Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Meng Wanshu’s face grew grim. Her ice-blue dress was now drenched in blood, and her pale skin bore several horrific wounds. Even Nine Heavens had lost many of his scales. Pan Ji had broken through his defenses with sheer brute strength.

However, just as Pan Ji was picturing himself drinking their blood, his body froze. A mangled, blood-soaked hand gripped his face tightly.

Li Guanqi resembled a vengeful ghost, his body a mass of torn flesh and dark purple bruises. He was drenched in blood from head to toe. His disheveled hair hung around his face, and his cheek twitched uncontrollably.

Then his left hand shot out like lightning. His fingers spread like an eagle’s talons and dug into Pan Ji’s right arm. With a sudden burst of strength, Li Guanqi tore off Pan Ji’s entire shoulder by brute force.

Pan Ji’s severed arm flew through the air, and he stared in disbelief for a moment. Reacting quickly, he seized Li Guanqi’s wrist with his left hand and snapped it, then ripped a large strip of flesh from Li Guanqi’s face in the same motion.

Li Guanqi reached for Peng Luo, but Pan Ji reacted in time and threw a punch directly at Li Guanqi.

Overcome with rage, Li Guanqi clenched his left fist and struck back with tremendous force. The wind howled, and deafening thunder followed. The clouds above even seemed to reverse their flow.

Li Guanqi’s icy voice rang out. “Fist Shattering Technique, Soaring Heavens!”

Boom!

The punch contained the boundless rage in Li Guanqi’s heart. Sensing its terrifying power, Pan Ji steadied himself. His arm swelled even further as he roared and met Li Guanqi’s fist with his own.Their fists collided, shattering the surrounding space and sending ripples through the void.

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted as their fists collided. The terrifying aftershock sent the earth trembling and the mountains shaking.

Li Guanqi was hurled several hundred zhang backward, his feet carving two trails of purple lightning through the air. The bones of his left arm jutted through his skin, leaving his arm hanging uselessly at his side.

Pan Ji was in no better condition. He’d been hurled away too, and the force of Li Guanqi’s punch had blown his entire left arm apart.

Both of them were grievously injured, but Li Guanqi was once again the first to attack. Lightning flashed around him, and he vanished from the spot.

Boom!

Li Guanqi shot forward like a bolt of lightning tearing across the heavens, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. He raised the Red Lotus Sword high in his right hand, his eyes narrowing to slits. “World Annihilation!”

Boom!

A blood-red sword light, intertwined with raging lightning, came crashing down.

Clad in Lightning Armor, Li Guanqi plunged from above and struck with overwhelming killing intent.

A trace of fear flashed through Pan Ji’s eyes. With both arms crippled, he gritted his teeth and suddenly opened his mouth, lunging toward Peng Luo.

The moment Li Guanqi saw this, his eyes went wide with rage. He shot forward and caught up with the streak of sword light. “How dare you! I’ll torment you for thousands of years! Red Lotus Heavenly Dance! Sword-Unsheathing Technique! Dark Moon! Thunder Wrath!”

Meng Wanshu stared in shock. With his long hair whipping wildly in the wind, Li Guanqi looked like a warrior descended from the heavens. Each of those strikes was an ultimate attack, the kind he reserved for incredibly powerful enemies. Yet, he was unleashing them one after another against the already wounded Pan Ji.

Why?

Meng Wanshu stared at Peng Luo, whose eyes were brimming with tears. Something in his gaze told her that, from this day forward, he would lay down his life for Li Guanqi without hesitation.

Pan Ji froze in place as he watched the multiple sword lights bearing down on him. The blood qi he had gathered to use a warp technique was instantly annihilated by the incoming attacks.

“No! Arghhh!”

But Peng Luo was now directly in the path of the attacks as well.

Just before the storm of sword qi engulfed them both, Li Guanqi overtook his own sword lights and appeared in front of Peng Luo. He wrapped his arms around Peng Luo’s weakened body and turned his back to the oncoming attacks. Muffled groans escaped his lips, but he said nothing. He merely held Peng Luo tight and shielded him with his own body.

Suddenly, Li Guanqi sensed that the chaotic sword qi sweeping past him had weakened considerably.

Nine Heavens had coiled protectively around Li Guanqi and Peng Luo. Beyond his coils, towering walls of ice rose one after another, blocking the remaining sword qi.

A cold glint flashed through Li Guanqi’s eyes. He placed what remained of Peng Luo’s body on his shoulder. His jaw clenched, his nose wrinkled, and his brow furrowed tightly. Then he raised a hand toward the void outside and clenched it sharply.

“Soul Gathering!”

Buzz!

The void trembled. An invisible, oppressive force spread outward, followed by a powerful pull that evoked instinctive awe. The scattered fragments of Pan Ji’s divine soul slowly gathered together, forming an illusory figure.

Li Guanqi seized Pan Ji by the head and raised him to eye level. Pan Ji’s consciousness was already fading, but the sight of Li Guanqi filled him with terror. He trembled uncontrollably, and for the first time, regret set in.

Li Guanqi glared at the illusory divine soul before him and spoke through clenched teeth. “You should never have touched Peng Luo.”

Bang!

His five fingers tightened, and Pan Ji’s divine soul exploded instantly.

Then Li Guanqi’s voice cut through the air again, low and sinister, like the whisper of a vengeful ghost. “Soul Gathering.”

Bang!

“Soul Gathering.”

Bang!

Li Guanqi destroyed Pan Ji’s divine soul and forcibly restored it again and again, making him endure the torment more than one hundred times.

Eventually, Pan Ji began begging for mercy the instant his divine soul reformed. His eyes held only a desperate longing for death. He understood now that death was the best outcome he could hope for.

But Li Guanqi merely sneered at Pan Ji’s nearly transparent divine soul. A vast surge of soul power poured into Pan Ji’s body, forcing his divine soul to become solid once more.

Powerless to resist, Pan Ji could only absorb the soul power. His eyes filled with despair as he realized that his life was no longer his own.

Li Guanqi’s gaze was as sharp and cold as a blade. With a flick of his hand, he hurled Pan Ji’s divine soul into a small black tower. He had named it the Punishment Tower.

Peng Luo’s eyes widened in disbelief at the unfolding events. He felt a torrent of words stuck in his throat, and though he opened his mouth repeatedly, not a single sound escaped. In the end, he buried everything deep in his heart. Then his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.

Li Guanqi let out a long sigh and patted Nine Heavens beside him. Nine Heavens transformed into a bracelet and settled around Li Guanqi’s wrist.

Meng Wanshu sighed and asked, “Did you get the Seven-Colored Glass Flower?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she frowned and looked at Li Guanqi in confusion. “Has your physique… grown stronger again?”

Li Guanqi shrugged without revealing whether he had obtained the Seven-Colored Glass Flower. “Even I could barely endure that body-tempering method. But… I did figure out how to pass the second trial.”

He led Meng Wanshu toward the lake and lightly tapped his foot against its surface. Ripples spread outward, and the two gradually sank beneath the water.