Chapter 969 - Climbing Against the Current, Peng Luo’s Bait

Meng Wanshu covered her mouth and laughed softly. “You really are devious... All right. I’ll go take a look.”

Li Guanqi took her hand and pressed a storage ring into her palm. “There are plenty of talismans inside, including several displacement talismans. Place one on Nine Heavens. If anything goes wrong, swap places with him. His defenses are strong enough to withstand the danger.”

Nine Heavens had only just finished restoring his dragon scales by the lakeside. Hearing Li Guanqi’s words, he snorted in displeasure.

Standing atop Nine Heavens’ head with his hands on his hips, Peng Luo imitated the dragon’s tone. “Does my life not matter too?!”

He cleared his throat. “Those were Brother Nine’s words, not mine...”

Li Guanqi smiled and tossed several pills to Nine Heavens and Peng Luo. “Be careful. According to Gu Li’s talisman, there are six of them, and they should all be at the mid or late Combined Body Realm.”

Meng Wanshu slipped the storage ring onto her finger, unsheathed the Snow Phantom Sword, and masked her presence. “Okay, I’m off. Be careful here.”

Li Guanqi nodded silently, and the group split into two parties.

Peng Luo’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he tugged on Nine Heavens’ horns and murmured, “Time for a fight! Time to steal some natural treasures! Time to raid their home!”

Nine Heavens transformed into a small snake and coiled around Meng Wanshu’s arm. Peng Luo also shrank to the size of a palm, though he was still gripping a hammer.

Li Guanqi turned back toward the waterfall, his heart trembling slightly at the sight. With lightning gathering beneath his feet, he slowly stepped forward and reached out to touch the cascading water.

Bang!

The descending Spirit Mist River instantly shattered every bone in Li Guanqi’s left hand.

He stared at his deformed palm with a bitter expression. How the hell is anyone supposed to climb this?

Buzz!

The fire mark between his brows burned faintly, its flames spreading slowly yet remaining bright.

Boom!

The surrounding mist was forced away, leaving a hollow circular space around Li Guanqi as his aura surged wildly. A terrifying presence spread outward.

Li Guanqi rarely used the Earthly Precipice spirit spell, but today, he consciously tapped into its power-boosting capabilities.

He took out several of Gu Li’s spirit talismans and slapped them onto his body before conjuring his Lightning Armor once more. And this time, Li Guanqi stacked three layers of armor over himself.

This was the maximum number of spirit spells he could maintain simultaneously. After all, very few cultivators could stack the power of multiple spirit spells at all.

With his preparations complete, Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and slowly exhaled, arcs of lightning spilling from his mouth.

Boom!

The moment he stepped into the waterfall, he was forced downward, and the lake water instantly rose above his chest. One layer of Lightning Armor shattered in less than a breath. It felt as though ten thousand mountains had crashed down upon his head. His sea of consciousness shook violently, leaving his mind in complete disarray.

Even so, he thrust both hands toward the cliff. The fingers of his right hand bent at an unnatural angle, while his left hand seized a tiny protrusion in the rock.

“Urgh!” A muffled groan escaped his throat. He forced himself to swallow, suppressing the blood surging up his chest.

Vital force surged through him, straining to hold back the waterfall’s impact. Li Guanqi healed his finger injuries. Though he continued to layer Lightning Armor over his body, the water’s terrifying force still struck him directly, leaving his neck and back covered in large, dark bruises.

Gripping the cliff with both hands, Li Guanqi scanned its surface with his heart’s eye. Just as he had suspected, it was riddled with hidden grooves and handholds. Perhaps the trial was not impossible after all.

Using both his hands and feet, Li Guanqi propelled himself upward.

Bang!

Splash!

The waterfall smashed him deep into the lake once again.

Li Guanqi gritted his teeth against the pain. The water’s flow shifted too quickly for him to react, while the torrent instantly shredded his divine consciousness when he extended it.

His figure flickered, and he returned to the edge of the waterfall. This time, he gradually steadied his breathing. Instead of keeping his entire body rigid, he slowly allowed his muscles to relax.

At that moment, Li Guanqi felt as though he were back at the Daxia Sword Sect, climbing its waterfall once more.

Whoosh!

The waterfall’s force hadn’t let up in the slightest, but Li Guanqi held his stance through a stream of tiny adjustments, inching upward against the odds.

He did not dare breathe, so he switched to internal breathing, calming his mind until it went as still as water. Even after his Lightning Armor shattered, he gritted his teeth and endured through sheer physical strength.

Bang!

A much stronger rush of water slammed into his back.

Bang!

Li Guanqi’s foot slipped. He dug one hand into the cliff, but his chest slammed against the stone wall. The raging current battered his body as he struggled to regain his footing.

Unfortunately, determination alone wasn’t enough. Li Guanqi plummeted a hundred zhang, crashing into the river and coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Floating in the river, he felt as though his entire body had fallen apart. The impact had displaced every organ inside him.

He couldn’t understand it. The Spirit Mist River did not seem like something any human could climb, but the marks across the cliff proved that many people had succeeded before him.

Li Guanqi spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, steadied his breathing, and began climbing against the current once more.

Meanwhile, as Peng Luo crept through the forest, he finally spotted the six Pan clan experts.

Sword energy slashed through the air, spells flared, and magical treasures materialized in a torrent of attacks. Mountains of demon corpses lay scattered around the group. Their strength, however, was draining at an alarming rate.

One of the elders shook his sword and forced back the great demon before him, his voice turning cold. “This won’t work! There are far too many of them! At this rate, they’ll wear us down and kill us here! Bingchang and Ziji are already injured. If this continues, we may not be able to escape!”

The leading elder’s eyes flickered. He raised his hand and unleashed a wave of sword qi, killing the great demon before him. “Move! Head deeper into the valley!”

At that moment, Peng Luo produced a jade bottle containing a single drop of Nine Heavens’ blood essence. “Hehe. You think you can leave? Then let’s make things even crazier!”

Peng Luo silently appeared in the middle of the group, and the cultivators froze in surprise. Peng Luo smashed the jade bottle on the ground, then turned and fled.

“It’s that radish! Catch it!”

“That’s... the blood essence of a true dragon!”

“Hahaha! It really is true dragon blood essence!”

The leading elder seized the drop of dragon blood, his face lighting up with wild delight.

But the six cultivators were not the only ones overcome with excitement.

Throughout the Illusory Forest, hundreds, if not thousands, of tier-seven great demons were driven into a frenzy. A single drop of true dragon blood essence could strengthen their bloodlines beyond measure, enabling them to break through the constraints of their race and awaken their ancestral power.

Roar!

The earth trembled.

Meanwhile, Peng Luo quietly slipped away and formed a series of hand seals. Several clones emerged from his body and raced toward the Pan clan’s domain.

“Time to clean them out! Raid everything!”

Hidden in a secluded corner, Meng Wanshu narrowed her eyes as she watched the six cultivators struggle against the beast tide. If she struck now, she was confident she could kill at least two of them instantly. The remaining four, however, would undoubtedly attack her from all sides.

Just then, a quiet dragon’s cry reached her ears, and the corners of her lips lifted into a slight smile.

Nine Heavens’ message was clear. With him there, she had nothing to fear from being surrounded. He could get her out safely.

Meng Wanshu tightened her grip on the Snow Phantom Sword. Icy killing intent gleamed in her beautiful eyes as she whispered, “Then we’ll kill them.”