Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Gu Changsheng also appeared at the edge of the void. Naturally, he was familiar with this domain boundary. He anxiously looked Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu over. After confirming that neither of them was injured, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Uh... where’s my son? And where’s Huaizhi?”

Li Guanqi quickly filled him in on what had happened.

Gu Changsheng’s face darkened. He had never expected an enemy to penetrate so deeply into the Gu clan’s territory. Had it not been for the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect’s four ink jiao dragons, Li Guanqi and the others might already have been in grave danger.

Gu Changsheng stared intently at the crimson flame barrier as rolling heavenly thunder continually crashed down overhead.

Deep within the lightning pool, a colossal figure soared into the sky without the slightest fear of the thick bolts descending upon it. Nine Heavens tore through the lightning and devoured it, its aura growing ever stronger.

This was the first time Gu Changsheng had witnessed a true dragon break through. He asked, “Young friend, could you spare me a few of the scales it sheds?”

Li Guanqi laughed. “Sure. You can ask Gu Li for them later.”

Gu Changsheng immediately panicked. Gu Li was like a pixiu, always taking and never giving anything back.[1] Getting anything out of his hands was all but impossible, even for Gu Changsheng.

Faced with Gu Changsheng’s aggrieved expression, Li Guanqi could only relent and promise to deliver the scales himself.Meng Wanshu also found the father-and-son pair rather amusing. Neither of them carried themselves with the aloof arrogance so common among cultivators, which made them easy to get along with, especially Gu Li.

A hint of curiosity flickered in her eyes. She had known Ye Feng and the others for a long time, but Gu Li had made a good impression on her from the moment they met. He never blindly followed the crowd. He thought for himself and stood by his convictions. Even if it meant standing against everyone else, he would still do what he believed was right. He was also kind-hearted. Stingy as he might be, he would not hesitate to use hundreds of thousands of talismans for his friends and those he cared about.

Rumble rumble!

Lightning crashed down. Nine Heavens’s scales blew apart, and new ones grew in their place, gleaming with a metallic sheen and even more durable than before.

The tribulation clouds churned furiously, as though enraged that a great demon dared advance to a higher realm. Each bolt struck with greater force than the last, but Nine Heavens remained fearless. It met them head-on with its lightning breath and absorbed every fragment of shattered lightning. Soaring through the heavens, it finally displayed the full majesty of a true dragon.

Roar!

Nine Heavens reared up and glared at the sky, as if mocking the Heavenly Tribulation for its impotence.

Boom!

As the final bolt of tribulation lightning fell, an overwhelming aura erupted from Nine Heavens. The tribulation had left the lightning pool below even stronger and purer. Although Li Guanqi and Nine Heavens had both tempered their bodies within it, they had not depleted the power it had accumulated over thousands of years. Instead, the pool now held even more power than before.

The pressure of a tier-seven great demon suppressed the void itself. Gu Changsheng opened his storage ring and tossed out two fist-sized tier-seven pills, precious treasures capable of restoring the vitality a great demon lost during a breakthrough and healing its injuries.

Nine Heavens swallowed both pills in a single gulp and roared. Its roar echoed between heaven and earth, reverberating across a thousand li. Its dragon’s might poured through the shattered void, forcing every demon beast within range to kneel and tremble.

Terrifying pressure filled the void as Nine Heavens finally broke through to become a tier-seven Demon King. Multicolored radiance spread across a hundred li, painting the void in brilliant hues.

Nine Heavens opened its enormous jaws and devoured the heavenly rewards like a whale gulping down the sea. Its dragon eyes shone even brighter, and the pressure emanating from its bloodline surged, growing at least thirty percent stronger than before.

Refreshed in both body and spirit, Nine Heavens slowly closed its eyes. The scales covering its body sloughed off one after another like falling petals. Even its horns snapped off and regrew, emerging longer and far sturdier than before.

Gu Changsheng’s eyes gleamed with desire at the sight of the falling scales and dragon blood, but he restrained himself from snatching them up.

Li Guanqi gathered every scattered scale and broken horn, along with the dragon blood drifting through the air, filling an entire storage ring.

The sight of the enormous dragon before him, now more than one hundred and fifty zhang long, filled Li Guanqi with emotion. When he first saw Nine Heavens on that tiny altar in the secret realm, it had been only a newborn, resembling a little snake no longer than his arm. Now, it had grown into a colossal true dragon of unimaginable majesty.

All that hardship back then was worth it. Nine Heavens was lucky enough to survive and hatch.

Nine Heavens seemed to sense his emotions. Its body shrank until it could coil around Li Guanqi’s neck, and it affectionately nuzzled his chin. No one looking at the tiny purple dragon would have guessed that it was a great demon that had successfully advanced to the seventh tier.

Gu Changsheng laughed. “Congratulations! A true dragon’s breakthrough is a spectacular sight indeed.”

Li Guanqi said nothing. Nine Heavens possessed the lightning attribute, so tribulation lightning was more a source of nourishment than a threat to it. The breakthrough had proved far less dangerous than he had feared.

Seeing that everything was fine, Gu Changsheng refrained from mentioning the dragon scales again. His expression turned serious. “We old fellows have discussed the pill formula and made some progress. Between our families, we can gather almost ninety percent of the spirit herbs it requires. However, some of the remaining materials are things we’ve only ever read about in ancient texts. They’ll probably be quite difficult to find.”

Li Guanqi nodded and said softly, “Thank you for your help, Uncle Gu. We’ll find a way to gather the remaining spirit herbs ourselves.”

Gu Changsheng glanced at the lightning pool behind him, then handed Li Guanqi a purple jade slip. “Whenever you want to use the lightning pool, come on your own. That’ll save me the trouble of running over every time.”

Li Guanqi smiled and accepted the jade slip without ceremony. Bringing the disciples of Heavenly Lightning Peak in the future would be tremendously beneficial.

He generously gave Gu Changsheng half of Nine Heavens’ shed scales. The moment Gu Changsheng received the storage ring, his eyes crinkled into slits, and he grinned from ear to ear.

Li Guanqi had set some of the scales aside to forge dragon-scale armor for both Lu Kangnian and his master, though they were only tier-six scales. Had they been tier seven, he would have prepared a full suit for Meng Wanshu as well.

Gu Changsheng suggested, “Let’s head back for now. Once Huaizhi is back, we can discuss everything in detail. In all likelihood, some of the materials can only be found in domain realms like the Ethereal Immortal Territory.”

Li Guanqi nodded silently, realizing he might have to ask Su Xuan for help. While Li Guanqi truly wanted to visit the Seventh Territory, he knew this was not the time. Everything surrounding his grandfather remained far beyond his reach.

He turned toward where the Zhu clan’s cloud boat had disappeared, his gaze icy. He muttered, “Zhu clan… Once all my brothers have broken through, we’ll settle the score properly.”

1. The pixiu is an auspicious beast from Chinese mythology said to devour gold, silver, and jewels. According to legend, it has no anal opening, so wealth can enter but never leave.

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