A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Li Guanqi thought it over and decided to spare the young man. Hong Zhi had shown him kindness, and this wasn’t serious enough to complicate matters.

Luo Siyang finally breathed a sigh of relief as Li Guanqi withdrew the branch. Through narrowed eyes, he watched Li Guanqi turn and leave. Then he gritted his teeth, glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground, and lunged at the old man harnessed to the chariot, kicking him over and over.

“Scum! You scum! Why won’t you die?! Why won’t you just die?!”

Bang! Bang!

Blood flew with every kick. After just two blows, the iron hooks had torn the old man’s cheeks apart. He kneeled in midair, whimpering for mercy. Another kick sent him flying, but the chains attached to his shoulder blades yanked him back so hard that the bones shattered. A feeble wail escaped his mouth.

Li Guanqi was already several hundred zhang away when he froze mid-step. He turned slowly to look at the old man writhing on the ground.

“Senior Kong Yan?” he asked softly, his voice trembling with disbelief.

The old man shuddered and stared blankly at the young man who had called his name.

“Ah... ahhh!”

Through the old man’s graying hair, Li Guanqi could finally see that someone had cut out his tongue. Remembering that he could use voice transmission, the old man hurriedly addressed him. “I... I am Kong Yan. Young friend, you... you know me?”

Luo Siyang was stunned. He’d only been taking his anger out on his slave. Did this insolent man actually know the old wretch? Luo Siyang shivered while moving backward, a look of unease on his face.

Li Guanqi approached the old man, his jaw clenched and his facial muscles twitching. Seeing this, Luo Siyang bolted. Light flashed from his boots, and he slapped a talisman onto his chest before crushing several teleportation scrolls in rapid succession.

Li Guanqi finally got a clear look at the old man’s face. It was Kong Yan, the Daxia Sword Sect’s former disciplinarian. He was one of the few powerhouses who had returned with Tu Shan and the others to help fight in the battle against the Purple Sun Pavilion. Afterward, he’d said he needed to attend to some personal business in the Taiqing Territory, but he never returned.

Li Guanqi had noticed his absence when the sect issued its summons, but he had never imagined he would find Kong Yan in such a wretched state.

Buzz!

Spatial fluctuations rippled through the air. Luo Siyang exhaled in relief as spatial force took shape around him. He glared maliciously at Li Guanqi. “Whoever you are, I’ll make you pay! Your family, your sect, all of them! Just you wait!”

Li Guanqi raised his head. His voice was cold. “You think you can leave?”

Boom!

Terrifying pressure crashed down on Luo Siyang, leaving him rigid and unable to breathe. Li Guanqi slashed the dead branch several times through the space enveloped by the teleportation scrolls’ power. A pocket of space extending ten zhang in every direction around Luo Siyang was severed from the surrounding world. The teleportation scrolls stopped working.

Before Luo Siyang could react, four lightning chains pierced his limbs.

“You want to leave? Did I say you could?” Li Guanqi raised his hand. “Spirit Spell, Four Heavenly Pillars!”

Four enormous pillars crackling with lightning formed a cross around Luo Siyang, sealing him inside. Li Guanqi took a deep breath, then slowly approached Kong Yan and crouched before him. He cut through the hooks embedded in the old man’s back, each imbued with sealing power. Then he took a Spirit Restoration Pill from his storage ring and placed it in Kong Yan’s mouth.

Kong Yan’s divine soul had suffered some damage, and his vital energy was severely depleted. He clutched Li Guanqi’s arm with a trembling hand. “Who... who are you?”

Li Guanqi sighed, restored his true appearance with a wave of his hand, and said gently, “Senior, I’m Li Guanqi, an elder of the Daxia Sword Sect. We first met during the battle at the Purple Sun Pavilion. Back then, I was a disciple of Heavenly Lightning Peak.”

The old man had been tortured until his cultivation fell to the mid Divine Transformation Realm. In his prime, he’d exuded an almost immortal elegance, his aura refined and transcendent. His late Divine Transformation Realm cultivation had been so formidable that none of the surrounding clans dared act against the Daxia Sword Sect.

A glimmer of recognition passed through Kong Yan’s eyes. He sat cross-legged on the ground with a bitter expression. “Heh... Wonderful. Just wonderful. After all these years, you had to find me in such a sorry state.”

“Never mind that,” Li Guanqi said gently. “Focus on healing first.”

He took out several thousand high-grade spirit stones and shattered them, then tossed out a Spirit-Gathering Array tray that enclosed a ten-zhang radius. He handed Kong Yan two more pills. “Tend to your injuries, Senior. Leave the rest to me.”

“Just rough him up a bit,” Kong Yan said at once. “Don’t kill him.”

Li Guanqi frowned. “Why not?”

Kong Yan sighed and glanced at Luo Siyang, who was shrieking in pain. A flash of hatred stirred in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. After years in captivity, he had no idea how strong Li Guanqi had become or how the Daxia Sword Sect was faring.

He shook his head worriedly. “The Luo clan is a major power from a place called the Ethereal Immortal Territory. We... can’t afford to make an enemy of them.”

“It’s only the Luo clan,” Li Guanqi said calmly. “We can handle them.”

Kong Yan opened his mouth. He knew Li Guanqi was powerful, but he still tried to dissuade him. “Child, conflicts between factions aren’t always as simple as they seem. The Daxia Sword Sect’s foundation is still too weak to survive that kind of upheaval. The Luo clan is far beyond our ability to contend with. If we provoke them, the sect will be destroyed! Don’t let my personal grudge draw the entire sect into a conflict with such a powerful force.”

From a distance, Luo Siyang caught every word. With blood dripping from his mouth, he snarled. “Hahaha! Scum! So you finally realize you can’t afford to cross the Luo clan! Daxia Sword Sect, is it? I’ll have my father and brother wipe your sect off the map!”

Kong Yan’s face went pale with terror, his eyes full of panic. Li Guanqi, however, strode up to the young man without a word.

He slammed his fist into Luo Siyang’s jaw. Blood and flesh sprayed out, mixed with teeth and bone shards. That single punch had completely shattered his lower jaw.

“Mmphh! Ahhh!”

Li Guanqi grabbed Luo Siyang by the head and met his bloodshot, hate-filled gaze with a cold smile. Then he caught one of the young man’s fingers between his own.

Crack!

Luo Siyang’s eyes widened. Veins stood out on his neck, and his face turned a mottled purple-red. His once-immaculate hair hung loose as he fixed Li Guanqi with a cold, hateful stare.

Still smiling coldly, Li Guanqi leaned in close and spoke softly. “You keep going on about who you are. But do you know who I am?”