The old man chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "Heh, I was just talking nonsense.
"Since neither of us can ascend anyway, can't I even grumble a bit?"
Li Guanqi's heart quivered with shock!
This was the first time he had ever seen the sword spirit speak to a stranger—and a stranger who was not his grandfather!
The sword spirit's presence vanished without a trace once more. Li Guanqi felt rather helpless, wondering how horribly Jiuxiao and Pengluo were being tormented in the sword coffin...
He looked up at the old man. Just who on earth was he?!
Tribulation Transcendence... Li Guanqi feared he had aimed his guess far too low. Could this man be... an expert of the legendary Ascension Realm, who could have ascended to the Immortal Realm long ago?
*Hiss...*
Li Guanqi could not help drawing a sharp breath inwardly.
The old man then smiled and asked, "What is your ideal?
"To grow stronger? Longevity? Becoming an immortal?"
For a moment, the old man's question struck Li Guanqi dumb.
Had he intended to become an immortal from the moment he began cultivating?
It did not seem so...
Had he set out merely to become stronger from the start?
He had never truly cared about longevity, nor had he ever worried about the passage of time or the fading of vitality.
This closed-door seclusion of over two years had felt profoundly different. Waking to learn that so much had happened during his absence had filled him with immense emotion.
Yet because the people he knew were still around, the sorrow had not bitten too deeply.
Thinking of the many powerhouses who secluded themselves for centuries or millennia, only to find the companions of their youth turned to bleached bones upon waking, struck him as extraordinarily bleak.
Li Guanqi stared blankly into space, his thoughts drifting across countless memories, until two words suddenly leaped into his mind!
"Destiny!"
As if knowing many things, the old man smiled and nodded. "You noticed?"
Li Guanqi said nothing. Looking back on his life, it seemed everything had truly begun the moment he met the sword spirit.
From that point on, his life had been forced forward, sweeping him through countless events and encounters.
Yet he did not feel that someone was orchestrating all of this behind the scenes. It was more as if the appearance of the sword coffin had been a spark—a catalyst driving him forward, leaving him no choice.
Because he obtained the sword coffin and received the sword spirit's aid, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.
At the same time, he had been forced to face the covetous gaze directed at the sword spirit from the Immortal Realm. He considered all of this...
...simply the price he had to pay for acquiring the sword coffin.
Li Guanqi said softly, "This was my own choice."
"Do you regret it?"
"I do not."
"Why?"
"There is no why."
"Then have you thought about what you truly want?"
Li Guanqi pondered for a moment, then looked at the old man and murmured, "The same as you. Freedom."
Yet the moment the words left his lips, Li Guanqi shook his head with a bitter smile and murmured to himself, "Yet... so long as a person lives, true freedom is impossible."
The old man seemed equally moved. He said softly, "Everyone strives with all their might to weave wings of freedom, yet their every word is laden with shackles."
Li Guanqi asked again, "Then are you free, Senior?"
The old man pondered for a long while. "Halfway."
"Why?"
"The seven emotions and six desires of the mortal world are hard to sever in the end. I am merely following my heart, walking out to see the world."
Having said this, the old man looked at Li Guanqi with a smile and asked one last question.
"Do you believe in fate? Would you like this old man to read your palm?"
Li Guanqi smiled. His hands remained still, resting atop his knees.
Looking straight into the old man's eyes, he said softly, "I have never believed that a few creases on a palm could represent my 'destiny.'"
The old man looked at Li Guanqi with keen interest, his eyes bright. "Why?"
Li Guanqi pointed to his own eyes and spoke in a calm voice.
"Before I turned eight, I believed in fate without a shred of doubt.
"I prayed day in and day out with utter sincerity.
"Yet... no one ever answered me.
"Not until I began cultivating the Dao—from the moment I gripped a sword and killed a man—did I understand.
"My fate has never rested in the lines of my palm. It rests in the strength with which I wield my sword!"
The old man burst out laughing, hearty and unconstrained.
"Hahahahahahaha!! Good!!
"What a fine 'my fate is forged by me, not heaven'!!
"Your grand freedom lies within your sword!"
Li Guanqi slowly rose to take his leave of the old man. Bowing with cupped fists in a junior's salute, he smiled.
"Junior truly enjoyed our conversation today, Senior. Thank you for your guidance."
The old man waved his hand and said softly, "I gave you no guidance. Rather than calling it that, you were simply unburdening yourself."
Li Guanqi smiled and asked, "Then what should I do now?"
The old man spoke in an exceptionally tranquil tone.
"Give time time, let the past be past, and let new beginnings begin."
Li Guanqi softly repeated the phrase under his breath, then cupped his fists and turned to leave.
Watching Li Guanqi's retreating figure, the corners of the old man's mouth curled up slightly.
Slowly lying back on the ground, he looked at the wine gourd in his hand and laughed. "I envy your youth, on your journey just begun, like the morning sun rising over Fusang!!"
With a flick of his sleeve, the wine gourd flew over and hung at Li Guanqi's waist. On its flank, a line of small characters had been carved.
Li Guanqi took the wine gourd into his hands. Seeing those small characters, he fell into deep contemplation.
He whispered the words aloud: "The cicada lives eight days, living toward death!"
The old man was telling him that a person's life is fleeting after all, so one must live for what is in one's heart!
Knowing full well that death awaits on some future day, one might as well live with burning passion!!
Li Guanqi took a single stride out of the city and laughed toward the heavens.
Popping the stopper, he poured the fiery liquor down his throat. Wine spilled from the corners of his mouth, which he wiped away with his wide sleeve.
His entire bearing took on an extra touch of carefree abandon.
Li Guanqi made no deliberate effort to disperse the alcohol's potency. Allowing his vision to blur with drunkenness, he pointed the withered branch toward the sky and unleashed a flurry of sword strikes!!
From that day forth, the Eastern Domain of Xuanmen gained a legend of a Wine Sword Immortal dancing with his blade in drunken revelry.
It was said that many who witnessed this drunken swordplay gained sudden epiphanies, comprehending exquisite sword techniques that brought them renown in later generations.
As for Li Guanqi, though he had not discussed any cultivation insights with the old man, meeting him had made him feel as though he could live with far greater open-mindedness and ease.
After Li Guanqi departed, the old man did not leave either. As usual, he lay drunk by the roadside, snoring away.
It was as if Li Guanqi's appearance had been nothing more than an accident. Whether it truly was, no one could tell.
Who the old man was no longer seemed so important in the wake of that encounter.
***
Within a certain supreme clan of the Ethereal Immortal Domain.
Everything appeared normal on the surface, yet within a mysterious secret chamber, two men sat facing each other.
"What did you come here for?"
The man's gaze was sharp as a blade.
Yet Zhang Qixuan showed not the slightest fear.
"Heh, to talk about a major matter."
The man let out a cold sneer. "Say what you have to say. I'm in no mood to play guessing games with you."
Zhang Qixuan smiled, spinning the teacup in front of him as he said softly, "I came because I wish to cooperate with the Yu clan to find a path to ascend!"
The man sitting across from him bolted up in fury, seizing Zhang Qixuan by the throat and hoisting him into midair. Narrowing his eyes, he hissed coldly,
"Zhang Qixuan, do you think that because our Yu clan ancestor fell, our clan has declined?
"Did you come to my doorstep just to humiliate me?"
Zhang Qixuan felt as though he were suffocating. The man before him in lavish robes surged with terrifying lightning power, his hair and beard bristling!
The man looked like an enraged lion. Yet Zhang Qixuan remained entirely unafraid and sneered,
"Yu Changbo, don't tell me you don't want to ascend!
"Now I've pointed out the path to you. Whether you dare take it is up to you!
"I will take part as well. There is certainly risk, but if it succeeds... the benefits will far exceed your imagination!"
Chapter 1008