Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Rumble!

A scorching sea of heavenly fire formed a vast domain a full hundred li across, cutting the whole stretch of void off into a space of its own. Meng Jiangchu had learned the move from Li Guanqi, and he had simply used it to build them a killing ground. And because the domain was Meng Jiangchu’s, it bore down on the Sha organization assassins with immense suppressive force.

The moment the domain formed, the power of the four heavenly fires gathered overhead. The rain of fire became flaming spirit swords that pierced countless Abyssal Demons, and any demon the flames caught could no longer regenerate at all.

Boom boom!

Nine Heavens flew over and wrapped his massive body around the barrier protecting Li Guanqi. He buried his head among his coiled body, exposing only a pair of vigilant eyes scanning every direction. His intent was clear. He would not join the battle, because he understood what mattered most: Li Guanqi’s safety. As for the red-robed assassins beneath the Chi, Mei, Wang, and Liang tiers, they were not worth his attention.

Eight ink jiao dragons swept through the battlefield with their bodies alone, killing more than ten enemies with every sweep.

Buzz!

Li Guanqi’s clone snapped his eyes open. “Destruction and rebirth… That’s right. When spring thunder cracks, it brings destruction, but doesn’t it also symbolize the rebirth of all things?”

Buzz!

A strange fracturing sound seemed to ring through Li Guanqi’s mind. He had grasped the true meaning of lightning vital force at last, and he fully entered the Spirit Comprehension Stage. Moreover, since he was inside the lightning pool this time, his understanding of lightning’s true nature ran deeper still. He had only just grasped spirit comprehension, yet he had already reached its third level.Spirit comprehension had nine levels. The higher a Combined Body Realm cultivator’s level of spirit comprehension, the greater the killing power they could unleash. This offered another way to amplify one’s strength, independent of cultivation realm. Like sword intent, it had no shape or substance, yet it let cultivators unleash far greater power.

The clone took a single step forward. His form twisted, scattered into motes of light, and vanished from where he stood.

At the sight, Lu Kangnian let out a sigh of relief, though the loneliness in his eyes remained. Everyone else was risking their lives for Li Guanqi, yet he could do nothing but watch.

He looked back at the now flourishing Daxia Sword Sect, and his gaze hardened. He understood clearly what his decision would set in motion. Lu Kangnian sighed, and his shoulders sagged beneath the weight of the thought. He clasped his hands behind his back, turned, and walked toward the main hall.

Li Guanqi’s presence and suppression had all but ended the internal strife within the Daxia Sword Sect. The Guanyun Pavilion had snuffed out any lingering ambitions as well.

The Cloud Shadow Guards alone served as a formidable deterrent, while the intelligence network kept Duantai Yiting and the others under constant watch. The Daxia Sword Sect no longer seemed to need Lu Kangnian to stand guard, and he wanted to roam the Six Territories and grow stronger.

He no longer wanted to spend every day buried in sect affairs, only to find himself powerless when a crisis arose. That helplessness hurt more than any wound.

Rumble!

Around Li Guanqi, a full hundred thousand spirit stones floated in the air. Lightning shot through them, yet not a single rune barrier cracked.

Gu Li seemed to sense something and glanced back in surprise at the barrier Nine Heavens had coiled around. “What terrifying control… He’s… reached the Spirit Comprehension Stage?”

Buzz!

Lightning sank like a tide and flooded the entire interior of the barrier. The purple-black lightning was clear now, like the translucent skin of a grape, yet its currents held far more power than before.

Boom!

Li Guanqi’s body was like a vortex, frantically devouring the dense spirit qi around him.

The sounds of battle never paused. The eight ink jiao dragons had already tied down most of the enemies, but those who remained were no weaklings, and even Ye Feng and the others were struggling to hold them off.

Splat!

A cold glint flashed, and a longsword pierced Ye Feng’s left palm. He locked the blade between the bones of his hand, holding it in place with all his strength.

Flames coiled around the sword in Ye Feng’s right hand as he threw himself in front of Nine Heavens, shielding him from a masked cultivator’s blade.

The masked cultivator hadn’t expected Ye Feng to be so ruthless. With no way to evade the incoming blade, Ye Feng had caught it with his hand.

But the cultivator was no fool. With a twist of his wrist, he sheared off Ye Feng’s entire hand.

“Die!”

Yet, Ye Feng only smiled. His voice turned icy. “Why didn’t you take my head while you had the chance?”

The words had barely left his mouth when Ye Feng’s sword, wrapped in heavenly fire, suddenly arced upward.

Pfft!

The man shot backward, but he still failed to evade completely. Golden sword qi wreathed in blazing flames flashed past the man, severing the arm holding his sword.

A trace of fear flickered in the man’s eyes. If he had reacted just a bit slower, he would have lost more than an arm. His face twitched beneath the mask, and killing intent surged in his eyes.

“Heh, I really did underestimate you,” he said coldly. “You’ve only just broken through to the Combined Body Realm, yet your foundation is quite solid. The strength you can unleash already rivals a cultivator at the peak of the early Combined Body Realm.”

A spear thrust toward his back the moment he finished speaking. The red-robed man sprang away, his figure flickering in and out, leaving a trail of afterimages.

Thud!

A ghostlike figure materialized at his side as blue-purple flames erupted, unleashing powerful fist force. Cao Yan charged in while staying low, his eyes sharp as blades. His Solitary Flame Gauntlets gleamed, dazzling and savage, in their Heaven-Opening Tier form.

He braced himself in midair and forcibly halted his charge. His eyes locked on the man as he let out a low shout.

“Shattered Skies, Ten Thousand Mountains!”

Boom!

Massive, flaming fist force erupted, surging in wave after wave, each stronger than the last. The heavy fist intent swept across the battlefield. Though the man hurriedly raised layer after layer of vital force barriers, the blow still blasted him backward.

Just as he was about to catch his breath, his neck chilled. A woman in a deep blue dress had appeared behind him like a phantom.

Her sword spun around his throat. Terrifying frost power erupted, and after that fleeting instant of numbness, his world went dark.

His head flew high into the air.

The four of them exchanged a glance and returned at once to guard Li Guanqi. The whole exchange had taken no more than a moment; a Sha organization assassin who had just reached the late Combined Body Realm had died to their combined attack.

However, the enemy numbers were overwhelming. Three more had already reached Nine Heavens.

Nine Heavens raised his head and roared, and a terrifying lightning breath swept across the battlefield, lightning raging in all directions. But those three were simply too fast, and Nine Heavens, unable to move his massive body, could not track them at all.

Within a few breaths, fresh wounds opened all over his body. The slashes were wreathed in demonic qi with a corrosive bite, eating into his flesh. Nine Heavens shuddered from the pain but did not move, continuing to protect Li Guanqi.

Peng Luo’s eyes went red with fury. He swelled until he stood as tall as a grown man. Purple patterns flickered across his skin, and he grabbed a hammer before diving straight into the Void Interlayer.

He cursed under his breath, “I’m going to kill every last one of you!”