Li Guanqi licked his lips and looked up at the three ragged figures a hundred zhang away, cold killing intent flickering in the depths of his eyes.

“Hah. The Blood Oath God-Locking Array is complete. Let’s see what other tricks you have up your sleeve!”

Li Guanqi’s aura had grown noticeably weaker, dropping by at least thirty percent.

Yet he simply glanced around, clenched his fists, and said softly, “It’s slowing my meridians’ circulation, tearing them apart, and devouring my blood... Honestly, this is the first time I’ve encountered an array this terrifying.”

He paused, then slowly removed his Floating Cloud Robe.

The three Mei-rank assassins all felt a flicker of bewilderment. Li Guanqi had clearly fallen into their trap and had been at a disadvantage throughout the battle. So why had he stayed completely calm from start to finish, without a trace of panic?

So why had he appeared completely calm from beginning to end without even a trace of panic?

“Why is this guy so composed?”

“Could he have a way to escape the formation’s seal?”

Li Guanqi glanced at the figures surrounding him and mused, “Do you know... There’s a particularly crude way to circulate vital force?”

The moment he finished speaking, his vital force became wild. The sensation felt like a brutish, savage beast rampaging within him. His previously weakened aura surged sharply upward.

Li Guanqi resembled a calculating hunter, raising his head and fixing his gaze on the trio. Now the three felt as though they themselves were the prey. But then they steadied themselves. They remained unaffected by the grand formation, and that imbalance alone would decide the outcome.

Thud!

Li Guanqi’s full physical power erupted. Under the pressure of the formation’s blood radiance, he circulated the Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra in its most brutal mode. In the span of just a few breaths, his meridians began to fracture.

Pop!

A burst of blood mist erupted from Li Guanqi’s skin, and his expression shifted slightly.

The three figures lunged at Li Guanqi from the front, side, and behind. Li Guanqi met all three with a composed gaze.

Darting and weaving, he kept the engagement to two opponents at a time, his speed giving him the upper hand for the moment. But even then, every step was fraught with danger.

The trio was perfectly coordinated, gradually regaining control of the battle’s rhythm. Though slower than him, they worked to confine his movements to a hundred-zhang area. That way, no matter what, Li Guanqi would have to face all three of their attacks at once.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang! Boom!

Sword in his left hand, Li Guanqi rapidly formed seals with his right hand. Several lightning-type spells erupted in succession. Lightning spears filled the sky and rained down like a torrent, while dozens of lightning spirit serpents and whips coiled toward the three.

But the spells were far too weak. None could come close to the three.

“Hahahaha! Li Guanqi!! Stop wasting your energy. Trying to hurt us with these spells? You might as well be dreaming!”

Li Guanqi was not faring well. In less than half an hour, nearly twenty percent of his meridians had ruptured. His complexion had grown pale, and his blood essence was draining far faster than he had imagined. He had thought he could suppress it on his own, but in truth, he couldn’t resist that insidious force at all.

Meng Jiangchu, who was the farthest away, had already descended into the Daochan Territory. Gu Yong was also making good progress and would arrive in half an hour.

Meng Jiangchu half-closed his eyes, his expression shifting faintly. Light flickered beneath his feet, and he vanished into the void.

Li Guanqi dared not slow down for even a moment, slashing out again and again. Yet, every time he tried to close the distance on one opponent, that opponent pulled back while the other two forced him away. The feeling was suffocating. The three, having devoured Abyssal Demon power, matched physique cultivators in raw strength. No doubt this was a power from the Abyssal Demons too.

Li Guanqi took a deep breath. He couldn’t allow this to drag on any further. The seals his right hand was forming shifted almost imperceptibly.

The three continued to ignore his lightning-type spells. Then Li Guanqi’s gaze became razor-sharp. He roared, “Spell number seventy-eight, Four Heavenly Pillars!”

Rumble!

Dark purple lightning pillars, a full zhang in diameter, struck down from above and surged up from below in unison, slamming into the three from both directions.

The three were shocked. One failed to dodge in time, and half his body was sealed within the pillar. The man stared at the pillar trapping him in horror, struggling with everything he had to no avail. His demonic qi surged, and the heavenly pillar finally developed a few cracks.

The other two charged at Li Guanqi, giving him no chance to follow up. Yet, having staked everything on this move, how could Li Guanqi not have anticipated that?

The instant the two leaped into the air, Li Guanqi had already appeared ten zhang behind the pillar. He struck out with brutal force, an overwhelming aura sweeping through heaven and earth, shattering the binding in Li Guanqi’s hair with the shockwave. His black hair billowed freely in the wind, his robes snapping and fluttering.

He raised the Red Lotus Sword high. Sword cries rang out on all sides as the four-chi Red Lotus shone red.

“Red Lotus, World Annihilation!!”

Boom!

A streak of supremely refined sword light flashed through midair.

“No!”

The heavenly pillar shattered inch by inch. The figure sealed within was annihilated.

Rumble!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A thunderous explosion rang out, and as heaven and earth shuddered, what sounded like sharp cracks reached those present.

Gasping for breath, Li Guanqi stared at the blood formation beneath his feet, which was now showing a few small cracks. The all-out slash had consumed a considerable amount of his vital force, and his current mode of circulation was placing an enormous burden on him. He did not know how much longer he could hold on.

The two remaining figures both wore grave expressions, eyes widening beneath their masks. They had not expected to lose a companion so quickly. Every trace of their contempt vanished. Who was to say the next swing of that blade wouldn’t come for their own heads? And that heavenly pillar...

“A sealing-type spell ranked within the top hundred... If I’m not mistaken, isn’t Gu Yong of the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion the only one in the world who knows that spell?”

“A sealing-type spell this difficult to comprehend... And he only just left the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion. When on earth did he learn it?!”

“Enough. Go all out. Be careful. Any more delay and the tide will turn!”

As the aura of the two assassins shifted, Li Guanqi’s heart sank. His vital force was running dangerously low, and those two would surely stay vigilant against the spell now. He didn’t know whether he could survive this assassination attempt. Death loomed over him, and yet all he could do was trust the sword in his hand.

Outside the blood-colored domain, Gu Yong and Meng Jiangchu both stood uneasily.

Gu Yong reached out and touched the blood-colored barrier, his voice solemn. “This domain... can’t be opened! If we force it, everyone inside will die!”

Meng Jiangchu’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the blood-colored barrier before him, a cold gleam flickering in their depths.

“Look at these array patterns... The aura matches that combined artifact, the awl!”