A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

The man in red snorted, then turned and vanished.

Song Zhi’ang remained kneeling in the empty hall. A strange light flickered in her eyes. “Soul Possession Puppet Art... still missing a small portion.”

None of this had been done on impulse. She had wanted to muddy the waters by framing Li Guanqi. What she had never expected was for Ye Xuan to see through her scheme.

But when Li Guanqi had looked at her back then, the gravity and attention in his eyes had driven her utterly mad.

“Heh... hehehe... hahaha... Hahahaha!”

Her crazed laughter echoed through the empty palace hall. The vast hall served as her private bedchamber, and typically, no one else ever entered it. Though she lived alone, she never felt lonely or empty, because she always had too much to do.

Song Zhi’ang walked to the edge of the black pool and kneeled slowly. Human faces churned beneath the dark water as though pressed against a thin veil, struggling desperately to break free, yet none of them ever escaped.

A faint mist clouded Song Zhi’ang’s eyes. Her pupils shone brightly, streaked with fine red veins.

She slowly extended a slender hand into the pool. The dark liquid, fused from countless vengeful souls, gnawed savagely at her fingers. Within moments, it had stripped the flesh clean, leaving only ghastly white bone.

Song Zhi’ang closed her eyes, savoring the twisted agony as though she wanted to carve every bit of the pain into her memory. She tilted her head back, and her skeletal fingers slid across her slender neck. Her flushed skin trembled, her breathing grew heavier, and she quivered uncontrollably.

Then she plunged both hands into the pool, grabbed several vengeful souls, and stuffed them directly into her mouth.

One. Two. Ten...

Her vital force surged. With each soul she devoured, her aura grew stronger.

Madness flickered in her eyes as she muttered intermittently, “Li Guanqi... wait for me...”

Meanwhile, after parting ways with the others, Meng Jiangchu prepared to hurry back to the Divine Treasure Territory. The Phoenix Soul Spirit Liquid had already been sent, and Meng Wanshu’s impending breakthrough left him with a nagging sense of unease.

As he walked beside Li Guanqi, Meng Jiangchu said gently, “Guanqi, don’t come back with me just yet. Go take care of Gu Li’s situation first.”

Meng Jiangchu winked and sent him a voice transmission. “Gu Changsheng is a powerful backer. Stick close to him, and it’ll do you good. Even I ask him for help when refining pills.”

Li Guanqi understood at once, though he answered sincerely, “I’ll let nature take its course. Once I finish things here, Father-in-law, I’ll come over right away. I’m still worried about Wanshu.”

Meng Jiangchu laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Worried my ass. You think I’d let anything happen to my daughter?”

With that, he stepped forward and vanished from the Ethereal Immortal Territory.

Li Guanqi turned to Gu Changsheng with a smile. “Uncle Gu, I’ll have to trouble you to come with me to the Daxia Sword Sect. Brother Gu should be waking up soon.”

Gu Changsheng smiled and nodded. In his eyes, Li Guanqi had a good temperament and treated Gu Li well. What he didn’t know was that Gu Li had wanted to meet Li Guanqi ever since swearing brotherhood with Coward Li. And once they met, Gu Li found him so comfortable to be around that friendship came naturally.

When Li Guanqi was on the verge of suffering grievous injuries, Gu Li had chosen to swap places with him and bear the violent attack instead. Gu Li knew that with the sheer number of talismans he carried, he himself would never die. But he didn’t know Li Guanqi well enough to be sure Li Guanqi would survive.

That incident had deeply moved Li Guanqi. He had only witnessed such unwavering, selfless camaraderie among his own brothers.

Ye Feng was like a sharp sword at his side. No matter who dared move against him, Ye Feng would draw without hesitation.

Cao Yan rarely spoke, but when it counted, he never wavered. Back in the alleys of Great Wind Mountain Residence, Cao Yan had meant to let things go, choosing tolerance again and again. Yet the instant that man attacked Li Guanqi, Cao Yan had activated his vital force and charged forward, almost without thinking.

As for Xiao Chen, he was a carefree young master who never seemed to take anything seriously, and he had once even been Li Guanqi’s romantic rival. But when it truly mattered, he never failed anyone. The martial stage wager had made Li Guanqi see him in a whole new light.

As for Zhou Shiyu... Li Guanqi merely admired him. There was still a gap before he could truly call him a brother, and that came down to Zhou Shiyu’s personality. Before acting, he always hesitated, weighing too many things. In that, he resembled Li Guanqi’s former self. Always hesitant. Always afraid of too much.

The two of them departed the Ethereal Immortal Territory, Gu Changsheng leading the way as they crossed territories straight toward the Daxia Sword Sect.

Meanwhile, in a silent, mysterious grand hall, a figure sat before a chessboard, holding a chess piece between his fingers for a long time without making a move.

His star-bright eyes were fixed on the board. An extra piece, one he’d never placed, sat among the others.

After a long silence, the man’s lips slowly curled upward. “Interesting.”

The moment Meng Jiangchu stepped into the territory, a terrifying pressure shot straight into the heavens, and icy frost swept across the land.

The temperature throughout the Meng family’s realm plunged to a terrifying extreme. A thousand li froze solid. Mountains and rivers were instantly coated in silver-white frost. Countless demonic beasts throughout the realm died on the spot, their rigid corpses frozen where they stood.

Meng Jiangchu frowned slightly and waved a hand, wrapping the entire mountain range in a curtain of fire.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Heavenly tribulation clouds gathered overhead, swelling larger and larger, so massive that even Meng Jiangchu felt a flicker of alarm as he looked up at them.

Rumble rumble rumble!

As the tribulation churned and roared, traces of blood-red light appeared within the clouds.

Meng Jiangchu’s eyes widened. “A heavenly tribulation like Guanqi’s...”

Still, he wasn’t overly worried about Meng Wanshu. No one knew his daughter’s strength better than he did.

Soon, the entire sky was dyed blood-red by the tribulation clouds. They were even more terrifying than the ones in Li Guanqi’s tribulation.

Boom!

The mountain peak shattered as a graceful figure shot into the heavens and vanished into the clouds.

Moments later, the tribulation clouds erupted as though they had gone berserk.

Shriek!

A clear sword cry rang through heaven and earth. The earth trembled, and mountains collapsed.

An ancient sword, ice-blue from tip to hilt and studded with mysterious gemstones, transformed into a streak of light and shot skyward.

Meng Jiangchu’s lips curled upward. “So the Snow Phantom Sword has finally acknowledged its master...”

Endless torrents of ice-blue sword qi burst forth, crisscrossing in every direction as they froze the tribulation clouds solid and shredded them into fragments.