Dingguang Xian was narrow-minded and would avenge even the smallest slight!
Once, while "dead drunk," Gu Changqing had angrily demanded of him, "Who the hell do you think you are?"
Ever since then, Dingguang Xian had hated Gu Changqing to the marrow of his bones.
A mere Outer Sect disciple dared speak so insolently to him?
Thus, Dingguang Xian sought out Qiu Shou Xian, who also bore a grudge against Gu Changqing, hoping to conspire with him and plot against Gu Changqing.
That would settle the score for his past humiliation.
Upon hearing Dingguang Xian's words, Qiu Shou Xian hesitated.
"Has Master Tongtian truly stopped paying attention to Gu Changqing?"
Clearly, he still had his concerns.
After all, everyone knew that Gu Changqing, now a prominent figure in the Outer Sect, had previously received considerable attention from Tongtian.
Qiu Shou Xian feared that Saint Tongtian would punish him for it.
At that, Dingguang Xian gave a sinister smile.
"Rest assured, Senior Brother Qiu Shou Xian!"
"Ever since Gu Changqing used Moon Laurel Blossoms to brew wine, Master Tongtian has been furious!"
"In a hundred years, he hasn't asked about Gu Changqing's activities even once!"
Only after hearing this did Qiu Shou Xian let out a long breath of relief.
In that case, Gu Changqing had once again become an insignificant Outer Sect disciple.
Even if he died and his cultivation perished, Master Tongtian might never learn of it or inquire.
But then something else occurred to Qiu Shou Xian.
"But... can the two of us overpower Gu Changqing together?"
"You don't know this, but when I confronted Gu Changqing before, towering sword intent suddenly erupted all around him..."
Qiu Shou Xian recounted everything that had happened back then.
Even now, he still felt lingering fear!
At the same time, his impression of Gu Changqing was one of utter strangeness.
Uneasy, Qiu Shou Xian felt that even if he joined forces with Dingguang Xian, they might not be able to deal with Gu Changqing.
Dingguang Xian seemed to have anticipated this.
"Heh heh, there's no need to worry, Senior Brother Qiu Shou Xian!"
"No matter how strange that brat is, this time, he'll have no way out alive!"
As he spoke, Dingguang Xian turned his palm over.
A streak of black light immediately appeared in his hand.
Qiu Shou Xian started at the sight, his expression changing drastically.
"That... the Six Souls Banner?!"
"Dingguang Xian, surely we cannot use this."
"If Master finds out..."
Though the two were birds of a foul feather, conspiring like a wolf and its accomplice.
At this moment, even Qiu Shou Xian was shocked by Dingguang Xian's ruthlessness.
The Six Souls Banner!
A baleful treasure!
The banner was triangular, with six tails fluttering beneath it. It was Saint Tongtian's peerless trump card for killing, entrusted to Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal.
It attacked the primordial spirit directly and contained the power of curses.
Anyone struck by it would shed a layer of skin even if they survived, their spiritual consciousness suffering devastating damage.
Qiu Shou Xian had never expected Dingguang Xian to dare bring it out.
After all, Dingguang Xian's hatred for Gu Changqing was not even as deep as Qiu Shou Xian's.
That alone showed just how vicious and merciless Dingguang Xian was.
"Heh heh, Senior Brother Qiu Shou Xian, what are you afraid of?"
"Although I'm using this treasure, I won't take Gu Changqing's life. I'll merely erase one of his three souls!"
"Besides, even if Gu Changqing cannot endure it and dies, we can simply say he drank himself to death!"
Clearly, Dingguang Xian had planned everything in advance.
Yet his breezy words sent a chill through Qiu Shou Xian.
As the saying went, better to offend a gentleman than a petty villain.
Dingguang Xian was a petty villain through and through.
Being targeted by someone like him was truly terrifying.
Things had already reached this point, and Dingguang Xian had planned thoroughly, even preparing a way out.
Qiu Shou Xian had nothing more to say.
The two immediately rose, left the cave abode, and headed toward the cultivation grounds of the Interception Sect's Outer Sect disciples.
Meanwhile!
Inside Gu Changqing's cave abode.
Gu Changqing was still dead drunk, sprawled gracelessly on the floor.
Bixiao was no longer there.
The reason was simple!
Over the past hundred years, Zhao Gongming had visited once.
Upon seeing Bixiao and Gu Changqing drunk out of their minds, he had nearly coughed up blood in anger.
Without allowing any argument, he had taken Bixiao back to her cave abode.
Gu Changqing appeared so drunk that he had lost all awareness.
Yet energy rolled around him, magical power surged violently, and waves of thunderous rumbling shook the surrounding space.
A closer examination would reveal that he was absorbing spiritual energy more than a hundred times faster than before.
This was the result of his origin sublimation.
Through postnatal reversion, strands of innate spiritual light flowed through Gu Changqing's flesh, bones, and sinews.
His cultivation thus yielded twice the results with half the effort.
Then, at a certain moment, Gu Changqing seemed to sense something.
"Mmm... such thick hostility."
"Does someone want to see whether my sword is sharp?"
Gu Changqing muttered to himself as though talking in his sleep.
But it lasted only a fleeting moment.
Immediately afterward, Gu Changqing beckoned with his hand, and Moon Laurel Fine Wine poured through the air into his mouth.
Then Gu Changqing toppled to the floor again.
"Ha ha! Before my whale-like drinking swallows the sea, my sword's aura already sweeps across the autumn sky!"
Only Gu Changqing's words echoed through the cave abode.
Outside.
Dingguang Xian and Qiu Shou Xian stood outside Gu Changqing's cave abode, carefully probing it with their senses.
"He really is a worthless drunk!"
"There isn't even a protective formation outside his cave abode!"
Dingguang Xian sneered, utterly disdainful of Gu Changqing.
Then, after observing carefully for another moment, he found that Gu Changqing's snores were long and steady, with no other sound.
He looked thoroughly drunk and completely unconscious.
The two felt greatly reassured.
With the Six Souls Banner in hand and Gu Changqing utterly defenseless.
Now was the perfect chance to strike.
Dingguang Xian flicked a finger and immediately unleashed the Six Souls Banner.
Silent and wrapped in a cloud of black mist, the treasure shot toward Gu Changqing inside the cave abode.
"Damn brat!"
"Let's see you survive this!"
Qiu Shou Xian spoke through gritted teeth, his expression vicious beyond measure.
His eyes were also fixed intently on the Six Souls Banner.
He knew that once the Six Souls Banner landed on Gu Changqing, whatever hidden tricks Gu Changqing possessed, he would be powerless to turn the heavens back.
Once his primordial spirit was destroyed, there would be no reversing it.
Even Saint Tongtian himself would be unable to save him.
Dingguang Xian and Qiu Shou Xian watched with tense anticipation.
The Six Souls Banner was already suspended above Gu Changqing's head.
Only a few inches remained before it could unleash its dreadful might and plunge Gu Changqing beyond all redemption.
Yet at that very moment, an abrupt change occurred.
Gu Changqing, who had been drunk and unconscious, suddenly erupted with divine radiance.
The Purple-Green Nine Heavens Sword abruptly flew out of Gu Changqing's sea of consciousness.
Clang!
In an instant, the ringing clash of metal resounded.
The Six Souls Banner was sent tumbling away.
Before Dingguang Xian and Qiu Shou Xian could react.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Fierce sounds of air being torn apart echoed throughout the cave abode.
Before their eyes, tens of thousands of blazing rays of divine light interwove.
At that moment, Dingguang Xian and Qiu Shou Xian's expressions changed drastically. Their bodies turned cold, and their livers and gallbladders nearly burst with terror.
"This is bad! Run!"
Before you continue