Li Guanqi rummaged through the cupboards and chests, only to find that all the jade bottles inside were empty. Only a jade casket contained two Foundation Establishment Pills that gave off a rich, medicinal fragrance.
Li Guanqi put the Foundation Establishment Pills away in high spirits.
He even gathered up the empty jade bottles before turning to leave.
“Can’t let anything go to waste.”
“Still… where are those bastards? Shutting me outside the gates to die—I’ve got a score to settle with them…”
Unfamiliar with the sect’s layout, he had no idea where he had wound up after twisting and turning through the area.
The structures here were towering, but severely damaged.
Ruined walls and rubble lay everywhere, alongside bottomless chasms.
Just then, however, Li Guanqi caught sight of a tattered corner of cloth peeking out from behind a collapsed wall.
Only upon walking closer did he discover it was actually a skeleton.
Every rib across the chest had shattered; the person had clearly suffered grievous injuries in life.
The fabric draped over the body was extraordinary, clearly a dharma robe of no low grade.
Yet the ruined robe had long since lost its spiritual nature, crumbling to flying ash with the gentlest pinch between his fingers.
However, a purple jade pendant caught Li Guanqi’s attention.
The pendant was remarkably well preserved, engraved with the character for “Sect”!
Li Guanqi’s heart gave a violent jolt, and he thought to himself, Could this person have been the master of this sect in life?
Brushing aside the robes covering the body, he found an entirely purple jade ring worn on the skeleton’s finger.
Li Guanqi hurried to slide it off, rubbing it clean against his clothes.
He then pressed his palms together and bowed slightly to the skeleton.
“No offense, no offense. You’re already gone, so leaving it here would just be a waste.”
“Since I found it, that proves you and I share a fated bond. And since there's a fated bond, it doesn’t count as robbing you—let’s be clear on that first.”
It was fortunate that this skeleton had been dead for who knew how many years; otherwise, it would have surely leapt up to curse him twice for being so shameless.
Li Guanqi promptly used his divine sense to break through the faint seal.
He found that the storage ring’s interior was immense!
It spanned a full hundred zhang across—a whole ten times larger than his storage bag!
Moreover, there was quite a stash of spirit stones inside. A rough count showed nearly a hundred or so mid-grade spirit stones.
Li Guanqi grinned, not expecting such an unexpected windfall.
Immediately after, he discovered a peculiar jade slip within the ring.
Pulling it out, he took a look.
“Peak Mystic-grade movement technique: Thunder Flash!”
Li Guanqi clicked his tongue in wonder and unhesitatingly opened the jade slip with his divine sense.
In an instant, countless intricate gray incantations and circulation pathways for spiritual energy flooded his mind.
Li Guanqi tried channeling the movement technique’s incantation. Though the flow of his origin energy remained stiff and rough, the technique had begun taking rudimentary shape.
“Killing people to plunder their treasures really brings rewards far too fast. No wonder they say the cultivation world has the most bandits!”
Slipping the ring onto his finger, Li Guanqi prepared to stand up.
Suddenly!
The jade pendant in his hand emitted a faint, shimmering glow, pointing straight ahead.
Without a word, Li Guanqi shot off in the direction indicated by the pendant.
Guided by the pendant, Li Guanqi crossed the sect’s grand hall and arrived at the rear mountain.
Along the way, he scavenged nothing of much note.
He did, however, find two white jade prayer mats.
Soon, he reached the rear mountain of the entire sect, an area that was typically a heavily restricted sector.
Yet the deeper he ventured, the stranger it felt to Li Guanqi.
The landscape throughout the sect looked entirely as though it had undergone a cataclysmic battle.
Eventually, he arrived before a relatively well-preserved estate.
Looking up, he saw that the plaque bore the inscription: “Sect Master Manor.”
A thin barrier of light blocked Li Guanqi’s path. Channeling a wisp of origin energy into the jade pendant, a gap opened in the luminous screen.
Stepping inside and following the pendant’s glow, Li Guanqi actually discovered a teleportation array within a bedchamber.
Looking at the indentations on the teleportation array, Li Guanqi placed the jade pendant into the matching slot.
Buzz!
The array faintly glimmered with fluorescent light, yet nothing changed. Seeing the other grooves, Li Guanqi understood.
With a wave of his hand, he embedded sixteen spirit stones into the array. The array flickered with light, but remained inactive.
“This broken array actually requires mid-grade spirit stones?!”
Click, clack!
Sure enough, after he swapped them, light flashed, and Li Guanqi’s figure vanished from the room in an instant.
Crackle, snap!
The moment he opened his eyes, Li Guanqi was jolted by a piercing pain coursing through his entire body.
Looking around, he realized he was standing atop an ancient altar!
Surrounding him were rampant arcs of lightning, and the tiny wisps of thunder that fell upon him made his body tremble uncontrollably.
Looking up, the space above the altar resembled a thunder pool.
Something seemed to sit at the center of the thunder pool, absorbing the power of the lightning.
At that very moment, the figure of the sword spirit slowly manifested!
Manifesting required a substantial amount of strength from the sword spirit, so she rarely revealed herself.
Looking at the tall, slender woman, Li Guanqi asked, “What is that thing?”
The sword spirit’s beautiful eyes remained fixed on the thunder at the center of the altar as she murmured softly, “How could such a thing possibly appear in the Human Spirit Realm?”
Li Guanqi frowned and asked, “What is it?”
The sword spirit turned abruptly to look at Li Guanqi, her gaze fraught with complex emotions.
Once again, she found herself questioning Su Xuan’s true purpose in bestowing her upon this youth.
“You truly are someone blessed with immense fortune and destiny. If you obtain this, it will be of no small help to you in the future.”
“However, if you wish to take it, you must rely entirely on yourself.”
“Ideally, you should carry off this entire altar.”
Li Guanqi was left thoroughly baffled. Watching her fading silhouette, he grumbled, “Then at least tell me what it actually is!”
“With thunder power this terrifying, won’t walking in there blast me into an idiot?!”
Though he grumbled, Li Guanqi was burning with curiosity about what lay inside.
He wanted to know what could possibly startle the sword spirit enough to make her manifest.
“Phew… Let’s do it!”
Li Guanqi took a deep breath, a solemn look settling between his brows.
The Nine Revolutions Punishment Thunder Scripture within him surged into frantic circulation. In an instant, as if provoked, the boundless might of the thunder pool stirred.
Countless arcs of lightning came crashing down toward Li Guanqi!
Boom!
A thunderous blast erupted!
A mere ten zhang lay between them, yet after taking only three strides, his speed drastically plummeted!
The colossal power of the thunder nearly enveloped his entire body.
A muffled groan of agony tore from his throat!
“Ah!! Damn it!!”
The thunderous power ravaged his body, and within a few breaths, his skin was scorched completely black.
This agony far surpassed what he had endured during his very first medicinal bath!
“Hmph!”
A spark of inspiration struck Li Guanqi. He abruptly brought the sword casket from his back to brace against his left arm, while gripping his previously acquired shield in his right hand.
Pushing off with explosive force, he lunged forward!
He crossed the ten-zhang distance in a single leap. Li Guanqi felt lightning howling around him as several bolts punched straight through the dharma artifact shield.
Reaching out, Li Guanqi scooped up the head-sized object at the center directly into his storage ring!
The moment the lightning dissipated, Li Guanqi collapsed onto the ground, charred black from head to toe, his hair singed to a crisp.
His clothes were reduced to tattered rags, and his flesh was torn open and bloody from the lightning strikes in numerous places.
Inside his meridians, countless tiny arcs of lightning darted erratically.
Stiff all over, Li Guanqi lay paralyzed atop the altar, his face twisted in torment.
Chapter 49