Hi there,
I am sorry for the inconvenience caused.
I have consulted with our developer and it seems like Echo template is using :before to inject the icon. That is why, the icon is still appearing on your site.
Can you try to remove codes below and see how it goes
<i class="fa fa-pencil-square-o" data-story-attachment-icon data-es-provide="tooltip" data-placement="top" data-original-title="<?php echo JText::_('APP_USER_BLOG_PANEL_TOOLTIP');?>" data-story-blog-panel-button></i>
<span><?php echo JText::_('APP_BLOG_STORY_BLOG', true);?></span>
Thanks for your understanding