Dugu Qingxiao also spoke with a helpless expression:
"I originally thought the Sword Chief Ranking had made an exception and agreed to grant Taiping a Sword Inquiry Token because it foresaw that he would make it to the competition after all. Now it seems I was overthinking things."
As he spoke, he picked up the teapot and poured Zhao Qian a cup.
Zhao Qian took the cup and sipped his tea, then shook his head.
"The Sword Chief Ranking's willingness to grant him a Sword Inquiry Token at least means Taiping is alive."
One reason the Azure Profound Sect had waited until the day before the Sword Champion Assembly began to request a Sword Inquiry Token from the Nine Prefectures was to verify whether Xu Taiping was still alive.
For although the Sword Chief Ranking would indeed make exceptions at the Nine Prefectures' request, allowing one or two cultivators who had not yet broken through to the Transformation Realm to receive Sword Inquiry Tokens,
it would never award a Sword Inquiry Token to a dead man.
However, only the Nine Prefectures' Prefect Liu Chuxuan, Zhao Qian, and a very few other cultivators knew this secret.
That was precisely why Zhao Qian and Dugu Qingxiao were so certain Xu Taiping was still alive.
It was also why they were willing to send several Peak Lords and Elder Zhang to search the Withered Stone Sea, regardless of the cost.
But with the Sword Champion Assembly's final Sword Inquiry taking place tomorrow and Xu Taiping still nowhere to be seen, neither man held out much hope anymore.
Dugu Qingxiao also sipped his tea, then nodded.
"Cultivators have plenty of years ahead of them. As long as he's alive, everything else can be worked out."
After saying this, Dugu Qingxiao suddenly froze.
He suddenly