Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi had expected the Mo Family to target the Daxia Sword Sect; he just hadn’t thought they’d move so soon. Still, Lu Kangnian’s last message had been calm and confident.

It seemed the Daxia Sword Sect wasn’t as simple as Li Guanqi once thought. He could still recall the day he first joined. Maybe it was true that the sect only looked ordinary on the surface. For it to have survived several thousand years and taken firm root in the Northern Territory, there had to be more to it.

It was rare for any faction to have a single ancestor ascend to the Upper World, yet the Daxia Sword Sect had produced more than thirty sect masters who had done so.

He hadn’t understood the significance of that before, but as his horizons widened, the truth left him increasingly awed.

Others might see that record as the relic of a bygone golden age, but to Li Guanqi, it was the very foundation that allowed the Daxia Sword Sect to endure through the ages.

Perhaps Lu Kangnian had never seen the Purple Sun Pavilion as a threat either.

Li Guanqi exhaled, mulling over his strategy for dealing with the Mo Family while recovering from his wounds. When facing one of the mightiest clans in the Eastern Territory, he couldn’t be fully confident. However, he didn’t regret killing Mo Congyun.

That night, Li Guanqi opened his eyes. Scabs covered his wounds, and his older injuries had mostly vanished, replaced by smooth, new skin.

He exhaled slowly and rose, stretching his limbs. His gaze fell on Nine Heavens, curled up asleep around his wrist. A sudden thought crossed his mind. Stroking his chin, he murmured, “Nine Heavens is a dragon, and the Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra requires the blood of a demonic beast with Dragon-Elephant lineage. But if I skip that step and use a true dragon’s blood instead…”

Li Guanqi raised his eyebrows.Nine Heavens twitched awake, shivering as if sensing danger. The moment it opened its eyes, it saw Li Guanqi smiling down at it—a little too warmly. Though unsettled, it still nuzzled his palm affectionately.

Li Guanqi chuckled awkwardly. The idea was a bit twisted, but… it could actually work. He could always feed Nine Heavens afterward to replenish the lost blood.

“Hehe. Go back to sleep. I’m just looking at you,” Li Guanqi said with a sigh. “Be good and go back to sleep.”

Nine Heavens tilted its head, then slowly drifted back to sleep.

Li Guanqi’s mood improved. He was riding a donkey while searching for one.[1]

Now that he possessed top-tier dragon blood, there was no need to throw away a watermelon to pick up a sesame[2] seed.

Feeling the vigorous flow of vital force surging through him, he smiled. Feeling this newfound power, he was much more confident.

He’d been killing without rest for too long, even destroying two entire factions in quick succession. At last, he could breathe.

He left the guesthouse and strolled along the street, relishing the lively atmosphere he’d been missing. The streets were bright, and the townsfolk gathered in teahouses, unwinding after a day’s work. Street vendors with sweat towels slung over their shoulders called out to customers while women and children laughed nearby.

Li Guanqi walked with a faint smile. With his changed appearance, he was just another face in the crowd.

He walked for a while, then he suddenly frowned. On both sides of the street, mountain spring water flowed through the drains, echoing softly. The two-story wooden buildings looked no different from before.

Families sat at their doorsteps, chatting cheerfully in the night breeze. Everything appeared perfectly ordinary.

Yet that very peace felt wrong. He calmly strolled along, subtly sending out his divine consciousness.

After a long time, he turned to look at the doors of the houses. They were all standard two-panel wooden doors. Nothing unusual there; every house had them.

Then Li Guanqi noticed something was wrong.

In old, cozy towns, every family would typically put up red couplets and stickers of Door Gods[3] on their front doors for the New Year, hoping to bring peace and good fortune. Even as they became faded or torn, people usually left them up until the next New Year’s Eve, replacing them with care.

Even the tiny village where he’d grown up in—Prosperity Village—had been like that. Why didn’t a single house in Liwozi Town have them?

He clenched his fists beneath the sleeves of his white robes, and his divine consciousness surged outward like a relentless tide.

Boom!

What he saw filled him with shock.

The bustling street suddenly twisted. One by one, the surrounding people turned into paper dolls. Someone had drawn faces on the eyeless paper figures. On their chests, there were faint wisps of spirit light that made them move like living humans.

The moment Li Guanqi discovered the illusion, the paper figures began to burn one after another. In the span of a breath, they were all reduced to ash.

The once-bright streets dimmed. Lanterns that had shone with a cheerful yellow now emitted an unsettling white. The pallid glow filtering through the red lanterns was incredibly eerie.

Coo! Coo!

A raven with red eyes landed on a roof beside him, gazing at him intently. A chill ran down Li Guanqi’s spine. He glanced at the ashes scattered on the ground.

A bloody scent filled the air. He squinted, then his eyes flashed coldly. He figured that everyone in the town was dead.

When he had first arrived, he’d sensed only ordinary mortals, without a single Qi Refinement Realm cultivator.

Caw! Caw!

A flock of pitch-black ravens slowly appeared at the end of the street.

Then a peculiar man in black robes emerged, a knife dangling from his side.

1. Chinese idiom describing people searching for something that they already have. ☜

2. Chinese idiom describing someone who suffers a loss because of a moment of greed. ☜

3. It’s a common Chinese tradition to paste red couplets (called duilian) and Door God images on the front door during Lunar New Year. The Door Gods are believed to ward off evil and protect the household, while duilian usually bear auspicious phrases welcoming the new year. See the TL Note for reference images. ☜

Doge & Char’s Thoughts

Door God Stickers look like this:

Duilian couplets usually look like this: (the vertical lines of words on both sides of the door)