Lin Dong's severed fingers had also been retrieved by Li Guanqi, so with Elder Lan He treating him, a full recovery was only a matter of time.
However, he almost certainly would not make it in time for the upcoming trial secret realm.
The four of them shared some wine in Li Guanqi's courtyard before finally heading back.
Now, the entire sect was thrown into a frenzy of cultivation, as the second assessment for the newly inducted disciples would soon arrive. Lin Dong and the others had been especially spurred on after witnessing Li Guanqi's terrifying progress.
Even Ye Feng, who usually loved sleeping in, began cultivating as if his life depended on it.
Li Guanqi's injuries also healed swiftly over the next few days.
Three days later.
The sword wounds across his body had faded to pale pink marks.
Over the past two days, Li Guanqi practiced his swordplay like a madman. The sword spirit was utterly dissatisfied with his earlier performance against that black-robed man.
Atop Yuhu Peak.
Li Guanqi stood bare-chested as his longsword danced and flashed. By now, his grasp of the Azure Lotus Heavenly Gang Sword had reached consummate perfection.
Moreover, he had begun attempting to channel the power of the sword ruins' artifact soul within his spirit ruins.
Yet after a single attempt, he did not dare try again!
The very instant he tried channeling the artifact soul into his dharma artifact, the weapon emitted an overwhelmed, agonized hum, pushed past its breaking point.
The sword spirit murmured softly, "An artifact soul can only be housed within a soul armament. Not even a magic treasure can bear it."
Her illusory figure seemed visible to Li Guanqi alone.
Frowning slightly, the sword spirit asked softly, "How many spirit stones do you have right now?"
Li Guanqi tilted his head in thought for a moment and murmured, "Around ten thousand? But the spirit stones for the dragon egg's altar are nearly spent. At most, they will last another month."
The sword spirit pondered briefly before saying, "Starting today, give me a hundred low-grade spirit stones every day. Within the altar space of the sword casket, I will conjure a sword cultivator of your same realm to spar with you and hone your strength!"
Li Guanqi froze, his voice abruptly pitching higher. "A hundred stones?! Why don't you just rob someone?!"
A helpless expression crossed the sword spirit's face. Rolling her eyes at him, she turned to retreat into the sword casket.
"Then practice on your own. By the way... you haven't shared a single wisp of origin energy with me for three days."
Li Guanqi's chest rose and fell. After agonizing over it for a long while, he growled through gritted teeth, "Fine, fine, take them! But you have to tell me—what kind of thing is this projection? And how long will a hundred spirit stones last?"
A playful smile curled at the corner of the sword spirit's lips. "The Hundred Champions Illusion! As for how long a hundred low-grade spirit stones will last..."
She slowly raised a single finger.
Li Guanqi frowned. "A day?"
The sword spirit shook her head.
"An hour??"
She shook her head again.
Then she said softly, "The burn of a single stick of incense."
Li Guanqi's face turned livid. Word by word, he demanded, "One stick of incense for a hundred spirit stones?"
Her ethereal voice floated gently. "The power consumed by this illusion is terrifying. More importantly, in my current state, I cannot sustain it for long at all. Whether you want to try it is up to you."
Li Guanqi's expression shifted through a succession of grimaces before he finally gritted his teeth and asked one last question. "Compared to these Hundred Champions sword cultivators of yours, how far behind am I?"
A flicker of genuine solemnity appeared in the sword spirit's eyes. Parting her vermilion lips, her white teeth showed as she spoke: "The difference between clouds and mud. Compared to true scions of heaven, the gap between you and them is far too vast. The world is boundless beyond your imagination. Geniuses? They are the cheapest commodity under heaven. Only those who survive until the end can truly be called geniuses. Some are born with innate sword bodies, awakening a natal artifact soul at birth that accompanies them their entire lives. Some experience a sudden enlightenment in a single morning, breaking through three realms in one stride! There are even those who are peerless the moment they first grasp a sword. Yet more often than not, such people die prematurely before ever reaching the end."
Hearing her words, Li Guanqi felt a stubborn surge of defiance. Gritting his teeth, he tossed a hundred spirit stones toward her and said heavily, "Do it!"
Deep down, Li Guanqi was proud, especially after surviving his recent life-and-death battles. He had begun to feel that late Foundation Establishment cultivators were nothing more than that.
A sharp glint flickered in the depths of the sword spirit's eyes. She had long noticed the subtle shift in his state of mind.
Yet this kind of underestimation of one's enemies...
In her eyes, it was far more lethal than poor aptitude!
The cultivation world had never lacked geniuses—be it once-in-a-millennium prodigies or Dao bodies seen only once in ten thousand years. To her, all of it was vanity. Li Guanqi possessed an Ethereal Dao Body; she did not want him to perish before his time.
Should Li Guanqi die, she would lose even the chance to tear through the river of time!
The Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Immortal-Slaying Sigils laid down by Su Xuan had bound her and Li Guanqi together long ago.
Thus, she would not allow him to harbor the slightest trace of complacency. She was going to forge him into the world's strongest sword cultivator!
*Hum!*
An invisible barrier suddenly manifested inside the wooden cabin, enclosing only the sword casket hovering midair.
Standing upon the altar space, Li Guanqi watched the world twist violently around him!
Gradually, an endless Dao platform of azure flagstones unfurled beneath his feet.
*Buzz!*
Space warped faintly, and a figure abruptly appeared ten zhang before him.
The figure wore a green robe and stood over six feet tall, towering half a head above Li Guanqi. His face was blurred and completely indistinct, but Li Guanqi could clearly sense that the figure's aura was identical to his own—also appearing to have just broken through to the middle Foundation Establishment realm.
Yet in the very next breath...
Li Guanqi felt his vision blur. Pure instinct drove him to raise his sword horizontally to parry!
Suddenly!
His pupils shrank to needlepoints as an icy chill struck the back of his neck!
When he reappeared inside the wooden cabin, his eyes were hollow, unable to recover his senses for a long time. That terrifyingly real sensation of death chilled him to the marrow.
The sword spirit's voice sounded beside his ear. "Do you see now? That is the gap between you and other geniuses. Is the middle Foundation Establishment realm weak? No—you simply have not encountered a truly formidable enemy! You may be confident, but you must never be arrogant!"
Li Guanqi's face shifted repeatedly. His chest rose and fell faintly as he exhaled a long breath of turbid air. Turning to the sword spirit, he actually bowed deeply and said, "Thank you for the lesson!"
"Do you wish to continue?"
With eyes full of resolve, Li Guanqi said firmly, "Continue!"
A hint of a smile finally touched the sword spirit's lips. She murmured, "Do not look only at his eyes. Every single muscle across his body can telegraph his next move in advance. Your sword speed with your left hand is faster than his—why not try that?"
Li Guanqi's expression hardened with determination, and he said solemnly, "No. I want to test myself with my own standard strength first!"
That night, Li Guanqi consumed nearly five hundred low-grade spirit stones.
Yet against that unknown silhouette, he had managed to hold out for half a stick of incense.
Pale-faced, Li Guanqi sat alone in meditation at the peak of the mountain, continually reviewing the successes and failures of the night's battles in his mind, consolidating what he had learned.
Watching his silhouette from behind, the sword spirit nodded inwardly.
Li Guanqi's constitution might not be the strongest she had ever seen, but his potential was without doubt the greatest!
Furthermore, due to his childhood hardships, his mental fortitude far surpassed ordinary men.
A faint smile touched the corners of her lips, and she murmured under her breath, "Killed thirty-two times across five sticks of incense, yet his mind hasn't broken. When admonished, he can still humble himself and heed advice. Such a disposition... is monstrous talent!"
Chapter 86