Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi’s vital force surged violently, and his mind was in turmoil. A hush fell over everyone.

They all knew Gu Li was right—Li Guanqi did not want Coward Li to die. But they couldn’t bring themselves to let Coward Li’s continued existence endanger him.

Li Guanqi looked at Coward Li, who stood with his head bowed, and handed him the Yanluo Sword and a storage ring. Gripping Coward Li’s shoulder to steady him, he said softly, “Go. From this day forward, the Six Territories are yours to explore.”

Coward Li jerked his head up to look at Li Guanqi. His eyes brimmed with tears, and countless emotions flickered across his face.

Li Guanqi smiled. “Go on. You’re going to make a name for yourself across the world as a great sword immortal, aren’t you? Go ahead.”

Coward Li took the Yanluo Sword and the storage ring. He gave Li Guanqi a long look, then broke into a grin and turned away, carefree as ever. “We’ll meet again in the nine heavens above.”

Then Coward Li sent Gu Li a voice transmission. “Thank you for everything, Brother.”

Gu Li said nothing. As things stood, this outcome was already the best they could have hoped for. He tossed out a storage ring of his own and said quietly, “Don’t go dying on me. I still want to drink with you someday.”

Coward Li laughed. His red robes billowed in the wind as he pulled out a flask of liquor and tipped his head back for a long drink. “Having walked through snowstorms and passed the gates of death, today I shall ride the wind and ascend ten thousand mountains! Hahahahaha! My name is Li Congxin, and they call me Coward Li!”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Gu Li, Li Guanqi watched Coward Li go, smiling even as emotions swelled in his chest. “Don’t blame them. They just don’t understand Coward Li.”Gu Li shrugged. The movement tugged at his wound, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “Ugh, this actually hurts. Still, I don’t blame them. I can see how much they care about you. Besides, none of us were going all out. We were all holding back.”

Li Guanqi smiled. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”

The two of them returned to the great hall, where Li Guanqi clasped his hands in a respectful salute. “Fellow elders, I apologize for making you all worry.”

He held his hand out toward Meng Wanshu, who turned away and refused to look at him.

Ye Feng and Cao Yan glanced at each other and pretended they hadn’t seen anything.

Li Guanqi withdrew his hand awkwardly and reached for a cup of tea instead. Meng Wanshu caught the movement and froze the tea solid with a single look. The cup itself cracked from the cold.

“Ahem. Don’t be angry. I know what I’m doing,” Li Guanqi said.

“You know what you’re doing?” Meng Wanshu glared at him, her voice icy. “What do you know? Senior Gu was here this time, but about next time? What if something like this happens again? What if I’m not by your side?”

The barrage of questions weighed heavily on Li Guanqi’s conscience. His selfishness had caused everyone who cared about him so much worry. Even so, warmth spread through his heart. Smiling, he reached for Meng Wanshu’s hand once more.

She dodged immediately, her chair sliding three chi to the side as though it had moved on its own.

Ye Feng’s neck went stiff from the awkwardness. He spoke to the others via voice transmission. “We’re done for, hahaha. Sister-in-law is genuinely furious this time.”

Cao Yan didn’t dare say a word or even look over. He replied via voice transmission, saying, “Looks like Eldest Brother has some serious coaxing ahead of him.”

Meng Jiangchu coughed lightly and spoke up. “Guanqi, you know your own situation better than anyone right now. The priority is finding a way to repair your incomplete divine soul.”

Meng Jiangchu turned to Gu Changsheng, indicating that Li Guanqi’s situation was beyond his own expertise.

Gu Changsheng crossed his arms, his brow furrowed as he pondered the problem. A long time passed, but no one dared disturb him.

Eventually, Gu Li broke the silence. “Father, stop thinking about it... None of our family’s pill recipes contain anything about repairing an incomplete divine soul.”

Everyone was startled. Gu Changsheng looked up at Gu Li but said nothing in response. For a moment, an oppressive silence settled over the great hall.

Lu Kangnian forced out a strained smile. “Ha... haha... How could there possibly be no way? There must be one. It’s just that we haven’t thought of it yet. Right, Senior Gu?”

Gu Changsheng’s expression was hard to read. After all, Gu Li was right.

Years earlier, when Gu Changsheng discovered Gu Li’s exceptional mind power, he had begun training him as an alchemist. Although Gu Li had only ever been interested in drawing talismans, he still knew his clan’s treasured pill recipes inside and out. But even so, he couldn’t think of a single pill capable of repairing a flawed soul.

In Li Guanqi’s case, the flaw lay in the primordial origin of his soul. And creating something from nothing was next to impossible.

Though everyone else was at a loss, Li Guanqi remained remarkably calm. He gave a slight smile and looked at Gu Changsheng. “Senior Gu, you must have a fondness for ancient pill recipes lost to time?”

Gu Changsheng’s eyes lit up, and he looked at Li Guanqi with undisguised excitement. He straightened in his chair, hands braced on the armrests, clearly having already guessed what was coming. “You... don’t tell me you actually have a pill recipe capable of repairing incomplete souls? As far as I know, cultivators from the ancient and primordial eras possessed a pill that could do exactly that—the Profound Origin Sacred Soul Pill. But its recipe disappeared long ago. Old fellows like me can only guess at it from the ancient texts.”

Li Guanqi hadn’t expected Gu Changsheng to know about the Profound Origin Sacred Soul Pill. Sword Spirit had spent a very long time dredging up the recipe from her memories, and that alone had been a warning. Had she failed to remember it, his incomplete soul would have remained a serious problem.

“I have the recipe,” he said quietly.

Gu Changsheng leaped to his feet, teleported in front of Li Guanqi, and gripped his hands. “Give it to me. Whatever the price, I’m willing to pay! Take whatever you want from my home! As long as the recipe is genuine, I will do everything in my power to help you restore your primordial soul!”

Li Guanqi, startled by the man’s enthusiasm, quickly said, “I’ll give it to you right now. Please, calm down.”

With that, everyone quietly exhaled in relief.

Meng Jiangchu frowned. This kid carries far too many secrets. To have a lost ancient recipe of this caliber simply at hand...

Gu Changsheng was a titan in the world of alchemy, with more pill recipes than anyone could count. Yet, Li Guanqi had casually produced one that even Gu Changsheng didn’t possess.

Meng Jiangchu looked at Ye Feng and the others. Everyone close to Li Guanqi seemed to have leaped to an entirely new level of ability.

Even Meng Jiangchu was envious of Ye Feng’s sword spirit void. The bloodstains on it were clearly not ordinary; they were likely immortal blood. This suggested his sword spirit void originated from the Immortal World, and even there, it would have been no ordinary treasure.

As for Gu Li, he had already broken through to the mid Combined Body Realm, and his bearing had undergone a dramatic transformation. It was a shift more frightening than any leap in cultivation.

Everyone expected Li Guanqi to produce an ancient jade slip. Instead, he flicked a finger and sent a beam of light directly into Gu Changsheng’s sea of consciousness. The formula and its extensive list of required ingredients were so complex that even Gu Changsheng needed several breaths to fully absorb the information.

The moment Gu Changsheng came to his senses, he sat cross-legged on the ground and began to comprehend the recipe.

Gu Li’s jaw dropped as he stared at Li Guanqi. The others also gawked at him, equally stunned.

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