Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Gu Li’s vital force was in complete disarray, his fluctuating aura roiling the space around him. His frenzied mental power gave shape to the talisman patterns he’d built in his mind, one after another taking form in the air.

The sheer number was staggering—with a single glance, Li Guanqi saw more than a hundred thousand talismans flickering wildly, and that was only what was visible outside. The number taking shape inside Gu Li’s sea of consciousness had to be greater still.

Li Guanqi had no time to think. He took a deep breath, summoned the Yanluo Sword, and unleashed over a hundred strikes.

But Gu Li’s talismans kept coming without end. Li Guanqi severed thousands, only for more to fill the gaps at once.

Li Guanqi flashed dozens of times in rapid succession. His afterimages shattered one after another in midair as explosions echoed without end.

Flames burned through Li Guanqi’s lightning armor, and he cursed under his breath. “There are talismans for all five elements, and even some with mutated vital force attributes. Just how strong is this guy’s affinity for spirit qi?”

Another torrent of talisman chains shot toward him while Gu Li’s hands moved on their own, unconsciously directing the talismans toward Li Guanqi.

The moment Gu Li raised his hand, every hair on Li Guanqi’s body stood on end. Talismans of every kind converged into a sky-blotting flood, surging like a raging tide.

Even the usually composed Meng Wanshu gasped, her mouth falling open. “That’s… more than a million talismans!”

The vast sea of talismans nearly swallowed the entire river realm. Li Guanqi’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest—a million talismans detonating at once would instantly annihilate the whole domain.He made his decision in a heartbeat. He drew a deep breath and roared, his aura erupting to its peak. “Heaven-Opening Tier, Immortal-Slaying Slash!”

Boom!

A terrifying sword light shot out, and Li Guanqi followed close behind, hidden in its wake. The light wasn’t aimed at Gu Li but at a point just above his head.

The lightning sword light cleaved through the sea of talismans, and blasts rang out one after another, as though the first detonation had set off a chain reaction.

Talismans ignited one by one. Li Guanqi’s heart clenched at the sight, and he pushed his speed higher still. He finally caught a clear look at the runes inscribed on the last sheet of talisman paper.

With no time to hesitate, Li Guanqi retreated several thousand zhang. However, the instant he pulled away, the boundless sea of talismans seemed to lose its sentience, snapping back all at once.

Li Guanqi was covered in burns and gashes from head to toe, blood streaming from his wounds. His lightning armor had long since shattered beyond repair.

He stood in the distance, gasping for breath. He had never imagined a talisman master could be so formidable. Talisman masters were supposed to be frail, with little vital force. But Gu Li had completely overturned everything he thought he knew.

Gu Li’s terrifying spiritual power allowed him to control his talismans with suffocating speed. When combined with the five elements, even the simplest tier-seven detonation talisman unleashed unimaginable power.

The endless sea of talismans, stretching as far as the eye could see, was enough to drive anyone to despair. It was no wonder Gu Li never stopped drawing talismans. In just a few breaths, tens of thousands had already been consumed.

Sword Spirit finally spoke once more, her voice unhurried. “That’s enough.”

Her power stirred within Li Guanqi’s body, and a trace of red flashed through his pure white eyes. He slowly raised a finger and traced strokes in the empty air.

Lightning gathered at his fingertip as a lightning-forged talisman rune gradually took shape, radiating a profound aura.

Li Guanqi trembled slightly, as though every stroke cost him immense pain.

Meng Wanshu stood at his side, worry plain in her beautiful eyes. She reached out to help, but Li Guanqi’s aura had turned strange. Her outstretched hand froze in place.

She knew better than to touch him now.

Li Guanqi had only completed a third of the talisman when its fluctuations caught Gu Li’s attention.

Gu Li rose blankly to his feet and looked around, his gaze finally settling on the lightning talisman taking shape before Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi didn’t understand the pattern’s deeper meaning, but the fact that Sword Spirit had to borrow his hand to draw it was proof of how extraordinary it was.

At that moment, Gu Li teleported to Li Guanqi’s side, his bloodshot eyes locking onto every movement of Li Guanqi’s hand.

For a moment, his spiritual power surged uncontrollably, and countless talismans lit up simultaneously.

Light burst and flared as Gu Li began to decipher the remaining spirit runes of the talisman pattern on his own.

Suddenly, one talisman blazed brightly. All the others shattered at once and, as they reformed, took that light as their foundation to deduce the pattern anew.

Li Guanqi’s brushstrokes perfectly aligned with Gu Li’s deductions.

But even with his current cultivation realm, Li Guanqi was struggling to endure, his aura growing weaker by the moment.

Li Guanqi gritted his teeth, refusing to give himself even a moment’s rest. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and sweat drenched his forehead.

Time crawled on. Only the final three strokes remained.

Gu Li’s eyes were wide and blood-red, filled with a yearning for the Dao of talismans.

The moment Li Guanqi finished the last stroke, his sea of consciousness ran dry. It felt as though a great hammer had struck his skull. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, unconscious.

Meng Wanshu gently caught him by the waist.

Gu Li stood in midair, staring vacantly, as though his spirit had left him. “So that’s it... so that’s it! Hahahaha! I understand now! I understand! So that’s how it is!”

Boom!

Gu Li’s aura surged, settling at the peak of the early Combined Body Realm, a single step from the mid Combined Body Realm. At the same time, his already terrifying sea of consciousness expanded once more.

The boundless talismans behind him transformed at last into the shape of the talisman Li Guanqi had drawn, then gradually evolved into other patterns.

Gu Li snapped back to reality. He stared at the domain, now a frozen wasteland, and his jaw dropped.

Then he looked at the blasted craters beneath his feet, at Li Guanqi lying unconscious, covered in blood, and finally at the lightning runes floating overhead. He immediately understood what had happened.

A wave of guilt and worry washed over him. He hurried to Meng Wanshu, flustered, his trembling hands nervously clutching the hem of his robe. “I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I didn’t know it would turn out like this... I wasn’t aware of anything in that state... Is Brother Li all right?”

Meng Wanshu didn’t blame him. She gave him a reassuring look, shifted Li Guanqi’s weight onto her shoulder, and said, “He’s alright. He did it because you’ve always treated him well. To him, it was worth it. He only exhausted his mental energy. That’s all.”

Gu Li exhaled in relief and scratched his head. “I have pills that restore divine consciousness. Brother Li can have them.”

He took out a purple crystal jade case containing ten eighth-tier Soul-Nourishing Pills.

Meng Wanshu paid no heed to the pills’ rarity. Gu Li was not a bad person, and his remorse was genuine. Even priceless pills couldn’t ease the guilt weighing on his heart.

She grabbed the case, took out a pill, and placed it in Li Guanqi’s mouth. “All right. Let’s go out.”

The moment she spoke, the frozen world below instantly returned to normal.