Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi raised his arms and released a bolt of lightning to numb them.

Hoo…

He gasped for breath. Pain tore through him as if countless blades were carving his flesh.

He shut his eyes, clenched his right fist, and murmured, “Shadow Demon Slash, Dark Night!”

Boom!

His aura burst powerfully, and a bright red sword flew into his hand.

The giant ape, its own aura blazing, charged straight at him.

Suddenly, the sky darkened, thunder roared, and a dozen-zhang-long ray of sword light tore through the air. For an instant, a weighty, supernatural power radiated from it.

The ape’s instincts screamed danger, but there was nowhere to run.

This was the moment Li Guanqi had been waiting for.The ape was intelligent, and it always dodged when he used the Seven Killings Sword Technique. Li Guanqi found its agility and incredibly tough hide frustrating. Moreover, the creature was cautious, rarely using its full power.

This strike was his only chance.

Li Guanqi roared, unleashing a ray of sword light laced with destructive lightning power.

The giant ape braced with all its might, but the attack was too much. The sword light cleaved its massive body in two.

The beam carved into the Hell Mountains, and with a thunderous crash, gouged a trench several dozen zhang long. Ape and man plummeted from the sky together.

It was Li Guanqi’s first time using the Seven Killings Sword Technique to its fullest. One strike had drained every drop of vital force from his dantian.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

As he fell through the trees, the leaves rustled around him.

Crash!

He slammed into the earth. Weakness wracked his body, but he forced himself up to store the ape’s corpse. Then he sensed the ground tremble ever so slightly.

Other beasts had caught the scent of blood. They were closing in.

He quickly took out a high-grade spirit stone, holding it in his hand and stuffing a few more into his pocket. Then, pushing his body past its limit, he bolted through the forest.

High-grade spirit stones held pure spirit qi. They barely needed refining, and he absorbed them on the run, replenishing a sliver of his empty golden core. Without hesitation, he dashed for the forest’s outer edge.

In his current condition, if he encountered any more beasts, he would be in deep trouble.

The heavens were not on his side that day. He soon realized a tier-four Yin Hell Scorpion had its eyes on him. Two hundred zhang away, the fifteen-zhang-long, venomous, pitch-black scorpion scuttled after him. Bloodlust and killing intent filled its eyes, and its black armor shone coldly in the light.

Li Guanqi’s face tightened with worry. Scorpions and snakes were very sensitive to smell and temperature. With blood all over him, shaking it would be difficult. Worse, the noise it made would only draw more beasts.

Panicked, he swept out his divine consciousness, discovering a natural pool ahead. He lit up with joy and sprinted toward it.

The ground rumbled loudly as the scorpion sped up, its bulk crushing ancient trees like brittle stalks. The sound of its pursuit closed in fast.

Another crisis emerged. In the sky above, two tier-four griffins had also spotted him.

And to his sides, he heard more and more beast cries.

Li Guanqi swallowed hard. He had accidentally alerted all the beasts in the tier-four zone to his presence.

Faster! Faster!

If only the Thunder Wings weren’t broken. They could have sped him up considerably, particularly since he was running out of vital force.

He circulated the last of his vital force, frantically absorbing spirit qi from the stones.

Then Sword Spirit’s voice rang out. “Throw the spirit stones!”

Without thinking, Li Guanqi flung out dozens of stones, but the beasts ignored them.

His face twisted, bitter at having thrown away spirit stones for nothing. “That didn’t work at all!”

Sword Spirit appeared next to him and scolded him with a pale green face, “Throw high-grade spirit stones! Why did you throw low-grade ones? That’s useless!”

Li Guanqi’s mouth twitched. Tossing high-grade stones hurt—it was essentially throwing away ten thousand low-grade ones at a time.

But he had no choice.

Grinding his teeth, he grabbed the three high-grade stones from his pockets and hurled them behind him. Their dense spirit qi immediately drew the beasts’ attention. He still clutched one stone in his hand, the last. After a moment’s hesitation, he tossed it too.

By then, he had restored about twenty percent of his vital force, which was enough for him to flee.

The scorpion stopped, swallowed the stones whole, and turned away without another glance.

But the rest of the beasts, finding nothing left, continued after him.

Li Guanqi spat out curses at the sight. “Fucking bastard! That bastard!”

He kept flinging more stones. One griffin dove from the skies, snatching a stone just three zhang from him, its speed so great it left afterimages. Li Guanqi’s heart pounded, and he sprinted even harder.

He threw faster and faster, but still the horde pressed in.

In the end, he muttered with pained longing, “Do I really have to throw more…? My heart can’t take this…”

Sword Spirit flared in anger. She scanned the surroundings for the natural pool and growled, “If you don’t want to die, then speed up!”

Realizing he could stop throwing stones, Li Guanqi ran even faster.

Sword Spirit sighed inwardly. Once this ordeal is over, I’ll have to teach this brat a suitable top-tier sprint technique, or else he’ll die easily.

Whoosh!

The beasts crowded at a narrow stream, just wide enough for one person. Li Guanqi leaped into the pool and instantly felt refreshed.

He stared at the water in wonder. “This water…”

Sword Spirit glanced once and said, “The bottom’s full of ice crystal grass, which has healing properties. Mend your wounds first. We’ll talk later.”

Li Guanqi chuckled to himself. Hehe, perfect. No need to waste my pills, then.

Sword Spirit, reading his thought, turned green with fury. How could he be such a miser?!

Settling into cultivation, Li Guanqi soon realized new insights had taken root in him. His sword force deepened, his blocked meridians loosened, and his shaky cultivation steadied.

He let out a quiet sigh. Nothing pushes you closer to a breakthrough than brushing against death.