Li Nanting Perishes, the Sword Coffin Stolen!

The aura around Li Guanqi abruptly hitched. He clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth creaked and splintered. The power gathered in the sword weakened bit by bit, until at last the left hand holding it lowered slightly. "Fine!" "I’ll give it to you!" "As long as you promise not to kill my master." Li Guanqi’s voice trembled as he spoke those words. His Spirit Absolution could suppress these chains, but at this moment he could not sense the sword spirit at all, leaving him unable to invoke it... Compared to the self-sealed sword coffin, he could not bear to watch the old man die right before his eyes! The black-robed man let out a low, cold laugh. "Very well. Then open your mind..." Li Guanqi complied, opening his mind and allowing the man to rip the sword coffin from his body! Li Nanting shook his head frantically at the sight. He knew what that sword coffin meant to Li Guanqi! It was very likely that the greatest secret of Li Guanqi’s entire cultivation journey lay hidden within! If the enemy truly stole it away, Li Guanqi’s strength would suffer a catastrophic blow! Li Nanting shook his head violently, tears brimming in his eyes. He bit through his lip, a look of grim resolve slowly welling up in his gaze. Time and again, Li Guanqi had left backup sword qi on him, even teleportation formation runes. Never had he imagined that in the end, he would still become a burden... Looking back beyond the blood mist barrier, he could hazily see Shen Lan standing anxiously in midair. Li Nanting turned back toward Li Guanqi with a look of deep, tangled emotion. Beneath the binding chains, Li Guanqi could clearly see the old man’s eyes crinkle. It was the same smile as always, crinkling into fine lines at the corners of his eyes. A wave of numbness washed over Li Guanqi’s entire body as he instantly realized what the old man intended to do. Li Guanqi roared, "No! Master, don't!" "Don't!" Li Nanting’s voice sounded softly in Li Guanqi’s ear. "Silly disciple, your master has lived long enough to consider it a bargain." "Your master is useless and had nothing left to teach you, but... in our next life, I’ll become far stronger before taking you as my disciple!" "I only hope... you’ll still be able to find me then." *Boom!* Li Nanting’s dantian swelled in an instant, and a ferocious explosion erupted violently! *Rumble!* Shen Lan stared at the jade slip that had shattered to dust in her hand, collapsing on the spot. "Nanting..." Li Guanqi raised his sword in an instant. Burning his divine soul, he seized the golden chains in a savage grip. At that moment, the thousands of aggrieved souls coalescing upon his blade burst into spiritual flame. Li Guanqi’s eyes nearly tore from their sockets. Striding toward the black-robed man, the dragon scales across his arms shattered, erupting in a vast plume of bloody mist with a dull pop. His knuckles turned bone-white from the sheer strain in his arm muscles, and the hand gripping the blade slashed out with savage force! *Screech! Roar!* At that moment, every powerhouse across the Great Xia Sword Sect plunged from the sky! A tempestuous pressure swept through heaven and earth, barring anyone below Body Integration from taking flight! The power Li Guanqi unleashed was enough to rival a cultivator of the half-step Mahayana Realm. Under the effects of the Spirit Burst Pill and the Wild Comprehension Pill, Li Guanqi’s features twisted into a ferocious snarl as he roared, "Soul Severing, World Annihilation!" This single strike completely drained the mental power of Li Guanqi’s entire sea of consciousness! The primal energy within his body roared forth, bursting out in a violent surge that bordered on tearing his meridians apart! Violent lightning, carrying a terrifying destructive force, detonated in an instant! A dreadful slash of sword light spanning a thousand zhang cleaved outward, carrying a terrifying intent meant to obliterate all living things. In an instant, heaven and earth shook. Dense, heavy storm clouds engulfed everything within a hundred li. Amidst the pitch-black clouds, lightning thick as tree trunks rolled ceaselessly. Gales howled, sending sand and stones flying across the earth. It was a scene reminiscent of the world's end, shaking the soul of every person who laid eyes upon the sword light. "Aaargh!" "Die, die, die!" "Die for me!" Two trails of bloody tears streamed down Li Guanqi’s face, and mouthful after mouthful of blood spilled from his lips. The dragon scales across both arms shattered completely, and the chains coiled around him tore away chunks of flesh and blood as they were violently ripped free! The mysterious black-robed man’s pupils shrank to needlepoints, trembling uncontrollably at the sight! The strike Li Guanqi had unleashed was potent enough to slay a peak Body Integration Realm expert! The immense power gathered within this sword strike had nearly hollowed Li Guanqi out entirely. Moreover, it contained an overwhelming soul power. This single slash... Severed both body and spirit! The man’s expression turned grim. Thrusting out his left hand, he violently reeled the sword coffin before him into his grasp and casually tossed it into his domain space. Extending his right hand, a terrifying palm print spanning several hundred zhang plummeted from the heavens in an instant! The earth within three thousand zhang of the palm print abruptly caved in by a zhang! Across the Great Xia Sword Sect, the high peaks were forcibly pulverized downward by dozens of zhang in that single breath. "Great Heavenly Spirit Calamity Crossing Palm!" *Boom!* *Boom! Boom, boom, boom, boom!* Like a blade slicing through cowhide, the sword light cleaved the terrifying palm print cleanly in two! The blood mist barrier had long since shattered, and more than a dozen experts braved the crushing pressure to strike out boldly. "Die!" Amidst Li Guanqi’s furious roar, he squeezed out the very last vestige of his strength to swing his longsword. *Boom!* *Spurt!* The sword light flashed through the luminous palm print, cleaving it in two before slashing directly into the black-robed man’s chest! "Aaargh!" A shrill, agonized shriek rang out. The man’s figure warped and twisted before finally dispersing into the air. The sword light passed straight through him, gouging a chasm over a thousand zhang long into the rear mountain of the Great Xia Sword Sect! Lightning crackled, and the terrifying killing intent and sword qi lingered long after. Engulfed in lightning, the man’s body dissolved into flecks of spiritual light under the explosion of destructive power. Li Guanqi stared at the spot with leaden eyelids, blood pouring copiously from his mouth. Swaying on his feet, he roared in a voice dripping with venomous malice, "Your soul... bears... my mark!" "Within ten years... ten years... I will find you... and tear you... into ten thousand pieces!" The black-robed man said nothing. The eyes beneath his cowl fixed a deathly glare on Li Guanqi before his form dissolved into flecks of spiritual light and vanished from the world. Li Guanqi stumbled. Shrugging off the hands reaching out to steady him, he swallowed another Spirit Burst Pill, forcibly wringing out his latent potential once more! The faint outline of a lightning domain flickered around him. Li Guanqi spread his hands wide, veins bulging violently across his forehead! *Pfft!* The blood vessels across his entire body burst in an instant, shrouding him in a heavy mist of coppery blood. He murmured in a faint, raspy whisper, "Blood Technique: Soul Gathering!" *Hum!* A profoundly mysterious and terrifying ripple slowly spread out. In an instant, the fragments of soul scattered into the void were drawn back piece by piece. Before long, Li Nanting’s battered origin spirit and soul were pieced back together! Without hesitation, Li Guanqi produced a Profound Origin Sacred Soul Pill and crushed it violently in his grip! *Rumble!* Heaven and earth roared, and waves of purest, terrifying medicinal potency instantly enveloped Li Nanting’s ethereal soul! *Buzz!* As the illusory image of a qilin roared, the fissures across Li Nanting’s origin spirit slowly began to mend. Seeing this, Li Guanqi finally breathed a sigh of relief... However, Li Nanting’s soul was now incomparably fragile, like that of a newborn child, devoid of any cultivation. Clinging to his last shred of consciousness, Li Guanqi guided Li Nanting’s soul into his domain space. His body swayed, and he blacked out completely.