The roomful of people discussed the matter for an entire night.
Finally, Lin Jinting spoke in a deep voice. "This method is viable! Not only can it help reshape his physical body, but it will also remove many obstacles when fusing the divine soul. Most importantly, it can help reconstruct his spiritual root."
The other two nodded slightly, fully endorsing the plan.
Deeply moved, Li Guanqi stood up and bowed to the three of them. "Junior expresses his heartfelt thanks to you seniors for your trouble."
The men merely smiled at his words, and Lin Jinting chuckled softly. "It's getting late. Have Wujiu take you down to rest. First thing tomorrow morning, I'll have someone prepare a list of the necessary items to see what else we lack."
Lin Wujiu had long since grown bored to tears. Hearing this, he rose and hurriedly bowed. "Father, Third Uncle, Sixth Uncle, then I'll take Brother Li down first."
Lin Jinting kept a stern face and said, "Learn more from Congxin. Your temperament is still far too unsettled, boy!"
Lin Wujiu answered affirmatively while leading Li Guanqi out.
Helpless, Li Guanqi could only follow him outside.
The massive Lin estate was brightly lit, with over a thousand servants and attendants in the residence alone. The Lin clan's lineage flourished; Lin Wujiu had plenty of younger siblings of his own, to say nothing of cousins. Outside, however, Lin Wujiu wore his usual deadpan expression, devoid of emotion.
As they walked, Lin Wujiu rolled his neck. "Talking all night has left me stiff all over. Come on, Brother Li, let's go back and drink. I've already had food and wine prepared. Brother Qisha arrives the day after tomorrow, and when he gets here, I'll take you two around Qinzhou City."
Li Guanqi smiled. "The night is fine. Want to spar a bit? We can see if you've made any progress."
Lin Wujiu's eyes flashed, and he said with utter confidence, "Let's go! My swordplay has reached great mastery, and hardly anyone in the clan can spar with me anymore."
The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly. Since Uncle Lin had helped him so much, he ought to give Lin Wujiu a taste of how treacherous the martial world could be.
Soon, the two arrived at Lin Wujiu's detached courtyard, an enclosed space spanning several hundred paces. Yet there were only two or three maidservants attending it. In his own words, he simply liked peace and quiet.
The training grounds were located in the rear courtyard. Inside a massive quiet room for cultivation, the entire floor was paved with grade-three immortal crystals!
Li Guanqi's eyes lit up, sending a shiver through Lin Wujiu.
"Brother... if you really want some, I can just grab you a few... could you not pry them loose? If you pry them out, the formation in this room won't work anymore."
Li Guanqi gave an embarrassed cough and finally pulled his gaze from the floor. "Am I really that kind of person...?"
Lin Wujiu said nothing, but his look spoke volumes.
Lin Wujiu then raised a hand and tossed out a miniature precious palace, which expanded for them to enter. He drew his sword and gave it a casual flourish. "Feel free to go all out. This palace is of the high grade-two tier. Even a late Heavenly Immortal couldn't shatter it."
Li Guanqi shrugged. Then, he brought out Red Lotus.
Seeing that it was not the demonic sword in the white bone scabbard from before, Lin Wujiu felt somewhat disgruntled. "You aren't wearing that bizarre mask, which is fine, but what is the meaning of bringing out this sword?"
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes without explaining. The moment his Sword Ruins opened, the petals of Red Lotus bloomed, unleashing an incomparably terrifying aura!
*Boom!*
Li Guanqi lowered his cultivation by two minor realms, suppressing it to the sixth level of the Mystic Immortal realm to match Lin Wujiu. Even so, he noticed something: of the five ancient gilded rings on Lin Wujiu's right hand, the one on the little finger had now turned scarlet gold.
"You've already refined a substantial amount of the power?"
Hearing Li Guanqi bring this up, a shadow instantly cast across Lin Wujiu's brow. "Let's not talk about that. Come, fight!"
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered, silently resolving to give him a thorough reshaping today! With a casual flick of his wrist to twirl his blade, he pointed the sword at Lin Wujiu and said softly, "I might be a bit heavy-handed today, so it might hurt a little. Bear with it."
Hearing those words, Lin Wujiu's thoughts took an awkward turn. His cheek twitched, and raising his blade in a cloud sword guard, he called out, "Just bring it on!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Li Guanqi and Lin Wujiu vanished from their spots.
*Clang, clang, clang, clang!*
Sword light flashed as their blades clashed frantically. But in the next breath, the corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curled. Channelling his immortal primal energy, he manifested a giant serpent of lightning and split his focus to send it lunging straight at Lin Wujiu!
Caught completely off guard, Lin Wujiu saw his robe shredded by the serpent. His skin charred, and his body convulsed. Borrowing momentum, Li Guanqi flipped his wrist and slammed the flat of his blade violently against Lin Wujiu's back.
Lin Wujiu rolled through the air several times before landing, cursing under his breath, "Despicable!"
Li Guanqi smiled faintly. Raising a hand, his immortal primal energy roared, and the number of giant serpents instantly swelled to six!
At the same time, the power of Shiwu flared at full strength, leaving Lin Wujiu privately shocked. He discovered that with every move he made, his strength was weakened, while Li Guanqi's strength and sword techniques grew a fraction stronger.
"What... what kind of power is this?!"
Lin Wujiu found it increasingly difficult to hold his ground. Right then, Li Guanqi's sword momentum shifted again!
He abruptly switched Red Lotus to his left hand, while his right hand condensed a longsword from immortal primal energy.
Lin Wujiu's pupils shrank, a touch of gravity settling between his brows. Halting his retreat, he imitated Li Guanqi by dividing his focus to condense spirit swords of immortal primal energy to grapple with the giant serpents. At first, he could only form three, but over time, he grew more adept, eventually managing to condense spirit swords to harass Li Guanqi.
Yet the sword qi surrounding Li Guanqi seemed sentient, instinctively protecting its master!
And Lin Wujiu truly, genuinely experienced what Po realm sword intent was.
Infused into that sword intent was Li Guanqi's sheer will, an overwhelming battle intent so fierce that it shattered Lin Wujiu's own sword intent to pieces!
Gradually, an unyielding defiance surged within Lin Wujiu!
Though he shared a bond of mutual respect with Li Guanqi, he remained the eldest young master of the Lin family, an extraordinary prodigy. Endowed with an atavistic bloodline, his fame resounded throughout Qinzhou. As a fellow genius, he refused to consider himself inferior to anyone!
With a mighty roar, his immortal primal energy surged, and his sword strikes turned swift and fierce.
Yet Lin Wujiu's shout only invited a torrential downpour of attacks from Li Guanqi. Dual-wielding swords, Li Guanqi executed different sword momentum styles with each hand, speaking as he swung, "What are you shouting for? Yelling louder doesn't make you any stronger."
*Slash!*
As they spoke, numerous wounds had already opened across Lin Wujiu's body. If Li Guanqi had not held back, Lin Wujiu would have lost the ability to fight long ago.
Lin Wujiu gritted his teeth, resisting desperately. Yet Li Guanqi's onslaught grew increasingly ferocious—not only was his sword momentum overwhelming, but the sword arts in both hands shifted constantly!
One had to remember that during his century-long dream, Li Guanqi had created countless sword arts of his own, executing them with effortless mastery.
Lin Wujiu's expression was grave beyond measure. From Li Guanqi, he felt an indescribable pressure. It felt less like sparring with a fellow cultivator of the Mystic Immortal realm, and far more like facing an unbridled, crushing suppression from an elder of the Heavenly Immortal realm within his clan!
Chapter 1645