A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

He Yuning only calmed down after Li Guanqi promised to give him some dragon scales, though he’d have to wait for Nine Heavens to shed. He went off to clean up and change.

Seeing the luxurious green robes, Li Guanqi asked, “Why are you dressed so formally? Is that girl arriving today?”

He Yuning realized he hadn’t told Li Guanqi about the event. “No, not her. The three major factions of Heavenly Cloud City are meeting today to discuss security measures for her arrival. We need to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Li Guanqi nodded. If she was as important as He Yuning claimed, stricter security measures made sense.

“Brother Li, do you want to come with me?”

Li Guanqi declined without even thinking. He chuckled. “It’s fine. That’s between your own factions. I’ll just walk around here.”

He Yuning realized that Li Guanqi was right. He removed the jade pendant from his waist and tossed it over. Li Guanqi caught it, and He Yuning said, “This is my jade pendant. You can go anywhere in the sect except the forbidden areas. I’ll let Elder Wu know later. You also can’t enter the Scripture Pavilion since you’re not a sect member, but you can visit the Sword Abyss.”

Li Guanqi smiled. He felt comfortable around He Yuning because of his sincerity and directness. For instance, he’d explained why Li Guanqi couldn’t enter the Scripture Pavilion openly. It wasn’t stinginess—the Scripture Pavilion was a sect’s foundation, and outsiders were simply forbidden.

Li Guanqi didn’t refuse. He was interested in visiting the Sword Abyss. A place containing more than thirty types of sword intent had to be important to the sect.

After cleaning up, He Yuning twirled his bamboo flute, rested his hands behind his back, and smiled. “I’ll leave you to your own devices. I’m heading to the main pavilion now. I’ll find you after the meeting.”

Li Guanqi nodded. After He Yuning left, he flew out of the courtyard as well.

Along the way, many people eyed him with puzzlement. Most of them didn’t know that He Yuning had brought him in, and his white robes weren’t sect attire. Still, the fact that he could walk around so openly meant he was likely a visitor from another faction.

Li Guanqi thought for a moment. He closed his eyes and extended his divine consciousness, which now traveled over thirty percent faster than before.

At my current level, if I met those three black-armored guards again, I wouldn’t fare as badly.

The only way he could calmly face any situation was to grow stronger. During this training period, he’d depended very little on Sword Spirit. He clenched his fists. Long ago, he’d understood that the most reliable defense was his own strength.

Soon, he sensed a place with many types of sword intent. They were faint, but with his sword intent at the Sword Courage Realm, he was highly sensitive to them.

Whoosh!

He flew off and quickly arrived above a trench a hundred li away. The land was black, and a thick layer of mist hung overhead, lending an air of mystery.

Looking down through the mist, he made out a deep trench spanning thousands of zhang. It was only twenty zhang wide, appearing like a long crack in the earth.

Violent winds howled through the trench, and above it, the clouds formed a long, neat boundary line.

The sea of clouds rolled across the sky, making for an incredible sight.

Li Guanqi stared in shock. Stroking his chin, he muttered, “Should I get something like this on Jade Teapot Peak?”

Lightning flashed beneath his feet, and he reappeared directly above the trench.

He wasn’t the only one in the Sword Abyss. A tanned middle-aged man lay at the edge of the trench, reeking of wine. His green robes were dirty and tattered, and his features were sharp as if carved with a knife. The stubble on his face gave him a slightly disheveled look.

Despite the man’s appearance, Li Guanqi couldn’t sense his cultivation at all.

He’d just broken through to the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm and was only a step from the Illusory Refinement Realm. His divine consciousness was already powerful, and he could even sense a mid Illusory Refinement Realm cultivator’s level. This man had to be far beyond that.

Li Guanqi hesitated, then stood and bowed. “My name is Li Guanqi. I was invited by my good friend, He Yuning, to the Sword Abyss. Senior...”

Before he could finish, the man waved him off impatiently. “Get lost.”

Li Guanqi froze. The man was waving him off toward the Sword Abyss.

Li Guanqi didn’t mind, so he gave a fist salute and continued on. The encounter made him keenly aware of the gap between the Daxia Sword Sect and factions of this caliber. He hadn’t been able to gauge the strength of Elder Wu or the disheveled man.

Tossing these thoughts aside, he descended for several breaths, but the ground was still nowhere in sight. He looked up and saw only a bright line—the sky. Black stone walls loomed on either side.

Looking at the smooth walls, he had a bold guess. Did a powerful cultivator create the Sword Abyss with a single sword slash?

As he descended, the wind roared in his ears, and sharp sword qi appeared around him, cutting his robes.

Li Guanqi perked up. He sensed dozens of ancient and powerful types of sword qi. Their auras were like giants as tall as the sky, pointing their swords up at the heavens.

He opened his eyes. He didn’t know how long he’d been descending.

After almost five hundred zhang, he finally reached the bottom of the Sword Abyss, landing on the uneven ground. The unevenness was caused by sword intents tearing through the ground.

He looked around and saw thirty-three cuts of varying depths in the black walls. Each one held a lingering, powerful vital force that glowed brightly.

Filled with reference, Li Guanqi slowly walked up to the first sword cut.

He gazed at the cut, dozens of zhang deep in the stone wall, and closed his eyes, feeling the powerful determination and refusal to surrender within it.