Chapter 443 – Map Spirit

Buzz!

As soon as the others entered, all six doors slammed shut. Then, the tower unleashed a thick, unsettling black mist that instantly enveloped the entire area within the light barrier.

However, no one outside noticed. Everyone was focused on the steady stream of new, rare treasures. The sounds of war cries and killing never ceased.

After stepping through the stone door, Li Guanqi reappeared within a vast, empty hall, where a strange scroll levitated in mid-air. It stretched a hundred zhang long when opened, almost spanning the entire hall. Multi-colored qi swirled around it, glowing, and the blurry images on its surface shifted constantly.

Li Guanqi stood calmly, Red Lotus Sword in hand. A moment later, the scroll burst with blinding celestial light, and a person who looked exactly like him stepped out.

It was the same with Xuan Lin. Worried, he watched a doppelganger of himself step out of an ancient scroll.

Li Guanqi’s doppelganger had intelligent eyes and a teasing smirk. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. The doppelganger didn’t feel like a nonliving thing. Its bright eyes looked sentient. The only difference between them was that his doppelganger didn’t have a sword box.

“You’re very interesting. During these many, many years, I’ve met many talented prodigies. I’ve also met a dozen who are stronger than you, but... I’m curious about one thing...”

Li Guanqi said nothing. He looked at the doppelganger calmly, waiting for it to speak.

Seeing Li Guanqi’s silence, the doppelganger merely smiled. It lifted its gaze past Li Guanqi to the sword box behind him, then said with some confusion, “I can replicate weapons that even surpass the Ancient Treasure Tier. But your sword box... what the hell is it?”

Li Guanqi snorted. “Heavenly Intelligence Map... Did you appear just to spout nonsense at me?”

The doppelganger froze, then twirled its Red Lotus Sword idly. “Trying to hasten your death? Well, I’m not surprised you guessed it. Many before you figured it out too, but they all died in the end.”

Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow and wasted no more time on talk.

The Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra activated. Blood surged through him, bringing his strength to its peak. At maximum power, his physical strength alone could defeat a late Divine Transformation Realm cultivator.

Boom!

Rumble! Crack crack crack!

The entire Fortune Wheel Tower trembled, and the hall’s floor cracked. The doppelgänger merely smiled, erupting with an equally powerful burst of energy.

It gazed coldly at Li Guanqi and said in a low voice, “The Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra. A very powerful technique... Li Guanqi, I am you. Everything you know, I know.”

Li Guanqi glared at his doppelganger. The red lotuses on his sword hilt bloomed as he shouted, “Soul Dissolution, Red Lotus!”

“Soul Dissolution, Red Lotus.”

Li Guanqi’s heart skipped a beat—he heard his own voice in his ear. His doppelganger’s sword erupted with a terrifying aura, its lotuses blooming in kind.

Lightning surged through Li Guanqi. Heavenly flames erupted from him. The first floor of the Fortune Wheel Tower was engulfed in heavenly flames and crackling lightning.

His doppelganger’s aura was as strong as his own. It matched not just Li Guanqi’s lightning but also his heavenly flames, which were supposed to be unique in the world.

“Yanluo Sword Intent! Heaven-Opening! Red Lotus Heavenly Dance!”

Boom!

The whole tower shook.

Meanwhile, Xuan Lin threw a punch at his doppelganger’s face, and they both flew a hundred zhang apart. He staggered backward as his doppelganger grew thirty percent more translucent, significantly weakened.

The others were in roughly the same situation.

“Heaven-Opening, Red Lotus Heavenly Dance!”

Li Guanqi stared at his doppelganger, utterly shocked. He couldn’t even have dreamed of such a scenario. The mysterious Heavenly Intelligence Map had created a doppelganger capable of duplicating the second phase of his sword spirit void.

Both their auras peaked. Sword in hand, Li Guanqi charged without hesitation.

The Heavenly Intelligence Map grew dozens of times in size, filling the entire floor.

Their surroundings shifted. They now stood on a white, boundless martial stage.

Li Guanqi moved his sword like a snake, agile and unpredictable, its blade whistling through the air. The space beneath his feet shattered. He leaped, slashing down and releasing a mass of sword shadows.

Terrifying sword intent radiated outward. His Sword Prison domain extended over a thousand zhang. His doppelganger smirked and slashed with its left hand, unleashing the exact same technique.

Clang clang clang! Boom!

Consecutive explosions rang out. Violent sword qi rushed across the space.

Another familiar surge of energy seized half of Li Guanqi’s sword prison.

His doppelganger slashed its sword fiercely, shouting, “It’s useless! I am you, and you are me.”

“Fake is fake,” Li Guanqi said calmly. “You’ll never be real. Right, Map Spirit?”

At those words, his doppelganger’s eyes widened. Li Guanqi smirked at the reaction, his aura surging stronger and more threatening than before.

A powerful burst of energy erupted from his sword, forcing his doppelganger back hundreds of zhang.

Li Guanqi looked at him with contempt and snorted. “You’re a mere Map Spirit of the Heavenly Intelligence Map. You think you can pose as a human? You’re just a fake, lesser copy of me.”

As he spoke, a blade of sword qi shot past his ear, slicing off some hair from his sideburns.

Map Spirit snarled and roared, “Fake? What is real? What is fake?”

It pointed its sword forward and smirked. “Once I kill you, I become real. Who would know that I’m fake?”

Vital force surged through Li Guanqi. He glared at his doppelganger and strode forward.

“You can try!”

His doppelganger’s eyes flashed with killing intent, as if determined to kill Li Guanqi. Its countenance transformed completely.