Red Lotus Reforged in Fire!

Hearing the sword spirit's resolute words, Li Guanqi did not press further into the reasons behind them. He only needed to know that she had her reasons for saying so. The sword spirit looked down at Lu Wuhen's corpse, reaching out to thrust her fingers into his glabella. A fissure seemed to tear open between Lu Wuhen's brows, and an elusive crimson light surged around the sword spirit. A profound, mysterious aura that Li Guanqi could not comprehend slowly diffused outward. The sensation was... somewhat similar to the Ruins, yet not entirely the same. Then, before Li Guanqi's astonished eyes, a tiny fragment was drawn into the sword spirit's grasp. Gazing at the red shard in her hand, a look of reminiscence surfaced in her eyes, her gaze turning distant as forgotten memories resurfaced. Only after a long while did she pull herself back, shaking her head with a bittersweet smile. Watching her, Li Guanqi remained silent. Knowing nothing of her past, he chose not to speak at such a moment. The sword spirit drew Lu Wuhen's blade, Dengxian, into her hand, a disdainful smirk curving her lips. Extending two jade-like fingers, she snapped Dengxian's tip right off! The sword let out a mournful wail. A sphere of illusory white spirit was drawn into her palm and tossed unceremoniously straight into the Red Lotus Sword. Nourished by this spirit, Red Lotus's aura steadily stabilized. After a moment of thought, the sword spirit released an enigmatic ripple, drawing out all the heavenly flames from the three brothers into her grasp. Sensing that this aura emanated from Li Guanqi, all three opened their minds completely, allowing her to command the power of the heavenly flames within them. In an instant, the three heavenly flames melted the Dengxian Sword into a pool of molten liquid. The sword spirit murmured, "The sword tip cannot merge with me yet. It isn't time." Hearing this, Li Guanqi quickly caught on. "Are you afraid... the person behind the scenes will trace the 'string' and detect you?" The sword spirit nodded slightly and said softly, "Still, recovering a fragment of my former sword tip is a good thing for me after all, even if this piece isn't from the foremost edge. "Red Lotus... can be considered to have turned misfortune into a blessing this time." Li Guanqi did not yet understand what she meant, but he soon found out. The sword spirit slowly pressed the projected imprint of the tip fragment directly onto Red Lotus! Red Lotus immediately unleashed a ringing sword cry! *Crack! Crack, crack, crack!* The instant the fragment of the sword spirit's true body merged into it, Red Lotus gave off an overwhelmed sound of splintering. Fractures spread across the blade in rapid succession, as though it would shatter completely at any moment. Yet the sword spirit seemed to have anticipated this long ago. Raising her hand, she poured the molten metal melted down from Dengxian over the blade of Red Lotus. Then, she cast the Red Lotus Sword directly into the blaze. Beneath the surging molten metal that churned like magma, the blade of Red Lotus shattered entirely! The flames raged, and under the fusion of the molten metal, it reshaped once more into the form of a blade. Li Guanqi suddenly noticed that the aura around the sword spirit had turned unimaginably violent. Her terrifying pressure made even Li Guanqi feel suffocated. Her dark hair danced in the wind. Treading on empty air, the sword spirit looked down disdainfully, her beautiful eyes fixed on Red Lotus within the blaze as she murmured: "In the name of..., I bestow upon you divinity!" *Rumble!* The moment her voice fell, an immense crimson thundercloud materialized out of nowhere above the Great Xia Sword Sect! The bloody hue in the thundercloud was far more intense than before, bearing a dreadful pressure as though something intolerable to the heavens and earth had appeared within the borders of the Great Xia Sword Sect! Lu Kangnian was shaken to his core, while Nangong Xuandu looked up with a solemn gaze. Under Lu Kangnian's bewildered gaze, the man stepped slowly into midair. The green sword behind his back rang softly, flying from its scabbard with a sharp chime directly into his grip. A terrifyingly immense pressure erupted with a roar! His green robes snapping violently in the air, the man's eyes were as sharp as an eagle's. Glancing at the crimson cloud across the sky, he drew his sword and slashed upward with tremendous force! *Boom!* The dreadful green sword light stretched a full thousand zhang! A distinct silhouette, roaring toward the heavens like a ferocious beast, took shape! The terrifying sword light split the crimson clouds overhead in two. Across ten thousand zhang of the firmament, a pitch-black rift a hundred zhang wide tore open. Churning violently, the blood-colored clouds slowly dissipated... Nangong Xuandu sheathed his sword and stood in silence, frowning in the direction of the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven. Soaring straight into the clouds, his violent pressure instantly swept across a hundred li, yet he found nothing out of the ordinary. Li Guanqi, meanwhile, was shocked beyond words. An indescribably sacred pressure burst forth from the sword spirit. A torrent of crimson light surged around her like a river of blood. When the sword spirit reached out a finger to touch Red Lotus, the three heavenly flames pulled back of their own accord, as if in dread of her. *Screech!* Li Guanqi could clearly sense the excitement radiating from Red Lotus. The sword spirit herself shone with light, glowing like a sacred blossom. As her finger pressed against Red Lotus, the blade trembled violently for all to see. A point of crimson light enveloped the entire sword. Beneath the fusion of the searing molten liquid, the ruins artifact fragment from the sword spirit's true body was sealed directly within the Red Lotus Sword. In an instant, an exquisitely sharp aura expanded with a roar! The four-foot Red Lotus appeared no different from before, yet crimson light flowed across the petals adorning its hilt, as though it had been drenched in a pool of blood. The sword spirit's aura grew slightly faint, and a visible trace of fatigue surfaced on her face once it was done. Seeing the worry in Li Guanqi's eyes, she cupped his face in her hands and smiled gently. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Turning to look at Red Lotus enveloped in flames, she said softly, "From this moment on, Red Lotus is worthy of walking with you all the way to the Immortal Realm." Red Lotus let out an obedient sword hum, as if expressing gratitude for the divinity she had bestowed. Li Guanqi did not understand what that so-called divinity was, though he could guess it had something to do with the sword spirit. And just now, when she spoke, she still had not uttered her own name. Pursing his lips, Li Guanqi took a deep breath and said, "I feel like... the people from the Upper Realm are making more moves lately." Not only that, but Li Guanqi also voiced the suspicion lingering in his heart. "I feel... Lu Wuhen's string doesn't seem to be the handiwork of whoever is behind Cang Lu!" The sword spirit looked at Li Guanqi in slight surprise, not expecting him to possess such intuition. With a gentle smile, she nodded, slowly looking up into the void of the sky and murmuring, "It seems quite a few eyes have turned here..." "Still... as I expected, you chose to let Li Congxin 'live.'" Li Guanqi grinned at her. To him, she was like his closest friend and kin; neither kept secrets from the other intentionally. With an untroubled expression, Li Guanqi said, "I want him to live." The sword spirit drifted down to the ground to stand beside him, saying softly, "Don't worry. It's merely an incomplete soul. I will help you find a way." Li Guanqi chuckled foolishly. His aura gradually stabilized, his vast pressure settling firmly into the Body Integration Realm. Gradually, he developed a deeper comprehension of the lightning spiritual energy between heaven and earth, feeling as though he had caught hold of an elusive spark of enlightenment. In the outside world, Lu Kangnian finally breathed a sigh of relief as heaven and earth returned to calm, and he began preparing to lead his people to seize everything belonging to the Lu clan! Through this battle, Li Guanqi had finally stepped into the Body Integration Realm, and Li Congxin had survived. As for the severed Red Lotus Sword, it had been reborn in the flames, fused with the tip of the sword spirit's true body, and gained the abilities of Lu Wuhen's Sword Ruins.