Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The group ran for a long time until they saw the blurry silhouette of the gigantic sect entrance. The sect’s grounds spanned nearly ten thousand zhang, making it as vast as a city.

Suddenly, the sound of a commotion reached their ears once more. Li Guanqi held up his hand, instructing them to stop. They hid behind a boulder and peeked out.

Six tier-one demonic beasts were attacking a group of disciples clad in earth-colored robes.

Li Guanqi frowned. Those were Zhenyue Mountain Sect disciples. They had likely stumbled upon some treasure, only to be discovered by the beasts. Two of the disciples were already injured, and it did not look like they could hold out for much longer.

His mind raced as he weighed the risks and benefits of helping them before finally deciding to help them.

When Ye Feng noticed Li Guanqi’s reaction, he asked, “Old Li, are we going to help them?”

Li Guanqi explained quickly, “We must! And it’s not because of our good relationship with the Zhenyue Mountain Sect.

“Look, we’ve already killed disciples of the Seven Strings Sect, and we also stirred up trouble between us and the Azure Dragon Island earlier. Furthermore, the Myriad Immortal Sword Sect and Purple Cloud Sect have clearly allied. We need allies.”

The group nodded in agreement. Li Guanqi wasn’t acting out of blind righteousness—he had assessed the situation with a clear head.

Without further hesitation, they ran toward the battle a hundred zhang away.Li Guanqi shouted, “Brothers of Zhenyue Mountain Sect! Hold on! We’re coming to help!”

The people from the Zhenyue Mountain Sect lit up when they heard him, but their leader sent them a voice transmission. “We must be cautious!”

Three disciples were fending off the beasts while shielding their two injured comrades, trying to create some distance.

As soon as Li Guanqi’s group joined the fray, the battle shifted in their favor. The tier-one beasts they were facing now were nothing compared to the two tier-two beasts they had encountered earlier. The beasts they were facing now were much smaller and weaker.

Ke Qin’s specialty was dealing the final blow. With each pluck of the strings of her guqin, sound waves infused with spirit power reached the beasts and clouded their minds.

Before long, Li Guanqi and his team had slain four of the Purple Demon Lizards, while the Zhenyue Mountain Sect disciples finished off the remaining two.

Li Guanqi instructed Lin Dong to retrieve the demonic beasts’ inner cores. Then, he approached the Zhenyue Mountain Sect disciples.

Their leader was a young man with a toned body and a hardened expression. He wrapped one palm around his other fist in a fist salute and said in a deep voice, ”I am Shen Qi from the Zhenyue Mountain Sect! On behalf of my team, I thank the Daxia Sword Sect for saving us!”

His gratitude was sincere—he understood that if Li Guanqi’s group had harbored ill intentions, they could have easily taken advantage of their weakened state. There would have been no need for deception or schemes.

Li Guanqi introduced his team before saying, “There are many beasts in this realm. We should move quickly. Let’s head toward the sect entrance together.”

Shen Qi nodded, and the two teams set off toward the large mountain.

Along the way, Li Guanqi learned what had happened to them. The disciples of Azure Dragon Island Sect had stolen some eggs from a Purple Demon Lizard’s nest, leading to the Zhenyue Mountain Sect’s team being chased instead.

“You guys got unlucky. You didn’t get any treasures, yet you had two casualties,” said Li Guanqi with a grin.

Shen Qi’s expression darkened as he spoke through gritted teeth. “If I catch those Azure Dragon Island Sect bastards, I’ll personally teach them a lesson! Oh, by the way, I heard from them that you guys have beef with the weasels from the Seven Strings Sect. Is that true?”

Li Guanqi grinned but did not reply. Ye Feng shrugged and said, “They tried to ambush us the moment we entered the realm, but we killed three of them instead.”

Shen Qi’s pupils constricted, but he maintained a calm expression.

Li Guanqi watched him closely and didn’t stop Ye Feng from speaking freely. He had no intention of hiding the truth—letting the Zhenyue Mountain’s disciples know about their strength served as a warning. It would make them think twice before trying anything.

As they neared the sect that looked like a city, Li Guanqi suddenly stopped.

He squatted and touched the ground with his hand, and then his eyes widened in shock. “Run! Something’s wrong!”

The Daxia Sword Sect’s team broke into a sprint without hesitation..

Their sudden reaction stunned Shen Qi momentarily, but he quickly ran and called for his team to follow.

“Brother Li! What’s going on? Why are we running?” he shouted anxiously, trailing about ten zhang behind Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi replied solemnly, “There’s a large herd of demonic beasts running toward us! There are many! Too many!”

The group ran for a while. When they were about eight hundred zhang away from the tall city walls, they saw a cloud of dust rising just a hundred zhang away.

Li Guanqi turned to look and saw hundreds of demonic beasts running toward them. And at the front of the horde, flying above them, was the Darkness Bat from before.

The ground trembled, and the beasts roared.

Every single one of them wished they had two more legs to run faster.

They were approaching the sect entrance from the south when, suddenly, more people appeared to their left. Another group was also sprinting toward the entrance.

Li Guanqi’s eyes widened. There were disciples from every sect—the Myriad Immortal Sword Sect, the Purple Cloud Sect, the Azure Dragon Island Sect, and even the Seven Strings Sect.

His expression turned icy. He commanded, “Hurry! We can’t let them reach the gates first!”

There was nowhere to hide on this vast grassland. Their only chance was to get inside the sect ruins and shut the gates before the beasts arrived.

But the Myriad Immortal Sword Sect and Azure Dragon Island Sect’s disciples had spotted them too.

Luo Hu’s expression was even colder. “Senior Brother! Hurry! We must enter first!”

Both teams picked up speed, racing towards the gates.

Li Guanqi’s heart sank as he gauged their speed. If he did not think of a solution, the other sects reach the gates first and shut them out, leaving them to die.

Li Guanqi turned to look at Shen Qi. “I’m going ahead to prevent them from shutting the city gates after they enter. You guys must hurry!”

Before Shen Qi could respond, Li Guanqi’s muscles tensed—and in the next instant, he shot forward like an arrow, leaving a deep crater where his feet had been. He was even faster than a cheetah.

Ye Feng pursed his lips. The others might not have known how heavy the sword box strapped to Li Guanqi’s back was, but Ye Feng knew it was five hundred jin. How was he still so fast?

Li Guanqi ran as fast as he could. The wind howled in his ears as he charged at the nearest Azure Dragon Island Sect disciple, sword in hand.

When Luo Hu saw Li Guanqi charging at them, his eyes flashed viciously. He still remembered his humiliating experience at the Daxia Sword Sect. Thankfully, he had managed to join the Azure Dragon Island Sect afterward.

Luo Hu said coldly, “Dear Senior Brothers, it seems the blind boy from the Daxia Sword Sect is trying to stop us!”

The eyes of the two remaining disciples from the Seven Strings Sect flashed with killing intent.

“Then we must kill him first!”