Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Lu Kangnian nodded. “The kid’s breakthrough to the Foundation Building Realm was so powerful that it triggered a natural phenomenon. I believe this year’s spirit void opening results will depend on Guanqi.”

Then, he turned to look at Qin Xian and asked, “How many disciples have broken through to the Foundation Building Realm within the past year?”

Qin Xian replied, “A total of seventy-six people. But... nearly ninety percent of them have reached the Cliff Age.”

Li Guanqi asked, “Master, what is the Cliff Age?”

Li Nanting replied via voice transmission, “People can maintain their spiritual light at full capacity until the age of sixteen. Past that age, no one can open the spirit void, even after reaching the Foundation Building Realm.”

Lu Kangnian fell silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Our sect’s resources are too scarce. If we had more, our disciples could cultivate much faster...”

He continued, “As usual, the spirit void opening will take place at Purple Sun Pavilion this year. Since Li Guanqi will be participating, Li Nanting will lead the group. Confirm the number of attendees tomorrow—we depart the day after.”

Li Nanting nodded, then he left with Li Guanqi.

The two flew on their swords side by side. Li Nanting said, “I can’t believe you reached the Foundation Building Realm so quickly. Most people spend two or three years at the Qi Refinement Realm. You’ve done well, achieving the Foundation Building Realm in just five months.”

Li Guanqi smiled but said nothing. The monotony of cultivation kept his mind at peace. Due to his blindness, he had spent many years in lonely darkness, and he had long grown accustomed to solitude. To him, cultivation was a way to relax.After a moment of thought, Li Guanqi asked, “Master, why does Sect Master Lu Kangnian take the spirit void opening so seriously?”

Li Nanting pondered momentarily and replied, “The spirit void is even more unpredictable than spirit root quality, but it’s undeniable that every person with a weapon soul in their spirit void is destined to become a powerful cultivator.

“So far, many of the cultivators in the history of the Daxia Sword Sect who’ve reached the Nascent Soul Realm have been people with weapon souls. This alone shows how crucial they are to a cultivator’s strength.”

Li Guanqi nodded, though he still didn’t fully grasp the gravity of the situation.

Seeing his lingering doubt, Li Nanting continued, “Purple Sun Pavilion is one of the most powerful factions in the Azure Cloud Continent. The pavilion master is a powerful cultivator who has reached the Divine Transformation Realm.

“This faction controls many small secret realms, which are precious to sects like us. They distribute access to these realms to other sects based on disciple quality and the presence of weapon souls within the disciples’ spirit voids.

“Gaining control over a secret realm is highly beneficial to sects and the cultivation of their disciples. They can even trade entry slots to other sects in exchange for resources.”

Now, Li Guanqi understood. So that was why the sect master had been looking so glum.

However, even Li Guanqi was not confident in himself, seeing as Sword Spirit could not check if he had anything in his spirit void.

Li Nanting smiled and comforted him, “Don’t overthink it. Whether you find a weapon soul in your spirit void is up to the heavens. No one can change it..

“Work hard on stabilizing your cultivation level. We’ll set out the day after tomorrow.”

The next morning, someone came flying toward Heavenly Lightning Peak, wobbling on their sword.

“Li Guanqi! Hahaha! I also broke through to the Foundation Building Realm! Take a look at the magical treasure sword my master gave me!”

Li Guanqi had only just completed his sword practice when he noticed Ye Feng approaching unsteadily. He chuckled as he bandaged the broken skin between his thumb and index finger with a cotton cloth. “You haven’t even stabilized your cultivation realm yet, and you’re already showing off?”

This was Ye Feng’s first time coming to Li Guanqi’s courtyard. Looking at the stack of broken wooden piles, he couldn’t help but complain, “It’s bad enough that you’re talented—why do you have to work harder than everyone else too? Sigh... I can’t even bring myself to be jealous.”

Ye Feng leaped off his sword to stand next to Li Guanqi and said, “Tomorrow, we’ll be leaving together. We’re the only ones in our cohort who’ve reached Foundation Establishment. Lin Dong and Zhong Lin are still at the ninth level of the Qi Refinement Realm. They plan to break through to the tenth level. I heard that ten people have been selected.”

Li Guanqi nodded. “The six other sects in the Northern Territory don’t control any secret realms of their own. If someone from our sect awakens a weapon soul, we might gain access to one. That would be a huge boon to our cultivation too.”

Ye Feng shrugged. “Well, I won’t keep you from your cultivation any longer. See you tomorrow.”

Li Guanqi finished bandaging his wound and decided against using the spirit ascension platform that day. The cost was too high and getting too painful for him.

He went to the cultivation room in his backyard and placed spirit stones in the array. Then he sat down cross-legged and took out a bottle of pills.

Holding a Vitality Boosting Pill worth fifty spirit stones, he sighed in admiration. He didn’t have much hope of ever becoming one himself.

The next morning, Li Guanqi woke from cultivation, feeling refreshed. He muttered to himself, “No doubt about it—taking pills really is the fastest way to improve cultivation.”

Li Nanting and the other sect disciples had arrived at the Heavenly Son Peak’s plaza long ago. Nervous, Li Guanqi flew toward it on his sword.

When he arrived, he realized there were only nine of them, including himself.

Then, someone staggered through the air, simultaneously flying and putting on his clothes.

“Uh... I’m so sorry... Elder Li... I’m sorry for being late.”

“How could you be so tardy? How could you oversleep on such an important day?” Li Nanting shook his head. “Let’s go. We’re going to the Purple Sun Pavillion, which will take about ten days of flying.”

A ray of spirit light shot from his hand, transforming into a luxurious vermilion-red cloud boat about ten zhang long. It could easily accommodate thirty or forty people.

Once everyone boarded, the boat soared into the sky.

Whoosh!

It flew quickly, piercing through the cloud layer in the blink of an eye. An invisible barrier blocked the roaring wind around the boat.

Suddenly, Li Guanqi sensed a person he did not expect through his divine consciousness. He turned and headed toward the mast, where a small head peeked out from behind the sails.

Li Guanqi sighed silently and sent a voice transmission to his master. “Master... Yu Sui’an is on the boat.”

Whoosh!

Li Nanting rushed over and looked at the innocent-looking little girl with exasperation. All he could do was carry her in his arms and feign anger. “Silly girl! You’re bold for this! What if you had fallen off the boat?”

But when he saw tears welling up in her eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to scold her further. He set her down and turned to Li Guanqi. “I’ll leave her to you. I’m heading to the bridge. I’ll try to get us to Purple Sun Pavilion as fast as possible.”