Sword Spirit had grown to genuinely appreciate Li Guanqi’s temperament. When it was time to act, he never hesitated. He trusted she could remove the frost poison from him.
Sword Spirit chuckled and said, “You kill quite decisively.”
Li Guanqi shrugged. “That woman was a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator. If I’d had the chance to strike earlier, I would’ve done it. Frankly, even if she were only in the Nascent Soul Realm, I wouldn’t be certain I could take her down.”
Sword Spirit smiled faintly. “Don’t sell yourself short. With your current strength, killing an early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator shouldn’t be much of an issue.”
Li Guanqi kept quiet. In his view, even if he could succeed, it would take everything he had.
Just then, a complex expression flickered in Sword Spirit’s eyes.
Just as Li Guanqi was about to speak, Sword Spirit’s usual pride gave way to an uncharacteristic seriousness. Her gaze deepened, and though she still carried her arrogance, her tone shifted. “Li Guanqi, shall I teach you a sword technique?”
Li Guanqi’s eyes lit up in surprise. He knew Sword Spirit was powerful. Exactly how strong, he couldn’t say, but certainly far stronger than the woman who had just died.
He didn’t want to sound like a bootlicker, but her offer was irresistible. He cleared his throat. “Cough… I’d love to learn.”
Sword Spirit smiled faintly and said, “I can teach you, but there’s a condition.”
Li Guanqi shrugged. He figured it wouldn’t be so simple.
With a flick of Sword Spirit’s hand, a wisp of sword qi lashed out. It severed the woman’s finger, then neatly removed her sapphire-blue storage ring.
He blinked in surprise. Wasn’t there a divine consciousness seal on it?
Sword Spirit flicked her finger, and an invisible strand of sword qi wiped the seal away as though it had never existed. Li Guanqi gulped, and his respect for her deepened.
He pulled out over twenty storage bags he’d gathered earlier and scratched his head with a sheepish smile. “Mind giving me a hand…”
She shot him a disdainful look, then tapped the air. All the seals vanished in an instant.
While Li Guanqi busied himself gleefully counting his haul, Sword Spirit had already taken up the jade slip they’d seized from the woman. Her long black hair fell gently across her face as she lowered her head, her breathtaking face partly hidden. A solemn look appeared in her eyes.
She glanced at the money-obsessed Li Guanqi, then sighed softly. She wasn’t sure if she was making the right choice. “Li Guanqi, I want you to inherit the sword technique recorded in this jade slip. This is a trial I’m setting for you.
“You can choose to accept or—”
“I accept,” Li Guanqi said calmly, before she could finish.
Sword Spirit fixed her bright eyes on him, her fox-like gaze narrowing slightly. “You could die.”
Li Guanqi smiled. “Everyone dies. This way, I get to choose how.”
A flicker of light flashed in her eyes. “That line… why does it sound so familiar…”
Her expression slowly steadied. She handed him the jade slip. “The one who left this Sword Dao inheritance was incredibly powerful. If you succeed, you’ll live. If you fail, your consciousness will vanish forever, lost within the inheritance.”
She slowly stood up, her voice low but clear. “The first sword I want to teach you requires that you have your own sword intent.”
Li Guanqi let out a bitter laugh. “Sword intent? Among ten thousand Nascent Soul Realm sword cultivators, maybe one has managed to grasp it.”
Sword Spirit stood tall and proud, her gaze filled once again with haughty confidence. “If you can’t even grasp something as basic as sword intent, you’ll never see my true form in this lifetime.”
Her sharp words only strengthened Li Guanqi’s resolve. A casual remark from her had a greater impact than any deliberate goading.
He drew in a long breath, then opened his eyes with determination. “Let’s do this.”
Sword Spirit’s smile softened. With a wave of her hand, a streak of blood-red spirit light sank into his body. Warmth surged through his dantian, and the frost poison dissolved at once.
He directed the power through his meridians, and the cold stiffness in his arms subsided. The wounds across his back healed more slowly, but they no longer prevented him from claiming the mysterious inheritance.
He casually stored the woman’s corpse, slipped the storage ring onto his hand, and took a deep breath. He pressed the jade slip to his forehead, and he was about to activate it when Sword Spirit’s voice echoed in his mind. “Oh, right. Let that blond kid out.”
Li Guanqi frowned in confusion. “What for? Just keep him in the sword box’s realm.”
Sword Spirit’s eyes glimmered. “What if someone finds you?”
“What does that have to do with Ye Feng? He’s still injured.”
“He can still give me an excuse to make one more move,” Sword Spirit replied.
Li Guanqi shivered. A single move from her had cost him five hundred years of lifespan.
“Cough… take it easy. His body’s not as tough as mine,” Li Guanqi muttered, then pressed the jade slip to his forehead.
In an instant, he felt something wrench his consciousness away, dragging him into a misty black void. He found himself floating weightlessly, completely disoriented.
He was enveloped in utter darkness, with not a sound to break the silence. Though he strained to scream, no noise would come out.
Suddenly, in the distance, a single point of light appeared. The light grew larger and larger before his eyes.
Before he knew it, a heavenly immortal sect appeared in front of him.
He stood before a majestic, towering sect hall. The white jade and blue bricks under his feet were carved from completely depleted mid-grade spirit stones.
A massive incense burner, at least three zhang tall, loomed before him. He couldn’t clearly make out the characters on the plaque above the grand hall.
The main doors opened slowly, and a gentle, ancient voice echoed from within. “Young one, come in and speak.”
Li Guanqi’s expression shifted. The voice was soft, yet it rang directly in his mind, like a whisper from the Dao itself. His spirit shook violently, and his heart trembled.
Fresh chapters posted on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥