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Chapter 1164: Chapter 1051: Abandonment
At first, Xun did not believe that with his mastery of the Secret Technique, he couldn’t find Li Zhirui’s whereabouts, so he incessantly pushed his mana to activate the technique.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t pinpoint Li Zhirui’s position, as if the man had vanished from the world entirely.
"Senior Brother, I can’t detect his presence." Only after consuming most of his mana did Xun calm down, his face full of disbelief and frustration as he spoke.
Bai Ding Mountain furrowed his brow and questioned angrily, "How is that possible?! He was repeatedly using Divine Power earlier, and the surroundings were brimming with his aura. And now you tell me you can’t find him?"
"Exactly, it’s as if he disappeared into thin air, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense that he could evade the tracking of the Secret Technique." If possible, Xun wouldn’t have wanted to admit his own inadequacy — it was an outright denial of his years of cultivation efforts.
But this was the reality. He couldn’t just lie about it; that would bring even greater embarrassment.
"Enough, it seems he’s fortunate this time. Let him off for now." Bai Ding Mountain shook his head helplessly, leaving a final harsh remark.
Looking at the injured junior brothers and sisters behind him, he turned to head back to Taisui Immortal City.
But what they didn’t know was that Li Zhirui was not far from their current position—just several dozen miles away, at most.
Of course, his real location wasn’t in the Primal Spirit Realm.
"Were you ambushed by Demon Cultivators again?"
The Golden Eagle, seeing that Li Zhirui’s mana was almost exhausted, asked worriedly, "Why can’t you be more careful?"
It wasn’t that the Golden Eagle had any deep feelings for him; it was entirely because they were bound by a master-servant contract. If Li Zhirui perished, it wouldn’t survive either.
"And you’ve already achieved your goal; why stay on such a dangerous battlefield? Wouldn’t it be better to return early to secluded cultivation and push toward the late-stage Integration realm?"
Once Li Zhirui returned to Mount Wanxian, he would transfer the master-servant contract to the entire family, turning the Golden Eagle into a Mountain Guardian Spirit Beast.
In this way, unless the Li family faced a life-and-death crisis, the Golden Eagle wouldn’t be affected—a far safer arrangement than being solely tied to Li Zhirui.
"I’ve finally come to the Immortal Demon Battlefield; how could I leave so easily?"
Li Zhirui said calmly, "Besides, I’ve only had a breakthrough in my realm right now. Cultivating Dharma is still far off, and it’s impossible to achieve much improvement in the short term. I’d rather cultivate while honing my skills through experience."
"Then be careful. If you face an opponent you can’t defeat, retreat immediately. If worse comes to worst, you can call me out to help." The Golden Eagle urged with unease.
As for Liuerde, the curse on him remained. Without removing it first, Li Zhirui would not let him out.
Although the Yunshan Sect had already been wiped out by the Daqian Dynasty, the entangled relationship between the two clouded everything. Who knew what schemes were underway behind the scenes?
"Relax, I cherish my own life greatly." Li Zhirui chuckled, waved the Golden Eagle away, and sat cross-legged under the Five Elements Immortal Root to recover his spiritual energy.
As the core of Li Zhirui’s cultivation, the Five Elements Immortal Root had grown into a towering ancient tree over the years. Its trunk was thick and rugged, and its massive, hefty canopy spanned dozens of miles, covering half a mountain. The intertwining glow of five-colored Spirit Light made it a breathtaking sight.
It was precisely because of this Immortal Root that Li Zhirui possessed extraordinary Cave Heaven Power, which allowed him to contend with those dozens of cultivators for so long.
If the comparison were solely about the amount of mana, his current mana had already exceeded that of Integration cultivators by far! He might even be able to compete with ordinary Mahayana cultivators.
Moreover, as the Five Elements Immortal Root continued to grow, the Cave Heaven Power Li Zhirui could harness would increase substantially.
This alone elevated him far beyond other cultivators.
While Li Zhirui rested in his space to recover his mana, the outside world was engulfed in heated discussions due to his plot of borrowing a blade to kill.
Although his objective was merely self-preservation, the fact that Demon Cultivators became involved was considered a grievous transgression that led to widespread condemnation of Li Zhirui among cultivators.
Some even suspected Li Zhirui to be an undercover agent planted by the Demonic Tao, demanding for his true identity to be exposed.
Among the hundreds of mountain and river Immortal Cities, cultivators faced not only Demon Cultivators but also other cultivators, so most would choose to conceal their real identities to protect their sects and families from disaster.
The initial identity registration required for entering any Immortal City was listed as high-level classified information. Ordinary Individual Immortals couldn’t access it, and the likelihood of a leak was almost nonexistent.
It was clear that these cultivators couldn’t find Li Zhirui, so they aimed to stir trouble for the faction behind him, forcing him to appear and surrender those three enchanted artifacts.
But how could those lofty Immortal Realm Great Abilities fail to see through such schemes? They completely disregarded them.
They relied on their own abilities to locate Li Zhirui and seize his treasures.
As for whether he’d live or die in the process—that hardly mattered.
After all, not every Immortal Realm Great Ability valued their bloodline descendants as much as that Ling-surnamed Individual Immortal.
Moreover, if they got involved personally, they’d inevitably be accused of bullying the weak. They’d only suffer losses.
Those cultivators who fled couldn’t shake the regulations of the mountain and river hundred cities, so they redirected their wrath toward the Senluo Squad, demanding that they expel Li Zhirui!
Without the protective umbrella of the Senluo Squad, dealing with Li Zhirui would become much simpler.
"Regarding the claims of those cultivators outside, what are everyone’s thoughts?" The current leader of the Senluo Squad spoke in a voice as calm as still water.
