Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

A large dragon wreathed in lightning flew through the pitch-black void. On its back was a severely injured youth.

Many of Nine Heavens’ scales hung loose from the battle against the Nine Heavens Deer. The fight had not left it as battered as Li Guanqi’s brute-force clash with the Three-Tailed Kunwu Wolf. Its dragon bloodline had naturally suppressed the deer, but the fight had been equally intense.

Nine Heavens shook its head, glancing back repeatedly. It had never seen Li Guanqi so badly hurt.

Li Guanqi forced his mangled body upright into a cross-legged position and began to cultivate.

Battles like this, where he could unleash his full strength, were invaluable. One fight had given him another level of mastery over his physical power.

But his injuries were indeed too severe. He had won, yet the cost had been steep. The wolf had been a powerful tier-six demon, dangerous in every way: speed, strength, and terrifying wind-type abilities.

Li Guanqi was exhausted. He had gone through several brushes with death, nearly dying beneath the wolf’s paws.

He activated the Ancient Illusory Refinement Technique to heal his shattered internal organs. The external wounds looked gruesome, but his internal injuries were even worse.

This battle gave him a better estimate of his strength. The Five Lightning Fist was fierce, emphasizing unstoppable force. The Lightning Evocation technique, now that he had mastered its first tier, was equally formidable.

Yet these effects could only be sustained for an hour at most. Any longer and his meridians would rupture.Even his final move—swinging the sword coffin—had given him insight. That strike had felt powerful enough to split the heavens.

He rarely entered this state of bold, unstoppable force. During battles against humans, his mind raced with calculations. He was rarely in situations that demanded pure brute force, where he had nothing to fear.

His mouth curved upward. The flesh on his face slowly wriggled, closing the gruesome wounds.

He tossed out more than a hundred mid-grade spirit stones and shattered them. Nine Heavens opened its mouth and inhaled them all like a whale.

Li Guanqi smiled and broke more spirit stones for Nine Heavens. He also took out tier-five healing pills, popped some into his mouth, and tossed Nine Heavens a few.

Peng Luo appeared with a sneaky expression, rubbing his palms as he eyed the pills. His intentions were obvious.

Li Guanqi was not stingy. He tossed Peng Luo two pills.

Peng Luo immediately snapped off his own forearm and hurled it at Li Guanqi. “Don’t worry, Master! I’m not the kind of person who only takes but doesn’t give. Eat this!”

Li Guanqi stuffed the forearm into his mouth. It dissolved into pure energy that cleansed his whole body, and his internal organs began to heal.

Li Guanqi gestured toward Nine Heavens, who opened its mouth and spat out a few things.

The first was the Nine Heavens Deer’s demon core. Fist-sized, it radiated a powerful aura and shone with six-colored celestial light, looking exceptionally mysterious.

The Three-Tailed Kunwu Wolf’s demon core was similar, even slightly larger.

As for the Nine Heavens Deer’s carcass, Nine Heavens had eaten it whole.

Then it spat out a pair of large deer antlers.

Li Guanqi’s eyes lit up.

“Tsk tsk. This is a goodie, hahaha.”

The Nine Heavens Deer had been guarding a tier-six spirit fruit tree, though he did not know what the fruits did. There were three in total. He ate one, then gave one each to Peng Luo and Nine Heavens.

Then Li Guanqi noticed a small plant inside the cave.

“An Immortal Sprout?”

He was stunned. It was one of the main ingredients for refining Illusory Breakthrough Pills.

Can I still consider this as finding it by accident? I’ve gotten a little too lucky…

He carefully stored it in a jade box, then told Peng Luo and Nine Heavens the directions to Floating Wood Valley. With that done, he started cultivating.

Three days later, Peng Luo lay on the ground, eyes rolling back as he foamed at the mouth. Only half of each arm remained. He cursed furiously under his breath. “You’re… not human… Just two… pills… and I broke my arms off… over sixty times… You need to… pay extra for this…”

Li Guanqi’s vital force was stronger than ever, and his wounds had completely healed. His powerful physique allowed for rapid recovery.

He laughed at the sight of Peng Luo on the ground. “Alright, alright. More for you.”

He tossed Peng Luo back into the sword coffin’s realm, then shattered hundreds of mid-grade spirit stones and threw in a dozen pills.

Li Guanqi looked up at the void and tapped Nine Heavens’ back lightly with his foot.

“That’s enough, Nine Heavens. Get some rest.”

Nine Heavens nodded and shrank into a flash of lightning that darted into his robes.

Li Guanqi sliced a line through the void, opening a zhang-long tear in space, and stepped through.

He had arrived at Floating Wood Valley.

It was high noon, but the valley lay shrouded in a blurry green mist. He gazed down at the swamp below, its depths obscured from view. Some unseen force in the mud seemed to be dragging him down.

An excited roar suddenly shattered the quiet.

A coarse-looking man burst out of the swamp, clutching a withered log as thick as a water bucket. The wood gleamed with a metallic sheen, clearly something extraordinary.

“Hahahaha! Finally! This wasn’t a wasted trip after all.”

He began looking around, spotting Li Guanqi in white robes. He glared and pointed at Li Guanqi. “What the fuck are you looking at?”

Li Guanqi froze for a second. “So what if I’m looking at you?”

The man flew into a rage and leaped out of the mud. He stowed the wood, rolled up his sleeves, and drew a silver ring knife.[1]

“Damn, you’ve got guts! Today, I, Broken-Tailed Tiger, shall teach you a lesson.”

His vital force erupted, and he charged with his knife raised.

Three breaths later, the man kneeled on the ground with a swollen face and bruised nose, hands on his knees, crying with snot and tears running down his face. “Master, I really haven’t heard of this Cang Lu guy… I only came here to search for gold-and-silver floating wood to earn some money.”

Li Guanqi sighed and kicked him away. “Get lost.”

He left the man behind and trekked deeper into Floating Wood Valley, looking down at the piece of dried wood in his hand.

Does this mean he’s here searching for floating wood too?

Is his guqin broken?

Lightning flashed beneath his feet, and he shot off into the valley.

1. A silver ring knife (银环大刀) has seven to eight rings attached to the blunt side of the blade, which increases its weight and momentum during slashes, inflicting more damage. ☜

Doge & Char’s Thoughts

This is what a Silver Ring Knife looks like: