Everything was beyond Li Qi's expectations.
He had originally thought that the leader of the Celestial Centipede tribe would present him with the greatest crisis after he left the encirclement.
In Li Qi's original speculation.
After leaving the encirclement, he would encounter a pursuit by the leader of the Celestial Centipede tribe.
The process along the way would involve him exhausting all his trump cards, and in the end, he would barely manage to escape with severe injuries.
Then he would fall into some deep abyss or cliff, where the skeletal remains of a meditating immortal would lie, leaving behind a terrifying inheritance.
Finally, he would learn the inheritance, achieve supreme divine power, leave the abyss and cliff, and then find the ancestral land of the Celestial Centipede tribe.
And utter the phrase, "Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west. Today, Li Qi comes for revenge."
Then, with another twenty thousand words of plot, he would finally slay the leader of the Celestial Centipede tribe, avenge his great hatred, and embark on a path to success.
As a result... Li Qi had guessed wrong from the very beginning.
Under the power of his punch, which contained five hundred thousand attribute points, the seemingly formidable leader of the Celestial Centipede tribe couldn't even withstand two punches.
"Alas, I worried for nothing."
Li Qi couldn't help but sigh.
Immediately, his gaze lifted again.
He discovered that the other Celestial Centipede tribesmen who had been cheering for their leader now had expressions of indescribable terror in their eyes.
Their bodies, thousands of meters long, trembled incessantly.
What kind of monster had their leader provoked?
Even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator was killed with two punches, so what about them, who were only at the Golden Core stage? Wouldn't they be reduced to mere pulp with one punch?
"Run, run!"
The remaining Celestial Centipede tribesmen dared not linger any longer and immediately tried to escape.
But Li Qi was still here, and his talent had been active for less than twenty seconds.
Seeing this group of Celestial Centipede tribesmen trying to flee, Li Qi's expression instantly turned cold.
"You've been hiding for over sixty years, haven't you? Stay where you are."
Li Qi's speed was like a bolt of lightning, so fast that it was imperceptible.
In the very next instant, he appeared beside a Celestial Centipede tribesman and unleashed a punch. The centipede's thousand-meter-long body exploded inch by inch.
In less than ten seconds, Li Qi had utterly annihilated all the remaining Celestial Centipede tribesmen.
The plain at the exit of the encirclement was now filled with a dense, foul-smelling odor.
And on the plain, the scattered remains of the Celestial Centipede tribesmen, blown apart by Li Qi, were strewn everywhere.
The few human cultivators who had rushed over from a distance stared at the scene in a daze.
They couldn't believe that a cultivator at the first layer of the Golden Core stage had single-handedly slaughtered so many demons of the Celestial Centipede tribe.
"Is this real? Am I dreaming?"
One of them muttered dazedly, then prepared to pinch his thigh to see if he was dreaming.
"Hiss!"
A pained groan sounded the next moment.
"It seems I'm not dreaming, all of this is real!"
"Why are you pinching your own thigh, don't pinch mine!"
The person next to him chuckled awkwardly.
"Sorry, I pinched the wrong one."
A look of gravity appeared in their eyes.
A cultivator at the first layer of the Golden Core stage had single-handedly blown apart a Nascent Soul stage demon.
"That fellow tribesman is currently at the first layer of the Golden Core. He must have broken through within the encirclement."
"Is this the power of a cultivator who breaks through to the Golden Core stage within the encirclement? They can actually defy a Nascent Soul stage demon."
"Impossible. It's not that powerful. I've read history books. The last Golden Core expert to break through from within the encirclement was about two thousand years ago. But when that Golden Core expert first emerged, they had to exert all their effort to barely kill a demon at the fourth layer of the Golden Core stage. Compared to him, the difference is too vast."
These few people fell into silence.
"So, you said you've read history books. What happened to that Golden Core expert from two thousand years ago?"
"After fighting the fourth layer Golden Core demon, that Golden Core expert was severely injured and was subsequently rescued by human seniors who arrived. Two hundred years later, that Golden Core expert achieved the Nascent Soul stage. Another three hundred years, they broke through to the Spirit Transformation stage."
"When our human Great Wall was in peril, they single-handedly held off several Spirit Transformation stage great demons with a single sword for hundreds of years, until new human Spirit Transformation stage cultivators emerged. Only then did that Golden Core expert break through their shackles and ascend to a realm beyond Spirit Transformation. Even so, before ascending, that senior personally charged into the demon's main base and killed multiple Spirit Transformation stage demons."
"You're talking about the Bamboo Void Sword Immortal!"
The others immediately realized and uttered a name.
Then, there was another period of silence, but their breathing became heavy.
"No, we must quickly escort that fellow Daoist back to the human Great Wall. Otherwise, if any more powerful demons arrive, and such a person who can bring prosperity to our human race perishes prematurely, we will be guilty of a thousand deaths and unable to absolve ourselves."
With this thought, these people were eager to take Li Qi away.
But when their gazes shifted back to where Li Qi had originally been, they were shocked to find that Li Qi's figure had long since vanished.
...
Meanwhile, Li Qi, after dealing with that group of Celestial Centipede tribesmen, feared that unforeseen circumstances might arise.
So, he quickly fled before the duration of his talent's activation ended.
However, Li Qi had no idea where he had fled to.
And this escape lasted for more than half a month.
During his escape, Li Qi occasionally encountered some demons who had detected his presence.
Fortunately, those demons were generally not very strong, mostly around the Golden Core stage. Li Qi didn't even need to activate his talent; he easily dealt with them with a few punches.
This led Li Qi to become somewhat complacent. He felt that the demons outside the encirclement were nothing special, and even if he encountered strong ones, he could still kill them with a few punches after activating his talent.
But his perception was shattered today.
Today, he was still desperately fleeing, and at this moment, at least a thousand miles away.
Two terrifying silhouettes that obscured the sky stood opposite each other a thousand miles away.
The terrifying aura surpassed any expert Li Qi had ever witnessed before.
Immediately, a world-shattering battle ensued.
It was a true battle of destruction that shook heaven and earth.
Even from such a great distance, Li Qi could feel an aura of death emanating from the battle.
With every movement of this power, the very heavens and earth trembled.
Li Qi felt that even if his talent were fully activated for one minute, he wouldn't be able to participate for even a second before being crushed into a pulp.
From then on, Li Qi became even more cautious and discreet.
This world outside the encirclement was still more terrifying than he had imagined.
After that, Li Qi ran for another half a month.
Gradually, before his eyes, he saw an unimaginably long, magnificent, and enormous Great Wall.
In front of the Great Wall.
A group of human cultivators were fighting against all sorts of demons, their roars shaking the heavens, their blood splattering.