Luoxia Domain

Li Guanqi smiled faintly, amused that the day had come when he had no sword to wield. Still, he did not care all that much. With his current strength, even without a sword at his hip, he was not someone just anyone could push around. Yet at this moment, Li Guanqi felt a fleeting touch of aimlessness. Gradually, his eyes grew resolute, and he quickly cast that thought aside. Now, he wanted only to focus on growing stronger. Had he not given up the heavenly flame precisely to pursue the pinnacle of the sword dao? After everything that had unfolded with the Liu clan, he had personally shattered the shackles of caring about the secular world's opinions. From now on, he needed only to follow his own heart. With an unburdened smile, the blood-red hue of his long robe slowly receded, returning to pristine white. Only, within the pagoda he idly held in his hand, a surging torrent of primal energy and a sky full of lightning had suddenly appeared. With one hand clasped behind his back, Li Guanqi transformed into the wind, crossing hundreds of zhang in a single step. Luoxia Domain was blessed with remarkable people and fertile land, blanketed everywhere by lush, towering mountains. Beneath the peaks, secular dynasties flourished, and sects stood thick as trees in a forest. The spiritual energy was even denser than in the Shenbao Domain, and water-attribute spiritual energy was exceptionally active. Walking between heaven and earth, Li Guanqi felt the rich spiritual energy surrounding him, and the Primordial Void Refinement Art within his body began circulating on its own. As the dense energy was steadily refined, Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow. The purity of this spiritual energy was quite remarkable... Luoxia Domain was exceedingly far from the Great Xia Domain, and even he had rarely heard anything about it. It seemed this domain maintained a very low profile, with few events ever drawing outside attention. Just then, pulses of primal energy suddenly rippled from the mountain range beneath his feet. His curiosity piqued, Li Guanqi vanished from where he stood. A ginseng-like sprite was churning its little legs so fast they blurred into afterimages. Though small, it was still about the length of a forearm. Behind it, several cultivators leaped and dodged, relentlessly cornering and intercepting it. None of these cultivators were old, yet their cultivation was entirely in the Core Formation Realm. Judging by their purple robes, they hailed from the same sect and coordinated with seamless tacit understanding. Li Guanqi watched them with interest as broad, thick jade rulers suddenly shot forth. Like a massive wall, they trapped the five-hundred-year-old Purple Profound Ginseng within their perimeter! Immediately after, three cultivators closed in from a pincer formation, spiritual light surging in their palms as they formed a small trapping array! Such methods made Li Guanqi's eyes light up. It seemed... he had still somewhat underestimated the Dao of Formations. Back when he went to the Liu clan, he had noticed traces where someone had forcibly breached the Liu clan's domain barrier from the outside using a formation. "Haha, we finally caught it! Senior Brother Zheng is saved!" A young woman's eyes were slightly red, her robes covered in mud from head to toe. Clearly, she had suffered no small amount of hardship to capture this Purple Profound Ginseng. A slightly steadier young man beside her spoke up. "Don't celebrate just yet. Hurry and seal it inside the Ice Spirit Treasure Box, or it'll escape again in a moment." Another youth hastily brought out an ice-blue jade box. Just as the girl gingerly reached out to pull up a jade ruler, the young man who had spoken caught a glimpse of Li Guanqi sitting on a tree branch, looking down at them. Clang!! "An enemy!!" The girl thrust the jade ruler back down, spun around, drew her sword, and faced Li Guanqi. The three of them were on peak alert, because they could not sense even a shred of his aura! He was clearly right before their eyes, plain to see. Yet when their divine sense swept over the branch, it found only empty air. The sweet-looking young woman asked in a trembling voice, "Senior Brother Sun... Is he a ghost? Why can't I sense him at all?" Li Guanqi smiled faintly and said softly to the trio, "Little ones, how about we make a trade?" Sweat beaded in Sun Zhen's palms, and he swallowed hard with great difficulty. Staring intently at Li Guanqi, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. The man had merely spoken a single sentence, yet it left Sun Zhen's heart leaping in terror! "Senior, the three of us are inner disciples of Baizhang Prison." "This Purple Profound Ginseng... is meant to save a life!" "If Senior needs it, please, take it." Li Guanqi rubbed his nose. This fellow was quite clever, but did he really look that much like a villain? With a light tap of his finger against the void, the Purple Profound Ginseng abruptly vanished and reappeared in his palm. Seeing this, the girl grew frantic, but just as she was about to speak, Sun Zhen held her back. He quickly sent a voice transmission, "If you want to live, keep your mouth shut!" The Purple Profound Ginseng had only just developed nascent sentience. Seeing that someone had rescued it, it dropped to its knees and bowed repeatedly in gratitude. A five-hundred-year Purple Profound Ginseng, a sprite still four hundred years away from taking human form... Looking at it, Li Guanqi could not help but think of Pengluo. Originally, he had only intervened out of curiosity; whether he saved it or not had hardly mattered. "You mentioned saving a life. Is someone poisoned?" Hearing this, Sun Zhen gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "In reply to Senior, a senior brother in our sect was bitten by a seven-ring snake a few days ago. Only this Purple Profound Ginseng can cure the venom..." In the end, he merely explained the circumstances without making any demands. Li Guanqi looked at him and smiled softly. "As a senior brother, you are quite decent." Just as the three were bewildered, Li Guanqi reached out, produced a fingernail-sized cube of radish, and tossed it over. "Take this back with you. It works better than the Purple Profound Ginseng." The three looked bewildered, but Sun Zhen could distinctly feel the immense power radiating from that little radish cube! Seeing that a sentient Purple Profound Ginseng had been swapped for this tiny morsel, the girl grew anxious. "Senior, aren't... aren't you bullying us?!" "Our Purple Profound Ginseng is meant to save a life! We chased it for three days and three nights!" Li Guanqi smiled and said nothing. Hearing her outburst, Sun Zhen hastily snapped, "Gu Si! Silence your nonsense!" He felt his hands trembling faintly as he held the radish cube... Bowing respectfully with cupped fists, he asked, "May this junior ask, Senior... what rank is this spiritual plant?" Li Guanqi cradled the Purple Profound Ginseng and slowly rose, his voice drifting from afar. "Sixth rank." The young woman's mouth fell open, her face filled with utter disbelief. Even with all its years, the Purple Profound Ginseng they had caught was at most fourth-rank, perhaps not even that. Yet this man had casually given them a sixth-rank spiritual plant! "Quick, let's go! Back to the sect!!" After leaving, Li Guanqi arrived beside a small stream where the soil was rich in spiritual energy. Placing the Purple Profound Ginseng on the ground, he pondered for a moment, then handed it a thumb-sized piece of Pengluo. The Purple Profound Ginseng's bead-like eyes sparkled. It knelt on the ground and respectfully received the piece with both hands held high above its head. Though its sentience had only just awakened, it could tell good from bad, even if it could not speak. Li Guanqi chuckled. "Grow up well. Sometime later, I'll introduce you to an older brother." Departing the stream, Li Guanqi stroked his chin and murmured, "I suppose it might be able to take Pengluo's place someday?" After all, he had left a wisp of spiritual light inside the Purple Profound Ginseng's body. Once he was gone, the Purple Profound Ginseng burrowed into the earth, quietly absorbing and refining that jade-white chunk of radish. Far away at the Great Xia Sword Sect, Pengluo suddenly shuddered, his eyes wide with horror. "Ahhh!!" "I'm a father?!! Ahhh!!" "How could a ginseng sprite be absorbing my power?!!" "I'm done for... It's over, it's all over..."