The next day.
Li Guanqi had already risen and packed up by the hour of the rabbit.
He practiced his stance forms several dozen times in the backyard until blood and qi surged through him and sweat soaked his back.
Looking up at the sky, only then did he set down the sword casket from his back and boil water for a bath.
As for why this sword casket was called a sword coffin by his grandfather, he did not know either.
Meanwhile.
The main hall of Tianlei Peak was bustling with excitement; almost all the disciples residing on the peak had gathered.
In three years, Li Guanqi was the sole new disciple Tianlei Peak had accepted.
To say nothing of being a monstrous talent possessing a legendary saint-grade spiritual root!
In a secluded courtyard on Tianlei Peak's rear mountain, a little girl clad in a floral padded jacket had just finished struggling to hang out all the laundry to dry.
Squatting by the doorway, she fished a steamed bun from her bosom and began munching on it.
A single bite took away nearly half of it—the skin was thin, the filling generous, and the aroma mouthwatering.
With just one bite, a ring of glistening grease coated her lips.
"Grandpa Li, aren't you going to the peak initiation ceremony for the new disciple today?"
A drunken voice drifted from inside the room.
"Not going."
The little girl nodded, as if this answer came as no surprise.
She muttered to herself, "What's the point of choosing lightning when he has a saint-grade spiritual root..."
"And he's blind, too."
Soft snores began to rumble from within. The little girl got up and dashed off like a whirlwind toward the main hall.
Her two arms were raised high, looking just like a running goose spreading its wings.
"Guanqi! Over here!"
Gu Ran's voice rang out, and Li Guanqi, carrying the sword casket on his back, briskly walked toward the main hall.
Upon a square spanning a full hundred zhang, many people were already standing.
Not only were all the disciples of Tianlei Peak present, but even Sect Master Lu Kangnian had come in person, alongside the elders from various peaks.
They all wanted to see whose tutelage this monstrously gifted boy would enter.
Yet of Tianlei Peak's elders, only Xu Zhengjie was present at the moment.
Tianlei Peak had a total of one peak master and two elders, and a total of thirty-seven disciples under its banner.
Peak Master Lei Yingze, at Core Formation Great Circle, was currently in secluded cultivation attempting a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm.
The First Elder had never shown his face, leaving only Second Elder Xu Zhengjie to handle all the affairs on the peak.
Seeing that Li Guanqi had already arrived while Xu Zhengjie stood alone in the elders' seats, Lu Kangnian frowned at once.
"Hmph. On a day like this, Li Nanting won't even show up?"
When the Sect Master spoke in such a manner, no one dared to comment, but others certainly couldn't speak so casually.
For Tianlei Peak's First Elder, Li Nanting, was a figure of extraordinary status within the Great Xia Sword Sect.
No elder from any peak dared to clown around before Li Nanting.
Because he was once the Disciplinary Arbiter of the Great Xia Sword Sect!
Hum—
Beside Lu Kangnian, a white-robed figure suddenly flashed into view.
The newcomer stood straight as a sword, and though an old man, he showed not the slightest hint of frailty.
With sharply chiseled features, his gaze was as keen as an eagle's!
Looking at the figure who had appeared, Lu Kangnian chuckled softly. "I thought you wouldn't come."
The old man chuckled softly. "Tianlei Peak hasn't been this lively in three years. No matter what, I had to come take a look."
Lu Kangnian nodded, then suddenly asked, "Where's Little Steamed Bun?"
"There."
Li Nanting pointed toward the roof of the main hall. A little girl in a floral padded jacket was lying on the roof, munching on a carrot while poking her head out.
Lu Kangnian beckoned with a hand, and the little girl flew through the air, landing straight into his embrace.
With stubble on his face, Lu Kangnian continuously rubbed his scruff against the girl's delicate, petal-soft cheek.
She knitted her brows in annoyance and shoved the carrot in her hand straight into Lu Kangnian's mouth.
Lu Kangnian laughed heartily and let her climb up to sit on his shoulders.
"Now that everyone has arrived, disciple Li Guanqi's peak initiation ceremony officially begins!"
"Sound the drums! Offer incense! Summon the ancestral statues!"
Dong! Dong, dong!
Over a hundred disciples struck the rhythmic war drums with all their might.
A bronze cauldron spanning a full zhang crashed down heavily in the center.
One after another, stone statues towering dozens of zhang high crashed down with resounding booms!
A full thirty-odd stone statues, each carved with vivid, lifelike precision.
These were the past sect masters of the Great Xia Sword Sect.
Lu Kangnian's voice resonated across the entire sect.
"Since the founding of the Great Xia Sword Sect, our lineage has endured for thirteen thousand two hundred and ninety-eight years!
"The mantle of Sect Master has been passed down thirty-eight generations.
"One who transcended tribulation and ascended to the Immortal Realm, two in the Mahayana Realm, three in the Body Integration Realm, five in the Void Refining Realm, and fifteen in the Soul Formation Realm!
"Entering the sect today, you are a disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect for this lifetime!
"Setting foot upon the immortal path of cultivation from now on, so long as you walk upright and act with integrity...
"The sect shall do everything in its power to shield and protect all disciples under its banner!
"The sect motto of the Great Xia Sword Sect!
"The sword in hand never points at the weak; the sword in heart never fears a strong foe!
"Right all injustice under heaven; slay all under heaven who deserve to be slain!
"If one day you cross swords with a mighty foe because you upheld the sect motto, the Great Xia Sword Sect shall muster the might of the entire sect to preserve your life!
"Li Guanqi, are you willing to join the Great Xia Sword Sect and be inducted into Tianlei Peak?!"
Standing in place, Li Guanqi slowly took off the cloth covering his eyes.
His pure white eyes looked straight toward Lu Kangnian's gaze. Raising high the landscape incense in his hands, he said in a deep voice,
"Disciple Li Guanqi is willing to enter the Great Xia Sword Sect and join Tianlei Peak!!"
Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong!!
The war drums thundered, echoing across all of Tianlei Peak.
Lu Kangnian's expression turned solemn as he declared in a deep voice, "Offer incense! The peak initiation rite is complete!!"
The subsequent ceremony was very simple. At this time, Lu Kangnian walked solemnly before Li Guanqi and handed him a white jade slip.
The jade slip was only palm-sized. Carved on the front was the Great Xia Sword Sect's crest along with the four characters for "Great Xia Sword Sect."
The reverse side was carved with his name and the likeness of Tianlei Peak.
"This is your identity jade slip. Be sure never to lose it!
"As for what this jade slip can do, you can study it at your leisure later."
Saying this, Lu Kangnian suddenly turned his head to look at the old man who clearly did not look easy to get along with, and said softly,
"And now...
"Li Nanting, do you want to take him as your disciple?"
Second Elder Xu Zhengjie looked at Lu Kangnian with a resentful gaze. The Sect Master hadn't even asked him, nor had he asked Tianlei Peak's peak master.
Standing in place, Li Guanqi didn't say anything either. After all, if the Sect Master arranged an appropriate master for him in such matters, he had no objections.
"Why does it have to be me? Old Xu could do it too."
Lu Kangnian shook his head and said softly, "In all these years, the Great Xia Sword Sect has produced only these two prime seedlings. Since he chose the lightning spiritual root, then on the entirety of Tianlei Peak, you alone are the most suitable candidate!
"Be it sword arts, cultivation methods, the application of lightning primordial energy, or even attainments in spiritual incantations, among the elders of the eight peaks, you alone are proficient in every single one. If Li Guanqi were to enter under anyone else, I wouldn't feel at ease."
Li Nanting fell silent. Over all these years, he had grown accustomed to living alone, detached from worldly matters.
Yet facing a disciple with a saint-grade spiritual root, his heart was truly moved!
In this lifetime, his hopes of re-entering the Nascent Soul realm were as slim as fishing a needle out of the sea; he always wanted to find someone to pass down all he had learned.
Wu Bing from earlier, however, possessed a metal spiritual root, so he had not been a match.
Li Nanting stepped in front of Li Guanqi, slowly squatted down, and asked softly, "Brat, if I become your master... are you willing?"
The old man's voice carried a faint tremor, and even a hint of unease.
Yet Li Guanqi could sense the sincerity and cautious tenderness radiating from the old man.
In the old man's eyes lay hope and yearning.
That look struck a deep chord in Li Guanqi's heart. Lifting the hem of his robe, he slowly knelt down.
In a deep, steady voice, he said, "Disciple Li Guanqi is willing to take you as my master!!"
At this sight, mist welled in the old man's eyes in an instant, turning their rims red.
Holding his head high, the old man spoke with a trembling voice: "Good... Good, good!!"
Supporting the youth up with both hands, the old man faced their surroundings and said in a deep voice, "I, Li Nanting, take disciple Li Guanqi today as my closed-door disciple!
"In the days to come, I ask the elders of the eight peaks to look after him!"
Chapter 16