Watching the little girl depart, Li Guanqi could not help but think of Yu Sui'an back on Tianlei Peak.
"I wonder how little Sui'an is doing right now... whether she's eating well."
At the thought, he actually felt a twinge of homesickness for the sect.
Flipping his hand, he tossed the jade slip into his storage ring. He tipped his head back, took a swig of wine, and got to his feet, muttering, "Boring... boring."
*Swish!*
With several teleportations in rapid succession, he returned to the inn.
He still needed to immerse himself in cultivating the escape technique, but before doing so, Li Guanqi called out in his mind.
"Sister Sword Spirit, are you there?"
Hearing him, the sword spirit froze for a moment before manifesting in midair with a rather unnatural expression.
She looked at him irritably and said, "What do you want?"
Li Guanqi rubbed his nose, sensing the sharpness in her tone.
Still, he had one great virtue: he was thick-skinned.
"Didn't we agree you'd get me a body tempering art?"
"Otherwise, I can't practice this escape technique... My physical body just can't keep up!"
A flicker of awkwardness crossed the sword spirit's eyes. Up to this point, she had yet to come up with an art that was truly suited for him.
Even if there were one... she felt he would not be able to cultivate it.
Seeing her hesitate, Li Guanqi waved a hand dismissively.
"It's fine! I don't have many virtues, but I can endure hardship!"
"Don't worry, Sister. As long as you give it to me, I'll train in it!"
At that, the sword spirit curled her lip, yet that simple curl was captivating beyond measure.
In all seriousness, she asked, "Have you truly thought this through?"
With an expression of righteous resolve, Li Guanqi declared, "Completely! As long as you provide it—"
Without another word, the sword spirit tapped a finger against the empty air, and a spark of spiritual light instantly materialized.
Her voice was remarkably calm as she began, "This technique is called the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art. It is an exceedingly formidable body tempering method, divided into ten tiers."
"With every tier, its power multiplies. If mastered to its pinnacle, it is enough to shatter the firmament with a fist and ascend through physical might alone!"
Li Guanqi stood rooted to the spot, swallowing hard with some difficulty.
"Shatter the firmament with a fist... ascend through physical might alone!"
Good grief, just hearing about this art was thrilling enough!
The sword spirit fixed him with a burning gaze and said in a low, somber voice,
"Once you cultivate this art, before you ascend... you will never be able to practice any other body tempering manual again."
"Moreover, cultivating it is extraordinarily difficult, and the process is excruciatingly agonizing!"
"Have you... truly thought this through?"
Li Guanqi licked his dry lips. A long pause passed.
Slowly, he raised his head to meet her gaze and spoke with absolute certainty.
"I want it!"
The sword spirit shuddered, her eyes filled with sheer astonishment.
She had expected him to hesitate at least a little...
This art was exceedingly powerful!
Even across the entire lower realm, she considered it second to none, but the difficulty of mastering it was immense.
And the process would be torture...
Yet she heard an unwavering resolve in his voice!
That resolve made her realize her assumption had been wrong.
She had assumed he would take the art first and abandon it later if the pain proved too great.
Seeing his conviction, her heart trembled slightly, and she asked softly, "Why?"
Li Guanqi grinned, looking thoroughly carefree. "No real reason. I just don't want to let you down."
The sword spirit's eyes brightened. Pressing her lips together, she pressed the light of the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art into Li Guanqi's forehead without another word.
In an instant, an unfamiliar, obscure torrent of mnemonic chants flooded his mind!
A long time passed, his head swelling so painfully it throbbed, before the chants finally faded.
And all of that was merely the mnemonic chant for the first tier of the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art!
Li Guanqi felt a massive headache coming on, but then the sword spirit's voice rang sharply by his ear.
"Starting now, you must carry a weight of five thousand jin every day!"
"You must also gather the essence blood of nine great demons possessing the dragon-elephant bloodline. Their grade cannot be lower than tier three, and tier four is best!"
Li Guanqi felt his head ache even more, and he asked, "What do I need the essence blood of those demon beasts for?"
"Blood refining!"
Her answer was curt and forceful. Li Guanqi grumbled under his breath for a long time, but dared not object.
He spent the entire night studying the mnemonic chant of the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppressing Art.
Even with the sword spirit guiding him from the side, he still found the verses far too profound.
In the end, the sword spirit said helplessly, "Right now, you must personally come to understand the power of a dragon-elephant. Later, we'll find a mountain range and hunt down some great demons with that bloodline."
Li Guanqi felt somewhat discouraged, but he noticed that the blood patterns on his body had grown fewer recently.
His mind had also become clearer. As the sword spirit put it...
The blood patterns were the very thing sealing his Ethereal Dao Body. The more they faded, the stronger his comprehension of the Great Dao would become.
After a full night of cultivation, his grasp of the escape technique had advanced by another measure.
Stretching his arms, Li Guanqi left his room to stroll around the city.
He noticed the food in Dongxiao City leaned heavily toward spicy fare, and the steaming hot pot made his mouth water.
He decided to head to the city's largest restaurant, taking a seat by the window to order a pot.
Yet no sooner had he sat down than he spotted two familiar figures.
Two tables ahead of him sat the man he had seen yesterday—the one who had taken a Youth-Retaining Pill.
Swirling his wine cup, Li Guanqi shifted his attention toward the black-robed youth standing behind the man.
Six fingers...
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. That six-fingered youth in the mid Core Formation stage was the very person he had encountered back in Nanze City.
When leaving Nanze City, he had entrusted Gu Yan with escorting the unconscious Song Zhi'ang to the Great Xia Sword Sect in the Northern Region.
Back then, the person sitting behind him in Xunfang Tower had been this very youth.
While waiting for the hot pot to arrive, he observed the two with his mind's eye.
He could tell the six-fingered youth was self-conscious; he kept his right hand tucked away inside his sleeve the entire time.
Meanwhile, the young-looking man spoke with a frosty expression. "Hmph! I'm telling you, Cang Lu, I have important business to attend to on this trip!"
"At such a crucial time, there's no way I'm letting you wander off on your own!"
*So the kid is named Cang Lu.*
Only now did Li Guanqi catch a clear look at the youth's face beneath the black robe.
He had a gaunt face with slightly sunken cheeks and a pale complexion.
Yet his features were sharp and well-defined; all things considered, he was a handsome young man.
Cang Lu pressed his lips together, looking at the man as if wanting to speak but hesitating.
Disheveled hair covered most of his face as he said softly, "Brother Wu Kun, this time... I truly have business here."
Wu Kun frowned, cutting him off with great impatience. "What business could you possibly have?"
"Piss off and go buy me some Vigor Pills. I've been feeling a bit drained these past two days."
Cang Lu parted his lips, but in the end said nothing more. He turned and headed downstairs to buy him the tonic pills.
Hearing that, Li Guanqi could not hold back a snort of laughter, musing inwardly, *With all those tricks you were pulling, how could you not be drained...*
Hearing the scoff, Wu Kun looked up sharply. His brow furrowed the moment he recognized Li Guanqi.
He had never expected to run into this fellow here as well!
Just as Li Guanqi assumed the man would lose his temper, perhaps because Wu Kun had a guilty conscience, he merely glared at him malevolently before holding his tongue.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi cursed inwardly, *Coward.*
Chapter 286