Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Two breaths later, Xiao Chen arrived from the void at full speed. He bent over, hands on his knees, gasping so hard that he couldn’t get a word out.

His fingers trembled as he pointed toward the stage, stammering, “I… I… I’m… Ugh… Cough… Urk…”

Seeing Xiao Chen’s condition, Li Guanqi quickly sent a strand of vital force into him to stabilize his ragged breathing.

He frowned slightly. Xiao Chen’s internal energy was in complete disorder, and worse, there was faint demonic qi hidden within his meridians.

Xiao Chen also froze slightly. Li Guanqi had discovered traces of demonic qi inside him?

“Wait…” Li Guanqi frowned and turned a sharp gaze on Lu Wuhen. “You’re despicable!”

Lu Wuhen’s lips curled as he eyed Li Guanqi playfully.

Li Guanqi turned to Nangong Xuandu and said in a low voice, “Can we wait a moment?”

Nangong Xuandu glanced at Li Guanqi and said plainly, “The barrier is sealed. Once the duel begins, the restriction can’t be undone.”

Li Guanqi’s expression darkened. There was no need to think it through; Cao Yan had to be carrying residual demonic qi too. The Lu clan truly deserved to die. To win, they had stooped to despicable, filthy methods, and there was no way to prove it was them. But even if there were, so what? At worst, the Lu clan would only earn a reputation for playing dirty and stopping at nothing.

Inside the barrier, which sealed off all sound, Cao Yan seemed to sense something. With his back to Li Guanqi, he clenched his fist and thrust it high above his head.

Everyone from the Daxia Sword Sect was shaken to the core. Li Guanqi took a deep breath. With a wave of his hand, he set up a Spirit-Gathering Array and a Calming Array beside Xiao Chen, then said in a low voice, “You don’t need to think about anything else. Focus on recovering your strength.”

Buzz!

Peng Luo emerged from the void, his expression grim. Holding out a slice of himself, he murmured, “Master… this barrier… if I try to slip inside, I’ll be spotted.”

Li Guanqi nodded, took the white slice, and stuffed it into Xiao Chen’s mouth.

Xiao Chen didn’t hesitate. He sat cross-legged beside Li Guanqi, then looked up at him, worried. “Boss… Second Brother stayed behind in the territory with you and Old Li…”

Li Guanqi nodded and placed a hand on Xiao Chen’s shoulder, his voice steady. “I know. Brother Ye… will be fine. He’s never broken a promise.”

Xiao Chen stared blankly at Li Guanqi as a strange, indescribable feeling welled up inside him. He couldn’t put it into words, but he felt it all the same.

He thought of Cao Yan raising his fist overhead. Of Ye Feng’s unwavering faith that Cao Yan would bring him back when it mattered most. And now, of Li Guanqi’s unwavering belief that Ye Feng would return, not the slightest trace of doubt in his eyes.

With Li Guanqi’s firm hand on his shoulder, Xiao Chen felt that trust himself. “Phew… Having you guys as brothers… is really damn satisfying.”

With that, Xiao Chen closed his eyes and sank into cultivation. Cheers erupted like a storm, loud enough to shake the heavens.

Lu Kangnian waved a hand and tore open a rift behind him. More than a hundred Daxia Sword Sect disciples emerged, hauling over a hundred massive oxhide war drums.

“Beat the drums!”

Boom!

Over a hundred Nascent Soul Realm cultivators struck the drums as one.

Boom! Boom boom boom! Clack! Boom boom!

The war drums thundered as Lu Kangnian personally stepped up, swinging the drumsticks with everything he had.

The thunderous roar of war drums rang through the heavens, rousing the blood of all who heard it. The Daxia Sword Sect’s morale surged to its peak. The cultivators from the Six Territories clenched their fists and shouted.

“Victory for the Six Territories!”

“Victory for the Six Territories! Kill!”

“Victory for the Six Territories!”

The sight sent goosebumps prickling across countless cultivators’ arms, their blood surging to their heads. No matter their sect or origin, everyone was shouting for the Daxia Sword Sect.

On the sealed platform, Cao Yan slowly took off his outer robe, revealing a lean, powerful build.

Buzz!

A pair of exquisitely crafted, ornate fist gauntlets appeared before the crowd. No one had expected Cao Yan, a gentle-looking young man, to be a close-combat fighter.

Even Lu Yun, across from him, frowned slightly. He’d assumed that Cao Yan was a sword cultivator, just like himself.

Lu Yun narrowed his eyes at Cao Yan, sensing a faint, strange pressure coming off him.

As the barrier between them dissipated, a radiant longsword appeared in Lu Yun’s hand. Gripping the sword with both hands, he gave a slight cupped-fist salute. “I’m Lu Yun, of the Lu clan.”

Cao Yan rolled his wrist, and a terrifying pressure erupted. The entire platform became a sea of deep blue flames.

Lu Yun scowled. He stamped down hard, unleashing his vital force domain. Beneath a sky ablaze in golden light, vast streams of golden sword qi crisscrossed in every direction, holding their own against the sea of flames.

Boom!

An explosion rang out, and Cao Yan vanished.

Lu Yun narrowed his eyes, activated his sprint technique, and spun around to slash horizontally.

Clang!

The instant he loosed his sword light, a fist hammered the blade and shattered the attack.

The force sent Lu Yun hurtling backward. With no time to think, he twisted in midair and swung his sword at the void behind him.

Swish!

“Hmph, so all you know is sneak attacks? Breaking Wave Slash!”

Boom!

A streaking sword light tore toward the empty space at his back.

The instant Lu Yun struck, Cao Yan stepped out of the void behind him. He frowned and drove a fist packed with vital force straight at the incoming sword light.

Li Guanqi frowned and murmured, “Lu Yun… He’s seen through Third Brother’s sprint technique. Does he have a pupil technique?”

Many people frowned. Just moments ago, Cao Yan had been using his speed to suppress Lu Yun. The next instant, Lu Yun was reading his position a beat ahead. The change was too sudden.

Li Guanqi rarely encountered cultivators with pupil techniques, but he had heard of them. Those who awakened such powers often possessed unique perception-based abilities.

Through his heart’s eye, Li Guanqi caught a faint golden light flickering rapidly in Lu Yun’s eyes.

Fists and blades collided in a blur, both fighters pushing their speed to the limit. In moments, they had traded over a hundred blows, sparks flying everywhere, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Crack! Boom!

The space where they clashed splintered with cracks. Violent shockwaves hammered the array barrier again and again.

Even Nangong Xuandu watched with faint interest.