As his strength and cultivation realm climbed ever higher, Li Guanqi still knew very little about that tiny handful of individuals standing at the absolute summit.
Even up to this point, the Body Integration Realm cultivators he had encountered were exceedingly rare.
If asked who was the most mysterious figure he had ever met, the sword spirit was undisputed.
Yet why did he feel more and more, as time went on, that his own grandfather was perhaps even more mysterious and formidable?
From the very beginning, after all, the sword spirit's attitude toward his grandfather had always been haughty and aloof, as though looking down from a high mountain.
Yet during that crisis before, when circumstances had forced her to reveal her killing intent toward him, she had inadvertently triggered that wisp of saber intent slumbering within his body...
Ever since then, her attitude toward his grandfather had grown increasingly cautious.
Or perhaps even... fearful?
Li Guanqi shook his head. He could not shake the feeling that countless things remained hidden from him.
Furthermore, considering what she had just said about someone divining the workings of heavenly fate, it had surely concerned her as well.
Setting aside those presently irrelevant thoughts, moments from the time they had first met until now flashed across Li Guanqi's mind.
The corners of his mouth curved slightly, his handsome eyes narrowing into gentle crescents as he murmured,
"No wonder the Taixuan Void Returning Art seemed so obscure before..."
"It turns out what the technique described was never about cleaving off a mere wisp of origin spirit."
"In that case..."
"Let's begin!"
*Buzz!*
Li Guanqi's divine sense trembled faintly as he inscribed everything he needed to convey into a jade slip.
He feared his breakthrough into Void Returning would take a long time and felt he had to leave a few instructions for Ye Feng and the others.
Moreover, he did not want Meng Wanshu to worry.
Having done this, he glanced at the sword spirit.
Rolling her eyes in resignation, she lightly tapped the jade slip with a slender finger, causing a burst of radiant light to flare across its surface.
The slip then shot forth with a sharp whoosh, streaking straight toward the Sect Cemetery in the mountain's rear.
Ye Feng caught the jade slip and understood its contents at once. Rising to his feet, he made his way toward the courtyard.
Meanwhile, Li Guanqi had readied everything on his end.
He retrieved the heart and monster core of the Scarlet Thunder Suanni.
Looking at the two items, the sword spirit nodded in satisfaction. "An early Rank Seven Scarlet Thunder Suanni," she remarked softly. "That girl's strength is quite remarkable."
After a brief pause, she added, "Once you conclude this Void Returning, I have a sword art I can teach her."
Li Guanqi grinned broadly at her words, but her very next sentence doused him like a bucket of cold water.
Glancing at him, the sword spirit said, "This breakthrough into Void Returning will likely take a very, very long time."
"Severing the three ethereal and seven corporeal souls of your origin spirit is extraordinarily perilous from start to finish, not to mention using the refined blood and core of a great monster to reshape your physical body and dantian."
"That Oblivion Thunder Spirit is also crucial for forging your Yin Spirit, for it will serve as the spiritual root foundation of your Yin Spirit."
"On top of that, you must fuse the Purple Dragon Thunder Flame into the Yin Spirit. Every single step is no different from scaling a chasm barehanded—fraught with extraordinary danger."
A chill ran through Li Guanqi's heart. Every step of this breakthrough into Void Returning was hundreds, even thousands of times more perilous than what an ordinary cultivator faced!
For others, shaping an avatar was nothing more than an effortless undertaking, yet for him, the slightest slip would result in the destruction of his body and the extinction of his Dao.
Even so, he had not mentioned a single word of this in the jade slip.
"*Phew...*"
"Let's do it!"
By now, Li Guanqi had brought his state of mind to its absolute peak. Setting aside all stray thoughts, he entered deep cultivation.
The very first thing he needed to do was shape the foundation of the physical vessel. Throughout the process, he had to sever portions of his origin spirit and integrate them within; otherwise, once the body took shape, it would reject the aura of his soul.
The sword spirit did not rush him into starting right away.
Instead, she sat before him, weaving spiritual light to map out every circulation path of the art and point out every detail that required caution.
Moreover, possessing the Purple Dragon Thunder Flame saved Li Guanqi an immense amount of effort in shaping the physical body.
Even so, undertaking something like this for the first time still left him somewhat nervous.
He could only rely on his formidable divine sense to simulate the entire sequence over and over.
Time slipped by bit by bit. Inside the cave abode where Li Guanqi sat, the flow of time had already diverged from the world outside.
Five to one. With the sword spirit present, such a feat posed no challenge at all.
Backed by a vast reserve of spirit stones, the energy consumption of the temporal dilation array was utterly negligible.
Back in the courtyard, Meng Wanshu regained consciousness on the second day after their return. She possessed an abundance of heavenly treasures, spirit herbs, and elixirs.
Her injuries healed with remarkable speed, though the primal energy within her fluctuated quite violently.
The mark that had suppressed her inner power had already dissolved, leaving her somewhat unaccustomed to her own vast strength.
Fortunately, her realm was high enough that she could still keep it under control.
During this time, she walked over to the peak housing his cave abode every single day, standing there for hours on end.
An inexplicable sense of unease gnawed at her, for she could not sense the slightest trace of Li Guanqi's aura.
Seeing her like this, Ye Feng could not help but offer words of comfort. "Sister-in-law, you don't need to worry so much. Eldest Brother will definitely be fine."
"It's only Void Returning. He'll emerge before long."
Meng Wanshu managed a strained smile, then turned and walked away.
Yet as Ye Feng watched her go, a flicker of worry crossed his eyes as well.
Cao Yan had also gone into secluded cultivation recently and would likely break through to the Void Refining Realm before long.
After all, Lu Kangnian had been devoting immense care to him lately, pouring all the resources of the Great Xia Sword Sect into his progress.
Remembering Xiao Chen, who had already departed, Ye Feng took out a jade slip and transmitted, *Did that bastard go completely silent after heading back?*
Yet the message sank like a stone into the ocean, yielding not the slightest reply.
Ye Feng furrowed his brow, wondering what was going on.
He sent another message in a low, firm tone: *You aren't dodging me just because you're scared of getting a beating, are you? What on earth happened?*
Still, there was no response.
Without a second thought, Ye Feng hurried to find Meng Wanshu. Upon hearing what had happened, she immediately tapped into her network of connections to seek news of the Xiao clan.
Yet no matter how many people she contacted, every inquiry returned the exact same answer:
"We cannot get in touch with anyone from the Xiao clan."
Her brows drew together. Pulling out a distinctive golden jade pendant, she commanded in a heavy voice,
"Tear through the Xiao clan's domain and see what is going on!"
Ye Feng's pupils narrowed slightly. The person on the other end of that transmission had to be exceptionally powerful!
Yet merely a few breaths later, a reply came through the jade slip:
"It cannot be opened. Someone has sealed the entire Xiao clan domain!"
Lowering the jade slip, Ye Feng spoke with a remarkably composed face.
"Sister-in-law, open a teleportation passage for me."
"You want to go?"
"Yes. I won't feel at ease otherwise."
Meng Wanshu glanced toward the cave abode on the back mountain, her thoughts also drifting to her father with growing concern.
After so much time, Meng Jiangchu should have sensed that the defensive treasure on her person had shattered.
Yet despite that, there had not been a whisper of news from him, leaving her somewhat troubled.
"All right. We'll go together, and we won't tell Cao Yan."
"We'll make it a quick trip."
Ye Feng nodded. After notifying the sect master, he and Meng Wanshu tore through space together, departing from the Great Xia Sword Sect.
Just before leaving, each of them left behind a beam of sword light suspended above the very peak of Tianjian Peak.
Chapter 597