Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi was about to reach out and touch Yu Sui’an.

The seal within her had weakened, perhaps loosened by the aftermath of the battle. A trace of vital force emerged, and she regained some control over her movements.

Yu Sui’an opened her reddened, tear-filled eyes. She forced a smile when she saw Li Guanqi charging toward her without regard for his life. Yet instead of reaching for him, she let herself fall backward—straight into the path of several incoming ice blades.

Li Guanqi’s eyes widened in terror. “No!”

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Several sword lights flashed through the air, instantly piercing Yu Sui’an.

Li Guanqi rushed forward like a madman. His fist blasted through an elder’s skull. The Red Lotus Sword unleashed over a hundred slashes in a single breath, releasing a tempest of lightning-infused sword lights.

The sword lights engulfed the cultivators before him. Screams tore through the sky. Flesh and blood burst mid-air, raining down as a crimson mist.

Li Guanqi caught Yu Sui’an as her body grew cold and frantically tried to stop the bleeding, but nothing he did could halt the fading of her life.

“No… no, no, no… don’t die… Don’t die! I came too late…”He took out basket after basket of buns, trembling as he held them to her lips. “Look, I remembered! I brought the buns you wanted. If you die, who’s going to eat them?!”

Yu Sui’an had already resolved herself to death. She forcibly severed her vital force circulation, refusing to absorb the vast power Li Guanqi poured into her. She had wanted to die for a long time. Or rather, if she’d ever had the chance, she would have done so long ago.

She couldn’t bear to face anyone. She knew that if she returned alive, no one would blame her. But it was precisely everyone’s care that tore her heart apart.

In the past half-year of darkness, she had lost all reason to live. It was as though countless hands were dragging her down into a muddy abyss. If she had never seen the light, she could have endured the dark.

If only she had been born in the mire from the start…

If only…

She did not blame Li Guanqi. She merely felt that she had burdened him too much. Again, and again, and again.

Blood surged up her throat. Through blurred tears, she lifted a hand and gently touched Li Guanqi’s face. She wanted to tell him not to be sad, but the searing blood clogged her throat, and the words never came.

Drip.

A faint smile lifted the corner of Yu Sui’an’s lips as tears fell onto her cheeks, burning hot. Her eyelids grew heavier, and the desperate shouts around her faded into the wind.

Li Guanqi watched as her soul began to dissipate. He clutched her body and let out a broken, anguished cry.

“Ahhhhh!”

His neck veins bulged as he screamed himself hoarse. Wrinkles spread from the corners of his eyes. His world dissolved into a blood-red haze.

Boom!

Pressure erupted from him. Amid the violent churn of his emotions, Li Guanqi forced his way into the late Illusory Refinement Realm. Boundless killing intent surged, nearly devouring his sanity.

Then a pale hand gently touched his shoulder.

“Give her to me,” Sword Spirit said, her voice cold. “Her soul has not yet fully dispersed. I can preserve her three hun and seven po. When the day comes that you ascend to the Immortal World, you may send her to the Underworld to reincarnate. Or let her be reborn as a mortal and live an ordinary life. The choice will be yours.”

Her voice cut through like a bell toll, waking him up. Li Guanqi nodded frantically. He had learned many soul-gathering techniques from Sword Spirit, but in Yu Sui’an’s current state, he had no idea what to do.

Li Guanqi clung to her words like a lifeline. The redness in his eyes gradually receded. Explosions thundered in his ears.

Ye Feng and the others formed a tight protective ring around him. Despite being in constant mortal peril and facing much stronger enemies, the three held their ground without a single step back, even when grievously wounded.

None of them spoke. They all knew no one was hurting more than Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi watched as Sword Spirit formed seals, gathering Yu Sui’an’s three hun and seven po into a blood-red pagoda through an unfathomable secret art. The pagoda’s aura was identical to Sword Spirit’s own.

Her face paled slightly, and Li Guanqi understood the price she had paid. She had defied the heavens, imprisoning a soul that should have dissipated.

His hoarse voice trembled. “Can you erase her bad memories? She’s suffered too much in this life. I thought leaving her a trace of sword intent would keep her safe, but… if it can be erased, erase all of it.”

Sword Spirit nodded. The pagoda flickered faintly before withdrawing. Her figure faded away.

Li Guanqi rose to his feet. The temperature across the Liu family domain plummeted. Countless disciples felt their hair stand on end, an invisible pressure sending chills down their spines.

Li Guanqi tore open space and gently placed Yu Sui’an’s body inside, then gripped the Red Lotus Sword tightly.

In a distant tavern, a white-haired youth abruptly returned to his room. The chamber was sealed with numerous formations. He sat cross-legged, motionless as a withered corpse, without the slightest trace of spiritual energy.

That white-haired youth was Li Guanqi’s clone.

As the clone sank into deathlike silence, Li Guanqi’s aura surged. Tens of thousands of spirit stones shattered behind him. A staggering presence swept across heaven and earth. He devoured their vast, pure spirit qi like a whale swallowing the sea. His cultivation technique roared at full throttle, refining the incoming power at blinding speed.

Layer after layer of sealing force erupted. With a wave of his hand, Li Guanqi unleashed several overwhelming sword slashes.

Liu Peiyuan’s pupils dilated. Li Guanqi had severed and isolated Liu Xiaochen’s domain. The Liu family domain no longer belonged to Liu Xiaochen.

Liu Xiaochen sensed it too. As he attempted to seize back control, Ye Feng and the others exchanged glances. Three flame barriers slammed down, and blazing fire engulfed the entire three-hundred-li radius of the domain.

The Brilliant Sunset Flame, Yin Hellfire, and a ghostly blue vital force blazed fiercely. The temperature skyrocketed. Scorching heat swept through the land, withering the vegetation and cracking the earth.

Countless bolts of lightning crashed down, turning the domain into a lightning abyss. More than a hundred disciples of Liu had already perished from the lightning.

Boom!

Li Guanqi blasted everyone away with a single slash. The instant they were thrown back, he clenched the heavens in one hand.

Boom!

Space twisted violently. Li Guanqi seized more than a hundred pale-blue, translucent souls from the void. Lightning gathered in his palm, forming a lightning pagoda that mimicked Sword Spirit’s.

But while hers nurtured souls, his was forged for torment.

“Soul Capture!”