Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Only after Li Guanqi left did the gathered cultivators come to their senses. The senior whose insights they had benefited from for two years was gone. They all bowed deeply in the direction he had vanished. They owed him a debt of gratitude.

But just as they were lamenting his departure, Li Guanqi returned with a frown. He stepped out of a spatial rift and flew to a spot three hundred zhang behind the summit, a hundred zhang beyond the former boundary of the lightning zone. With a wave of his hand, he blasted away the dust and rubble, exposing a purple jade slip.

He paused, then murmured, “Sect Master Lu came here?”

Li Guanqi came back since Lu Kangnian hadn’t sent any messages for a year and a half. He sent a trace of divine consciousness into the jade slip, and Lu Kangnian’s warm voice emerged from it.

—Knowing you’re safe puts my heart at ease.

Li Guanqi smiled faintly and replied, “Sect Master, I’ve come out of seclusion.”

Buzz!

The spatial ripples dissipated. Li Guanqi waited a long while but received no response. He didn’t think much of it, though. If something had truly gone wrong at the Daxia Sword Sect, someone from Guanyun Pavilion would have come over long ago.

He vanished with a single step and soared a thousand zhang into the sky, taking deep breaths. The cold air stung his lungs, making him feel truly alive again. During his two years of seclusion, his consciousness had been lost in a haze. Though aware, he had barely sensed the world around him.

Reflecting on those years, Li Guanqi took out the Guanyun jade pendant and spoke into it. “Elder Xi, I’ve come out of seclusion. Have there been any news of Ye Feng these past two years?”Ye Feng had been weighing on his mind, so he had asked about him as soon as he could. Soon, the pendant lit up, and Xi Yunhuai’s voice came through.

—Pavilion Master… yes and no.

Standing high in the sky, Li Guanqi frowned. “What do you mean?”

—Sigh, four groups across the Six Territories have been massacred over the past two years, and the traces of power left at every site belonged to… him. The killings were all incredibly brutal.

—Our investigation revealed that one person was missing from each group. I suspect Ye Feng abducted them. Those people were probably his targets from the very beginning.

Li Guanqi’s expression darkened as he listened. His brow was tightly furrowed. Had anyone gone missing from the Duan family? He hadn’t found any evidence of that when he went there.

“I understand,” he said. “Which four groups? Send me their locations and all the details. I’ll go take a look myself.”

Buzz!

Space rippled as Xi Yunhuai sent over all the information the Guanyun Pavilion had gathered. Li Guanqi examined the information.

Taiqing Territory, northwest region. Yao family.

Daochan Territory, southern region. Chi family.

Black Sect Territory. Three Clearings Sword Sect and Guiyuan Hall.

Li Guanqi frowned. “So it was two sects in Black Sect Territory?”

—Yes. Neither was particularly prominent. Even the stronger of their leaders was only at the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm.

Li Guanqi pondered for a moment. “All right. Got it.”

He was about to put away the jade pendant when Xi Yunhuai spoke again.

—Pavilion Master, will you be returning soon? There’s a great deal to attend to here, and it would be best if you came back to take charge.

After a moment’s thought, Li Guanqi replied, “I probably won’t be back for a while. Handle the pavilion’s affairs as you see fit. If you can’t decide something, discuss it with Sect Master Lu.”

Xi Yunhuai chuckled bitterly.

—Where am I supposed to find Lu Kangnian? He’s not even at the sect anymore.

Li Guanqi was completely dumbfounded. He’d only gone into seclusion for a bit, and two years had passed. And now, Lu Kangnian wasn’t even at the sect? No wonder his messages had gone unanswered.

“What happened?” Li Guanqi asked solemnly. “Did something go wrong at the sect?”

Xi Yunhuai’s voice came through in a measured tone.

—It’s not exactly a major issue… but it’s not exactly minor either. Sect Master Lu left the Daxia Sword Sect a year and a half ago to travel the continent. No one knows where he is.

—Wu Bing is the acting sect master now. He’s reached the mid Illusory Refinement Realm. He’s progressing quickly, as you’d expect of someone with a King Spirit Root. Xuan Lin has been supporting him from behind the scenes, so no one dares cause trouble. Over the past year or so, Wu Bing has proved himself a capable and ruthless leader, weeding out anyone who tried to stir things up.

—Oh, and Han Chengxian and Ji Hong are dead. Xuan Lin killed Han Chengxian, and Wu Bing killed Ji Hong. That’s about it for the major developments.

Li Guanqi lowered the jade pendant and rubbed his forehead. His head ached. Lu Kangnian cared about the sect more than anyone, yet he had gone off to wander the world.

Li Guanqi knew what Wu Bing was capable of. Reaching his current level was quite a feat. With Xuan Lin and Tu Zhongqiu around, things should be just fine.

Still, he hadn’t expected Han Chengxian and Ji Hong to be dead. Nor had he expected anyone other than Duantai Yiting to cause trouble.

A cold smile tugged at Li Guanqi’s lips. “That old fox knows how to bide his time… Keep an eye on the sect for me. If anyone is even thinking of betrayal, kill them!”

—Understood. One last thing: the Guanyun Pavilion has expanded rapidly over the past two years. We’ve begun competing with the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion, and Qian Qiusui’s commercial empire has already had several disputes with them.

Li Guanqi’s head ached again. “All right, I understand. Tell Qian Qiusui to avoid conflict with the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion for now. When I have time to go to the Daochan Territory, I’ll pay them a visit.”

He set down the jade pendant with a sigh, a hint of bewilderment in his eyes. For nearly twenty years, he’d done nothing but cultivate quickly and rush from one thing to the next.

This time, a single cultivation session had spanned over two years. The flood of developments from the outside world hit him all at once, leaving him struggling to keep up.

Li Guanqi looked up and sighed. “Is this what it feels like to watch the years slip by? When the great cultivators say a hundred years can pass in an instant… is this what they mean?”