Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

With that, the figure shrouded in pitch-black demonic qi slowly drew out a blood-red compass the size of a water bucket.

As vital force poured into it, the compass blazed with brilliant light, and ring after ring of red runes emerged across its surface. The massive needle spun wildly, then settled in a specific direction in the void, the runes flickering faintly with a ghostly glow.

The figures exchanged glances and shot forward.

Li Guanqi, still inside the transport passage, had no idea his whereabouts had already drawn the attention of three powerful enemies.

Gu Yong moved through the void with a cold expression, hands tucked into his sleeves, a frigid gleam flickering in the depths of his eyes. He was furious that the Sha organization had infiltrated the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion so deeply.

“If the Mei rank represents assassins of the half-step Combined Body Realm... then this organization likely has four additional ranks beyond the Black, Earth, Yellow, and Heaven tiers: Chi, Mei, Wang, and Liang!”

Gu Yong snorted coldly. Spirit light flared beneath his feet, and with a casual toss, he produced a boundary-breaker ship and stepped aboard.

In the Divine Treasure Territory, Meng Jiangchu held a longsword. The sword was black-red, and its scabbard was pitch-black. “Mei... This organization’s Black-tier assassins are already terrifying enough, yet there are still other tiers above them?”

He looked at the four-chi longsword with great satisfaction. Floating around him were six ancient seals, their interconnected, profound spirit light allowing him to traverse thousands of li with each step.

All three parties shared the same target: Li Guanqi. Inside the transport passage, Li Guanqi’s vital force surged. The spirit stones floating behind him turned ash-gray and crumbled to dust. Li Guanqi wove through the passage using his sprint technique alongside sharp, forceful sword techniques. Though there was no sword in his hand, sword cries rang out regardless. Sword qi swept in all directions within the passage, yet every strand stayed perfectly contained within a small space.

Gradually, Li Guanqi consciously condensed his strength into the “sword.” Without the outward surge of sweeping sword light, his power actually increased. The force that had previously leaked away converged into a single point, and the killing power that burst forth grew several degrees sharper.

Three figures abruptly appeared in the void.

Far in the distance, a trail of faint streaming light raced through the void at a speed invisible to the naked eye. The point of light was ordinarily formless, but the compass tracked it with perfect clarity.

“There he is!”

The three assassins erupted with incredibly powerful auras and surged forward in pursuit of the streak of spirit light. They activated secret techniques, pushing their speed to its absolute limit. A piercing crack rang out as the three formed a triangle, surrounding the cluster of spirit light from all sides.

“Hurry! We can’t sustain this speed for long!!”

The black-robed figure holding the Blood-Oath Compass knew this all too well. He raised a hand and sliced open their palm. Blood poured into the compass in a torrent. The compass shattered, erupting with a boundless tide of blood-colored light that ensnared the point of light. The surging blood radiance formed a vast blood formation a thousand zhang across, spreading outward instantly.

Buzz!

Li Guanqi’s expression changed drastically. Without a moment’s hesitation, he drew the Red Lotus Sword.

Boom!!

The transport passage collapsed. A world of blood-colored radiance flooded into view all around him. Li Guanqi sensed danger. His blood and qi thundered and roared as he activated the Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra at full power.

He endured the spatial shredding from the passage’s collapse through sheer toughness, yet even so, gruesome wounds marred him from head to toe. The spatial shredding from a trans-territory transport array was no trivial matter. The force had nearly dragged him into the spatial currents.

Looking at the blood-colored light before him, Li Guanqi sensed an extremely dangerous aura. With no time to think, the Red Lotus Sword burst with an eerie crimson glow. A cold gleam flashed through Li Guanqi’s eyes, and he raised the sword and slashed with all his might.

Heaven-Opening, Sword-Unsheathing Technique!

The terrifying sword light condensed every ounce of its power into a point barely a zhang before him. That single slash tore a zhang-wide breach clean through the blood radiance.

Li Guanqi activated his sprint technique and burst through the gap, only to be met head-on by three streaks of devastatingly powerful sword light.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Li Guanqi’s sword struck in rapid succession. He unleashed the Heavenly Destruction Technique’s three strikes one after another and barely withstood the ambush. But the explosive force still hurled him several hundred zhang back.

When he looked up, he was startled to find that the world around him had transformed. An expanse of blood radiance stretched as far as the eye could see, forming a domain a hundred li across.

Buzz!

Three figures shrouded in demonic qi slowly materialized and immediately encircled Li Guanqi. At the faint pressure radiating from the three of them, Li Guanqi’s heart tightened. His sharp gaze swept across the three figures, and he licked his dry lips.

“Three half-step Combined Body Realm cultivators who have absorbed Abyssal Demon power... The Sha organization really thinks quite highly of me!”

Then Li Guanqi noticed that the masks the trio wore looked subtly different. Furthermore, their demonic qi was denser and more refined.

One of the black-robed figures laughed coldly. “Li Guanqi, I’d advise you to surrender without a fight. You’ll at least spare yourself some physical suffering.”

Li Guanqi gripped the Red Lotus Sword and snorted derisively. “Pointless talk. Do you really think I’d just surrender?”

“Enough chatter! Move!” a hoarse voice rang out sharply.

A hoarse voice barked, and the three figures shot toward Li Guanqi like loosed arrows. At the same time, three demonic qi domains came crashing down to suppress him. The pressure that bore down on him was unlike anything Li Guanqi had ever felt.

Li Guanqi’s expression grew grave. He muttered, “Sword Prison, open!!”

Boom!

Just as the three domains were about to converge at the center, an endless torrent of lightning exploded outward. When the sinister demonic qi met Li Guanqi’s lightning, it dissolved like winter snow beneath a warm sun.

Realizing they could not fully drag Li Guanqi into the domain, they immediately changed tactics and launched a coordinated hunt. They were at the half-step Combined Body Realm, after all. The three domains held Li Guanqi within a thousand-zhang radius. They weren’t suppressing him outright, just keeping his Sword Prison from expanding any further.

The trio crisscrossed and weaved around Li Guanqi, constantly shifting positions and closing in.

Li Guanqi switched the sword to his left hand. The muscles along his arm tensed as he spread his divine consciousness outward and struck in rapid succession.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

After a single, fleeting exchange, Li Guanqi felt he could barely hold on. The three attacked with such blinding speed that he had almost no time to breathe.

“Ah!”

Li Guanqi’s face went pale, and his divine consciousness instantly snapped back. The insidious demonic qi was actually corroding his divine consciousness.

As soon as he withdrew his divine consciousness, Li Guanqi’s sword wavered. He shifted his weight and retreated, but not before several chunks of flesh were torn from his body.