Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi sat in silence, eyes closed, cultivating at the center of the medicinal pool. The currents spiraling around him were far more intense than anyone else’s.

Nangong Xuandu frowned at the violent fluctuations in Li Guanqi’s aura.

Suddenly, a frail figure flickered into existence and collapsed at the edge of the pool. Dressed in red with snow-white hair, Coward Li stared at Li Guanqi.

Coward Li’s face was pale. He looked down at himself in disbelief. He’d never imagined Li Guanqi would actually keep his word. Even in that dire situation, Li Guanqi had refused to consume him to complete his own soul. He looked at Li Guanqi, his eyes clouded with confusion and conflicting emotions.

That, together with the violent instability of Li Guanqi’s aura, told Nangong Xuandu everything. No wonder he had sensed something strange about Li Guanqi’s cultivation since the breakthrough.

Nangong Xuandu remained calm and slowly raised his hand. Coward Li seized up, dragged through the air into his grasp, his throat caught in an iron grip.

Coward Li was now only a Foundation Building Realm cultivator. How could he hope to resist such power? He could only stare at Nangong Xuandu in terror.

Nangong Xuandu looked at him indifferently. Then, in a single motion, he directly extracted Coward Li’s soul.

Nangong Xuandu stared at the struggling soul and spoke in a flat tone. “You should never have existed in the first place.”

Coward Li locked eyes with him, utterly fearless. “But he chose to let me live!” Nangong Xuandu shook his head slightly. “Because he doesn’t understand what that choice will cost. Meng Wanshu, Meng Jiangchu’s daughter, still hasn’t broken through to the Combined Body Realm because her clone’s soul was damaged. Once she forces the advance, how severe do you think the aftermath will be?”

Coward Li’s pupils dilated in alarm. As Li Guanqi’s illusory spirit, he knew exactly how long Meng Wanshu had spent in seclusion attempting her breakthrough, but neither he nor Li Guanqi had ever known the reason. So that was why she still hasn’t succeeded!

Coward Li pressed his lips together and lowered his head. A faint smile touched his mouth, a smile of pure relief. He glanced at Li Guanqi, who was still suppressing his churning power, and smiled even more brightly. He turned back to Nangong Xuandu. “Then let me die. The moment I opened my eyes again and saw this world, I already had no regrets. I was wrong. He really did choose to let me live. Knowing that much is enough.”

Nangong Xuandu sighed inwardly. He could tell Coward Li had been formed when Li Guanqi severed all three hun and seven po from his soul. Coward Li was no ordinary clone created from a mere sliver of Li Guanqi’s soul. His dantian had been forged from a Heavenly Lightning Orb, and both his spirit root and vital force carried the rare lightning attribute.

But Nangong Xuandu had no wish to see Li Guanqi’s future end here. The Combined Body Realm was nothing. It fell far short of Li Guanqi’s true limit.

Yet just as he was about to act, a splash rang out. A large hand suddenly clamped down on his arm.

Li Guanqi’s eyes were bloodshot, and he spoke with unwavering conviction. “Don’t kill Coward Li! Whatever I have to face later, I won’t kill him.”

Nangong Xuandu frowned at that. Feeling the violent surges of Li Guanqi’s vital force, he met his gaze. “You’ve just broken through. Complete your soul now, and you’ll suffer no lasting harm. But if you choose to let him live… do you understand what you will have to face in the future?”

Li Guanqi looked deeply at Coward Li, then lifted his gaze to Nangong Xuandu and said in a low voice, “Whatever I have to face… is my choice!”

Vital energy rippled outward from Nangong Xuandu. The two of them locked eyes at the edge of the pool, neither willing to yield.

After a long moment, Nangong Xuandu relented. He released Coward Li’s soul, lifted the silence-sealing restriction, and shoved the soul back into his body.

Li Guanqi bowed his head, blood seeping from the corner of his lips, and returned to the center of the pool to sit cross-legged once more. He looked at Nangong Xuandu and said quietly, “Thank you.”

Nangong Xuandu took a deep breath and exhaled slowly with a long sigh. “You brat. I’d like to see how you’ll handle this in the future.”

With that, he kicked the unconscious Coward Li straight into the medicinal pool.

Li Guanqi watched Nangong Xuandu go, then rolled Coward Li onto his back so he wouldn’t drown.

Next, he took Peng Luo and Nine Heavens out of the sword coffin. Both were gravely wounded, and he laid them carefully at his side, his eyes dark with pain. The battle had left them badly weakened, and it would take a long time for them to recover. They had been on the verge of a breakthrough, only to lose the opportunity.

Guilt weighing on his heart, Li Guanqi glanced at the two beside him before closing his eyes and sinking back into cultivation. There was still something he had to do. His consciousness sank into the space within the sword coffin.

The space was now sealed behind layer upon layer of crimson barriers, making it even harder to detect.

Sword Spirit stood motionless, staring blankly at the broken Red Lotus Sword in her hand.

A trace of pain flashed through Li Guanqi’s eyes, and his voice grew hoarse as he spoke. “Red Lotus… can it still be restored?”

He could feel the aura of the Red Lotus Sword’s spirit fading, and the pain was almost unbearable. Taking the broken sword into his hands, he looked up at Sword Spirit, his eyes red.

Her expression was equally troubled. After a long silence, she took a deep breath, as though something had suddenly occurred to her. “I didn’t want to give this to Red Lotus yet… but it seems the plan must be brought forward.”

Li Guanqi frowned in confusion. What is she gonna give to Red Lotus?

Sword Spirit raised a hand and lifted Lu Wuhen’s corpse into the air. She looked at Li Guanqi intently. “I didn’t want to use Lu Wuhen yet.”

“Why?” Li Guanqi asked, frowning.

He believed that reclaiming the projection of her true self would be beneficial. It was also one of the reasons he had insisted on killing Lu Wuhen at any cost.

Sword Spirit shook her head gently. “Lu Wuhen is likely the work of someone from the Upper World, but that person left behind no obvious methods. Lu Wuhen is still himself—he didn’t even know he was nothing more than a thread in someone else’s hands.”

The more Li Guanqi listened, the more confused he grew. “How can you be so certain he was just a pawn?”

Sword Spirit’s eyes turned grave. “Because it should’ve been impossible for the sword tip to appear in the Human World in any form at all!”

FavoriteChapter marked as read!Undo