When Li Guanqi stood upon the altar, everyone unconsciously held their breath.
Suddenly!
The sword spirit's voice, hurried and edged with panic, rang out in Li Guanqi's mind.
"Just who in the world is your grandfather?!"
*Hummm—!*
Li Guanqi felt his consciousness sink into a misty, void expanse of land.
The ground was strewn everywhere with all manner of implements!
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, and forks.
Pill furnaces, colossal hammers, divine brushes, severed limbs, shields, and on and on...
A boundless void stretched beyond sight, where with nearly every step, countless armaments could be seen scattered across the ground.
Each emitted an immensely powerful ripple of energy, bathed in the faint shimmer of elemental attributes, intricately engraved with myriad complex patterns.
Li Guanqi murmured softly, "What is this place? Why are there so many?"
Then he wondered inwardly to himself:
*Could it be that I have to choose for myself?*
And so, Li Guanqi began wandering aimlessly through this void, searching.
Gradually, he noticed that around some of the extraordinarily powerful weapons, no other implements could be found.
These mighty armaments seemed to possess a sense of territoriality.
Suddenly, his eyes fell upon a longsword entirely of purple.
Lightning coiled around the blade, and not a single weapon lay within ten zhang of it!
As he drew near, the longsword planted in the ground actually emitted a crisp, ringing hum.
As if showing off to Li Guanqi.
Standing before the longsword, Li Guanqi slowly reached out his hand...
Yet just before his fingers closed around the blade, an indistinct premonition came over him, as though telling him this sword was not suited for him.
Looking at the chiming sword before him, Li Guanqi withdrew his hand without the slightest hesitation.
He said softly, "You will find a master far more suited to you than I."
A resounding sword cry echoed through the void, blasting away every implement within several dozen zhang.
Then the sword's hum turned plaintive, as if pleading with the youth to stay.
Yet the youth's retreating figure remained steadfast.
With his eyes shut, Li Guanqi did not even use his mind's eye.
Enveloped in darkness, Li Guanqi followed that faint, intangible premonition, walking slowly into the depths.
Gradually, all the implements along the way parted as though endowed with spirit.
Beneath his white robe, countless mysterious markings across his skin radiated an eerie, blood-red light.
The deeper he went, the more formidable the implements scattered across the ground became.
Swords far more powerful than the lightning blade from before appeared in numbers.
Yet the youth did not halt his steps, continuing steadily deeper.
Spirit Testing Hall.
Song Ru furrowed his brows, mystified as to why opening this youth's spirit ruins was proving so difficult.
Moreover, he realized that the spirit stones embedded in the altar were depleting at an astounding rate!
Seeing this, Li Nanting did not hesitate; he darted forward and pulled out thirty high-grade spirit stones, slotting them into the altar!
Within the void, a faint red thread connected Li Guanqi's glabella to the heavens above.
Looking down at the red thread linked to her own heart, the sword spirit's expression shifted continuously.
"The Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Immortal-Slaying Sigils!!"
"Su Xuan... just who are you?!"
"Carving and dividing them with blood sigils... was it to conceal his Ethereal Dao Body?"
"A karmic thread..."
"You intend to bind me utterly to the karma of his destiny!!"
The sword spirit's lovely eyes stared fixedly at the youth's back.
At last, her eyes flickered with resolve, and she murmured in a low voice, "If that is how it must be, then so what if I choose him?!"
*Boom—!*
As if a thunderclap had detonated within the void!
Before Li Guanqi, an impossibly tall mountain whose peak reached out of sight suddenly rose up.
Red light flickered atop the mountain, where the illusory silhouette of a longsword wavered in and out of view.
Glancing downward, Li Guanqi realized that this mountain was no mountain at all.
It was formed entirely from countless implements heaped together!
And that longsword at the peak stood proud between heaven and earth, towering upon the summit as though looking down upon all living things.
Above Ziyang Palace, the clouds shifted turbulently, and thick, inky storm clouds engulfed a radius of a hundred li!
In an instant, gale winds swept forth and thunder roared!
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth went wild, boiling over, while the dense spiritual mist across Ziyang Palace gurgled and surged like bubbling spring water.
Many disciples who had already awakened artifacts in their spirit ruins dropped to their knees, their bodies trembling violently.
Their artifact souls involuntarily manifested, shivering against the ground.
The spirit ruins at Li Guanqi's glabella instantly expanded to ten zhang across!
And the void of this spirit ruins continued to spread outwards.
Song Ru's expression changed drastically. Surging with vital energy, he instantly swept all the disciples out through the doors!
The spirit stones beneath the altar turned to ash at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Li Nanting took out every single high-grade spirit stone on his person and slotted them into the altar.
*Hum—!*
The spirit ruins continued to expand!
Fifty zhang!
One hundred zhang!
Three hundred zhang!
Five hundred zhang!
Within the void, Li Guanqi finally scaled the summit, coming face-to-face with a blood-red longsword.
The sword measured three chi and one cun in length. At its tip was an obvious fracture; what should have tapered to a sharp point was instead a jagged, diagonal break.
Yet even missing its tip, the blade could not conceal its matchless sharpness.
The crossguard wings on both sides were a ferocious crimson, as though steeped in the blood of countless enemies, while the collar at the hilt wrapped around them like myriad crimson tendrils.
Beholding this singular sword, Li Guanqi felt a deep resonance in his heart and slowly reached out to touch it.
*Hum—!*
The moment his hand grasped the blade, the mountain beneath his feet collapsed with a tremendous roar!
Every implement throughout the void disintegrated into nothingness in that very instant.
Li Guanqi murmured softly, "Sword spirit... is that you...?"
There was no reply.
And upon the altar at that moment, all nine stone pillars abruptly burst with blinding white light. Then, the white light of the nine pillars gradually shifted to blood-red.
Through the doors of the Spirit Testing Hall, everyone saw the youth holding a blood-red longsword in his hand.
And after turning crimson, the nine stone pillars that tested an artifact soul's grade suddenly shattered into pieces!
Li Guanqi opened his eyes and, with a thought, drew the artifact soul into his spiritual terrace.
The sense of intimacy made it feel as though this artifact soul had always been part of his very body.
He could also sense that his connection to the sword spirit had deepened considerably.
The heavenly phenomenon slowly dissipated, and Li Guanqi vaulted down from the altar.
The grin on Li Nanting's face stretched nearly from ear to ear. Coming to the youth's side, he clapped him on the shoulder and roared with laughter.
"Good! Good! Good! A ninth-grade sword artifact soul!!"
"Indeed an extraordinary talent blessed by supreme fortune! Hahahahaha!"
The faces of the Qixian Sect disciples grew even uglier, and they did not dare spare him so much as a glance.
Li Guanqi merely offered a bashful smile, saying nothing.
Everyone from the Great Xia Sword Sect pumped their fists in jubilation.
"Ninth-grade! And a sword artifact soul! Heavens..."
"Hahaha! This time we're guaranteed to secure a trial realm!"
"As expected of Junior Brother Li. Such talent truly puts the rest of us to shame."
Ye Feng swallowed hard, looking at Li Guanqi as though gazing upon a monster.
He muttered under his breath, "I really have no idea why a guy like you didn't just go be a holy son in one of those sacred lands in the Central Domain!"
Chapter 73