On the way back to the Sect, Li Guanqi was alone in the cultivation Meditation Room on the cloud boat.

Immersed in cultivation, Li Guanqi felt the Primordial Energy surging within him and couldn’t help but sigh.

“Breaking through to the middle stage seems like it’s going to take some time.”

Even though his absorption rate of spiritual energy was terrifyingly fast, the foundation he had built in his pubic region was simply too vast.

After a long silence, Li Guanqi tried calling out to the Sword Spirit.

“Sword Spirit, are you there?”

The Sword Spirit’s voice responded softly as if preoccupied, “What is it?”

Such a gentle voice left Li Guanqi somewhat at a loss; the Sword Spirit had always been quite proud and aloof towards him before.

This sudden change to gentleness was something he was not accustomed to.

Scratching his head, Li Guanqi asked, “That sword… was it you?”

The Sword Spirit’s voice carried a tinge of melancholy, “Yes, I didn’t expect you could actually bear my projection.”

Li Guanqi didn’t understand what the Sword Spirit meant by ‘projection,’ perhaps something akin to a reflection.

“Why is the sword’s edge broken?”

The Sword Spirit fell silent for a long time before replying softly, “I once cut through something, and we both suffered.”

Li Guanqi had no real understanding of these matters.

“That must have been something formidable!”

The Sword Spirit asked curiously, “Why do you say that?”

Li Guanqi replied with a smile, “Because I think you’re very strong!”

The Sword Spirit, residing within the Sword box, laughed, her eyes squinting beautifully.

After Li Guanqi asked many trivial questions, he finally got to the point.

“So… what abilities can you grant me?”

The Sword Spirit chuckled softly, “Me?”

“You’ll understand once you’ve forged a spirit soul weapon.”

“In short, I can grant special abilities based on the different spirit soul weapons.”

Gulp…

Hearing the Sword Spirit’s words, Li Guanqi’s heart was hit by a storm of excitement!

“Grant! Special abilities!!”

The Sword Spirit laughed softly, “But there’s no need to rush. First, whether you can find a capable spirit soul artisan is one thing.”

“Even if you do find one, the spirit soul weapon they forge may not be able to withstand my power.”

Li Guanqi nodded, deciding to allocate a bit more Primordial Energy to the Sword Spirit today.

Upon feeling the increased energy, the Sword Spirit teased, “Why are you giving me so much today?”

Li Guanqi smiled slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

“I feel like you’ve changed, like… you trust me more now.”

The Sword Spirit shook her head helplessly and said directly, “Since yesterday, our fates have been tightly linked, sharing both honor and disgrace.”

“I also have a question.”

“Do you know what the blood-red patterns on your body are?”

Li Guanqi frowned and transmitted his thoughts, “I don’t know, my grandfather did it.”

“I’ve been following my grandfather since I was six, and every year he would draw a part of it.”

“It was excruciatingly painful to be drawn on!! I’d rather die than go through it again.”

“Do you know what it is?”

The Sword Spirit slowly materialized, her eyes burning as she looked at Li Guanqi.

Her voice was grave as she said, “I’m very curious about your grandfather’s true identity.”

With that, her fingertips traced Li Guanqi’s neck.

Pulling aside his collar, a trace of the blood pattern was revealed.

The Sword Spirit leaned in to examine the blood pattern and murmured softly, “The Great Mahāmāyūri Nine Palaces Extermination Pattern.”

“I thought the method to draw this blood pattern had long been lost.”

Li Guanqi, hearing the astonishment in her voice, asked, “What’s it for?”

The Sword Spirit stood up and smiled, “It conceals your innate Empty Spirit Dao Body!”

“To prevent you from being discovered too early by the immortals of the upper realms, avoiding disaster.”

“I must say, your grandfather… is very impressive!”

“Alright, I need to rest now.”

With the Sword Spirit’s departure, a smile appeared on Li Guanqi’s lips.

“It seems I can afford to share some more Primordial Energy with her in the future.”

The return journey was swift, and the cloud boat docked next to the plaza of the Great Xia Sword Sect.

Lu Kangnian and others had been waiting for a long time.

Li Nanting flew over and greeted with a smile, “Sect Master, you must reward Guanqi and Ye Feng well this time.”

Lu Kangnian laughed heartily, “Reward them, I shall!”

“Heavenly Thunder Peak’s Li Guanqi, step forward to receive your reward!”

Lu Kangnian’s voice, infused with Primordial Energy, spread throughout the entire Great Xia Sword Sect.

“Li Guanqi has awakened a ninth-grade sword spirit soul!”

“He has secured two trial secret realms for the Great Xia Sword Sect!”

“Rewards: ten bottles of Nourishing Primordial Pills! Three thousand Sect points!”

“Five thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, one month’s use of an Earth-level Ascension Platform!”

“One entry to the Scripture Pavilion, with the choice of two secret technique manuals!”

“Ye Feng… ahem, three bottles of Nourishing Primordial Pills, one thousand points, one thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, one month’s use of a Profound-level Ascension Platform.”

After finishing, Lu Kangnian’s face showed an embarrassed smile as he whispered.

“The Sect is poor, please understand.”

At this, Ye Feng’s eyes brimmed with tears as he said softly.

“Sect Master, your favoritism is blatant.”

“It’s one thing to be poor together, but it’s much harder to see Li Guanqi’s wealth and be poor by myself.”

“Is this sacrificing the small ‘I’ for the greater ‘we’…”

Lu Kangnian quickly turned his head and coughed lightly.

“Well… you new disciples have just completed half a year, so the Sect has granted you half a month to return home to visit your families.”

“Pack up tomorrow and you can head down the mountain to visit home.”

Upon hearing this, Ye Feng seemed to lose interest, as if going home was not something to be happy about for him.

The other Sect disciples, however, couldn’t help but cheer and leap for joy.

After all, they were all young and had left their homes to join the Sect, naturally feeling a bit homesick.

Even Li Guanqi was considering whether to take a Sword Flight back to Fulong Village.

Li Guanqi murmured softly, “I kind of miss that little girl Wanshu.”

“I really want to see her shocked expression when she sees me flying on a sword.”

Afterward, everyone dispersed, and Li Guanqi returned to the courtyard with Yu Sui’an.

As soon as they landed, Yu Sui’an ran off like the wind.

While running, she muttered anxiously, “It’s mealtime, mealtime!!”

Suddenly, the little girl stopped, turned her head to Li Guanqi, and asked, “Li Guanqi, what do you want to eat?”

Sitting in the courtyard, Li Guanqi was slightly stunned, then smiled and said, “Two meat steamed buns.”

Yu Sui’an grinned, her two braids bouncing behind her head as she said, “Alright! Wait for me to come back!”

Just as the little girl left, Ye Feng arrived at Li Guanqi’s place by Sword Flight.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Li Guanqi wiping his sword and couldn’t help but laugh, “Why are you still here?”

“Aren’t you going home to have a look?”

Li Guanqi shook his head, “I’m not planning to go back. My grandfather isn’t home, so there’s no point.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t want to go back either; it’s boring. My father doesn’t think much of me, and going back would just be an eyesore to him.”