Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Ye Feng’s chest tightened the moment he heard Xiao Chen call him “Brother-in-Law.”

I see you as my good brother, and you see me as your brother-in-law?! How shameless! Maybe he was only pretending to be an idiot!

Ye Feng turned to look at Ye Qing’er and said, “Remember to stay away from him. This guy is not a good person.”

Li Guanqi smiled, amused. Xiao Chen was tall, handsome, and from a prestigious family—a sophisticated noble in every sense. He’s actually quite compatible with Ye Qing’er.

However, it was up to them to spend more time together. It was none of Li Guanqi’s business.

Ye Qing’er covered her mouth and laughed as Xiao Chen got scolded. She tipped her chin up and walked past him like an aloof immortal crane, though her eyes still darted toward Xiao Chen.

Li Guanqi showed them around the Daxia Sword Sect. Along the way, Ye Tianying kept commenting about how much the place had changed. Ye Feng brought the group to Heavenly Metal Peak, where his quarters were.

Tu Kui had flown over as soon as he heard of their arrival. Although Ye Feng’s cultivation had long surpassed everyone in the Daxia Sword Sect, the elders of Ye Tianying’s generation still considered Tu Kui higher-ranked since he was Heavenly Metal Peak’s master.

Seeing Ye Tianying bow to him, Tu Kui jumped and quickly pulled him upright, refusing to accept the greeting.

Ye Feng smiled, unbothered. “Master, just accept it. Thank you for taking care of them these past two years. I’m truly grateful. I’ll remember your kindness.”As they spoke in low voices, Li Guanqi talked to Cao Yan through voice transmission. “Third Brother, follow me back to Heavenly Lightning Peak. You’ll have a room there.”

Cao Yan nodded and glanced at Xiao Chen, who was standing far away. “Uh… What about him?”

Xiao Chen was obediently following Ye Feng’s family. Li Guanqi took a glance at him. What a headache.

“Let him do whatever he wants. He seems to be settling in. I’ll talk to the sect master later and see what tasks they can arrange for Xiao Chen.”

Cao Yan smiled, clasping his hands behind his back. “I think he and Second Brother’s sister are a good match.”

They flew off and soon arrived at Heavenly Lightning Peak. Along the way, they passed many disciples who stopped and bowed. The disciples watched Li Guanqi with admiration and excitement. They had grown up on their seniors’ tales of his exploits, and many had even chosen the sect because of him.

Cao Yan chuckled. “Boss, you’re quite popular in the sect.”

Li Guanqi pursed his lips. “Of course. All that’s left is for the sect master to build a statue of me and hand over his position.”

To his surprise, Cao Yan pointed at the plaza halfway up Heavenly Lightning Peak and grinned. “I’m afraid that statue is already there.”

Li Guanqi looked over and saw a ten-zhang-tall white jade statue in the center of the plaza, carved to resemble his younger self.

Li Guanqi felt a little embarrassed and quickly dragged Cao Yan back to his courtyard.

The familiar sight of his courtyard put him at ease. He crossed the little stone bridge in front of his door with a smile. Standing on it always brought back memories of the day he’d joined the sect. Senior Sister Gu Ran had thought he was truly blind, and she’d wept for him. Then, unfortunately, she died in the battle against the Purple Sun Pavilion.

He showed Cao Yan around and let him settle into the guest bedroom.

“I won’t find you a new place to stay. Just stay with me.”

Cao Yan looked at the fresh sheets, pursed his lips, and nodded.

“Hahaha. Just treat this as your home. Do whatever you want.”

Li Guanqi turned to leave. “I’m heading out. You can either stay here or take a stroll around the sect later. It’s up to you.”

Cao Yan could tell Li Guanqi was distracted, so he nodded. “Just leave me be. I’ll walk around on my own.”

Light flashed beneath Li Guanqi’s feet, and he disappeared from the courtyard.

When Li Guanqi arrived at the back mountain, he froze. The bamboo forest outside the sect’s graveyard was exactly the same as before, as if nothing had changed.

Buzz!

An old man materialized beside him—Ling Daoyan, in his tattered white robes, wine gourd in hand.

“Though the sect has changed a lot, some things should never change,” Ling Daoyan said gently. “The sect master explicitly commanded that no one was to touch this place.”

“These are the Daxia Sword Sect’s true heroes. I’m nothing compared to them…” Li Guanqi said softly.

He changed into black robes and entered the graveyard. Heart heavy with sorrow, he remained there alone for a long time.

Meanwhile, with nothing else to do, Cao Yan recalled the pungent pill fragrance he’d smelled earlier. The memory ignited his passion for alchemy, and he vanished from the courtyard.

Pill Peak lay behind the seven peaks, rich in violent fire-spirit qi. Sun Miao had built it when he first joined the Daxia Sword Sect. Now, even the lowest-ranked disciples in the sect were at the Golden Core Realm, largely thanks to Pill Peak. The mountain housed over fifty alchemists of varying tiers.

Sun Miao was in a bad mood that day. He slapped the pill cauldron in front of him, rolled his eyes, and roared, “Is the Six Flames Pill-Refining Technique that difficult? Is it really that difficult?! How many times have I taught you this?! How many times! How could you keep making the same mistakes over and over again?! Sigh… This is terrible…”

Not a single alchemist dared breathe too loudly.

Years ago, Li Guanqi had used the Lightning Dragon Flame as a bargaining chip to make Sun Miao stay. Sun Miao, a little naive, thought he’d gotten a good deal. He joined the Daxia Sword Sect, built Pill Peak, and began refining pills, eventually taking on disciples who showed talent in alchemy.

Many major factions fought fiercely to recruit every alchemist who emerged from the Daxia Sword Sect. Yet here on Pill Peak, these same alchemists were now being scolded like children who’d failed a test.

Then a youth’s muttering came from the door. “This isn’t even that difficult?”

Sun Miao, who was in a rage, looked up and saw an unfamiliar youth at the door. He was wearing sect robes, but Sun Miao had never seen him before.

He assumed Cao Yan was talking back, so he pointed at him and said, “Not that difficult? Come, then. Show me how easy it is. If you get it wrong, I’ll pull your teeth out for talking back.”

Every disciple below the dais turned to look at Cao Yan. He shrugged in resignation and walked up to the cauldron.