Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The disciples of the Myriad Immortal Sword Sect and Purple Cloud Sect sprinted into the sect grounds.

Rumble!

Li Guanqi’s eyebrows shot up in alarm as the massive city gates began to close. It was just as he had feared.

The Azure Dragon Island and Seven Strings Sect’s teams were closing in on him. Before the Seven Strings Sect’s disciples could reach him, dozens of hidden weapons shot straight at him.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Li Guanqi waved his sword in all directions, deflecting the hidden weapons with pinpoint accuracy.

The ten-zhang distance between them vanished in an instant. Seven youths surrounded Li Guanqi. However, Li Guanqi held his ground. He had reached the eleventh level of the Qi Refinement Realm.

With his impressive physique and precise swordsmanship, he was able to single-handedly hold off the group.

The leader of the Azure Dragon Island Sect’s team, a youth at the tenth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, glanced back at the rapidly closing gates. A mere ten zhang gap remained.

He shouted hurriedly, “Retreat! Retreat! Hurry! The doors are closing!”All seven fighters immediately disengaged and withdrew several zhang away, flinging a barrage of hidden weapons and explosive grenades toward Li Guanqi as they fled.

The exploding grenades and weapons hiding amongst the flames forced Li Guanqi to back away. Seeing that the gates were about to close, he ran and roared, “Myriad Immortal Sword Sect! Purple Cloud Sect! If you dare close that door, I will make you pay!”

Boom!

When the teams of Azure Dragon Island and the Purple Cloud Sect had entered, the door closed with a loud boom.

Li Guanqi clenched his fists, cursing at them. The stampede of demonic beasts was now less than a hundred zhang behind his team.

Suddenly, Sword Spirit’s voice echoed in his mind.

“Head east! There’s a protruding boulder a hundred and fifty zhang away. There should be a secret tunnel there!”

Li Guanqi led the team in that direction without hesitation.

The Daxia Sword Sect disciples followed without question. They firmly believed that Li Guanqi wouldn’t lead them into danger.

Shen Qi of Zhenyue Mountain Sect hesitated momentarily before running after them. “I hope I can trust you!”

Li Guanqi sprinted like a madman, scanning the tall mountain wall with his divine consciousness. To their left, the cries of various demonic beasts grew closer and closer.

The beasts were only ten zhang away.

“Found it!”

Li Guanqi slung the sword box off his back and hurled it at a boulder protruding from the wall.

Crack! Crack!

Fissures spread up the rock face, opening a narrow, three-chi-wide hole. It was just large enough for them to squeeze through by crawling.

Li Guanqi raised his sword box like a shield in his left hand and gripped his sword in his right. “Get in! Quick!”

Ke Qin and the others quickly crawled through the hole. Ye Feng stood next to Li Guanqi and roared, “You guys hurry up and get inside! Old Li and I will cover for you!”

Ye Feng was the second strongest among them, so no one objected. Shen Qi stayed back as well.

But just as the two injured disciples from Zhenyue Mountain Sect crawled into the hole, the beasts arrived.

Two beasts that resembled fierce tigers leaped into the air and pounced on Li Guanqi and the others.

Li Guanqi dug his feet into the ground, raised his sword box, and flung it at one of the beasts. The impact sent it flying. Immediately after, he slashed at the other in one fluid motion, his blade flashing like lightning.

His sword cut through its belly. Blood sprayed everywhere.

Ye Feng darted around a White Demonic Bird, then struck it with his sword covered with Sharpness Intention made of golden spirit power.

A large silver shield appeared in Shen Qi’s hand, which he used to shield their flank.

“Come at me!” Shen Qi roared, and a layer of earth-yellow spirit power covered the silver shield.

A mountain rhinoceros crashed hard into the shield,

The impact only lasted one second, but it was enough to break Shen Qi’s right arm and send him flying.

Li Guanqi turned and slung the sword onto his back. He shoved Shen Qi toward the tunnel’s entrance with his shoulder. He stabbed the shield into the ground with one hand, anticipating the rhinoceros to charge at the shield again.

As expected, the rhinoceros charged forward again, so Li Guanqi pulled the shield up to fling the rhinoceros into the air.

“Go!! Ye Feng! Get inside!”

Li Guanqi stood three steps from the entrance with sword and shield in hand.

Ye Feng did not even turn his head as he shouted, “You too!”

Then, he quickly crawled through the hole.

The carcasses of several demonic beasts blocked the entrance, buying Li Guanqi precious time.

He backed toward the tunnel with the shield in one hand and slipped inside.

With a single thought, he stored the sword in his storage punch, then slammed his palm against the stone wall.

Boom!

Rocks tumbled down, sealing the entrance.

Li Guanqi lay in the tunnel, panting heavily from the effort. He took out two spirit stones to replenish his vital qi. The prolonged chase and intense battle had drained nearly eighty percent of the vital qi in his dantian.

Thankfully, after Sword Spirit modified his qi absorption technique, his absorption speed became terrifyingly fast. In just a few breaths, he had recovered ten percent of it.

But something felt off. The tunnel was eerily silent. Pitch-black. He couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.

“Ye Feng? Lin Dong!”

He called out twice, but no one replied.

Li Guanqi’s heart sank. He quickly finished absorbing the spirit stones in his hand, then took out more and continued.

He finally spotted a faint light after walking tens of zhang through the darkness. He headed toward it, emerging into a vast, empty hall.

No one else was there.

“Sword Spirit, what’s going on?”

Sword Spirit replied impatiently, “Isn’t it obvious? There’s a randomized transport array at the tunnel’s entrance. Many sects build their secret tunnels this way to prevent ambushes from within.”

Li Guanqi nodded and sighed in relief. An intense battle would have been unavoidable if they had encountered the other four sects.

He had to be careful since he had not completely recovered his strength yet. Indeed... Humans are selfish creatures!

Azure Dragon Island Sect... Myriad Immortal Sword Sect...

“Sword Spirit, I can feel the bottleneck at the twelfth level of the Qi Refinement Realm loosening.”

Sword Spirit offered no praise.

Li Guanqi rubbed his nose awkwardly, chose a direction at random, and began walking.

The sect grounds were constructed entirely of stone, but they felt dilapidated. The entire sect ground was built of stone, but the place was in ruins—not from age, but from indiscriminate destruction.

Soon, he found a few secret rooms with tightly shut stone doors. He pushed one open with great effort.

Whoosh!

A gentle breeze blew past, and the various weapons stored in the room instantly crumbled to dust. Li Guanqi was disappointed. He had hoped to find magical treasures or weapons.

He pushed another stone door open. It was empty, save for a few damaged collars. This reinforced his suspicions that this had once been a beast-taming sect..

When he pushed the last stone door open, his heart leaped with joy. Neatly arranged jade bottles lined a shelf, and two perfectly preserved jade boxes sat in the room’s deepest part.

Meanwhile, the disciples of the Zhenyue Mountain Sect and Daxia Sword Sect were locked in an intense battle elsewhere.