Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The ray of sword light was only a zhang long, wrapped in twisting flames and lightning, yet it sent a chill down Xuan Luo’s spine.

The moment the sword and knife lights collided, the sword light shattered the latter as easily as snapping rotten wood.

Xuan Luo threw out several defensive magical items, forming layer after layer of vital force shields.

But every glowing item and every shield crumbled on contact.

He twisted sideways, but the sword light still pierced straight through him.

Pfft!

Half of his shoulder and part of his torso were sliced open. Flames instantly ignited his body, and within seconds, Xuan Luo was engulfed in fire.

No matter how he struggled, he could not extinguish the flames. Burning midair, he slowly loosened his grip, and his knife slipped from his hand. The fire consumed him whole, devouring even the last traces of his vital force.

And yet, there was a look of release in his eyes. When he gazed at Li Guanqi, his eyes shone brightly. His lips curved into a smile. “You’re strong. I can tell you still have strength left. But… once I die, the Dark Raven Order will hunt you endlessly. My life… has known too much pain… Finally… death has come…”

He stopped resisting the flames. At once, his body burned to white ash and scattered on the wind.Li Guanqi spat out a mouthful of blood, looking at the drifting cloud of ash with mixed emotions.

A gust of wind swept past, carrying Xuan Luo’s ashes across the land.

Li Guanqi did nothing to save him. They stood on opposite sides, and there was nothing to be done. Xuan Luo’s tragic past meant nothing to him.

Xuan Luo had been right—he still had a few trump cards, like the true strength of his Sword Prison, the Heavenly Destruction Sword Sutra, and a physique that rivaled that of a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator.

It would’ve been foolish to reveal everything. Who knew who could be watching in secret?

He needed an opponent like Xuan Luo to help him master his new Divine Transformation Realm strength.

He withdrew the Sword Prison, then his brow furrowed.

Their battle had stirred too much commotion. The noise had already drawn many cultivators toward them.

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and licked his lips, but he didn’t strike again.

The vital force in his body surged violently. He needed a place to stabilize his cultivation.

He raised a hand and tore a spatial rift open. For a moment, he froze in surprise, as it was far easier than before.

Without hesitation, he stepped into the void and vanished, teleporting a thousand zhang away.

By the time the black-robed pursuers arrived, he was gone.

They stood stunned by the surrounding devastation. The land within a thousand zhang looked as if a dragon had burrowed through it. The earth was overturned, there were craters everywhere, and the ground was charred black. Thick lightning and fire vital force lingered in the air, even crackling with faint sparks from time to time.

The trees on the surrounding mountains had been reduced to ash.

Traces of knife and sword intent hovered over deep trenches, slowly fading away.

A faint remnant of the heavenly tribulation lingered. It was barely a third of its original power, yet it was enough to shock everyone. The onlookers quickly reached a conclusion.

“Li Guanqi has entered the Divine Transformation Realm! And… he killed a Divine Transformation Realm knife cultivator who had awakened knife intent!”

These two revelations swept across the Daxia Territory within half an hour. The Nascent Soul Leaderboard soon shifted, and Li Guanqi’s name rose to third place.

A new line of words appeared next to his name.

Broke through to the Divine Transformation Realm. Killed a mid Divine Transformation Realm assassin from the Dark Raven Order.

Those who possessed heavenly intelligence jade pendants and could see the leaderboard were mostly seasoned cultivators, well aware of what it meant to kill a Dark Raven Order assassin.

The people who had dismissed Li Guanqi as lucky no longer dared to think so. Li Guanqi now ranked third on the leaderboard, having killed a Dark Raven Order assassin alone in direct combat. He was no longer someone they could overwhelm through sheer numbers.

Furthermore, he had already reached the Divine Transformation Realm.

When he was still at the Nascent Soul Realm, he had wiped out more than thirty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators on his own.

When he was half a step into the Divine Transformation Realm, he had killed off two factions with Divine Transformation Realm cultivators.

But Li Guanqi remained unaware of the conversations centered on him.

Far away, in a nameless cave deep within the Eastern Territory, a dragon stood watch at the entrance.

On a stone pillar sat a figure in white robes, cross-legged. The blood on his clothes had dried. Occasional lightning and fire flickered through the cave.

Li Guanqi focused on consolidating his cultivation, studying the transformation of his nascent soul. It had grown into a toddler with features much like his own, its blue body glowing with celestial light at the top of its head.

When his divine soul fused with the nascent soul, a strange feeling arose. It felt as if he were the nascent soul itself.

When he sank his mind into his nascent soul, he felt reassured by the immense power it contained. He had also gained a greater affinity with every type of spirit qi flowing through his surroundings, as well as a deeper understanding and control over space.

Before, his sword lights spanned dozens of zhang, which was visually grand but too diffused to display their true strength. In contrast, Thunderbolt—the one-zhang-long strike that killed Xuan Luo—concentrated all his power into a single point.

Its destructive force had exceeded even his own expectations. It was too bad that the Red Lotus Sword did not have a sword sheath.

A sheath formed of vital force couldn’t store much energy, but the Sword-Unsheathing Technique could unleash tremendous power in an instant. In a way, Thunderbolt felt even stronger than the Shadow Demon Slash.

As he thought about it, he stood up slowly, gathering all his sword intent and strength in the lightning sword sheath forming in his right hand.

Crackle! Sizzle!

Lightning crackled as destructive power built up within the sheath. When the Red Lotus Sword slid inside, its blade trembled, letting out an ear-piercing cry.

Whoosh!

With his right hand grabbing the sword hilt, a bright ray of sword light shot out.

Rumble!

The entire mountain quaked as a blinding ray of sword light shot out.

Li Guanqi stood deep within the cave, staring up at the gaping hole above him in disbelief. He swallowed hard.

He had been over thirty zhang underground, and the mountain itself rose over a hundred zhang tall.

Yet now, from where he stood at the bottom, he could see the night sky.

A smile touched his lips. If he’d activated his spirit void ability, the sword ray would’ve been even stronger. The Sword-Unsheathing Technique seemed perfectly suited to the Heavenly Destruction Sword Sutra. If he combined the two and added the Sword Prison, then…

As he pondered this, Mo Zhiyuan led his group of elders toward the base of the Daxia Sword Sect’s mountain.