Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

As a newborn, everything the lightning dragon thought and felt came purely from instinct. The eggshell was vital to a newborn dragon, and so essential that hatchlings would even fight over it. It was a potent source of energy, helping them quickly grow past their fragile newborn stage.

The lightning dragon opened its mouth and stuffed the eggshell inside. Seeing its puffed cheeks, Sword Spirit chuckled softly and prepared to return to the sword coffin.

But when the dragon noticed she was about to leave, it hesitated, then trotted over and nudged her with its snout, wriggling its nose. Sword Spirit smiled and gently stroked its head.

The dragon closed its eyes, savoring her touch. Then it rolled onto its back and retracted its claws, asking her to rub its belly.

But out of the corner of her eye, Sword Spirit caught a glimpse that froze her smile. Realizing it was a male dragon, her face darkened. With a kick, she sent it tumbling away.

“You’re so young and you’re already being a pervert!”

She glared at the bewildered dragon, then vanished.

The lightning dragon blinked in confusion. Bored, it coiled itself around Li Guanqi and closed its eyes. Each exhale carried the fire power it had absorbed from the sea of flames.

Li Guanqi was completely oblivious to the things unfolding around him, as he was struggling to manage the surge of power coursing through his body. Taming the heavenly fire was proving to be incredibly difficult. Even with the Flame-Devouring Sutra, he could only contain its raw energy, not truly control it. It was as if the creator of the sutra had never actually managed to consume any heavenly fire.

Sword Spirit sensed that something was wrong—Li Guanqi’s abdomen was swollen and round. If he wasn’t careful, his body could rupture, and he’d die. Startled, she cried out, “Guard your core! Circulate your qi and refine the energy!”Then she poured her own energy into his body.

The platform in his sea of consciousness quaked as his divine consciousness surged. He forced himself to calm down and activated two techniques at once.

“Ancient Illusory Refinement Technique!

“Flame-Devouring Sutra!”

Rumble!

Vital force roared through his body, chasing down the raging flames and refining them. At the same time, blisters the size of fists formed all over his body.

The lightning dragon eyed the grotesque blisters uneasily. Seeing the violent flames radiating from Li Guanqi, it tilted its head in thought. Then its eyes flashed gold as it unleashed its dragon’s might upon him.

Under that pressure, the rampant fire power inside Li Guanqi quieted at once.

He gritted his teeth in silence. Refine it!!!

The fiery power in his veins was gradually refined, and the fire seed in his nascent soul solidified even further.

His aura skyrocketed. The sea of fire around him recoiled a hundred zhang away. The blisters faded from his skin, and he broke through to the late Nascent Soul Realm.

His aura slowly stabilized.

The little lightning dragon tilted its head again, then pushed the piece of eggshell it had hidden toward Li Guanqi. But when it saw he wasn’t eating, it grew anxious.

Buzz!

Dozens of high-grade spirit stones appeared around him, bursting and releasing spirit qi of maximum purity. The lightning dragon’s eyes lit up, then it opened its mouth to suck in all the spirit qi.

Li Guanqi frowned. Why can’t I absorb the spirit qi from these stones?

He took out a few dozen more, but nothing entered his body.

Li Guanqi opened his eyes and exhaled a breath, only to feel it being sucked away. Then he saw the lightning dragon on the ground, dry heaving. Its belly was bulging, and streams of spirit qi were spilling from its mouth.

Though exasperated, Li Guanqi couldn’t help but laugh. He patted the dragon’s head, tossed out a thousand mid-grade spirit stones, and said, “These are yours. Go eat them over there.”

The lightning dragon nodded, seeming to understand. Yet instead of going away, it rubbed its head affectionately against him, eyes half-closed.

Li Guanqi chuckled. Who would’ve thought such a mighty dragon would hatch from that egg?

After coaxing it for a while, he finally got it to nibble on the spirit stones in a corner so he could focus on stabilizing his cultivation.

His battle with Miao Rongchang had taught him a lot about domains. But as he replayed the fight against the fire spirit in his mind, he realized there was still a vast gulf between him and cultivators of the Divine Transformation Realm.

If he’d broken through before that fight, he would’ve stood a much better chance. Fighting a Divine Transformation Realm opponent while at the Nascent Soul Realm had been an enormous challenge, even if his opponent was only a fire spirit. It had raw power, but not the full breadth of a true Divine Transformation Realm cultivator’s might.

Now that he had reached the late Nascent Soul Realm, facing that same fire spirit again would be significantly easier.

Sword Spirit’s voice rang in his mind. “When you face spirit or soul-type opponents, the most effective way to kill them is with your divine consciousness.”

Then she added with delight, “But you don’t even need that anymore. You have heavenly fire now—a method to naturally suppress them. And the Lightning Dragon Flame ranks sixteenth. Its destructive power even surpasses some of the higher-ranked flames.”

Li Guanqi glanced at his scorched skin and let out a wry laugh. “But it’s too dangerous. Without the Flame-Devouring Sutra, I would’ve been reduced to ashes.”

He raised his hand, summoning a ball of fire. There were streaks of dark purple lightning inside it. From a distance, it looked as if the lightning itself was burning. It was so hot that it burned through space itself, making a spatial tear that revealed the void beyond.

Li Guanqi swallowed hard. The flames were terrifying.

Sword Spirit explained, “The fire will grow stronger as you do. It can also devour other sources of energy to evolve.”

Li Guanqi nodded in awe. He waved his hand, and the sea of fire vanished completely. The Lightning Dragon Flame had devoured it all.

When he stood and was about to call the dragon over, he noticed a sphere of dark purple fire resting at the bottom of the sea.

Sword Spirit muttered in surprise, “Companion Flame?”

Li Guanqi immediately gathered it up, grinning. “It looks powerful. I’ll give it to Big Head later.”

He called the lightning dragon over. It lowered its head so Li Guanqi could stand on it, then soared forward, shattering space itself as they vanished into the void.