Li Guanqi smiled.
Reaching out, he offered the teacup before him to Li Song, murmuring, "I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of you becoming 'human' in the slightest."
Li Song stared at Li Guanqi in silence, making no move to take the cup of tea.
Resting his hands casually on his knees, Li Guanqi spoke softly.
"In truth, I wish for you to become 'yourself' even more than you do."
He pointed to his own pure white, blind eyes and asked in a low voice, "Do you know what a world where you can see nothing is like?"
Li Song frowned slightly and answered as if it went without saying, "Black."
Li Guanqi smiled. Reaching out, he pressed a finger against the center of Li Song's brow.
In an instant, the world before Li Song's eyes plunged into utter pitch-black darkness!
Before the sneer could even form on his lips, an endless tide of curses and verbal abuse crashed into his ears.
Immediately following were punches and kicks raining down upon his body!
Vile, filthy insults assaulted him—words too foul to bear—yet no matter how he sealed his five senses, the voices bored straight into his ears!
Li Song had never experienced anything like this. The torrent of abuse made his entire body tremble.
After merely a dozen breaths, Li Song's face had grown pale and grim, his shoulders trembling faintly.
Li Guanqi raised his hand, withdrawing the power. Leaning in close to Li Song, he looked into the young man's handsome eyes and said softly, "Beyond the darkness, there is the malice that permeates it."
Li Song panted heavily, looking at Li Guanqi with lingering terror.
Ye Feng and the others said nothing, only sitting quietly at Li Guanqi's side.
Li Guanqi tucked his hands into his sleeves and said softly, "You of today are full of youthful vigor, wandering freely amidst mortal desires, taking in all the mountains and rivers of the realm.
"Carefree and untamed, yet you still cannot bring yourself to beg for wine, putting it on credit every single time."
He gave Li Song a deep look and said calmly, "Are you really just running up a tab?"
Li Song lowered his head slightly, not saying a word.
Watching this silent reflection of himself, Li Guanqi smiled, a wistful look of reminiscence surfacing in his eyes as he spoke softly.
"Have you ever gnawed on a spoiled mantou in the dead of winter?
"It's so hard... harder than the bones of a rank-six great demon.
"Do you know what season beggars fear most? That's right—winter.
"Leftovers in summer might be swarming with flies and maggots, spoiled like swill and hard to swallow, but at least you won't starve to death.
"In winter, though... people die...
"The winters of my childhood were the hardest to endure..."
At this point, Li Guanqi pursed his lips and smiled, but anyone could see the tears welling in his eyes, held back only by sheer will.
Turning his reddened eyes to Li Song, his voice grew gentle, like that of an elder or parent.
"Li Congxin, you are the embodiment of every beautiful longing in my heart.
"I was willing to cleave my own three souls and seven spirits to create you so that you could be free from these nightmares weighing on your chest, to become a carefree Wine Sword Immortal without a worry in the world.
"Therefore... I will preserve everything of who you are. All you must do is return your divine soul's power to me when the time comes."
Li Song's pupils contracted sharply. Only after a long while did he ask in a heavy voice, "You won't absorb me?
"Are you sure I'll still be able to live?"
"I am sure. This was something I decided long ago."
"But... if you do that, your divine soul will forever be lacking a piece!"
Li Guanqi shook his head and said softly, "No, it will merely be diminished, not defective.
"I will sever all ties between us completely. After Body Integration, whether you are Li Congxin or Li Song, you will have nothing to do with me."
Li Song stared fixedly at Li Guanqi. Ever since awakening a sliver of self-awareness, he had harbored resistance toward this 'self.'
He felt he shouldn't merely be his Void Spirit, his divided soul.
He was himself!
Yet now... for reasons he could not fathom, he could clearly feel that Li Guanqi wasn't lying.
He truly had... kept all of the past—plodding alone through the darkness, leaving behind only bloody footprints—entirely to himself.
While he, Li Song, was born with the supreme swordsmanship talent of the Sword Embryo Body.
The fleshly body Li Guanqi forged for him was immensely strong, his spiritual root was the Oblivion Thunder Spirit, and his dantian housed the Heavenly Thunder Bead.
His eyes could see, gazing upon thousands of miles of mountains and rivers high above the clouds.
From the moment of his birth, he could ride the void, his sword Dao reaching the divine.
He drank wine and chanted poetry, sleeping drunkenly upon mountaintops, untamed and carefree...
He had been born into the light, never once witnessing the dark.
Li Song fell silent. Lowering his head, he drank his wine, a deep sense of guilt welling up within his chest.
Li Guanqi, on the other hand, felt immense peace within. Looking at Li Song was like looking at himself.
A self... who had never suffered the darkness...
As he watched, large tears suddenly spilled from Li Guanqi's eyes.
Li Song, too, found release in this moment. He picked up the teacup Li Guanqi had offered and took a gentle sip.
The sweet tea tasted extraordinarily bitter, as if he were savoring the helpless, agonizing past of 'himself.'
After finishing the tea, he threw his head back and gulped down mouthful after mouthful of fiery wine.
"Hiss!! Haaah!
"This tea is so damn bitter!!"
Wiping his mouth, Li Song raised the wine jar toward Li Guanqi and laughed. "Li Guanqi, from this day forward, right up until your Body Integration, I will give my all to help you!
"When the time comes for Body Integration, I won't resist in the slightest, trusting that you will keep your word.
"And after Body Integration, whether I am Li Congxin or Li Song, I will be your brother, Li Guanqi! True blood brothers!!
"If that's not enough, calling you Father works too."
Pffft!!
Cao Yan, Ye Feng, and Xiao Chen, who were drinking tea, couldn't hold it in. This fellow...
Ye Feng curled his lip, thinking the boss's avatar was quite something.
He was clearly Li Guanqi's own Void Spirit, yet his personality was entirely different from his creator's.
The sword spirit's voice echoed slowly in Li Guanqi's mind.
"Are you... setting his heart right?"
The corners of Li Guanqi's lips curved slightly, but he said nothing.
From Hong Zhi, he had learned quite a lot about Youming.
In his view, Youming's personality was simply too unfettered; taking freedom to its extreme left him toeing the line between good and evil, devoid of any moral compass.
Though Li Guanqi wanted Li Song to wield his sword according to his heart, unburdened by worldly constraints, he did not want him turning into a capricious man who couldn't tell right from wrong or good from evil.
Hence today's arrangement to steady his heart!
Guiding his path forward—was that not also a reminder to himself?
Little did he know that within the sword coffin space, the sword spirit was covering her mouth and chuckling softly, an enigmatic gleam filling her eyes.
Though its meaning was indecipherable, the brilliance in the beauty's eyes was unmistakable.
Li Guanqi said softly, "Right now you are only at peak Soul Formation. You won't need to worry about any resources going forward.
"I want you to break through to peak Void Refinement in the shortest time possible!!"
Li Congxin shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Whatever. You've already reached the realm anyway; all I need to do is cram and cultivate like force-feeding a duck.
"Still... there might not be enough time."
Li Guanqi smiled at him. "Did you forget something?"
Li Congxin glanced at his eyes, curled his lip, and muttered, "I already told you, you are you and I am me. You're really annoying."
Li Guanqi burst out laughing, while the white-haired Li Song suddenly spoke up, looking a bit sheepish.
"Um... brother, no matter what, I count as your real brother now.
"You're not going to take Yanluo back, are you?"
Li Guanqi slowly stood up and said softly, "I hope that one day, you can become a judge of the mortal realm, wielding Yanluo to draw your sword according to your conscience.
"As for me... a single Red Lotus is enough to aid me in stepping across the highest heavens!"
Chapter 779