Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The heart was purple-red and still beating weakly. The aura from just the heart alone was enough to make Lu Kangnian’s breath hitch. Qin Xian fared even worse, falling to one knee. He had turned as pale as a sheet, and bean-sized beads of sweat dripped onto the ground as he stared at the heart and demon core in shock.

He had never encountered such a large demon core in his life, let alone one that was still beating.

Lu Kangnian was also slightly pale. The demon core had suppressed the circulation of nearly all his vital force.

Peng Luo had stuffed his mouth full of herbs and pills. Seeing both their reactions, he rose and muttered, “Mmph… Are you kidding me…”

He grabbed the two items and ran out the door.

Meng Wanshu was panting slightly, relieved that she’d delivered the items. Right before she fainted again, she heard Li Guanqi’s voice in her ear, warm and aching. “Thank you, darling.”

All the lightning in the sky vanished, and the space around Meng Wanshu’s courtyard was sealed off. Only Lu Kangnian was allowed to stay. Even Qin Xian and Sun Miao were pushed out.

Qin Xian eyed the boundary in front of him, stunned, and turned to curse toward the back mountains. “You little shit! Do you not trust me?!”

Sun Miao merely pursed his lips, stroking his little goatee. Could I talk to Li Guanqi about recruiting Cao Yan as my disciple?

Within the cave room, Li Guanqi’s anxiety eased. He’d checked Meng Wanshu’s condition and knew she would be fine now. He tore a hole in space and took the two items from Peng Luo, sighing in relief.It took half an hour for him to fully calm down. The boundary around the cave room resealed once more.

Outside, Ye Feng looked down at Peng Luo, whose mouth and throat were so full he’d puffed up. Although Peng Luo was turning red from the effort to swallow the pills and herbs, he refused to spit anything out.

Ye Feng squatted down and punched the top of Peng Luo’s head. Finally, the pills stuck in his throat went down the pipe.

Before Peng Luo could curse at him, Ye Feng gave him a chilling fake smile. “How are you feeling, Brother Luo? How did the Heavenly Water disciples’ bathwater taste?”

Peng Luo realized what was happening and ran off. “Hmph! It was my pleasure to help them with their cultivation! You wouldn’t understand...”

But even Peng Luo was unconvinced by his own words.

Cao Yan smiled. “This guy has been pretty reliable so far.”

Ye Feng nodded. “Yeah… He’s a tier-seven demon! I can’t believe he hasn’t tried to run.”

He glanced behind him and whispered, “Also, why does Boss’ clone-creation process seem so strange?”

Cao Yan froze. “Uh… Second Brother, are you sure?”

When Ye Feng nodded, Cao Yan cast a quick glance behind him. “To be honest, I feel the same way, but I can’t figure out what could go wrong with Boss’ clone-creation process.”

Ye Feng shrugged and pursed his lips. “I think I’d be more surprised if he doesn’t do anything we don’t expect. But the rest is none of our business.”

They glanced at the cave room and courtyard, then flew to the three thousand peaks.

Even though Ye Feng had his own mountain peak for cultivation, he enjoyed visiting Li Guanqi’s Jade Teapot Peak. They had both built a small wooden hut there.

Sitting at the top of the mountain, they lit an oil lamp and sat next to each other. They drank wine while enjoying the gentle breeze and the sound of the flowing water.

Cao Yan sat cross-legged on the edge of the cliff. Holding his ankles, he smiled gently. “Second Brother, I like this place.”

Ye Feng smiled and looked around proudly. “This place… is worth liking.”

His gaze grew distant. He was back on that sunny afternoon. A gentle lady stood on the platform, giving a lecture to the new disciples. He’d been staring at her with his chin propped on his hand. She was beautiful, especially when she was angry.

Unfortunately, some people were gone forever.

Ye Feng sighed and stood up, standing with his back to Cao Yan. “I’m heading off for a while. Drink some wine on your own.”

He left before Cao Yan could reply. Cao Yan sensed that Ye Feng was sad, but before he could do anything, an unexpected guest arrived on Jade Teapot Peak.

“Haha! Little Cao, I’m not interrupting your wine-drinking session, am I?”

Cao Yan gave a small smile. He took out a jug of wine and handed it to the old man. “It’s nice to have another person to drink with.”

Then they started debating peak-level alchemy.

***

Meanwhile, Li Guanqi, still in closed-door cultivation in the cave room, yelled, “What?! Split my primordial soul, three hun and seven po to create a clone? Have you gone mad? Why?”

He looked at Sword Spirit in puzzlement.

She lifted the hem of her red dress and sat down opposite him, calm as ever. She looked at him with her fox-like eyes and asked softly, “Do you trust me?”

Li Guanqi took a deep breath. “I do!”

Sword Spirit raised her hand. A powerful force split open the spirit void in Li Guanqi’s third eye. She stood and stabbed her hand into his spirit void, pulling out a blood-red, broken sword.

Li Guanqi’s eyes widened in shock. For the first time, he saw the full form of the sword. It was three and a half chi long, completely blood-red, as if soaked in the blood of a million people. An eerie red mist obscured half the blade, but it couldn’t hide the sharpness beneath.

When Sword Spirit held the sword, she seemed to become another person entirely. Before, she carried an air of untouchable serenity, calm even amid chaos. Now, she seemed to stand atop a mountain of corpses above a sea of blood. With a casual wave of her hand, she had become the God of Killing, one who could crush the heavens.

She turned to Li Guanqi like a god gazing down at a mortal, her cold voice ringing in his ear. “I will demonstrate a few techniques. Memorize them.”

Li Guanqi gave her his full attention.

A powerful surge of battle spirit and sword Dao aura struck him, whipping his hair and making his white robes flutter. Though the aura was violent, it didn’t shatter the surrounding space, a testament to Sword Spirit’s unfathomable control.

Resolve flashed in Sword Spirit’s eyes. She swung the sword three times in rapid succession, each strike lightning-fast.

The blade burst with dark-red light. The ground within a hundred li trembled.

Lu Kangnian and Qin Xian turned pale and flew up into the air, looking toward the back mountains.

“Seal all space within the sect grounds. Anyone who tries to spy on him shall be killed without question!”

Li Guanqi burned the three sword techniques into his memory.

Crack! Crack crack!

The surrounding space fractured, as if it were as fragile as paper.