Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi silently followed behind Meng Jiangchu. As he darted through the air, a strange, indescribable sensation washed over him.

Meng Jiangchu smiled. “Feels a bit strange, doesn’t it?”

Li Guanqi nodded. “Why is that?”

Meng Jiangchu raised his hand and tugged at the space before him. A cluster of fiery red spirit light bloomed in his palm.

Li Guanqi looked at it in surprise and reached out to touch it. The sleeve of his Floating Cloud Robe instantly burned away, and the skin beneath was left scorched and twisted, blackened and ghastly.

Shocked, Li Guanqi quickly pulled his hand back. “This is...”

He didn’t know how to describe what he had just felt. It was clearly a kind of power that lived within spirit qi, yet it was far beyond ordinary spirit qi. He was a genuine Combined Body Realm cultivator now, yet a mere cluster of light had burned straight through his protective vital force and scorched his arm. That kind of power was truly terrifying.

Meng Jiangchu flicked his fingers, and the spirit light dissipated.

“This isn’t ordinary vital force,” he said slowly. “It comes from comprehending the elemental spirit qi of heaven and earth and grasping its true essence. Take you, for example. Right now, you haven’t drawn out the true essence of your lightning vital force.”

He continued, “Only after gaining deep insight can you unleash its unique properties. We call this the Spirit Comprehension Stage. Among Combined Body Realm cultivators, most differences in strength come down to the depth of one’s comprehension.” Li Guanqi asked in confusion, “Why?”

Meng Jiangchu laughed heartily and said softly, “Because to break through to the Mahayana Realm, the first thing you need is perfect control over your own power. If you haven’t pushed your own attributes to their limit, you won’t break through. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to reach the tenth level of the realm before you advance.”

Li Guanqi nodded thoughtfully. Then the sound of surging waves reached his ears. He froze for a moment. With his eyes closed, he found a vast ocean thousands of li away. The steady crash of the waves echoed in his ears, and the dense water-element spirit qi was unusually active.

Meng Jiangchu steadied his mind and said softly, “We’re almost there. Try to keep your temper in check. There are too many powerful clans and factions here.”

Then, as if worried Li Guanqi might dwell on it, he smiled and added, “But even if you do get into trouble, there’s no need to be afraid. I have quite a bit of influence in the Ethereal Immortal Territory.”

Li Guanqi smiled at that. He wasn’t one to go looking for trouble, but if someone insisted on provoking him, he wouldn’t mind teaching them a lesson.

Buzz!

The two of them moved at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they arrived above a mountain city shrouded in clouds and mist.

Qin King City, bordered by water on one side and surrounded by mountains on the other three, was larger than any city Li Guanqi had ever seen. Its towering walls exuded an overwhelming sense of pressure, and the Qin King’s Manor, rising at the city’s center, looked extraordinarily grand even from thousands of zhang away.

The massive estate was solemn and imposing. From time to time, cultivators appeared in the surrounding sky, each one’s aura as deep as an abyss. Li Guanqi couldn’t sense their presence at all.

When the cultivators saw Meng Jiangchu, they all gave him slight nods. One elderly man glanced at Li Guanqi with a smile. “Five Yang Ghost Emperor, it’s been a long time. You brought him to the Ethereal Immortal Territory?”

The old man, dressed in a coarse gray robe, had a kind face and a courteous demeanor.

Meng Jiangchu answered coldly, “Rongyang. Get out of my sight before I lose my temper.”

Li Guanqi stood silently behind Meng Jiangchu. Meng Jiangchu clearly despised the old man.

The old man chuckled, seemingly unbothered. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned to leave.

Only after he was gone did Li Guanqi let out a long breath. The old man’s faint yet unrelenting pressure had made it difficult to breathe. There was no doubt he was a Mahayana Realm cultivator.

Meng Jiangchu’s expression darkened, his eyes narrowing, a cold glint flashing within them.

The old man, Zhao Rongyang, looked equally grim. He raised a hand and struck his own chest.

Cough!

The old man coughed out a large mouthful of blood, but the blood mist was incinerated into nothing in midair. He reached into the void and pulled out a strand of eerie green flames. As he crushed it, he said coldly, “Burning Heart Ghost… As expected of the Five Yang Ghost Emperor! What a move!”

Meanwhile, Meng Jiangchu turned to look at Li Guanqi and placed a hand on his shoulder.

A demonic ghostly flame burst from Li Guanqi’s body. Clenched between the ghost’s teeth was a blood-red worm. It struggled violently, letting out piercing, shrill screeches.

Li Guanqi was shocked. He had no idea when the thing had gotten inside him. It was only the size of a fingernail, blood-red all over like a maggot, but it had a human face.

Meng Jiangchu snorted as the flames devoured the worm. He said coldly, “That bastard still loves dirty tricks.”

He turned to Li Guanqi and said solemnly, “That old man is Zhao Rongyang. He’s a Gu cultivator who specializes in raising venomous insects. He likes to collect all kinds of strange Gu worms, and his methods are insidious and nearly impossible to guard against. Don’t let his kind appearance fool you. He’s far more sinister than he looks, and many powerful cultivators have died at his hands.”

Li Guanqi swallowed hard. He hadn’t expected something like this to happen before they’d even set foot in the city.

The Ethereal Immortal Territory, it seemed, was no place for the naive or the gentle.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Interesting.”

The two of them soon reached the edge of Qin King City, where an inexplicable pressure descended upon them.

Meng Jiangchu said softly, “Flying is forbidden inside the city. It’s a sign of respect for the strong. The city guards are powerful, so try your best to avoid conflict.”

Li Guanqi nodded. A new world seemed to have opened up before him.

In the past, he had stood at the very top of the Six Territories. Now, the world before him was far broader, and within it, he stood at the very bottom.

But instead of discouraging him, it stirred something within him. The prospect of climbing toward the peak step by step thrilled him. If he could rise above everyone in the Six Territories, then he could rise above everyone in the Little Seventh Territory too.

As for the true Seventh Territory, he would get there one day.

When Li Guanqi finally reached the city gate and looked up at the plaque engraved with the words “Qin King City,” shock surged through him. He could sense that whoever had written those words possessed immense strength, so great that it was beyond his comprehension.

The city guard wore black armor that left only his eyes exposed. “Heh, it’s been a while since we last saw you, Territory Lord Meng. Are you here for the auction again?”

Li Guanqi looked up and realized that even the city guard was stronger than him. At the very least, he was in the late Combined Body Realm.

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