A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Yu Qingkun watched in astonishment as Li Guanqi fought four Combined Body Realm cultivators single-handedly. He had never expected a man who had only just entered the Combined Body Realm to be so strong.

Most of the Yu clan cultivators had reached the second or third tier of the Spirit Comprehension Stage, giving them a far deeper understanding of spirit qi. Even so, none of them could break through Li Guanqi’s tightly woven sword light.

Yu Qingkun’s expression shifted. He had to stay in place to maintain the array barrier. He knew just how terrifying the powers behind Li Guanqi were, and how far his connections reached.

As such, he did not dare release the array and step in himself. He would have only one chance to strike, and it had to be a killing blow.

As the battle settled into a stalemate, a glint flashed through Yu Qingkun’s eyes. The Yu clan had no deep quarrel with Li Guanqi, but if their secret came to light, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Yu Qingkun took a deep breath. “Everyone, stop!”

Boom boom boom!

The violent rumbling faded, and the Yu clan members halted their attacks. Three of them had already been gravely wounded.

One had been torn open by Nine Heavens’ dragon claws, and another had taken two consecutive blows from Peng Luo, leaving his lower body a mangled ruin.

The third was Yu Cang, a Yu clan elder. Li Guanqi had sliced off half his face earlier, and Yu Cang had not forgotten the grudge, which was why he had led the charge when the clan’s experts encircled Li Guanqi. But now, he was missing one arm, his body was covered in sword wounds that cut to the bone, and he had lost an ear.

Pale-faced, Yu Cang retreated and joined the others surrounding Li Guanqi, all of them glaring at him with hostility.

Yu Qingkun reached up and pulled back the black hood covering his head.

Li Guanqi frowned, his eyes narrowing. He could not read what the man intended. Even Yu Cang looked taken aback, with no idea what the family head meant.

Peng Luo leaped out of the void and landed beside Li Guanqi, frowning. “What’s that old man doing? Is he done pretending?”

Nine Heavens coiled in the air, his dragon eyes sweeping coldly over the crowd. Had he not been guarding Meng Wanshu, he could have crushed several of the mysterious experts before him outright.

Li Guanqi took a slow step forward, calmly looking at the black-robed Yu Qingkun in the distance. Yu Qingkun held a pair of ancient, arcane barrier array trays. Faint golden runes flickered across their surfaces, pouring out waves of energy. It explained why Gu Li had been unable to tear through the Void Realm and reach them earlier.

Li Guanqi smiled faintly. The fox pelt atop Yu Qingkun’s head told him everything he needed to know. Even if the man had kept his face hidden, Li Guanqi would still have laid this debt at the Yu clan’s feet.

Li Guanqi stood with his sword in hand. His wounds had stopped bleeding, but one question still nagged at him. Why haven’t they used their pupil techniques?

Yu Qingkun fixed his sharp gaze on Li Guanqi. “There was never any enmity between us. My Yu clan’s experts came here today only to retrieve one of the fox demons enslaved by our clan. Are you truly determined to make an enemy of the Yu clan over a mere fox demon? Why not make a deal?”

Peng Luo sprang up in fury and raised his hammer to charge, but Li Guanqi held him back.

Li Guanqi wiped the blood from his face, a playful smile tugging at his lips as he glanced toward Nine Heavens. “Oh? What sort of deal? Let’s hear it.”

A faint smile crossed Yu Qingkun’s face, and even his gloomy aura softened. “Hand over that fox demon, and I’ll personally give you ten million spirit stones and a Heaven-tier secret art. We can consider our earlier conflict settled as well, even though you’ve already killed two Illusory Refinement Realm cultivators from my clan.”

Li Guanqi said casually, “Hmm... sounds like I’m the one coming out ahead.”

Peng Luo, standing nearby, immediately grew anxious. “Master, don’t hand her over! If you do, she’ll be dead for sure! It’s only ten million spirit stones. I can make that much for you. At worst, I’ll sell myself a few more times.”

Just as he finished speaking, Nine Heavens let out an angry roar and spat a dragon breath toward Peng Luo. The scorching lightning breath burned a patch of Peng Luo’s backside, making him yelp in pain.

Nine Heavens shot him a disgruntled look, as if to say, “How dare you doubt Li Guanqi?”

Peng Luo realized he had been worrying for nothing. If Li Guanqi had wanted to dodge trouble, he could have ignored Yun Jie from the beginning. Even after the Yu clan arrived, he could have handed her over and spared himself the rest. There was no chance he would agree now that matters had gone this far.

The Red Lotus Sword hummed low and clear in Li Guanqi’s hand as killing intent spread through the air.

“Those terms do sound tempting... But what if I refuse?” Li Guanqi asked with a faint sneer. “Then we have nothing more to discuss. Since your Yu clan dared to move against me, be prepared to be wiped out.”

Yu Qingkun’s expression turned cold. “What an ungrateful fool. Do you really think anyone will avenge you after I kill you? Do you really think the Yu clan is so easy to deal with?”

He waved his hand and shouted, “Move! Take over the array!”

Yu Cang frowned. “Family Head, if we hold the array ourselves, it will last no more than one stick of incense!”

Yu Qingkun’s icy gaze swept over Nine Heavens and Peng Luo, greed flashing in his eyes. He thought of that frost-like woman, and something darker stirred behind his gaze.

Li Guanqi caught the look. His aura surged to its peak, a full thirty percent stronger than before.

Yu Cang’s pupils dilated. No wonder Li Guanqi had seemed weaker than before.

He had assumed the illusion from his pupil technique had injured Li Guanqi’s divine consciousness. But it was now clear that Li Guanqi had not been injured at all. Not only was he unscathed, but he had even held back while facing the combined attack of four Combined Body Realm cultivators.

The flame mark between Li Guanqi’s brows blazed, as if on the verge of shattering.

Peng Luo hurriedly shouted, “Master! Don’t! Don’t do anything rash! It hasn’t come to that yet!”

Li Guanqi watched the four Combined Body Realm elders take over Yu Qingkun’s position, and his heart sank.

A sinister smile curled across Yu Qingkun’s lips. He swept a contemptuous glance over them and sneered. “Fools who don’t know their place. Since you’re so eager to die, I don’t mind erasing you myself.”

An oppressive pressure crashed outward across a hundred li.