Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

“Why has no one in the Six Territories ever heard of the Fire-Eyed Demon Fox race? Why don’t they appear in any ancient records?” Li Guanqi asked.

Yun Jie stood with her head lowered, holding Peng Luo’s hand. After a long silence, she finally composed herself enough to speak. “The Fire-Eyed Demon Fox race rarely shows itself. Whenever one of us comes of age, they must leave the clan with their Dao companion. It’s how our race has preserved its bloodline.”

Li Guanqi frowned. “Why? Even in Paradise Realms and sacred grounds, there should be natural treasures and spirit resources. At the very least, you should have been able to settle somewhere within the Six Territories.”

Something painful surfaced in Yun Jie’s memory. Tears rolled down her cheeks one after another, and her quiet sobs grew until she could no longer contain them.

Peng Luo patted her shoulder and said softly, “Master, let me explain. You know about the Spiritfish Clan at the Daxia Sword Sect, don’t you?”

Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu exchanged a glance before nodding. “Of course. I was the one who brought the Spiritfish Clan to the Daxia Sword Sect.”

Peng Luo looked at Yun Jie with pity. “The Spiritfish Clan is already far more fortunate than the Fire-Eyed Demon Fox race.”

Li Guanqi frowned. “How so?”

Peng Luo continued, “Not every member of the Spiritfish Clan is born with a bone sword, and even those who are cannot fuse it with just any flying sword. At most, it can only enhance the sword. But the Fire-Eyed Demon Foxes are different.”

He looked into the girl’s eyes and spoke softly. “The eyes of the Fire-Eyed Demon Foxes are known as Fire-Pupiled Eyes. If they are forcibly removed and refined through secret techniques, they have a high chance of awakening a powerful pupil technique. It is not an innate bloodline ability, but it is still extremely powerful. The stronger the Fire-Eyed Demon Fox, the more powerful its eyes.”Li Guanqi inhaled sharply and let out a sigh. “So that’s how it is... the innocent suffer for holding onto a treasure.”

He turned to Yun Jie. “What happened to the Yun lineage?”

Yun Jie sobbed. “They’re gone. They’re all gone... I’m the only one left. I only escaped because my parents and uncles worked together to get me out. The Yu clan will never let this go! They’ll do everything they can to capture me again.”

Peng Luo, noticing that Li Guanqi still seemed somewhat puzzled, calmly explained further. “Only the Yu clan knows about the Fire-Eyed Fox matter. In the entire Human World, there are no more than a handful of people who know. Uh… that one one inside doesn’t count.”

Peng Luo, seeing that Li Guanqi still looked puzzled, continued, “Only the Yu clan knows about the Fire-Eyed Demon Foxes. No more than a handful of people in the entire Human World know the truth.”

“The Yu clan is terrified their secret will get out,” Peng Luo said, “so they’ll stop at nothing to hunt us down.”

Li Guanqi sighed softly. “It’s fine. Let’s head to the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect first.”

Meng Wanshu nodded. After looking around to make sure no one was nearby, she took out a specially crafted cloud canoe.

The cloud canoe could seat four people. It was sleek and dark gold, with twelve purple-gold crystals set into its hull to form its array core.

The group climbed aboard and sped toward the Nine Dragon Immortal Sect.

Not long after they left, a black-robed old man emerged within the void. The green compass in his hand glowed faintly as he took out a jade slip. “They’re traveling through the interlayer of the void in a cloud canoe. They should be approaching your position soon.”

Inside the cloud canoe, Yun Jie huddled in a corner against the wall with her head buried between her knees, silent and withdrawn, a pitiful sight.

Meng Wanshu sighed quietly. She had no idea how to comfort the girl, so Peng Luo kept trying instead.

Yet Yun Jie’s eyes stayed heavy with sorrow. More than anything, she feared that Li Guanqi and the others might abandon her.

“Don’t worry,” Peng Luo said. “My master is very kind. Back in the Six Territories, the Spiritfish Clan has been recuperating in Daxia Territory for years. Their numbers have already grown severalfold.”

Yun Jie replied in a low voice, “I… have no family left anymore.”

Peng Luo froze, his mouth opening without a single word of comfort coming out. Then he shot through the cloud canoe’s barrier.

He sensed their surroundings for a moment, and his eyes widened. He rushed back inside, his expression grim.

“Master, someone has locked onto us!”

Li Guanqi’s brow furrowed. “Already? Can you tell how many there are, or how strong?”

Yun Jie’s eyes widened in shock. Her shoulders trembled as fear clouded her gaze. Unaware, she dug her nails into the fur on her knees, restless and panicked.

He took out a jade slip and said coldly, “Come help me. Someone wants me dead.”

A terrifying aura erupted within Qinhuang City. Qin Wushang shot into the sky, his face cold, a sneer curling across his lips. “Who’s courting death?”

He couldn’t understand who would be reckless enough to target Li Guanqi. Nangong Xuandu had only just left, yet someone was already trying to kill Li Guanqi.

Qin Wushang quickly sensed that Li Guanqi was extremely far from Qinhuang City. The spatial fluctuations were so faint they were almost impossible to detect, and when he tried to send another message, he found he could no longer reach Li Guanqi.

“Damn it, at least give me your spatial coordinates! You tell me someone’s trying to kill you, but how am I supposed to know where you are?”

Cursing helplessly, Qin Wushang took out his jade slip and contacted the others.

The most important were the Gu clan. Gu Li or Ye Feng had to have some special way of reaching Li Guanqi.

Gu Changsheng shot up from his chair. Han Yuan and the others stared at him in surprise. “What now?”

Gu Changsheng rushed out the door. “Someone’s made a move against Li Guanqi! I’m going to find Gu Li!”

The three old men hurried after him. “Why look for Gu Li?”

Without looking back, Gu Changsheng replied, “That brat likes to leave spatial teleportation talismans on people!”

Bang!

The door was kicked open.

Inside, Gu Li sat cross-legged in his room, dense spirit patterns spreading out to fill the entire courtyard beyond.

Gu Changsheng knew it was not a good time to disturb him, but he had no other choice. If anything happened to Li Guanqi, he could never answer for it.

“Gu Li! Wake up!”

Gu Li frowned. The spirit light slowly retreated into his sea of consciousness. When he opened his eyes, four people stood in the courtyard before him.

Gu Changsheng got straight to the point. “Li Guanqi is in danger. Qin Wushang says someone ambushed him in the Ethereal Immortal Territory!”

Gu Li rose without a word and took out several talismans.

A strange scene unfolded. The runic light around the talismans twisted and merged, their power swelling fast. Gu Li formed a series of hand seals, and the talismans blazed to life, condensing into a warped silver-white portal.

Then a force he couldn’t hope to resist shattered the forming portal.

Pfft!

Gu Changsheng planted one hand against Gu Li’s back and thrust the other through the light curtain.

Within the pitch-black void, a massive flame palm hundreds of zhang wide took shape in an instant. The crimson-gold Profound Heavenly Divine Flame slammed into the black-robed attacker, hurling him thousands of zhang away, but the palm shattered along with the collapsing portal.

Gu Changsheng gave a cold snort, his expression grim. “Are you all right, son?”

Gu Li replied coldly, “I’m fine! I sensed something, but I can’t be certain. Let’s go!”

Doge & Char & Wey’s Thoughts

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