All I Seek Is One Sword to Question the Vast Heavens!

Li Guanqi stared blankly at the emerald ground below, which had dimmed by a third. Despair crept slowly through his heart. Then, it erupted into an enraged roar. A barrage of resounding booms shattered the silence, echoing into the firmament! Three hundred years! A full three hundred years! He had endured despair, constantly using a century as his milestone, repeatedly breaking through his limits just to persevere. Yet just as the hundred-year mark arrived and he believed he could break free... He was suddenly told he had to remain here for another two centuries? Two hundred years... Even he lacked the confidence to endure another two centuries in this place. Before entering here, his longest secluded cultivation had barely lasted a little over a year. Back then, he had felt he had been in seclusion for an eternity. Yet here, entering seclusion time and again, the accumulated years had reached an entire century. It could be said that he had pushed his mastery over the power of the mid-stage Ascension Realm to the absolute pinnacle. It was a complete, hundred percent control he had never experienced before. His comprehension of his cultivation realm far surpassed ordinary cultivators at the same level. Cultivation realm, movement techniques, sword dao, sword intent, self-created techniques... He had honed himself to the absolute limit. Yet if there were still two hundred years left... Here, primal energy could not be replenished; he was limited to whatever primal energy he had brought in, and it would only deplete. In other words, he could only enter seclusion to contemplate insights and enlightenment. He could not use this time to absorb spiritual energy and advance his cultivation realm. Under such circumstances, he had no way to maintain prolonged seclusion to refine and expand his primal energy reserves. Li Guanqi’s expression turned utterly grim. As despair spread through his heart, his fighting spirit gradually slipped away. Lying in the empty, soundless void, not a single whisper of noise could be heard. He did not know how much time had passed when faint calls seemed to reach his ears as he lay on the ground. It was Su Xuan... Meng Wanshu... Ye Feng... Pengluo... He wanted to see them! The anger accumulated over a hundred years erupted in a thunderous roar within his chest! If he still had areas where he could improve, even two hundred years would be tolerable. Yet his comprehension was simply too high; he had already spent most of his previous seclusion contemplating every conceivable concept. Now, at his current realm, there was nothing left for him to comprehend. Unless he could continue advancing his cultivation realm. Two hundred years... If he were forced to spend two hundred more years in this dead, silent void... He would truly go mad. Li Guanqi reached out and touched the earth. He noticed that its defensive power seemed slightly weaker than before. Licking his lips, Li Guanqi stripped off the tattered, foul-smelling robe he had worn for so long. Flickers of sword light flashed. Strands of hair drifted down, and his beard was cleanly shaved away. His hair, which had grown long enough to drag along the ground, was sheared to his waist. Casually tying his hair back, the turbulent, conflicted emotions in Li Guanqi’s eyes vanished. In their place was an unyielding, resolute gaze! He was getting out of here! He would cleave this world apart! He would... emerge like a hidden dragon bursting from the abyss! Boom! An aura that made heaven and earth tremble erupted violently. At this moment, the willpower infused within Li Guanqi’s sword intent reached its peak. Felt closely, that intent... sought to sever the heavens! Hum! His vitality roared, and dragon scales instantly covered Li Guanqi’s entire body! This time, the dragon scales were noticeably different from before; the purple scales gleamed with a metallic sheen. Their defensive strength was unimaginably greater than before. Lightning crackled across his dragon horns as the Divine Punishment technique surged to its peak—the fifth layer! The amplification granted by the fifth layer reached an astonishing twofold! In other words, he could unleash three times his original strength! Yet just like the fourth layer, the fifth layer placed an immense strain on his physical body. Even with his current constitution, he could sustain it for two hours at most. Thus, when engaged in life-and-death battles, he would only push the technique to its absolute limit at the most critical juncture. Boom! The ground beneath Li Guanqi’s feet trembled faintly as the power of the Sword Ruins was fully unleashed. Terrifying sword qi swirled around his body, viciously slicing through the void. If Li Guanqi were to stand before King Xuan at this moment, it would likely give him the illusion of facing Emperor Chen. In his mind, Li Guanqi’s entire life flashed before his eyes. Including the century he had spent within this desolate void. A fierce, unyielding will surged from deep within his soul. A resonant hum rang from the spiritual sword in his hand! At that moment, Li Guanqi cast aside all the countless sword arts he had created over the years. The primal energy within him surged wildly, crashing about like a headless fly. Gradually, guided by Li Guanqi’s willpower, that rampaging power coalesced into a colossal dragon coursing through his meridians. Boom! Endless lightning burst from his body, funneling entirely into the longsword. The moment Li Guanqi opened his eyes, a brilliant burst of purple lightning flashed across his pupils. His gaze burned with resolve as he stepped upon the empty air. He slowly raised the sword in his hand, as if carrying the ultimate truth of the sword dao. Gripping the blade in one hand, he looked up at the sky. His vitality surged like a rainbow, and his primal energy roared like a dragon. Now, the primal energy remaining in his body was only enough for a single strike. However... For this one strike, all that remained within him was immortal primal energy! A low chant echoed softly through the dead, silent void. “In the great void's depths, a dragon's roar resounds; Beneath the nine heavens, thunderous intent abounds. In the flash of a spark, startling shifts unfold; The hidden dragon leaps, shattering the dark and cold. I vow to gauge the vast primordial lands with my sword's keen blade, And sever right from wrong across every age ever made. Shifting heaven and earth was never what I sought; All I seek is one sword to question heaven's span, untamed and unbought.” As the sword mantra rolled from his lips, the primal energy within Li Guanqi coursed through his body with tyrannical force. The spiritual sword in his hand let out a resounding hum. The blade trembled slightly, and fine, hairline fractures began to spiderweb across its surface. It seemed the sword itself could barely endure the might of this strike. Li Guanqi’s voice grew louder and more impassioned. “How could I, Li Guanqi, remain trapped forever in this nameless void! Today, I seek not transcendence, but the boundless firmament and freedom! A hidden dragon lies dormant long enough; today, it emerges from the abyss! It is not that the time has not arrived, but that my heart refuses to yield! Pointing my sword at the heavens with a laugh, ten thousand thunders take flight as dragons—what matter a mere century? This one strike of mine is enough to shake the world, stir mighty waves, and shatter all illusions! ‘The hidden dragon emerges from the abyss!’ This is no flight, but conquest! “I, Li Guanqi, will let this world know! “Not even the shackles of the world can bind the wild surge of my heart, nor the vastness of my ambition! “This strike is my defiance against fate! “This strike is the crowning of my will by lightning primal energy! “A hundred years of loneliness and waiting have forged not just my sword, but an inextinguishable battle will in my heart!” Li Guanqi took a fierce step forward and flipped his body around. Beneath his feet lay the boundless, empty sky, while above his head was the earth he had stood upon for a century. Aiming his sword at the earth, his body hurtled downward! This sword strike carried heaven-shaking might! The hidden dragon had emerged from the abyss, thunder shaking the nine heavens. “I, Li Guanqi, shall use this sword to carve out my own world, and let the Heavenly Dao witness what it means to be the true master of thunder! “I have entered the Ascension Realm; the day I cleave open the Heavenly Gate... is not far off! “This sword strike is called ‘Hidden Dragon!’” Boom! A deafening roar shook the entire void. Crack! A crisp sound of shattering rang out sharply! The earth fractured, and the shimmering spectral light of the Heart-Calming Cloud Rainbow Grass finally shattered to pieces. Shattering along with it was that massive hourglass. Li Guanqi did not look back. The spiritual sword in his hand had already disintegrated into dust. A faint smile touched the corner of Li Guanqi’s lips as his consciousness blurred, returning to his physical body.