Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Glug, glug. Pfft!

A figure broke the surface of the natural pool, rising from its depths.

Sword Spirit cast Li Guanqi a contemptuous look. “Is that really worth your time?”

Li Guanqi didn’t mind her scorn. He cheerfully stowed away the ice crystal grass he had collected from the pool bed. With it, he could enrich the pond atop Jade Teapot Peak and turn it into a natural healing spring.

Just because Sword Spirit dismissed it didn’t mean it lacked value.

Still, Li Guanqi could feel a barrier between himself and the Nascent Soul Realm. He had to admit the gulf between the Golden Core Realm and the Nascent Soul Realm was enormous. Though his cultivation wasn’t much lower than the Giant Golden Ape’s, the difference in their actual strength had been staggering.

Without the sword technique Sword Spirit had taught him, he would’ve had no choice but to run for his life.

Once she noticed that he had mostly healed, Sword Spirit said, “Breaking your golden core to form a nascent soul is extremely difficult. Don’t rush it.”

Li Guanqi nodded. Rushing seemed useless.

Then Sword Spirit added, “Over the next few days, focus on your sword technique. And when you fight demonic beasts, only use the Shadow Demon Slash.”Li Guanqi’s throat bobbed. “Only that? But that’ll drain my vital force too quickly…”

Sword Spirit chuckled. “That’s the point. You need to hone your sword force until you can adjust it to your opponent’s strength. When you fought that ape, you only needed to use eighty percent.”

Li Guanqi scratched his head. Thinking back, he realized she was right. Far too much of his strike had gone to waste, gouging the ground even after the ape died.

“By the way,” Sword Spirit said, “I have a sprint technique more suited for you. Stop using that trash one of yours.”

She tapped the air, and a ray of spirit light sank into Li Guanqi’s sea of consciousness, unfolding as both a sutra and a holographic diagram of vital force circulation. He watched intently as the light representing vital force flowed quickly through the holographic body made of spirit light

Boom!

The hologram vanished, but he felt unsatisfied, wishing he could see more.

The technique’s name was Constellation Step, a Heaven-tier technique.

If Li Guanqi weren’t blind, he’d be putting on a whole show of gratitude, complete with dramatic tears and snot.

Seeing his expression, Sword Spirit smirked. “This technique will serve you until you reach Divine Transformation. After that, I’ll give you another one.”

She continued, “I expect you to master the Shadow Demon Slash within seven days. Only then will I teach you a second sword technique. As for the Constellation Step, you’d better reach the basic stage in the same seven days.”

Her tone left no room for argument.

Li Guanqi rose, dried his clothes with a surge of vital force, and bowed. “Yes, Ma’am!”

Sword Spirit disappeared in a flash.

Lately, Li Guanqi offered her a portion of his vital force during his daily cultivation. Her form grew noticeably more solid, though she remained as haughty as ever.

Smiling faintly, he drew a deep breath, then ran into the Hell Mountains.

In the days that followed, Li Guanqi pushed himself to his limits daily. He would leave at dawn and return late at night, immediately immersing himself in the pool. Within just a few days, the pool had turned blood red.

His wounds increased with each passing day, just like the demonic beast carcasses piling up in his storage ring. Some of those beasts were absolutely massive.

On the fifth day, he lay sprawled on the ground, panting, too weak to even hold his sword properly. A gigantic scorpion carcass lay before him.

The beasts he’d hunted recently were all from the crowd that had previously chased him. However, fighting beasts above his cultivation level remained extremely dangerous.

He glanced down at his belly. His intestines were spilling out. Gritting his teeth, he shoved them back with his hand.

Staggering upright, he stored away the scorpion’s corpse and dragged himself toward a nearby cave.

The inside was pitch-black, damp but without the stench of rot he’d been expecting. Instead, a faint fragrance lingered, stirring his excitement. Something valuable was hidden there.

Li Guanqi walked out of the cave, happy with his discovery. However, because of the severity of his injury, he still rushed as quickly as he could to his pool.

A flash of light burst under his feet. His figure blurred, leaving an afterimage that lingered for half a second before vanishing. He reappeared hundreds of zhang away.

His technique eclipsed all ordinary sprint techniques. He now moved as swiftly as Nascent Soul Realm experts, who could manipulate space itself.

Gritting his teeth against the agony, Li Guanqi plunged into the pool. Sword Spirit could not help but muse, “You still refuse to take pills, even like this?”

He wanted to snap back, but the wound was too grave, already blackening with venom.

Li Guanqi grimaced, then pulled out two pills and popped them into his mouth. Then, he started cultivating.

Watching him sit cross-legged in the pool, eyes closed, Sword Spirit’s lips curved ever so slightly. He had surprised her again. In talent and in character, he was top-tier. The only problem was that he took relationships too seriously. To her, a true warrior should be bound by nothing.

But she didn’t think he would understand yet. That lesson would come with time.

Sword Spirit sat on the levitating sword box, rubbing her chin in frustration. What else should I teach him? Which sword technique? No… too strong. He can’t control it.

Wait… that’s it!

A smile tugged at her lips. Through careful observation, she had realized Li Guanqi’s arsenal was too limited. She had also discovered something unusual: the medicinal baths he’d taken since childhood had not only tempered his body but also sealed the heavenly gate to his sea of consciousness. That was why he could store such an extraordinary amount of divine consciousness, surpassing even tier-three alchemists.

Still, Li Guanqi cared nothing for arrays, talismans, or pills. His heart belonged only to the sword.

She had once urged him to learn pill-refining so scarce resources would never hold him back, but he had flatly refused.

She still remembered his words back in the Daxia Sword Sect. “I think these things will be simple to learn, but I don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“Because they’d slow down my study of sword techniques.”

At the time, she had doubted him. Now, he had proven his resolve.

She watched him heal in the crimson pool, a smile tugging at her lips.

He hadn’t noticed the wispy mustache beginning to form at the corners of his mouth

She crossed her legs and arms, gazing at him with her beautiful eyes. Will you be able to avenge me one day…?