Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The relationship between Nine Heavens and Peng Luo was complicated. They had once been unable to stand the sight of each other, but over time each had become the one the other trusted most. By now they were more like companions, brothers, and family.

Peng Luo loved being a pain, but he never took it too far with Nine Heavens. Especially not since the last time, when Nine Heavens had torn open his own heart and offered up his heart blood. In turn, Peng Luo had nearly burned himself out for Nine Heavens’ sake.

Nine Heavens had seen every bit of it. The fellow who seemed the least reliable was actually someone he could always count on.

The sight of Nine Heavens’s wounds sent Peng Luo into a rage. Hammer in hand, he vanished.

He reappeared between a cultivator’s legs. His eyes glinted with icy light as he gripped the hammer and smashed it upward.

But all three of those men were far stronger than Peng Luo. They sensed him the instant the spatial fluctuations appeared.

A cold gleam flashed beneath one man’s mask. His right leg cracked out like a whip and slammed into Peng Luo’s head.

Bang!

The kick blew away half of Peng Luo’s skull, sending him flying like a ball.

Clutching his shattered head, Peng Luo turned and fled for his life. His legs churned so fast they blurred. “No, no, Brother Nine! Brother Nine, I can’t beat this damn bastard!”Within those few breaths, even more wounds opened across Nine Heavens’s body. The corrosion nearly drove him mad with pain, yet he remained rooted in place, shielding Li Guanqi.

No matter how the men beside him struck, he refused to budge. Dragon scales burst apart and dragon blood scattered through the air, but Nine Heavens only let out furious low roars, without so much as raising a claw.

Four of the eight ink jiao dragons roared madly at the sight and swept their massive bodies through the void, trying to drive the enemy back.

But the assassins of the Sha organization knew exactly what they needed to do. They fought desperately to hold them down and stop anyone from breaking away to reinforce the others.

Meng Wanshu and her companions alone could barely hold back the growing ring of attackers closing in.

Ye Feng’s eyes flashed. With a cold snort, fully released the power of his Ghost Arm.

Boom!

Terrifying golden light erupted. Wreathed in a sinister ghostly aura, Ye Feng blurred forward to kill, his face calm and utterly fearless.

His aura had climbed to a level on par with the mid Combined Body Realm, and he had only just broken through. It had not even been four hours.

Cao Yan raced after him and sent a grave voice transmission. “Second Brother, ease up. Your Ghost Arm’s a little too powerful right now. It’s even suppressing your own strength.”

Ye Feng gripped his sword tightly, killing intent in his eyes. “It’s fine. What matters right now is power level. The early Combined Body Realm simply isn’t enough.”

Terrifying frost power churned around Meng Wanshu, her vital force surging violently. She was clearly ready to force a breakthrough at any moment.

She narrowed her eyes at her companions, all less than a thousand zhang away. She glanced over her shoulder and saw two more Sha organization assassins closing in quickly.

Taking a shallow breath, she said coldly, “I’ll block the two behind us. Can you handle the rest?”

Xiao Chen’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Do you even need to ask? Of course we can!”

Boom!

“Heaven-Opening Tier, Divine Slaying Spear!”

Violent flames swept across heaven and earth. Fire coiled around Xiao Chen’s spear as cyan gale winds propelled him forward at soaring speed.

Cao Yan exhaled slowly and murmured, “Heaven-Opening Tier, Blood Oath Lone Sun!”

Boom!

Flames wrapped around both his arms as he unleashed his full strength. Fist force surged around him, and his heavy fist intent bore down on the void like a mountain.

Meng Wanshu abruptly halted and turned to face the two red-robed men. “You’re courting death!

“Hmph! You think you can stop us alone?” one of them shouted.

Their figures flickered as they attacked from either side, their longswords flashing coldly toward her face.

Meng Wanshu let out a slow breath and murmured, “It’s been many years since I last used Gu Li’s fighting style…”

She waved a hand as she spoke, and one streak of spirit light after another began flickering around her.

Neither of the red-robed men noticed anything wrong. Their blades crossed, aimed at her head.

Clang!

An illusory ancient golden bell enveloped Meng Wanshu. Golden light rippled across the Buddhist inscriptions on its surface, catching both blades and stopping them dead.

Clang!

The bell tolled, and a wave of golden energy spread outward. The toll was like a primordial decree, rushing straight toward their seas of consciousness.

Both men retreated at once, but the sound traveled far too fast. They had retreated a little over two hundred zhang when their heads snapped back as though struck by a heavy hammer. Their eyes rolled back, and blood flowed from all seven orifices beneath their masks.

By then, more than a hundred magical tools were floating around Meng Wanshu, all glowing brilliantly.

Even Gu Li swallowed hard. Every single piece there was good stuff. Looking at it this way, Meng Wanshu was a rich young lady through and through.

Gu Li looked down at the bracelets and rings adorning his hands, then muttered, “She can’t possibly be wealthier than me, can she?”

Boom!

Just as he finished speaking, he split in two. One version of himself reappeared beside Nine Heavens, while the other gave the red-robed cultivator a peculiar smile.

The red-robed cultivator blinked, stunned for a moment. Before him, a talisman had just snapped in half, and flames were spreading across the burning halves.

Without warning, the burning halves tore open, and silver spatial light flickered wildly. Over ten thousand yellow talismans poured out like a swarm of bees and swallowed the man within a zhang of where he stood.

Gu Li formed a seal with one hand and said coldly, “Explode!”

Boom!

A terrifying roar rang out across the sky. The void trembled violently, and even the fighters on the other battlefields paused for a moment. The shockwave covered several thousand zhang.

Flames shot into the sky as a battered figure rushed out of the blast.

The assassin had lost half his body, and most of his mask had been blown away. Though he was at the peak of the mid Combined Body Realm, even he could not withstand the explosion.

Beneath the shattered mask was an unfamiliar face. The man glared viciously at Gu Li.

Gu Li tucked his hands into his sleeves and chuckled, then pointed at the man’s back and said softly, “Not over yet.”

A burning fragment from the earlier talisman still clung to his robe. Countless more talismans surged out of it like leaves caught in an autumn gale. The man’s eyes widened in alarm.

He tried to tear off his robe, but it was completely futile. Tens of thousands of talismans erupted in one blazing explosion.

Gu Li stood atop Nine Heavens’s head with his eyes closed and his back to the flames, lazily waving a hand.

The terrifying blast sent severed limbs flying in every direction. Its shockwave made the void within a hundred li shudder.

The only price had been a single shattered ring on Gu Li’s left pinky. “What can I say? I have a lot of talismans. If it’s merely money, I can afford to burn it.”

As his voice fell, he looked at the three attackers rushing him again and crushed three storage rings one after another.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A full three hundred thousand talismans poured out, forming a bizarre talisman barrier around Nine Heavens. Anyone who wanted to capture Li Guanqi would have to force their way through all three hundred thousand talismans.

Inside the barrier, Gu Li’s earlier composure vanished. He quietly retrieved the talismans from the innermost layer.

“No one can see the ones in here anyway,” he muttered as he collected them. “I might as well save what I can.”

The battle gradually settled into a stalemate.

Every assassin in the Sha organization had grown wary of Gu Li’s methods. More importantly, no one knew how many talismans he still had on him.