Li Guanqi fell silent, reining in his suppressed murderous intent.
He did not want to unleash his icy killing intent here.
The flickering firelight seemed to worry for him.
Even so, Li Guanqi could hardly hold back the murderous urge churning within him.
A mighty Tribulation Transcendence realm expert like him was actually struggling to control his own killing intent!
Which meant... since yesterday afternoon, he had been speaking to an empty grave!
That jar of ashes and those ten strings of copper coins had been bought with his own life!
They were the only proof that his sister, Li Cuiwei, had ever existed in this world!
Li Guanqi stood rooted in place, his throat bobbing as he swallowed the blood welling in his mouth.
Veins bulged on his forehead. Taking several deep breaths to suppress the grief and rage in his heart, he combed through the empty grave inch by inch with his divine sense.
Nothing...
Whoever had found Li Cuiwei's grave clearly knew him well.
The culprit had acted with utmost caution, leaving behind not the slightest clue.
In an instant, several names flashed through Li Guanqi's mind.
"Cang Lu, Lu Wuhen, Sha, Youming, Xun Tian, Gu Xici..."
In the end, it really came down to Xun Tian and Gu Xici.
Yet Cang Lu had appeared too early.
Back then, Li Guanqi had only been in the Great Xia Sword Sect for a few years.
This forced him to suspect that Xun Tian had orchestrated the entire scheme from the very beginning.
However, the final wisp of Xun Tian's remnant soul hidden within the Demon King Body had already been obliterated.
Had it truly been Xun Tian, he would have chosen to reveal this secret at the final moment to preserve his own life.
After clashing with them for so many years, Li Guanqi had come to understand a simple truth.
Not a single one of these avatars sent down by immortals wanted to die!
In fact, he suspected that whether it was Xun Tian or Gu Xici...
...the reason they were so obsessed with his secrets was to bargain with their true bodies in the Immortal Realm for their freedom!
With his back to the tombstones, Li Guanqi took several deep breaths, not hesitating to exert the power of his divine sense to forcibly suppress his emotions.
"Shiwu."
"Here!"
"Help me investigate whether any traces remain inside the grave."
*Buzz!*
Terrifying flames instantly enveloped Li Cuiwei's grave without harming it in the slightest.
A moment later, Shiwu stood behind Li Guanqi and said in a heavy voice, "I can confirm that the perpetrator's cultivation was by no means low. But too much time has passed... the lingering aura is impossible to distinguish."
Li Guanqi gave a slight nod and murmured, "Understood."
Li Guanqi looked back.
There was at least one thing he could be sure of now.
He was indeed his mother's flesh and blood. The bond of blood between them could not be faked.
It was precisely because of this that he could breathe a sigh of relief.
He was afraid...
He feared that he himself was not real.
If his mother and sister were also fake, who was he?
Who were his true birth parents?
If that were truly the case, he might well have broken down.
Yet...
Now that he knew he was indeed his mother's son, a much larger question arose.
If so, then who was his father?
If his father had merely been an ordinary mortal, how could he have sired someone with Li Guanqi's terrifying talent?
Even a Demon King Body had required Xun Tian ten thousand years of scheming to cultivate.
Then what about his Spirit-Devouring Dao Body?
It was an enigma...
Li Guanqi sat cross-legged on the ground as a massive chessboard materialized before him.
His eyes half-closed, his fingers repeatedly pinched black stones and placed them down!
Gradually, the black stones converged, surrounding the lone white stone at the center.
Li Guanqi slowly opened his eyes, his gaze flickering.
Judging from everything now, it seemed his father wasn't what mattered.
Everything that happened revolved around him.
Whether it was Su Xuan, Xun Tian, or Gu Xici.
Or the person who stole his sister's ashes.
Their ultimate objective seemed to be him!
With a wave of his hand, he dispersed the chessboard.
Li Guanqi fell into deep contemplation.
Looking back at the past, when Su Xuan had first found him, the old man hadn't displayed anything particularly unusual.
Except for that look in his eyes...
Wait!
When Su Xuan appeared back then, it was right after Li Guanqi had killed Li Dashan and his mother had drawn her final breath.
In Su Xuan's gaze at that time...
...besides pity and grief...
...there had seemed to be a trace of... shock!
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. "Could it be..."
"Grandpa was also surprised when he discovered me back then?"
"If he was surprised, was it perhaps astonishment at my identity and humble origins?"
"Or was it the surprise of finally stumbling upon someone he had sought in vain for so long?"
Growing restless, Li Guanqi shook his head. He couldn't figure it out.
The memories were too blurry; back then, his spiritual terrace had not yet opened, and he possessed no divine sense.
It was like asking a forty-year-old mortal to recall the intricate details of his early childhood—hopelessly hazy.
Drinking his wine, Li Guanqi faced the two tombstones with a heavy heart.
"Mother, don't worry... I will definitely get Sister's ashes back!"
"In the future... I'll try to come back and see you more often."
At that, Li Guanqi grinned.
Rising to his feet, he spread his arms wide and said softly, "Look, Mother, your son grew up well. I have plenty to eat and warm clothes to wear."
"I... have journeyed across the boundless Six Domains, seen countless mountains and rivers, and walked far more than thousands of li..."
"Before long, I'll take Wanshu as my wife. She's gentle, and she treats me wonderfully."
"Your son has become a real man who stands tall between heaven and earth, someone who cares for all living beings under the sky."
"Rest easy, Mother... Guanqi has grown up well."
Kowtowing in farewell, Li Guanqi waved his sleeve, sending a hundred spiritual swords floating into the air across a thousand zhang to form a sword formation barrier.
With that, this place became a forbidden domain!
Treading upon the void, Li Guanqi stood beneath the moonlight, shorn of the hesitation and turmoil that had plagued him when he first arrived.
He looked down at the graves in the distance, enveloped in blossoms carpeting the hillside, and the corners of his lips curved slightly upward.
"Mother, please rest easy. Your son... is very formidable!"
Li Guanqi departed.
The spiritual swords concealed themselves in the void; ordinary mortals wandering here would only spin around in circles.
And even if a mighty cultivator passed by, they would have to weigh whether they had enough lives to forfeit against such power!
On the way back to the Great Xia Sword Sect, Li Guanqi's mind dwelled on a single question.
"Who would do such a thing?"
"And what was their motive?"
Li Guanqi couldn't understand it. It was merely his sister's ashes.
Why would anyone want them?
It was definitely connected to him—and that copper coin.
That coin had no practical use at all; it was nothing more than a source of solace.
Li Guanqi retrieved the coin and examined it. It was just an ordinary copper coin.
Closing his eyes slightly, Li Guanqi speculated that the perpetrator might be targeting his bloodline.
He and his sister shared the same bloodline. Perhaps that was the only explanation that made sense...
Yet... who could it be?
Li Guanqi sighed, his eyes glinting.
He decided that once he returned to the Seventh Domain this time, the very first thing he would do was seek out Grandpa, and then pay a visit to Meng Jiangchu.
He wanted answers to the questions weighing on his mind.
Before long, Li Guanqi arrived back at the Great Xia Sword Sect.
*Buzz!*
Li Guanqi appeared in the skies above the Great Xia Sword Sect.
It was early morning. Mists swirled over the Great Xia Sword Sect grounds as cranes called out.
Sunlight bathed the sect, vibrant and full of vigor.
Chapter 1428