Old Refining Spirit

Li Xuangeng did not speak, but instead condensed the absolute rationality and creation energy within his body, which were enough to suppress eternity, into a faint but terrifying pressure that only high-dimensional predators possess. He then used this pressure to lock onto the depths of the mad lion's soul through the gaps in the white silk!

"Roar—woo?"

The raging lion that was baring its fangs and claws, ready to swallow Li Xuangeng whole, froze in place the moment it came into contact with this invisible pressure, as if it had been electrocuted!

In the limited intelligence and instinctive intuition of the Mad Lion, the seemingly weak white-clad blind man before him suddenly transformed into a terrifying demon god who had opened the gaping maw of an abyss, capable of devouring the entire world! It was an absolute suppression originating from the very bottom of the hierarchy of life!

"Bang!"

Amidst the stunned gazes of everyone, the second-tier demonic beast, the Flaming Lion, suddenly collapsed in front of Li Xuangeng with a thud, its body convulsing violently, defecating and urinating, emitting a series of mournful cries like a sick cat!

"You beast! Have you gone mad? Stand up for me!"

Caught off guard, Wang Teng fell face-first into the mud, his ornate gold-threaded armor now covered in the lion's excrement.

The entire arena fell silent. Tens of thousands of people stared wide-eyed at this comical yet bizarre scene.

"You...you blind sorcerer! What did you do to my spirit beast?!" Wang Teng scrambled to his feet, furiously drawing a low-grade magic weapon sword from his waist. His eyes bloodshot, he pointed it at Li Xuangeng, "Today I'll cut you into a thousand pieces!"

After saying that, he used the Crimson Flame Sword Technique passed down by his family. The sword instantly flared up with flames more than a foot long, carrying a sharp killing intent, and stabbed fiercely towards Li Xuangeng's heart!

"Young master, be careful!" Xiaoman screamed in fright.

Li Xuangeng sighed.

He slowly pulled the white silk handkerchief from his sleeve, his tone revealing a sense of helplessness and regret at having his refined mood disturbed.

"Your forehead is dark, and your life palace is devoid of spirit. Most importantly, the spiritual energy within you is extremely impure, not even worthy of refining the lowest grade of 'inferior True Essence Pill'."

Before Li Xuangeng finished speaking, his right hand, which was holding a silk handkerchief, casually reached forward.

There was no dodging, no parrying.

"Clang—Click!"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Li Xuangeng steadily caught the magical sword, which was as sharp as a blade and wreathed in flames, with just two long, pale fingers! The raging flames couldn't even burn through the skin on Li Xuangeng's fingers!

"What?!" Wang Teng's pupils suddenly contracted. He felt as if his sword had pierced into a massive mountain of black iron weighing tens of millions of tons, unable to move forward or backward even an inch!

"That's not how you use sword techniques. Besides, your flesh is really too poor. Killing you would only dirty my alchemy furnace."

A cruel smile curled at the corner of Li Xuangeng's lips. He suddenly twisted the two fingers holding the sword inward!

"Ping!"

With a crisp crack, the priceless low-grade magic weapon longsword was broken in two like a cookie!

Immediately afterwards, Li Xuangeng, with the broken blade between his fingers, casually flicked his wrist.

"Sizzle!"

The broken sword transformed into a streak of light, piercing through Wang Teng's right thigh at a speed impossible for the naked eye to perceive. The immense inertia propelled Wang Teng's body five or six meters away, pinning him firmly to a stone pillar at the edge of the plaza!

"Ah—! My leg! My leg!" Wang Teng screamed like a pig being slaughtered, and blood instantly stained the ground red.

"Noisy."

Li Xuangeng wiped away non-existent dust from his fingertips with a silk handkerchief and tossed it into the wind. He straightened his moon-white Taoist robe and, under the ghostly silence of tens of thousands of people, continued walking towards the "Spirit-Testing Stone" in the center of the square as if nothing had happened.

"What kind of monster is this blind man? He broke a magical artifact with his bare hands?"

"The royal family of Lingnan will never let him get away with this!"

"That's outrageous! Injuring someone in public on Xuantian Sect's territory, does he have a death wish?"

The surrounding rogue cultivators, as if avoiding a plague, quickly made way for Li Xuangeng, creating a wide avenue that was three zhang wide.

"quiet!"

Just then, a majestic shout, as powerful as a resounding bell, came from the high platform in the square.

Amidst falling petals and a strange fragrance, six disciples dressed in the inner robes of the Xuantian Sect escorted an elderly man with an air of otherworldly grace and a youthful face, as they slowly descended onto the high platform.

The old man held a whisk in his hand, had a kind face, and was surrounded by a faint aura of immortality, displaying the demeanor of a highly accomplished Taoist master.

"It's Elder Qingxu from the outer sect of the Xuantian Sect!"

"Greetings, Immortal Master Qingxu!"

Tens of thousands of mortals and rogue cultivators immediately knelt down, their eyes filled with fanatical worship.

However, Li Xuangeng, who stood tall and straight in the center of the crowd, almost burst out laughing the moment he saw the "Master Qingxu".

To mortals, he was an immortal with a dignified and otherworldly air.

But under Li Xuangeng's gaze of the Qi Observation Technique, that thing on the high platform was simply the greatest blasphemy against the word "immortal"!

That wasn't some white-haired, youthful-looking old man at all! It was clearly a husk with its internal organs emptied! Inside the husk dwelled a "Thousand-Legged Shadow Centipede," over five zhang long, with countless segmented limbs and compound eyes! Each segment of this centipede was pierced with a blood-soaked infant's head. The so-called "divine aura" it emitted was actually a highly concentrated, hallucinogenic miasma of corpse poison!

The whisk in its hand, every thread of which is a nerve fiber forcibly extracted from the back of a living person!

"What a magnificent centipede... If a venomous creature of this age were thrown into the Creation Furnace and mixed with a few drops of Yellow Spring Water, it could definitely be used to refine a batch of top-grade 'Nine-Turn Poison Dragon Pills'!"

Li Xuangeng's Adam's apple bobbed again, and his eyes, hidden beneath the white silk, now revealed an undisguised greedy gleam, as if he were looking at a priceless treasure.

He even had the urge to rush onto the platform and devour the giant centipede alive. But he restrained himself, because he knew that this was just a minor outer sect elder of the Xuan Tian Sect. Deep within this sect, there must be even more succulent and enormous "ingredients" hidden.

"If we want to catch them all in one fell swoop, we have to infiltrate their kitchen first." Li Xuangeng suppressed his inner rage and put on that gentle, fake smile again.

On the high platform, "Master Qingxu" (the centipede demon) coldly glanced at Wang Teng, who was nailed to a pillar and wailing, then at Li Xuangeng, who stood out from the crowd, a hint of sinister malice flashing in his eyes. But he did not act immediately, because there was something more important to do today—"selecting blood food".

"In the path of cultivation, spiritual roots are paramount! According to the rules of this assembly, you shall step forward in turn and place your hands on the Spirit Testing Stone. A faint glow indicates the Yellow Rank, a beam three feet high indicates the Profound Rank, and a beam soaring to the heavens indicates the Earth Rank! Only those who reach the Profound Rank or above may enter my Xuan Tian Sect!"

Master Qingxu waved his whisk and announced loudly.

The test has begun.

Everyone, are you ready?