Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi had swiped a sheep off someone and slung it over his shoulders. Panting for effect, he fell into step beside a man in the crowd.

The man was carrying two chickens and a large goose, and even that much seemed to strain his thin frame.

Li Guanqi sidled closer and casually sized him up. The man looked to be in his forties, old enough to have witnessed at least two previous ceremonies.

Seeing him struggle, Li Guanqi spoke up. “Hey, brother, want a hand? Looks like you’re having a tough time there.”

The man looked up at Li Guanqi. Despite carrying a sheep on his shoulders, he was barely out of breath.

The man’s eyes gleamed with envy, but he quickly shook his head. “No, no. Thank you, brother, but I’ll carry them myself. They’re offerings for the ceremony. If I let someone else carry them, wouldn’t that make me, Li Erniu, seem insincere?”

Li Guanqi nodded thoughtfully and played along. “There’s a rule about that?”

Li Erniu grinned at him. “You’re not from around here, are you? First time at an immortal-welcoming ceremony?”

Li Guanqi nodded, his face a mixture of reverence, longing, and slight bashfulness. “We had a child late in life, you see, so I figured I’d come here to earn some blessings for the kid. I heard Qixia City has immortals who descend from the heavens, so I journeyed here for a whole month to arrive in time.”

Li Erniu nodded in understanding and immediately became animated. “Brother, you’ve come to the right place! Qixia City holds an immortal-welcoming ceremony once every ten years, and it’s famous far and wide. You might even see the immortal bestowing blessings today. When the time comes, make sure you throw your offering into the sacrificial pit in front of Qixian Tower. Kowtow properly, and be sincere! I couldn’t even walk before, but look at me now. My legs work perfectly!”Li Guanqi studied the man’s thin frame and fully healed leg, then frowned slightly. He examined the man with his powerful divine consciousness. Aside from a mild lung ailment, Li Erniu was perfectly healthy inside and out, and his bones showed clear signs of having healed.

As the man went on about how miraculous the immortal’s blessing had been, Li Guanqi’s frown deepened almost imperceptibly. Could I really be overthinking this?

Recalling what the elder at Qixia Academy had said, Li Guanqi cut off the man’s fervent praise. “Brother, let me ask you something else.”

Li Erniu’s eyes brightened. “Go ahead.”

Li Guanqi leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I heard the ceremonies in previous years didn’t go so well.”

Li Erniu’s face changed instantly. He dropped the goose he was carrying and clamped a hand over Li Guanqi’s mouth.

Only then did Li Guanqi notice that several people nearby had overheard him and were glaring at him with open hostility. Some even stopped as they passed to roll their eyes at him.

Li Erniu pulled him into an apologetic bow. As Li Guanqi bent at the waist, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. Something definitely happened during the last two ceremonies.

Li Erniu picked up the goose, glanced around nervously, and dragged Li Guanqi to the side of the street.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he whispered. “You can’t say things like that in Qixia City! You must have relatives in the city, don’t you?”

Li Guanqi put on a panicked expression and nodded. “Erniu, tell me what happened. Why is everyone so touchy about it? Even my relatives didn’t dare say much.”

Li Erniu frowned reluctantly. He clearly didn’t want to talk about it either.

Li Guanqi sighed inwardly and pretended to rummage through his robes, producing a handful of silver. It was no fortune, but it was enough for an ordinary person to eat and drink well for two months.

A glint flashed in Li Erniu’s eyes. He discreetly pocketed the silver.

Li Guanqi pressed him worriedly, “Erniu, I just want to know so I don’t break any taboos during the ceremony!”

Li Erniu made a show of hesitating, but after squeezing the silver in his palm and making sure no one was watching, he pulled Li Guanqi a few steps further into the side street.

“Brother, I’m only telling you this because I can see you’re sincere about the immortals. Twenty years ago, I was only a teenager. The offerings weren’t good enough, and the immortal flew into a rage and stormed off! Ten years ago, everyone knew what had gone wrong, so they all prepared livestock offerings. The immortal appeared slightly more pleased, but still blessed only a small number of people. The offerings still weren’t good enough! That blessing ten years ago was what healed my leg.”

Li Erniu spoke even more quietly. “This time, the offerings need to be even better. Give the immortal only the best!”

A cold light passed through Li Guanqi’s eyes. Heh. Offerings? What use could an immortal have for livestock? An immortal’s blessing? I’d very much like to see what this is really about.

Li Erniu looked up to find the stranger gone, with only a bound lamb left on the ground. He called out twice. When no one answered, he crouched down and hoisted the lamb onto his shoulders with great effort. He pushed his way back into the crowd, unable to suppress the grin on his face.

Back at Meng Wanshu’s side, Li Guanqi summarized everything he had learned.

Meng Wanshu’s brow furrowed deeply. “There has to be more to this. What kind of immortal would go so far as to send down a projection at the cost of their own power? And there’s another thing.”

She turned to Li Guanqi, her expression grave. “How could something as momentous as an immortal descending into the mortal world happen without us even hearing about it?”

She kept her voice low, speaking via voice transmission. “Don’t tell me you don’t know that it’s been nearly ten thousand years since anyone from the Human World ascended to the Immortal World. All of the top cultivators say the only way to ascend is through the Seventh Territory.”

Li Guanqi blinked, then shrugged. “I really didn’t know that. I only knew that no one had ascended in the last few thousand years. I didn’t realize it had been ten thousand. Besides... didn’t a former sect master of the Daxia Sword Sect ascend?”

Meng Wanshu’s heart skipped a beat. She lowered her voice further. “Someone from the Daxia Sword Sect ascended?”

Li Guanqi thought back over everything, and the pieces suddenly clicked into place. The corner of his mouth curled upward. “No wonder Grandpa Su had me join the Daxia Sword Sect. Was he paving a road for me all the way to the Immortal World?”

“Ceremony complete!”

Woooo! Wooo!

The marchers in the procession all stopped where they stood, each of them seeming to sink into a trance-like state. Ninety-nine disciples of Qixia Academy took deep breaths and blew into enormous black horns.

A solemn, reverent atmosphere spread across the grounds.

From within the crowd, Li Guanqi raised his eyes and saw Qixia Academy in full.

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