Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Buzz!

A terrifying suction force erupted from within the lightning pagoda.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One after another, translucent souls ripped free and into the tower, their agonized shrieks piercing the heavens.

Countless bolts of lightning tore through their spirits. The agony of being torn apart from the soul was immeasurably greater than any suffering caused by blades or axes. Yet Li Guanqi deliberately let those screams echo across the battlefield, as if worried that the surrounding cultivators might not hear them.

Liu Peiyuan watched helplessly as the lightning shredded one soul after another. His teeth clenched so hard they nearly shattered, his shoulders trembling.

What Li Guanqi did next almost made him act. Li Guanqi seized two heavenly flames with a wave of his hand and hurled them into the pagoda. Every soul inside burned. Some couldn’t endure the agony and self-detonated. Others tore their own souls apart trying to escape.

Li Guanqi watched coldly as every last soul shattered. Then, with a single hand seal, an overwhelming surge of divine consciousness flooded the pagoda.

Before Liu Peiyuan’s horrified gaze, Li Guanqi reversed his hand seals, and his voice, low and dreadful, rang out. “Gather Souls.”

Buzz!A terrifying force poured into the pagoda, and the shattered spirits reassembled, recombining into their complete forms. Every Liu cultivator who witnessed this exploded in rage, pointing their swords at Li Guanqi and roaring.

“Li Guanqi, you’ve gone too far!”

“This is no different from a heretical cultivator!”

“Kill him!”

The battlefield, which had briefly calmed, erupted once more. Nine Heavens’ tail lashed out, blasting several enemies away. Behind Li Guanqi, Ye Feng unsealed his Ghost Arm, slashing wildly.

Liu Yunxuan’s face darkened as he looked toward Li Guanqi, an inexplicable chill crawling up his spine. He broke free with a sword strike that knocked Peng Luo aside, then flashed forward to block Ye Feng’s blow before it could kill an elder.

“Heh… The power of an Abyssal Demon? Interesting.”

Boom!

Ye Feng slammed Liu Yunxuan backward, eyes icy. ”Your life belongs to my boss. But I can beat you half to death first.”

His figure flickered, splitting into three and attacking from different directions.

Liu Yunxuan burst into wild laughter and said, “Kill me? What arrogance!”

Boom!

A deep celestial cyan surged around Liu Yunxuan, violent winds shredding two of Ye Feng’s afterimages. Ye Feng’s sword slashed again, yet a chunk of flesh tore clean from his shoulder.

“Kill me?” Liu Yunxuan said with a sneer. “Ridiculous.”

From a distance, Liu Peiyuan stared at Li Guanqi, his voice thick with fury. “You’ve crossed the line. Even in killing, there must be restraint. What you’re doing is no different from heretical cultivators. The innocent shouldn’t suffer for this. So many in the Liu family have nothing to do with this! Have you ever thought about them?!”

Li Guanqi snapped his head up, bloodshot eyes blazing. “Shut up, you old dog! You want to fight? Fight! If I so much as flinch, I’ll take your surname!

“Innocents? Morality? Hahahaha!”

He crushed the lightning pagoda violently. More than a hundred phantom souls screamed in agony, exploded, and instantly reformed. Li Guanqi continued nourishing them with the purest origin power. But before they could stabilize, he crushed them again.

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His hands moved faster and faster. The souls barely had time to reassemble before being shattered again. He stepped forward, cracking the heavens beneath his feet.

He leaned toward Liu Peiyuan, clutching the pagoda, expression twisted with madness. “Heretical cultivator? Devil? Hahaha! Who cares?!

“I’ll kill them. No—death’s too easy. They’ll have to endure this lightning and soul-burning agony for ten thousand years! I, Li Guanqi, swear this: if I don’t wipe out the Liu family, I’m no longer human! As long as I breathe, every soul in the Liu clan will suffer endless torment!”

Boom!

His hair tie shattered, black hair whipping wildly. His white robes flapped in the wind, his figure like a maddened demon god.

“Kill!”

With Li Guanqi fully committed, the tide turned.

Liu Peiyuan could no longer remain calm. He gnashed his teeth and produced a crimson-gold glazed bell. Its surface shimmered with divine runes, mysterious patterns glowing softly. A terrifying spatial force exploded outward.

Golden ripples expanded across the heavens, blasting Li Guanqi and the others away. The force was irresistible.

Li Guanqi could only watch as the bell forcibly expelled the Liu family members from their domain. At the same time, the ancient bell enveloped the entire domain, about to vanish.

Li Guanqi unleashed several ferocious slashes, roaring, “You’re not leaving!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Everyone attacked together, but their strikes barely carved shallow marks on the immense bell. Liu Peiyuan had made up his mind. He could not allow Li Guanqi and the others to continue slaughtering his clan. If it dragged on, even Liu Peiyuan feared losing control.

You Ming had only instructed them to spread the message, not to sacrifice themselves. Therefore, retreating was the best course of action.

Li Guanqi saw through his intent. “Sword Spirit! Act now!”

Sword Spirit sighed softly, then stepped forward. She knew the price of intervening, yet she would never refuse him.

Her cool gaze settled on Liu Peiyuan. Since she was acting, she would finish everything.

Her voice echoed in Li Guanqi’s mind. “This will hurt.”

Li Guanqi nodded without hesitation.

A presence that made heaven and earth tremble erupted from within him. His sword spirit void thrummed as a blood-red divine sword merged with the Red Lotus Sword. The petals at the sword hilt shattered. Hundreds of li of void tore apart.

Sword Spirit seized control of his body, commanding all his power. “Slaying a mid Combined Body Realm cultivator… is easier than I expected.”

Boom!