A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Violent winds swirled around Li Guanqi as sharp, crisscrossing sword qi shot toward him. He threw his arms open and relied on his own sword intent alone to hold the attack off.

Several booms and metallic clashes rang out from the walls on both sides. More and more people came to watch, astonished by the constant sparks flying around Li Guanqi.

“Gulp... Who the hell is that??”

“He’s choosing that sword intent?! This must be his first time here!”

“What a large sword box! And that sword... it’s powerful!”

The crowd noticed Zhao Ling as well. “The sword intent around Senior Brother Zhao is so strong. He should have no problem comprehending the Frost Sword Intent.”

“Are they competing against each other?”

Li Guanqi and Zhao Ling were utterly focused on the sword intents before them. Li Guanqi didn’t feel threatened by Zhao Ling, but Zhao Ling was no ordinary cultivator. He had a Water Heavenly Spirit Root and a sword intent seed. If he inherited the Frost Sword Intent, it would launch him to great heights—a cultivator with a Sword Courage Realm sword intent.

This was why powerful factions could raise such powerful disciples. After Zhao Ling received the Frost Sword Intent, he, too, could leave sword intent behind on this wall. However, future disciples would have to gain their own insights inspired by the essence of his sword intent rather than receiving it directly from the ancestors.

Cold qi surged through his body as the rough form of the sword intent gradually took shape. The sword cut before him burst with mysterious ripples of energy.

Zhao Ling gave a small sigh of relief and began digesting the insights in his mind. Just one more time! One more, and I’ll fully comprehend the Frost Sword Intent and inherit it!

Zhao Ling calmed his mind and took in his surroundings.

Wait, why are there so many people here? There are even people from the inner sect! They’re not here to watch me compete against Li Guanqi... are they? Where are the others?

He extended his divine consciousness and found Li Guanqi covered in sword cuts large and small, yet he had ventured a dozen zhang into the sword cut itself.

Zhao Ling frowned, contempt flickering through his thoughts. He’s going to get himself killed! Many people have tried going deep into the sword cut to feel the sword intent, and they’ve almost died in there. This is a Sword Courage Realm sword intent... walking inside while releasing your own sword intent is basically challenging it! It’s suicide!

He extended his divine consciousness further and found almost a hundred disciples watching them in a dense crowd.

When he thought about making Li Guanqi admit defeat in front of so many people, he trembled with excitement. He relied on humiliating prodigies like Li Guanqi to increase his own popularity and gain respect.

Zhao Ling shut his five senses and immersed himself in comprehending the sword intent. He wanted to prove to everyone that he deserved to be the sect’s next disciplinarian.

Boom!

A powerful aura erupted from Zhao Ling, and terrifying water vital force radiated from him. He lacked an Ice Spirit Root, which would have been most compatible with the Frost Sword Intent, hence the complex comprehension process.

Their ancestors left their consciousness behind in the sword intent. If no one comprehended it, the sword intent would disappear with time after a thousand years. That was why Zhao Ling kept returning.

The disciples saw the changes in Zhao Ling and gasped at the transformation in the Frost Sword Intent.

“It looks like Senior Brother Zhao really will inherit the sword intent this time. I’m so jealous.”

“Yeah. He’s come here many times before, right? He’s been taking tons of assignments over the past few years just to get more chances.”

“Senior Brother Zhao really is the pillar of the inner sect. Once he breaks through to the Illusory Refinement Realm, he’ll surely become an inner sect elder.”

“Who’s the guy in the white robes? He’s no simpleton either!”

A youth with a glint in his eye watched Li Guanqi from the corner. He murmured, “White robes, black coffin... a four-chi-long, blood-colored sword... When the red lotus blooms, the world gasps. He’s Li Guanqi from the Daxia Sword Sect! It’s him!”

Very few people recognized Li Guanqi, but anyone who paid attention to news from other territories definitely did.

Li Guanqi’s reputation in the Daxia Territory was equivalent to that of the Great Profound Sword Sect in the Central Prefecture.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Li Guanqi was absolutely focused on the sword intent. His Yanluo Sword Intent had reached its peak. Terrifying sword intent mixed with glimmers of red light, bursting chaotically around him and causing a flurry of sparks.

The sword qi wounded him, but he did not falter. He merely gripped the Red Lotus Sword tightly, refusing to fight back.

If he used his sword, he could have blocked the attacking sword qi effortlessly. But he chose not to. He wanted to fight the sword qi with his own, comprehending it in the process.

He forged forward with great determination until he neared the deepest part of the sword cut.

Li Guanqi seemed to see an old man in green robes laughing maniacally at a magnificent heavenly tribulation. Though the old man was at his physical limit, he still proudly drew his sword at the heavens. His eyebrows were so long they reached his jawline, and his eyes contained great kindness. Flying into the sky, he swung his sword thirteen times, but he still could not overcome the might of the heavens.

As he fell from the sky, he looked back, as if bidding the sect goodbye.

Then his eyes glinted in a final rally before death. He turned and swung his sword toward the sect grounds.

When his attack hit the ground, the Sword Abyss was born.

The old man had used the last of his strength before death to create the Sword Abyss, leaving behind the first sword cut within it. As the light in his eyes dimmed, his body remained floating in the air.

But then, the old man’s cloudy eyes reflected a figure in white. A smile touched his lips, and the vision shattered.

Li Guanqi’s eyes reddened as he murmured, “Sword Courage Realm sword intent... Cliff Drop.”

Boom!

The entire trench trembled slightly, wisps of lightning flickering across its walls. The trench was over five hundred zhang deep.

A bolt of dark purple lightning shot out from the sword cut and struck Li Guanqi.