The town had fallen silent for quite some time, and even after a long while, not a sound was heard.
At this moment, many people had not yet fallen asleep, and the braver ones began to peer out of their windows, looking outside.
What they saw was a young man sitting to the side, cracking melon seeds.
On the ground lay a lifeless corpse.
Houses had collapsed, and the streets were littered with deep pits and sword marks.
Boom!!
Earlier, Li Guanqi had made a trip to Zhang Daniu's house and fished a skeleton out of the well.
It was the remains of Li Lanhua.
After burying her properly, he slowly stood up, and suddenly, a dark shadow appeared in the distant sky.
Moments later, Li Nanting leapt down from his flying sword, which circled around before sheathing itself automatically.
Li Nanting flashed to the youth's side and after checking, found that not only was Li Guanqi unscathed.
His realm had even broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refining!
Li Guanqi gave a somewhat vague and ambiguous explanation, which sufficed to deceive.
He simply said that his thunder-type Spirit Root was particularly effective against that fierce ghost, and that's how he narrowly won.
In the end, the Old Man was half-convinced and did not say much more.
He took Li Guanqi on a sword flight back to the Great Xia Sword Sect.
Before leaving, Li Guanqi took a deep look at Xingyun Town, and thought of the unjustly deceased Li Lanhua.
He murmured softly, "A promise of sweetness after bitterness, yet she suffered year after year."
On the way, Li Guanqi also told the Old Man about the events in Xingyun Town.
Li Nanting was silent for a long time, then softly said, "Guanqi, this is human nature and the human heart."
After a while, Li Guanqi spoke softly, "I know, but every time I encounter such things, I still feel that human nature is cold."
"I even think, if someone had stood up to speak a word of justice for Li Lanhua."
"Perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way."
"Unfortunately… there are no 'ifs' in this world."
Li Nanting remained silent; many things and principles need to be experienced and comprehended personally to understand why they exist.
"Uh… Master, can you get me some Spirit Stones?"
"Earning these points is too hard! How could such a simple first-level mission encounter such a powerful ghost."
Li Nanting's face was extremely grim, thinking about how his disciple nearly lost his life made him furious.
He simply said that he need not worry about this matter anymore.
After returning to the Sect, Li Guanqi did not rest but continued his meditation and cultivation as usual.
And the Sword Spirit kept its promise not to steal his cultivation primordial energy anymore.
The next morning, when Li Guanqi awoke from his cultivation state, he felt refreshed and his thoughts were clear.
He got up and placed the wooden stakes he had prepared in advance, practicing his boxing form dozens of times.
After a sufficient warm-up, Li Guanqi took out an iron sword and began to practice his swordsmanship frantically.
It was still dark, and Li Guanqi had already practiced with the sword for a full two hours.
Suddenly, the voice of the Sword Spirit rang out in his mind.
"Let the sword follow your movements, don't let the sword lead you!"
"Your chops must be swift, be fast!"
"Before you thrust, make sure to gather the strength of your whole body and strike!"
The words of the Sword Spirit gave Li Guanqi an epiphany.
With only slight changes in his hand, his eyes and brows were filled with a serious expression.
Clang!!
His sword thrust out fiercely!
The long sword tore through the air, emitting a piercing sonic boom.
This thrust was swift as the wind, and the thick wooden stake exploded violently!
Bang!
A smile appeared on the corner of Li Guanqi's mouth; he hadn't expected the Sword Spirit to have such a keen eye.
It could point out problems that even his master couldn't see.
After he finished cleaning up, the Outer Sect's Manager personally came to find Li Guanqi.
"Ha ha, indeed, heroes emerge from the youth."
"This time… it was an issue with the mission hall, so the Sect points will be calculated at five times the rate!"
"The points have already been stored in your jade slip."
Li Guanqi smiled and said, "Then I'm grateful for Manager Zhou's care. I'll bring you a couple of bottles of good wine later."
Manager Zhou, upon hearing this, immediately beamed with joy, having been worried since yesterday.
But fortunately, Li Guanqi had said to his master, "If you get angry with him, won't your disciple suffer later? How will he take on missions?"
So later, Li Nanting sent word to give Manager Zhou a warning.
That's what led to the current situation.
Li Guanqi understood people need to understand each other.
And the scene of Manager Zhou treating Li Guanqi with a smiling face was witnessed by many Outer Sect disciples, who were even more envious.
In the following days, Li Guanqi accumulated a lot of points, and with the addition of a Storage Bag containing a thousand low-grade Spirit Stones given by Li Nanting.
Li Guanqi could say that he no longer needed to run around doing missions for cultivation resources.
***
Over the next month.
Li Guanqi's figure could almost be seen daily on the Sect's Ascension Platform.
In this month, Li Guanqi's strength also improved rapidly!
In just one month, he had already reached the seventh level of Qi Refining!
This speed completely shocked everyone, and it made many realize just how vast the gap was between themselves and this monstrous talent.
Li Guanqi was like a tireless machine.
Every day, apart from practicing the sword, he spent almost all his time recovering his spirit in cultivation.
The rest of the time, Li Guanqi would go to the Sect's training grounds.
For just one low-grade Spirit Stone, one could open a small room containing a formation.
The room's interior space was hundreds of meters wide, and any desired weapon would be provided.
During this month, his Green Lotus Heavenly Gang Sword Technique had also reached the late perfection stage.
With each move, the sword sang, and in an instant, six green lotus sword flowers could be woven.
However, when he once again showed off to the Sword Spirit, the Sword Spirit finally couldn't help but speak up.
"Flashy but useless trash."
Li Guanqi, unconvinced, scoffed, "Easy to say, if you're capable, teach me a more powerful sword technique!"
The Sword Spirit was also fed up with him practicing such flashy but useless sword techniques.
After manifesting, the Sword Spirit's graceful figure still caused Li Guanqi to lose focus for a moment.
Then, with a single gesture, a Primordial Energy Sword suddenly appeared in the palm of her hand.
The woman's figure bent low, her eyes becoming incredibly sharp, and then Li Guanqi only felt a flash of Sword Light!
The Sword Spirit said proudly, "Did you see clearly?"
After coming out of the training ground's room, Li Guanqi, with a puzzled look, headed straight for the Sword Tower!
The Great Xia Sword Sect's Sword Tower was very famous among all the Sects within a hundred thousand miles.
The Sword Tower was pitch black and looked very solemn.
It had a total of thirty-six levels.
Every twelve levels formed a tier, from Qi Refining to the peak of Golden Elixir, Cultivators could enter.
Inside the Sword Tower were different levels of sword puppet Cultivators.
The more levels of the Sword Tower one climbed, the more Cultivators of the same level one had to face.
So far, no Golden Elixir Cultivator had been able to face twelve Golden Elixir sword Cultivators at the same time.
According to the records of the Great Xia Sword Sect since its founding, only the first Sect Master climbed to the thirty-third level!
That was the powerful Cultivator who ascended to the Immortal Realm.
This was his third visit to the Sword Tower.
Even with his monstrous talent, he had only reached the sixth level so far.
Proofreader & Editor: Lotas