Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Buzz!

From the stone wall, an incredibly mysterious fluctuation burst forth, distorting the air. Deep within the boulder, a twisted curtain of light emerged, shimmering as if scorched by raging flames.

Even without stepping inside, Li Guanqi could clearly feel a terrifying wave of scorching heat.

His expression remained calm. As his vital force circulated, a protective barrier spread over his body. Most of the oppressive heat instantly dissipated.

Without looking away, he took a deep breath and stepped straight into the twisted curtain of light.

Buzz!

The moment he entered, the distortion sealed shut and vanished. At the same time, a jade pendant appeared in his hand.

But in that instant, his eyes flickered. Someone had followed him in.

Yet after entering, that presence disappeared completely. Even Li Guanqi’s divine consciousness had barely caught the faintest trace of their aura. If he hadn’t been alert, he might not have noticed at all.

Hmph. Let’s see how long you can hide.As the mysterious spatial force rippled outward, Li Guanqi found himself swept into a spatial passage, with countless streaks of light flashing past on either side.

Before long, his head spun, and a tremendous force hurled him out.

Boom!

He had barely landed before an endless torrent of flames came crashing down from above.

Li Guanqi snorted, then unleashed a rapid series of strikes with the Red Lotus Sword, the resulting sword lights forming a dense barrier that deflected every wave of fire.

When the flames finally subsided, his surroundings came into view. A long stone suspension bridge stretched beneath his feet, hanging over a bottomless abyss where molten lava churned.

The bridge was made of slabs of pitch-black stone floating in midair, linked end to end. Many sparks drifted through the air while violent fire spirit power surged all around.

That earlier eruption had been triggered by his sudden arrival, which disturbed the surrounding energy.

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. His surroundings pressed down on him strangely, as if they had once been a great cultivator’s training ground.

He steadied his breath into internal circulation to keep the heat from scorching his throat. He stripped off his outer robe, then brushed a hand over his storage ring, putting away the Face-Changing Bug and restoring his original appearance.

Sweat soaked through his clothes in moments. He uncorked his wine gourd, took two gulps, and felt a rush of coolness spread through him.

With the Red Lotus Sword in hand, he leaped cautiously toward the bridge’s far end. But the instant he set foot on it, his expression shifted.

In that place, even the void forbade flight.

His eyes flickered as he muttered, “Flight-Forbidden Formation… what exactly is this place?”

The bridge stretched endlessly into darkness, forcing him to rely on his sprint technique alone. He dashed swiftly along the narrow path.

From the abyss below, lava erupted from time to time, spraying hundreds of zhang into the air before hissing into steam.

As he sped onward, he suddenly sensed something—a hundred zhang behind him, a black-robed elder stood still, watching him coldly.

He whispered coldly with a raspy voice, “Heh, as expected.”

Then he vanished, silently following Li Guanqi.

Soon, Li Guanqi noticed the fire spirit power growing increasingly violent and concentrated, until a faint red mist drifted everywhere.

He was startled. For a cultivator with a fire-element spirit root, it would be paradise. A single day of training in such an environment could equal half a month outside.

Without lingering, he stepped into the crimson mist, his divine consciousness spreading a hundred zhang around him. Everything within range was under his control, yet nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Fifteen minutes later, a towering stone gate loomed before him, guarded by two colossal statues that were one hundred zhang tall. Terrifying pressure radiated from them, each gripping a massive crimson sword.

A sense of foreboding tugged at his heart.

Suddenly, dozens of blazing dots lit up within the mist, emerging seemingly out of nowhere.

Li Guanqi’s pupils contracted. “Fire essence!”

The moment he spoke, the Red Lotus Sword blazed to life in his hand.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A chain of explosions tore through the mist as the fire essences burst one after another. The shockwaves hurled Li Guanqi back hundreds of zhang. The backlash couldn’t truly harm him, but he noticed the mist tightening around him as he moved.

The remaining fire essences detonated, their flames coalescing into blazing fire spirits.

Each one stood over one zhang tall, vaguely human but faceless, their bodies wreathed in terrifying flames. They raised flaming longswords and closed in from all directions.

Every one of them radiated power equal to an early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. The sheer power hidden in the fire essences was astonishing.

With his divine consciousness, each movement was firmly under his control. His eyes narrowed as boundless vital force surged through him, lightning crackling wildly around him.

He crouched low with the Red Lotus Sword in hand. He whispered, “Soul Dissolution. Red Lotus. Seven Killings!”

Boom!

The ground split beneath his feet as crimson mist exploded outward. Lightning flared wildly as his figure blurred through the air, afterimages weaving between the fire spirits.

Sword light streaked through the air, with lightning arcs connecting into a deadly web that rebounded through the battlefield.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One explosion after another rocked the space. The fire spirits collapsed, falling to the ground with a clatter.

Breathing hard, Li Guanqi glanced at the scorch marks on his arm. He frowned. He hadn’t expected the fire spirits to be so strong. They’d wounded him, even if only slightly.