The rabid dog at the foot of the mountain

Zuo Qiu's face darkened; Gu Yuanqing's words were clearly a mockery of him.

"Don't think you can stay safe just because of this Array Formation. It needs Spiritual Qi to maintain itself. I don't believe you can keep it running indefinitely. Once the Spiritual Qi is depleted, the Array Formation will break on its own. If you know what's good for you, hand over your sword now and surrender. If I'm in a good mood and consider how difficult it is to cultivate in this world, I might spare your life."

Gu Yuanqing scoffed, "You're Cultivator too, who are you trying to scare with these words? As for how long this Array Formation can last, heh, why don't you wait and see if you'll see it break when you leave this realm?"

"You stubborn fool, I'll make you wish you were dead!"

Feeling bored, Gu Yuanqing sat down, but secretly sent a telepathic message to Li Shi'an that he could leave. As long as he was within Within North Spring Mountain, he could clearly transmit information to others.

"You don't dare come in, and I don't want to go down either. How about we talk about the Outer Realm? I've heard you come from Outer Heavens. Could you tell me something to broaden my horizons? Maybe you'll scare me so much that I'll tie my hands and beg for forgiveness."

Zuo Qiu coldly replied, "Don't think I don't know your plans. That man surnamed Li isn't here. You just want to stall me here so he can escape from the mountains and find help."

"Then why are you still here talking to me?" Gu Yuanqing, somewhat surprised.

"He's just someone who barely reached the Dao Fire Realm. Even if more of those come, it'll only take more effort. But the people I want to kill, no one can escape!" Zuo Qiu's tone was chilling, his eyes gleaming with bloodlust, looking like a madman.

Gu Yuanqing suddenly felt that those eyes had turned into Vortex of the Blood Sea, and he was about to be swallowed up by it, his consciousness about to sink into it.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the illusory image of North Spring Mountain swayed slightly, and he shivered as his consciousness returned to clarity.

Before Zuo Qiu could even show the joy on his face, he suddenly felt a pain in his eyes, and blood flowed from the corners of his eyes. This was Spell Art had been broken and he had suffered a backlash.

Gu Yuanqing then realized that he had unknowingly left the tree he had been standing on and had darted forward several feet. The moment he regained consciousness, he almost fell off another tree.

He was startled, realizing that he had unknowingly fallen into a trap.

He secretly reflected that he had underestimated the strength of the Dao Fire Realm. He thought that being in North Spring Mountain made him fearless, but he didn't expect that he would almost be controlled by the expert even when they were hundreds of meters apart. He learned a lesson from this.

"You... you're playing me?" Zuo Qiu covered his eyes and said through gritted teeth.

Gu Yuanqing returned to her original position, feigning a relaxed tone. "Don't say that. We're all adults; how can you use that word so casually?"

"Good, very good. I never expected that I, Zuo Qiu, would suffer two losses at your hands since arriving at this Trial Ground. You better not let me catch you, or you'll regret being alive."

Gu Yuanqing sighed, "If this is all you've been saying, I'm not going to keep you company."

Zuo Qiu snorted coldly and stopped talking. He flew to a rock several dozen feet away and used his True Essence to heal the injury in his eye.

Gu Yuanqing shook his head. Since he had already achieved his goal and Zuo Qiu was unwilling to talk about things Outer Heavens, there was no need to continue the conversation. He turned around and returned to North Spring Mountain.

Upon reaching the mountaintop, passing by the side courtyard, he called out loudly, "Aunt Feng, we need to be careful with our food lately. A vicious dog has come down this mountain and won't leave."

The voice reached Zuo Qiu's ears from afar. He knew that Gu Yuanqing was cursing him, but he could only frown and feel helpless.

Gu Yuanqing understood what she meant, saying that there was still a lot of food stored in the granary, and she also grew vegetables in the mountains and cured meat, so there would be no problem eating for several months.

As for firewood and water, there's even less to worry about. There's a Mountain Spring halfway up the mountain that flows year-round, and the dry firewood from the Mountain can last for several years.

Gu Yuanqing, who usually didn't pay much attention to these things while Mountain Observation, was relieved to hear this. "That's good. Be careful these days, and don't go down the mountain, lest you get bitten by a vicious dog."

Gu Yuanqing gave a few instructions and then returned to his own Courtyard. As for whether Zuo Qiu would stay or leave, that was none of his business. The only thing he needed to do was to prevent him from wandering into the Mountain.

After staying in the courtyard for a while, he took his knife and went to an open space on the back hill.

After thinking for a moment, he released the pressure on the sword after sending it a hundred feet away.

In an instant, the Yao Blade trembled violently, and blood energy surged into the sky. The Blood Tiger Present World, and as soon as it appeared, its Qi locked onto Gu Yuanqing, as if it remembered the hatred of suppressing him.

Gu Yuanqing felt the chilling killing intent pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe. His blood and True Qi seemed to be freezing. This was the first time he had directly faced the power of the Dao Fire Realm, and compared to the Grandmaster Realm, the terror was exponentially greater.

He quickly suppressed his emotions and caught his breath. He felt his heart pounding so hard it was about to jump out of his chest, and his back was covered in cold sweat.

"And this is with my strength already at the Peak Profound Martial Ninth Layer. For ordinary people, it goes without saying that I wouldn't even need to make a move; just this aura alone would be enough to crush them!"

Frowning, Gu Yuanqing released his aura slightly, and the Yao Blade began to vibrate violently in the air, rendering Gu Yuanqing's Object Control Method unable to control it.

"This blade possesses a spirit; it truly belongs to the category of Law Treasure, unlike ordinary mortal objects."

As soon as Gu Yuanqing had a thought, the knife flew through the air, then drew an arc and landed on the rock. The rock was easily sliced in two, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror.

In terms of sharpness, this knife surpasses the Kunwu Sword by a great margin!

He glanced at the knife, then looked down at the secret chamber buried deep within, and suddenly a smile appeared on his face.

"You know what, with the sharpness of this blade, it really could carve a path from the outside into that secret chamber!"

Gu Yuanqing was pondering this idea when he suddenly had a premonition. He walked to the edge of the Cliff, looked down, and saw Zuo Qiu looking up at him from below, only a few meters away from the boundary of North Spring Mountain.

"It must be because I just broke the seal and he sensed the knife, which is why he came over to check. This sudden impulse from someone above the Grandmaster level is really troublesome. It seems I'll have to find a way to learn the Heavenly Secrets Concealment Technique in the future, otherwise, no matter what method I use, someone with profound cultivation can sense it in advance and won't fall for it."

Gu Yuanqing ignored what was happening below, Zuo Qiu wouldn't come up anyway.

He then practiced manipulating the demon Yao Blade using the Object Control Method. Although Gu Yuanqing was not proficient in Blade Technique, he had read some Blade Technique Secret Manuals and all weapons had commonalities. His comprehension was unparalleled, so it did not take long for him to feel that he could use the demon Yao Blade to defend himself, and it was more powerful than the Kunwu Sword.

Meanwhile, Li Shi'an, who had been traveling all the way, had returned to the capital.

He went straight to the Imperial Palace. Although he hadn't been there for a long time, nothing had changed from years ago. He easily found the location of Emperor Li Haotian of the Great Qian Dynasty and Prince Qing.