A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Li Guanqi’s aura abruptly faltered. He clenched his jaw until his teeth cracked. The power gathered in his sword slowly faded, and at last, he lowered the blade in his left hand.

“Fine! I’ll give it to you! Just promise you won’t kill my master.” Li Guanqi said, his voice trembling.

Spirit Pardon could suppress the chains, but without his connection to Sword Spirit, he had no way to use it. The sword coffin might have sealed itself away, but he would never choose it over his master’s life.

The black-robed man laughed coldly. “Good. Then open your mind to me...”

Li Guanqi did as he was told, lowering his mental defenses and letting the man pull the sword coffin from his body.

Li Nanting shook his head frantically. He knew exactly what the sword coffin meant to Li Guanqi. The greatest secret Li Guanqi had carried throughout his cultivation journey might well be hidden inside it. If the enemy took it, Li Guanqi’s strength would suffer a devastating blow.

Tears welled in Li Nanting’s eyes as he continued to shake his head. He bit through his lip, and determination gradually settled in his gaze. Time and again, Li Guanqi had left protective sword qi within his body. He had even prepared spatial array runes capable of transporting him away in an instant. Yet, in the end, Li Nanting had still become a burden.

Li Nanting looked beyond the blood-mist barrier. Through the haze, he could just make out Shen Lan standing anxiously in midair. A conflicted look crossed his face before he turned back to Li Guanqi.

Even bound by chains, Li Nanting smiled as he always had, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

Li Guanqi’s entire body went numb. He knew what his master intended to do.

“No!” Li Guanqi roared. “Master, don’t! Don’t do it!”

Li Nanting’s voice sounded in Li Guanqi’s ears. “Silly disciple, I’ve had more than enough out of this life. I never managed to teach you much, but... in my next life, I’ll make sure I’m stronger before I take you as my disciple again! I only hope that when that time comes, you’ll still be able to find me.”

Boom!

Li Nanting’s dantian swelled and exploded.

Rumble!

The jade slip in Shen Lan’s hand shattered. Her entire body went limp, and she slumped in midair.

“Nanting...”

Li Guanqi raised his sword. As his divine soul burned, he seized the golden chains with one hand. The countless wraiths gathered within his sword set their own souls ablaze as well.

Eyes bloodshot with fury, Li Guanqi strode toward the black-robed man. The dragon scales covering his arm shattered, and with a muffled burst, blood sprayed from his flesh. Every muscle in his arm drew taut, and the knuckles of his sword hand turned stark white. He swung with all his strength.

Roar!

A violent pressure surged through the heavens and earth, making every airborne cultivator below the Combined Body Realm plunge from the sky.

Li Guanqi’s power was already comparable to that of a half-step Mahayana Realm cultivator. Under the effects of the Spirit-Boosting Pill and Frenzied Comprehension Pill, his face twisted ferociously as he roared, “Soul-Slaying World Annihilation!”

That single strike drained the mind power from his entire sea of consciousness. His vital force roared through his meridians with such violence that it nearly tore them apart. Rampaging lightning, infused with a terrifying destructive force, erupted all at once.

A terrifying sword light a thousand zhang long slashed out, carrying sword intent that seemed capable of annihilating all living beings. Heaven and earth trembled as thick storm clouds blanketed the sky for a hundred li in every direction. Bolts of lightning as thick as tree trunks churned within the oppressive black clouds, while fierce winds swept sand and stones across the ground.

It was as though the end of the world had come. Everyone who saw that sword light felt their very souls tremble.

“ARGHHHHHH! Die! Die! Die! DIE!”

Two trails of bloody tears streamed from Li Guanqi’s eyes as a stream of blood spilled from his lips. Every dragon scale covering his arms shattered, while the chains wrapped around his body were ripped away along with chunks of flesh.

The mysterious black-robed man stared at the sword light in horror, trembling uncontrollably.

Li Guanqi’s strike was powerful enough to kill a peak Combined Body Realm cultivator. The immense power within it had nearly drained him of everything he had, and it also contained an overwhelming amount of soul power. This sword could slay both body and soul.

The man’s expression turned grave. He stretched out his left hand, pulled the sword coffin into his grasp, and stored it in his realm space.

He slowly extended his right hand, and a terrifying palm seal several hundred zhang wide descended from the heavens. The ground sank by more than one zhang across a three-thousand-zhang radius. The overwhelming pressure drove every mountain in the sect down by dozens of zhang.

“Great Heavenly Spirit Tribulation Transcending Palm!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sword light tore through the terrifying palm seal like a blade slicing through tough hide, splitting it cleanly in two.

With the blood-mist barrier shattered, more than a dozen powerhouses attacked without hesitation, pushing through the pressure bearing down on them.

“Die!”

With a furious roar, Li Guanqi squeezed out the last of his strength and swung his sword.

Boom!

Pfft!

The sword light passed through the opening in the spirit-light palm seal and slashed across the black-robed man’s chest.

The sword light sliced straight through his body and continued onward, carving a massive chasm more than a thousand zhang long into the mountains behind the Daxia Sword Sect. Lightning flickered within the ravine, while its terrifying killing intent and sword qi lingered without dispersing.

The man screamed, and his figure gradually distorted. His body was engulfed by lightning. As the lightning’s destructive force erupted, his form dissolved into motes of spirit light.

Li Guanqi fought to keep his eyes open, staring at the man as blood spilled from his lips in mouthfuls. His body swayed, but his voice rang with fury. “Your divine soul... has been marked by me! Ten years... Within ten years... I’ll find you... and tear you... to pieces!”

The black-robed man said nothing. His eyes stayed fixed on Li Guanqi from beneath his hood, even as his body disintegrated into countless specks of spirit light.

Li Guanqi staggered. Ignoring those who tried to support him, he swallowed another Spirit-Boosting Pill and forcibly squeezed even more power from his exhausted body.

His Sword Prison domain flickered in and out of existence. Li Guanqi spread his arms wide as veins bulged across his forehead. The blood vessels throughout his body ruptured at once, enveloping him in a thick cloud of blood mist.

Straining to get the words out, he murmured, “Blood Art, Soul Gathering!”

Buzz!

A profound, terrifying fluctuation spread outward. The fragments of a soul scattered throughout the void were drawn out one by one, and before long, the shattered remnants of Li Nanting’s primordial soul had been pieced back together.

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Guanqi took out a Profound Origin Sacred Soul Pill and crushed it in his hand.

Rumble!

Heaven and earth rumbled as waves of extraordinarily pure medicinal power flooded into Li Nanting’s illusory soul.

Buzz!

A Qilin phantom roared, and the cracks across Li Nanting’s primordial soul slowly began to close. Only then did Li Guanqi breathe a sigh of relief.

However, Li Nanting’s divine soul was now terribly fragile, like a newborn child’s. His cultivation was gone.

With the last of his consciousness, Li Guanqi sent Li Nanting’s soul into his domain. He swayed once before losing consciousness.

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