Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi smiled and said softly, “Come. I’ll take you to a mortal city for a stroll.”

Meng Wanshu’s face lit up with joy, and her eyes shone brightly. She hadn’t expected him to remember the offhand remark she’d made. “Really? That’s wonderful! Wait for me. I need to change my clothes.”

Before Li Guanqi could respond, she raised a hand and conjured a wall of ice around herself. Moments later, she emerged in a new outfit.

She wore a pale-blue blouse embroidered in silver thread with butterflies flitting among flowers. Its unusually wide sleeves fluttered in the breeze, and the blouse cinched tight at her waist above a long goose-yellow skirt embroidered with white magnolias.

Her lustrous black hair was styled in a simple bun adorned with only a few milky-white pearl ornaments. A single jade hairpin rested in the bun at an angle. With only a touch of makeup, Meng Wanshu looked even more graceful and radiant, as lovely as a flower in spring.

Li Guanqi stared at her, rooted to the spot, and Meng Wanshu blushed under his gaze. She usually dressed plainly, and this was the first time she had dressed up like this. She spun in place, and the walls of ice shattered around her, the ice crystals glittering in the sunlight like tiny stars circling her.

Her voice was soft and gentle. “Do I look good?”

Li Guanqi grinned foolishly. “You look beautiful.”

He glanced down at his own clothes and chuckled. “Guess I’d better clean up too.”

After sending a surge of vital force through his body to blast away the dust, he changed into a fitted robe of white brocade. A jade sash cinched his slender waist, accentuating his tall, upright figure. He held one hand behind his back, and his dark hair was tied up beneath a white jade crown adorned with an ice-blue gemstone.

Li Guanqi’s sharply defined features included a high-bridged nose, thin lips, and a small mole beside his nose. His gaze was deep, and a faint, warm smile touched the corners of his mouth. He carried himself with ‌natural grace and an air of sophistication and nobility.

Meng Wanshu stared, equally captivated. Li Guanqi rarely dressed so elegantly.

He smiled and held out his arm. Meng Wanshu slipped her hand around it, and her smile bloomed like a flower in the spring breeze.

Robes fluttering, the two of them wandered aimlessly between heaven and earth, and Meng Wanshu found she no longer cared whether they reached a mortal city at all.

Li Guanqi closed his eyes and scanned the area with his divine consciousness. Before long, he discovered a bustling city nearby. He chuckled. “Let’s go there. It looks lively.”

Meng Wanshu nodded with a smile and pulled out a pale-blue veil from her storage ring, fastening it over her face. Only her eyes showed above it, lending her a mysterious charm. Her eyes crinkled into crescents as she looked directly at him. “Anywhere is fine.”

Li Guanqi smiled, took her by the arm, and teleported away. Moments later, the two hovered above the city.

A vast city spanning dozens of li stretched out below them. Night had fallen, yet the city still hummed with activity. Li Guanqi brought Meng Wanshu down from the sky, and they appeared inside the city without a sound. With their cultivation, no one there could detect their arrival.

Li Guanqi glanced back at the pale-red city wall. A plaque hung above the gate, bearing a beautiful name.

“Qixia City. What a lovely name.” Meng Wanshu stood there in a daze, murmuring to herself as she gazed at the inscription.

Li Guanqi took her hand and smiled. “Come on. This is the liveliest time of day for the city. We’ve come at just the right moment.”

Meng Wanshu grinned and pulled Li Guanqi into the crowd.

At the same time, inside the city lord’s manor, an elderly man bowed and reported to a man in a dark-blue brocade robe.

“City Lord, it appears two exceptionally powerful individuals have entered the city.”

The stern-faced man didn’t even look up. “It’s fine. Just make a note of it. No need to make a fuss. They’re probably only passing through and stopping to rest.”

The old man nodded and vanished. Once he was gone, the man set down his brush and sat up straight. He murmured, “If Elder Zheng calls them powerful, they’re likely cultivators of at least the Illusory Refinement Realm.”

He let the matter go, frowning instead at the report on his jade slip. “Hmph! Who exactly is backing the Pan clan?”

He paced the room, the jade slip clutched in his hand, his eyes narrowed in thought. Finally, he let out a sigh.

Night fell, and the city blazed with light. Brilliant lanterns swayed along the streets and illuminated every corner, their light flowing between the buildings and mingling with the stars above.

Outside the taverns and teahouses, hawkers called out without pause. Singing girls performed onstage, their voices sweet and melodious, making the night seem like a joyous dream. Food stalls crowded the streets, with white steam curling upward as countless mouthwatering aromas mingled in the air. Children raced about clutching pinwheels and pastries, their innocent laughter ringing through the streets.

Meng Wanshu was all smiles. Holding a delicate pastry, she browsed the jewelry laid out before her. She grabbed a pearl hairpin and held it beside her hair, turning to Li Guanqi. “Do you think this would look good on me?”

Li Guanqi gazed at her and smiled. “Of course. You’re beautiful, Wanshu. Everything looks good on you.”

He fished out a few bits of silver and bought it. The old woman selling it beamed and squinted with delight. She tucked the hairpin into a small wooden box and handed it over with a warm smile. The old woman glanced knowingly between the two of them but kept her thoughts to herself.

Meng Wanshu’s cheeks turned red under the old woman’s knowing look, and she hurried off as though fleeing.

The deeper they went into the city, the more its rich local character pressed in around them. More and more of those around them wore bright, lavish garments and oversized masks of every shape.

Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu stood by the roadside, watching the spectacle with curiosity. People leaned from the windows of a nearby teahouse, tossing copper coins, pieces of silver, and even gold toward the procession below.

“Welcome the Immortals!”

“Welcome the Immortals! May this year be smooth and prosperous!”

Everyone was chanting phrases that Li Guanqi couldn’t make sense of. Even Meng Wanshu looked on with wonder.

Fireworks burst across the night sky. The thunderous crash of gongs and drums, the roar of the crowd, and the swell of music merged into a sea of revelry. People sang and danced, lost in the joy of the moment.

A grand procession of a hundred people swept past, and no one dared to stand in its way. Their destination was the Qixian Tower, inside Qixia Academy, the largest academy in Qixia City.

Curious, Li Guanqi turned to a man leaning out of a window nearby and asked, “What kind of ceremony is this?”

The man was around forty, with a stubbled face and an honest air about him. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he leaned against the window frame and grinned. “You from out of town, young master? Hahaha! This is our Qixia City’s immortal-welcoming ceremony. Happens once every ten years. Old tradition. Tomorrow’s the real show, over at Qixia Academy. You might even see a real immortal descend from the heavens!”

Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected such a rough-looking commoner to speak so casually of immortals descending from the heavens.

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