A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

The elder frowned. He did not understand why Qin Wushang had traveled all the way from Qin King City to the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect just to look for Ye Bingxin.

Still, he kept his smile polite. “Young Master Qin, Saintess Ye Bingxin went to the auction in your city and still hasn’t returned. Why don’t you come inside and rest a while?”

Qin Wushang stepped past him and sat down right on the mountain gate of the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect, his feet propped on the dragon-head carvings. He lifted the hem of his robe and picked up a jug of wine. “No need. I’ll wait here.”

The elder’s eyelid twitched, but given who he was dealing with, he had no choice but to let it go and report the matter to his superiors.

Qin Wushang drank his wine slowly, a sharp glint flickering deep in his eyes. He was clearly thinking about something else.

Elsewhere, the staff of the auction house arranged a room for Zhao Zhongcheng and Meng Jiangchu.

Meng Jiangchu and Gu Changsheng were trying desperately to reach Li Guanqi and the others, but they couldn’t get through at all. Li Guanqi was rushing back to the Daxia Sword Sect at full speed and had no time to check the messages in his storage ring.

Buzz!

Whoosh!

Li Guanqi’s figure emerged from the inter-domain teleportation array, and he crushed several teleportation scrolls. Silver light swallowed him, and when he appeared again, he was already above the Daxia Sword Sect.

Gu Li lay unconscious and incredibly weak. Lu Kangnian, sensing Li Guanqi’s aura, was taken aback.

He only just left. Why is he back already?

“Greetings, Li—”

Swish!

Li Guanqi brought Gu Li into the Purple Spirit Paradise Realm.

The moment he entered, Ye Feng went to check on him and caught sight of the blood on him. He frowned, then looked at Gu Li, who was heavily injured and unconscious. “Boss, what happened?”

“No time to explain. Call Sun Miao over and bring the purple ginseng.”

Ye Feng nodded with a serious expression.

Soon, Sun Miao examined Gu Li and visibly relaxed. “Don’t worry, friend. He’s fine. These are just external injuries; his foundation wasn’t damaged. I’ll fetch some pills and get the medicinal pool ready.”

The old man adjusted his robes and ran off. He knew what was important.

Li Guanqi lowered Gu Li into the medicinal pool, and only then did he let himself ease up. Sun Miao tossed precious spirit herbs into the water and heated it with flames.

Cao Yan’s eyes trembled and slowly opened, and a powerful aura erupted from him, gone as fast as lightning across a night sky. A trace of fire flickered in his eyes.

He saw Ye Feng and Li Guanqi standing by the pool. Slightly stunned, he glanced around and saw several other people inside the pool: Xiao Chen, Coward Li, Zhou Shiyu, Nine Heavens, Peng Luo, and a badly injured person at the center.

Beside the pool, the purple ginseng was carving slices off itself with a tiny knife. Every movement and expression was uncannily like Peng Luo’s.

Cao Yan stood, shook himself clean, and flashed to Li Guanqi’s side with a grin. “Boss, what’s going on?”

Cao Yan pointed at Gu Li, puzzled. He had never seen the man before, but he could feel how strong he was.

Li Guanqi’s expression was somewhat grim, but before he could speak, Xiao Chen stood up in the pool and stretched.

“Hahaha! I’m alive again!” Xiao Chen laughed. Then he glanced around. “Huh? Boss, Second Brother, Third Brother... were you all waiting for me? Wait, who the hell is this guy covered in blood?‌”

Zhou Shiyu, roused by an opportunity to break through, slowly opened his eyes as well. Two sharp beams of light flashed from his gaze. His cultivation had fully stabilized at the late Illusory Refinement Realm and was even approaching its peak.

He stared blankly at the group. Several pairs of eyes were fixed on him, and it left him a little embarrassed. “Uh... Brother Li.”

After changing clothes, Xiao Chen reached out to pull him up. “Old Zhou, not bad. Second Brother already told me what you did. That was insane.”

Zhou Shiyu scratched his head awkwardly. Not one of them was weaker than him. Xiao Chen looked relatively harmless, but he had honed his spear techniques to an extraordinary level. Although he had lost his duel, his strength was not to be underestimated.

Zhou Shiyu also changed into a fresh set of clothes. He felt light and comfortable, and even his hidden injuries had improved considerably. The Daxia Sword Sect clearly hadn’t stinted on his treatment. They had invested significant resources in his recovery.

Li Guanqi hadn’t expected them all to wake up at once. He held nothing back and laid out everything that had happened. “By now, my father-in-law is probably going out of his mind looking for me. If Gu Li hadn’t swapped places with me through the displacement talisman, I’d be the one lying in that pool.”

He lowered his gaze to the thumb-sized scrap of talisman in his hand. The burn marks were still on it. In the end, Gu Li had thrown out tens of thousands of defensive talismans to shield him. Without them, that dense barrage of chaotic sword lights would have killed him.

Ye Feng narrowed his eyes slightly.

“It’s not really a clever way to frame you,” he said coldly, “but it leaves you no way to explain yourself. That’s the troublesome part.”

Li Guanqi nodded. He knew he couldn’t clear his name easily.

Suddenly, he noticed that the nearby ginseng had changed significantly in both appearance and shape. Li Guanqi frowned and asked, “Why did its cultivation improve so quickly?”

Ye Feng shrugged and said softly, “Peng Luo gave the purple ginseng the spirit liquid and wine from Senior Nangong.”

Li Guanqi nodded and walked over to the purple ginseng. “You’ve done well. When this is over, I’ll handsomely reward you and Peng Luo.”

The ginseng’s eyes lit up. It rubbed against Li Guanqi’s leg and held out a slice of itself, motioning for him to place it in Gu Li’s mouth.

Once Li Guanqi was sure Gu Li was out of danger, he turned to his brothers.“Haa... let’s go. Come with me to Sect Master Lu’s place so we can discuss this. Old Zhou, you too.”

Zhou Shiyu hesitated for a moment but ultimately joined them.

On the way, Li Guanqi took out a jade slip. “Father-in-law, I’m fine. Gu Li’s hurt, but it’s nothing serious. Someone framed us. Zhao Bin was already dead, but...”

He explained how the mysterious person had used a sealing technique to kill by proxy. By the time he put the jade slip away, the group had reached Lu Kangnian’s study.

Seeing that everyone recovered, Lu Kangnian finally let himself relax, though he could tell something had happened.

Once they sat down, Li Guanqi produced Zhao Bin’s corpse and explained the whole affair.

Lu Kangnian’s expression darkened. “Ethereal Immortal Territory... I think I’ve heard a few of the sect elders mention it. The Zhao clan is one of the ancient clans. Could someone be trying to stir up trouble between the Daxia Sword Sect and the ancient clans?”

Li Guanqi thought it over and shook his head. “No, that’s impossible. If someone truly wanted to set us against the ancient clans, the duel where we killed Lu Wuhen would have been the perfect spark. The Zhao clan doesn’t carry enough weight.”

He paused slightly, then frowned. “But who could command a late Combined Body Realm expert to pull something like this? And what is the person behind it really after...?

***

At the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect, Qin Wushang slowly rose to his feet as he watched two distant figures return from the auction.

Ye Bingxin’s cold, elegant face tightened into a slight frown when she saw Qin Wushang standing above the gate. Even the elderly protector at her side showed a hint of displeasure.

“Qin Wushang,” Ye Bingxin said coldly, “what are you doing here?”

Qin Wushang’s lips curled into a faint, almost devilish smile. He gave her a strange look. “Naturally, I’m here for you... Ye Bingxin.”

Hearing him emphasize the word “you,” Ye Bingxin’s frown deepened.