Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Boom!

Explosions erupted again and again across the void. Blood sprayed through the air. This time, Li Guanqi didn’t dare hold back. His blood roared through his veins as he unleashed his dragon-elephant strength, forcing Mo Yanshan back.

Mo Yanshan was a pure spirit cultivator, so naturally, his physical strength was incomparable to a martial cultivator. Li Guanqi could stand toe-to-toe with him thanks to his sheer physical power.

But the old man was no pushover. Every swing of his sword carried terrifying power.

Still, he was suffering in silence—the fiery domain surrounding him had shattered under the sheer force of the Lightning Dragon Flames. They were fire too, yet they had destroyed his own spirit flames. Such was the might of heavenly fire.

Endless flames surged forth, turning into fiery dragons that lunged at Mo Yanshan.

Li Guanqi teleported through space, planning to reappear behind the old man like a ghost. He raised his sword, about to attack.

Suddenly, Mo Yanshan’s eyes glinted. He smirked. In that instant, Li Guanqi found himself frozen in place, unable to move.

A powerful spatial force pressed down on him, pulling him out of his teleportation.

Mo Yanshan glared at him, raising his sword high. “You think you can teleport in front of a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator? You’re still too young!”Boom!

A blazing arc of fiery sword light took form in an instant.

Li Guanqi’s expression remained calm. He had never teleported in front of a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator before—why would he be careless enough to try it against Mo Yanshan?

Mo Yanshan poured all his strength into his sword, aiming to finish Li Guanqi in one blow. The moment his sword light shot forward, when his vital force wavered for the briefest instant, a massive dragon’s head materialized behind him.

Nine Heavens roared at the heavens above, then swung its tail.

Boom!

The terrifying force of its tail unleashed several sonic booms. Before the old man could even react, the huge dragon tail sent him hurtling back a thousand zhang.

“Pfft! A true dragon?! Where did it come from?! Why?!”

Mo Yanshan’s eyes widened. The lower half of his body went limp. The impact shattered every bone from the waist down. Shards of bone pierced through his internal organs, including his heart and lungs.

If not for the vital force shield he had thrown up at the last second, he would’ve been reduced to paste.

Nine Heavens had been seething with rage after the recent battles. It couldn’t comprehend why a bunch of insignificant beings, mere ants in its eyes, kept trying to take its father’s life.

Roar!

As the old man shot back, Nine Heavens vanished and reappeared behind him, exhaling a torrent of dragon’s breath.

The last thing Mo Yanshan saw was a one-zhang-wide pillar of lightning.

“No!” The scream of despair travelled across the void.

Nine Heavens’ golden eyes burned with fury as the dragon’s breath intensified. In moments, Mo Yanshan was gone, erased without a trace. Even his fleeing divine soul had no chance to escape.

The dragon’s breath raged for five whole seconds before fading.

Li Guanqi stared in stunned silence. He’d killed many people lately and had been feeding Nine Heavens with anything that could nourish it. Given its ability to refine anything, he had never worried about it.

Still, he hadn’t expected its aura to have risen to mid tier five, equal to a mid Divine Transformation Realm cultivator.

Furthermore, demonic beasts were always stronger than humans of equal realms, and Nine Heavens was a true dragon. Li Guanqi swallowed hard and called Nine Heavens back.

Nine Heavens shook its gigantic head and lifted its chin haughtily, looking at Li Guanqi out of the corner of its eye. Clearly, it was trying to say that it could have resolved the problem earlier if he had let it.

Li Guanqi grinned. “Alright, alright. I get it. You’re amazing.”

Satisfied with the results, Nine Heavens turned into a bracelet around Li Guanqi’s wrist.

Li Guanqi squinted into the pitch-black void, then unleashed a sea of fire to erase every lingering trace of their auras. Only then did he turn and vanish.

Not long after he left, a middle-aged man with a black raven on his head gradually appeared. He wore black robes with light yellow embroidery, and a knife hung at his waist.

His features were sharp as a blade, and his eyes were like ice. He frowned slightly as he stood in the darkness.

Closing his eyes, he probed the surrounding space. His frown deepened, then he muttered, “Two auras… both strong. Wait! There’s demonic qi too.”

His eyes snapped open in shock. His thin lips moved as he murmured, “Mo Yanshan is probably dead... Li Guanqi won’t be easy to kill.”

Whoosh!

The man vanished without a trace.

Six hours later, he reappeared one thousand zhang away. After staring off into the distance, a red gleam flickered in the raven’s eyes.

Then he disappeared once more.

One day later, a blood-soaked Li Guanqi grimaced in pain at the center of a spatial storm. Finally, the storm hurled him out into open space. He extended his divine consciousness in all directions. With no sign of the man, he sighed in relief.

He’d been on edge the entire time. After killing Mo Yanshan, he had dived into a medium-sized spatial storm instead of heading straight to his next destination.

Sure enough, someone from the Dark Raven Order had appeared.

If he’d left, his trail would’ve given him away. And in his weakened state, that man would’ve easily finished him.

Even with only a faint suspicion of his location, he had arrived at the correct location. He was meticulous.

If not for the storm concealing Li Guanqi’s aura, the man would’ve found him.

Without wasting a second, he pulled out spirit stones and began healing himself. Then he slipped once more into the void, changing direction repeatedly, occasionally breaking through to the outside world to cover his tracks.

Soon, he arrived in an old town. He had an average-looking face and was wearing black robes. He needed somewhere safe to rest and recover.

The vital force within him was growing restless. Something was stirring inside him.

He felt he was on the verge of a breakthrough.