Screams of horror pierced the air. All reason fled at the sight before them.
The moment they saw the golden cicada silk thread tied to the door handle, they understood.
Li Guanqi had broken into the Purple Sun Pavilion’s quarters, then tortured and killed two late Foundation Building Realm disciples. Many people felt chills run down their spines when they looked at the blood-splattered youth.
Even Zhao Beichen, no stranger to death, had cold sweat beading on his brow. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he drew his sword to feel safer. He had seen many brutal killings before, but what radiated from Li Guanqi now was something else entirely—an uncontainable, almost feral violence.
The golden thread still dripped with blood. Clearly, Li Guanqi was not killing for the sake of killing. There were many bloody scuff marks on the ground where Lin Quan struggled.
Zhao Beichen saw a clump of flesh, and upon closer inspection, he realized it was Lin Quan’s tongue. The scene was a repeat of the other room.
Based on everything they saw... they had killed Lin Quan by ramming the door open.
Zhao Beichen stepped past the gathered crowd and looked down at Lin Quan’s body, lying in a pool of blood.
Left-handed sword slashes... Has he been left-handed all this time?
That means... he hasn’t even been using his full strength in the Hell Challenge.
The realization struck Zhao Beichen like lightning. He had never truly understood Li Guanqi. Slowly, he looked up at the blind youth standing a zhang away and murmured, “You’re a madman through and through... Do you even know what you’re doing?”
Li Guanqi replied with complete calmness. “I do.”
“And that’s exactly why I said you’re a madman through and through. You’re not walking out of here alive.” Zhao Beichen raised his sword and pointed it at Li Guanqi, eyes narrowing, brimming with killing intent.
Li Guanqi squinted, then swung his sword with his left hand, shattering the wall behind him. He used a sprint technique and ran off, his movements as light as a feather floating in the air.
Zhao Beichen raised his eyebrows in surprise and roared, “After him! If we don’t kill him now, the whole Northern Territory will treat the Purple Sun Pavilion as a joke tomorrow! He’s no longer eligible for the finals, so he could attempt a breakthrough anytime!”
The remaining few disciples nodded and flew after him.
Li Guanqi glanced back at his pursuers and smiled coldly. He had already decided on his destination—the barren mountain range behind Heavenly Tiger Mountain. Once they were that far out, even the elders of the Purple Sun Pavilion wouldn’t be able to help.
Besides, he didn’t want to put his master in a difficult position.
As he flew in the air, he took off his blood-spattered sect robes and held them in his hands. There was a mix of emotions in his eyes.
Beneath the robes, he wore only a tattered gray hemp garment. Just like that, he became that village boy again—the little beggar who once fought stray dogs for scraps.
Li Guanqi tossed his sect robes down from mid-air and sent a final voice message to Li Nanting through his jade slip. “I’ve been an unfilial disciple. I couldn’t keep calm after seeing what happened to Sui’an. To avoid bringing trouble to the sect, I’m leaving it today. I hope you won’t hold this against me, Master.”
Then, he squeezed the jade slip in his hand until it broke!
Sword Spirit’s voice echoed in his mind. “Have you really made up your mind?”
As Li Guanqi wove through the mountains, he nodded slightly. He glanced at the seven people hot on his heels and sped up. He was over a hundred zhang away in the blink of an eye.
The heavy snowfall obscured their vision that night. A youth named Li Hua pursed his lips with contempt and said, “Let’s split up and search for him, then kill him together when we find him!”
Zhao Beichen sneered. “With your skills? I doubt any of you could last five seconds against him on your own. And now you want to split up? Li Hua, did your time at the Heavenly Heights Sect make you soft in the head?”
The thin Li Hua narrowed his eyes, turned to Zhao Beichen, and snickered. “If you’re afraid of dying, just say so. He only managed to kill Lin Quan and the other guy because they weren’t expecting it. You watched the Hell Challenge—we know his limits.”
Seeing the others just as indifferent, Zhao Beichen remained silent. With his arrogant personality, he decided to let Li Hua dig his own grave.
Ultimately, they decided to split up into pairs to search for Li Guanqi. The moment anyone found him, they’d send out a signal through their jade slip, and the others would converge.
Zhao Beichen did not go with them, heading west alone. Before he left, he could not help but mutter, “A bunch of idiots.”
Soon after they split up, Zhao Beichen heard faint metallic clangs. There was a fight, but he didn’t know where.
Zhao Beichen turned toward the noise and saw on his jade slip that two of the disciples were a few hundred zhang behind him.
Zhao Beichen turned and shot off in a streak of golden light. But just a hundred zhang out, the sounds suddenly vanished. The air was still. Too still.
He had a bad feeling and accelerated.
When he arrived at the scene, all he saw were splatters of blood and broken limbs everywhere. Not even full corpses remained. The two Purple Sun Pavilion disciples had been butchered.
Zhao Beichen stood frozen. A shiver crept up his spine. This wasn’t just killing—Li Guanqi was slaughtering without restraint.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure. A youth in ragged hemp clothes stood in the falling snow, thirty zhang away. The figure’s pure white eyes locked onto him.
He mouthed a single word.
Zhao Beichen couldn’t hear it.
But he knew what Li Guanqi had said.
Zhao Beichen’s hand trembled as he held his sword. When he saw Li Guanqi disappear, he immediately pulled out his jade slip and shouted, “Assemble! We can’t split up anymore! Rong Jiang and Yuan Kai are dead! He’s near me!”
A powerful aura exploded from Zhao Beichen’s body. Vital force surged through his body. At that moment, he realized he could condense a golden core anytime.
He didn’t hesitate. He decided to break through.
“Everyone, initiate your breakthroughs! No one at the Foundation Building Realm can fight against him!”
However, only Li Hua’s team responded. The other team remained silent.
Zhao Beichen’s heart skipped a beat. Oh no...
When he checked their locations on the jade slip, he saw their light dots disappear suddenly. They’d been over a thousand zhang to the east.
Which meant Li Guanqi had crossed that distance in just a dozen seconds.