Was It Truly So?

When Li Guanqi heard Gu Li's words, his heart violently clenched. His figure shot forward at explosive speed, swiftly returning to the White Jade Tower. The moment he saw Li Congxin lying unconscious, he flashed to his side. Inside the sword coffin space, the atmosphere instantly turned exceedingly grave. Everyone was gathered here. Seeing the heavily wounded Li Guanqi, Ye Feng knitted his brows tightly as well. Yet after sensing the surging vitality inside Li Guanqi's body, his mind was somewhat eased. Looking down at Li Congxin lying on the ground, Li Guanqi furrowed his brows and placed his hand on the man's wrist. Gu Li and Cao Yan were both fraught with worry. The two of them were well-versed in medicine and pharmacology, yet neither could discern what was wrong with Li Congxin. Li Guanqi sent primal energy into Li Congxin's body, circulating it from head to toe, yet he discovered nothing out of the ordinary. Yet Li Congxin's consciousness remained completely unfocused and comatose, insensitive to any external stimulus. Li Guanqi's face gradually darkened. Sweeping his divine sense through the body, his eyes narrowed into slits. Within his perception, a crack had somehow appeared across Li Congxin's divine soul! He was certain that this hairline fracture was newly formed. It had appeared during the previous battle... Li Guanqi's brows remained locked. He simply could not fathom what had happened. Though he had instructed Li Congxin to pose as him earlier, Li Congxin had never actually engaged in combat. In such a brief window, when could he possibly have been wounded? Just then, the sword spirit's voice suddenly rang out. "A wisp of his divine soul was forcibly extracted." "If I am not mistaken... it should be Gu Xici!" Hearing this, Li Guanqi immediately countered, "Impossible... Back then, Grandfather took action; Gu Xici had no opportunity whatsoever to get near him! Moreover, Li Congxin withdrew from the Third Domain right away!" The sword spirit shook her head, her beautiful eyes narrowing as she murmured softly, "It is very likely... he saw through our trap from the very beginning." Li Guanqi could hardly believe this conjecture. If that were truly the case... Then he had never been lured here by the Devouring Void Sacred Flame at all! Li Guanqi's brows drew together, utterly unable to divine the other party's purpose for the moment. He had been willing to let his Ascension realm clone perish just to come here... Knowing full well it was a trap, he had stepped right into it without looking back! "What on earth was his goal?" "His target wasn't me, but Li Congxin... Li Congxin... divine soul..." Buzz! A terrifyingly immense pressure suddenly radiated from the sword spirit! Except for Li Guanqi, everyone in the space was instantly crushed flat against the altar floor! Boom! The sword spirit's long hair whipped wildly in the wind, and Li Guanqi jerked his head around to look at her. Her crimson gown billowed through the air as her body drifted slowly into the sky. At this moment, Ye Feng and the others clearly sensed an unfamiliar presence, yet they could see nothing at all. Only Ye Feng and Cao Yan exchanged a glance, catching a glimmer of astonishment deep in each other's eyes. Though neither had ever seen the sword spirit, they had both intentionally or unintentionally noticed traces of her presence before. It was not a matter of perceiving her aura, but rather that they had once speculated that something like a "soul" accompanied Li Guanqi. Now it seemed their speculation was very likely correct! A grave look flashed across Li Guanqi's eyes. In a rapid whisper audible only to the sword spirit, he asked, "What is it? What happened?" Her expression unusually solemn, the sword spirit narrowed her beautiful eyes and slowly looked up toward the empty firmament of the sword coffin space. "I think I know what he wants to do..." With those words, she slowly raised her hand, forming her fingers into a sword hand. Instantly, surging crimson light gathered at her fingertips, coalescing into relentlessly churning sword qi. Standing proud and aloof, she held her fingers poised like a blade. The sword spirit slowly swept her hand across the heavens. Through the empty void, a shadow seemed to flit past! Her expression was more serious than it had ever been, as if she were wielding a blade to slice through something unseen. Li Guanqi's heartstrings tightened with her every move. His core trembled; as her fingers swept through the air, he felt his own divine soul quivering faintly. An inexplicable sensation washed over him. Solemnity flickered in the sword spirit's beautiful eyes. She extended the jade-white fingers of her left hand, as though pinching something between them. A faint blue phantom wisp of spiritual light was forcibly extracted from the empty void! A cold sneer curved the sword spirit's lips, and she murmured with disdain, "Insignificant parlor tricks, yet you dare display them before me!" With that, her fingers violently slashed across the sky! "Ahhh!" A faint, shrill scream echoed from deep within the void! The voice was filled with sheer disbelief and dread. "He... you... actually—!" Before the words could finish, a cold snort left the sword spirit's lips, and sword qi swept across three thousand li. Crimson sword qi crisscrossed the void, and the voice vanished instantly. The sword spirit let out a soft breath of relief. She raised her left hand to inspect the wisp of light carefully. The power of Spirit Absolution suffused her palm, and only after confirming that there was nothing amiss within the light did she set her mind at ease. With a flick of her finger, she sent the wisp shooting into the center of Li Congxin's brow. Li Guanqi started slightly as the crack across Li Congxin's divine soul slowly disappeared. His brows furrowed as he muttered inwardly, *Was that wisp of light his missing divine soul?* The sword spirit nodded slightly, then teleported everyone out of the sword coffin space, leaving only Meng Wanshu, who was about to face her tribulation, inside the Nirvana Pagoda. Within the vast sword coffin space, only Li Guanqi and the sword spirit remained. Li Guanqi slowly rose to his feet. Facing her with a grave expression, he asked in a low voice, "What was all that about?" The sword spirit fell silent for a long moment, organizing her words before speaking slowly. "It seems... his target was you from the very beginning." Li Guanqi's brow furrowed, though he did not appear overly surprised. He believed that as long as one was an immortal's clone, no one could resist the temptation of the Devouring Void Sacred Flame. After all, so long as he seized the sacred flame, he would be fully capable of breaking free from being a mere clone! The sword spirit said softly, "Gu Xici... now appears to be an adversary even more difficult to handle than Xun Tian." "If you look back on the entire sequence of events now, doesn't it feel like he took the bait a little too easily?" Li Guanqi remained silent. The sword spirit continued, "For a person like him, the moment suspicion arose, he had already written Li Qingchan off as an abandoned pawn." "He wouldn't believe a single word of what Li Qingchan displayed or conveyed!" "Yet even so, he still seemingly 'cautiously' walked straight into your trap." At this point, the sword spirit paused slightly, fixing her beautiful eyes on Li Guanqi as she spoke slowly. "Yet in truth... was it really he who fell into your trap?"