A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Li Guanqi made a snap decision. “Run! Run back!”

At the same time, he pulled out a jade slip. “Ke Qin! Keep us updated on the beasts’ locations! Hurry!”

Whoosh!

The group sprinted out of the cave, running as fast as they possibly could.

At the same time, Li Guanqi changed out of his drenched clothing. Ke Qin’s voice occasionally came from the jade slip.

—Eighty zhang!

They were all still a hundred and fifty zhang away from the cave entrance.

—Sixty zhang!

—Thirty zhang!

The squad was already running as fast as they physically could. Li Guanqi started to scan the space above him with his divine consciousness.

—Ten zhang!

Li Guanqi could already hear a deep rumble in the ground. They only had to turn one more corner, merely thirty zhang away from the entrance.

Li Guanqi suddenly stopped and sent a voice transmission, saying, “Go up the cave’s ceiling!”

The others understood immediately, scaling the cave walls in an instant.

Zhong Lin slipped, falling one zhang before Li Guanqi grabbed his leg and sent him upward.

The Red-Eyed Demonic Ape and the Darkness Bat arrived at the cave entrance.

Li Guanqi looked up, targeting a specific spot before leaping up. He balanced his body weight on all fours, bracing himself against the protruding stalactites to keep himself from slipping.

The group held their breaths as the sound approached. The rumbling grew clearer.

Glancing at one another, they all held their breaths. Their hearts pounded, and their every sense sharpened to its peak.

Finally, a gigantic beast slowly passed beneath them.

From above, Li Guanqi could even see dirt on the Red-Eyed Demonic Ape’s fur.

Suddenly, the ape lifted its hand to scratch its head. Its fingers came within one chi of Li Guanqi’s foot.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Li Guanqi felt like his heart was about to leap out of his body.

But then, the ape turned the corner and left.

Next, the pitch-black Darkness Bat walked in. Its wings, covered in a thin membrane, were folded tight, so it relied on its wing’s “elbow” joints to crawl forward.

The bad had poor vision, so it used echolocation to navigate, similar to how cultivators rely on divine consciousness.

Slowly, the bat arrived at the corner. And then, it stopped in its tracks.

Their hair stood on end.

The Darkness Bat’s nose wrinkled, and Li Guanqi had a bad feeling. He turned to Zhong Lin and sent a voice transmission. “Did you mask your scent after harvesting the Blue Valley Grass?”

Zhong Lin’s face went pale.

“Run!” Li Guanqi immediately said.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The whole group landed on the ground. The bat turned to look at them, then opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing scream.

Blood seeped from their ears, noses, and mouths. Their Spirit Platforms tingled uncomfortably.

“Cover your ears! Run!”

Li Guanqi roared and dragged Lin Dong and Zhong Lin as he sprinted out of the cave.

The jade slip flickered, and Ke Qin’s voice rang out.

—The Myriad Immortal Sword Sect and Purple Cloud Sect’s members have returned!

Li Guanqi’s thoughts raced. They were probably thinking the cave held treasures and were considering making another attempt.

But he had no time to care.

Behind them, the two demonic beasts roared loudly, shaking the heavens.

The cave’s walls trembled, and bits of stone tumbled down.

The squad ran at full speed, finally bursting out of the cave. They spotted Ke Qin immediately.

Having no time to brief her, Li Guanqi roared, “Run! Opposite direction!”

Without stopping, they sprinted around the mountain.

The ten disciples from the Myriad Immortal Sword Sect and Purple Sword Sect arrived at the cave entrance, just in time to see them fleeing.

Zhao Xuanzhu frowned. Why would the Daxia Sword Sect’s disciples be coming out of the cave?

Roar!

Then, they saw the two demonic beasts who seemed to have lost their minds.

The moment the beasts spotted the newcomers, they charged at them with even greater fury than before.

The Daxia Sword Sect’s group ran toward the north for a long time. They only stopped once they had run three thousand zhang.

They collapsed on the ground, having exhausted their vital qi.

Ye Feng panted as he looked at Li Guanqi, who still seemed unfazed by the run.

“You’re a monster!” he muttered.

Li Guanqi told them to take the chance to absorb more spirit qi and then said, “I retrieved a couple of things from the bottom of the pool.”

The others had guessed as much but hadn’t had the chance to ask.

“What is it? What could be underwater?”

“Take it out and show us! What is it?”

Thud! A large piece of silver crashed to the ground.

Ye Feng and Zhong Lin’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Zhong Lin cried out, “Taiyi Silver! And such a large piece too! This is worth at least ten thousand spirit stones!”

Ye Feng nodded and turned to Li Guanqi. “You said you retrieved two things. What’s the other one?”

Whoosh! A golden piece of rock appeared in Li Guanqi’s palm.

Zhong Lin did not recognize it, but Ye Feng’s eyes lit up. “Black Spirit Clay! Amazing! Such a large piece is worth at least thirty thousand spirit stones! You’ll be rich!”

Li Guanqi did not waste any time on nonsense. He stowed them away and said, “We’ll sell them when we get out and split the profit.”

Ke Qin, who had been silent, suddenly looked up and whispered, “Do... do I get a share too?”

Li Guanqi smiled. “Of course. You did very well. Without you, we wouldn’t have had time to react.”

The others grinned, though they all knew that without Li Guanqi, they would’ve all been eaten. His decisiveness had utterly impressed them.

He rose and looked far away. “Let’s walk and talk. There are buildings up ahead, so let’s check them out. They could be a sect’s secret realm, and we could find far greater treasures than in that cave.”

The others nodded. Their near-death experience had only ignited their spirits.

Li Guanqi glanced behind them.

The Myriad Immortal Sword Sect and Purple Cloud Sect...

“We haven’t met the people from Zhenyue Mountain or Azure Dragon Island. The Seven Strings Sect should have two disciples left, but they’re not showing up on the jade slip. They must have sensed something.”

They ran forward toward the cluster of buildings. Along the way, they passed two more realms, both sealed by barriers—one an icy world, the other a volcanic one.

With the help of Li Guanqi’s divine consciousness, they managed to steer clear of numerous demonic beasts.

As they moved, a question nagged at him. Why are there so many beasts here? These distinct environments... could they be designed to rear the beasts? Could this place belong to a beast-taming sect?