Chapter 917 - Self-Detonation Threat

Gu Li’s expression was grim. He hadn’t expected his best efforts to fail at such a crucial moment, especially since he’d already comprehended the talisman Dao.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Gu Li slapped himself again and again, his bloodshot eyes wild with frustration. His cheeks visibly swelled as he roared, “I should’ve left more talismans on him! If I had, none of this would’ve happened! What the hell was I thinking?”

Ye Xuan said gravely, “Stop blaming yourself. This was out of your control. Besides... it isn’t only the talismans you left on him that have stopped working. The jade slips we inscribed together aren’t responding either.”

Nangong Xuandu took out a jade slip inscribed with the character “Yu,” then said, “Yu Shan, can you locate Li Guanqi? He disappeared after entering an Abyssal Demon rift.”

Within the pitch-black void, Ji Yuchuan stared at the Heavenly Intelligence Map for a long time without speaking.

Chan Kongzi narrowed his eyes. The storage ring on his finger emitted a faint pulse, but the chaotic void storm completely concealed it.

After checking the message, he casually glanced toward You Ming, who was skipping along cheerfully with his hands clasped behind his back. “It can’t be him. He’s been right beside me the whole time!”

Ji Yuchuan let out a long sigh, his brow furrowing. “It really isn’t him... If it were, he never would’ve stopped the Lu clan or killed the Mahayana Realm cultivator who used pupil techniques. If someone like that turned demonic, he’d be at least a Liang-tier expert. Sha wouldn’t be that foolish. Could You Ming really be innocent?”

Within the storm, You Ming suddenly glanced back at the assassin behind him, whose figure was completely shrouded in black robes. His own luxurious purple robes billowed around him. “Wu Mian, why do you keep staring at me? Aiya, don’t tell me you want to kill me?”

The cold-faced man glanced at him without making any attempt to deny it. He shrugged. “I’ve always found you annoying. You’d better sleep with one eye open whenever you cultivate.”

Array runes took shape around You Ming’s raised finger as he pouted. “Mian Mian, why are you being so mean to me? I’m scared!”

A cold gleam flashed at Wu Mian’s wrist. In an instant, You Ming’s index finger was severed, along with the array runes encircling it. Then a thin line of blood appeared across his neck.

Wu Mian toyed with his dagger and gave him a mirthless smile. “Don’t make me sick.”

The corner of You Ming’s mouth twitched. He wiped the blood from his neck, then let himself fall backward into the void storm. The storm swept him hundreds of li away.

Hong Zhi shouted coldly, “You Ming! What nonsense are you up to now?”

You Ming spread his arms and legs and went completely limp, letting the storm spin him around. “I’m done! I quit! I’m leaving the Eight Generals! Whoever wants my place can have it! You all suspect me, don’t you? Fine, go on without me. I’m not coming. Whether Li Guanqi lives or dies has nothing to do with me.”

Chan Kongzi crossed his arms and watched the show. He even pulled a handful of melon seeds from nowhere and began cracking them between his teeth. “Well, well, someone’s throwing a tantrum! Hahaha! Look at that spirit. Second Sister, I might fool around, but I’m reliable. You Ming is openly defying you. See? He never dared act like this when Brother Long was around.”

Swish!

A four-chi-long red saber appeared in Hong Zhi’s hand.

Ring ring!

A golden bell chimed. You Ming scrambled out of the storm on all fours, hastily straightened his clothes, and adopted a solemn expression. “I’ve been in a bad mood these past few days. Second Sister, please don’t take it to heart.”

Bzz!

Within the light screen, Li Guanqi appeared to have lost all control of his body and could only let Sha manipulate him at will.

Sha raised his eyebrows, his eyes shining with crazed excitement. With a wave of his hand, more than ten pitch-black chains pierced Li Guanqi’s body.

He glanced at Tang Ru, who was on the verge of death. Killing intent flashed through his eyes as he curled one of his hands into a grasping motion.

Crack!

“Ugh!” Tang Ru’s body twisted and snapped at a bizarre angle.

“Stop!” Li Guanqi’s chest heaved violently, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. He glared into the hollow eyeholes of Sha’s mask. “Whatever you want with me, if you kill him... I’ll self-destruct immediately! Then you’ll get nothing!”

At the same time, Li Guanqi desperately called out to Sword Spirit in his heart.

Yet Sword Spirit merely watched everything with cold detachment. A full two breaths passed before she finally said calmly, “The time has not yet come.”

If Sword Spirit says it isn’t time, then it isn’t time. She can’t just stand by and watch me die.

Still, the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Sword Spirit’s voice seemed cold. Or rather, the way she spoke to him and treated him now resembled how she had been when they first met. Cold, proud, and disdainful of all living things, as if there were nothing in the world she cared about aside from herself.

Li Guanqi’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, his heart a tempest as he gazed intently at the mask.

Sha still held one hand in a grasping motion toward the void beside him. Tang Ru’s body had reached the brink of total collapse.

A fierce light flashed in Li Guanqi’s eyes. A piercing pain erupted from his dantian, and his abdomen visibly swelled.

With a crazed expression, he shouted, “If you won’t negotiate, then you don’t get another chance.”

The vital force within Li Guanqi went completely berserk. Although he could not control the energy in his dantian, he could still self-destruct.

Bzz!

His skin cracked like parched earth, and lightning-like currents surged beneath the fissures. The skin across his face split as well. His entire body ballooned grotesquely, like an ox bloated with water.

The sight terrified Sha. Panic flashed through the eyes beneath his mask. “Hey, hey, hey! Stop! Stop! I’ll let him go!”

Sha released Tang Ru and even sent a strand of spirit light into him to stabilize his collapsing divine soul.

However, Li Guanqi could no longer suppress the raging power within him. Sha had no choice but to press a finger to his forehead, and an immense force quelled the violent surge.

The moment Li Guanqi sensed that power moving through his body, he asked coldly, “Is he safe?”

“Yes,” Sword Spirit said softly.

Sha tore open space and threw Tang Ru through the rift. Only after the unconscious Tang Ru had disappeared did Li Guanqi finally breathe a sigh of relief.

A cold light flashed through his eyes.

“Now!”