When Zhao Beichen reached the spot where the light dots had vanished, he blasted away the snow. Aside from a few bloodstains, only two shattered jade slips remained on the ground.
He swallowed hard, his face twitching. In that moment, he realized he had grossly underestimated Li Guanqi. It was plain as day that Li Guanqi wasn’t his equal. He was far stronger.
He recalled how Elder Miao once told him that when Li Guanqi awakened his spirit void, the pillars had lit up in a bright red that he had never seen before. Back then, they’d speculated that Li Guanqi had at least a King Spirit Root—or perhaps even the legendary and rare Saint Spirit Root.
Knowing full well that the odds of those two disciples surviving were close to zero, Zhao Beichen took a deep breath. He exhaled and decided to turn around and search for Li Hua’s team.
Anyone in the Purple Sun Pavilion could die, except for Li Hua. Li Hua was the son of the Heavenly Heights Sect’s third elder. The Heavenly Heights Sect was part of the Three Sects and Six Pavilions collective, and the sects held a higher rank than the pavilions.
If Li Hua died, the Purple Sun Pavilion would face the wrath of the Heavenly Heights Sect.
At the sight of two figures standing atop a withered tree branch, Zhao Beichen finally relaxed. He rushed up and barked, “You two, leave now! With just a few of us, we’re no match for him. Report back to the elder and tell him everything!”
As he spoke, he pulled out a human skin mask and a priceless Hundred Transformations Talisman. The talisman, crafted from the leather of a demonic beast, could completely obscure a person’s aura. The mask, meanwhile, could be shaped into any person’s face.
Li Hua confusedly looked at Zhao Beichen, who looked like he was preparing to face a powerful enemy. “Did he really kill four people that quickly?”
Zhao Beichen molded the mask to his own face. “I know for sure he killed Rong Jiang and Yuan Kai. As for Xu Ming and Lu Fengyu... I suspect things didn't go well for them, though I’m not completely sure.”
Zhao Beichen stuck the talisman on Li Hua, handed him his sword, and then pressed the human skin mask onto his face. “From this moment on, you’re Zhao Beichen. Knowing how cautious he is, I doubt he’d try to attack me first.”
When he finished, Zhao Beichen sighed in relief. “Let’s leave this place!”
But Li Hua brushed off his hand and growled under his breath, “We’re leaving just like that? Is the Purple Sun Pavilion full of cowards? He came right to your doorstep and killed your people, and now you’re too scared to even let out a fart!”
In response, Zhao Beichen tore the mask off Li Hua’s face. “If you’re so eager to die, go right ahead. If it weren’t for your status in the Heavenly Heights Sect, I wouldn’t have given a shit about you.”
He snatched back his sword and shot into the air, flying deeper into the mountains.
He wanted to face Li Guanqi himself. He wanted to prove to the world that even if Li Guanqi made it to the finals, he still wouldn’t be a match for him. The arrogant Zhao Beichen refused to fear Li Guanqi.
With a stony expression, he began searching for traces of Li Guanqi.
On a snowy patch of ground in the mountains, Li Guanqi dug a hole, his face devoid of emotion. Xu Ming and Lu Fengyu lay nearby, their limbs snapped and their tongues torn out.
Their dantians had been crushed, and they were pale as ghosts, blood dribbling from their lips. The only sounds they could make were gurgling whimpers, eyes wide in horror as they stared at Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi quickly dug a hole as deep as a man is tall.
The occasional beast cry echoed through the mountains, making both disciples tremble. They had already guessed what was coming. Li Guanqi walked over, seized one in each hand, and tossed them into the pit.
It was too narrow for them to crouch. They could only stand shoulder to shoulder.
Li Guanqi blasted the surrounding earth, sending a cascade of soil into the hole.
Then he set down his sword box and began tamping the soil with his fists. After a moment, he squatted, grabbed Xu Ming’s head, and slashed his sword across his eyes.
“Ahhhhh!” Xu Ming thrashed, but he couldn’t escape.
Lu Fengyu could only watch as the same was done to him.
The pain was unbearable, but not enough to render them unconscious. Although their dantians had shattered, they still had the physical resilience of Foundation Building Realm cultivators.
Never before had they so desperately craved death.
The pitch black darkness made them descend into absolute terror.
Li Guanqi looked at them with a blank face, then started to search through his storage ring.
He soon found a bucket-sized clay jar and rubbed a sticky paste on their faces. Xu Ming could feel the substance, but with no tongue, he couldn’t taste it.
As Li Guanqi rubbed the paste on their faces, his words echoed in their ears, devilish and menacing. “I have shattered your dantians, broken your jade slips, cut off your tongues, and snapped your tendons.”
He paused. “Why did you treat her that way? Weren’t you all there when I killed Pang Li?”
He continued smearing the paste. “You saw the cave nearby. I erased our tracks. With the snow falling this heavily, Zhao Beichen probably won’t find you. Even if the Purple Sun Pavilion elders come looking, they’ll need at least ten hours.
“Oh, and one more thing—you’ll pass out from blood loss in about two hours. Since you’re both blind, try counting the time yourselves.”
As he spoke, he licked his fingers. “I smeared honey on your faces. You know how much bear-type demonic beasts love that stuff. Do you know their tongues are covered in barbs? If they lick you, they’ll tear bloody chunks right off your faces.”
The two thrashed, sobbing, but Li Guanqi calmly rose and pulled out a recording crystal.
He stepped on their heads and roared, “When Sui’an kneeled and kowtowed to you guys, did you let her go? When you all broke her limbs and kicked her around, she screamed for mercy. But did you let her go?!”
Li Guanqi kicked Xu Ming’s face and glared at them. “You all deserved all of this.”
With that, Li Guanqi turned and walked off into the snow, leaving the two youths sobbing in the dark. It was unclear whether it was from remorse or terror.
Meanwhile, chaos had erupted in the Heavenly Tiger Mountain’s participants’ quarters. Even Long Qu had arrived in person to investigate.
Soon, a piece of shocking news spread across the entire Northern Territory.
Disciples of the Purple Sun Pavilion tortured a seven-year-old girl from the Daxia Sword Sect until she was critically injured. Li Guanqi, who had initiated the Hell Challenge and was contending for first place, stormed the Purple Sun Pavilion’s quarters at night and violently killed two of their disciples. The whereabouts of the remaining Purple Sun Pavilion disciples and Li Guanqi are currently unknown.
Other than that, there was a rumor that Li Guanqi had left behind a message requesting to withdraw from his sect.
Many cultivators woke to the news, their eyes widening when they read the message.
Someone sighed, “He’s too young... He had a real shot at taking his sect to first place, yet he decided to act so rashly.”
Some felt Li Guanqi had acted recklessly, targeting a powerful sect’s disciples. However, out of concern for his own sect, he’d chosen to leave of his own accord rather than drag them down.
In the sect quarters, Li Nanting stood in Li Guanqi’s room, looking at the talisman he’d left behind with great pain.