Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The sky above the Daxia Sword Sect tore open. Cao Yan’s face was a ruin, his whole body charred black, crackling lightning leaking from his wounds.

The oppressive aura of the Illusory Refinement Realm hung thick around him. He hadn’t even had time to stabilize his realm.

Whoosh!

Ye Feng watched him gravely. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Cao Yan replied with an ice-cold expression. “Second Brother… don’t worry about me. Let’s find Boss first!”

But the moment Ye Feng’s palm touched Cao Yan’s shoulder, blue flames burst from Cao Yan, and a tremendous force hurled Ye Feng away. The blue flames immediately engulfed Ye Feng’s palm. Cao Yan panicked. He suppressed his surging vital force while trying to retract the flames.

Ye Feng’s heart skipped a beat as he felt the searing heat on his hand. He hadn’t anticipated Cao Yan’s vital force to be so destructive after only just breaking through. Yin Hellfire surged through him. Even so, it took a good few seconds to extinguish the flames.

By then, almost all the senior members of the Daxia Sword Sect had arrived. Everyone was stunned to see Cao Yan force his tribulation forward like that.

When those thunderbolts erupted, Lu Kangnian even felt, for a moment, that Cao Yan’s aura had vanished entirely.

Whoosh!“What are you two doing? Why are you so startled? Is there something wrong on Guanqi’s end?”

Ye Feng was torn. He didn’t want the sect elders to worry. But Lu Kangnian, who had brought the sect to its current strength in just a few short years, was no idiot. If both Ye Feng and Cao Yan were this unsettled, the only explanation was that something had gone wrong with Li Guanqi.

Finally, Ye Feng shook his head and said in a low voice, “I don’t know the specifics either.”

Ye Feng and Cao Yan exchanged a worried look. Lu Kangnian noticed, and his gaze flickered.

“I don’t care what you two do. Cao Yan, take these healing pills and stabilize your cultivation on the way. No matter what happens, report to me immediately. The foundation of the Daxia Sword Sect is far stronger than you imagine.”

When Ye Feng learned that the sect had been suppressing Abyss Demons, suspicion took root. Perhaps outsiders had always looked down on the Daxia Sword Sect as a small, rigid sect that cared too much about rules and face, but they had overlooked one fact: the Daxia Sword Sect had weathered countless storms and preserved an unbroken lineage for at least five thousand years.

Ye Feng nodded heavily and left with Cao Yan. They opened the array tray, and a beam of seven-colored light shot out, tearing a long rift through the sky. Powerful spatial ripples spread through the air. Cao Yan stepped into the array first.

Ye Feng glanced at Cao Yan with concern. Before Ye Feng could speak, Lu Kangnian’s steady voice came from behind. “Don’t worry about us. Nothing’s going to happen even if you two leave.”

Ye Feng nodded and stepped into the transport array, disappearing from sight.

Qin Xian stood beside Lu Kangnian, brow furrowed. He said quietly, “This is probably serious. If it wasn’t, with Guanqi’s character, he wouldn’t have called both of them away.”

Lu Kangnian’s expression turned grave. He looked to the side at Ling Daoyan. “Old Ling, make some preparations just in case!”

Ling Daoyan’s eyes widened. He stared at Lu Kangnian and asked, “What preparations?”

With a sweep of his sleeve, Lu Kangnian said coldly, “If it comes to it, I’m willing to use our dusty old antiques to remind the world to fear the Daxia Sword Sect!”

The old man’s face turned solemn. He nodded. “All right. I’ll prepare them now.”

Lu Kangnian raised the sect’s array barrier once more, concealing the sect from view.

All the disciples within the sect felt the earth tremble. Several unremarkable peaks behind the sect shook violently, and countless rocks tumbled down.

Golden lights shot toward the heavens, and the air filled with the terrifying aura of precious artifacts.

One by one, the young disciples swallowed hard, watching the distant golden radiance. They whispered among themselves. One boy said, “Has a great treasure manifested within our sect?”

Slap!

A palm struck the back of his head. An older youth scolded him, saying, “Are you stupid? They’re hiding that huge commotion behind the barrier. It obviously belongs to our sect! Don’t talk nonsense about manifested treasures.”

In the dark transport tunnel, Ye Feng lowered his jade slip. He could still hear Xiao Chen’s anxious voice and the howling wind. His knuckles had gone white around the slip. Killing intent flickered in his eyes, and many emotions ran through him. Xiao Chen had informed him about the situation.

Cao Yan hadn’t met Yu Sui’an, but he’d been in the Daxia Sword Sect for years. He spent a significant amount of time at Heavenly Lightning Peak and had heard a lot about Yu Sui’an and Li Guanqi. Li Guanqi’s master, Li Nanting, also frequently mentioned them.

Cao Yan remembered Li Nanting sitting on a stone bench in his small courtyard, pointing at the empty space before him and spinning stories about people long gone.

He once pointed at the stream outside and chuckled. It was teeming with spirit fish. Li Nanting’s eyes seemed to light up, and his voice softened with longing.

“These fish are well-fed,” Li Nanting said. “I wonder when that little girl will come back to catch them.”

Cao Yan could picture it. Whenever Li Guanqi traveled outside the sect, Li Nanting probably sat alone in that courtyard, staring into space… It was the worry of the old for the young who were far from home.

But now…

Ye Feng’s emotions surged. He lost control, and the jade slip in his palm shattered. He slowly sat cross-legged on the ground and said coldly, “Third Brother, hurry and stabilize your cultivation. This time… we’ll kill them together!”

Cao Yan took a deep breath. His powerful divine consciousness forcibly suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his heart, shattering spirit stones as he frantically stabilized his cultivation.

Ye Feng sat beside him and slowly placed his sword across his knees, taking out a silk handkerchief to gently wipe the blade. The anger inside him was a stone lid on a boiling volcano.

Why? Why does Yu Sui’an’s life have to be so bitter?

Even swallowing the Huang Lian herb[1] could not compare to one ten-thousandth of what she had endured.

1. Rhizoma Coptidis (Huang Lian) is known as the most bitter herb in traditional Chinese medicine. It is used to treat heatiness and cool the body. ☜