Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi glared at Peng Luo. Sword Spirit was a very important person to him. She was both his teacher and friend.

Then there was Nine Heavens. He’d fed it his own blood every day while it was still an egg, and Nine Heavens had repaid that bond with absolute loyalty.

As for Peng Luo…

If Sword Spirit hadn’t intervened, Peng Luo would already be dead.

Spirit light flickered across Peng Luo’s body, his wounds knitting together visibly. He clasped his hands before himself awkwardly and lowered his gaze. “I suggest merging the Heavenly Lightning Orb with the altar in your sea of consciousness, Master. The orb can protect it, and you can use its power to open a second dantian.”

Li Guanqi furrowed his brow and glanced at the two remaining peaks in the distance. The battles there raged as fiercely as before. Even tens of thousands of zhang away, he could feel the shockwaves of power.

“What do you mean by a second dantian?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Peng Luo explained. “The Heavenly Lightning Orb can serve as a container for it. If you refine and dissolve the orb completely, you’ll have two identical dantians. Right now, your power comes from your nascent soul, which hasn’t fully merged with your soul yet. The orb can help you create a second nascent soul.”

He straightened up and said the rest over voice transmission. “And if you have an extra nascent soul or divine soul, you basically have an extra life!”

Li Guanqi maintained a calm expression, but his trembling pupils betrayed his shock. The energy in the Heavenly Lightning Orb alone could carry him to the peak of the mid Divine Transformation Realm. And on top of that, it could essentially duplicate his nascent soul.

Li Guanqi was overjoyed. He immediately began circulating his vital force. Relying on the powers of his two heavenly fires, he refined the Heavenly Lightning Orb in his body, then guided it into his sea of consciousness as Peng Luo had suggested.

The Heavenly Lightning Orb settled into place, becoming a precious ward over his sea of consciousness. As his aura stabilized, Li Guanqi turned toward the mountain radiating terrifying sword intent.

A chilling wind howled across that peak. Yin hell force hung thick in the air. A hundred-zhang-long shadow carved through the cultivators there like a scythe through wheat.

Li Guanqi folded his arms and stepped forward, crossing a thousand zhang in a single stride.

Soon, he arrived at the edge of the battlefield.

The Heavenly Lightning Orb pulsed with power inside him. His nascent soul’s transformation into a divine soul was speeding up. The outline of his second dantian had already formed, absorbing the orb’s energy and growing more stable as vital force accumulated within it.

Spirit qi and vital force surged through his meridians at maximum speed.

He finally got a good look at the man who was slaughtering the cultivators nearby.

He wore flowing golden robes and had a ghostly pale face, handsome but unsettling, with pitch-black pupils that seemed to lead into unfathomable depths. He had a tall nose and slightly high cheekbones. His thin lips curled in a vicious sneer, and his eyes glinted with perverted amusement.

Black qi spread in all directions behind him, a sign of highly concentrated yin hell qi.

“Ming Xiao,” Li Guanqi murmured. The man felt like a real threat.

What struck Li Guanqi most was the sword. Ming Xiao’s fist was clenched as if gripping a hilt, but there was nothing there. No blade. No sound when he swung. Yet an icy and powerful sword intent radiated from him, the weapon shapeless but unmistakable.

Li Guanqi’s eyes narrowed. His composure cracked.

Sword Intent at the Sword Courage Realm.

Soon, people noticed Li Guanqi’s arrival.

They immediately fled the battlefield, shooting him terrified looks. They were the survivors from his Sword Prison domain.

“Why is he here too?! Wait…”

“One treasure wasn’t enough? Does he want Ming Xiao’s sword too?”

“Strong or not, that’s insane. That’s Ming Xiao.”

A man in luxurious robes clicked his tongue in disdain. “I, Yuan Yangbo of the Crouching Dragon Mountain Residence, will be blunt—I don’t believe it. Fighting Ming Xiao over treasure? Have you all gone mad?”

Mocking laughter erupted from the crowd.

“If you’d been at Lightning Peak just now, you’d already be paste.”

Many cultivators stopped fighting to look at Li Guanqi.

A blood-drenched old man shoved Ming Xiao back with his sword. He glared at Li Guanqi and snorted. “Hmph. Kids these days. Barely grown and already so arrogant.”

Li Guanqi rolled his eyes. He hadn’t even said anything yet.

“What’s with the attitude, old man? Did I dig up your ancestral grave? Perhaps I stole your wife’s dentures?”

The old man was so furious that he could hardly breathe.

“You!”

Ming Xiao fixed his gaze on Li Guanqi. “Give me the Heavenly Lightning Orb and I’ll let you live.”

Li Guanqi pursed his lips. The sword box on his back opened.

Clang!!

A piercing cry rang out as the Red Lotus Sword flew into his hand.

Was Ming Xiao arrogant? Absolutely. He was so arrogant that Li Guanqi felt annoyed.

A person could be arrogant, but not at his expense.

Li Guanqi gripped the Red Lotus Sword. His aura surged to the peak of the mid Divine Transformation Realm.

Then he activated the Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra. His muscles swelled, his frame expanding. The space beneath his feet warped under the pressure. A flick of his ankle made tiny tears in space.

Ten zhang away, Ming Xiao eyed Li Guanqi, his gaze narrowed. His arrogant gaze slowly gave way to a more serious expression.

Li Guanqi switched the sword to his left hand.

Boom!

Sword intent erupted skyward. Wind howled. Clouds churned.

The old man from before clamped his mouth shut and retreated.

Electricity crackled beneath Li Guanqi’s feet, threaded with licks of flame. His aura climbed higher, gathering like a storm about to break.

Ming Xiao was shocked. He gripped his newly acquired Shadowless Sword. “Who are you?”

Yin hell energy surged through Ming Xiao’s body. His aura climbed until it reached the late Divine Transformation Realm, then higher still, stopping just shy of the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm.

His snow-white face grew more ghostly by the second, his features twisting into something inhuman.

The old man from before turned pale. “Gulp… That’s… the Ghost… Ghost King Physique. He actually cultivated the Ghost King Physique!”