Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The youth’s name was Cao Yan. He lay barely conscious, his body covered in wounds and riddled with broken bones. One of his arms was bent at an unnatural angle, with a jagged bone piercing through the skin, slick with blood.

Though blood blurred his vision, he strained to reach for the sky with all his strength. Darkness seemed to envelop him, and the scent of death grew stronger.

Tears streamed down his cheeks, but he kept reaching for the sky, his voice trembling as he muttered, “My life has been… pathetic… I… I can’t die… like this…”

Crash!

His arm fell weakly to the ground, and his breath became shallow.

Li Guanqi’s aura surged. Yu Kai’s expression darkened. He couldn’t understand why Li Guanqi’s demeanor had shifted so drastically after receiving their offering.

The youth was clinging to life by a thread.

Li Guanqi said, “So you’re not just out here picking berries. You’re out here catching people and turning them into blood slaves.”

Yu Kai’s tone turned icy. “Brother, we gave you a gift already. Still poking your nose in? Don’t you think that’s crossing the line? Hmph! We’re leaving.”

Yu Kai gave the other two people a look and left.Ye Feng looked toward Li Guanqi, concern flickering in his eyes. But Li Guanqi kept his fury in check. After composing himself, he said, “Save him!”

Ye Feng nodded. He gave one last look behind him and then followed Li Guanqi.

By the time Li Guanqi reached Cao Yan, he had already slipped into unconsciousness. Without hesitation, Li Guanqi injected a sliver of pure vital force into his body to anchor his life. He shoved a healing pill into the youth’s mouth, then spoke to Ye Feng through voice transmission. “Let’s go! He’ll wake up soon, and getting out of here will be much harder once he does.”

Meanwhile, Yu Kai, who had turned and left, sighed in relief. He said in a low voice, “We’re lucky that the guy’s bodyguards did not attack us. Since we’ve let the matter drop completely, they’ll probably leave soon.”

Wei San frowned. “Big Brother, aren’t you overthinking this? I haven’t sensed any auras.”

Yu Kai stiffened. He slapped Wei San across the face. “You think I need your advice? Those two are obviously backed by powerful figures! If you could sense their bodyguards, they wouldn’t be worth a damn!”

Luan Ying said nothing. All she knew was that the blind youth was far more dangerous than he appeared. For some reason, his gaze alone sent chills down her spine.

She froze, then retrieved a jade slip issued by the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and poured a wisp of spirit power into it. Her calm expression vanished. She went pale, her body trembling so violently she could barely keep hold of the slip.

Yu Kai frowned. “What happened? Isn’t that the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s jade slip? What happened?”

The woman had gone completely pale and could not utter a single word.

Irritated by what he thought was sheer incompetence from everyone around him, Yu Kai snatched the slip from her hand. But the moment he saw the contents of the slip, he realized what was wrong.

Boom! His aura erupted.

His younger brother’s dagger—listed right there among the auction items.

Without a word, Yu Kai rushed into the mansion below. He used his jade slip to unlock a hidden door in the study. As expected, the three life jade slips inside had shattered.

Rage coursed through Yu Kai, his eyes bloodshot with fury. He roared, “Who did this?! Who was it?!”

He stormed into the hidden room like a madman, forming rapid hand seals. He injected spirit power into one of the broken jade slips, and a ball of light emerged from it.

He caught the ball of light and pressed it between his eyebrows, making the scenes leading up to Yu Heng’s death play in his mind. His knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. The broken jade slip crumbled to dust in his hand.

He turned toward the door and roared, “Mobilize every last man! I don’t care if you have to turn this city upside down! Find those two bastards and kill them!”

“Big Brother, didn’t you say they had bodyguards and that we shouldn’t touch them?” Wei San asked in confusion.

Blinded by rage, Yu Kai kicked Wei San in the stomach.

Boom!

Wei San smashed through wall after wall.

“Fuck that! They don’t have any goddamn bodyguards! When we find them, I’ll twist their heads off with my own hands! What are you standing around for?! Move!”

Snapping out of her stupor, Luan Ying pulled out her jade slip and began sending orders. Wei San groaned on the ground for a long while before struggling to his feet, clutching his stomach and biting back the urge to protest. After all, Yu Kai was the one who’d insisted they had bodyguards.

Very soon, tens of shadows shot up into the air from Lingchang City. Li Guanqi and Ye Feng had just exited the city and watched this unfold with grave expressions. Li Guanqi looked around, but all there was around them was an endless expanse of plains—nowhere to hide. He landed on the ground and dug a hole, then placed the youth inside and buried him.

Then they flew off. As they did, Ye Feng could not help but ask, “Boss, isn’t he going to suffocate?”

“If he suffocates and dies, then it is his fate. Even if they use him to get at us, he’s not worth it. If it comes to that, no hesitation. Kill whoever needs killing!”

Ye Feng nodded hard. He’d feared Li Guanqi would let compassion cloud his judgment. He was wrong.

Li Guanqi and Ye Feng fled in the opposite direction at top speed.

The pursuers on their tail were all using Divine Speed Talismans, helping them fly extremely fast.

Li Guanqi did some mental calculations and said, “Leave Yu Kai to me later. Can you handle the rest alone?”

Ye Feng glanced at them and groaned. “Boss, there are over thirty Foundation Building Realm cultivators. Also, two of them are Golden Core Realm cultivators, just like me!”

Li Guanqi huffed. “Just answer the question! Yes or no?!”

Ye Feng gritted his teeth. “How could a man say no? Yes, I can handle them!”

Li Guanqi laughed. “Then let’s fuck ’em up.”

Boom!

Even before the words were out of his mouth, Li Guanqi had spun around and charged toward the attackers.

Ye Feng stood proudly and licked his lips. Looking at how Li Guanqi charged at them, he could not help but mutter, “Man, being around him really fires up the soul! Fuck it! Boss! I’m right behind you!”

Boom!

Yu Kai, sword in hand, glared at Li Guanqi with bloodshot eyes. “You bastard! You killed my brother! I’ll drain you dry and turn you into my blood slave!”

Li Guanqi had noticed something was off when Yu Kai first introduced himself. The mountain where he’d met Yu Heng was nearby, both of them bore the surname Yu, and both of them had two-syllable names.

Both were Golden Core Realm cultivators who belonged to the same gang. There were too many coincidences, so Li Guanqi suspected they were related.

As for the woman, her aura gave her away. She was the one who’d served him at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. That was why he’d wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Li Guanqi said nothing. His eyes flashed coldly, and six plain pig iron swords floated up beside him. Vital force surged from his body as he muttered, “Lunar Flying Swords.”

The dull-looking swords turned into six streaks of purple light and shot forward.

The Foundation Building Realm cultivators of the Dark Blood Association didn’t stand a chance. The sky turned red with blood as mangled bodies started to rain down from the sky.