Upon hearing these words, Li Qingci’s expression suddenly turned three shades paler.
She stepped back slightly.
Family Master... gravely ill.
She was aware of the news, had always known... but when the day truly arrived, she still could not accept it.
The Family Head was gravely ill, yet she could not leave Divine Temple Mountain, let alone see him for the last time.
Parting in life and death.
The moment she set foot on Divine Temple Mountain, she was destined to sever these mortal ties.
Li Qingci’s eyes dimmed.
No wonder... no wonder it wasn’t Li Qingsui who had come here.
She couldn’t bear to imagine what that innocently naive girl looked like now, waiting by the sickbed, probably a picture of haggardness.
"According to the clan’s regulations, before the Family Head’s demise, the Elder Council conducted a final audit of the financial report, and discovered a serious issue..."
Li Xuan continued to speak, he said calmly, "In the past year, a significant amount of the Li Family’s funds and manpower were invested in the Divine Temple Mountain project..."
Li Qingci was stunned.
She looked incredulously at the man in front of her.
The "Fourteenth Elder" of the Li Family Elders, at such a crucial moment of the Family Head’s critical illness, had come to Divine Temple Mountain... just to tell her this.
"What are you trying to say?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"It is with regret that I inform you, this plan has been terminated by us."
Li Xuan spoke calmly, looking up at Divine Temple Mountain, "The Elder Council is unable to assess the authenticity of this plan... I am here to investigate the Divine Temple, to see whether the vast funds spent are truly justified."
He was ready to begin his ascent.
Li Qingci rarley showed anger, she stepped in front of the middle-aged man, rebuking, "The Li Family’s ancestral teachings state that aside from the successive Family Heads and Protectors... no one else, without permission, is to take half a step onto Divine Temple Mountain!"
Li Xuan frowned slightly.
He reached out his hand, attempting to push Li Qingci aside.
At this moment, Gu Shen made his move.
Gu Shen stepped half a step forward, positioning himself between the two, and at the same time, his hand shot out like lightning, grabbing Li Xuan’s wrist.
Li Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.
The speed of the grab was extremely fast; he had realized it but had not avoided it!
"Who does he think he is?"
After being grabbed... Li Xuan’s expression turned utterly cold, he looked at Li Qingci and asked bluntly.
Upon arriving at Divine Temple Mountain, Li Xuan’s first glance was at this "stranger." He thought the face looked vaguely familiar, as though he had seen it somewhere before... but certainly not at the Li’s Ancestral Hall!
Li Qingci was stopping him from climbing the mountain.
Then, what gave this outsider the right to do the same?
"I am a guest of the Li Family."
Gu Shen smiled slightly, replying softly, "And you, what exactly are you?"
Li Xuan flew into a rage.
In the void, flames burst forth—
This Fourteenth Elder of the Li Family’s abilities were also connected to "flame."
He acted first, a circle of flame bursting from his wrist, attempting to shake off Gu Shen’s hand.
However, Gu Shen remained indifferent.
He stood his ground, not moving an inch, with only a wisp of Chi Huo igniting suddenly at his brow.
The burst of flame hadn’t shaken off his wrist at all; right after bursting, it was all absorbed by the "Chi Huo"!
The moment Chi Huo appeared... Li Xuan’s face turned pale.
He suddenly remembered why this young man in front of him seemed familiar!
This young man had made a name for himself in Changye, becoming the focus of the entire Snow Forbidden City!
Yet over this year... this young man had gone back into seclusion, disappearing from everyone’s sight, like a fleeting blossoming at night, no one discussed him anymore, nor did anybody pay him any attention.
That face once remembered by countless people gradually faded from memory.
"You... your surname is Gu?"
Gu Shen spoke calmly, slightly increasing the pressure of his fingers, and the Fourteenth Elder’s expression instantly turned ferocious. His wrist was pressed down and twisted at an angle, as if all his strength was trapped at one point.
The tall man could only kneel on the ground, clenching his teeth, struggling to breathe within seconds, beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolling down his forehead.
Gu Shen’s command was clean and concise; he had only one demand.
Li Xuan looked up, facing the young man who had disappeared from Changye’s sight for nearly a year... there was fear in his eyes.
If he remembered correctly, Gu Shen was only a second-stage Transcendent a year ago!
He himself had been cultivating at the third stage for five years already.
Yet he was utterly defenseless... just how powerful was Gu Shen now?
"I’m sorry... Master Gu Shen... it was my lack of discernment... I am unworthy!"
Li Xuan was shameless, completely at odds with his usually righteous appearance, and began to apologize immediately.
But after he finished, he noticed that Gu Shen hadn’t let go of his hand.
He looked up, confused.
"Not to me... to her."
Gu Shen spoke calmly, "The Li Family’s affairs... are not for me to interfere, but she is my friend. You shouldn’t have laid hands on her."
"Miss Qingci... I’m sorry, I was wrong..."
Li Xuan apologized again, nodding like pounding garlic.
Li Qingci, still in the throes of sorrow upon learning of the Family Master’s illness, had no desire to argue with this contemptible man. She looked at Gu Shen with concern, signaling that there was no need to dwell further on this, to let it end here.
Gu Shen released his hold, and Li Xuan felt a huge relief, crouching down and sitting on the ground, clutching at his wrist, a look of pain on his face.