Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Swish!

Gu Li came rushing back. His hands trembled beneath his sleeves, and the webs between his thumbs and forefingers were torn and bloody.

He exhaled deeply and said solemnly, “Are we starting now?”

Li Guanqi nodded. Qian Qiusui bowed and took her leave. She knew what she should and should not hear.

Li Guanqi raised a hand and sealed off the entire domain.

Gu Li took out a talisman brush and said in a grave tone, “You really want me to do this?”

Li Guanqi smiled and stripped to the waist, revealing a back covered in scars. “Get started. I don’t have much time either.”

Gu Li licked his lips, steadied his trembling hands, and gripped the talisman brush.

The instant the brush touched Li Guanqi’s back, bone-deep agony swept through his entire body. He clenched his jaw but stayed perfectly still.

Gu Li breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He had been afraid Li Guanqi could not withstand the force of the inscription.This was Gu Li’s first time inscribing talisman runes directly on human skin. The talisman paper he normally used was specially made, sometimes from materials such as beast hide or bone. Some talismans were so powerful that ordinary paper could not withstand the force of their runes.

Li Guanqi’s body might have been strong, but he still had to endure this bone-deep pain through sheer will.

Gu Li calmed his mind and held the brush steadily, pouring a torrent of mind power into each stroke. His expression tense, he focused solely on drawing the special talismanic inscription.

A jade slip in his hand emitted a faint glow as he worked. It was the key connected to the place where Ye Feng and the other two were cultivating in seclusion.

The talisman he was drawing was far more intricate than anything Gu Li normally drew, and its spirit runes had to be exceptionally resilient to contain its power.

The fire mark at Li Guanqi’s brow flickered. The pain had nearly pushed him to his limit.

Crack!

Li Guanqi bit down so hard that his teeth shattered. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

The skin across his back split open as the spirit runes carved their way into his flesh and bone.

“Hold on a little longer!” Gu Li shouted.

Gu Li’s aura had grown unstable. His face was white as paper, his lips pale and cracked. Even his pupils had begun to lose focus. He, too, was reaching his limit.

As the final stroke fell, Li Guanqi could endure no more and spat out a mouthful of blood.

At the same time, Gu Li’s entire arm, including the bones, collapsed bit by bit. The talisman brush exploded in his grip. Blood poured from Gu Li’s seven facial orifices. He swayed, then fell unconscious.

Li Guanqi lay on his side, gasping for breath. His eyes had become bloodshot without him noticing.

After a few moments, he finally recovered enough to rise and check on Gu Li. Once he determined that Gu Li had only lost consciousness from exhausting his mind power, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He placed a healing pill in Gu Li’s mouth, moved him onto the bed, and set up a Spirit-Gathering Array. Then he shattered several spirit stones and enveloped Gu Li in a barrier of concentrated spirit qi.

Watching Gu Li tremble unconsciously, Li Guanqi said softly, “You’ve worked hard.”

Li Guanqi had no idea how many talismans Gu Li had drawn inside the Meng family’s domain. He only knew that besides the initial batch of three thousand artifacts, the Three Pavilions held at least another two thousand, and more were still being forged and delivered through covert channels.

It was hard to imagine just how many talismans Gu Li had drawn by himself over the past two days.

No one said it aloud, but everyone understood the pressure Li Guanqi was under, and they were all working hard to help him.

The blood on Li Guanqi’s back had dried. With a pulse of vital force, he shook off the scabs and slowly donned a white robe.

Space twisted outside, and Xi Yunhuai appeared. “Pavilion Master, someone has started spreading the word that the Sha organization’s main hall has been found!”

Li Guanqi frowned and stepped outside instantly. “Where? Is this information real?”

“We don’t know,” Xi Yunhuai replied rapidly. “I came straight here as soon as I heard about it.”

This was not a move Li Guanqi had anticipated. He had never expected the cultivators of the Six Territories to actually locate the Sha organization’s main hall.

“No… Something’s wrong. If it were that easy to find, how could Ji Yuchuan have failed?” Li Guanqi’s voice turned cold. “Tell the Three Pavilions’ experts not to act rashly. Whether the report is true or not, this is a trap!”

He flashed to the Heavenly Intelligence Map and frowned at the cluster of black flames blazing across it.

Inside the Sha organization’s main hall, the masked man murmured mockingly, “Li Guanqi, I’ve given you the location. But what can you possibly do about it? Hahahaha! This is fun.”

Word of the Sha organization’s “exposed” location soon spread. Its main hall lay in the eastern reaches of the Taiqing Territory, among a remote range known as the Qilian Mountains.

Countless powerful cultivators gathered across the Taiqing Territory, while local cultivators went completely mad over the news. To find the location of the main hall would mean unimaginable wealth and overwhelming opportunity. Driven into a frenzy, cultivators assembled like a swarm of locusts, flying through the skies.

Countless powerful cultivators converged on the Taiqing Territory, while its native cultivators went mad over the news. Whoever found the main hall would claim an immense fortune and a tremendous opportunity. Even those in the Foundation Building Realm joined the search, let alone old monsters who had been trapped at bottlenecks for years.

Many white light points streamed toward the Qilian Mountains on the Heavenly Intelligence Map.

Li Guanqi stood with his brows knitted. He was surrounded by spirit stones, continuously absorbing their spirit qi.

His injuries had clearly healed, yet a trace of pain still lingered across his face, as though he were enduring constant torment.

Li Guanqi’s expression suddenly changed. “Quick! Order the Three Pavilions’ hidden agents to stop everyone immediately. This is a trap! If we’re too late, the consequences will be disastrous!”

Xi Yunhuai’s expression changed drastically. He immediately relayed Li Guanqi’s order throughout the Three Pavilions.

Tang Wei sat in a mysterious grand hall at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s headquarters. Five other people sat with him.

The seat of honor was occupied by a slender man in a blue brocade robe who appeared to be in his forties. He had sharp features, a hooked nose, and single-lidded eyes. His chin tilted slightly upward, accentuating his defined jawline. A purple-gold crown rested atop his head, and his eyes were narrowed.

The jade slip in Tang Wei’s hand lit up. He swept it with his divine consciousness, and his expression abruptly changed.

“Pavilion Master, Li Guanqi has ordered us to deploy our hidden agents and stop the cultivators heading for the Qilian Mountains!”

The man was Qian Ze, the true master of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and one of the world’s most enigmatic figures. He rarely concerned himself with worldly affairs, but he had personally stepped in this time because of the Tang family’s situation.

A cold light flashed through Qian Ze’s eyes. He immediately understood what Li Guanqi intended. “Guangqing, contact our hidden agents in the Taiqing Territory at once. Have them intercept the cultivators and warn them that this is a trap. If necessary, deploy formation barriers and artifacts to block their path!”

Sun Guangqing was the master of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s Taiqing Territory branch and a half-step Mahayana Realm cultivator. He immediately rose. “Understood. I’ll see to it at once.”

Once he left, a gloomy-faced middle-aged man sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Who would have thought that some boy from the Tang family could bring the Pavilion Master himself out to oversee matters? Anyone who didn’t know better might think the Hundred Treasures Pavilion belonged to the Tang family.”