Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi looked at Xuan Lin, lowered his palm, and shrugged. “Boring.”

Xuan Lin was drenched in cold sweat. He’d sensed Li Guanqi’s suffocating aura. It was as if Li Guanqi’s physical strength had suddenly increased by thirty percent.

“The seals on the three peaks have been broken,” Xuan Lin said. “The main peak will open soon. No point in fighting anymore. As for the Heavenly Fire Orb… it’s yours.”

He tossed the Heavenly Fire Orb, an ancient treasure, to Li Guanqi. Li Guanqi caught it without hesitation and stored it away. He wasn’t in any hurry to study its uses.

The crowd sighed in relief.

Awakening the second phase of his sword spirit void and then destroying the Hell King’s clone had been shocking enough. But then, Li Guanqi displayed terrifying physical strength against Xuan Lin. Combined with his extreme talent in the sword Dao, it made them wonder if there was anything he couldn’t do.

Li Guanqi, the Yanluo Sword.

Once the secret realm opened, his name would spread across the entire Soaring Heavens Continent. But they feared his fame would be short-lived. After killing Ming Xiao and destroying the Hell King’s clone, he’d surely be killed the moment he stepped out. The Hell King would see to that personally.

The thought filled them with pity.

Li Guanqi surveyed the shattered mountains, pursed his lips, then pulled out a jade pendant and spoke into it. After a moment, a fractured message crackled from the pendant.—Protect… you…

He lowered the pendant and muttered, “At least they have some conscience.”

When destroying the Hell King’s clone, he’d already planned an escape route. Since he was helping the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion, they should return the favor.

Xuan Lin suddenly spoke to him through voice transmission. “Considering what you did... after you leave, the Hell King will exhaust all methods to kill you.”

Li Guanqi glanced at him and grinned. “What, trying to convince me not to compete for the treasure?”

Xuan Lin chuckled bitterly. He couldn’t fathom how Li Guanqi could laugh in the face of certain death.

Li Guanqi changed into white robes and stood straight as a sword. “Even if I hadn’t killed Ming Xiao, do you think he would’ve let me off easy? I’m taking whatever’s in there, and he definitely wants it too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been here.”

Xuan Lin looked at him thoughtfully. Li Guanqi’s analysis was thorough. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “If… if you join the Xuan family, I can ask our clan elders to guarantee your survival.”

Inwardly, Li Guanqi was shocked. He hadn’t expected such an offer. He shook his head with a chuckle. “It’s fine. Thanks for the kind gesture, but I won’t join another family.”

Xuan Lin said nothing more. He’d made the offer simply because he didn’t want such a talented prodigy to die.

Li Guanqi shouldered his sword box and stepped forward, reappearing a thousand zhang away.

The bystanders exchanged glances, then shot into the sky. Even if they couldn’t claim the best treasure, they could snatch the lesser ones.

“The Fortune Wheel Peak!”

Li Guanqi gazed up at the mountain piercing through the clouds. A pillar of light wreathed in seven-colored qi surrounded its massive peak. Within that pillar stood an impossibly tall pitch-black tower.

He narrowed his eyes, huffed coldly, and shot upward along the steep slope. His speed split the lake below, sending ten-zhang waves crashing outward.

Through the thick mist, the bystanders glimpsed his white-robed figure streaking toward the clouds. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the cloud layer.

The crowd tried to follow, but one by one, they fell and crashed into the lake below.

“Such terrifying pressure! I can’t even fly!”

“He made it look effortless! I thought there was nothing up there!”

“Uh… Does that mean most of us don’t even qualify to get up there?”

As curses echoed across the water, several figures shot skyward.

Xuan Lin smirked. He wouldn’t have huffed like that if there was nothing. Fire-type power surged through him, and he shot up into the clouds.

The mountain stood over a thousand zhang tall, rare even in the outside world. It was hard to say whether it was a natural formation or built by someone.

The pressure exerted by the peak increased with altitude.

Li Guanqi flew with his sword box on his back, gazing calmly at the summit. He didn’t slow down in the slightest.

While those in the lake were still venting their frustration, whistling sounds came from above.

Crash! Crash‌!

More people plunged into the lake, creating big splashes. Halfway up, the pressure was too intense for cultivators in the mid Divine Transformation Realm to handle.

A scruffy man gulped. “Even they can’t make it? What the hell is up there?”

Xuan Lin looked up and saw space warping around Li Guanqi’s distant figure, followed by an ear-splitting sonic boom.

He licked his lips and cursed, “That guy’s fucking insane! He sped up even in this pressure!”

Whoosh!

Li Guanqi was the first to set foot on the summit. The crushing pressure vanished instantly, but his expression remained grave. The imposing hundred-zhang tower loomed before him.

He turned around, sensing the others would arrive soon. Light flashed beneath his feet, and he reached the tower’s main entrance.

Above the massive door hung a black plaque, its characters rendered in dramatic calligraphy.

Fortune Wheel Tower.

The words sent a shudder through him. The plaque blurred, and Li Guanqi suddenly crashed to one knee, clutching his head. Wave after wave of pain assaulted his senses, leaving him reeling. He spat out a mouthful of blood before the agony finally subsided.

Xuan Lin had just reached the peak. Seeing Li Guanqi spit blood, he muttered, “Knew it. He definitely took internal damage… Taking one of my punches isn’t that easy.”

Then his gaze subconsciously drifted to the plaque above.

Fortune… W—

A crushing force slammed Xuan Lin to the ground.