A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Li Guanqi left the He family’s domain feeling hollow. Some things in life were simply beyond a person’s control. More often than not, things didn’t turn out as one hoped.

All these years, he’d believed He Yuning was a true gentleman, someone who could distinguish right from wrong without letting worldly ties dictate his judgment. He and He Yuning could have put the matter of He Yuanting aside and gotten along. Li Guanqi even felt guilty that He Yuning had been caught up in Cang Lu’s plot. Without the Heart of the Ancient Cave that Chu Jingze had brought, He Yuning would have died.

Li Guanqi sighed softly and let the wind whip against his face as he flew.

Then he frowned as a faint commotion reached his ears.

Bang!

“I told you to slow the hell down! Can’t you hear me?!”

A streak of light raced toward Li Guanqi from the horizon, and he narrowed his eyes. A gilded chariot hurtled through the sky, its reins held by a thin-faced young man in fine green robes. But that alone wouldn’t have caught Li Guanqi’s attention.

What caught his attention was the old man strung between the two jet-black flying horses. Iron hooks had been driven through his shoulder blades and the corners of his mouth. His clothes hung in tatters, and blood caked his body. His eyes were lifeless, and he had drawn his aura inward.

The chariot slowed. The longer Li Guanqi studied the disheveled man, the more familiar his aura felt. The chariot was flanked by four cultivator escorts, indicating that the young man was no ordinary figure.

Li Guanqi had no intention of getting involved. He was about to tear open the void and leave when the young man spotted him. The young man frowned, then his eyes flashed maliciously. He flicked his hand. A gleaming sword shot straight at Li Guanqi’s head.

The young man snapped the reins, urging the flying horses forward. “Get lost! Out of my way!”

Li Guanqi’s gaze turned murderous. That was no warning. The young man meant to kill him, and the attack carried the full force of an early Illusory Refinement Realm cultivator. Li Guanqi stopped, turned slowly toward the incoming sword, and extended two fingers.

Boom!

The impact flung Li Guanqi’s black robe open and exposed his handsome face, yet he hadn’t budged an inch. He held the blade between two fingers of his left hand, a mocking smile on his lips.

The young man sat up straighter and frowned, trying to wrench the sword free.

Li Guanqi gave a cold smile, severed the young man’s divine consciousness link, and seized the hilt of the sword with his right hand.

“How dare you touch my sword with your filthy hands!” the young man shouted.

Li Guanqi ignored him. He gripped the hilt and applied pressure, bending the blade at an absurd angle like a bow drawn taut.

Crack!

The blade shattered into hundreds of fragments that sprayed outward, each wrapped in a wisp of purple lightning.

The four escorts reacted quickly, pooling their strength to form a vital force barrier. The shards tore through it almost immediately, and the young man’s own defenses gave way like paper. The shards pierced his soft armor and punched clean through his body, splattering blood across the chariot’s silk curtains.

“How dare you injure our young master?!”

“Hmph! Take him down!!”

The four escorts converged on Li Guanqi from all sides.

The young man gradually rose to his feet, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He glared at Li Guanqi icily. “Do you know who I am?!”

With his four bodyguards charging in, the question carried some weight. Li Guanqi took out the dead branch he’d picked up earlier. Lightning flashed beneath his feet, and he vanished as though he’d teleported. There was no trace of him or his aura.

Swoosh!

A sword light streaked with purple lightning carved a jagged path through the air, shattering the power of the four escorts’ domains. Four heads flew into the air, blood spurting from them.

Atop the chariot, Li Guanqi pointed the spotless branch at the young man’s forehead and sneered. “Who are you?”

Luo Siyang’s face was as pale as chalk. Dread welled up in the pit of his stomach as he stared at the handsome man before him.

“Speak. Tell me who you are,” Li Guanqi said.

Luo Siyang’s body had gone completely rigid, pinned by an invisible pressure that wouldn’t even let him twitch. He couldn’t fathom how terrifying this person’s cultivation was. At the very least, he had to be a Combined Body Realm powerhouse.

How can someone so young be in the Combined Body Realm?!

Still hoping his identity would be enough to intimidate the man, Luo Siyang gritted his teeth. “My name is Luo Siyang! I’m the second young master of the Luo clan in the Ethereal Immortal Territory!”

Li Guanqi curled his lip. He’d heard far too many people bluster like that. So what if the Luo clan came from the Ethereal Immortal Territory?

The tip of the branch inched forward. The twig, no thicker than a pinky finger, pierced the young man’s forehead and passed through his skull.

Luo Siyang’s eyes widened with terror. No... he really means to kill me! Doesn’t he know what kind of place the Ethereal Immortal Territory is?!

Desperate to live, he remembered something else and spoke as fast as he could. “My brother is Luo Changqing! He’s a reserve candidate for the Eight Generals! If you kill me, he’ll never let you get away with it! Neither will the Luo clan!”

Li Guanqi’s hand paused. He narrowed his eyes at Luo Siyang’s terrified face. “A reserve candidate for the Eight Generals? For whose position? Hong Zhi’s? Nangong Xuandu’s? Someone else’s?”

Luo Siyang shook even harder. Mentioning the Eight Generals was supposed to give him a chance to live. Instead, Li Guanqi had named two of them as though he knew them well. Luo Siyang couldn’t tell whether that helped his chances or made things worse. He studied Li Guanqi’s expression, trying to decide what to say.

Luo Siyang’s arm was broken. Li Guanqi asked coldly, “I asked you a question. Whose reserve candidate?”

Large beads of cold sweat broke out on Luo Siyang’s forehead. Shaking with pain, he clutched his arm. “Hong Zhi! Senior Hong Zhi’s candidate! You can’t kill me!”

Li Guanqi slowly released his grip, frowning. Senior Hong Zhi’s candidate...