Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The ancient clans deliberately spread word of the incident until the rumors were everywhere. Li Guanqi was a ruthless heretical cultivator who killed without blinking, they said. He did as he pleased and had earned the title of Yanluo Sword Sovereign by slaughtering countless people.

However, the rumors caused no stir at the Daxia Sword Sect. Lu Kangnian dismissed them with a single question.

“Ask yourselves: have you ever killed anyone?”

After that, no one in the Daxia Sword Sect commented further on the matter. Whatever anyone said, Lu Kangnian refused to believe Li Guanqi would annihilate an entire clan for no reason.

Late that night, he sat at his desk attending to sect affairs. He set down his brush and sighed, his heart aching as he thought of the sect’s younger generation. Li Guanqi and the others were like his own children. He had watched them grow up and become stronger. Yet as they continued to grow, they would find themselves facing more and more things they could do nothing about. Sometimes, they would simply have to swallow their grievances and endure the injustice.

I used to be able to stand in front of those children and shelter them from the storm. But now…

Lu Kangnian sighed again. After finishing his work, he teleported to the summit of Heavenly Sword Peak. He gazed at the streaks of sword light and power suspended overhead, a jumble of emotions swirling in his heart.

***

Li Guanqi walked through the void as though none of what had happened had bothered him

Sword Spirit’s voice echoed in his mind. “You’re thinking you’re not strong enough yet, aren’t you?”Li Guanqi nodded. “Yes. If I were strong enough, Ye Feng would never have been taken. If I were strong enough, what would it matter when the one pulling the strings decided to strike? I’m simply not strong enough.”

Sword Spirit fell silent for a long moment, then said softly, “Now that you’ve sent everyone away, your own training can begin.”

Li Guanqi frowned, unsure what she meant. Then, to his shock, he realized his connection to the Red Lotus Sword was gone. He couldn’t even enter the sword coffin’s inner space.

Sword Spirit’s ethereal form appeared beside him, her eyes solemn. “Starting today, I’ll personally train Peng Luo and Nine Heavens inside the sword coffin. As for you, your current cultivation method is starting to fall short, so I’ll give you a new one.”

Peng Luo leaped into the air. “No! You could beat me to death and I still wouldn’t go in there to train!”

Sword Spirit’s beautiful face took on a mocking expression. “You won’t train? Then what’s your plan? Rely on your spatial affinity in every fight for the rest of your life? Let someone capture you and make you a medicine slave again?”

Peng Luo pouted and lowered his gaze. He didn’t dare argue.

“I have no idea how the legendary Divine Rune Heavenly Vine clan produced a coward like you,” Sword Spirit said.

Peng Luo’s head snapped up. Conflicting emotions flickered in his eyes as he stared at Sword Spirit.

Sword Spirit tilted her head with a cold smirk. “If you could piece together part of my identity, did you really think I wouldn’t know yours? Do you intend to remain a burden once we reach the Immortal World?”

Her words were unusually sharp today, each one cutting like a blade.

Peng Luo hung his head, his chest rising and falling slightly. He replied quietly, “I’ll train! But… my lineage was severed. I don’t know our clan’s divine rune arts.”

Sword Spirit grabbed him by the head and hurled him into the sword coffin. Her voice rang in both his and Li Guanqi’s ears. “I do.”

Peng Luo’s eyes widened as he vanished into the sword coffin.

Sword Spirit pointed a finger and pulled Nine Heavens into the sword coffin as well.

“All the dragon clan’s gifts, wasted on him,” she muttered. “He can’t even measure up to a mere Qilin. Honestly…”

Li Guanqi stood there in a daze. In moments, Peng Luo, Nine Heavens, and his sword were all gone. On top of that, Sword Spirit had taken a few jabs at him, some subtle and others blatant.

Buzz!

Sword Spirit’s red dress billowed as a terrifying aura swept outward. Li Guanqi swallowed hard.

A crimson point of light drifted toward his forehead. Sword Spirit’s tone was grave. “This cultivation method will carry you all the way to your ascension to the immortal realm. But getting started will be difficult. Prepare yourself.”

Bang!

Before Li Guanqi could speak, the orb forced its way into his mind. A vast ocean of information flooded his head, causing such intense pain that he thought his sea of consciousness might burst. He had no time to say anything to Sword Spirit. He tore through the void, landed atop a lush, forested mountain peak, and sat cross-legged.

Boom!

Boundless lightning erupted around him. He took out a hundred thousand spirit stones and inserted them into a Spirit-Gathering Array. Seated at the mountain’s summit, he plunged into a state of deep cultivation.

Standing before him, Sword Spirit leaned down and gazed at his refined features. She murmured, “You can’t let them leave you behind. If you don’t progress faster, how will you ever catch up to Ye Feng?”

Boom!

An enormous, pitch-black stone coffin slammed into the ground beside Li Guanqi and sank a chi into the earth. He sat with his eyes closed, his arms forming a circle with his palms facing upward.

As he frantically processed the information in his sea of consciousness, he murmured, “Divine Punishment… What an overbearing name for a technique. The method itself is incredibly difficult to grasp, though.”

He set aside his distracting thoughts.

This is for the best. Peng Luo needs to grow stronger. If I’m not there someday, he’ll need to protect himself. Once he’s stronger, he won’t have to think of himself as nothing more than medicine. Nine Heavens is probably frustrated about the Qilin spirit too. Getting stronger will be good for him.

Without Peng Luo, Nine Heavens, or the Red Lotus Sword at his side, Li Guanqi felt as though he had returned to his early days of training at the Daxia Sword Sect. Back then, no matter what happened, his first instinct was to rely on himself.

Now that Cao Yan, Xiao Chen, and the others were all settled, he no longer had to worry about them. He felt strangely at ease.

His goal was clear: cultivate relentlessly until he broke through to the Mahayana Realm. Only then would he be ready to search for Ye Feng. Only then could he face Sha.

Li Guanqi took a deep breath and devoted himself to understanding the Divine Punishment Technique. As Sword Spirit’s figure began to fade, she murmured, “It’s time for you to feel the weight of the passing years… This technique will give you the power to crush anyone in the same realm.”

The region surrounding the nameless mountain had turned into a lightning dungeon, spanning a thousand zhang. Each stray bolt packed the power of a heavenly tribulation lightning, leaving no way for anyone to approach.

From that day on, the site drew the attention of cultivators in the southern region of the Falling Sunset Territory. Many tried to approach, only to retreat with serious injuries. Word of it spread, and the site was eventually designated a forbidden zone.

Many cultivators with lightning spirit roots used the stray bolts spilling from the edges of the area to temper their bodies or study the lightning’s power. Most suspected that someone extraordinary was cultivating in seclusion within the mountain.

Li Guanqi lost all track of time.