This sense of severing... was even more absolute than in those so-called grotto-heavens and blessed lands, or those isolated spatial realms!
It felt as if...
This hundred-foot space truly no longer belonged to this world at all!!
It was as though it had become a place unrecognized by heaven and earth, filled with an inexplicable, pervasive pressure that saturated the void.
Yet Li Guanqi had clearly sensed from those few sword strikes earlier that something had been severed.
It was far from being as simple as merely cleaving through empty space.
The sword spirit, however, remained utterly calm, though her face had paled slightly. It seemed that severing this pocket of space was by no means as effortless as he had imagined.
Looking around at the surrounding space, Li Guanqi was about to sweep out with his divine sense to inspect his surroundings, only to discover that he could not extend it in the slightest!!
An inexplicable sense of powerlessness welled within him, stirring a faint panic in his heart.
The sword spirit smiled faintly and lightly tapped the void with a finger.
An elusive aura flashed and vanished in an instant, and Li Guanqi felt as though the seal upon his sea of consciousness had been lifted.
Suppressing his confusion, he swept his divine sense around him, yet detected nothing out of the ordinary.
However, his spiritual sense was confined strictly within this hundred-foot perimeter. The moment his divine sense brushed against the space beyond those hundred feet, the surging wave vanished like an ox carved of clay plunging into the sea.
It felt as though...
As though the world beyond those hundred feet were a bottomless abyss—a sheer cliff where, once crossed, anything falling into it could never be retrieved.
Seeing his confusion, the sword spirit explained, "This place is now a world of its own. A world... even smaller than the Human Realm."
Li Guanqi sucked in a sharp breath. He had only guessed she had cleaved the space into an isolated pocket, never imagining that it was an entirely independent world!!!
Could it be...
That what he had vaguely sensed her severing earlier was the connection between this space and the Spirit Realm itself?
If that were truly the case...
Then her strength was downright terrifying.
***
At the very moment the sword spirit accomplished this...
A resplendent, ancient palace drifted amidst the void. Only...
Even across hundreds of millions of li, this void remained utterly deserted.
In the center of the grand hall sat a man of unearthly, bewitching features. He held a black go stone in his hand, but just as he was about to place it on the board, he suddenly froze.
With an inscrutable look, he slowly lifted his head toward the void, his thin lips curling into a strange, uncanny smile.
His long, narrow eyes were as deep as an abyss, and his flowing black robe was as dark as spilled ink.
In an eerie tone, the man murmured softly, "Could you be in this realm?"
"Is it him? No... that shouldn't be..."
"If not him... then who could it be?"
As he spoke, he looked down at the board covered in black and white stones, a contemplative look crossing his face.
Drawing back the stone, he sank into deep thought once more.
And in this vast hall, there were a full three thousand such boards!!!
Before every single board sat an identical figure of the man, playing against himself in total solitude.
***
Looking at the youth before her, the sword spirit's expression grew a little more solemn. Her gaze gradually hardened, and she spoke in a steady voice.
"Did you know? I have been waiting for the day of your breakthrough to Void Returning."
Li Guanqi's heart tightened. No wonder she had not manifested on her own initiative for so long, and had even deliberately diminished her presence.
He had originally assumed she simply wanted him to forget her existence so he could temper himself better through adversity.
Yet now it seemed... that was not the case at all!!
She had remained alone in the space within the sword coffin all this time, and not even Li Guanqi knew what she had been doing.
The sword spirit opened her fair palm, and the crimson sword turned into a streak of flowing light that sank into his glabella.
Lifting the hem of her red dress, she sat cross-legged facing him, her expression noticeably more relaxed than before.
Her posture was completely at ease, carrying a touch of leisurely comfort.
Seeing her like this, Li Guanqi could not help but smile. "Care for a drink?"
She glanced at him with slight surprise, her vermilion lips curving gently as she spoke in a soft voice.
"Never mind."
"I am only a spirit. I cannot taste any wine you bring out. Pretending to drink every time is truly exhausting."
Hearing her words, Li Guanqi felt an inevitable pang in his heart.
Indeed... she was a spirit...
A spirit without three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls, existing solely by relying on the sword.
Perhaps discerning the complex emotion in his eyes, she looked deeply at him.
For reasons unknown, a flicker of joy arose in her heart.
It caught her off guard. Noticing her pause, Li Guanqi asked, "What is it?"
Shaking herself from the reverie, she shook her head.
"Nothing."
Composing herself, her beautiful eyes swept over the surrounding space before she spoke softly.
"When others reach Void Returning, they only divide a tiny sliver of their origin spirit—one ten-thousandth is enough to craft an avatar."
"As for you..."
Li Guanqi straightened his back and looked directly into her mesmerizing eyes, waiting quietly for what was to come.
Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she said plainly, "I want you to divide the three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls of your origin spirit to forge a void avatar... No... perhaps calling it a Yin Spirit would be more fitting."
Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed, his heart thumping wildly against his ribs.
"The ultimate purpose of this... is to leap beyond the Three Realms and the Five Elements!!"
"When you achieve Body Integration, no one between heaven and earth will ever be able to divine your fate!"
As her words fell, Li Guanqi was left utterly stunned.
Even after all the great storms he had weathered, he was left speechless with shock.
Her words stirred tempestuous waves across the lake of his mind!!
In a hoarse voice, he murmured, "To leap beyond the Three Realms... and dwell outside the Five Elements..."
"The Three Realms? Could it be that besides the Human Spirit Realm and the Jiuxiao Immortal Realm, there is yet another realm!!?"
The sword spirit nodded slowly and whispered, "A realm equal to the Immortal Realm—the Yellow Springs Realm! Also known as the Samsara Realm!"
"That is a domain steeped in death and reincarnation. The living may not step foot into it, no matter how boundless their magical prowess may be."
At that point, she could not help but chuckle softly and shake her head.
"It is still too early to speak to you of such things."
"Ever since you stepped into the Soul Formation Realm, I have sensed that someone has been calculating heavenly secrets, and you are among those woven into their divination."
She let out a soft breath.
"So... this is your only chance to break free!"
Li Guanqi gasped. Only now did he understand what this Void Returning breakthrough truly entailed.
Though he did not know who she was referring to, he understood one thing:
From the moment he received the sword coffin from his grandfather, his destiny had already quietly shifted course.
Suddenly!
Li Guanqi jerked his head up to look at her, his gaze burning intensely as he asked in a low, heavy voice,
"Then... just who was my grandfather?"
"A supreme expert? The Seventh Domain Lord?"
The sword spirit looked at the young man. After a long pause, she gave an answer that caught him completely off guard.
"I cannot see through him. At least... not as I am now."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi found the old man back home even more profoundly enigmatic.
Chapter 596