Questioning Su Xuan: Who Plays the Pieces!

"Father-in-law, Mother-in-law. "I, Li Guanqi, am not a man who shies away from duty or lacks a sense of responsibility." As his words fell, Meng Jiangchu and Li Guilan both nodded slightly. After all, they had practically watched Li Guanqi grow up; they knew both his character and his conduct well. Especially earlier, when Li Guanqi revealed his resonant power to the world. Without holding anything back, he had allowed Su Xuan to construct the Heavenly King Pagoda. Meng Jiangchu had seen all of this with his own eyes. Li Guanqi was a man devoted to righteousness, and his feelings for Meng Wanshu were beyond question. Toward family elders, he was exceedingly respectful, genuinely regarding both of them as his own kin. Li Guilan said petulantly, "We know you're responsible and dependable, but after all these years, why haven't you breathed a single word about marrying Wanshu?" Confronted with Li Guilan's questioning, Li Guanqi fell silent for a long time. Neither Meng Jiangchu nor Li Guilan disturbed him. Both could tell that he must have concerns weighing on him. Yet... Li Guanqi was already one of the pinnacle powerhouses between heaven and earth. What could he still fear? Meng Wanshu's eyes flickered; perhaps she had already guessed something. Pursing her lips in silence, she turned her beautiful eyes to Li Guanqi. She too wanted to hear his innermost thoughts. Li Guanqi slowly raised his head, his gaze calm as he looked at them, and spoke in a gentle voice: "Wanshu is the woman I have chosen for this lifetime. "All these years, she has stood quietly by my side, never suspecting me of anything with anyone else. "She chose to trust me unconditionally." At this point, Li Guanqi paused slightly, casting a tender look toward Meng Wanshu. "Yet throughout all these years, I never brought up marriage because I harbored certain worries in my heart..." Taking a deep breath, Li Guanqi laid bare the true thoughts in his heart. "The truth is, I have secrets of my own. "Ever since I was in the Golden Core realm, I knew full well that my enemies were never anyone from the so-called Human Spirit Realm." Hearing this, Meng Jiangchu's pupils instantly shrank to needlepoints! "What do you mean?" Li Guanqi sighed, then had the sword spirit release a wisp of its primordial aura. Boom! In an instant, the entire Immortal Spirit Realm felt an inexplicable, terrifying pressure pervading the First Domain. The aura came and went in a flash, so quickly that some cultivators didn't even realize whose aura it was. Yet Meng Jiangchu and Meng Wanshu, positioned right at the center of this aura, felt as though their hearts were being gripped by an unseen hand. Under Meng Jiangchu's shocked gaze, Li Guanqi said slowly, "Ever since the Golden Core realm, I knew that my enemies... are cultivators from the Immortal Realm!" Before Meng Jiangchu could speak, Li Guanqi continued: "Back when Wanshu and I first crossed paths at the He family, it was because of a fellow named Cang Lu." When Meng Jiangchu heard that name, a noticeable tremor ran through his eyes. He knew quite a lot about Li Guanqi's past, so he naturally knew of the connection between Cang Lu and Sha. Sha and Youming were avatars of the same origin, which eventually led to Xun Tian, the Domain Master of the Dao Chan Domain. Without exception, every bit of this was the handiwork of cultivators from the Immortal Realm! Li Guanqi continued: "Back when the Abyss Demons ran amok in the Six Domains and the Ancient Clans seized the opportunity to re-emerge, Lu Wuhen of the Lu family was nothing more than a puppet." Meng Jiangchu narrowed his eyes and asked gravely, "Which means... someone else was behind him as well?" Li Guanqi nodded and said in a heavy voice, "The Ascension realm cultivator who was lured into the Third Domain this time, Gu Xici, was likewise an avatar of a mighty powerhouse from the Immortal Realm." Meng Jiangchu fell silent. He had never imagined that Li Guanqi had been facing the schemes and manhunts of Immortal Realm cultivators all along. Yet the words that followed left Meng Jiangchu and Meng Wanshu frozen in shock for a long while. "The truth is... the reason why the entire Immortal Burial Realm has clashed and slaughtered with the Immortal Realm cultivators for ten thousand years... "Is solely because of the secret I carry. "This... is the real truth behind why my grandfather suppressed the Human Spirit Realm for ten thousand years." As he spoke these words, Li Guanqi felt as though a great burden had been lifted. In the past, he had always been unwilling to admit this deep inside. He had also believed that the Immortal Realm was fighting over the resources of the Human Spirit Realm, and that was why they constantly sought to conquer it. As for why he had thought that way, why he had evaded it, why he had refused to acknowledge it... It was because... everything was simply too heavy. Ten thousand years of warfare in the Immortal Burial Realm, tens of thousands of cultivators killed or wounded! Cultivators who died waiting as their lifespans ran out, unable to ascend, numbered in the thousands. Even now, Li Guanqi felt incapable of shouldering such responsibility and consequences. He did not want to admit that the deaths of all those people were because of him. Yet facing Meng Jiangchu and Li Guilan now, he ultimately chose to tell them this truth. Meng Wanshu's eyes shone with complex light. She naturally knew of the sword spirit's existence. Yet she had never imagined that the sword spirit was so terrifying, or that its allure to Immortal Realm cultivators was so immense. They were willing to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of immortals just to invade the Human Spirit Realm. Meng Jiangchu drew in a sharp breath, feeling his very soul tremble. He had never imagined that the very existence of the Immortal Burial Realm was solely because of Li Guanqi. Then what did the war between mortals and immortals amount to? What about the cultivators beneath the Immortal Boundary Wall who had no hope of ascension and could only wait for death? What about his own thousands of years of bitter cultivation without being able to ascend? Yet as his thoughts raced, Meng Jiangchu finally understood why Su Xuan had shielded Li Guanqi all along... "I don't want... to place Wanshu in danger because of me. "There is still one final enemy in the Human Spirit Realm! I want to... wait a little longer!" Only now did Meng Jiangchu finally comprehend Li Guanqi's reasoning. Even if feelings bound them now, the enemies lurking in the shadows would not strike at Meng Wanshu. But once the two formally became Dao companions, everything would change. Both he and Li Guilan would become vulnerabilities that could be used to constrain Meng Wanshu. And Meng Wanshu, in turn, would become Li Guanqi's greatest weakness and soft underbelly. It made complete sense why Li Guanqi would think this way. Meng Jiangchu was just about to say something. Shifting his gaze, he saw Li Guanqi lowering his head, eyes slightly narrowed, a remarkably complex emotion flickering within his pure white eyes. A low, slightly hoarse voice slowly reached his ears. "Besides... "All these years, there is one question I have been pondering." Li Guanqi slowly raised his head, his gaze unfathomably deep, yet tinged with a hollow emptiness. "Who am I, really? "Is my life... real? "A father I've never seen... an elder sister frail, sickly, and utterly devoid of cultivation talent since childhood... a mortal mother plagued by constant illness in the secular dust. "And me? Born with the Spirit-Devouring Dao Physique... a born sword embryo... "An ordinary winter... and the Realm Master came in person to take me away... "Why Fulong Village? Why did the Sword Coffin recognize me? "Who... is! Playing! The pieces?!" Word by word. He seemed to be speaking to Meng Jiangchu. He also seemed to be speaking to himself. And as he looked up, he seemed most of all to be speaking to that old man perched above the boundless void of the heavens! These secrets and questions. They had followed him all the way from the Golden Core realm to the Tribulation Transcendence realm!