The Abyssal Demon possessed an intellect on par with that of a normal person, but the low growls and strange murmurs coming from it were not something Li Guanqi or the others could understand.

Even so, Li Guanqi could feel the bone-chilling killing intent radiating from the Abyssal Demon.

Crash!

Both figures vanished in a flash. The next instant, the entire sword prison domain shook.

Li Guanqi shot backward, feeling as though he were being torn apart. The Abyssal Demon was monstrously strong.

Li Guanqi’s lips curled into a grin. His qi and blood roared, circulating in the brutal manner of the ancient clans. Within a single breath, his frame swelled by a full size, becoming thick and powerful.

He drove a fist forward, seized the Abyssal Demon, and hurled it away. After using his sprint technique to close the distance, he spun, his right leg sweeping out like a battle-axe.

Crash!

Boom!

The Abyssal Demon slammed into the ground, making the entire domain shake.

Li Guanqi swung his sword.

“Moon Slaughter, Crouching Demon!”

Boom!

Sword light blazed and swelled. A hundred-zhang column of it crashed down.

Boom!

The spatial realm shook without pause. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and looked down.

The Abyssal Demon slammed its palms together, catching the torrent of sword light between them before crushing it through sheer force.

Bang!

An explosion rang out. Endless pitch-black demonic qi poured into the Abyssal Demon, its figure shrinking to a black streak as it bore down on Li Guanqi at terrifying speed.

But Li Guanqi was faster. He raised a hand, and sword light surged forth like a raging storm. The Abyssal Demon threw up its fists, conjuring a pair of gauntlets before hammering against the torrent of sword light.

The two figures flickered wildly in mid-air. Thunderous booms rang out one after another. The warped spatial realm could barely contain the shockwaves they were unleashing, and the disturbances spread beyond the realm as well.

Lu Kangnian watched the Demon Abyss Realm with growing concern. He had already sensed the seal inside shatter, and the situation within was almost certainly grim. Yet, Li Guanqi had sealed the realm himself, making it clear he didn’t want anyone coming in to help.

Lu Kangnian turned to Ling Daoyan, his voice cold. “Bring out the demon-slaying crossbow. If it comes to it, we’ll destroy the crack to the abyss entirely!”

Ling Daoyan’s eyes flashed with a sharp light. He agreed in a firm, low voice.

Lu Kangnian formed hand seals, pulled out another jade slip, and handed it to Ling Daoyan. With that, he took one step and vanished.

He reappeared inside the Guanyun Pavilion’s realm. Inside, Ji Yuchuan was nearly going mad with work, his hundreds of clones managing everything at once.

Lu Kangnian was deeply shaken by what he saw. He had never imagined that someone could split into hundreds of clones simultaneously and control them so effectively. Ji Yuchuan issued command after command, while the others worked frantically as well.

One of Ji Yuchuan’s clones sorted through more than a hundred jade slips before handing them to Lu Kangnian. In a steady voice, he said, “These are the jade slips for every team reinforcing the other factions. Sect Master Lu, everything from here on is in your hands. The resources of the Guanyun Pavilion are yours to command as you see fit. I’m afraid I can’t stay to assist you.”

Lu Kangnian nodded, took a seat, and reached out to everyone with a faint sweep of his divine consciousness.

However, with each message that came back, his expression grew grimmer. The situation across the entire Azure Cloud Continent was dire. Some clans and sects could not even hold on long enough for the Daxia Sword Sect’s reinforcements to arrive.

The Abyssal Demons were killing at a terrifying speed, and the Abyssal Demons in every abyss crack seemed endless. They had to seal them away by any means possible, but the Abyssal Demons were targeting the array masters capable of sealing the cracks.

Even Xi Yunhuai had been surrounded and targeted by several Abyssal Demons. Had he not emerged from enlightenment with greatly enhanced strength, he would have sustained serious injuries.

Deep within the Sword Prison domain, Li Guanqi frantically suppressed the Abyssal Demon. Every sword strike sent bursts of pitch-black demonic qi exploding outward.

Boom!

The Lock Moon Sword in Li Guanqi’s hand let out a resonant sword cry. His eyes turned cold as he murmured toward the distant Abyssal Demon, “Moon Slaughter, World Annihilation!”

Boom!

A terrifying sword light erupted, one that made every corner of the Daxia Sword Sect tremble. The Xuantian Demon-Sealing Sword Array surrounding the Daxia Sword Sect blazed with dazzling light. That single sword stroke split Li Guanqi’s sword prison domain apart.

The Abyssal Demon’s power matched that of a half-step Combined Body Realm cultivator, but a bolt of lightning sword light struck regardless, splitting the demon and the mountain behind it clean in two.

Wild sword qi lingered deep within the ravine. A pitch-black crack hovered in midair, bound by sword qi.

Li Guanqi himself had sustained considerable injuries. No wonder Hong Zhi had said what she did earlier.

The moment Li Guanqi crooked a finger, the hundred-zhang lightning sword hovering above the Heavenly Sword Peak aligned itself with the crack of the Demon-Suppression Abyss and came crashing down.

Li Guanqi’s eyes were wide with fury. He swept a hand, condensing the power of ten thousand bolts of lightning, and drove the sword straight into the mouth of the crack, embedding it deep.

As he poured his vital force in without restraint, sword qi tore through the Abyssal Demons within the crack in a frenzy.

As long as Li Guanqi’s power held, nothing would break the seal. Unless... an even more powerful Abyssal Demon lurked deep within the abyss.

Li Guanqi stood at the edge of the altar. With a surge of vital force, he stemmed the bleeding from his wounds. He lowered his head silently.

As he looked down at the crack churning with demonic qi, he felt the urge to plunge straight in and find out what lay below. And the longer he stared, the stronger the urge grew.

Li Guanqi broke out in a cold sweat. He had no idea where the thought had come from. Looking down at his foot, which had already shifted a step forward, he swallowed hard.

He raised his hand and poured his power back into the lightning sword. His current strength was likely insufficient to enter and discover the truth.

He exhaled slowly in relief, circulating his vital force to expel the residual demonic qi from his meridians.

With that done, Li Guanqi noticed that several former peak masters and elders were standing around him, staring in a daze. Every disciple had stopped in midair, eyes wide and mouths open in shock, swallowing hard.

Li Guanqi glanced at the mountain peak cleaved in two, then at the hundred-zhang lightning sword he’d jammed brutally into the crack. He shrugged awkwardly. He hadn’t expected that killing a single Abyssal Demon would cause such a scene.

Then he frowned. At that very moment, his clone had also run into a powerful enemy.