A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

A lone figure stood on the back of a large dragon, soaring through the pitch-black void. As a tier-five lightning dragon, it possessed a natural affinity with all elements, though it specialized in lightning. It could command any form of lightning.

i Guanqi was taken aback. Despite being a tier-five lightning dragon from the moment of its birth, there was no sign of heavenly tribulation lightning. Just as he was pondering why—

Rumble!

Thunder crashed overhead. Li Guanqi’s face paled, and he cursed under his breath. “Did I just jinx it?!”

The lightning dragon also sensed the growing pressure from the heavens. It lashed its tail, tore open space, and burst into the outside world. They emerged above a desolate mountain range, empty of life. A massive mass of dark clouds surrounded them, spreading across a thousand-zhang radius. The sky flickered with thick arcs of lightning that looked ready to descend at any moment.

A flicker of fear crossed the lightning dragon’s eyes.

Li Guanqi patted its head gently. “Don’t worry. You’ll pass the tribulation.”

He tossed out a hundred high-grade spirit stones and several Spirit Gathering array trays, quickly slotting the stones into place. Within a hundred zhang of the arrays, a thick white mist of spirit qi materialized.

Next, he threw out a few bottles of healing pills. When the lightning dragon saw the tiny pills packed with power, it opened its jaws and gulped them all down in one bite.

Li Guanqi’s jaw dropped when he saw what happened next.

The heavenly tribulation above didn’t brew for long. Moments later, a few thick bolts of lightning tore through the clouds, crashing down with deafening roars.

The lightning dragon was afraid at first, but its eyes gleamed upon seeing the lightning. With an excited roar, it lunged straight toward it.

Boom!

It slammed headfirst into a bolt, shattering it, then unleashed a breath of pure lightning that obliterated another.

Each bolt exploded as it broke apart, scattering countless electric arcs in all directions. The Spirit Gathering arrays nearby couldn’t withstand the shock and blew apart.

But to Li Guanqi’s astonishment, the dragon’s excitement only grew. Its eyes burned brighter as it opened its mouth wide, swallowing bolt after bolt of heavenly lightning, licking its lips as if it still wasn’t satisfied.

The more it devoured, the stronger it became. Its scales glowed with a strange purple sheen, and its aura surged, already pushing toward the mid Divine Transformation Realm.

Rumble!

As if provoked by the dragon’s actions, the tribulation intensified. The scattered bolts grew fiercer, ripping open rifts through the air. Wherever lightning struck, huge craters one dozen zhang wide appeared.

Even Li Guanqi had to retreat hundreds of zhang away.

The lightning dragon seemed utterly unfazed, but Li Guanqi knew that a single stray bolt could kill him instantly.

The dragon flew joyfully, devouring all the lightning it could. For a lightning dragon, there was no better nourishment.

The thunderstorm didn’t last long. Before long, the lightning dragon began to draw in spirit qi as well. Nature itself seemed to be feeding it.

Its belly swelled until it looked ready to burst. It wriggled slightly, then let out a small puff of spirit qi from its mouth.

Li Guanqi could only give a bitter smile. “So greedy you won’t even stop when you’re full.”

The dragon landed beside him, nudging him gently with its head. Its scales gleamed brighter than before, although a gray layer had now formed on them.

The lightning dragon felt itchy. When it shook its body, all its scales fell off.

Startled, Li Guanqi waved his hands and gathered them up. His eyes sparkled. “Real dragon scales... they’re worth a fortune.”

Then the lightning dragon let out a satisfied burp, its eyes rolling back slightly.

I should give it a name.

He leaped onto its back, spreading his arms as they soared higher.

The dragon roared proudly, its cry echoing across the heavens. Below, every demonic beast trembled and crouched low.

“I’ve always dreamed of riding the wind to soar through the nine[1] heavens! I’ll call you Nine Heavens!”

He looked down at the lightning dragon and said, “From now on, you’ll be Nine Heavens. Is that alright?”

The dragon screeched in delight. Whether or not it truly understood him, Li Guanqi could feel its happiness, perhaps due to their shared bond of blood. He grinned, standing tall on its head. He pointed forward. “Let’s go, Nine Heavens! We’ll see the world together!”

Roar!

Nine Heavens let out a bright roar, lightning crackling across its body. It flicked its tail and shot off like a streak of light.

“Hahahahaha! This is amazing!”

Standing atop its head, Li Guanqi took out his wine gourd and downed a mouthful of it. As the wine hit his throat, he felt a burst of pride.

Clang!

A clear sword cry rang out as the Red Lotus Sword appeared beneath his feet. On a whim, Li Guanqi stepped onto it, wondering if he could outpace the dragon.

Half an hour later, Li Guanqi yelled in exasperation, “Alright, alright! I give up! Come back.”

He had lost, of course. Even using Lightning Warp, he couldn’t keep up. Nine Heavens was simply too fast—a true tier-five demon beast.

Instead of following his maps, he let instinct guide them as they drifted aimlessly. When he spotted two tier-four Iron Bulls grazing below, his eyes lit up. “Nine Heavens! Let’s go take them down!”

But as they approached, his expression darkened.

Under the dragon’s might, the two Iron Bulls immediately collapsed to the ground, trembling in surrender. Nine Heavens tore them apart with ease.

Li Guanqi harvested their inner cores and tossed the corpses to Nine Heavens. Li Guanqi noticed that a savage light had flashed in the dragon’s eyes during the kill. But immediately after, that wildness vanished, and it returned to its innocent, silly self.

“Perhaps that’s a demonic beast’s instinct...” Li Guanqi murmured.

At first, he considered training its combat skills, but it didn’t seem necessary. Ordinary demonic beasts wouldn’t stand a chance against its dragon’s might, and those of a similar level would likely only last a short while.

As dusk fell, Li Guanqi gathered firewood and decided to rest for the night. Both he and Nine Heavens needed time to stabilize their cultivation.

1. In contrast to Western concepts, where there is only one heaven, the Chinese mythology often references the concept of a nine-layered heaven, representing a cosmological structure of multiple celestial realms. ☜