Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Inside the space within the sword box, Ye Feng stared in shock at the enormous array.

“B-Boss… Is this a space that can store a living person?!”

Li Guanqi said nothing. He had noticed the light in Cao Yan’s eyes. Given his skill in array techniques, Cao Yan must be even more shocked than Ye Feng.

Cao Yan clenched his fists, exhaling only after a long pause.

Seeing his reaction, Ye Feng began to suspect that there was more to the place than met the eye.

Li Guanqi smiled. “Noticed something?”

Cao Yan turned to him, excitement in his gaze. To him, Li Guanqi was a ray of light in the darkness. He was the hand that had pulled him from the mud, washed him clean, and restored his dignity.

Now Li Guanqi had entrusted him with a tremendous secret. His eyes grew moist, and he murmured, “Big Brother… I can’t believe you’d share this with us. Don’t worry! I, Cao Yan, will never betray you as long as I live!”

Ye Feng froze, then leaned toward Li Guanqi and whispered, “Boss, what’s with Big Head? Why the sudden pledge of loyalty?”

Cao Yan looked at Ye Feng as if he were a complete idiot. He had to spell things out for Ye Feng to understand, so he pointed at the light shining above the altar. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s a time-controlling array.”Ye Feng frowned, repeating the words under his breath. By the second time, he yelped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “What?! A time-controlling array?!”

Cao Yan went on, “Yes, a time-controlling array. Even cultivators on the level of the Four Heavenly Kings would start wars over it.”

Li Guanqi smiled, impressed by Cao Yan’s breadth of knowledge. He even knew about time arrays. He placed spirit stones in the array and gestured toward it. “Do you want to enter and try it out? Controlling time isn’t this array’s only use.”

Cao Yan’s eyes lit up. “I’d love to.”

Li Guanqi nodded with a smile. “You’ll be fighting in there, but don’t worry, you can’t actually die.”

Cao Yan took a few steps forward, then stopped abruptly. Ye Feng frowned. “Why isn’t Big Head moving?”

Li Guanqi glanced at him. “Try it yourself and you’ll see.”

That made sense to Ye Feng. His eyes lit up, and he stepped into the array.

“Activate Hundred Prides Illusory Realm!”

Buzz!

The entire space trembled as the array flared to life, doubling the flow of time.

This time, Li Guanqi inserted three mid-grade spirit stones. Time manipulation alone required heavy resources, and the Hundred Prides Illusory Realm consumed even more. One mid-grade stone could last only half an hour.

He looked at the two within the array and smiled, then stepped forward.

When he reappeared, he was on the altar. It held even more spirit stones, which had become his main expense. Beside them lay the true equivalent of a gold-swallowing beast: a dragon egg shining with purple lightning.

It was much larger than before, yet Li Guanqi could only look at it bitterly. Nothing had changed aside from its size.

Sword Spirit was still silent, likely an aftereffect of taking over Li Guanqi’s body.

Li Guanqi still felt a lingering fear from that incident. If not for Sword Spirit’s help, Fang Yishan would have killed all three of them.

He sighed, replenished the stones, and prepared to leave. The egg would probably take a long time to hatch, and regular spirit stones were no longer enough to hasten its growth.

Stroking his chin, he murmured, “Looks like I’ll need more lightning-type treasures for it…”

When he returned to the Hundred Prides Illusory Realm, he found Ye Feng and Cao Yan kneeling on the altar, panting.

Li Guanqi grinned. “How was it? How do you feel?”

Ye Feng lay on the ground, his face as pale as paper. His eyes trembled as he gulped and cried out, “I… I died! Three moves… That hologram killed me in three moves!”

Cao Yan wasn’t doing much better either. However, he possessed a stronger will than Ye Feng.

“Five punches. The hologram killed me after five punches.”

Li Guanqi nodded. They both had great potential. With training, their cultivation could advance quickly.

Suddenly, Ye Feng’s eyes widened. He scrambled up, circling Li Guanqi and muttering. Finally, he shouted, “That hologram was you! Same build, left-handed… Was it you?!”

Li Guanqi only shrugged, surprised that Ye Feng had run into his hologram.

Ye Feng connected the dots and lamented, “If that was you, then when you were at the same cultivation realm as me, you could have killed me in three moves?!”

Cao Yan met Li Guanqi’s eyes, and both burst out laughing.

In the end, Cao Yan tried to comfort Ye Feng, saying, “Second Brother, think about it. First Brother trusted us with an incredible secret. We need to train harder so we won’t waste it. If he can leave his hologram in there, then so can we!”

Their fighting spirit flared again, and Li Guanqi felt proud of them. He had to admit that Cao Yan was gifted in both intellectual ability and emotional intelligence.

Li Guanqi didn’t care where Cao Yan came from or how his karmic debts might affect him. Cao Yan was genuinely kind and had risked his life for him.

None of them had fully recovered, so Li Guanqi decided to halt their training within the Hundred Prides Illusory Realm.

When they reappeared in the cave, Li Guanqi said, “Let’s go raid the Great Wind Mountain Residence.”

Ye Feng rubbed his palms excitedly, “Hehe. Time to make another fortune.”

Cao Yan was also itching to raid the place.

Li Guanqi suddenly felt like the three of them were equivalent to robbers. Wherever they went, disaster seemed to follow…