Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi slept for four whole days. During that time, Gu Yan changed his bandages each day, marveling every time at Guanqi’s remarkable physique and astonishing recovery speed.

On the fourth night, Gu Yi sneaked over for a look. But Li Guanqi’s eyes snapped open. He instantly grabbed Gu Yi’s hand, nearly driving his palm into his throat.

Gu Yi toppled back in shock, scrambling away in a panic. Sword Spirit’s voice stopped Guanqi just in time, and he slumped back onto the bed with a heavy thud, half-conscious.

Shaken to the core, Gu Yi burst into tears and shot out the door to look for his grandfather, Gu Yan. Though Gu Yan scolded him for his reckless curiosity, it wasn’t the first time. With that done, he hurried off to check on Li Guanqi.

Most of Li Guanqi’s injuries had already healed, but after his breakthrough and the grueling battles that followed, his vital force was completely drained.

He needed to rest. Though his mind was alert, his body was too weak to respond, so he would appear unconscious to anyone watching.

Sword Spirit drew his mind into the void and explained what had happened.

Li Guanqi was stunned to learn that Gu Yan had rescued him. It was… unexpected.

She went on to explain the details of the Nascent Soul Realm. At this stage, a cultivator’s life force grew unimaginably strong, and his lifespan stretched beyond a thousand years, though never over fifteen hundred.

Li Guanqi pointed at himself in disbelief. “A thousand years?! I can live up to a thousand years now?”To a seventeen-year-old, a millennium was unimaginable. Even when Sword Spirit nodded solemnly, his head buzzed with excitement. It took him a long while to grasp the reality that his life could span a thousand years.

Sword Spirit chuckled. “It’s only a thousand years. For the immortals in the Upper World, a single period of secluded cultivation can exceed that.”

Li Guanqi sat cross-legged before her, lips pressed together. That was too distant to fathom, so he let the thought go.

Sword Spirit continued, “The Nascent Soul and Golden Core Realms are also called the Heavenly Chasm because your golden core transforms into a nascent soul.”

Li Guanqi tilted his head. “Is my nascent soul considered strong?”

Sword Spirit’s eye twitched. He had a golden nascent soul. How could it not be strong?

The quality of a nascent soul and any mutations it might carry were crucial. Li Guanqi possessed an Empty Spirit Root, which made his golden core of extremely high quality.

Furthermore, when he underwent the Nascent Soul Realm heavenly tribulation, his nascent soul even absorbed the tribulation lightning, which mutated his spirit root. As such, his nascent soul was of exceptionally high quality.

But seeing her silence, Li Guanqi assumed it was merely average.

She raised her palm, and the space around them warped, turning into a spatial barrier.

“You have spatial manipulation abilities now?!” Li Guanqi asked in shock.

Sword Spirit shrugged and waved her hand, dissolving the barrier. She straightened her posture, her red dress tracing her figure perfectly.

“I don’t have any power of my own,” she explained. “Everything comes from you. I can only display spatial manipulation abilities because you’ve reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Before your breakthrough, even if I knew, I couldn’t demonstrate it to you.”

Li Guanqi nodded in understanding.

She began to explain the life-saving art of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators: teleportation

A cultivator capable of spatial manipulation could fold space upon itself to achieve teleportation. However, Nascent Soul Realm cultivators rarely dared teleport too far—the larger the space to be folded, the larger the opposing force.

Those who had just broken through could rarely teleport more than three hundred zhang, and even those at the peak of the realm couldn’t manage more than a thousand.

“Now that your body has a nascent soul, your connection to heaven and earth is deeper, so you can draw in spirit qi more quickly,” Sword Spirit continued.

Sword Spirit sighed. “Still, the most important thing besides teleportation is to create your own domain. Only by mastering a domain can you truly be considered powerful in the Nascent Soul Realm. Only then will you qualify to fight the true prodigies out there.”

Then, she leaned forward, eyes drooping. She gently cupped Li Guanqi’s face with two hands.

Li Guanqi froze. He hadn’t expected such intimacy. She was, after all, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Their faces were separated by no more than a fist’s width. He could see her long lashes trembling.

Cupping his face, she gazed at him with her fox-like eyes. Her voice was soft, almost breathless with longing, “Promise me you’ll keep getting stronger… all right?”

Li Guanqi asked incredulously, “To what extent?”

Sword Spirit laughed, two dimples appearing at the corners of her smile. She rose gracefully to her feet and looked toward the sky. “So strong that heaven and earth tremble. So strong that you can fly through the nine heavens with your sword at your side!”

She looked down at him again. “Your enemies are the immortals in the heavens above. That fate was sealed the moment you accepted me. You still have time to change your mind.”

Li Guanqi gazed straight at her. He saw excitement in her eyes, but also a shadow of unease, as though she didn’t dare hope too much for fear of disappointment.

He grinned and stood up. “When I was born, I was fated to be a lowly commoner. By luck, I met a wonderful grandfather, joined a virtuous sect, and began cultivating. When I left, I wanted to see the world, to meet its geniuses, to test myself against them. On this path, I’ve met many people and experienced many things.”

He scratched his head. “I liked the idea of exploring the world with my brothers, but after all that happened, I realized I never had a true goal. I only wanted strength so I wouldn’t be bullied again after what happened with Cao Yan’s attacker.”

Sword Spirit listened quietly, uncertain of what he was getting at.

He took two steps forward, then looked up at Sword Spirit, who was much taller than he was.

“But from now on, I’ll grow stronger—for your sake, to achieve your goal.”

Her smile bloomed. The fear in her eyes vanished.

She looked at him and said softly, “Good!”