Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Zeng Shuheng was stunned—he hadn’t expected Ye Tianying to be so decisive. Sweeping his divine consciousness over the storage pouches, he saw they contained precisely what Ye Tianying had claimed. The spirit herbs alone were worth two hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones, yet Ye Tianying had discounted them to two hundred thousand.

Zeng Shuheng’s eyes flashed. He chuckled coldly, flinging everything back to Ye Tianying. “Ye Tianying! I wanted one million spirit stones, not a pile of random things.”

Ye Tianying now understood that Zeng Shuheng would stop at nothing to claim Ye Qing’er as his son’s wife.

Clang!

Ye Tianying drew his sword with a fierce motion. Though outnumbered by two Golden Core cultivators, his voice rang like thunder. “We could have civilly settled this, but you refused!”

Zeng Shuheng and the elder beside him drew their swords in unison. A fearsome aura surged outward. “Hehe. Life would be so much easier if you did as I said! Our families would both benefit from this union!”

Ye Tianying’s face darkened. “So it’s war you seek?”

At the same time, Ye Tianying quickly sent a voice transmission to Ye Feng and Li Guanqi. “Protect Qing’er! I think they’re going to fight!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Li Guanqi and Ye Feng lunged forward, but the elder dissolved into a streak of light, hurtling toward the mountain residence. Ye Tianying lunged to intercept, but Zeng Shuheng blocked him, slashing his sword down. “I gave you a way out, yet you refused!”Looking at the ray of light flying toward the mountain residence, Ye Tianying roared furiously, “Zeng Shuheng! If you dare touch my daughter, I will hire a Nascent Soul cultivator to destroy your entire family, even if it bankrupts me!”

Clang! Clang! Boom!

Their swords clashed in a frenzy, exchanging dozens of strikes in mere moments before they broke apart. Zeng Shuheng smirked and said, “Do you think I fear empty threats?”

Behind them, Ye Feng formed hand seals to circulate more vital force. Then, he hurled several talismans toward the elder.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The talismans burst into golden streaks, but the elder merely sneered, cleaving through them with casual swipes of his blade.

Explosions rocked the air as the elder closed in on the courtyard.

Su Xi stood protectively in front of Ye Qing’er, panic in her eyes. Vital force surged within Li Guanqi as he leaped off his sword.

He tightly gripped the hilt of his sword with his right hand, channeling lightning vital force from his body to envelop the entire blade. With a twist of his waist, he hurled the sword forward like a spear!

Whoosh!

The sword flew directly at the elder’s throat.

Overhead, dark gray clouds began to churn above the Qiongtai Mountain Residence. Li Guanqi roared, “Lightning Spear!”

Boom!

The elder narrowed his eyes slightly and praised, “Not bad!”

He struck the side of the incoming blade, diverting it downward.

Thud!

The sword smashed through a roof, and the lightning power coiled in the clouds shot toward the elder like a vengeful dragon.

The elder appeared behind Ye Feng, and at that moment, he recognized their uniforms. Still holding his sword, he drove a vicious kick into Ye Feng.

Ye Feng flew like a cannonball and crashed into the ground.

All the hairs on Li Guanqi’s back stood up, and he quickly turned around. The moment he did, a powerful force slammed him in the back, sending him crashing through a building’s roof and even forming a deep crater in the ground.

Li Guanqi’s shoulder was dislocated from the impact. He pulled out his jade slip and whispered urgently, “Master, I’m going to get beaten to death if you don’t come soon!”

The elder shot into the front courtyard and reached out to grab Ye Qing’er!

Boom!

A pitch-black crack appeared in the sky above. It was as if someone had ripped a hole a zhang wide through the sky.

An oppressive pressure swept over the entire mountain, slamming the elder down like a nail driven into the earth.

Zeng Shuheng, who was locked in fierce battle with Ye Tianying and had been cut multiple times, was suddenly struck by a palm seal and swatted out of the air.

Several people stepped out of the crack in the sky. The first person was Li Nanting, and next to him was Tu Kui, newly emerged from his closed-door cultivation. Tu Kui was a powerful Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

The space around him seemed to tremble in his presence. His voice was cold and thunderous. “Who dares lay a hand on my disciple?”

Li Guanqi popped his dislocated shoulder back in with his good hand, then appeared beside Ye Feng in a flash and helped him up. Ye Feng had two broken ribs but no life-threatening injuries.

Li Guanqi whispered, “I found you a powerful master without your permission. Please don’t blame me for this!”

Ye Feng frowned. “You wanted a peak master to take me in as his disciple? Isn’t that a little...”

Li Guanqi supported him as they led Su Xi and Ye Qing’er into the house.

“With how things stand, it’s obvious the Zengs are determined to make your sister marry into their family. We don’t even know which sect Zeng Shuheng’s relying on, but if Elder Tu accepts you as a disciple, it’ll tilt the scales in our favor.

“To be fair, you’re quite talented. You have a King Spirit Root and have awakened a level seven sword-type artifact soul. If Elder Tu takes you in as his disciple, both of you will benefit from this relationship.”

In a flash, Li Nanting appeared next to Li Guanqi and asked, “Are you alright?”

Li Guanqi replied, “I’m fine, Master. Was Elder Tu... willing?”

Li Nanting smiled and looked at Ye Feng. “You’re asking me if he’s willing? Why would he leave his closed-door cultivation to come here if he wasn’t?”

Meanwhile, in the sky above, Ye Tianying stared at Tu Kui in awe and quickly bowed in greeting. “Greetings, Senior. I am Ye Tianying, patriarch of the Ye family.”

Tu Kui gave a slight nod and asked, “What happened?”

Ye Tianying quickly told him everything, though he was inwardly very shocked. Ye Feng had only recently joined the Daxia Sword Sect, yet a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator had come personally to help him.

Tu Kui made a downward grasping motion with his hand. A golden hand seal descended, seizing Zeng Shuheng by the throat and lifting him into the air. Zeng Shuheng trembled violently. His pale face turned red, and his eyes filled with terror.

He had never imagined that the Ye family would have the support of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

Tu Kui pointed with his left hand, and the contract jade pendant flew into his hand.

Meng Linhai recognized Zeng Shuheng and sent Tu Kui a voice transmission.

Tu Kui smirked and crushed the jade pendant in his hand.

“I wasn’t aware you were supplying spirit herbs to the Daxia Sword Sect. Fine.” Tu Kui’s gaze sliced into Zeng Shuheng like blades. “From this day forth, the Daxia Sword Sect severs all ties with the Zeng family. All future orders will go to the Ye family.

“And one more thing... I’ll let you walk away today. But if anything happens to the Ye family, I’ll come looking for the Zeng family.

“If one person from the Ye family dies, I’ll kill a hundred from the Zeng family. Do you understand?”

Zeng Shuheng’s breathing quickened as he nodded vigorously.

Thud!

Tu Kui slammed his palm into Zeng Shuheng’s dantian—shattering his Golden Core.

Pfft!

Zeng Shuheng’s eyes bulged, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. His aura weakened rapidly.

Tu Kui tossed him aside casually, but the impact destroyed a small hill. Tu Kui spat coldly, “Get the hell out!”

The once-arrogant Zeng family fled in disgrace.

Ye Tianying exhaled in relief. He bowed again, his fists tightly clenched. “Senior, please honor our residence with your presence.”

Tu Kui chuckled and said, “Of course. I came here to take in a disciple, so I hope you’ll permit it, Patriarch Ye.”

“Haha! It would be an honor for Feng’er to have you as his master.”

And so the matter was settled.

That very day, a grand initiation ceremony was held at the Qiongtai Mountain Residence. Ye Feng officially became Tu Kui’s closed-door disciple.