Of course, Li Guanqi knew nothing of these matters.
The intense, unrelenting battles of recent days had left him utterly exhausted in body and spirit.
Yet his strength was advancing by leaps and bounds; he could now effortlessly defeat the version of himself from just half a month ago.
Meanwhile, the sword spirit had become a peerless treasury of knowledge.
It seemed there was nothing in the world she did not know. No matter what problem he encountered in his cultivation, she always struck straight to the heart of the matter, pointing out his flaws and showing him precisely how to correct them.
Battles against opponents of his own cultivation realm could no longer offer him any benefit.
Because of that, Li Guanqi had set his sights from the very beginning on the fourth-rank demonic beasts prowling the Purgatory Mountain Range!
Swift, powerful, and newly possessed of budding intelligence—these traits made them worthy adversaries.
Moreover, suppressed by the disparity in cultivation, Li Guanqi had to exercise the utmost caution when facing each and every one.
In just five days, he had clashed with twelve demonic beasts and slain three early fourth-rank monsters.
Nearly every day, he retreated covered head to toe in wounds.
Yet it was precisely this reckless, desperate style of combat that caused his mastery of the sword to skyrocket.
Furthermore, the movement technique he relied on to preserve his life had directly stepped into the initial stage.
He was now a full thirty percent faster than before—comparable to when he had donned the Wind Thunder Wings.
Once his comprehension reached the intermediate stage, his speed would increase by half again!
This time, it had taken him three whole days just to mend his injuries.
When he finally woke, the sword spirit was hovering barely a finger's width away, her face practically pressed against his.
Startled, Li Guanqi lost his balance and sank straight to the bottom of the cold pool, his heart thumping wildly against his ribs.
Even when he shut his eyes, those captivating, beautiful eyes still seemed to float before him.
Shaking his head, he swept his arms through the water and leaped out onto the surface.
Looking at him, the sword spirit said in a low voice, "This time, I will teach you the second strike. It is a complete sword art."
"In addition, I will teach you a lightning-attribute spirit incantation—ranked ninety-ninth!"
Before the joy on Li Guanqi's face could fully spread, he heard her declare she was about to impart a spirit incantation ranked within the top hundred!
Overcome with excitement, Li Guanqi wrapped his arms around the sword spirit in a fierce hug, babbling over and over, "Truly? That's incredible!! Hahahaha!!"
*Bang!!!*
A colossal force struck him, blasting Li Guanqi dozens of zhang through the air. His back slammed violently into the stone wall, sending web-like fractures splintering through the thick rock face.
Her back turned so her face remained hidden, the sword spirit suddenly dissolved into a streak of spiritual radiance and vanished.
Barely recovered from his heavy injuries, Li Guanqi nearly blacked out as the breath was knocked clean from his lungs.
By the time he scrambled up, the sword spirit had already returned inside the sword casket.
Sitting on the ground, he couldn't help replaying the moment just now...
The soft press against his chest had felt so real—tender, yet lacking any warmth.
Her delicate shoulders had been tucked within his embrace, his arms able to wrap fully around her slender waist.
His mind adrift in fluttery reverie, Li Guanqi rubbed his nose in sheepish embarrassment.
That beating hadn't been in vain after all...
Still, even now the sword spirit was only visible to him—could he actually touch her now?
Yet just as he was about to ponder further, he abruptly felt his thoughts yanked back to reality.
The sword spirit's icy voice rang through his mind.
"Think another thought... and I... I will go into total hibernation!"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Li Guanqi hurriedly explained, "I'm sorry, alright? I was just too excited when I heard about a top-hundred spirit incantation...
"In the heat of the moment, I couldn't control myself."
Yet the sword spirit was still in a fit of pique; how could she believe him?
"Couldn't control yourself? Heh, do you think I'm a fool?"
Li Guanqi gave a helpless shrug. He had told the honest truth, yet she still didn't believe him.
Inside, the sword spirit gave it some thought and realized he probably hadn't lied.
Even so, she had no desire to speak with him right now, choosing simply to treat his words like thin air.
"Come on... why be so narrow-minded?"
"It was just a hug."
"How about this: I'll take a loss and let you hug me twice!"
"You can ravage me, torture me, choke me half to death—whatever you like~"
Hidden within the sword casket, the sword spirit's expression darkened the more she listened.
She had almost forgotten that on top of being money-grubbing, this fellow was utterly shameless.
Seeing that she truly wasn't going to respond, Li Guanqi found the teasing boring.
He got to his feet, preparing to head outside and practice his sword.
This time, however, he needed to find a new hunting ground.
He had already thrashed every fourth-rank demonic beast within a hundred-li radius.
Naturally, he had taken plenty of beatings in return; there were several he simply couldn't best.
As the days slipped by, the tension between Li Guanqi and the sword spirit gradually softened.
True to her word, the sword spirit taught him another sword technique, titled the Heaven Breaker Sword Art!
This art contained only three strikes, yet each was several times more formidable than the last!
According to her, if he could thoroughly master all three strikes by the Nascent Soul realm, he would be able to slaughter anyone beneath the Soul Formation realm with ease.
Li Guanqi had curled his lip at that, privately doubting the truth of such an assertion.
Nevertheless, gaining initial entry into the art proved excruciatingly difficult. Even now, he had yet to master the first strike, Demon Subduer.
Time flowed on, and before he knew it, Li Guanqi had spent three full months inside the Purgatory Mountain Range.
*Crack, snap!*
The sound of burning kindling sounded particularly stark in the dead of night.
Yet in a Purgatory Mountain Range overrun by vicious beasts, not a single one dared draw near.
For the creature lying dead upon the ground was a fourth-rank ink lion!
Chewing roasted meat with sightless, vacant eyes, Li Guanqi's mind replayed that single lethal strike that had ended the ink lion's life.
"Demon Subduer... it's absurdly strong!"
"That strike alone is already on par with Demon Shadow Slash."
Right then, a rustling came from the woods.
A beast-hunting team consisting of two women and one man appeared before him.
Two of them—the man and one woman—were wounded. Only a delicate-looking woman remained relatively unscathed, though her clothes were torn to tatters.
Li Guanqi set down the roasted meat, extinguished the campfire, and fixed his milky-white, sightless eyes unblinkingly upon them.
The tall, lean man clad in beast hide hastily bowed in salutation and called out, "Senior! We blundered into this area by mistake. We beg Senior to grant us shelter for the night! I have five hundred spirit stones to offer!"
As his words fell, the two women hurriedly bowed as well, their eyes swimming with terror.
The way they looked at Li Guanqi was like clutching at a life-saving straw.
Yet Li Guanqi merely stood and said coldly, "Get lost."
Seeing that Li Guanqi was entirely unmoved, the man grew frantic. The two women beside him dropped to their knees with a thud and began knocking their heads against the dirt in desperate kowtows.
Every one of them knew that if they could not secure this man's protection out of the mountains, they likely wouldn't survive the night!
Yet Li Guanqi remained completely impassive. Stowing the ink lion's corpse, he turned to leave.
It was not that he was cold-blooded; these strangers had nothing to do with him, and he did not know them.
How could three early Core Formation cultivators have made it this deep?
Whatever their story, he had no interest in meddling.
Glancing up at the sky, he felt it was about time to leave this place anyway.
Without lingering, he pushed off the ground and dashed away toward the edge of the mountains.
Chapter 268