A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

After finishing off the attackers, Li Guanqi panted lightly. He had spent nearly forty percent of his vital force. The three Golden Core Realm cultivators stopped a hundred zhang away.

They had watched, with their own eyes, as Li Guanqi and Ye Feng slaughtered a small army in the span of two breaths.

The trio exchanged glances, then bolted in three directions without so much as a glance back.

Ye Feng didn’t need Li Guanqi to tell him what to do. He turned and yelled, “Boss! Leave the guy on this side to me!” Then, he shot off in a streak of golden light.

Killing intent flared in Li Guanqi’s eyes as he turned toward the other two who had fled. Lightning flashed beneath his feet as he raced toward one of them, an elderly cultivator in the mid Golden Core Realm. Li Guanqi’s golden core erupted, and vital force surged through his body, circulating in a strange path.

Then, three masses of dark clouds gathered in the sky above.

“Spirit spell number two hundred and forty-six! Lightning Spear!”

“Spirit spell number two hundred and sixty-three! Lightning Rope!”

Boom boom!

A dozen lightning ropes crackled down from the clouds, followed by a thunderous three-zhang lightning spear.

Vital force surged through Li Guanqi’s body before draining away as the storm raged overhead. Lightning spear after lightning spear hurtled down, unrelenting

Li Guanqi weakened each spell but conjured far more of them, prioritizing quantity. Lightning flashed across the sky as the spears pinned the cultivator against a mountainside. Then a dozen more spears crashed down in a thunderous explosion that leveled the entire mountain.

The second elderly cultivator froze, dumbstruck by the destruction. His understanding of spirit spells shattered in that instant. He looked at the rapidly approaching Li Guanqi, teeth clenched, and suddenly tossed out several storage pouches.

“H-Hey, kid! There is no grudge between us! Yu Kai tricked and forced me into doing this! It wasn’t my idea! Here, this is everything I’ve got! Just... let me go, all right?”

Realizing he was outmatched, the old man immediately tried to buy his way out of trouble. But even after pocketing the pouches, Li Guanqi kept charging forward. The betrayal hit the old man like a punch to the gut, making him so furious he nearly vomited blood.

“You have no honor! Hmmph! Do you really think I’m afraid of you? Since you’re being so unreasonable, let’s see who dies in the end!”

Powerful vital force surged through the old man’s body. He had a Wood-Fire Double Spirit Root. The wood and fire elements were complementary, so he was not to be underestimated.

However, Li Guanqi gave him no chance to retaliate. He gripped his Red Lotus Sword with his left hand and used the Seven Killings Sword Mantra, waving his sword in a strange pattern.

The old man’s breath quickened. He didn’t dare act rashly. Flames erupted from his body as he charged, fire spiraling around his sword like a dragon on the hunt.

Both edges of the Red Lotus Sword’s blade lit up with red light as the power of Li Guanqi’s spirit void flowed through. The red sword in his spirit void glowed softly and infused the blade with two abilities.

“Main Killing! Blade Breaker!”

Main Killing was a force amplifier, making each sword swing terrifyingly destructive and tripling its power.

Boom!

As the Red Lotus Sword cut through the air, space seemed to subtly distort. Sparks crackled, and lightning tore through the air, shrieking across the sky.

Li Guanqi murmured calmly, “Seven Killings, Second Strike! Shocking Slash!”

The old man desperately countered. “Flaming Manic Slash!”

Two rays of sword light, containing all the strength from both sides, shot out simultaneously.

The two sword lights were eye-catching in the darkness of the night, but the lightning-imbued strike immediately tore up the flames, snuffing them out.

The old man’s eyes were filled with terror. He shouted in a panic, “No! Don’t kill me! I’m begging—”

Pfft!

The sword lights blurred chaotically, and the old man was shredded into countless pieces.

Li Guanqi’s face turned pale. He swayed, nearly plummeting from the sky.

Whoosh!

Ye Feng came back, sporting a few fresh cuts. He helped support Li Guanqi by slinging an arm around his shoulder.

Li Guanqi glanced at him, and a smile broke through his exhaustion. Ye Feng grinned back. The fight had left his heart pounding. He’d never felt such exhilaration.

Throughout the entire deadly exchange with two cultivators of equal strength, he hadn’t dared relax for a moment. He had survived by staying on edge until his enemies drew their last breath, teaching him a valuable lesson.

Still, it had come at a price, which explained the fresh wounds marking his body.

Li Guanqi said weakly, “Let’s go... check on that kid. Hope he’s still breathing.”

Only then did Ye Feng remember that they’d buried someone.

Whoosh!

They soared back to where they’d left the youth buried. Li Guanqi took out spirit stones to recover his vital force. For a while, he heard nothing but the sound of Ye Feng digging.

Li Guanqi hurled his shoe at Ye Feng in exasperation and scolded, “You’re digging in the wrong spot! It’s three zhang in front of you! The guy’s going to fucking die if we wait any longer!”

Ye Feng froze for a second, then muttered, “Huh? Did I remember wrong?”

He mumbled to himself, walked forward three zhang, and blasted away the loose soil. A moment later, he dragged the unconscious youth from the earth.

Ye Feng touched the youth’s neck and grinned. “Hehe. There’s still a pulse, Boss.”

Whoosh! Another shoe flew at his head.

Ye Feng moved his head to dodge the shoe and rubbed his nose awkwardly. “Boss, what should we do with him?”

Li Guanqi was silent for a moment, then said, “Search the bodies for storage pouches. Don’t leave anything behind. Also, hang the corpses outside Lingchang City. Let that be a warning to anyone else who thinks they can mess with us.”

He glanced at the youth, still unconscious.

“We’ll decide what to do once he wakes up. You ever looted a corpse before?”

Ye Feng froze, then rubbed his palms and grinned. “No, but I can do it.”

He skipped away and began rifling through the corpses. He even found a storage ring on Yu Kai.

Li Guanqi absorbed a great amount of spirit qi and regained about thirty percent of his vital force. He rose and approached the youth. He began realigning the youth’s broken bones and bandaging his wounds. When he finished, the youth slowly regained consciousness.

As the young man regained consciousness, he slowly opened his eyes, his vision still blurred with blood. He was startled to find the blind youth standing directly above him. Looking around, he saw the ground littered with the corpses of Dark Blood Association members.

For the first time in his life, there was light in his eyes.

He looked at Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi sat cross-legged in front of him and smiled. “What is your name?”

The youth smiled and said, “I am Cao Yan.”