Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi wasn’t particularly interested in the man’s information. He had expected something more dramatic.

After cleaning up the corpses, he donned a fresh black cloak, hoisted the unconscious and gravely injured Ye Feng onto his back, and left.

Not long after, others arrived at the battlefield. A thick stench of blood still hung in the air. It was still unknown if the people who fought the one-eyed man over his fruit had survived.

News of the discovery of Purple Sun Immortal Fruits in the Hell Mountains quickly spread through Ping’an City. Nearly fifteen hunting parties had perished over it.

The few survivors were too shaken to say much. All they revealed was that there had been two terrifyingly powerful figures.

Speculation rippled through Ping’an City. Who were the two mysterious cultivators? Before long, the subject became a common after-meal topic.

Naturally, Li Guanqi and Ye Feng knew nothing about it.

A small fire flickered in a dark, damp cave. Behind the flames lay a youth, eyes shut tight.

Li Guanqi lowered his hands with a pale face and let out a weary sigh. Ye Feng’s injuries were severe, and he had been unconscious for three days. In that time, Li Guanqi had given him lots of healing pills, most taken from their dead enemies.

These hunters might not have carried a lot of spirit stones, but spending so much time in the Hell Mountains meant they had amassed impressive stores of medicines and life-saving items.Li Guanqi looked exhausted. He’d been working tirelessly for days, rearranging Ye Feng’s meridians.

Several demonic beast carcasses lay in the cave, slain by his hand. The mountains teemed with more beasts than he had imagined—enough that even their remote cave drew many curious demonic beasts.

Following his recent breakthrough, his cultivation had finally stabilized. Yet he was still concerned. His foundation felt unsteady, perhaps because he had advanced too quickly. Reaching the late Golden Core Realm had been natural, but forcing his way to the tenth level, the so-called perfect Golden Core Realm, had been too hasty.

Still, he felt no regret. Without that breakthrough, both of them would have died.

It looks like I’ll need to spend some time stabilizing my cultivation.

Li Guanqi rose slowly and began practicing his sword technique in the cave. He still hadn’t fully grasped the Seven Killings Sword Sutra, limiting its strength. Still, the perfect Golden Core Realm made him feel powerful.

The purple core in his dantian glowed faintly, as though undergoing a subtle transformation. Every Golden Core Realm cultivator dreamed of such a sign: the golden core on the verge of shattering to form a nascent soul.

But he had no intention of advancing so soon.

As he mulled over his cultivation plan, he heard a deep groan.

He rushed to Ye Feng’s side just as his eyes fluttered open.

Ye Feng clenched his teeth against the pain, then slowly turned his head. When he saw Li Guanqi, he broke into a grin. “I knew you’d get us out alive, Boss! Ugh… hurts like hell.”

Li Guanqi exhaled in relief. Ye Feng was awake at last. “Finally. If you hadn’t come to, I would’ve dragged you out of here myself.”

Looking down at the bandages swaddling his body, Ye Feng gave a bitter smile. “Boss, did you really have to wrap me up like this?”

“You had twenty-eight sword cuts, seven stab wounds, and eight broken bones,” Li Guanqi said flatly. “Be glad you’re alive.”

Ye Feng pursed his lips and muttered, “Guess my bazi[1] is not too shabby after all. Thank goodness for that.”

Seeing that Ye Feng’s spirit was mostly intact, Li Guanqi allowed himself a smile.

“Since you’re awake, start rearranging your meridians yourself. I’ve been doing it for you these past days, and I’m exhausted.”

Ye Feng struggled stiffly to sit up, but it hurt so much that he ground his teeth.

Li Guanqi helped him up and settled him against the cave wall.

“Hehe… That was one hell of a ride, Boss. But we made it, huh?”

Li Guanqi shrugged. “I killed them all.”

Ye Feng’s eyes went wide. “You… killed them all?”

“Yeah.”

“Tsk tsk.”

He knew that with Li Guanqi’s new cultivation, escaping would have been easy. To slaughter their pursuers outright meant he had also been avenging Ye Feng’s injuries. The thought left Ye Feng strangely moved.

Li Guanqi put roughly one hundred spirit stones beside Ye Feng, then handed over a meridian-realigning pill.

“Don’t just sit there grinning. Use this time to stabilize your cultivation and restore your meridians. It could become a problem later on.”

Ye Feng nodded, then entered his cross-legged cultivation position with great difficulty. His breathing soon steadied, and streams of spirit qi flowed thickly into his nostrils.

Li Guanqi felt a mix of emotions as he watched Ye Feng cultivate. He hadn’t expected Ye Feng to protect him so steadfastly during such a critical moment, keeping him completely unharmed.

Despite all his joking, Ye Feng was actually very dependable in a crisis. He was nothing like the youth Li Guanqi had first met at the Scripture Pavilion—a prodigal son who gambled for amusement.

Now, Ye Feng was a determined and responsible person, knowing exactly what he wanted and possessing remarkable resilience.

Li Guanqi smiled, and Cao Yan’s smiling face appeared in his mind. I wonder how Brother Cao is doing…

The cave fell into silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire.

Guanqi had barely settled into cultivation when his eyes flew open. He sent out a sharp gust of wind, extinguishing the fire and whisking Ye Feng into the sword box realm. He stored away the still-smoldering firewood and beast carcasses as well.

Then he rushed to the mouth of the cave.

Far off, a hundred li deep in the mountains, a multicolored pillar of light pierced the heavens. Waves of immense power rippled outward, and the light pillar vanished.

Li Guanqi’s eyes gleamed as he recalled the dying words of the stubbled man.

He mentioned a lake hidden in a mountain valley… Could this be it?

1. Bazi (八字) is a traditional Chinese metaphysical system that interprets a person’s destiny based on their time of birth. A “bad” bazi suggests a short or unlucky life, and a “good” one promises longevity and fortune. ☜