Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

By then, Li Guanqi had settled into cultivation. His aura had grown impossibly still and heavy. Only the flame spirit mark between his brows flickered with a faint glow.

Meng Wanshu sat at the edge of the lightning pool, her chin propped on one hand as she watched Li Guanqi.

The mark between his brows kept the rampaging power within him in check, but it also restricted how much of his strength he could wield. He could use only eighty percent of his full power. Any more and the spirit mark would shatter.

Meng Wanshu watched Gu Li return with four massive ink jiao dragons in tow, each exuding a ferocious aura. She smiled faintly. He truly was energetic and impulsive.

Gu Li landed and studied the wary jiao dragons with some uncertainty. “Nine Heavens is still only a peak tier-six dragon. I’m not sure it can keep all four of them in line.”

Meng Wanshu smiled calmly and looked at Nine Heavens, whose eyes had begun to flash with a sharp, predatory light. “You underestimate the true dragon bloodline.”

Meng Wanshu smiled and looked at Nine Heavens, whose eyes were gleaming with a predatory light. “You’re underestimating the true dragon bloodline.”

The words had barely left her mouth when Nine Heavens released a low, commanding roar. Its vast dragon’s might swept through the void for a hundred li.

Nine Heavens reared upright. Its dragon eyes blazed with fierce, brilliant light, and its rumbling growl seemed to demand submission from all before it.

The four ink jiao dragons had never endured such pure dragon’s might. They writhed uneasily, their eyes locked on Nine Heavens.Nine Heavens’ temper flared. Its roar shook the skies, and purple lightning surged around its body, erupting in all directions. The lightning in the pool responded instantly, driven by the same current of energy.

Their defiance enraged it. Nine Heavens roared, shaking the skies as purple lightning erupted from its body in every direction. The lightning pool answered instantly, stirred by that same power.

Boom boom! Boom boom boom!

Boom crack!

Thunder rolled without end. Nine Heavens reared to its full height, radiating an indescribable majesty. Though smaller than any of the four jiao dragons, it regarded them with the imperious pride of a true dragon.

The leading ink jiao dragon was the first to buckle beneath Nine Heavens’ dragon might. Its bloodline was the closest to that of a true dragon, so the pressure it endured was all the more intense. It lowered its head in submission.

One by one, all four ink jiao dragons dove into the lightning pool.

The pool churned violently. Cries and low roars rang out as lightning flooded the sky, obscuring everything from the two onlookers. Gu Li could make out only a blur of intertwined silhouettes.

As dragon aura poured from the lightning pool, he clicked his tongue. “This is going to be one violent breakthrough.”

“At tier seven, a demonic beast can be called a king among its kind,” Meng Wanshu replied. “Nine Heavens’ breakthrough was only a matter of time. Still, I never expected you to convince the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect to give up four peak tier-seven jiao dragons. After absorbing their yin qi, Nine Heavens’ strength will soar.”

Gu Li shrugged, leaning closer with a conspiratorial air. “I didn’t just convince them. We’re even getting a pile of gifts on top of them! Hahaha!”

Meng Wanshu raised an eyebrow but did not press further.

Gu Li sat cross-legged at the edge of the lightning pool and sank into a meditative state. Spirit light flickered around him as wondrous talisman spirit runes took shape one after another.

At this point, ideas welled up in Gu Li’s mind like a surging spring. Each of the talismans forming now carried the approval of heaven and earth. They were singular, unique.

Ideas flowed endlessly in Gu Li’s mind. Every talisman he formed bore the acknowledgment of heaven and earth. Each was one of a kind—only Gu Li could inscribe them.

Meng Wanshu sat at the edge of the lightning pool, watching Li Guanqi temper his body at its center. Her expression was unreadable.

After a long while, she murmured, “Who is she?”

Earlier, when Li Guanqi had used his finger as a brush to inscribe talismans, Meng Wanshu had sensed a peculiar aura. She could not tell whose it was, but she was certain that another woman’s presence lay somewhere within him.

It was only a feeling. Her intuition. That was why, on the Spiritfish Clan’s street, her hand had hovered in midair, and she had stopped herself from touching Li Guanqi.

Meng Wanshu shook her head and muttered self-mockingly, “Since when did I need to worry about such things?”

Even so, she was a little unhappy that Li Guanqi had hidden it from her. She was the most important person in his life, yet he still kept secrets from her.

After thinking it over, however, she made peace with it. She had secrets of her own, things not even her father knew.

Meng Wanshu watched Li Guanqi in the lightning pool. After a long silence, she decided that when the time was right, she would tell him her secrets. She felt there should be no secrets between them. Still, if his secret was too great to share, she would not press him.

Time passed, and Nine Heavens’ power surged in wave after wave, each one cresting higher than the last.

Eventually, even Meng Wanshu could no longer meditate. She opened her eyes and scanned their surroundings warily.

Gu Li also emerged from meditation. He looked around at the ice-blue barrier enclosing the realm and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Meng Wanshu was there to shield them from the terrifying dragon’s might.

After a moment’s thought, he sent out several silver-white talismans. A layer of silver light enveloped the entire realm, and the pressure on Meng Wanshu eased at once.

Near the center of the lightning pool, Li Guanqi remained surrounded by swirling lightning, oblivious to the change.

His breakthrough had left his foundation unstable. Tempering himself in the lightning pool gave him the perfect chance to stabilize his realm.

Gu Li frowned. “Sister-in-law, Nine Heavens’ breakthrough is going to cause quite a commotion. We need to be careful. It’ll be at its most vulnerable during the breakthrough, and someone may try to capture it.”

Meng Wanshu’s expression turned grave. She understood what was at stake.

Three of the ink jiao dragons’ auras had already grown noticeably faint. Only the last one remained.

The yin qi of a single peak tier-seven ink jiao dragon was more than enough to see Nine Heavens safely through its breakthrough. Its bloodline might even grow stronger.

The disturbance had already become too much for the realm to contain. Space warped constantly as if scorched by flame, and cracks of every size split open across it.

Gu Li’s expression darkened. “Sister-in-law, we can’t stay here. I’ll get Brother Li, and then we’ll leave at once!”

“I’ll go!” Meng Wanshu stepped into the lightning pool.

The instant she spoke, the lightning beneath her feet churned. The boiling lightning surged toward her like a stampede, swallowing everything in its path.

Gu Li’s eyes sharpened. “Sister-in-law, watch out!”

Boom!

The lightning erupted with terrifying force. The blast hurled Gu Li several hundred zhang and slammed him into the realm’s barrier.

Pfft!

Gu Li coughed up a mouthful of blood and immediately realized what had happened. “It’s your vital force—it’s driving the lightning pool berserk!”

Before he could finish, Meng Wanshu dispersed the vital force shielding her and darted through the raging lightning with nothing but her physical body to protect her.

But the lightning was too vast and relentless. She could not evade it all.

Pfft!

A wrist-thick bolt of purple lightning pierced her shoulder. She let out a muffled groan, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

She did not stop. She kept running toward the figure deeper in the pool.

One bolt. Two. Ten.

By the time Meng Wanshu reached Li Guanqi, her body was riddled with charred wounds.

Gu Li clenched both fists so hard his knuckles turned white. Cursing under his breath, he pressed talisman after talisman onto his body. “I’m risking it all!”

He plunged headfirst into the lightning pool.

Without his help, neither Meng Wanshu nor Li Guanqi would make it out. And Gu Li had no idea that danger was already closing in.

Two cloud boats long concealed in the void slowly emerged.