Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Whoosh!

Several more sword wounds opened across Lu Kangnian’s body. His expression remained resolute, sword qi surging from him as he pressed on, striking at Guan Youzi with the same fierce momentum. “Why, you ask? You wouldn’t understand even if I told you! If you’re set on killing me, go ahead and try!”

Lu Kangnian’s attacks grew even fiercer.

Guan Youzi’s movements blurred, a flurry of afterimages trailing his swift advance as he lunged, sword aimed at Lu Kangnian.

Suddenly, Han Tiange crushed a purple jade slip in his palm. He glared at Ling Daoyan coldly. “I’ve prepared a grand gift for the Daxia Sword Sect. You’d best receive it well.”

Boom!

A dozen massive cloud boats, previously stationed a thousand zhang away, turned in unison. The great purple ships aligned broadside to the battlefield, and black apertures opened along their hulls—dozens of them.

Every Nascent Soul Realm cultivator watching turned pale.

From the black holes, dazzling beams of light in various hues began to shine.

Shen Ye of Zhenyue Mountain Sect swallowed hard and muttered, “Rune cannons… Looks like the Purple Sun Pavilion intends to destroy the Daxia Sword Sect.”All of the Daxia Sword Sect elders turned pale at the sight. Qin Xian slashed his sword with all his strength to drive his opponents back, then roared, “Daxia Sword Sect disciples! Run! Retreat to the sect!”

Whoosh! Whoosh Whoosh!

“Hmmph! Does this old bastard not take us seriously?”

The trio he’d been fighting saw an opening and charged. Three beams of sword light shot toward different parts of Qin Xian’s body.

Li Guanqi glanced over and saw them. He plunged his sword into a Purple Sun Pavilion disciple’s chest and shouted, “Elder Qin! Watch out!”

Qin Xian did not even turn around. He smirked, and his sword flashed with a strange purple light. He muttered, “Three Divine Swords!”

Three sword holograms appeared, expanding into one-zhang-long spirit swords. They moved as quickly as lightning, and even Li Guanqi could not see them clearly.

Boom!

The three swords came crashing down like an executioner’s knife. One enemy failed to dodge and was cleaved in two. Another lost an arm. A third was sliced cleanly at the waist.

Everyone was shocked.

Li Guanqi’s eyes widened. “Terrifying… What spirit void technique is that?!”

That’s right, that was Qin Xian’s spirit void ability.

When Qin Xian’s lips moved, Li Guanqi felt a tremor from his sword coffin. The blood-red blade in his spirit void flickered faintly with a red light.

Despite the damage he did to the trio, Qin Xian was also looking slightly pale. He did not choose to press further and kill them all. With a large sweep of his arm, his long sleeve expanded with the wind, becoming over one hundred zhang wide and sweeping all the Daxia Sword Sect disciples into the sect’s protective array.

Li Guanqi extended his divine consciousness in a fifty-zhang radius. As he looked around, he coincidentally spotted Ye Feng surrounded by enemies.

At some point, Ye Feng had broken through to the late Foundation Building Realm. His cultivation continued rising mid-battle, his eyes bloodshot from the vicious fight against the four Purple Sun Pavilion disciples encircling him.

He was covered in a dozen sword wounds, blood still pouring freely. His face was deathly pale.

Li Guanqi shot past two Golden Core Realm cultivators in a blur. He threw his sword and used his divine consciousness to control it, killing all four cultivators surrounding Ye Feng. Ye Feng was about to turn around and swing his sword, but Li Guanqi slapped his wrist aside and grabbed his collar, shooting off with him at high speed.

All the Daxia Sword Sect members who’d managed to retreat were now behind the barrier.

Then came a heaven-shaking rumble across the skies.

Hundreds of light pillars erupted from a dozen cloud boats, striking the eight-colored protective barrier. The brilliant beams illuminated the entire sky within ten thousand zhang, bright as day. Fierce winds howled in their wake, and the raw energy flattened the tall, ancient trees on the mountains.

Rumble! Boom!

The recoil sent the cloud boats skidding back a dozen zhang.

The four vital force domains in the sky had already separated both factions by a hundred zhang.

All the Daxia Sword Sect elders raised their hands toward the sky, releasing a stream of vital force that merged with the barrier, making it glow brighter and become thicker. Li Guanqi flew up beside them, pressed his palms against the barrier, and pushed against it.

One disciple followed, then another, and another. Soon, countless others leaped into the air, despite their various injuries.

Boom!

Rumble!

Boom!

The cannons fired again. Hundreds of light pillars landed on the barrier. The deafening explosion threatened to shake the sky, and space itself distorted greatly near the barrier. Violent sparks burst forth, and the barrier trembled violently. Various ripples surged outward in every direction.

Li Guanqi turned pale in shock. The barrier’s strength was depleting at an alarming speed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Then, the explosions stopped.

Tens of long cracks had appeared on the barrier.

“We blocked it!”

But before they could catch a breath, Li Guanqi saw the rune cannons on the cloud boats light up again. Qin Xian reacted instantly, hurling thousands of low-grade spirit stones into the air.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

He shattered the stones with a burst of vital force, fusing their spirit qi into the barrier to seal the cracks. As he repaired the cracks, he shouted, “All disciples, fall back to Heavenly Sword Peak! All elders, charge ahead!”

But not a single person retreated.

Qin Xian roared furiously, “Did you not hear me? Retreat!”

Still, no one budged.

“If we retreat, the elders won’t be able to block the next wave of attacks!” Li Guanqi shouted.

Qin Xian didn’t argue. He made his next call in mere seconds. “All disciples below the Golden Core Realm—retreat! That’s a direct order from the sect!”

Li Guanqi nodded solemnly toward Ye Feng and the others. Ye Feng immediately called for everyone to leave. With Ye Feng and Lin Dong directing the crowd, the Foundation Building Realm disciples quickly retreated.

The Golden Core Realm disciples and the elders remained. This next wave of attacks from the cloud boats would be the final one.

After that, the results of this battle would depend on whether Lu Kangnian could beat the white-browed Guan Youzi, who was a mid Divine Transformation Realm rogue cultivator. If they couldn’t hold this line, the Divine Transformation Realm duels would no longer matter. The sect would be annihilated.

Lu Kangnian understood this clearly.

Within his own vital force domain, he swung his sword fiercely, sending Guan Youzi flying back tens of zhang. Then, he flicked his wrist and sliced his left thumb.

Lu Kangnian wiped his bleeding thumb across the space between his brows, and his eyes flashed with determination. “You want a fight? Then I’ll see it through to the end! Mark my words—I will destroy you all.”