An ominous sense of peril instantly permeated the surroundings.
Sikong Aofeng and Shao Yan, who had been conversing calmly just moments before, now exchanged grim glances.
Both had long held Gu Qingli in high regard, and even amidst their dialogue, their eyes remained fixed intently on the arena, wary of any unforeseen calamity that might invite bitter regret.
Gu Qingli herself felt the menace most acutely.
In Vice-Captain Qi's grasp was a bloodstained blade embedded with a sinister crimson demonic core. From the outset, Gu Qingli had sensed the cruel and terrifying aura emanating from that core.
Suddenly, realization dawned upon her: this blood-red longsword was Qi's true trump card.
By some unknown means, he had fully unleashed the ferocious malevolence contained within the demonic core. The fierce aura surged forth like a biting wind against her skin, maddened and savage, poised on the brink of eruption.
Gu Qingli understood the necessity of evading its full force and swiftly retreated.
Though formidable Martial Kings stood present, none could intervene in that fleeting instant. Qi, resolute in his fatal resolve, had somehow forced the cores—detached from their beastly hosts—to trigger self-detonation.
His eyes gleamed an infernal red as his lips stretched into a grim, ear-to-ear grin.
"Hahaha! What genius? Go to your death!"
"Stop!"
"How dare you!"
Voices rang out in furious protest, but aid from afar could scarcely quell the immediate crisis.
The entire sequence had unfolded with devastating suddenness.
Then, from the depths of Gu Qingli's soul erupted a terrifying ripple of power; in that split second, nearly all present felt an oppressive force pressing down from the very core of their beings.
Their bodies stiffened in dread.
Even the strongest figures present, Shao Yan and Sikong Aofeng, found themselves momentarily overwhelmed.
That overwhelming presence was none other than the Crimson Flame Phoenix slumbering within Gu Qingli's spiritual domain. Though dormant, it sensed the imminent danger outside.
The sensation passed as swiftly as it arrived, seeming to many like a mere hallucination—yet Vice-Captain Qi knew otherwise.
He felt the overwhelming killing intent, a dominance that crushed the soul. In that instant, the demonic cores embedded within his bloodied blade stilled completely, powerless to be roused further.
Before the stunned crowd could recover from the bewildering turn of events, Gu Qingli let out a cold snort and flung a silken ribbon with seeming grace, yet it struck Vice-Captain Qi's chest with brutal force.
The towering man was hurled backward, crashing thunderously from the wide arena onto the ground below.
His once-terrifying blood-red blade shattered into two jagged fragments, the embedded demonic cores dulled and cracked, reduced to broken shards.
Vice-Captain Qi's eyes bulged wildly, his face flushed crimson as he expelled a mouthful of blood, staring unblinkingly at Gu Qingli.
"D-die... girl..." he rasped with agonized effort, his voice fading to silence, his glare fiercely defiant in death's shadow.
A vast silence fell over the arena; the suddenness of the scene left all breathless and stunned.
"Vice-Captain!"
A piercing cry shattered the stillness as the Battle Wolf Corps surged forward in a frenzied charge.