The listening man frowned at once upon hearing this. Taken aback for a moment, he answered honestly, "I do not know."
"Zhuyou art... this is the very first time I have even heard the name."
Li Guanqi nodded silently. Xue Gui did not appear to be lying.
His mind was calm and his primal energy showed not the slightest ripple—he was clearly telling the truth.
Li Guanqi then asked, "Then do you know the purpose of the Immortal-Receiving Ceremony being held in the city today?"
"At your current realm, you can surely tell that this ceremony possesses a rather inexplicable power, right?"
Hearing this, Xue Gui let out a bitter smile and answered in a low voice, "To answer Pavilion Master: I can indeed tell that this ceremony is far from simple, yet I do not know where it originated."
"I questioned the people performing these rituals before, but they only said it was a custom passed down from generation to generation and that they were merely following tradition."
Li Guanqi frowned. He had not expected that even Xue Gui would be in the dark about its origins.
The sword spirit's voice slowly resonated in Li Guanqi's mind, saying in a solemn tone, "Ask what they are chanting!"
Li Guanqi nodded silently and asked bluntly without beating around the bush, "Do you know the words they are chanting?"
Xue Gui frowned and pondered for a long while before his eyes suddenly brightened as if remembering something.
The man stood up and said, "Pavilion Master, please wait a moment. I remember that twenty years ago, I had someone transcribe the chant!"
Xue Gui searched around the study and soon retrieved an ordinary-looking jade slip from a hidden compartment.
Approaching Li Guanqi, he bowed low and presented the jade slip with both hands.
Li Guanqi pointed to the spiritual tea on the table and said softly, "Drink."
The man did not dare refuse. Sitting back down, he cautiously sampled the spiritual tea.
Not daring to drink too much, he merely took a small sip.
Boom!
From just that single sip of spiritual tea, the primal energy inside Xue Gui surged uncontrollably!
The power blasted straight through his cultivation bottleneck, breaking through to late Soul Formation in an instant.
Moreover, the surge did not linger long at the entry of late Soul Formation; after completely stabilizing his new realm, it began to climb once more!
Li Guanqi hooked a finger, pouring the rest of the spiritual tea from the cup straight into Xue Gui's mouth.
With a flick of his hand, Li Guanqi laid down an invisible barrier of primal energy to muffle any disturbance here, while sweeping his divine sense across the jade slip.
Instantly, the contents of the slip unfolded in his mind:
High above the clouds the fairy isles ascend,
Where jade pavilions in majestic glory blend.
With fluttering feather robes the maidens dance,
To realms divine where immortal hosts advance.
Dark tresses drift as in an ethereal dream,
Looking down with smiles on mortal life agleam.
Guiding the realm where radiant splendors shine,
Proud in their grace stands the paragon divine.
Blessed lands of the Immortal Realm spread wide and vast,
Where serene heavenly melodies drift past.
Immortal peaks and streams with blossoms crowned,
Where sacred beasts and birds dance round and round.
May the immortals live as long as the southern peaks endure,
With peace, good fortune, and wellness ever secure.
May the Immortal Realm's joy unending reign,
With world peace and bliss across the sacred domain.
Eight lines.
There were only these eight lines.
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes slightly as the sword spirit's voice sounded in his mind:
"Just as I thought... this is the lowest tier of incantation within the Zhuyou art, where merely chanting bestows a faint trace of power."
Li Guanqi frowned, scrutinizing the eight lines. They appeared to carry no practical significance.
Yet every single line was filled with praise for the Immortal Realm!
If merely chanting praise could truly grant blessed power...
then it was truly miraculous—inconceivable, even.
The sword spirit did not elaborate further, remarking softly, "How intriguing. To think a legacy of the Zhuyou art still survives in the Human Spirit Realm."
"If that is true, could there be someone in the far more ancient Ethereal Immortal Domain who inherited the true Zhuyou art?"
Li Guanqi harbored the very same question.
Over to the side, Xue Gui was ecstatic. The cultivation bottleneck that had troubled him for over a decade had vanished completely.
And all from a single cup of spiritual tea Li Guanqi had poured for him!
Still, thinking on it for a moment, Xue Gui found it made sense.
After all, Li Guanqi's cultivation realm was there for all to see: a powerhouse of the Body Integration Realm.
Whatever casual scraps a cultivator of that caliber brought out would be priceless natural treasures to a Soul Formation cultivator like him.
What Xue Gui did not know was that these tea leaves had been filched by Li Guanqi from Gu Yong, the Pavilion Master of the Tianji Pavilion.
Tea leaves prized by a cultivator of the Mahayana realm—never mind Xue Gui—would be treasured as peerless gems even by Void Refining cultivators.
Li Guanqi put away the jade slip. Glancing at Xue Gui, who was still stabilizing his realm, he said nothing more and vanished from the spot with a flash.
"Find some tasks for Xue Gui, but continue evaluating him in secret."
Having sent that message via his Guanyun Pavilion jade pendant, Li Guanqi put it away and returned to the inn.
The moment he returned, he saw the woman sitting at the head of the bed wrapped in a quilt, a look of mild grievance on her face.
"Where did you go?"
"Uh... something came up, so I stepped out for a bit."
"Stepped out? And you just left me here all alone?"
"..."
Early the next morning, Li Guanqi woke from his cultivation. The flame mark at his glabella shimmered with a faint, luminous glow.
Touching his brow, Li Guanqi could not help but sigh. With his divine soul currently damaged, he dared not fight with all his might.
The stifling feeling was deeply suffocating. Frowning, he muttered, "Looks like I need to resolve this matter as soon as possible."
The woman beside him awoke, sat at the edge of the bed, and said softly, "How about... we skip it? Let's not watch it and just go home today."
Li Guanqi smiled, walked over to the bed, and ruffled her soft hair. "Silly girl, one day won't make a difference."
Meng Wanshu eventually drove Li Guanqi out, saying she wanted to take a bath.
Li Guanqi teased her a bit, and by the time he stepped out of the room, both of his sleeves were coated in frost.
Seeing the waiter who had stood outside the door all night, Li Guanqi coughed awkwardly twice.
"Does honored guest have any instructions?"
Li Guanqi thought for a moment, suddenly realizing that he hadn't had an actual meal in a long time, so he said, "Serve eight of your signature dishes, plus a soup."
The youth nodded with a smile. "Right away! Honored guest, please wait a moment. Head on downstairs; a private dining room has already been reserved for you, and the food will be served shortly."
As the youth turned to leave, Li Guanqi called out to him softly, "Forget it, three or four dishes will do. Any more would be wasted if we can't finish it."
The waiter paused for a moment. He had not expected an immortal like this to care about waste.
Even so, he didn't pry and simply bowed with a smile. "Understood, sir! I'll arrange it according to an appetite for two. How does that sound?"
Li Guanqi smiled and nodded, thinking the youth was quite clever.
Rummaging through his storage ring for a while without finding any gold or silver, Li Guanqi simply fished out two half-spent low-grade spirit stones and tossed them over.
The youth's eyes lit up as if he had received a priceless treasure. He nimbly slipped them into his sleeve and bowed to take his leave.
Li Guanqi cautioned him, "Don't flaunt your wealth, and don't show it off."
The gaunt youth froze on the spot, never expecting an aloof immortal would offer him such advice.
For some reason, the youth's eyes turned slightly red. Forcing back tears, he squeezed out a smile.
"Rest assured, sir, I know what to do."
Li Guanqi waved his hand with a smile, then turned and went downstairs to the private room.
Though it was still early, the restaurant was already packed with people, seemingly all gathered to go to Qixia Academy today to watch the ceremony.
With time on his hands, Li Guanqi sorted through various items in his storage ring and finally located the jade slip belonging to Xuan Lin.
Looking at the fiery-red jade slip in his hand, he spoke softly: "Brother Xuan Lin, it's Li Guanqi. My Dao companion and I are heading back to the Shenbao Domain. Do you have time to meet up?"
Hum!
A spatial ripple spread faintly, yet vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea—no response returned!
Li Guanqi's brow furrowed. Looking at the silent jade slip in his hand, he muttered, "Unable to reach him?"
"Did that fellow give me a fake jade slip from the start? That shouldn't be the case!"
"Could it be..."
Whoosh!
"Notify Guanyun Pavilion: have them find the location of Xuan Lin of the Xuan family in the Shenbao Domain!"
Setting down the jade slip, Li Guanqi saw Meng Wanshu appear in the private booth with a flash. She asked softly, "What happened?"
Li Guanqi shook his head and said gently, "Nothing. Come, let's get ready to eat."
"Haha, let's taste Qixia City's signature dishes. After eating, we'll head over to Qixia Academy to watch the ceremony."
Chapter 943