Chapter 597 - The Xiao Family Loses Contact

As he grew stronger, Li Guanqi realized how little he truly knew about the tiny group standing at the pinnacle of the world. So far, he had encountered only a handful of cultivators at the Combined Body Realm.

If he had to name the most mysterious person he had ever met, Sword Spirit would undoubtedly be the first. Yet, as time passed, his grandfather began to seem even more mysterious, and perhaps even more powerful.

From the very beginning, Sword Spirit’s attitude toward his grandfather had been one of arrogance, even condescension, as though gazing down from a mountain peak. But during the previous crisis, Sword Spirit had been forced to reveal killing intent toward him, triggering a trace of sword intent within his body. From that point on, her attitude toward his grandfather had grown noticeably more cautious, and perhaps even slightly fearful.

Li Guanqi shook his head. There were still far too many things he didn’t understand. Sword Spirit’s earlier mention of someone deducing heavenly secrets was likely connected to her as well.

He set those matters aside as scenes from his time with Sword Spirit flashed through his mind.

A faint smile touched his lips, his eyes curving faintly as he murmured, “No wonder the Great Profound Illusory-Returning Technique was so cryptic and hard to comprehend. It wasn’t about severing a fragment of the primordial spirit.”

“In that case... let’s begin!” Sword Spirit said.

Buzz!

Li Guanqi’s divine consciousness trembled faintly as he engraved instructions into a jade slip. Creating an illusory body could take a long time, so he needed to leave word for Ye Feng and the others. More importantly, he didn’t want Meng Wanshu to worry.

Once he finished, he glanced at Sword Spirit. She rolled her eyes helplessly, her jade finger tapping the jade slip as a burst of light erupted from it. The jade slip shot off, whistling through the air toward the ancestral tombs in the back mountains.

Ye Feng caught the jade slip and immediately understood the message. He rose and headed toward the courtyard residence.

Li Guanqi had already completed his preparations. He took out the heart and the demon core of the Crimson Lightning Lion.

Sword Spirit eyed the two items and nodded in satisfaction. “A tier-seven Crimson Lightning Lion. That girl is quite strong.”

She paused, then said, “Once you finish creating an illusory body, I have a sword art I can teach her.”

Li Guanqi broke into a grin, but Sword Spirit’s next words were like a splash of cold water. She glanced at him and said, “Creating an illusory body will probably take a very, very long time. Severing the three hun and seven po of the primordial spirit is extremely dangerous at every step, not to mention using a great demon’s blood essence and demon core to reconstruct your body and dantian.

“The Annihilation Lightning Spirit is crucial for forging your yin body, as it will serve as that body’s spirit root. On top of that, you must fuse the Lightning Dragon Flame into the yin body. Every step is like scaling a cliff bare-handed, fraught with danger.”

Li Guanqi felt his heart tighten. Every stage of his illusory body’s creation was hundreds, if not thousands, of times more perilous than what ordinary cultivators faced. For others, creating a clone was little more than a casual act. For him, the slightest misstep meant annihilation. Yet he hadn’t mentioned any of this in the jade slip.

He exhaled. “Bring it on.”

Li Guanqi steadied his mind and spirit, casting aside all stray thoughts as he began to cultivate. First, he needed to fully shape the illusory body’s physique. During this process, he had to sever and merge part of his primordial soul into it. Otherwise, the completed body would reject his soul’s aura.

Sword Spirit didn’t rush him. She sat before him, using spirit light to map out the full circulation paths of the techniques and every critical detail to watch for.

Since Li Guanqi already possessed the Lightning Dragon Flame, he had saved himself considerable effort in shaping the body. Even so, attempting it for the first time left him tense. He could only rely on his powerful divine consciousness to simulate the entire process again and again.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Time passed slowly. Inside the cave dwelling, the flow of time had already diverged from the outside world at a ratio of five to one. With Sword Spirit present, maintaining a time-flow formation posed no difficulty, and with an abundance of spirit stones fueling it, the consumption was negligible.

Back at the courtyard residence, Meng Wanshu awoke on the second day after returning.

With her stock of precious heavenly materials and immortal herbs, she recovered rapidly from her injuries, though her vital force still fluctuated violently. The seal that had once suppressed her internal power had already vanished, leaving her momentarily unaccustomed to her newfound strength. Fortunately, her realm was high enough to keep it under control.

During this period, she went to the mountain outside the cave dwelling every day, standing there for several hours at a time. An inexplicable unease gnawed at her; she couldn’t feel even the slightest trace of Li Guanqi’s aura.

Ye Feng did his best to comfort her. “Sister-in-law, there’s no need to worry so much. Boss will definitely be fine. He’s just creating an illusory body. He’ll come out of seclusion before long.”

Meng Wanshu forced a smile and left. Despite his words, a flicker of worry passed through Ye Feng’s eyes as well.

Cao Yan had also been in seclusion during this time. It likely wouldn’t be long before he broke through to the Illusory Refinement Realm. After all, Lu Kangnian had been paying him exceptional attention lately, pouring a lot of resources into him.

Ye Feng thought of Xiao Chen, who had already left. He took out a jade slip and sent a message. “You bastard, no news after going back?”

The message vanished like a stone sinking into the ocean. No reply came.

Ye Feng frowned, unable to figure out what was going on.

He spoke again in a low voice. “What, are you scared I’ll beat you up once you answer? What happened?”

Still no response. Without hesitation, Ye Feng went straight to Meng Wanshu. After hearing the situation, she immediately reached out through her network of contacts to investigate the Xiao family. Yet no matter how many people she contacted, the answers were all the same. “We can’t get in touch with anyone from the Xiao family.”

Her brows furrowed. She took out a distinctive golden jade pendant and spoke in a low voice. “Tear open the Xiao family’s domain and see what’s going on.”

Ye Feng’s pupils dilated. Whoever was on the other side of that jade slip had to be incredibly powerful.

After only a few breaths, a reply came through the jade slip.

—I can’t open it. The entire domain has been sealed.

Ye Feng set his own jade slip down and spoke calmly. “Sister-in-law, help me open a teleportation passage.”

“You’re going?”

“Yes. I’m worried.”

Meng Wanshu glanced toward the cave dwelling in the rear mountains and felt another wave of concern for her father. Logically, Meng Jiangchu should have sensed the shattering of her defensive magical treasure long ago, yet there had been no word from him at all.

She said softly, “I’ll go with you. I’m worried too. We’ll return quickly, so don’t tell Cao Yan.”

Ye Feng nodded. After informing the sect master, he and Meng Wanshu tore through space and left the Daxia Sword Sect.

As they departed, each of them left behind a strand of sword light, suspended above the peak of Heavenly Sword Mountain.