As Li Guanqi stood upon the altar, everyone around instinctively held their breath in rapt attention.

Suddenly!

The Sword Spirit’s voice, urgent and tinged with panic, echoed in Li Guanqi’s mind.

“Who exactly is your grandfather?!”

Buzz!!!

Li Guanqi felt his consciousness plunge into a hazy expanse of nothingness.

All around him were various artifacts!

Swords, spears, halberds, and axes; hammers, divine brushes, broken limbs, shields, and more…

An endless void stretched before him, where with every step, countless weapons lay scattered on the ground.

Each one radiated powerful fluctuations, wrapped in a faint glow of different elemental attributes, and inscribed with intricate and complex patterns.

Li Guanqi murmured softly, “What is this? Why are there so many?”

He then muttered to himself, “Am I supposed to choose one?”

Thus, Li Guanqi began to wander aimlessly through the void.

Gradually, he noticed that around the most powerful weapons, no other artifacts dared to exist.

These mighty artifacts seemed to possess a sense of their own territory.

Suddenly, he spotted a purple longsword enveloped in thunder, with no other weapons within hundreds of meters!

As he approached, the sword planted in the ground let out a clear ringing, as if to show off its prowess to Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi stood before the longsword and slowly reached out his hand…

However, just before he could grasp it, an indistinct premonition told him that this sword was not meant for him.

Looking at the resonating longsword before him, Li Guanqi did not hesitate to retract his hand, softly saying, “You will find a master more suitable than me.”

A loud sword cry rang out through the void, sending all nearby artifacts flying.

The sword’s cry then turned plaintive, as if pleading with the young man to stay.

But the young man’s silhouette was resolute.

Li Guanqi, with his eyes closed, no longer even used his Insight.

Following an almost imperceptible intuition, he slowly walked deeper into the darkness.

Along the way, all artifacts seemed to come alive, moving aside for him.

Beneath Li Guanqi’s white robe, mysterious patterns glowed with a sinister blood-red light.

The deeper he went, the more powerful the scattered artifacts became, with many swords even stronger than the previous thunder sword.

Yet the young man’s steps did not falter; he continued deeper still.

In the Spirit Testing Hall.

Song Ru’s brows were furrowed, puzzled by the difficulty in opening the Spirit Ruin.

He also noticed that the Spirit Stones embedded in the altar were being consumed at an incredible rate!

Li Nanting, seeing this, did not hesitate to flash forward and embed thirty top-grade Spirit Stones into the altar!

Within the void, a faint red thread extended from the glabella of Li Guanqi towards the heavens.

The Sword Spirit looked down at the red thread near its heart, its expression changing rapidly.

“The Great Cosmic Nine Palaces Extermination Pattern!”

“Su Xuan… who are you?!”

“Crafted with blood patterns to hide his Ethereal Spirit Body?”

“Causal thread…”

“Do you intend to bind me to his fate completely?!”

The Sword Spirit’s beautiful eyes were fixed on the young man’s retreating figure.

Finally, with a determined look, it murmured resolutely, “If that’s the case, why not choose him?”

Boom!!!

A thunderous explosion echoed through the void!

A mountain so tall its peak was out of sight suddenly appeared before Li Guanqi.

Atop the mountain, a red glow flickered, and the silhouette of a longsword shimmered in and out of view.

Looking down, Li Guanqi realized that what he thought was a mountain was actually an accumulation of countless artifacts!

The longsword at the summit stood proudly between heaven and earth, as if surveying all living beings.

Above the Purple Sun Hall, the sky changed dramatically, with thick, dark clouds enveloping a hundred miles around!

Suddenly, fierce winds arose, and thunder roared!

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth boiled over, and the dense spiritual mist within the Purple Sun Hall bubbled up like a gushing spring.

Many disciples who had awakened their Spirit Ruins fell to their knees, trembling all over.

Their spirit souls involuntarily appeared, quivering close to the ground.

Li Guanqi’s Spirit Ruin on his forehead expanded to a size of hundreds of meters!!

And this void of the Spirit Ruin continued to spread.

Song Ru’s face changed drastically, and with a surge of Primordial Energy, he pushed all the disciples out of the hall!!

The Spirit Stones beneath the altar turned to ash at a visible rate.

Li Nanting took out all the top-grade Spirit Stones he had and embedded them into the altar.

Buzz!!

The expansion of the Spirit Ruin continued!

Fifty meters!!

One hundred meters!!

Three hundred meters!!

Five hundred meters!!

Li Guanqi finally climbed to the summit and saw a blood-red longsword.

The sword was three feet and one inch long, with a noticeable break at the edge, and instead of a pointed tip, there was a slanted gap.

Yet even without its tip, the sword’s unmatched sharpness was undeniable.

The red sword guards on both sides were blood-red, as if stained with the blood of countless foes.

The hilt was wrapped in numerous blood-red tendrils, enveloping the sword guards.

Feeling a connection with this unique sword, Li Guanqi slowly reached out to touch it.

Buzz!!

As the sword was grasped, the mountain beneath him collapsed with a roar!!

All artifacts in the void vanished in that instant.

Li Guanqi whispered softly, “Sword Spirit… is it you…?”

No response came.

At that moment, atop the altar, nine pillars burst forth with dazzling white light, which gradually turned blood-red.

Through the doors of the Spirit Testing Hall, everyone saw the young man holding a blood-red longsword.

And as the nine pillars that tested the rank of the spirit soul turned red, they suddenly exploded!!

Li Guanqi opened his eyes, and with a thought, he absorbed the spirit soul into his spiritual platform.

The connection felt as if the spirit soul was a part of his body all along.

And he felt his bond with the Sword Spirit deepen.

As the celestial phenomenon slowly dissipated, Li Guanqi leaped down from the altar.

Li Nanting’s smile stretched from ear to ear as he came beside the young man, patting his shoulder and laughing heartily.

“Excellent! A ninth-grade sword spirit soul!”

“Truly a prodigy with fortune on his side! Hahaha!”

The disciples of the Seven Strings Sect looked even more displeased, not daring to glance at him.

Li Guanqi, slightly embarrassed, just smiled and said nothing more.

Everyone from the Great Xia Sword Sect cheered and celebrated.

“A ninth-grade! And a sword spirit soul at that! My goodness…”

“Hahaha, we’re definitely getting a spot in a trial secret realm this time!”

“Unworthy as we are, Brother Li’s talent truly puts us to shame.”

Ye Feng swallowed hard, looking at Li Guanqi as if he were a monster, muttering, “I don’t know why you wouldn’t go to those holy lands in the Central Region to be a Holy Son!”