Li Guanqi left the Golden Snake Sect, his killing intent so cold that no one dared approach. Fortunately, Elder Tu Shan recovered. If anything had happened to her, he’d have annihilated another sect without a second thought. The thought of Sect Master Lu Kangnian finding out made his head ache.

Walking through the air, he pressed his left hand gently against Tu Shan’s back. Vital force flowed into her like a steady stream while his divine consciousness enveloped her, slowly clearing her blocked meridians. It took a full day and night to clear the clotted passages and reorganize them entirely.

Seated atop a mountain peak at sunset, Li Guanqi exhaled turbid gray qi while pure spirit qi streamed into him like twin white dragons. He refined the qi, using it to improve the two sword techniques he was creating.

Behind him, Tu Shan stirred on the grass and slowly awoke. Her water-blue Daoist robes were still tattered.

“Who are you?!”

She looked around in alarm. The place was unfamiliar and the sky was darkening, but she was no longer in that foul dungeon.

Li Guanqi turned toward her. Her heart nearly stopped. He did nothing, simply stood there, but his mere presence pressed down on her with irresistible force. He did nothing, but before him, she felt powerless.

Her eyes flickered with sorrow, her teeth clenched, and a deathly resolve to fight flashed in her gaze. She began to back away.

Li Guanqi explained hurriedly, “My name is Li Guanqi, from the thirty-ninth generation of Daxia Sword Sect disciples. Greetings, Elder Tu.”

Her steps faltered. Her beautiful eyes widened in disbelief. “You... you’re a disciple of the Daxia Sword Sect?”

Seeing her doubt, Li Guanqi handed her his elder’s jade token. Tu Shan pulled it to her with vital force and confirmed his identity at once.

“You are...!”

Li Guanqi smiled wryly, pointing to his face. “I change my appearance when I’m traveling.”

She exhaled in relief, then realized her meridians were clear. “You helped me unclog my meridians?” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Li Guanqi nodded. She murmured in awe, “In just over ten years, you’ve grown to this level. Meeting again in the Falling Sunset Territory... it must be fate.”

Li Guanqi chuckled, though he was inwardly puzzled. “Elder Tu, why am I running into so many familiar faces here in the Falling Sunset Territory? It’s huge and far from the Daxia Territory. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Tu Shan smiled softly. “The Falling Sunset Territory is sparsely populated but rich in spirit qi. Many ferrymen operate here, transporting people across the Six Territories.”

Li Guanqi’s eyes gleamed. “So it’s the Falling Sunset Territory’s way of recruiting talent?”

She nodded. “Something like that.”

That explained it.

He produced a storage ring. “Elder Tu, use this to restore your cultivation. I’ll guard you.”

She accepted, but froze when she saw the dense pile of high-grade spirit stones inside. Even after years of saving, she had never seen such wealth. There were thousands of high-grade spirit stones.

Still, Tu Shan steadied herself and settled into cultivation.

With that, Li Guanqi took out a jade slip. “Sect Master, I’m in the Falling Sunset Territory.”

The jade slip flared. Li Guanqi pulled it away from his ear.

—You little bastard! A year! A year without a word! What are you doing in the Falling Sunset Territory?!

Li Guanqi asked cautiously, “You broke through?”

Lu Kangnian’s voice was smug. “Of course. I’m a genius. Just one year of closed-door cultivation and I broke through.”

Li Guanqi scowled. “You only just came out of seclusion?”

—Ahem. Enough chit-chat. Speak.

“Uh... I found Elder Tu Shan.”

Lu Kangnian fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.

—Good news or bad news?

Li Guanqi grinned. “Good news, of course! Would I dare report bad news?”

—Tell me then.

Li Guanqi recounted everything. After a pause, Lu Kangnian spoke solemnly.

—Guanqi, thank you.

Li Guanqi scratched his nose, unused to such formal gratitude from the sect master. Then Lu Kangnian’s voice grew firm.

—Tell her I want her to return to the sect.

“Huh?”

—Not just her. I want all disciples and elders outside to come back.

Li Guanqi frowned. This is no small matter...

The sect had only about three thousand members. Recalling everyone could swell that number to thirty thousand, and the resource demands, even on an ordinary day, would be astronomical. Pill Peak brought in decent money, and the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion backed the sect, but their support was collaborative rather than charitable. They wouldn’t pour in resources without getting something in return.

Li Guanqi thought it over. Lu Kangnian wasn’t one to expand recklessly. “Why?”

On Heavenly Sword Peak, Lu Kangnian sat serenely. He held a half-dead youth by the collar and tossed him casually out of the sect grounds, then lifted the jade slip.

—The Six Territories will fall into chaos soon, and the Daxia Sword Sect will surely be dragged in. Better to rise and bare our fangs than hide.