Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Geng He was stunned. The old man standing before him was the pavilion master of the Taiqing Territory’s Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion. Geng He wasn’t even qualified to meet someone of his caliber. On any ordinary day, he would merely hear his name, never see his face.

He looked at Li Guanqi. Who the hell is this guy? The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion is treating him with so much respect… Chu Jingze was even frightened that something might have happened to him!

Geng He was smart enough to read the room. He nodded vigorously. “That’s not a problem. Not a problem at all.”

Chu Jingze nodded and replied, “I’ll get my staff to contact you later.”

Then he muttered, “I can’t believe he made such a big deal out of something so small.”

He uncrossed his arms with a bright smile and turned to Li Guanqi. “Mr. Li, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of this.”

Li Guanqi nodded with a smile. He and Meng Wanshu bowed in gratitude. “Thank you for your help, Elder Chu.”

Chu Jingze turned pale and dodged sideways. “Mr. Li, there’s no need for this! You’re not ranked any lower than I am! And definitely not you either, Miss Meng. You’re making me look bad!”

Shen Bing and Ju Shaolin stared, watching Chu Jingze act so obsequiously.

Ju Shaolin gulped and sent Shen Bing a voice transmission. “Is it too late for me to fall to my knees and apologize?”Shen Bing looked at him, then at Li Guanqi. He shook his head. “With his personality… it won’t work.”

Ju Shaolin paled. But he wasn’t willing to kneel to Li Guanqi in front of the crowd. With a dismissive wave, he turned. “I’m heading back. He Yuning’s not in critical danger anymore, anyway.”

Shen Bing gave a small nod. “I’ll go with you.”

The moment they turned around, a blade of sword qi shot at their backs.

Boom!

Li Guanqi pointed the Yanluo Sword at them. “Wait a minute.”

The crowd, which had simmered down, grew excited at the possibility of more drama.

“He’s doing it again!”

“He’s going to fight again!”

“Seriously? Is this guy actually going to offend three powerful groups in just one trip to the Central Prefecture?”

“Is there something between him and the other two sects too?”

Ju Shaolin shuddered and fell to his knees without another word. The bystanders’ jaws dropped.

He smiled apologetically despite his arrogance. “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

He was really regretting provoking Li Guanqi. Judging by what they’d seen, Li Guanqi had to have some powerful backers.

Ju Shaolin had already been fearful of the Divine Treasure Territory Lord’s only daughter. Now, there was also ‌Chu Jingze, the pavilion master of the Taiqing Territory’s Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion and a Combined Body Realm cultivator.

And this was only what he could see on the surface. The actual faction behind Li Guanqi hadn’t even appeared yet.

Based on what Meng Wanshu said, she and Li Guanqi had grown up together. For Li Guanqi to grow up with Meng Jiangchu’s only daughter… Ju Shaolin couldn’t even fathom how powerful Li Guanqi’s faction was.

Ju Shaolin had never been so afraid of one person’s backing.

To his surprise, Li Guanqi merely glanced at him and turned to Shen Bing.

“I would like to kill someone. You’re not going to stop me, are you?”

Shen Bing paled slightly. He hadn’t expected Li Guanqi to target him. He turned to look at the elders behind him, and his face darkened.

Li Guanqi intended to execute his subordinate in front of the entire Central Prefecture. It would be a complete and utter humiliation.

But Shen Bing turned and smiled. “Sure, but you’ve got to give me a reason.”

Li Guanqi’s gaze fell on one of the elders behind Shen Bing. “Do you want me to do it, or will you do it yourself?”

The elder dropped his act of fear and looked directly at Li Guanqi. “How are you so sure?”

This was a ceremonial elder from the Green Sun Palace. He had been there for more than a hundred years.

The crowd was confused by the exchange.

Li Guanqi smirked and slowly lifted his right hand. A silver thread, spun from his divine consciousness, connected his fingers to the elder.

The old man’s eyes flickered with surprise, and his lips curved into a smile. His body began to expand.

Chu Jingze huffed coldly and raised his hand toward the old man, making a strong grasping motion. Powerful vital force poured out of him, and a gigantic hand dozens of zhang in length grabbed the elder.

The space around it was torn to shreds. A terrifying explosion erupted, but not a single shockwave escaped the hand.

Meng Wanshu was also confused. She nudged Li Guanqi and asked in a low voice, “Why was there a thread? Is that guy truly dead?”

Both of them knew the elder was also Cang Lu, who had supposedly died. The old man was another clone of the same person.

Li Guanqi told her about how Cang Lu had stolen his sword.

“Only a few people from the Green Sun Palace came into contact with my sword intent in the Sword Abyss. Peng Luo used a secret technique to locate Cang Lu, and I found him through his aura. However, this clone is very weak.”

Shen Bing was stunned. He’d known the old man for more than a hundred years, and he’d never known the man had been replaced with a clone.

Li Guanqi ignored him. The person behind Cang Lu and the elder had used near-undetectable disguises, and it was giving him a headache. Now that the elder had self-destructed, Li Guanqi sighed in relief.

He didn’t know if they would target him again, but at least they probably wouldn’t appear for a while.

Li Guanqi looked at the plump old man worriedly and asked in a low voice, “Senior, I’m sure you’ve received information about what happened here. He Yuanting left just now. Is it because He Yuning’s getting better?”

The old man relaxed. “Don’t worry, Mr. Li. He Yuning’s life is no longer in danger.”

A pained expression crossed his face. “In fact, his cultivation may even reach greater heights in the future.”

Li Guanqi thought for a moment and turned to look at the sky. Nine Heavens’ lightning tribulation was ending soon. “Let’s go check on Nine Heavens, then visit He Yuning with Ye Feng.”

He paused, then added teasingly, “I haven’t seen Father-in-law in so long… I can’t believe the matchmaking candidate he arranged for you was He Yuning.”

Meng Wanshu blushed, but her expression quickly turned cold. “You’re still going to see him? Look at how He Yuanting treated you. He’s not going to die, so why bother?”

Li Guanqi stopped and murmured, “That was his father, not him. I doubt I’ll be dealing with the Great Profound Sword Sect again anyway. Besides… no matter how you look at it, I was the root cause of the tragedy that befell He Yuning.”