Li Guanqi secured first place in his very first entry assessment without the slightest suspense.
Throughout the days that followed, Li Nanting made several rounds through the sect every day searching for him. After all, at such a crucial point, Li Nanting constantly worried that he might rush into Foundation Establishment.
"Sigh... How could I possibly be thinking about Foundation Establishment..."
"The amount of spiritual energy required to break through the tenth level of Qi Refinement is just too vast."
Inside his quiet chamber, Li Guanqi could not help but let out a quiet sigh.
Right now, Li Guanqi's dantian was as immense as a lake. If measured against the dantian size of disciples with a heavenly spiritual root, his could hold several times more primal energy than theirs!
In other words, if Li Guanqi wanted to break through again and expand his dantian, the total spiritual energy he required was comparable to what a Foundation Establishment cultivator needed to reach the late stage.
Afterward, Li Guanqi went into the sect and exchanged every last one of his contribution points for spirit stones.
What followed was dry, grueling cultivation.
A full twenty days passed. The figure inside the quiet chamber was now surrounded by piles of spirit stone dust.
Suddenly!
The spiritual energy in the chamber surged toward Li Guanqi like a vortex. As he drew in a breath, a faint pop rang out.
*Boom!*
A layer of black sludge actually seeped from his skin once more.
Immediately after, Li Guanqi opened his eyes, feeling an unprecedented sense of refreshment.
At the same time, all five of his senses sharpened immensely. His spiritual terrace was crystal clear, and he could distinctly feel that his divine sense had grown much stronger.
His dantian had expanded to twice its previous size!
The next step was to absorb the remaining spiritual energy in the room to fill his newly expanded dantian.
The eleventh level of Qi Refinement!
The sword spirit quietly materialized. She cast a glance at Li Guanqi, nodded slightly, and murmured inwardly, *"Though his cultivation speed can't compare to those monstrous geniuses of the upper realm, it's still quite impressive. Still... the upcoming twelfth and thirteenth levels will likely prove difficult."*
A long while later, Li Guanqi roused from his cultivation and immediately caught a foul stench. He hurried to boil water for a bath. Yet the moment he stepped out of the quiet chamber, he spotted the little girl Yu Sui'an sprawled on the roof with a steamed bun in her hand.
Seeing Li Guanqi come out, she sat up at once, waving her small hand and grinning from ear to ear. "Stinky~! You're already at the tenth level of Qi Refinement, so why do you still have so many impurities? Did you fall into a latrine pit or something?"
Li Guanqi's face darkened, and he ignored her.
Ever since the sword casket fractured her ribs, the little girl had clung to him like a burr, pestering him every single day to buy her buns.
Li Guanqi flickered forward, plucked her down from the roof, and suddenly gestured against his waist. "Have you gotten taller lately?"
As he spoke, he noticed her wrists were exposed past her sleeves.
Yu Sui'an replied carelessly, "Of course! I'm going to grow into a fine young woman someday! Like this and like this~~"
As she spoke, she even gestured across her chest and behind with her hands.
Li Guanqi burst out laughing, ruffled her hair into a mess, and teased, "You little brat, what do you know about 'like this and like this'?"
Yu Sui'an slapped his hand away and rolled her eyes at him. "I know everything! Hmph, I'm going to find Grandpa Li."
With that, she scurried off like a wisp of smoke.
However, while Li Guanqi was soaking in the tub, the jade slip beside him suddenly flickered.
After channeling a wisp of primal energy into it, Li Nanting's voice rang out.
"Guanqi, once you're cleaned up, come to the main hall."
Li Guanqi set down the jade slip, his mind already churning over how to explain away his aura. After all, the cultivation world universally recognized only ten levels of Qi Refinement. How could he possibly explain an eleventh? Besides, no one understood the perils of carrying a treasure better than he did. If a mightier faction caught wind of this, he wouldn't even know how he died. Thus, even if it had to rot in his stomach, he would never speak a word of this to anyone.
Inside the main hall of Tianlei Peak.
Li Guanqi had expected something major to be underway, yet to his surprise, he was the only one summoned.
When Li Nanting caught sight of him, the elder froze for an instant before flashing to his side. In an anxious voice, he asked, "Did you break through to Foundation Establishment?"
Before Li Guanqi could answer, Li Nanting had already swept his senses over him, muttering to himself, "Wait, no? Aren't you still at the tenth level of Qi Refinement... Huh? Did I sense it wrong?"
Li Guanqi scratched his head in mild embarrassment. "I didn't reach Foundation Establishment. It's just... I had a sudden insight, and for some reason, it felt like my dantian grew just a tiny bit bigger."
At these words, Li Nanting's face darkened slightly.
To be frank, he didn't even know what kind of disciple he had taken in. Over the four months since entering the sect, Li Guanqi's cultivation and strength had progressed at a blistering pace. Li Nanting had looked forward to seeing his disciple become the fastest in the history of the Great Xia Sword Sect to achieve Foundation Establishment. How had it suddenly taken this turn?
Li Nanting had also heard from Yu Sui'an that Li Guanqi was covered in a layer of filth from cleansing his meridians and purging his marrow.
In the end, Li Guanqi simply spread his hands, claiming he didn't know what had happened either; it had just turned out like that inexplicably during his cultivation.
Li Nanting was already accustomed to the boy's strange circumstances and simply gave up worrying about it. As long as there was nothing wrong with his body, that was enough.
Li Guanqi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. If the elder had probed his dantian directly, the anomaly would have been exposed.
Li Nanting spoke softly, "I have good news for you."
"Oh? What good news?"
As Li Guanqi spoke, he retrieved a jug of fine wine from his storage bag. Though it could not compare to immortal vintages brewed from spiritual fruits on the mountains, it had still cost him a tidy sum of solid silver and gold.
Li Guanqi poured a cup of the fine wine for the elder, who smiled faintly.
"The Yunmeng Immortal Palace, which we govern jointly with other sects, will open in one month."
"The Great Xia Sword Sect was allocated five spots this time, and you have one of them,"
the elder said, setting down his wine cup.
Li Guanqi furrowed his brows and asked softly, "What is the Yunmeng Immortal Palace? Is it similar to an immortal secret realm?"
Li Nanting pondered for a long moment before explaining gently, "It is an incomparably mysterious realm. It opens once every hundred years, but each time, the secret realm within is completely different. The Yunmeng Immortal Palace acts like an entrance connecting to various secret realms, and those realms generally yield tremendous benefits. That is why your spot this time is exceedingly precious. You must cherish it."
Li Guanqi nodded at his words, thoroughly intrigued by this Yunmeng Immortal Palace. Besides, he had already planned to leave the sect for a while anyway; otherwise, breaking through to the twelfth and thirteenth levels of Qi Refinement would be impossible to explain.
After that, the elder told Li Guanqi to head back and pack his things. Just before he left, Li Nanting even presented him with a dharma artifact longsword!
Looking at the razor-sharp sword in his hands, Li Guanqi was momentarily at a loss for words to express his gratitude.
Li Nanting merely waved his hand with a chuckle. "I heard from the Armory Pavilion that you've claimed more than a dozen refined iron swords over the past few months. I have no more use for this blade, so you might as well take it."
Yet Li Guanqi stood frozen, staring for a long time at the elder's waist—where his wine gourd had always hung.
Chapter 41