Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi’s face was grim. He had not expected the perpetrator to be so vicious.

“Pure Immortal Mountain,” he growled under his breath, killing intent rolling off him.

He reached out and tore open the space beside him, pulling out Yu Sui’an, who had been sleeping on Heavenly Lightning Peak. While she slept, he slipped a wisp of fire into her.

Next to him, Li Nanting shook his head. “Don’t worry. Sui’an rarely takes pills.”

His face was just as grim. Thankfully, Yu Sui’an’s system showed no traces of poison.

Li Guanqi sighed in relief. More disciples were brought in one after another, yet his frown only deepened. Every disciple who had taken pills carried the same toxin. A rough count put the number at over seven hundred disciples.

The sect’s only alchemist was eaten up with guilt. Most of the pills the disciples relied on were his work, and he looked ready to accept execution on the spot.

Fortunately, the poison was still incubating. Even so, the few most heavily affected disciples revealed the poison’s nature. It gnawed at the vital force in their dantians, accumulating energy. There were seven days left before it would flare up and swallow their dantians whole.

“Seven days…” Li Guanqi muttered. “If that’s the case, the Pure Immortal Mountain Sect must already know what happened to the Ghostly Spirit Sect and Crimson Blade Sect.”

He let out a cold breath, eyes flashing with ice-cold killing intent as he formed a plan.In the end, everyone left the pavilion. Only Li Guanqi and Lu Kangnian remained, speaking in private for a long while. Outside, the sect elders ordered all the disciples back to their quarters, repeatedly warning them not to cultivate for the next few days. They also confiscated every pill in the sect.

Anxiety spread through the sect the moment the disciples heard these orders.

On the way back, one of the first three examined youths bumped into Li Guanqi.

“Elder Li… Was there… something wrong with me…?”

The boy stared at the floor, gripping his sleeves tightly.

Li Guanqi could see the fear in him, so he gave a small smile. “You’re fine. Nothing will happen to anyone. I promise.”

Lightning flickered beneath his feet, and he vanished.

His words seemed to carry a force of their own. The boy’s face lit up for the first time in days, and he turned to his friend, beaming. “We’ll be fine! Absolutely fine! Elder Li told me so!”

The young men and women huddled nearby broke into relieved smiles and spread the news. The panicking disciples calmed down.

Lu Kangnian gave a bitter smile. “That brat… His words work better than mine now. He’s got the makings of a sect master, but I doubt he’d ever accept the position. What a pity.”

That night, the Daxia Sword Sect’s protective barrier shimmered with celestial light. Nearby, a group of eleven Divine Transformation Realm cultivators stood guard.

Buzz!

The barrier at the back of the sect grounds rippled weakly, then opened up. Two old men walked out of a pitch-black tear in space.

The old man in white robes with sword-shaped eyebrows was Gu Yan, the one Li Guanqi had met before. However, the real shock was the old man who came along with Gu Yan.

The other man, Sun Miao, wore fire-red robes. His gaze was calm, his figure slightly plump, and his eyebrows were so long they reached the corners of his mouth. He stood with his hands behind his back, wriggling his nose slightly. He frowned, and his eyes flashed.

Sun Miao looked straight at Li Guanqi, who had been watching him the moment he appeared. He had heard plenty about Li Guanqi.

The people of the Daxia Sword Sect were shocked. They started sending each other voice transmissions.

“It’s him! How could it be him?!”

“Gulp… The Azure Cloud Continent’s number one alchemist! A tier-five alchemist… Sun Miao!”

“Good! Good! With Master Sun here, we’re saved!”

Lu Kangnian led everyone in a formal bow. “I am Lu Kangnian, sect master of the Daxia Sword Sect. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Gu, Senior Sun. Thank you both for coming. Let’s speak inside.”

The group parted to make way. Gu Yan smiled and gave a fist salute, then turned to Li Guanqi. “Long time no see, kid.”

Li Guanqi quickly bowed and smiled. “Yeah, Old Gu! Why isn’t Xiao Yi here?”

Gu Yan gave a wry smile. “That rascal is too unruly. Since this trip is official business, I didn’t bring him along.”

Then, he turned to Sun Miao and grinned. “See? That’s the kid I told you about. Impressive, isn’t he?”

Sun Miao only glanced at Li Guanqi and gave a curt nod. “Let’s talk in the pavilion.”

“You… Fine, let’s talk when we’re in the pavilion,” Gu Yan said awkwardly.

Li Guanqi smiled and led them to Heavenly Sword Peak.

But he soon noticed the plump, serious-looking old man glancing around with a keen eye, subtly sending out threads of divine consciousness. The further Sun Miao probed, the darker his expression became. His brows pinched together.

Li Guanqi froze. Had Sun Miao already found the problem?

Just as the thought popped into his mind, Sun Miao’s voice suddenly rang in his ear. “Have you guys been interacting with the Pure Immortal Mountain Sect?”

Lu Kangnian’s eyes widened, and he looked up at Sun Miao’s back.

No one spoke. Soon, they reached the main pavilion.

All the disciples were meditating, though none dared cultivate.

The pavilion glowed brightly under the night sky, illuminated by a full moon and a few stars.

Both sides took their seats. Li Guanqi sat beside Gu Yan, speaking quietly with him.

Sun Miao got straight to the point. “To be frank, unless you have something worth my while, I am not willing to offend the Pure Immortal Mountain Sect.”

The atmosphere in the hall sank. They already knew a tier-five alchemist’s help would come at a steep price, but his bluntness caught them off guard.

Even Gu Yan looked embarrassed. “Old Sun! What are you saying?!”

Sun Miao shot him a cold look. “Their disciples have been poisoned with the Pure Immortal Mountain Sect’s Pure Immortal Poison.”

“What?! Pure Immortal Poison?!”