Chapter 1001: Luo Changqing Arrives

Kong Yan’s gaze grew distant. He slowly counted the years on his fingers, using up one hand before moving to the other. His hands trembled slightly as he murmured, “Seven years…”

His eyes reddened as tears welled within them. No one knew how he had endured those seven years. It took him a long moment to remember that Li Guanqi was still beside him. He lifted his sleeve to wipe his eyes, only to hesitate, unable to bring himself to stain his sect robes with tears.

After a pause, he wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. Then he began to speak. “It’s a rather clichéd story. I left that day because an old friend and I had discovered a tier-seven spirit herb. What made it such a rare find was that we didn’t have to deal with any guardian beasts. Perhaps its guardian had died. Anyway, just as the herb reached maturity, members of the Luo clan appeared. My old friend launched one final, desperate attack to give me a chance to survive.”

His voice grew choked, as though his friend’s dying words still echoed in his ears. After a long silence, he continued, “In the end, my friend died, the herb was gone, and I was captured. That’s all.”

In a few understated sentences, Kong Yan had summed up seven miserable years of slavery.

“Elder Kong, would you like to return to the sect?” Li Guanqi asked softly.

Kong Yan’s eyes lit up as he looked at the young man, then he nodded.

Li Guanqi smiled, took out a teleportation scroll and a sect jade slip, and said, “Take the transport array back. Someone will meet you in the Daxia Territory.”

Kong Yan took a deep breath before replying solemnly, “Good. I no longer have the heart to continue wandering the continent. I might as well go home.”

Li Guanqi gave him several hundred spirit stones, and Kong Yan crushed the scroll. With tears in his eyes, the old man cupped his fists in farewell. “Take care. Don’t push people too hard. Always leave them a way out.”

Li Guanqi smiled, nodded, and waved goodbye. Silver light flashed, and Kong Yan disappeared. Li Guanqi took out his heavenly intelligence jade pendant, but lowered it after a moment’s thought.

He flashed to Luo Siyang’s side and performed a Soul Search. Before long, his brow furrowed. Luo Siyang’s memories revealed that he hadn’t been the one to capture Kong Yan. The first time he had seen the old man was in the Luo clan’s dungeon, and he had no idea how Kong Yan had ended up there.

Li Guanqi gave the matter no further thought, but the corner of his mouth twitched as a handsome young man in black robes hurried out of the void.

Qin Wushang blinked at Luo Siyang “sunbathing” overhead, then clicked his tongue in admiration. “You went that easy on him? I thought you’d have skinned him alive and hung him out here to dry.”

Barely conscious, Luo Siyang struggled to open his eyes. Through his blurred vision, he recognized Qin Wushang, and his heart shook. The Luo clan was ancient, with a history stretching back countless years, but they were mere children compared to the Qin family of Qinhuang City. Qin Wushang was Qinhuang City’s crown prince, a genius who utterly outclassed even the most exceptional cultivators at the same cultivation realm.

Why is he with this guy? And what does he mean, Li Guanqi went easy on me?

Li Guanqi shrugged, then narrowed his eyes at Qin Wushang. “You’ve improved quickly.”

Qin Wushang’s face twitched. “You’re one to talk! Two years apart, and you’re already at the late Combined Body Realm? And something about you feels different from the last time we met.”

He was right. Li Guanqi had reached the peak of the fourth level of the Spirit Comprehension Stage.

Li Guanqi merely smiled without explaining.

There was an oddly devilish charm to Qin Wushang’s handsome features. He rubbed his chin with his slender fingers and murmured, “Let me guess. You’ve definitely passed the peak of the second level of the Spirit Comprehension Stage. No, the second level couldn’t give you an aura like this. The third level? Damn, don’t tell me it’s true! You were only in seclusion for two years. How did you grasp it so quickly?”

Li Guanqi reached over and covered his mouth. “Enough. Stop guessing. Did you rush here just to watch me fight Luo Changqing?”

Qin Wushang flashed onto the mountaintop, took out a white jade table, and poured some wine. “Come on, is that what you think of me? I came to drink with you. It’s been too long. You went into seclusion for more than two years! I’ve spent that time cultivating and wandering the continent. It’s been so boring.”

Li Guanqi smiled. He could never tell what went through Qin Wushang’s head. The last time they met, he ‌still looked up to Qin Wushang’s skill in the sword Dao. But things had changed since then.

Li Guanqi took a sip of wine and asked softly, “Don’t you have any friends?”

Qin Wushang curled his lip. “No. I spend every day with my little sister. As for everyone else… Heh. I don’t think much of them. They’re either trying to curry favor with me or strutting around arrogantly just because they have a little talent. Boring.”

Li Guanqi said nothing. Perhaps he would have the same troubles if he spent every day cooped up in his sect. Still, once Qin Wushang grew comfortable around someone, his air of quiet refinement vanished. Beneath that aloof exterior, he seemed to have far too many words bottled up. As far as Li Guanqi was concerned, he was nearly as much of a chatterbox as Xiao Chen.

The two didn’t have to wait long. They had just finished two jugs of wine when the wind rose and the clouds churned overhead. A razor-sharp streak of saber qi burst from the void and shot toward them.

Qin Wushang’s eyes lit up, and he murmured excitedly, “He’s here!”

Whoosh!

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, a cold light flickering within them. A hundred-zhang saber light shot toward their mountain as though to cleave it in two. The terrifying pressure it unleashed flattened countless trees across the surrounding mountain ranges.

Qin Wushang ignored the saber light and studied the sword coffin on Li Guanqi’s back with interest. The coffin had stirred plenty of speculation among his fellow younger-generation geniuses. No one knew how many swords it contained or whether the Red Lotus Sword Li Guanqi always wielded was the final one. Some recent rumors even claimed that the sword had descended from the Immortal World and was imbued with divinity.

Qin Wushang was eager to see the Red Lotus Sword up close, but Li Guanqi took out a three-chi-long dried branch. Lightning flickered along it as he thrust it forward like a sword.

Boom!

The golden saber light shattered.

Qin Wushang shot to his feet. Eyes narrowed, he stared at Li Guanqi’s stance and murmured, “The Concealed Edge stance! What frightening comprehension. It’s only been two years, and his skill in the sword Dao is already beginning to surpass mine.”

Luo Changqing slowly emerged from an enormous spatial rift, dressed in splendid robes. He spotted his brother hanging beneath the blazing sun and sighed in relief—Luo Siyang’s life was not in danger.

His attention shifted to the white-robed young man holding a branch and the tall man beside him, whose smile was devilishly charming.

“Why is Qin Wushang here?” Luo Changqing murmured with a slight frown.

Luo Changqing’s gaze settled on Li Guanqi, and his expression grew grave. “So this is Li Guanqi? What an overwhelming presence…”