Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Meng Wanshu frowned. Before she could act, Peng Luo’s expression turned cold, and he slapped the girl hard across the face.

“Know your place,” he said coldly. “Watch how you speak.”

Boom!

A terrifying pressure erupted, instantly driving the girl out of the air and into the ground. The earth shook with a thunderous crash as a crater more than ten zhang wide opened beneath her.

The girl coughed up a mouthful of blood, her eyes wide with fear. She had never imagined that a white-radish-like creature that had yet to fully assume human form could be tier seven.

His aura was a bottomless abyss that devoured all life, unfathomable and overwhelming. And even then, he addressed the two humans as “master” and “mistress.”

At first, she had assumed the spatial force came from a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. When her attack failed, she merely thought the other party possessed a defensive soul artifact.

But now, it seemed that the two human cultivators were at least in the Combined Body Realm, while that supernatural being was tier seven.

Fear filled her heart. After a long moment, she finally crawled out of the pit.

The instant she stood up, she spotted a man crouched at the edge of the pit. A purple lightning dragon lay coiled around his wrist, biting its own tail. Its golden eyes slowly opened, and the terrifying dragon pressure nearly crushed her to pieces.Her mind went blank. She couldn’t understand how following the scent of food had led her to such monstrous cultivators. The only reason she’d attacked earlier was that Li Guanqi had noticed something unusual in her gaze.

Li Guanqi crouched beside the pit and said softly, “Fire-Eyed Demon Fox… what is your name?”

After a moment of hesitation, she answered honestly, “Yun Jie.”

Her chest was caved in, and her fur was soaked in blood. At Li Guanqi’s gesture, Peng Luo reluctantly snapped off a fingernail-sized piece of himself and tossed it to her.

“Eat it.”

Unable to refuse, Yun Jie swallowed what she assumed was poison. But the moment it entered her body, her eyes widened. A vast, terrifying surge of energy erupted within her. In the blink of an eye, her injuries healed completely, and her fur became smooth and glossy once more.

Her aura climbed so fast that tribulation clouds gathered overhead.

Tears welled in Yun Jie’s eyes. At a loss, she dropped to her knees and kowtowed again and again. “My lords, please… please save me. I don’t want them to take me back! I’m begging you!”

“How many members of your branch are left?” Peng Luo asked.

Yun Jie lowered her head, sorrow clouding her face. “One… I’m the only one left. I risked my life to escape. I don’t want to go back… If they take me back, I’ll die…”

As soon as she finished speaking, the lightning tribulation overhead began to take shape. Several powerful auras were also speeding toward them.

Li Guanqi frowned slightly and said softly, “Focus on your breakthrough.”

Meng Wanshu frowned. “Are we really getting involved in this?”

Li Guanqi said nothing. He turned to Peng Luo, who sat perched on his shoulder, and asked gently, “Should we save her?”

Peng Luo looked a little surprised. “I decide?”

Li Guanqi smiled. “Yes. You decide.”

Peng Luo gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, “Save her! As for why—”

Li Guanqi raised a hand to cut him off and rose to his feet. “If you say we save her, then we save her. The reason doesn’t matter.”

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Several terrifying auras descended. An old man and three middle-aged men, all cold-faced, spread out in a ring and sealed off every escape route.

In the air, Yun Jie shuddered. Her bloodshot eyes brimmed with hatred.

“Hahaha! That little girl actually broke through? Good. Very good!”

“This is Yu clan business. Anyone not involved, leave at once!”

“Heh. Don’t go looking for trouble. She is a slave of the Yu clan. Don’t interfere.”

The three middle-aged men were all Illusory Refinement Realm cultivators, clearly stewards of the clan. To their senses, Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu were only at the Nascent Soul Realm, and the radish merely at the Foundation Building Realm.

Even Li Guanqi had to admit that Peng Luo had mastered the art of concealing his strength. As Peng Luo put it himself, “Even at the Golden Core Realm, they’d still want to take me back and stew me into soup. The Foundation Building Realm is safer.”

Only the white-browed old man remained silent. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood in midair, looking at Li Guanqi and Meng Jiangchu through narrowed eyes.

As the four assessed him, Li Guanqi observed them in turn, and their attire alone made his eyes narrow. At last, he understood what Peng Luo had meant.

All four wore fox-head leather masks. Faint spirit light still clung to the pelts—proof the Fire-Eyed Demon Foxes had been skinned alive. Each man’s pupils were faintly red, the irises marked with strange patterns, and around their waists hung at least a dozen fox tails in shades running from orange to deep red.

Li Guanqi took a deep breath and turned back toward Yun Jie, saying softly, “Whether she breaks through is none of your concern.”

The burly, thick-bearded man gave a cold laugh and slowly unsheathed the blade at his waist. “So there really are idiots eager to stick their noses into the Yu clan’s business. If you have a death wish, don’t blame us for granting it.”

The old man raised a hand to stop him. The burly man frowned. “Uncle, why are you stopping me?”

The old man said nothing. He descended slowly and stopped three zhang from Li Guanqi.

“Young friend, you look unfamiliar. You aren’t a native of the Ethereal Immortal Territory, are you?”

Li Guanqi gave a half-smile. “Oh? I’m not, but so what? I’m protecting her. If you want to make a move, hurry up. If not, get lost.”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The three men drew their weapons, their auras erupting at once.

Boom!

The pressure nearly tore apart Yun Jie’s tribulation clouds. Li Guanqi frowned and raised a hand, scattering the pressure.

Peng Luo flew into the air and said to Yun Jie, “Consider yourself lucky. Focus on your breakthrough and don’t worry about what happens out here. They’re small fry. I could handle them on my own.”

Yun Jie nodded silently and braced for the tribulation, still unaware of Peng Luo’s true strength. It was only a Nascent Soul Realm tribulation, and after swallowing a fingernail-sized fragment of Peng Luo himself, she could weather it through brute force alone.

A trace of nostalgia crossed Peng Luo’s eyes as he gazed up at the sky. In a voice only he could hear, he murmured, “Little fox… I’m afraid I’ll never repay what I owe you in this lifetime. But since I’ve met one of your descendants, I suppose I’ll lend her a hand.”

The old man narrowed his eyes and cupped his fists. “I am Yu Cang of the Yu clan. May I ask your names? This fox demon is a slave of my family. The mark on her face proves it. Do you truly want to interfere?”

Swish!

A streak of red light flashed, slicing away half the old man’s face and splitting his fox-hide cap in two.

Li Guanqi’s expression turned icy. “You talk too much.”

The old man shot backward, his heart pounding. A red gleam flared in his eyes as he laughed coldly. “In that case… you can all die here!”