Chapter 53 – Casting A Spell

The next morning, Yu Sui’an woke groggily in bed. A flush crept up her cheeks when she saw she was still wrapped in the rug from the night before. Then, she turned and spotted a new set of clothes beside her, and excitement lit up her face.

The sound of a sword slicing through the air came from the courtyard. After changing, she couldn’t help but grin as she admired her new white dress. Pushing the door open, she stepped outside to find Li Guanqi practicing his swordsmanship.

Seeing that Yu Sui’an was awake, Li Guanqi smiled and said, “Not bad! It looks good on you, and it fits well. The sleeves of your old clothes were getting too short.”

Yu Sui’an rolled her eyes and said, “Don’t you ever rest? Maybe take two days off?”

Li Guanqi smiled and said, “Cultivation is like rowing a boat against the current. If you’re not forward, you’re sliding backward. If you want to succeed, you have to cultivate every day.”

Yu Sui’an waved a hand dismissively. “Why not just wake up earlier the next day?”

Li Guanqi ruffled her hair. “If something needs doing today, delaying it until tomorrow—no matter how early—is still procrastination. Anyway, I don’t have time to chat today. I’ve got a lecture with Disciplinarian Qin Xian, then I need to visit Heavenly Water Peak.”

Yu Sui’an let him go without protest. She turned on her heel and ran off, saying, “I’m going to buy some bao!”

Li Guanqi bathed, washed his black martial robes, and hung them up to dry. Then, he changed into a set of clean white sect robes and left for Heavenly Sword Peak.

Qin Xian’s lecture of the day was about the Foundation Building Realm.

After class, as Li Guanqi walked out of the main hall, he thought aloud to himself, “Once a cultivator reaches the Foundation Realm, the vital qi in their dantian liquefies. Also, food, water, and other basic needs are no longer necessary for them.

“This decreases the impurities produced in their body. Their lifespan extends to two hundred years, and they can even fly for short periods!”

He was struck by this revelation. No wonder people said that the journey to immortality only began at the Foundation Building Realm. The gap between Qi Refinement and Foundation Building was staggering.

Even now, he wasn’t confident he could kill a Foundation Building cultivator. The difference was simply too great.

After reaching the Foundation Building Realm, the cultivator could cast more spells and use more types of talismans. There were also many magical tools that could only be used to their full potential once the cultivator reached the Foundation Building Realm.

The moment they reached the dining hall, Li Guanqi’s squad from the secret realm gathered around him. They had all made progress in their cultivation, clearly having exchanged their sect points for valuable resources.

Ye Feng wriggled his eyebrows and said, “Old Li, should we make a bet to see who will reach the Foundation Building Realm first?”

Li Guanqi pursed his lips. “Aren’t you about to break through to the tenth level?”

Ye Feng chuckled and did not deny it. Although Li Guanqi wanted Ye Feng’s money, he dared not make this bet.

“I’m not betting on this.”

“Why not? Haven’t you reached the tenth level already? From what I can tell, even people at the peak of the tenth level don’t have auras as strong as yours,” Ye Feng replied.

Li Guanqi sighed in exasperation. “It’s because I don’t want you to lose money. Am I not kind?”

Zhong Lin interjected, “We’ll need to open our spirit voids after we reach the Foundation Building Realm. What do you guys think of it?”

Li Guanqi perked up when he heard his question, while Ye Feng snickered. “Just treat it as a formality—no need to overthink it.

“Forget about the Daxia Sword Sect—even across the entire eastern region, it’d be impressive if eighty to a hundred people found something in their spirit voids. Ultimately, only about ten lucky people will find a weapon.”

Lin Dong nodded and said, “Don’t stress about it. The elders say that finding something in your spirit void isn’t tied to talent. The spirit void is incredibly profound and even more mysterious than the spirit root. If you find something, great. If not, it’s fine.”

Zhong Lin smiled and said, “I’m afraid only Old Li has a chance among all of us.”

Li Guanqi shrugged. “Hey, don’t make assumptions. It isn’t even dependent on talent, so who knows if I’ll find anything?”

They dropped the subject and had a peaceful meal. They had to attend a spellcasting class at Heavenly Water Peak in the afternoon.

However, Li Guanqi still made a mental note about the topic, as this was not the first time he had heard about it.

“Sword Spirit, what’s in my spirit void?”

She replied with annoyance,

“How would I know?!”

“Uh... Is there a huge gap between people with weapons in their spirit voids and those who don’t?”

He initially thought Sword Spirit would reply sarcastically, but to his surprise, she replied solemnly and wistfully,

“The difference is massive. Those who are truly at the peak of the world almost always have something in their spirit voids. While it’s not an absolute rule, it has a tremendous impact.”

Sword Spirit didn’t mention that whether Li Guanqi had a sword in his spirit void would determine if he could truly control the swords in the coffin.

If he had nothing in his spirit void, he would be forever limited to wielding only the first sword in the coffin.

Li Guanqi soon pushed the thought aside. He had more pressing matters. He’d only just broken through to the twelfth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, and stabilizing his cultivation would take time. Breaking through to the thirteenth level was even harder.

He briefly considered giving up on it and attempting a breakthrough to the Foundation Building Realm instead—but Sword Spirit gave him an earful for even thinking about it.

***

That afternoon, Li Guanqi attended a lecture at Heavenly Water Peak. Today’s class was taught by the peak master, Shen Lan.

As she lectured, Shen Lan’s gaze lingered on Li Guanqi. His aura was denser than that of some ninth-level Foundation Building cultivators. She couldn't help feeling puzzled, but she decided not to dwell on it.

“Spells have a history that dates back to the Ancient Era, though they only became widely used in the Distant Era. Legends say that there are three hundred spells in total. The smaller the number, the more powerful the spell is.

“The first thirty spells are also known as forbidden spells. But for various reasons, many spells have been lost over time, from the Distant Era to the Recent Era.”

Someone raised a hand. “Uh... Elder Shen, what exactly do the Distant and Recent Eras refer to?”

Shen Lan explained in exasperation, “The Recent Era started around ten thousand years ago, while the Distant Era was a hundred thousand years ago. The Ancient Era spanned from five hundred thousand to a million years ago, while the Primordial Era was over a million years ago.

“You all should read historical records of the Human World at the Scripture Pavilion during your free time. You shouldn’t exclusively learn about cultivation.”

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

With that, she began teaching them the fastest ways to cast spells.

Li Guanqi was especially interested in offensive spells.

He had heard of three types of spells so far.

First was Snake Bondage, the spell Qin Xian used to kill two corpse possessors.

Second was Thunder Whip, which Shen Lan used.

Third was the spell Lu Kangnian used to trap the disciple who was being punished.

To cast spells efficiently, cultivators had to open special meridians and chant the spell’s name and ranking, which helped guide their qi to activate it.

Shen Lan waved and the image of the meridians in the human body hung in front of the class disappeared [1]. She said, “This is the qi-guiding route for casting the Thunder Whip spell. This allows people without thunder spirit power to form a solid Thunder Whip in their hands. The key is sensing the thunder spirit qi within you.”

Li Guanqi, sitting at the front, suddenly muttered, “Spell number two hundred and eighty-two, Thunder Whip.”

Crackle!

A purple Thunder Whip, roughly one zhang in length, appeared in Li Guanqi’s palm.

Shen Lan nodded with a smile. “Not bad. You really are inhumanly talented.”

1. The author may have forgotten to mention that it was there in the first place ☜