A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Li Guanqi frowned deeply as one animal after another was thrown into the array before vanishing without a trace. Questions piled up in Li Guanqi’s mind. They’re ordinary animals without a trace of spirit qi. What’s the point of absorbing them? Could this really just be a harmless exchange for common folk? But this trade is completely lopsided!

Soon enough, it was Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu’s turn. Liu Qin eyed the pair, noting their exceptional bearing. He smiled. “Heh, I can see you two are no ordinary folk. Allow me a word of advice. The blood essence of demonic beasts would make a far better offering. Ideally from beasts with special bloodlines.”

The old man watched them with a knowing smile. He treated them differently for a simple reason: he couldn’t sense their cultivation at all, which meant they had to be at least at the Illusory Refinement Realm. Cultivators so young and powerful had to come from unimaginably formidable backgrounds. They were bound to have valuable treasures.

A glint passed through Li Guanqi’s eyes. He smiled and pulled out two large jars from his storage ring. They held the blood essence of tier-six demonic beasts, something he had no shortage of. Nine Heavens sometimes killed demonic beasts but considered their blood beneath him, and after Li Guanqi learned that Gu Li needed great demon essence blood, he had made a habit of collecting it.

Meng Wanshu, being Meng Jiangchu’s daughter, had an even more eclectic collection of oddities.

Each of them brought out a large jar. Li Guanqi smiled. “Thank you for the advice.”

With that, crimson blood poured from the jars.

Boom!

The golden formation was instantly blanketed in a layer of blood-red mist. The violent fluctuation sent the surrounding spirit qi into a frenzy.

Above the Qixian Tower, a sharp gleam flashed in the man’s eyes, and a hint of amusement crossed his face.

“What a shame. It’s not from anything with a special bloodline,” he murmured. “Well, Pavilion Master, this sort of errand really is tedious.”

Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu left the Qixian Tower after making their offering. Li Guanqi hadn’t sensed anything overtly wrong.

As more people cast in their offerings, the golden formation gradually took on a faint pink hue. Li Guanqi detected no strong evil aura from it. It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary sacrificial array.

Gradually, as more offerings were thrown into the formation, tiny motes of green light began to pulse and shimmer. Li Guanqi scanned them with his divine consciousness and discovered that each contained the silhouette of an ordinary animal.

Then two faint roars echoed out, and Li Guanqi saw the flickering phantoms of two great demons struggling and howling inside the array.

The crowd moved faster and faster. The projection overhead showed no signs of impatience. Just as the final offerings were thrown in, Li Guanqi sensed a familiar aura—Pan Yi.

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. The crowd slowly parted down the middle, and a procession of men marched through, hoisting the enormous cages from before on their shoulders.

Pan Yi wore a long beast-hide coat, his expression stern. He looked at Liu Qin and nodded.

Li Guanqi watched the exchange thoughtfully. So those two are connected? That old man said the immortal would definitely be satisfied this time. Was it because Pan Yi brought something capable of satisfying him?

Li Guanqi compressed his divine consciousness into a spirit-consciousness sword and launched it at the massive iron cages.

Cizhi suddenly looked up.

Boom! Crack!

Li Guanqi’s face went pale. He jerked his head up to look at Cizhi’s projection.

Cizhi looked down at him with an eerily calm, contemptuous gaze, the kind one might turn on an insect. The look irritated Li Guanqi, but he didn’t let it show. He simply lowered his head, his eyes locked on the cages.

“Peng Luo, go take a look at what’s inside those cages for me,” Li Guanqi whispered.

There was no answer. No matter how many times he called, Peng Luo didn’t respond.

“That little rascal, dropping the ball at a time like this.” Li Guanqi murmured.

Deep within an interlayer of the void, Nine Heavens stared in confusion at Peng Luo. The normally fearless Peng Luo had wedged himself into a crack with only one eye peeking out, clearly hiding from the immortal’s projection.

A strange light flickered in Nine Heavens’ eyes. He shrank to the size of a small snake and slithered into the crack alongside Peng Luo. He coiled around Peng Luo and nuzzled his head against him, as though reassuring him that there was nothing to fear.

Li Guanqi didn’t think much of Peng Luo’s silence. They’d be opening the cages soon enough anyway.

Liu Qin’s eyes lit up the moment he saw Pan Yi arrive. He hurried to his side and asked solemnly, “Is it done?”

Pan Yi shot him a sidelong glance and sneered. “Relax. There won’t be any problems. But you know the payment and the price. This time, the eye of the array is mine!”

Li Guanqi heard every word of their private exchange. They had made no attempt to conceal it, which made him all the more certain that there was far more going on than met the eye.

Cizhi’s eyes gleamed sharply. He spoke softly. “These offerings please me greatly. I shall bestow my blessings upon you all.”

The crowd dropped to their knees as one and pressed their foreheads to the ground in fervent devotion. Even the cultivators who had traveled from afar were no exception. Whatever doubts they’d harbored had been swept away.

Only Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu remained standing.

Kneeling on the ground, Pan Yi turned his head to look at Li Guanqi. Pan Yi recognized him immediately, and a cold smile touched his lips.

A flash of displeasure crossed Cizhi’s eyes. His expression darkened, and he spoke in a cold voice. “Why won’t you kneel?”

Li Guanqi laughed coldly. “Why should I kneel?”

Cizhi’s face hardened. “I am an immortal. I have descended to bless you all. Do you not feel even a shred of gratitude?”

Li Guanqi let out a mocking laugh. His voice wasn’t loud, but every person in the square heard it clearly. “An immortal? It’s not like I can’t become one myself. Why would I kneel to you?”

Every cultivator present felt their heart lurch.

When they finally got a clear look at Li Guanqi’s face, something clicked in their minds, and they nodded in understanding. Coming from Li Guanqi, those words didn’t seem so hard to believe.

Cizhi smiled. “No matter. My love encompasses all, even insolent young men like you.”

With that, he slowly raised both hands. Vast clouds of golden motes descended upon the crowd like a downpour of shimmering rain.