Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Lu Wuhen put immense pressure on Li Guanqi. The man’s strength and realm very likely surpassed his own, and his half-step Combined Body Realm cultivation was no ordinary brush with the threshold; Lu Wuhen gave the impression he could break through whenever he wished. The martial stage had no cultivation restrictions, only an age cap. Li Guanqi had to be ready for the possibility that Lu Wuhen might break through mid-match. But even so, the possibility of losing had never crossed Li Guanqi’s mind, no matter who his opponent was.

As for Ye Feng and the others, Li Guanqi had complete confidence in them.

Xi Yunhuai sat inside a domain realm, eyes bloodshot as he studied a formation flickering with silver light. His mind had already sunk into it completely.

Boom!

The spirit qi of the entire Purple Spirit Paradise Realm surged, forming a vortex thousands of zhang wide that rushed toward Li Guanqi.

There were seven days remaining. The calm before the storm felt incredibly suffocating.

Within the pitch-black void, a woman with a black flower mark flickering between her brows heard a man’s voice beside her. “In the future, you may become the next Liang. As long as you break through to the Illusory Refinement Realm, you will become the saintess of the ancient sect, Cloud Brocade Palace.”

Song Zhi’ang nodded expressionlessly, then slowly closed her eyes. Her beautiful yet cold face gradually sank into the black pool water.

Cao Yan and the others had already arrived at the Meng family realm. When Li Guilan saw Ye Feng and the others, warmth filled her eyes. She saw them as her son-in-law’s good brothers, each outstanding in his own way, and all of them polite and respectful toward her. After all, she was their elder brother’s mother-in-law. If someone dared to disrespect her, Ye Feng would blow up on the spot.

Meng Jiangchu understood the urgency of the situation. There wasn’t much time left. Even so, the talent and strength of Ye Feng and the others left him deeply shocked. When he learned all three possessed Saint Spirit Voids, his voice shot up several pitches. “What?! You three all have Saint Spirit Voids? That’s not right. Ye kid, I remember you used to have a seventh-grade sword spirit void, didn’t you?”

The three exchanged glances and smiled without answering.

Ye Feng stepped up to Meng Jiangchu with an exquisitely crafted array tray in his hand, then said in a low voice, “Senior Meng, my elder brother knows this will be a difficult task for you, so he asked me to personally deliver this to you.”

Meng Jiangchu didn’t think much of it until he channeled a strand of vital force into the tray.

Boom!

The formation activated, and Meng Jiangchu’s pupils dilated violently. His head snapped up toward Ye Feng. “Guanqi told you to give this to me?”

Ye Feng smiled. “That’s right. He mentioned the gift might be a bit modest and hoped you wouldn’t mind.”

The corner of Meng Jiangchu’s mouth twitched. A super array tray with triple time acceleration, and he called that modest? He had originally planned to open the furnace once and forge all three artifacts in one go. Now, time no longer felt so tight.

He led the three of them toward the forging chamber. Ye Feng, Xiao Chen, and Cao Yan stopped at the entrance and swallowed hard. Inside, five spirit entities wreathed in dark green flames darted up and down within a massive forging furnace.

Cao Yan watched the flames with envy and murmured, “The Five Yang Ghost Flame… So powerful…”

Meng Jiangchu looked at Ye Feng and Xiao Chen. “In a bit, I’ll need the two of you to assist me with your Yin Hellfire and Brilliant Sunset Flame. Little Cao won’t be needed.”

He turned to the three of them. “Alright, show me your spirit void artifacts. This time, I’ll forge the weapons according to their forms. That way, your compatibility with your spirit voids will be extremely high.”

The three wasted no time, manifesting their spirit void artifacts one after another. The void trembled, each weapon more powerful than the last.

Ye Feng’s Wrathful Slaughter Sword, Cao Yan’s Solitary Flame Gauntlets, Xiao Chen’s Divine Slaying Spear…

When Meng Jiangchu saw their spirit-void artifacts, his expression grew fervent. He was deeply envious; he only had a King Spirit Void, while all three of them possessed a Saint Spirit Void. At a glance, not one of their artifacts was ordinary. He’d even begun to suspect their artifacts hadn’t come from the Spirit World at all.

More than that, their artifacts clearly weren’t manifestations of their inner obsessions. They had evidently once been peak weapons, transformed into spirit void artifacts by the power of some great being.

“Damn it… just how many secrets does that brat Guanqi have…”

What struck him most were the mottled bloodstains on Ye Feng’s Wrathful Slaughter Sword. His throat bobbed as he sent a quiet voice transmission to Ye Feng. “Immortal blood?”

Ye Feng rubbed his nose, neither confirming nor denying it.

A bold plan surfaced in Meng Jiangchu’s mind: he would forge three growth-type spirit void artifacts. As long as their weapons kept evolving, perhaps one day their spirit void artifacts could become the weapons’ own spirits, and both artifact and weapon would merge into one. The weapon’s power would be fully unleashed.

Meng Jiangchu let out a long breath and looked at the three of them. “Wait here a moment. I’m missing one material. I’ll take care of it quickly.”

Back in his secret chamber, Meng Jiangchu took out a jade slip and spoke cautiously. “Elder Su, do you happen to have any Devouring Starstone?”

A moment later, Su Xuan’s voice came through the jade slip. “How much do you need?”

Meng Jiangchu was overjoyed. He raised three fingers. “Three pieces! Three fist-sized ones will do!”

In the pitch-black void, Su Xuan’s mouth twitched, and he cursed under his breath, “It takes me three hundred years just to fish out a piece the size of a fingernail, and you want three fist-sized chunks the moment you open your mouth?”

Meng Jiangchu rubbed his hands together with a grin. “Well, I don’t even have fingernail-sized pieces… Besides, I’m forging this for that brat Guanqi anyway.”

Then Meng Jiangchu’s voice turned cold. “As for the martial stage bet… are we really not going to stop it?”

Su Xuan ignored the question. He merely told him to wait for one hour.

Boom!

Within the Meng family’s secluded domain, a surge of fire-element vital force erupted. The power of three great heavenly flames filled the void.

Cao Yan and the others could barely withstand the waves of heat. They felt as though they were being roasted alive.

Meng Jiangchu’s expression turned grave, and he shouted, “More firepower! Are you all useless or what? Can’t even melt a few stones?”

Ye Feng’s face was flushed deep red. He was pouring every ounce of strength into the flames. He snapped, “You can’t melt them either, can you?! That’s why you needed us!”

Cao Yan was helping too, but the pitch-black stones were simply too tough. Despite the combined might of three great heavenly flames and his own mutated flame, with all four of them giving it their all, they could only manage to melt the stones bit by bit.