That day, Li Guanqi kept the old man company in the courtyard, drinking with him through the entire night.

Shen Lan arrived the following morning and carried Li Nanting back inside.

Li Guanqi left all his remaining tea leaves with Shen Lan and said with a smile, “Mistress, this is something precious. You and Master should both drink some. Breaking past the bottleneck of the Divine Transformation Realm will be no trouble at all.”

Shen Lan felt a jolt of surprise at those words, but she replied with a trace of worry, saying, “You should spend more time with him. What happened with Sui’an... hit him hard. I often see him sitting alone in the courtyard, smoking and staring into the distance.”

Li Guanqi nodded, then turned and vanished.

Back at Jade Teapot Peak, Li Guanqi looked around his tidy room. A quiet warmth settled in his chest. Perhaps only at the Daxia Sword Sect could he feel so relaxed. This was his second home, the only place that had offered him refuge from the outside world.

Lu Kangnian could never have imagined that, in just a few years, Li Guanqi would grow so powerful. Lu Kangnian had been rushing about almost constantly these past few days, but ever since the lightning sword Li Guanqi had hung in the sky, not a single Abyssal Demon had appeared within three hundred li.

Li Guanqi sat atop the mountain peak, breathing slowly, his chest rising and falling. His exhaled breath was faintly murky, and pitch-black demonic qi seeped from his palms like ink bleeding through.

Buzz!

A faint aura spread around him. Li Guanqi opened his eyes and looked down at his palms. Lightning surged across them, extinguishing the demonic qi.

Li Guanqi sighed. The demonic qi that the Mei-tier assassin had unleashed in his dying moments had been beyond terrifying. At his current rate, it would take at least six months to a year to fully purge it from his system. “Still a bit quiet around here... I wonder how Second Brother and Third Brother are doing. And Nine Heavens... uh... Nine Heavens is in the Southern Territory?”

Li Guanqi looked out into the distance, then made another trip to the Daxia Sword Sect’s domain. Watching the bustling activity inside, he suddenly found himself with nothing useful to do. Pavilions and towers were rising from the ground throughout the domain, and everyone moved in a steady, orderly rhythm.

Suddenly, his jade slip buzzed, and Ji Yuchuan’s voice reached his ears.

—Pavilion Master, we’ve got the results of the investigation!

Li Guanqi’s brow furrowed. He replied, “I’ll come over now!”

He raised his hand, tore open the void, and disappeared.

Upon arriving at Flying Cloud City, Li Guanqi found a long, shoulder-to-shoulder queue already formed outside. The city was plastered with all sorts of notices advertising items in the upcoming Yunding Auction House event. The very first item listed was... Marrow-Cleansing Liquid.

The corner of Li Guanqi’s mouth twitched. He hadn’t expected Lu Kangnian to have already quietly unsealed the peaks. Yesterday, while cultivating, he had sensed a faint spatial fluctuation from a nearby peak.

Li Guanqi also spotted a fourth-tier spirit beast cub on the listing. “Something from the Purple Spirit Paradise Realm?”

He didn’t dwell on it. He’d leave those matters to Qian Qiusui.

The Yunding Auction House now ranked among the top auction houses across the entire Azure Cloud Continent, with countless rare treasures passing through its doors. Even the Hundred Treasures Pavilion of the Daxia Territory was doing everything it could to secure a partnership with Qian Qiusui. Her network was such that one word from her would bring offers no one could refuse. Yet Qian Qiusui simply waved them off and refused to even meet ‌them.

Buzz!

The domain barrier opened. Ji Yuchuan hadn’t come himself; he’d sent a young man instead.

The young man was handsome and, despite his youth, already at the Nascent Soul Realm. He was visibly nervous in Li Guanqi’s presence, keeping his head lowered as he respectfully led the way.

Li Guanqi said nothing. His air of authority still needed to be maintained.

With the young man's guidance, they quickly reached a building designed in an antique style. As they passed through a dense crowd of people bent over their desks, Li Guanqi was surprised to find Ji Yuchuan seated at the head of the room, behind everyone else.

Ji Yuchuan had been frowning over other matters, but the moment he sensed Li Guanqi’s aura, he looked up and rose to his feet. He bowed with a smile. “Greetings, Pavilion Master. Forgive me for not coming to meet you at the entrance. There’s simply... too much going on.”

Li Guanqi looked at the tidy desk, then at Ji Yuchuan’s bloodshot eyes. He waved his hand and said, “It’s fine. I don’t care much for formalities. Let’s go to your study and talk.”

Ji Yuchuan bowed and led Li Guanqi to the back. In the study, he poured Li Guanqi a cup of tea before drawing out a jade slip.

He said quietly, “We’ve identified the woman. She hails from the Daxia Territory, originally from the Soaring Heavens Continent.

“Her name is Zhuang Yue. She’s twenty-six, has a Wood King Spirit Root, and was a core disciple of the Myriad Flower Tower. Her master is Du Ying, a late Divine Transformation Realm cultivator. Ten years ago, she was gravely injured by an elder from a rival sect and vanished. Until now.”

Li Guanqi casually picked up the jade slip, which had a partial map of the Soaring Heavens Continent with the Myriad Flower Tower marked on it.

He furrowed his brow and asked softly, “What exactly happened when Zhuang Yue was wounded back then? What was her cultivation level at the time?”

Ji Yuchuan’s voice turned solemn. “According to our investigation, she was only sixteen back then and had already reached the mid Golden Core Realm. The elder ambushed her, shattered her golden core, and poisoned her. A once-in-a-generation genius fell, just like that. At the time, she had less than three months left to live.”

Li Guanqi listened to Ji Yuchuan’s account, his fingers tapping on the table. When he killed Zhuang Yue, her primordial soul was completely intact. But if her golden core had truly shattered, the consequences should have been irreversible. She should never have been able to reach the Divine Transformation Realm and form a primordial soul, just as Li Nanting never could. Unless she had restarted her cultivation after her golden core shattered.

“Wait... Demonic qi. It’s the power of an Abyssal Demon!”

A possibility struck him. He turned to Ji Yuchuan, his voice icy. “Tell me, is there any chance the Sha organization identifies suitable candidates in advance, then drives them to the brink of death? They suddenly emerge as saviors, bringing these individuals into their fold, then employ a unique method to make them absorb Abyssal Demon power. That absorbed power enhances the targets’ strength and restores their cultivation, all while keeping them under the control of the Sha organization!”

Ji Yuchuan’s heart skipped a beat. He had been puzzling over this question for some time. Why was the Sha organization able to draw in so many powerful cultivators? After all, the stronger someone was, the prouder and more arrogant they tended to be. Without some irresistible temptation, why would people like that willingly submit to anyone?

But what if, after devouring Abyssal Demon power and becoming half-human and half-demon, they could evade the heavenly tribulations at each realm breakthrough? Or perhaps, once transformed, their lifespan would be extended.