Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow at how certain Peng Luo was. “You can see them?”

Peng Luo made a face. “I’m the one who helped the Seven Treasures Pavilion breed these things in the first place. How could I not remember them? Let me show you what they really look like.”

Purple markings surfaced across Peng Luo’s body once more, and a wave of mysterious power rippled out.

Peng Luo chanted rapidly under his breath, forming one complex hand seal after another. A milky-white glow enveloped the three specks of light in Li Guanqi’s hands. An instant later, countless tiny snow-white worms appeared within the glow.

The creatures were hideous. They had no eyes, and their mouths were lined with rows of serrated teeth. Their long, slender bodies resembled centipedes, but their undersides were completely legless.

Their soft white flesh squirmed and writhed. Perhaps sensing danger, the three worms thrashed wildly, as though desperately craving something.

Meng Wanshu’s scalp prickled at the sight. The thought that her sudden surge in strength had come from those things made her skin crawl.

Li Guanqi felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the spirit light in his hands. There were over a thousand worms in each mote of light. If those worms had been left to gnaw at their divine souls, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Peng Luo shrugged and began to explain. “This is only their initial form. Over time, their bodies will grow more solid, and they’ll start developing human faces. Once that happens, they’ll devour one another until only one remains. The survivor will seize complete control of your divine soul and become a new you. Anyone controlled by one of these parasites will worship its master for the rest of their life, incapable of defying even a single command.”

Li Guanqi stared at the worms with lingering dread. “Why would the people in the Immortal World need something like this?”Peng Luo hesitated, then clenched its teeth and answered. “The power of faith. The stronger an immortal becomes, the more they need faith from the masses. The Seven Treasures Pavilion chose Qixia City largely because it costs them an enormous amount just to make the trip down here! This kind of immortal blessing requires a price so steep that even the Seven Treasures Pavilion can barely afford it.”

Peng Luo paused, his expression puzzled. “Still, billions of people live in the Human World. The cultivators of the Immortal World should be watching this place like hawks. So why is the Seven Treasures Pavilion the only one that has sent anyone down? It’s… strange.”

Sword Spirit’s voice cut in without warning, right in Peng Luo’s ear. “Shut your mouth.”

Peng Luo’s mouth snapped shut. 

Sword Spirit continued in her usual flat tone. “Some things are better left unsaid. You’ll learn soon enough why immortals can’t descend to the Human World.”

Peng Luo kept his mouth shut and said nothing more.

Li Guanqi didn’t press the matter. He paused in thought, then turned to survey his surroundings.

Some of the cultivators nearby had been unlucky enough to be struck by stray sword qi from the battle with Cizhi. Li Guanqi could only shake his head. In a fight of that magnitude, all he could do was keep the innocent casualties to a minimum.

There had been cultivators that even Meng Wanshu hadn’t been able to pull into her domain in time. She’d had the entire city’s civilian population to protect as well.

Li Guanqi hovered in the air and addressed the several dozen surviving cultivators in the distance with a voice transmission.

“All of you, come here. Otherwise, one day you won’t even know what killed you.”

The cultivators’ expressions changed at once. They had clearly seen Li Guanqi extract the power of the immortal’s blessing from the others, but they had been too far away to make out what was hidden within the spirit light.

Now, hearing what he said, they quickly approached and gathered around him, about a zhang away, their faces full of reverence.

“We pay our respects to the Yanluo Sword Sovereign.”

Li Guanqi raised a hand, and a gentle wave of power lifted them upright. “There’s no need for that. You saw what happened today. The immortal’s blessing was nothing more than a lie. The burst of power inside you is only an illusion. Those motes of spirit light are parasites, invisible to the naked eye!”

Every face went pale with horror. They stared at the grotesque, writhing parasites in the spirit light in Li Guanqi’s hands, their eyes full of fear.

“We beg the Sword Sovereign to save us… We don’t want to die.”

Every last one of them dropped to their knees. Li Guanqi was their only hope.

Li Guanqi didn’t refuse. He raised his hand and sent dozens of red threads into their foreheads, quickly drawing out every parasite within them.

They may have been parasites, but the power wrapped around them ultimately belonged to an immortal. By extracting them, Li Guanqi was also accumulating power for Sword Spirit.

By the time he finished, several of the cultivators had suffered a noticeable drop in cultivation. Yet, instead of anger, their faces were filled with joy.

Li Guanqi had Peng Luo reveal the parasites’ true form so they could see it with their own eyes. These cultivators carried far fewer parasites, only a handful each, yet even that small number would have been enough to kill them.

The oppressive aura that had blanketed the sky had long since faded. One by one, the cultivators bowed and took their leave.

As they departed, every single one of them shared the same thought: if the Daxia Sword Sect ever needed help, they would answer the call.

Meng Wanshu opened her realm and released all the people she’d frozen. Some of the civilians, who had no idea what had happened, shouted accusations at Li Guanqi the moment they came to.

 The clamor was almost deafening.

Li Guanqi stood in the sky, indifferently watching the crowd curse him for taking away the immortal’s blessing. 

Without warning, red threads flooded the sky and ripped the spirit light out of their bodies.

Peng Luo snorted and unleashed his power, forcing every last parasite to reveal its true form.

Li Guanqi laughed coldly. “Curse me. Go on, keep cursing! This is the truth behind your precious immortal’s blessing! Anyone want them back? I’ll shove them right back inside you.”

The entire place fell dead silent, and no one doubted for a second that he would actually shove the parasites back in.

Li Guanqi spotted City Lord Xue Gui lying unconscious among the crowd. Xue Gui had only just broken through to the late Divine Transformation Realm, so Cizhi’s aura alone had knocked him out cold. Fortunately, Meng Wanshu had moved him into her realm as well.

Li Guanqi snorted. He turned to Meng Wanshu and said quietly, “Send them all out. Leave the cultivators.”

Once Xue Gui came to, he rushed to Li Guanqi’s side, with no idea what had happened.

“Let’s go,” Li Guanqi said quietly. “We’re making a trip to your manor. For the aftermath, contact the Guanyun Pavilion. Qian Qiusui will speak with you about the damaged buildings.”

Li Guanqi led the group toward the city lord’s manor. He still needed to ask about Xuan Lin. Nearly a third of the fire mark on his forehead had already burned away, and he didn’t have much time left. Whether he could find any lead on the Qilin soul through Xuan Lin was critical.

In the Ethereal Immortal Territory, inside the ancestral shrine of a rather ancient clan, Pan Yi’s life jade slip shattered with a bang.

The disciple standing guard went pale. He hurriedly pulled out a projection stone and aimed it at the shattered jade slip. Pan Yi’s final moments appeared within the fragments, revealing a terrifying lightning spear hurtling straight toward his head.

In that last instant of his life, Pan Yi’s eyes had stayed locked on the distant figure of Li Guanqi in his white robes.

The disciple recorded every frame, then sprinted toward the main hall, his face drained of all color.

“Disaster! The young master is dead! The killer is Li Guanqi!”