Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

A tan-skinned youth stood up. He had prominent features, and his face was covered in large and small scars that looked like cuts from sharp stones. He looked at Li Guanqi intensely. He was full of energy, and his physique was clearly well-trained.

He was at the mid Golden Core Realm. This intrigued Li Guanqi a little. A youth like that was considered a prodigy, even with Li Guanqi around.

“Why did Duan Yang stand up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he has a question?”

“He cultivates so hard and is so powerful. What question would he have?”

Li Guanqi frowned. He noticed a hint of hatred in Duan Yang’s eyes.

“Do you have an enemy who’s still alive?” Li Guanqi asked gently.

Duan Yang nodded.

“Is this person very strong?”

Duan Yang nodded, looked at Li Guanqi, and shook his head.Li Guanqi smiled. “What’s your question?”

Duan Yang’s gaze was sharp. “How do I kill a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator?”

Li Guanqi studied him for a long moment. He could see that Duan Yuang was running out of patience. After a moment, he said, “If you were in the same realm, it would be easy. But you’re not.

“If you want to kill a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator while you’re at the Golden Core Realm, you’ll need a technique that can destroy a nascent soul. You’ll also need a way to prevent them from tearing open space to escape. And you need to end it quickly—your vital force will never match a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator’s. The longer the fight drags on, the worse your odds become.”

Duan Yang nodded, memorizing every word. Li Guanqi thought for a moment, then looked at Ling Daoyan.

“Elder Ling, does the sect have any carving stones?”

Ling Daoyan’s eyes lit up. He rose with a smile. “We do, we do. Wait for me!”

Whoosh!

He vanished. The disciples could guess what was happening, and everyone turned toward the stage with excitement.

Li Guanqi gazed at Duan Yang with his pure white eyes. He took a step forward and tapped his finger on Duan Yang’s third eye.

Buzz!

Duan Yang froze. His gaze went blank as countless texts flooded his mind. A figure made of spirit light demonstrated a sword technique in his mind. Li Guanqi had given the Heavenly Destruction Sword Sutra’s first technique.

After some time, Duan Yang regained consciousness and fell to his knees, kowtowing three times, his forehead striking the ground hard. He stayed there, crouching on the ground as tears poured down his face, shoulders trembling. He was utterly speechless.

Li Guanqi squatted down and patted his back.

“Remember your hatred. Let it drive you to improve, but never lose yourself in it. Don’t expose yourself if you aren’t confident of winning. Endure everything patiently, and unsheathe your sword at the right moment.”

He stood and said, “Remember that the whole sect stands behind you.”

Buzz!

Ling Daoyan flew over with a ten-zhang-long stele in his arms. It was pitch-black and carved from precious stone.

Xiao Chen was stunned. That stele is enormous!

“Boss, what are you going to do with that?”

Li Guanqi smiled. “I want to leave a sword technique for them to observe and learn from.”

Boom!

The gigantic stone landed in the center of the plaza.

All eyes were on Li Guanqi. The disciples buzzed with speculation.

“Wow!Is Senior Brother Li going to leave a sword technique behind?”

“What tier would that sword technique be?”

“It must be Earth tier at least!”

Li Guanqi made a grasping motion with one hand. Vital force surged through him, and a sword of lightning materialized in his palm.

He swung his arm and unleashed the Crouching Demon technique.

Boom!

Sharp sword qi mixed with terrifying sword intent slammed into the stele.

Screech!

The stone was knocked back more than a hundred zhang the instant the sword light struck. Sword intent spread across the land.

The disciples’ breaths hitched as the sword qi ravaged the surrounding space. The sword light lasted only a flash, yet every disciple felt the chilling touch of death.

A pitch-black tear stretched more than a hundred zhang through space, sword qi lingering in the gap long after the slash faded. And Li Guanqi had already controlled his strength to the minimum to avoid splitting the whole sect in half.

He pulled the stele back with one hand and examined the gnarly sword cut on its surface. “We shall place this stele in the plaza so anyone can come and observe it. The corresponding sword sutra will be placed in the Scripture Pavilion.”

The disciples eyed the stone stele excitedly. Duan Yang clenched his fists, gaze fixed on Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi smiled. “Don’t die, kid. Remember to contribute to the sect someday.”

Duan Yang nodded hard, eyes shining, as if he had made a decision.

Li Guanqi smirked. “By the way, that was a Heaven-tier sword technique.”

The crowd erupted in wild cheers. Even Ling Daoyan was amazed by the technique’s sheer power. It was, after all, a Heaven-tier technique.

An old man in administrator robes sighed. “Duan Yang has had a difficult life. But having survived all those hardships, at least there’s a silver lining now.”

The elders around him murmured in agreement.

Li Guanqi’s face darkened. He turned to look at Duan Yang, and sure enough, the youth was staring at the ground in silence. There was no emotion in his eyes. They were like a deathly silent lake.

Li Guanqi did not know what Duan Yang had survived, but he knew it had to be an agonizing memory.

He looked at the administrator, who was still talking nonstop, and shouted, “Enough! Shut your mouth.”

The old man turned pale, utterly confused by Li Guanqi’s reaction.

Li Guanqi glared sternly at the crowd, leaving the disciples confused. They had heard many similar stories and found them inspiring, so they didn’t see the problem.

“Hardships are hardships. They should not be worshipped. You do not get to use someone’s pain to motivate others. They’re called hardships because the person involved couldn’t avoid them. All he could do was endure in silence! Even if he wanted to escape, he couldn’t.”

His tone was filled with suppressed anger. The elders did not dare look up at him. They were all looking down, nodding vigorously.