Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Back in their quarters, Li Nanting swept everything off the table and carefully laid Li Guanqi down. He pressed his palms gently over Li Guanqi’s chest and guided threads of pure, warm vital force into his body to stem the bleeding.

Qin Xian barked orders. “Give him some healing pills! Check if his meridians are damaged! Tui Kui, go find Ge Qing. I remember he had Triple Clearing Pills meant for external wounds. I’ll pay whatever they cost!”

Tu Kui nodded sharply and vanished in a blur.

Li Nanting had already administered the healing pills, but his brow remained deeply furrowed.

“That little brat overdid it,” he muttered.

“His meridians are all knotted together, and many are completely blocked.” Li Nanting’s eyes suddenly widened. “Hm?”

Qin Xian immediately reached out to feel Li Guanqi’s pulse. After a brief moment, his eyes widened too. “Why does he have thirty-six extra meridians? And… they’re completely unaffected. They’re continuously drawing in spirit qi to heal his injuries!”

Li Nanting shook his head slightly. He didn’t know what was going on either. “Whatever the reason, we need to set up a spirit-gathering array for him. It’ll help him regain consciousness.”

Qin Xian waved and tossed out a round, blue array tray. It split cleanly into eight segments.

Buzz!A strange ripple of energy gradually radiated from it, becoming a zhang-wide spirit-gathering array.

Qin Xian took out ten high-grade spirit stones but hesitated. After a moment’s thought, he swapped them for mid-grade stones—not out of stinginess, but because too much spirit qi might trigger an accidental breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm.

As soon as he placed the spirit stones on the array tray, dense spirit qi began to gather, and a faint, visible mist began to rise. He placed Li Guanqi inside the array and gave him more healing pills.

Not long after, Tu Kui returned, holding a jade bottle of Triple Clearing Pills. His face was flushed with fury. “That bastard’s a swindler! Four Triple Clearing Pills cost me four hundred mid-grade spirit stones—that’s forty thousand low-grade ones!”

Qin Xian took the bottle calmly. “If it’s for Li Guanqi, I’d spend even four hundred high-grade stones. Come on, let’s get to it.”

They pushed the light blue pills into Li Guanqi’s mouth, then worked together to guide and dissolve the medicinal power through his body, untangling the knotted meridians.

Two Nascent Soul Realm elders were working side by side to rearrange a Foundation Building Realm disciple’s meridians. If word got out, no one would believe it.

Outside, chaos reigned as crowds clamored for details about the Daxia Sword Sect and its blind prodigy, Li Guanqi.

In a quiet corner of the city, the Heavenly King of the Northern Territory, Long Qu, turned to Ge Qing after watching the match. “If that blind kid can lead the Daxia Sword Sect to victory, I’ll personally reward them with a high-grade spirit vein and three Earth-tier techniques.”

Ge Qing’s pupils dilated in shock. He bowed deeply in acknowledgement.

But Long Qu was not done. With a cool look in his eyes, he murmured, “Hehe… It’s time for a reshuffling of the Three Sects and Six Pavilions. Otherwise, the Northern Territory will become too boring.”

Ge Qing’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He dared not speak his mind. But deep down, he knew that if Li Guanqi truly took first place, the balance of power in the entire Northern Territory would drastically change.

The Profound Gate Pavilion’s elimination had already stunned everyone. The next century would be a time of endless scheming by their enemies.

***

Back in the Daxia Sword Sect’s quarters, the atmosphere was heavy with prayer and worry.

Li Guanqi slowly regained consciousness. When he awoke, he felt the potent medicinal force coursing through him and immediately understood what had happened. Dense spirit qi saturated the air around him, and his body greedily absorbed it like a man dying of thirst gulping down water.

As his vital force gradually returned, Li Guanqi finally let out a breath of relief. Regardless, he didn’t dare lose focus while absorbing the spirit qi. A careless breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm would disqualify him from the tournament.

Little Yu Sui’an looked at the battered Li Guanqi, and her eyes reddened. She fished out a few coppers from her pocket and quietly slipped out of the room. She didn’t know what she could do to help him recover, but she could buy him something to eat.

He had once told her that all he wanted was a bite of warm mantou.[1]. However, she felt like bao buns were better, so she decided to spend all her money to buy him some.

The little girl darted across rooftops, searching for the tastiest buns she could find.

***

Li Guanqi’s wounds began to heal at an astonishing rate. Even the gaping ones, where bone had once shown through torn flesh, closed up with unbelievable speed. “Since when were Triple Clearing Pills this potent?”

Li Nanting frowned. “I don’t think it’s just the Triple Clearing Pills. Could it be those mysterious extra meridians of his? Maybe they’re amplifying the medicine’s effects to the limit.”

Qin Xian nodded. There was no other explanation they could think of.

But whatever the cause, it was clearly helping, so they let the matter rest.

Four hours passed. Finally, Qin Xian and Li Nanting withdrew their hands.

“His meridians are better now. Now we just wait for his vital force to return on its own.”

He stood and looked down at Li Guanqi—half-naked, sitting cross-legged in the spirit-gathering array. His heart twisted with mixed emotions. Looking up at the setting sun, he muttered, “I can’t believe we’re once again depending on a Foundation Building Realm disciple to risk his life for us.”

But just then, the crippled Gao Qiwen straightened his back and spoke, firm and clear. “As disciples of the Daxia Sword Sect, we’ve never regretted risking our lives for the sect. I don’t regret fighting. I only regret that I didn’t win. If I went back in time, I’d still take the Hell Challenge.”

The other disciples were stirred by Gao Qiwen’s battle spirit. Their eyes burned with passion.

“We have no regrets being disciples of the Daxia Sword Sect!”

Qin Xian’s eyes reddened as he looked at the disciples. His voice trembled. ““Good… good! Because of you all, the Daxia Sword Sect will rise one day!”

Li Guanqi slowly woke up again. Seeing the familiar faces around him, he grinned. “We have no regrets being disciples of the Daxia Sword Sect!”

Just as he rose to his feet, he spotted a little girl standing outside the door. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she was frantically brushing dust off her flower coat. She clung to the doorframe, too shy to step inside.

1. Mantou buns are steamed buns with no filling, whereas bao buns usually contain filling like meat, red bean paste or roasted pork ☜