet and vanished. When they reappeared above Heavenly Lightning Peak, they found a dense blood-mist barrier enveloping the main hall halfway up the mountain.

From the surrounding disciples’ chaotic shouts, they quickly pieced together what had happened. Several Illusory Refinement Realm powerhouses erupted into action. Wu Bing’s expression changed as he summoned Heavenly Earth Peak’s spirit-treasure sword into his grasp and shot forward.

They all knew how much Li Nanting meant to the Daxia Sword Sect and to Li Guanqi. If anything happened to him, there was no telling what Li Guanqi might do in his fury.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The skies above the Daxia Sword Sect churned as the spirit qi of heaven and earth erupted into chaos. Nearly ten mighty Illusory Refinement Realm cultivators launched one attack after another, yet their strikes had no effect on the blood mist barrier.

Sword lights crisscrossed the air and struck the blood-red barrier with terrifying force, but it did not budge.

Gong Ze’s eyes widened in shock. Clutching his sword, he said coldly, “Something’s wrong... This barrier is far too strong for us to break! Even a Combined Body Realm expert might not be able to get through it. Quick, contact Li Guanqi!”

Boom!

A terrifying pillar of lightning shot into the sky, followed by several incomparably fierce sword lights erupting from within the barrier. Three of them split Heavenly Lightning Peak apart.

Every sect elder in the sky froze. They had all clearly sensed Li Guanqi’s aura within those three strands of sword qi.

“That’s Li Guanqi’s sword qi!”

“That’s right, and there’s more than one! Could he be inside?”

As their thoughts raced, Li Nanting burst through the blood-mist barrier with his hair in disarray. Immediately after, the shattered barrier turned into countless sharp spikes that shot after him.

“Save him!”

“Move!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several powerful auras erupted in rapid succession. Xi Yunhuai appeared in front of Li Nanting with the Divine Piercer in hand, swept his array brush through the air, and roared, “Great Luo Heaven Guard!”

Boom!

A golden array barrier a hundred zhang wide materialized before them. Gu Chuan, captain of the Cloud Shadow Guard, gripped his sword and unleashed more than a hundred slashes in rapid succession. Gong Ze, Nangong Qianyan, and the others appeared beside Li Nanting and shielded him.

But the blood-red spikes smashed straight through the golden array barrier and pierced Gu Chuan’s sword lights as though they were nothing.

“Run! We can’t stop this thing!” Xi Yunhuai roared.

Pfft!

Several blood-red spikes silently pierced Xi Yunhuai’s shoulders. Like starved leeches, they latched onto him, rapidly draining his blood essence.

In the span of a single breath, Xi Yunhuai visibly withered. His cheeks became sunken, and his black hair turned dry and yellow.

Gu Chuan struck with all his strength, severing the blood-red spikes before grabbing Xi Yunhuai and retreating at full speed. Horrified by the sight, the others hurriedly seized Li Nanting and retreated as well.

“Old Li, what the hell is that thing?!”

Li Nanting held his shoulder and answered coldly, though the fear in his eyes had yet to fade. “I don’t know. Those five disciples had been on patrol. As soon as they entered the hall, they began acting strangely. Then they self-destructed, and this happened!”

Suddenly, Wu Bing noticed spirit-light talismans burning fiercely behind Li Nanting. As they burned, they gradually traced an extraordinarily complex silver array in midair. Powerful spatial fluctuations surged from within it.

Wu Bing’s eyes widened. He realized the array was a safeguard Li Guanqi had left on Li Nanting. The three bursts of sword qi that had erupted earlier must have been safeguards Li Guanqi had placed on him as well. Li Guanqi, it seemed, had long anticipated that someone might target those closest to him.

“Protect Old Li! Li Guanqi is about to return!”

Deep within the void of the Daochan Territory, a mysterious silver light engulfed Li Guanqi. His expression was grim, and his eyes glinted with icy killing intent.

He continuously compressed his vital force into a purple lightning sword, refining it until it looked almost solid.

Buzz!

Just as the countless blood-red spikes were about to engulf Li Nanting, Li Guanqi vanished from the void.

The sky within ten li of the Daxia Sword Sect darkened. A terrifying purple-black sword light flashed across the heavens and disappeared.

Everyone pierced by the blood-red spikes began to fall from the sky.

In those few short breaths, nearly all of them had lost an entire minor realm of cultivation.