Initiate the Purgatory Challenge!

Early morning. Qin Xian, Li Nanting, and the others were already packed and ready to depart. Yet at that moment, Li Nanting frowned, sweeping his gaze across the crowd below, and asked in a low voice, "Where is Li Guanqi?" Ye Feng turned to look all around, only to find no trace of him. Knitting his brows, he muttered, "Did Old Li drink too much last night?" Just then, Qin Xian abruptly took out a jade slip. After he infused a thread of origin power into it, Ge Qing's voice suddenly rang in his ear: "Old Qin, come to Mount Tianyu, quick! That kid from your sect is here..." Qin Xian lowered the jade slip and said heavily, "Move. To Mount Tianyu! Li Guanqi is there." Everyone was utterly baffled. None of them understood why Li Guanqi would go to Mount Tianyu now, just when they were all about to leave. Did he want to watch the matches? One after another, everyone mounted their swords and took to the sky. Li Nanting took Yu Sui'an by the hand and turned into a streak of light, flying toward Mount Tianyu. *** Mount Tianyu. When Li Guanqi flew in on his sword and appeared before them, the spectating crowd stared in mild bewilderment. Standing atop his sword, Li Guanqi gazed blankly at the towering stone stele ahead. The record stele still glowed with a faint, luminous sheen. Every sect name inscribed upon it stung his eyes. Especially the name written boldly at the forty-seventh spot: Great Xia Sword Sect! Even though all of them had fought desperately yesterday, after two full rounds, Great Xia Sword Sect had only earned a meager twenty points. "Forty-seven..." Li Guanqi murmured softly, standing high in the sky. Dressed in white robes, the youth appeared utterly powerless, his expression forlorn. The scent of alcohol clinging to him was impossible to conceal, drawing quiet sighs from many below. "Looks like another young lad nursing his grievances..." A person nearby also sighed. "This boy's strength is truly extraordinary. I even felt he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the three great prodigies." "What a pity... The Great Xia Sword Sect's foundation is simply too shallow. They can't secure a good ranking or resources." As soon as these words were spoken, many nearby nodded in agreement. Guan Qingyun glanced at the youth and couldn't help letting out a sneer. "Losers are always like this. Clearly powerless to do a thing, yet they still come back to reminisce. It's completely useless." The disciples of Xuanmen Palace were clearly accustomed to such sights. A tall, thin young man beside Guan Qingyun curled his lips into a cold smirk. "Nothing more than wallowing in self-pity." Another jeered without hesitation, "Like a dog reluctant to leave a pile of shit. If it were me, I'd have lost face and crawled away long ago." Even Ji Linglan of Lingxiao Pavilion looked up at the youth in the sky with incomprehension. In her eyes, this blind youth was immensely strong—so much so that he had even given her an inexplicable sense of dread! Yet she still couldn't understand why he would come here when the Great Xia Sword Sect had already been eliminated. *Did he come just to remember today's failure and use it to spur himself on?* Ji Linglan's cold expression wavered slightly. She didn't know what kind of person Li Guanqi really was. Surrounded on all sides by confusion and insults, he seemed deaf to it all, entirely unaffected. *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* Dozens of light streaks arrived in rapid succession! Qin Xian and the others looked at the youth riding his sword in midair, then glanced at their sect's dimmed name. Their mouths moved, but not a sound came out. A trace of pity flashed across Li Nanting's weathered face, his eyes rimmed with red. In a slightly raspy, gentle voice, he called out, "Guanqi, that's enough..." "Let's... go home." Behind the crowd, however, the crippled man's shoulders trembled faintly. He understood all too well what was going through the youth's mind. Li Guanqi turned around, his face brimming with reluctance to accept this outcome. Gazing straight at Li Nanting, he spoke softly: "Master... I cannot accept this..." Li Nanting parted his lips, feeling as though something were stuck in his throat! A suffocating atmosphere spread among the disciples, and their longing for strength surged like never before! All of this was because they were too weak! Even Ye Feng clenched his fists unconsciously, looking down with reddened eyes. Severely wounded, Zhong Lin and Lin Dong felt a pang of remorse in their hearts, lamenting their own uselessness. Yu Ye balled his fists tightly, his eyes blazing as he stared at the youth's back. Looking at the youth before her with his head bowed, Gu Ran's eyes flickered with heartache. The spectators on the summit of Mount Tianyu watched the scene in a subdued silence. An inexplicable sensation rippled through their hearts. Everyone felt that although the Great Xia Sword Sect had failed to achieve a high ranking this time, the sect's future would flourish through the very disciples standing here today. Over among the Ziyang Palace disciples, Zhao Beichen watched with cold, disdainful eyes. In his world, the strong always reigned supreme. The various antics of the weak only disgusted him as empty wallowing. From beginning to end, he had never regarded the Great Xia Sword Sect as anything worth noting. A sect two entire tiers below Ziyang Palace—what right did it have to earn his attention? Did they think a blind boy who awakened a sword spirit ruins was enough? Zhao Beichen raised his eyes slightly, cast a sideways glance at the youth in the air, and scoffed, "Laughable." Suddenly! The youth, who had been standing with his head bowed in silence, snapped his head up! Li Guanqi had made his choice! His eyes locked onto the elder high in the sky, and he roared at the top of his lungs: "Li Guanqi of the Great Xia Sword Sect requests to initiate the Purgatory Challenge!" *Boom!* An immense uproar erupted through the crowd, and those who realized what it meant instantly went wild! *Li Guanqi of the Great Xia Sword Sect requests to initiate the Purgatory Challenge!* The youth's impassioned voice, laden with origin power, echoed far and wide across the mountains! As the shout faded, the eyes of Li Nanting and the rest contracted violently. The old man flashed to the youth's side and scolded him with uncharacteristic sternness: "Guanqi... you! You're being completely reckless!" "Do you even know what you're doing?!" Li Guanqi looked up at the old man and said with absolute earnestness, "Master, this disciple naturally knows what he is doing." "If I do not... my heart will never be at peace!" Gao Qiwen clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, his eyes bright as he looked at the youth not far away. "You... are doing what I once did..." All the participating sect disciples were stunned, and many did not even know what the so-called Purgatory Challenge was. Guan Qingyun froze for a moment, then cursed with a sneer, "What a suicidal idiot." Ji Linglan's eyes filled with shock. Her brows knit slightly, and she shook her head in mild disappointment. *Heh, and here I thought he was someone capable of endurance. To think...* *He's still too arrogant after all.* Among the Ziyang Palace disciples, only now did Zhao Beichen truly take a hard look at that blind youth for the first time! A smirk played on Zhao Beichen's lips as he muttered under his breath, "The Purgatory Challenge... Heh, quite a character!"