Li Guanqi’s face lit up at Sword Spirit’s offer. “You can do that?!”
Sword Spirit said solemnly, “I can, but the price is steep.”
Li Guanqi took a deep breath and glanced at the gravely injured Cao Yan and Ye Feng. “Better than dying. Do it!”
Sword Spirit smiled. She admired how quickly he could make up his mind. Once he decided, he never hesitated.
“In that case, just try to relax,” Sword Spirit said. “I’ll take control of your body.”
Li Guanqi gently closed his eyes.
From the sidelines, Fang Yishan thought Li Guanqi had completely given up. But in the next instant, a terrifying aura surged from Li Guanqi’s body, powerful enough to shake the world.
A shockwave exploded outward, and Li Guanqi opened his eyes, now blood-red. The Red Lotus Sword in his hand let out a shrill, jubilant cry.
His spirit void cracked open. A blood-colored sword slowly emerged and merged with the Red Lotus Sword.
Fang Yishan was instantly overcome with dread. The aura alone rooted him to the spot, paralyzing him with cold, creeping fear.
Death’s shadow fell over him, yet still he remained frozen, utterly unable to move.
Ye Feng and Cao Yan looked at Li Guanqi in shock.
Li Guanqi gazed skyward, then sighed softly.
His eyes had no pupils, but they saw extreme arrogance in them, as if he were a king surveying all beneath him.
The Red Lotus Sword erupted with crushing pressure. He slowly raised it toward the sky.
Fang Yishan’s pupils dilated in fear and shock. He wanted to run, but his body wouldn’t respond.
But he couldn’t move. Not even a step.
Then the world before him twisted. The sky turned a deep, endless red. Mountains of dismembered corpses rose from a sea of blood.
Fang Yishan looked up, trembling. A lone figure stood atop a mountain of corpses, holding a blood-colored sword.
No… no… no! I don’t want to die! Move! I don’t want to die!
Sword Spirit, controlling Li Guanqi’s body, looked down at him as one might look at an insect.
Li Guanqi lifted his sword again. The clouds above began to churn, and the wind shrieked through the air.
Thunder cracked, lightning flashed, and a ray of blood-red sword light burst forth.
The sword light vanished as quickly as it had come, but in that blinding flash, Fang Yishan was cleaved in two. Blood sprayed through the air, and his lifeless body plummeted from the sky.
Behind him, a mountain hundreds of zhang tall was split in half. The ground shook, the mountain collapsed, and countless boulders came crashing down.
Ye Feng and Cao Yan’s jaws dropped as they watched in disbelief. That attack had been as powerful as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator’s strongest attack.
A spatial crack had appeared in the air, jagged and pitch black, slowly sealing itself shut—a sign of the sheer devastation of the attack.
The sword light had carried unmatched ferocity, as if meant to destroy the entire world.
Sword Spirit turned to glance at them and gave a mysterious smirk.
But then, the blood-red runes on Li Guanqi’s body began to glow with alarming intensity.
Sword Spirit’s smile faded. She cursed under her breath and withdrew from his body.
Li Guanqi fell from the sky.
Despite his injuries, Ye Feng quickly flew to catch him.
However, as Li Guanqi fell, he visibly aged before their eyes. His features remained largely the same, but many crisscrossed wrinkles appeared on his face. White hair sprouted on his head, and his aura became very weak.
Ye Feng’s expression twisted in panic. He called out to him repeatedly, but received no answer.
Cao Yan flew to them and reached out to check Li Guanqi’s aura, only to find that Li Guanqi’s life force was extremely weak.
Both of them turned pale. Without hesitation, he began channeling vital force into Li Guanqi, but it was like pouring water into a cracked jar.
“What’s happening to Boss?!” Ye Feng shouted. “Is this from that strike just now?!”
Cao Yan shoved him aside and ripped open Li Guanqi’s robes.
“What are you doing?”
“Get out of my way!” Cao Yan snapped, red-eyed. “I’m trying to save him!”
Then, they looked down and saw the strange, intricate blood-red patterns on his body.
To Ye Feng, they meant nothing, but to Cao Yan, they looked like powerful seals. Not to keep something out, but to lock something in.
Without hesitation, Cao Yan cut his finger. A rush of strong fire energy surged from him.
He gathered his remaining power in his finger, then quickly drew complicated blood arrays on Li Guanqi’s spirit platform and dantian. Follow current novᴇls on 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
Sweat soaked Cao Yan’s forehead. His gaze dimmed, but his hand didn’t stop.
The more tired he was, the more determined he became. “If not for him, we’d all be dead…”
However, the outflow of life force was far too quick for him to stop.
Ye Feng watched as Cao Yan trembled violently, blood trickling from every orifice. Two crimson streaks of tears streamed down from his eyes.
“Seal, dammit!” Cao Yan shouted.
He finished the two blood-red arrays. But they shattered a single breath later.
Cao Yan swayed, then fainted.
Ye Feng caught him just in time. Then, turning to Li Guanqi, he realized that his life force had stopped leaking.
Ye Feng sighed in relief and collapsed on the peak of the mountain, panting heavily.
A one-zhang-long spatial crack opened nearby.
Ye Feng immediately flipped over, sword in hand, shielding the others behind him. His eyes were bloodshot and desperate.
From within the crack, a group of black-robed figures stepped out. Ye Feng saw them and passed out on the spot.
Qin Xian rushed to their side in an instant. His face went ashen when he saw how badly injured they were, especially Li Guanqi, whose life hung by a thread.
He looked at the devastated battlefield—the split mountain, the corpse on the ground, and the ancient trees now fallen and charred. The lingering aura on everything belonged to one person.
Qin Xian frowned, then looked at Li Guanqi and murmured, “This brat must have used some forbidden spell that burned away his life force.”