When Li Guanqi returned to his courtyard residence, a figure in a floral padded jacket came sprinting toward him.
With tears still clinging to her face, Yu Sui'an sobbed as she ran, "Waaah! Little Blind Guy, I thought I'd never see you again..."
The little girl leaped onto Li Guanqi, clinging to him like a little bear.
Catching her in his arms, Li Guanqi wiped the tear tracks from her face and said softly, "What's the matter? Why did you think you wouldn't see me? Aren't I right here, safe and sound?"
Sniffling between sobs, Yu Sui'an cried, "Waaah... you have... no idea."
"The jade plaques... inside the sect... were shattering one after another. It was terrifying."
"A shattered jade plaque... means a disciple of our sect has died, and they were all people who went into the secret realm."
"I was just... so scared... so scared that yours would break too."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi could not help feeling touched. Smiling, he rubbed her little head.
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
Looking at the dark circles around her eyes, she probably had not slept well for the past two days.
As Li Guanqi held her, it was not long before the little girl fell asleep against his shoulder.
"Uh... How is she already at the fourth level of Qi Refinement??? Isn't that a bit too fast!"
Along the way, he had also run into many senior brothers and sisters from Tianlei Peak, whose eyes were filled with deep concern when they saw him.
Li Guanqi had responded to each of them with a warm smile.
Returning inside the residence, he laid the little girl on the bed and tucked the quilt over her.
Having done all this, Li Guanqi finally let out a sigh of relief.
The side effects brought on by consuming the Scarlet Firmament Pill had mostly dissipated by now.
Li Guanqi made his way into the quiet cultivation room in the backyard, activated the formation array, and called out softly, "Sword Spirit."
The sword spirit's voice came drifting in, murmuring, "What is it?"
This time, Li Guanqi could clearly sense that her voice had grown much steadier and stronger.
"Looks like your harvest this time wasn't small either."
The sword spirit's figure slowly materialized, her ethereal form noticeably more solid than before.
"I did indeed gain quite a few benefits. After all, even I never expected to encounter a Star Pivot Thunder Vine here."
"Even in the entire Great Xia Domain, that thing is definitely considered a rarity."
Li Guanqi had not known what the thing was back then; it had simply drawn him with an overwhelming pull, so he had swallowed it without a second thought.
"Right, I called you mainly to ask—why did the spirit markings on my body disappear?"
Hearing him bring this up, the sword spirit felt a surge of annoyance.
"As for the reason, just consider it a quirk of your special constitution, and treat those blood markings as a seal."
"There are three hundred and ninety-nine formation spirit markings in total, and so far, you've only unsealed nine of them."
"So there's no need for you to rush at all."
Li Guanqi shrugged. That answer offered virtually nothing of substance.
He did not even know what purpose these formation spirit markings actually served.
He only knew that the sword spirit had always harbored a grudge over this matter, and it seemed connected to his grandfather.
However, what the sword spirit said next was largely the same as what his master had told him.
Essentially, she advised him to thoroughly temper his current realm and not rush to break through to Core Formation.
Li Guanqi nodded. Then he took out spirit stones and opened the altar space inside the sword casket.
With time flowing at twice the normal speed inside, he walked out of the cultivation room early the next morning feeling completely refreshed.
Seeing that the little girl had not yet awakened—sleeping so soundly that her little belly was exposed—Li Guanqi tucked the quilt over her. Then he cast forth the Canglang sword and took to the sky, flying toward Thousand Peaks Mountain.
The dark green blade trailed three feet of dim radiance from its tail, its speed more than a fraction faster than before.
If he flew at full tilt, traveling a thousand li in a single day was well within reach.
After all, with the reserves of origin power in his dantian now, it was enough to sustain sword flight for ten shichen.
When he arrived at Yuhu Peak, where his cave abode was located, the surroundings were the same as usual, with disciples of the sect quietly cultivating on their respective peaks.
The spirit stones he had placed in the spirit-gathering array last time had not even been used up yet.
Yet just as he touched down, the sound of tearing through the air reached his ears.
Turning to look, he saw two figures flying on swords through the clouds.
Li Guanqi waved his hand and called out with a laugh, "Senior Brother Zhou, Senior Sister Jiang!"
Jiang Su was currently supporting Zhou Zhi as the two flew on their swords. As they skimmed past quite a few peaks, they drew bursts of teasing laughter.
Jiang Su's face flushed slightly, while Zhou Zhi looked rather pale.
After all, his injuries in Dikun City had been far from light, yet even then, he had stayed to the very end until Li Guanqi arrived before leaving.
As the former eldest senior brother of the outer sect, in Li Guanqi's eyes, Zhou Zhi was truly worthy of the title of senior brother!
The calm and responsibility he had displayed in times of crisis could not help but inspire admiration.
Looking at Li Guanqi, who had already recovered to normal, Zhou Zhi patted him on the shoulder and chuckled, "Good lad. Your constitution really is incredible, recovering this quickly."
Li Guanqi bowed with clasped hands and said, "Regarding what happened in the secret realm, this junior brother must thank Senior Brother for giving me the confidence to go all out!"
Zhou Zhi waved his hand and said with a solemn expression, "It was nothing. Even if the person on that platform hadn't been you, I would have done the same."
"Besides... you did brilliantly! Truly brilliantly!"
"Afterward, your Senior Sister Jiang and I discussed it. If it hadn't been for you, no matter who else it was, the disciples of our Great Xia Sword Sect would have suffered even heavier casualties."
"Fortunately, the one on the stage was you!"
Li Guanqi smiled faintly, not offering any further explanation.
Then, with a flash of light in his hand, a fist-sized silver sphere appeared in his palm. Li Guanqi held it out before Zhou Zhi.
Seeing the sphere, Zhou Zhi suddenly realized what it was.
"Is this... that silver armor soldier pellet? Weren't the soldier pellets in Wei Kun's hands already destroyed?"
Li Guanqi pressed the soldier pellet into Zhou Zhi's palm and said softly, "I obtained this outside; it's not one of the soldier pellets from the Thousand Mechanism Formation Plate."
"I'm giving it to Senior Brother, and I hope it will be of help during your future travels and training."
Hearing this, Zhou Zhi hurriedly waved his hands in refusal.
"No, absolutely not! This soldier pellet is far too precious. It's better for you to keep it as a life-saving measure."
"I can't accept it."
To the side, Jiang Su parted her lips, but upon seeing the resolute look in Zhou Zhi's eyes, she said nothing.
Naturally, this did not escape Li Guanqi's notice.
Yet he felt that this soldier pellet offered him limited help, especially now that he had the Canglang sword.
The value of this soldier pellet was indeed very high. If taken to any Treasure Pavilion, being crafted by the Mohist lineage, selling it for three to five thousand low-grade spirit stones wouldn't be an issue at all.
Yet in his eyes, everything Zhou Zhi had done in the secret realm was far more precious to him than any priceless soldier pellet.
With no other choice, Li Guanqi produced a black soldier pellet and said softly, "Look, I have another soldier pellet here, and its quality is even better than this one."
"So, Senior Brother, just accept it with an easy mind and recover well from your injuries!"
Seeing this, Zhou Zhi finally accepted it graciously.
"As long as you have a better one. Otherwise, taking this would trouble my conscience."
Chapter 103