Meng Jiangchu returned carrying a gravely wounded, unconscious Li Guanqi, and the Meng family domain erupted into chaos.

Many of the younger generation had long admired Li Guanqi. Through sheer strength, he had built a formidable reputation across the Six Territories over the years. What disciple of the major sects and clans hadn’t heard about Yanluo Sword Sovereign Li Guanqi? And yet, the Territory Lord himself had carried him back in a gravely wounded state.

“My heavens... who could have beaten the Sword Sovereign into such a state?”

“Could it be those ancient clan prodigies who’ve recently emerged?”

Before the woman beside him could finish, a stern-faced young man cut in. “Impossible! Even if those ancient prodigies made a move, they wouldn’t be a match for the Yanluo Sword Sovereign.”

Annoyed at the rebuke, the woman snapped back, “Then you tell me, who was it?”

The young man answered matter-of-factly, “It must have been a great powerhouse in the Combined Body Realm! He wouldn’t have lost a fight with someone of the same level.”

The woman rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and sneered, “Combined Body Realm? Why not just say a Mahayana Stage cultivator while you’re at it? If a Combined Body Realm expert really made a move, it would’ve been absolute annihilation. He wouldn’t just be injured. He’d be dead.”

Her meaning was clear: an Illusory Refinement Realm cultivator wouldn’t survive against a Combined Body Realm opponent.

Meng Jiangchu had no time for such speculation. He had already ordered a medicinal pool to be prepared and retrieved rare pills from the treasury to administer to Li Guanqi. Each pill, sealed in its own violet-gold jade box, set Peng Luo drooling. But Meng Jiangchu hadn’t given him a single one.

Floating lazily in the dark green medicinal pool, Peng Luo muttered, “That old man sure is stingy...”

He tilted his head back, somehow produced a kitchen knife, wiped it on his side, and climbed to the edge of the pool. There, he snapped off a piece of his arm and sliced it thin, tossing the slivers into the water.

After finishing one piece, he broke off another. “Master... why do your injuries get worse every time? Look at you. Your face has even turned darker... if Brother Nine knew, who knows what that dragon would do...”

Peng Luo sat by the pool, chattering endlessly. Li Guanqi remained unconscious, deaf to every word of its loyal rambling.

Peng Luo’s cultivation hadn’t improved at all, but his body had grown remarkably sturdy. He had no idea when Li Guanqi would wake up, but he hadn’t left the poolside ever since Li Guanqi fell unconscious.

Even Li Changqing was moved and praised him in front of Meng Jiangchu. “Quite a loyal little supernatural being...”

Meng Jiangchu, busy handling official matters, twitched at the corner of his mouth and shot back with a grin, “I’d believe that if that little rascal wasn’t secretly drinking the medicinal pool water!”

Li Changqing blinked in surprise, clearly unaware.

Meng Jiangchu snorted. “That radish is slicing pieces of itself into the pool while muttering, ‘I better drink more to replenish myself.’ Don’t believe me? Go take a look.”

Li Changqing’s face stiffened, twitching slightly, and he fell silent. After a pause, his expression turned grave. “Territory Lord... how did he end up so severely injured? Who did this? The demonic qi in him almost rivals that of an Abyssal Demon itself. Not to mention his depleted blood essence and shattered meridians... If it were me, I wouldn’t have survived

Meng Jiangchu’s face darkened completely. He slammed the jade slip in his hand onto the table.

He surveyed the mountain of jade slips before him. At least forty percent concerned the Sha organization. Several sects tasked with suppressing Abyssal Demons had already come under attack.

He knew reinforcements from the Seventh Territory had been dispatched, and Long Hou’s group already had things under control. Even so, the scale of the crisis was alarming. Without their covert intervention, who knew how many forces in the Divine Treasure Territory would have been lost.

Meng Jiangchu closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, then said quietly, “Three Mei-tier assassins from the Sha organization ambushed him.”

Li Changqing frowned. “Mei-rank? How do they compare to the previous Black-tier assassins?”

Meng Jiangchu opened his eyes and replied gravely, “Half-step Combined Body Realm.”

Li Changqing exclaimed, stunned. “What?! The Mei tier is already at the half-step Combined Body Realm? If that’s the hierarchy, the higher ranks must be even stronger. Combined Body Realm is a given... could there even be Mahayana Stage cultivators?”

His voice was filled with disbelief. It was hard to believe that such a mysterious, newly emerged evil organization could possess powerhouses of that level.

Leaning back in his chair, Meng Jiangchu tapped his fingers on the table. “Right now, the Sha organization is a major problem for all six Territory Lords.”

Li Changqing sighed. “Facing three half-step Combined Body Realm assassins... surviving with only severe injuries is already extraordinary.”

He spoke from experience, having encountered assassins from the Sha organization before. And those had only been Black-tier assassins.

Meng Jiangchu’s lips curved into a faint smile, a trace of pride in his eyes. “Who said I intervened?”

Li Changqing froze, staring at him in disbelief before swallowing hard. “Don’t tell me... he killed all three of them himself?”

Meng Jiangchu nodded. Despite the chaos elsewhere, he couldn’t hide his pride. Li Guanqi was his son-in-law, after all. How could he not boast a little?

Li Changqing was utterly shaken. He hadn’t witnessed the battle, but Li Guanqi’s injuries told him how brutal and perilous that fight must have been.

“Sigh. Seems I really am getting old. The younger generation these days...”

Meng Jiangchu waved him away and closed his eyes, brows tightly furrowed. “The Six Territories... are sliding into chaos. If this continues, we may have no choice but to ask the ancient clans to step in and suppress the Abyssal-Sealing Lands. But once the ancient clans return to the world, they’ll inevitably clash with the existing sects and factions.”

He let out a heavy sigh. “When that time comes... who knows how many will die.”

After a moment, he took out a pitch-black spike, murmuring to himself, “That blood formation... Just who created it? The person controlling the Sha organization?”