Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Whoosh whoosh!

The two of them sped soundlessly through the mountain forest. Li Guanqi extended his divine consciousness, carefully avoiding the slumbering low-tier demonic beasts scattered across the terrain. However, the girl’s cries rang out as clearly as a bonfire in the dead of night.

Judging from the stirring auras around him, Li Guanqi could tell the beasts were beginning to wake. He cursed under his breath. Damn it. If this keeps up, she’s going to wake up every demonic beast on this mountain!

He couldn’t tell if the girl was doing it on purpose, but she was running straight toward them. Her frantic screams echoed again and again through the dark forest.

“Help! Why isn’t anyone helping me?! Help! Please, someone help!”

The girl’s voice was loud and clear, and she sounded young.

Though she was still far off, even Ye Feng could tell her cultivation wasn’t weak—at the very least, she was half a step into the Golden Core Realm. And despite the distance, they could smell a faint, bloody scent.

It told them she was using a blood sprint technique. It couldn’t last long, and once its effects faded, she’d be helpless. No one would use such a technique unless it was their last resort.

Ye Feng frowned and transmitted, “Boss, are we really going to leave?”

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. He could not help but shake his head and sigh. “We’ll mind our own business. We might even be the real targets.”Ye Feng froze and frowned in confusion. “I don’t think so? We don’t know anyone in this obscure place. We haven’t made enemies, so how could we be the targets? Boss, aren’t you overthinking this?”

Li Guanq didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled Ye Feng up the branch of a very tall tree, then retracted his aura and held his breath. When Ye Feng opened his mouth again, he covered his mouth.

“Shhh!”

A moment later, a girl in tattered clothing appeared on the ground below them. Her delicate features were smeared with grime, her long hair a mess. She wore a green chiffon dress that clung to her skin with sweat and blood. She ran desperately, her face contorted with terror. As she ran, she glanced back again and again in panic.

In her arms was a child, maybe six or seven years old. Tears streamed down the girl’s face as she clutched the child and fled for her life.

Then came the pursuer.

A burly man with stubble and a murderous aura came into view. His aura was powerful, and the space around him seemed to ripple with pressure. He wielded a long knife that gleamed coldly, stained with blood.

The man darted past the tree where Li Guanqi and Ye Feng hid, cursing, “Fucking bitch! You think you can get away? You’re not escaping death!”

His aura fluctuated wildly, and his body was covered in bloody gashes. A blood-soaked hairpin was embedded into his left arm. Judging from his aura, he was likely in the early Golden Core Realm.

Once both figures had gotten a hundred zhang away, Ye Feng frowned again and sent another voice transmission. “Boss, it’s obvious he’s trying to kill her. Are we really just going to watch her die?”

Li Guanqi ignored him. He closed his eyes and extended his divine consciousness in all directions so he could see everything within a hundred-zhang radius.

The girl’s blood and qi trailed behind her like a beacon, just as visible to him as a firefly in the dark.

He glanced once in her direction… then turned away and prepared to run in the opposite direction.

Ye Feng looked at him and said, “Why?!”

Li Guanqi turned and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you saving her?”

“If you want an answer, leave with me. We’ll talk once we’re out of here.”

Whoosh!

Ye Feng watched as Li Guanqi ran off.

But when he recalled the scene of the girl carrying the child in her arms, he could not bear to leave. The sect rules stated that they should kill those who deserved to be killed! And right now, someone did.

The man posed no threat, and he was injured.

If he turned away now, he knew this moment would haunt him forever.

Whoosh!

Ye Feng ran off toward the girl with his sword in his hand.

Li Guanqi wasn’t surprised.

Ye Feng was still fresh from the sect, righteous to a fault, his head filled with ideals and rules. If he didn’t act, he wouldn’t be able to let go. It would become an obstacle to his cultivation.

“Sigh… It’s a lesson he has to learn for himself. Words alone won’t do.”

A look of defeat crossed Li Guanqi’s face, then he hid in a dark corner.

When Ye Feng noticed that Li Guanqi did not follow him, he was both disappointed and suspicious. He did not know why Li Guanqi, the person who would sacrifice everything for his sect, would choose to ignore the victim at a moment like this

When Ye Feng realized Li Guanqi didn’t follow him, he felt both disappointment and doubt. Why would a man who’d risk everything for his sect abandon someone in need now?

It was not that Li Guanqi did not want to tell him, but rather that they were still in danger and there was no time to talk.

Even so, he hadn’t expected Ye Feng to charge in so recklessly.

Li Guanqi leaped from tree to tree toward them, and when he arrived, he saw Ye Feng standing between the girl and the pursuer.

The girl looked terrified, pale and haggard from the significant blood loss. Fragile and weakened, she was almost leaning entirely against Ye Feng’s chest.

The man stood not far off, brandishing his knife. He sneered, pointing it at Ye Feng. “This ain’t your business. Fuck off if you want to live. If you think you can play hero, you’d better take a look in the mirror and see if you’re even qualified.”

Ye Feng stood proudly in his white robes, holding his sword. With one arm, he shielded the girl behind him. “I don’t care who you are. Now that I’m here, I won’t let you hurt her!”

The girl leaned against him weakly, like someone drowning clinging to a last hope.

There was a faint flash of light in her hand, and a shining jade box appeared. She held it out with her pale hands. “Please, sir… save me. If you help me, I’ll give you the fruit inside this box. It’s a five-hundred-year-old blood vitality fruit. You can have it—just save me and my brother!”