"So, your plan was to have the great powers tie down our Li family's Hall of Heavenly Principle."
Li Wei's voice was low and spectral.
"You deliberately used Nangong Yazhi as bait to lure out the members of my family—to lure me out?"
He gazed ahead.
The North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear had already slain the other cultivators from Eternal Sun Prefecture. In the distance, Li Changyao and Feng Chunlin had begun pursuing the fleeing Nangong Yazhi.
Li Wei let out a sigh of relief. With a calm expression, he watched Lu Juechen struggle against the Yin-Yang Fish Diagram with his spiritual power. Under its crushing pressure, the mid-stage Divinity Transformation expert's Domain had been forced down to a mere thousand meters.
Lu Juechen said nothing, but Li Wei could see that the man was merely feigning composure.
"Your methods are far too clumsy."
He slowly turned his head, his gaze fixed on the clouds above.
But the North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear did not strike at Lu Juechen. Instead, it shot toward… the heavens above!
"Wouldn't you agree, Venerable Elder Baimei?!!"
Li Wei's figure vanished in an instant. The North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear tore through the air, and as black and white spiritual Qi swirled around him, his hand, wreathed in black mist, gripped the spear!
Witnessing this scene, Lu Juechen raised his head in horror.
He could feel it—as the Li's Old Ancestor gripped the North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear, his aura began to surge, growing stronger and stronger.
It was stronger than when he had faced him just moments ago, and even stronger than… when he had faced Tian Xing all those years ago!
The long spear thrust forward, the twin Yin-Yang fish flanking him as it pierced into the heavens.
In an instant.
Not a sound was heard from the sky, yet visible ripples spread through the clouds—the result of colliding spiritual power.
"BOOM!"
The Li's Old Ancestor's figure froze in mid-air. The North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear seemed to have struck something formidable, and a crack appeared in the sky.
The force of this collision, however, was disastrous for Lu Juechen back in the Yin-Yang Diagram. In the wake of such a shockwave, of the more than two hundred formation plates within his Domain, only a dozen or so remained.
A moment later.
The Old Ancestor had already returned to the Yin-Yang Diagram. Holding the North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear at his side, he raised his head and stared intently at the heavens above.
From within the crack in the sky, a figure gradually emerged.
The old man had a kind and benevolent face. He descended upon a cloud, the very picture of an immortal. It was none other than the one Li Wei had named—Venerable Elder Baimei!
"Hahaha!"
Venerable Elder Baimei appeared and looked down upon Li Wei within the Yin-Yang Diagram. A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
"Old Ancestor of the Li family," he said, "I have often heard of you, but we have never met. I never imagined that besides that disciple of mine, there was another in this world who could achieve such strength while still in the Divinity Transformation realm."
Li Wei frowned.
The old Daoist used a technique to probe him, but found he could not see through the Li family's Old Ancestor at all.
Slightly startled, he continued, "Old Ancestor, do you know why I have come here?"
As he spoke, he glanced toward the distant Li Changyao and Feng Chunlin, who were still pursuing Nangong Yazhi.
No matter how far they fled, to an expert at the Void Refining realm, the distance was negligible.
Hearing this, Li Wei's expression remained calm, but he gripped the North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear tightly.
"You're trying to stall me."
From that single spear strike just now, he had already sensed it: between him and the Void Refining realm, there was still an insurmountable chasm!
"Precisely."
"Our plan was simple: kill Feng Chunlin, use Nangong Yazhi to lure out Li Changyao, and in turn, lure out Your Excellency. You can go nowhere. Within the reach of my Void Refining realm, Li Changyao has no hope of escape. If you were to leave, I would have no choice but to reluctantly send her to meet the deceased members of your clan."
"But in the end, your Li family has underestimated Prince Qian. How could his methods possibly be so clumsy?"
The old Daoist let out a long sigh. "For centuries in the Duravia Trade Prefecture, he has kept his true abilities hidden. He does not act rashly, but when he does, he is like a torrential flood—an unstoppable force."
Li Wei's expression changed.
Baimei's voice was filled with regret as he said, "It is a pity. Your Li family may have devoured Tian Xing, but in doing so, you provoked someone you never should have ."
"The three great immortal sects—Prince Qian wants them ."
"This Eternal Sun Prefecture—Prince Qian wants it, too !"
"And now…"
"The one he wants to kill is not just one member of your Li family, but rather…"
The old Daoist's voice, filled with pity, echoed across the sky.
"Every single person in your Li family!"
"You… cannot save them all."
As his words faded, dark undercurrents surged among the great powers, though the common folk of Eternal Sun Prefecture remained unaware.
In Solaria City, on the road to the City Lord's mansion, a spirit ark approached.
Prince Qian, holding the hand of the ugly woman, walked to the prow of the spirit ark, facing the wind.
He looked down upon the lands of Eternal Sun Prefecture, a delighted smile spreading across his face.
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