Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The uproar Li Guanqi caused quickly drew the attention of the sect elders. More precisely, they had no choice but to pay attention—he had shattered half of Lightning Pool Peak.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several figures appeared in the sky.

They spotted Li Guanqi in his white robes, standing mid-air. One of them asked awkwardly, “Uh… Elder Li… what exactly were you…”

Li Guanqi rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “I… punched too hard while training.”

The elders stared in silence. There wasn’t the faintest trace of vital force on the shattered peak, so it really did look like it had been broken by sheer brute strength.

Which meant…

They looked at the blood-covered youth before them, who was radiating overwhelming strength. Their best guess was that Li Guanqi had smashed the peak with a single punch, but the thought was absurd. He was barely eighteen, and he was a spiritual cultivator.

Even a tier-four martial cultivator couldn’t have caused such devastation with one punch. The rock of Lightning Pool Peak was as hard as steel, tempered by the lightning pool for thousands of years. Even a loose pebble from the mountain was as tough as a low-tier spirit weapon.

Buzz!A pitch-black spatial fissure split open, and Chu Xingxian stepped out. His face barely twitched at the sight of the ruined mountain peak, but the instant he noticed the empty lightning pool, he almost fainted from anger.

“Li Guanqi! Do you have any idea how much effort I put into growing that lightning pool?! And you absorbed all of it?!”

Sensing Chu Xingxian’s fury, Li Guanqi wasted no time. He bolted like a streak of lightning, his voice echoing apologetically as it faded into the distance. “Sorry, Old Chu! I didn’t think it would end up like this either!”

The elders glanced at each other, fighting back laughter at Chu Xingxian’s livid expression.

“What are you all laughing at?!” Chu Xingxian snapped. “Get moving and help me rebuild the lightning pool! That damned brat! I’ve been swindled! Completely swindled!”

Meanwhile, Li Guanqi savored the powerful energy racing through his body. His respect for the body-tempering technique only deepened.

If word of his body-tempering technique spread, it could easily ignite a bloody war. The moment anyone learned of it, Li Guanqi would be hunted by countless powerhouses. No one could ever know.

He still couldn’t shake the strange unease he’d felt while traveling with Ye Feng and Cao Yan. Ever since breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, he’d had a persistent sense of being watched, albeit a very faint one. He could never confirm whether it was real or just his imagination. No matter how carefully he searched, he couldn’t find anyone actually watching him.

He had asked Sword Spirit about it, but since her strength rose and fell with his, she couldn’t sense anything either.

But after entering the Phoenix Lightning Sect, that feeling had disappeared completely, which made him even more certain that someone was watching him.

Who, and why? He hadn’t made any new enemies. If someone wanted him dead, why not strike while he was still at the Golden Core Realm, before he became so much harder to kill?

He shook his head. Thinking was getting him nowhere, so he stopped dwelling on the matter. If someone were following him, they would reveal themselves eventually. Until then, the best thing he could do was to get stronger.

Strength was the only answer, no matter the obstacle.

All around the sect grounds, disciples trained diligently. Li Guanqi grinned. “Little brats, I’ve already made a breakthrough. Let’s see how you’re doing!”

Within days, word of Li Guanqi’s success had spread. The news made the disciples wail in despair. Even Liu Man, long hailed as a prodigy, sighed bitterly.

“At the Nascent Soul Realm, managing a breakthrough in one or two centuries is considered excellent. Even prodigies need decades just to stabilize their cultivation,” Liu Man said. “But he… he’s something else entirely.”

Tang Jing’s eyes sparkled with admiration. Even the childish-looking Zheng Yao gazed at Li Guanqi with stars in her eyes, murmuring, “He’s so handsome. Have you noticed? He’s gotten taller and more muscular. His face too… he looks even more handsome than before.”

Liu Man smacked her on the head. “Are you seriously still swooning over his looks? The exam’s in twelve days! What are you going to do about your cultivation?”

Zheng Yao sulked and sat on the floor in despair.

In the days that followed, the Phoenix Lightning Sect disciples endured every torment imaginable. Li Guanqi’s “training” now went beyond dumping demonic beasts into the sect. At midnight, he would even kidnap disciples in groups and toss them deep into the ancient forest.

Curses and cries rang through the pitch-black woods.

Yet under his brutal methods, everyone’s progress soared. No one knew when they might wake to find themselves in a demonic beast’s nest. Li Guanqi promised not to let anyone die, but he didn’t care if they came back with broken bones or missing limbs.

Boom boom boom!

That night, several heavenly tribulation clouds gathered above the dark mountains. Li Guanqi tossed out several pills and array plates for breakthroughs, then stayed nearby to reinforce his own foundation.

Roar!

“Help! Fuck! A late-stage tier-four Red Armored Millipede!”

“Run! Watch out for the venom breath!”

Soon, cries for help rang through the forest. The ground shook violently, making even the mountains shake. An ear-piercing hiss broke the silence of the night. Countless birds were startled and flocked to the sky. Soil was tossed high in the air, deep in the mountains.

Li Guanqi calmly activated his sprint technique and vanished.

A red millipede over thirty zhang long burst from the torn earth.

Liu Man and the other disciples from the inner sect quickly ushered everyone to safety behind them.

The millipede’s towering body loomed high, its three pairs of compound eyes gleaming coldly in the night.