Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Meanwhile, a handsome white-haired cultivator in red robes was fleeing for his life.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he burst out laughing. “Hahahahaha! Damn, I’m good! I actually found a way! Come on then, you bastards! Take your grudges out on whoever wronged you. I can’t stand watching you slaughter the innocent!”

Boom!

Ice-cold killing intent radiated from Coward Li, yet it carried a weight as steady as a mountain. The strange contrast made the three cultivators behind him hesitate.

“Brothers, be careful. Something’s off about this kid!”

“He’s only in the late Golden Core Realm. How can he have sword intent?”

“Who cares? He’s just a rogue cultivator. Kill him and be done with it!”

The three looked like sworn brothers, which only made Coward Li angrier. He lowered the trembling girl he’d been carrying under his arm to the ground behind him and faced the men with a cold grin. “Birds of a feather really do flock together. Trash belongs with trash!”

All three were at the peak of the Golden Core Realm. The burly man in gray robes at the front unsheathed the longsword at his waist, the corner of his eye twitching. He watched Coward Li like a hawk, sensing the change in his presence.

Even so, he coveted Coward Li’s treasures. That storage ring was clearly no ordinary item. It was worthy of someone who had reached at least the Illusory Refinement Realm.“Friend, a word of advice. Some things are best left alone. Hand over that girl behind you, and the three of us will leave.”

Coward Li glanced back at the girl’s hollow, numb eyes, then turned to the men and shook his head. “When cultivators seek revenge, it’s kill or be killed. I understand that. But take it out on the person who wronged you! Wasn’t killing her entire family enough? Couldn’t you even spare the girl? You were actually going to violate her! Are you even human?”

Coward Li’s voice shook with barely restrained fury. He’d only been passing through when he found the girl lying on bloodstained paving stones. Her entire family was dead, and her eyes held only a wish to die.

If it had been a feud between cultivators, he could have accepted it. Even if they’d killed the girl outright, he would merely have called them ruthless. But some things he couldn’t turn a blind eye to.

Seeing that Coward Li wouldn’t budge, the burly man signaled the other two to cut off his escape. “Then you’ll pay for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

He turned to his two companions and said coldly, “Attack together. Kill him quickly and leave!”

The other two lunged forward. Coward Li ignored their threats and turned to the girl, brushing the hair from her face. “Close your eyes. It’ll be over soon. Cover your ears too.”

The girl stared at Coward Li. At his gentle words, she squeezed her eyes shut, covered her ears, and crouched on the ground.

Coward Li slowly turned around, and his voice came out cold and measured.

“Sorry, but the man you’ve run into today is Li Congxin, not Coward Li!”

The wind picked up, and clouds churned above. The ancient trees in the forest below rustled in the gale, and Li Congxin’s red robes snapped around him, vivid as fresh blood. An inexplicable pressure radiated from him.

Through his connection with Li Guanqi, he felt Li Guanqi’s divine soul beginning to mend. Li Congxin smiled. He had been worried sick, but now he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The three men were still puzzling over his words when multiple streaks of cold light closed in on them.

Boom!

Lightning filled the sky and engulfed the trio. Li Congxin’s icy voice rang in their ears. “Heaven-Opening, Yanluo Ten Pavilions!”

Boom!

A pitch-black longsword materialized, and purple lightning flashed before their eyes. Sword intent at the Sword Courage Realm erupted from the ground with terrifying power.

Li Congxin glared at them as he moved, swift and elusive, leaving three afterimages in his wake. “Sword-Unsheathing Technique!”

Steel clashed, and Li Congxin turned his back on the three men as he sheathed his sword.

Clang!

Pfft! Pfft pfft!

Cold light flashed through the air and vanished. The wind died down, and the trees stilled.

Three headless corpses fell from the sky.

Li Congxin gathered their storage rings into his hand. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Forcing himself to activate the Heaven-Opening Tier form of the Yanluo Sword was still a bit much for his current strength. Mimicking Li Guanqi’s Sword-Unsheathing Technique to kill all three men in an instant only added to the strain. Li Guanqi was also mending his divine soul, and Li Congxin could feel some of that strain too.

When he turned back to the girl, her eyes were already open. He smiled faintly and wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve. “There. I’ve avenged you.”

He felt a pang of helplessness. Since his cultivation was only at the Golden Core Realm, he couldn’t even erase some of her memories for her.

Li Congxin brought her to the outskirts of a town and smiled as he gently tousled her hair. “From now on, you’ll have to take care of yourself.”

He rummaged through the three men’s storage rings for gold and silver, stuffing it all into a small cloth pouch before handing it to the girl. “Remember, keep your money hidden. Don’t let anyone see it, understand?”

The girl stared at Li Congxin’s face with bright, intent eyes, as if trying to etch his features into her memory. She nodded silently. Li Congxin paused to think, then put the contents of all three storage rings into one.

Something else seemed to occur to him, and he handed her one of his own jade slips. “This is my jade slip. But I hope you won’t keep cultivating. We so-called immortals… you’ve seen what we’re like. You never know what’s in someone’s heart. It’s all bloodshed and cruelty. We could lose our heads at any moment.”

The girl lowered her head, tears pattering to the ground. Li Congxin bent down and gently patted her head with a smile. “All right. You’ve got a long life ahead of you. Take it slowly. And… stick to the side of the road.”

Li Congxin soared into the sky and flew away, leaving the girl standing alone. She remained there for a long time before finally turning and walking toward the town.

He chuckled to himself, pursing his lips. “I can’t keep relying on Li Guanqi’s old tricks forever… Hmm… that sword technique Sixth Brother left me actually seems like a pretty good fit. Should I give it a try?”

***

Inside a secluded chamber in the Gu clan’s domain, Li Guanqi’s aura was growing stronger, approaching the peak of the mid Combined Body Realm. More importantly, the pill’s potent energy was slowly closing the gap in his divine soul.

Peng Luo watched with a gleam in his eyes and murmured, “It hasn’t been easy for him. Every day, he endured the agony of his divine soul tearing open, all to keep his illusory spirit alive. I don’t know how he managed it for so long. He never let it show.”