He sealed the injured meridians with vital force and looked down at the flesh, already festering and rotting. Without hesitation, Li Guanqi gouged the rot out once more.

He had never imagined the enemy’s demonic qi could become so terrifying. Tu Yongsi, who had also devoured Abyssal Demon power, didn’t come close.

What Li Guanqi didn’t know was that the three assassins were equally shaken. For someone at the late Illusory Refinement Realm to hold his own against all three of them at only a slight disadvantage was astonishing. With that kind of strength, it was no wonder Li Guanqi had disrupted their organization’s operations repeatedly.

The two sides stood a hundred zhang apart, each lost in their own thoughts.

Li Guanqi scanned his surroundings. There was no way those three would let him escape. Their strength was overwhelming. If it were just one, he could handle him easily, even cut him down. But there were three.

With no time to think, Li Guanqi struck out in a rapid flurry, his sword carving through the space beside him. A spatial force capable of cleaving heaven and earth erupted.

“No! He’s trying to run! Stop him!”

Li Guanqi reached out and crushed two jade slips, only to find the space was impossibly solid. Voice transmissions couldn’t get through.

The moment he stepped into the cleaved space, several streaks of sword light came bearing down on him from behind. With no other choice, he turned to meet them head-on.

At the same time, the man who had been holding the compass earlier eyed him coldly and flung out four blood-colored crystals, each about the size of a palm. Light swirled within them, resembling fresh crimson blood oozing.

Crack!

The blood crystals shattered. Crimson shards poured down in four waterfalls, rivers of blood cascading into the space underfoot. A terrifying spatial fluctuation rippled outward, squeezing Li Guanqi back out of the cleaved space.

Expelled from the spatial tear, Li Guanqi swept his sword in a fierce horizontal slash. The world within the blood-colored domain darkened, and sword intent erupted as the lightning roaring within him poured into the Red Lotus Sword.

The two figures closing in saw only a cold gleam flash.

Then came Li Guanqi’s low murmur. “Shadow Demon Slash, Dark Night!”

Boom!

The terrifying sword light slashed out horizontally. The two figures had no time to raise their swords in defense; they could only throw up dense barriers of demonic qi.

Boom! Crack!

The barriers shattered beneath that single slash, blasting the duo backward. They looked down at the mangled, bloody wounds across their chests, every gash burning and searing. The scorching lightning writhed like spirit serpents trying to burrow into them, and their demonic qi surged as they fought to expel it.

Every rib in their chests had been severed clean through. Had they not reacted quickly, that single slash would likely have bisected them at the waist. Both felt a sudden sense of alarm. The power behind that strike was nothing to take lightly.

“He’s so strong...”

“Truly worthy of the title Sword Sovereign, a name the world bestowed on him in earnest.”

The Mei who had shattered the blood crystals stood at a distance, eyes narrowing. He had already made his decision. He formed hand seals, and as a sea of blood churned beneath his feet, brilliant red light blazed across the surroundings.

Li Guanqi’s heart lurched. He looked down at his feet.

The sea of blood surged and roiled, seeming to merge with the world around it as countless dazzling array inscriptions spread outward. The instant the formation appeared, Li Guanqi felt an overwhelming sense of danger. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

With no time to think, his vital force thundered as he pushed his sprint technique to its limit. Dozens of afterimages appeared in the void. In the next breath, he had woven past the two figures in front of him.

Whoosh!

“No! Watch out!”

“Damn it! How is he this fast?!”

Li Guanqi gripped the Red Lotus Swords, lightning surging around him, sword intent vast and overwhelming. Tracing the Flowing Dragon Technique’s steps, he flickered past several streaks of sword light, then swung his sword in a savage slash.

“Heaven-Opening, Lightning Lotus!”

Rumble!

Thunder roared. Petal after petal of a lightning lotus, formed from countless streaks of sword light, bloomed open in the void. The lotus contained ‌several thousand strands of sword light, and Li Guanqi’s left hand blurred into countless afterimages as he struck.

Buzz!

“No! Get out of the way!”

Still forming hand seals as he dodged, the Mei shouted, “Buy me some time! I’m almost there!”

The grand formation spreading across the space was nearly complete. Ignoring the blood streaming from his left hand, Li Guanqi fought with everything he had, unleashing over a hundred more sword strikes.

Thin threads of blood crept into the whites of his eyes. He murmured, “Wither.”

Hum!

The void trembled. The colossal lightning lotus, condensed purely from sword light, slowly bloomed. The tightly furled bud opened, and the sword qi compressed within expanded in a frenzy.

The other two understood the formation’s importance. They exchanged a glance, steeled themselves, and flashed forward to shield the third figure.

Boom!

A terrifying aura of pressure erupted from both of them. To Li Guanqi’s senses, both auras were considerably stronger than his own. Truly worthy of the half-step Combined Body Realm.

Together, they raised several layers of spatial barrier domains, and as their demonic qi churned, they took the towering forms of Abyssal Demons. Yet their eyes remained lucid. Demonic qi coiled around their swords. They looked up at the lightning lotus blooming in midair and poured out every last ounce of strength, slashing out in a flurry.

Black, terrifying sword lights obscured the sky, and their combined force caused space itself to convulse.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion shook the heavens. Li Guanqi’s ears went deaf, only a cicada-like ringing left behind. His mind reeled, barely able to stay conscious. The shockwave blasted him several thousand zhang through the air, and heaven and earth shook, the space lurching and swaying ceaselessly.

The churning sea of blood underfoot disrupted the convergence of the formation runes.

Yet Li Guanqi’s heart lurched violently. He could still sense several auras.

“They didn’t die...”

The rune formation beneath him was condensing at an unbelievable speed. And then Li Guanqi realized the blood radiance filling the heavens had a suppressive effect. His vital force circulation had suddenly turned sluggish and strained.

Not only that. The space itself exerted an inexplicable suction, dragging at his meridians, flesh, and even blood. His meridians gradually ruptured, tiny beads of blood seeping through his skin and vanishing the moment they appeared, as if evaporated. His vital force was circulating at least thirty percent slower.

The inexplicable force persisted, destroying his meridians by the moment and siphoning the blood essence from his body.

Li Guanqi’s expression shifted slightly. If this continues much longer...

Even if the trio didn’t kill him, he would be consumed by the sinister grand formation, with his flesh and blood devoured whole.