Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Rumble!

A heavenly phenomenon erupted across the skies. The thick, pitch-black tribulation clouds turned blood-red.

Terrifying pressure from heaven and earth spread through the void, piercing into everyone’s skin like countless sharp blades. Within several hundred li, the sky resembled blazing clouds beneath a setting sun. Furious winds swept the blood-red heavens.

The cultivators across the Northern Territory of the Azure Cloud Continent stared in stunned silence. Many shot into the air, eager to see what had occurred.

An elderly cultivator murmured, “Such a heavenly phenomenon. Could it be that a great treasure has appeared?”

The sky had turned entirely crimson.

The disciples of the Daxia Sword Sect were alarmed, panic rippling through their hearts. Even Li Guanqi himself hadn’t expected his clone’s tribulation to trigger such a phenomenon.

With a solemn expression, Li Guanqi glanced at the heavens. If this phenomenon persisted, it would surely attract unwanted attention.

I’ll take the clone elsewhere to undergo the tribulation.

He tore open space and vanished into the void with the clone.The crimson radiance vanished as the two streaked through the void. After traversing countless layers of space, they arrived in a desolate region in the Eastern Territory of the Azure Cloud Continent. It was a vast desert, devoid of life for thousands of li.

Two long rifts split open across the firmament, and a black and a white figure burst forth. The moment they appeared, violent winds surged across hundreds of miles of sky. The once-calm desert erupted into a storm of sand, while blood-red tribulation clouds gathered above, crimson lightning roaring endlessly within them.

An irresistible force hurled Li Guanqi back three thousand zhang.

Li Guanqi smiled faintly and sat down cross-legged at the edge of the lightning tribulation. The raging sandstorm could not disturb him in the slightest. The corners of his lips curled subtly as he gazed at his distant “self.”

He murmured, “What name should I give you?”

As though struck by inspiration, a smile appeared on Li Guanqi’s face.

Sword qi surged between heaven and earth. The clone, wreathed in pitch-black lightning, stood with sword in hand, gazing toward the heavens. His vital force surged. Though slightly weaker than Li Guanqi when he had first stepped into the Illusory Refinement Realm, the difference was not great.

Li Guanqi did not interfere with the tribulation. The clone had to endure the baptism of heavenly lightning for the split primordial spirit to fully merge with its new vessel.

Boom!

Fine bolts of lightning rained down. Li Guanqi’s eyes lit up.

“This is… a Foundation Building Heavenly Tribulation.”

The slender blood-red lightning was only as thick as a thumb. The clone spread his arms wide, welcoming the lightning with open arms.

The flowing lightning nourished both flesh and primordial spirit, strengthening their connection. Yet as the lightning continued to fall, Li Guanqi suddenly lowered his gaze to his palm in surprise. A thread of blood-red lightning flickered briefly across his hand before vanishing.

His lips curved upward as he sensed the subtle changes in his body. He hadn’t expected that everything the clone experienced would feed back to him across space.

At the Combined Body Realm, when they eventually merged back into the main body, the accumulated power would surge in a single burst, shattering all shackles.

Li Guanqi didn’t believe he had chosen the wrong path. Ever since he severed his primordial soul to create the clone, he had sensed invisible threads breaking within himself. Once the clone was fully formed, an overwhelming sense of relief washed over him.

It was as if he had once been a puppet bound by strings, only to have them cut. The feeling was indescribable, yet it made him understand Sword Spirit’s painstaking intentions. From this day forward, the world would open up, and he would discover true freedom and boundless comfort.

As he watched the clone endure the tribulation, Li Guanqi murmured, “Then your name shall be Li Congxin.”

A moment later, the corner of his lips twitched. “Or perhaps Coward Li would do too. Hahaha.”

Thunder roared endlessly, the falling lightning growing ever more ferocious. Yet the clone’s physical body proved equally formidable. After all, the heavenly materials used to create him were all of the highest grade.

He endured every bolt of lightning up through the Divine Transformation Heavenly Tribulation head-on. Strands of lightning shredded his robes to pieces.

Boom!

When he saw the Illusory Refinement Heavenly Tribulation about to descend, Li Guanqi rose and tore open space, preparing to depart. He cast one deep glance at Li Congxin with a faint smile on his lips.

Li Congxin turned and grinned at Li Guanqi, speaking softly, “From now on, let me do all the things you wish you could do.”

Boom!

Countless bolts of lightning converged into the Yanluo Sword, and he unleashed a single Immortal-Slaying Slash. Blood-red lightning cascaded downward. The sword radiance surged skyward, cleaving the massive thunderclouds that spanned dozens of li straight down the center.

The desert across a thousand li trembled. The slash carved a chasm into the earth, over a thousand zhang long and a hundred zhang deep. Both sides of the ravine were charred black. Sword intent lingered, stray arcs of black lightning still flickering along them.

Two figures, one clad in black and the other in white, turned their backs to each other and walked away in opposite directions.

From this day onward, below the Six Territories, there was one more swordsman named Li Congxin, also known as Coward Li.

Before leaving, Li Guanqi glanced down at the wine gourd at his waist. With a flash of light, a vermilion gourd appeared at the clone’s side.

Li Congxin smiled faintly, lifted the gourd, and drained it in one long gulp. He laughed three times, and his figure vanished into the horizon.

The sensation was wonderful. Clearly, he was himself, yet not entirely himself.

He was him, and yet more than him.

He was himself, and yet he was him. But more accurately, he was himself.

As Li Guanqi strode through the void, boundless heavenly gifts poured into his body.

Each step carried him dozens of li. With every stride, his aura grew stronger.

The primordial soul within his dantian expanded under this heavenly blessing. His foundation became far more solid than it had been when he first broke through.

Li Guanqi’s eyes gleamed sharply, with no trace of instability remaining. Having relinquished the Lightning Dragon Flame, he had become a pure lightning-aspect sword cultivator.

Sword Spirit’s voice sounded softly beside his ear. “Spend the next couple of days settling mundane affairs. After that, I will begin instructing you in sword cultivation.”

Li Guanqi nodded with a smile. Then a thought crossed his mind. When he emerged from seclusion, he had not sensed the aura of Meng Wanshu or Xiao Chen.