Boom!

The terrifying pressure left the entire azure barrier teetering on the verge of collapse. Violent ripples spread across it like a storm falling on a lake’s surface.

Tu Yongsi swallowed hard. Sensing Li Guanqi’s power, he shouted frantically at Yuan Hongyi.

“Yuan Hongyi! Open a crack and let me through!”

Yuan Hongyi cursed back, “Go to hell! Even if I die today, I’m dragging you down with me!”

By now, Yuan Hongyi had already been severely wounded by two Dark Pavilion Guards. If this kept up, he would die. Yet his eyes still burned with venomous hatred as he glared at Tu Yongsi. It was a measure of how deeply he resented Tu Yongsi’s years of poisoning him.

Yuan Hongyi’s eyes blazed with manic fervor. Hundreds of years ago, he had fallen under Jiang Yi’s control. Through the years that followed, he had endured hardship and bided his time. Cutting flesh from bone, swallowing countless poisonous insects and pills... only then had he gradually freed himself from Jiang Yi’s puppet technique.

However, he was ultimately ambushed, and the toxins from his wounds seeped directly into his primordial soul. That was when Tu Yongsi appeared, holding the means to suppress the poison’s spread.

All these years, he had thought of nothing but how to kill the two of them. And today was his final chance. Even if it meant his own death, he would drag them both down with him into the abyss. “Hahahahaha! Li Guanqi! You’re a remarkable man! I, Yuan Hongyi, acknowledge you!”

Jiang Yi’s expression shifted. He pulled a cubic seal from the void and pressed it against the barrier.

The barrier trembled, and cracks appeared. Through the crack Yuan Hongyi had opened, the powerful aura was already closing in fast. Even as he fended off the Dark Pavilion Guards, Yuan Hongyi’s manic gaze swept the room.

But Ji Yuchuan, Divine Piercer in hand, had already reached the crack.

With a wave of his left hand, a three-chi golden talisman paper floated up in the air. Two spikes protruded from the Divine Piercer and drove through Ji Yuchuan’s palm. Ji Yuchuan visibly turned haggard. The spikes wriggled slightly, like blood-sucking leeches. The brush tip flushed bright red, as if soaked in ink.

He let out a low shout, raising the Divine Piercer with both hands. He hoisted it onto his shoulder and swept out trails of afterimages. Blood light flashed. With one more stroke, the precious talisman would be complete.

“Great Weeping Nether Sealing Talisman! Seal!”

Blood light blazed. The silver-gleaming spatial crack began to close.

Yuan Hongyi roared in fury, “No!”

But the moment he stepped forward, two gleaming blades drove him back.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yi found himself under even greater pressure. Against the formidable Dark Pavilion Guards, he was struggling to even defend himself.

After everything that happened today, he finally understood. He was the real clown. Even with Gu Yong absent from the pavilion, Ji Yuchuan could easily kill him. Even Yuan Hongyi, whom he had thought he could trample at will, was far stronger than him. Not to mention Tu Yongsi, who had hidden his strength until now.

Jiang Yi had only just learned of the “Pavilion Keeper.” All he wanted now was to escape. The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion was no longer a place for him. His features contorted with mania, bone-deep wounds covering him head to toe.

At last, the precious seal tore open a crack in the spatial barrier. Jiang Yi sent a frantic voice transmission. “Han’er, save me!”

Buzz!

The void outside trembled as Jiang Han led the experts of the Tu and Yuan families rushing in.

Dozens of figures streaked through the air, radiating overwhelming auras, but Li Guanqi only sneered. Even as he kept Tu Yongsi occupied, he deployed his spatial manipulation, enveloping the entire Council Pavilion in his Sword Prison domain.

Then he turned to Jiang Yi and said coldly, “They... can’t save you.”

A dark green pearl appeared in Li Guanqi’s hand, over ten bright threads twisting inside it like worms.

Jiang Yi turned pale with shock. The auras within the pearl were achingly familiar; they belonged to three generations of the Jiang family.

“No! Li Guanqi! Don’t! I’ll die! I’ll die! Just don’t kill them!”

Li Guanqi smiled coldly. He clenched his fist, crushing the pearl. “Too late.”

Once killing intent took hold, nothing could stop it.

Boom!

Jiang Yi looked frantically through the crack toward the realm, only to see more than twenty people in midair suddenly swell, then explode into clouds of blood mist.

Blood splattered. Flesh fragments scattered everywhere.

The experts of the three families froze in place, gripped by the fear of death. They all scrambled to escape the Heavenly Intelligence Realm by any means possible.

Jiang Yi stared numbly at the carnage. Yuan Hongyi’s eyes were now fixed on the crack, ignoring everything happening outside. The death of his clan’s younger generation no longer mattered. All he wanted was for Jiang Yi and Tu Yongsi to die.

“Come on! Hurry!”

As the talisman drew close to seal the crack, Yuan Hongyi roared, his eyes bloodshot. “Come on!”

Slash!

A three-chi azure blade burst from the void. It flashed coldly as it tore through the golden talisman, heading straight for Ji Yuchuan!

Li Guanqi shouted, “Watch out!”

A chill shot up Ji Yuchuan’s spine. Clutching the Divine Piercer, he shifted his footwork and burst back over ten zhang. But the long sword seemed to traverse the distance just as fast, its tip aimed directly at his brow.

Expression grave, Ji Yuchuan let the blade graze his brow, blood streaming as he swept the Divine Piercer up with both hands.

He whispered coldly, “Heaven-Opening Tier, Divine Piercer, Frost Mirror!”

Crash! Clatter clatter!

Just as the sword tip was about to pierce Ji Yuchuan’s brow, a frost-covered mirror appeared before him.

The mirror shattered. By then, Ji Yuchuan was already behind the man. The Divine Piercer punched through the void and drove for the dark blue-robed man’s back. The terrifying force shattered the void, the flame-wreathed brush tip sweeping past.

The dark-robed man wore a cold expression, with a flat nose, narrow eyes, and a goatee on his chin. His dark complexion bore a twisted scar running across half his face. He attempted to block with the sword held behind his back, but even so, he was sent flying by the force of the strike.

Pfft!

Boom!

An overwhelming pressure erupted, dominating heaven and earth!

Combined Body Realm!

Li Guanqi’s brows furrowed. From what he could sense, this man was likely past the early Combined Body Realm. This was beyond his limits. He sighed. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He glanced at the manic Yuan Hongyi, then at the cold-faced man closing in on Jiang Yi.

Li Guanqi raised a hand, unleashing more than a hundred spirit spell lightning serpents to trap Tu Yongsi momentarily. He spread his arms helplessly. “Old Gu, if you keep watching and don’t help out, I’m going to lose control here.”