Clang—

Yuan Qing’s swordsmanship was quite impressive, not inferior to his scholarly knowledge, and in the darkness, it became even more unpredictable for enemies.

However, he discovered that the seemingly inexperienced young man could easily determine the path of his strikes.

It had been almost a year since he last met with Zuo Qiutian, who had told him then that this person named Li Rui would sooner or later become a great threat, and if there was a chance, he must eliminate him.

At that time, Cen Lanjing was still alive, and Yuan Qing didn’t know how to fulfill this task—it seemed very difficult.

But only a few months later, upon learning of his master’s death in an ambush, he finally understood and felt a pang of regret.

However, given the circumstances, regret was pointless; when the world unified, his master would surely understand him from the heavens.

In any case, Yuan Qing had become the most influential voice in the academy due to his consistent reputation and his status as Cen Lanjing’s closed-door disciple.

He felt that he could accomplish the secret task Zuo Qiutian had entrusted to him.

But for some reason, upon meeting Li Rui, he felt a lingering unease, a source of anxiety he could not identify, but he just felt that he might fail.

Throughout the journey, he kept simulating the possibility of success, and several times, he even considered launching a surprise attack on the road.

But whenever the thought arose, he would feel a sharp premonition, and ultimately abandoned the idea.

In fact, this abandonment was entirely justified—on several occasions, if the malicious intent had persisted a bit longer, Li Rui would have noticed, showcasing a subtle clash of sensory perception between the two.

Even now, every time Yuan Qing struck in the darkness, Li Rui could sense it beforehand and find a way to dodge.

Li Rui gave up the idea of direct confrontation and used Thunderbolt Flash to create distance, then counterattacked using his adept spells.

However, Yuan Qing was also a world NPC, and arguably, his raw strength surpassed Li Rui’s, at around level 70.

Moreover, he had the same methods as those other powerful figures, able to condense a grandiose attack into a highly restrained form.

Li Rui sensed that this was something perceivable only at around level 70.

The concentrated attack had greater penetration; for example, the All Heaven Great Thunder Fire Seal Spell had a broad range, but its damage was diluted across this vast area, whereas, if condensed, it would surely be more efficient.

Only someone like the Scorching Barbarian Monarch, with the intent to deploy a vast formation, would use its true form to launch a massive offensive.

Still, without Cheng Mingyue’s support, Li Rui had no good method against Yuan Qing, although he had plenty of life-preserving means, and would not easily be defeated.

Another series of continuous explosions occurred, and Li Rui used the Void Flame Spell to neutralize a swift sword attack.

Then he encountered a serious problem—in the darkness, he couldn’t sense his bearings and no longer knew where he was.

Meanwhile, the approaching Sword Intent became even denser.

If it had been a gentle drizzle before, it was now a summer storm.

Li Rui did not dare to be careless, activating Reverse Yin and Yang and various state skills to counter the life-threatening sword lights.

On one side was sword rain, and on the other was thunder, their intersection making the formerly silent darkness incredibly noisy.

Li Rui did not know what Yuan Qing intended, but he felt increasing pressure—despite having activated Reverse Yin and Yang, he was still slightly at a disadvantage.

If he were a few levels higher, perhaps the outcome would still be uncertain.

For now, he could only fight while retreating to avoid instant death on the spot.

But after retreating an unknown distance, the assault abruptly ceased, and silence once again enveloped the surroundings.

Li Rui cautiously remained on guard for a while, sensing no immediate danger, knowing this meant he possibly stepped into an even more perilous place.

Perhaps Yuan Qing had intended from the start to force him into a theoretical dead zone.

Li Rui activated the Nether Light Ring again, only to find it was unable to illuminate the surrounding darkness, indicating the source of the darkness was of a higher order.

Faced with this situation, he activated the Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture, the golden Divine Thunder emitting a faint glow, though it could not illuminate much, as an Upper Realm Thunder Skill, it provided a bit of vision, at least better than nothing.

Using this faint light, Li Rui began to try finding his way back.

However, he soon discovered that the darkness contained no landmarks, as if it were merely a slightly tilted wasteland—no trees, stones, or grass, only emptiness. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

With his head down, he tried to ascend the slope, circling for quite some time without seeing an end, and there seemed no trace of the previous battle.

Apparently, what Yuan Qing said was not entirely false—this was like an enhanced version of the ghost wall, wandering aimlessly in the pitch darkness.

After realizing it was impossible to escape alone, Li Rui changed his approach and sought to find the other two.

In reality, achieving this would normally be very difficult, as everyone was in a similar situation, unable to find a path.

However, Li Rui had an advantage others did not—he had mastered three forms of Thunder Skill.

So, he cast an All Heaven Great Thunder Fire Seal Spell into the darkness before him.

The thunderous momentum was quite astounding, visible from afar under normal conditions.

In this place, though blocked by the darkness, even a faint glimmer could be highly conspicuous.

After casting the skill, rather than wandering, he repeated it at intervals, creating a beacon—if Cheng Mingyue and Guan Gui were here, they would surely see it.

While casting the spells, he silently counted down in his mind, about two thousand seconds later, or a little over half an hour, another presence approached.

Li Rui didn’t immediately call out to identify himself, instead holding his breath, ready to face any danger.

"Ow..."

A low growl emerged from the darkness, followed by the light tapping of weapons.

Three long, three short, three long.

"Brother Gui?" Li Rui finally called out in inquiry.

"It’s me."

Guan Gui’s voice came from the darkness.

Both cautiously probed a bit before revealing their identities.

As Li Rui got closer to the source of the voice and illuminated with the Divine Thunder, he felt admiration.

Guan Gui had no Divine Thunder to light his way, but he could summon a legion of resurrected beings, having them pull each other into ropes, and followed the rope to progress, ensuring he wouldn’t lose his way in the darkness, and thus navigated towards the light.

"Brother Gui, did you encounter Sister Yue on the way?"

"No,"

Guan Gui replied, "She can protect herself."

Li Rui was indeed worried about this issue.

The darkness here wasn’t due to lack of light but represented a "dead" obstruction that muted sound even when shouted out loud.

In such conditions, if Cheng Mingyue opted for safety and concealed herself, finding her would become even more difficult.