Demonic Sword, Xue Ming!

As fragments of stone peeled away, the sword's scabbard was revealed... Li Guanqi frowned slightly, a flash of astonishment in his eyes. The scabbard was actually composed of countless crushed white bone shards mixed together. Even lustrous jade-like bones were merely a part of what formed the scabbard. Faint traces of dark-red blood could be seen between the crevices of the bone fragments. Yet at that moment, Li Guanqi noticed that something was amiss with Qisha. The immortal primal energy around him surged violently, his aura fluctuating erratically. Blue veins bulged across his neck, and his face turned a bruised reddish-purple. His pitch-black pupils were eroded inch by inch, and low, beast-like growls tore from his throat. Qisha's power was actually being slowly siphoned away by the demonic sword, and even the Qisha King's Mark on his neck grew faint and dim. "Dao plundering!" "Not good!" Lightning flashed beneath Li Guanqi's feet, and he appeared beside Qisha in an instant. With a ferocious slash of his dragon-scaled right hand, he instantly tore through the thick barrier around Qisha! *Boom!!* Li Guanqi immediately donned his ghost mask. Red light flashed in his eyes, and the Red Lotus sword blossomed with a roar! In that split second, Li Guanqi's aura surged to its absolute peak. *Boom!* *Swish!* Raising his sword high with his left hand, Li Guanqi brought it slashing down straight toward Qisha's arm! *Spurt!* Fresh blood sprayed as Li Guanqi sent Qisha flying with a thrust of his palm! *Whoosh!* The moment his body flew backward, Qisha threw his head back and coughed up a mouthful of blood. His eyes were bloodshot, but clarity gradually returned to them. His face was paper-white, his bloodless lips trembling slightly, filled with terror. Clutching his severed arm, Qisha looked up toward Li Guanqi. His arm had already been reduced entirely to skeletal white bone, hanging from the sword hilt. Qisha slumped to the ground, his aura plunging all the way down to the third layer of Mystic Immortal... Panting heavily as he gripped his stump, Qisha's gaze was fraught with lingering dread. Li Guanqi walked up to Qisha, tossed him a healing pill, and asked in a low voice, "Are you all right? What is going on with that sword?" Looking at the pill in his hand, Qisha hesitated for a moment before swallowing it down. Closing his eyes, he circulated the immortal primal energy within his body. A trace of color returned to his cheeks, and he exhaled a breath of turbid air. He looked up at Li Guanqi and spoke in a voice grave beyond measure. "Inside... you have to face it yourself. As for what it is, you'll know once you go there." Having said that, he turned to Lin Wujiu. "Don't try it. You'll die!" Lin Wujiu let out an exasperated chuckle. "I've roamed Qinzhou for so many years, and I've never run across anything that could take my life! I refuse to believe in this evil today!" Li Guanqi did not step in to stop Lin Wujiu. He knew that with someone as arrogant as Lin, if he wasn't allowed to try, he would never accept it. Seeing this, Qisha grew frantic. "Stop him, quick! There is a spirit inside that sword! Anyone who doesn't cultivate the Six Paths cannot resist it at all! The price is death! With his strength, there is no way he can withstand that demonic sword spirit!" Li Guanqi's heart stirred. "There's a spirit inside the sword?" Li Guanqi flashed over to Lin Wujiu's side. Yet when truly facing that domineering demonic sword, even Lin Wujiu wore an expression of utmost gravity. Taking a deep breath, Lin Wujiu slowly pulled off the fourth gilded ring on his right hand. *Boom!!* In an instant, the void warped, and the altar trembled slightly. A formidable pressure erupted with a roar! Lin Wujiu's long hair danced wildly. Even amid such tension and dread, he forcibly steadied his mind. Taking a slow step forward, he reached out toward the demonic sword. Yet just as his fingers were about to touch it, Lin Wujiu suddenly turned to Li Guanqi with a mournful grimace. "Good brother, if anything goes wrong, remember to chop quickly..." The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched, and he kicked Lin Wujiu in the rear. Lin Wujiu's demeanor shifted completely, and his right hand lunged violently toward the hilt! *Boom!!* A monstrous surge of black mist instantly threatened to engulf Lin Wujiu. Lin Wujiu's body stiffened, his pupils dilated, and his left eye was instantly corrupted! The vital blood within his body vanished at an unbelievable rate. Seeing this, Li Guanqi swung his sword without hesitation and severed Lin Wujiu's left arm! Two breaths. He had lasted a mere two breaths, completely incomparable to Qisha. Clutching his own severed arm, Qisha gave a bitter smile and shook his head. Recalling what had just transpired, a flicker of terror surfaced in his eyes... The power of that demonic sword spirit was truly terrifying... *Bang!!* Lin Wujiu's body was blasted backward. His flesh had withered, and his frame had shrunk noticeably. Three of the ancient gilded rings on his right hand shattered outright! With disheveled hair, Lin Wujiu looked thoroughly battered. He hurriedly put the fourth ring back on. Collapsing to the ground, he gasped for breath, his pupils trembling rapidly, his eyes brimming with horror. "What a terrifying... spirit!" Only after attempting it himself did Lin Wujiu finally realize that Qisha had spoken the unvarnished truth. Lying beside Qisha, he dug out a pill, popped it into his mouth, turned toward him, and murmured, "Thanks for trying to dissuade me, even though I didn't listen..." Qisha rolled his eyes, his gaze locking onto Li Guanqi. His eyes narrowed slightly. For reasons unknown, he had a premonition that this sword... might submit to the man before them. He turned to Lin Wujiu and asked in a low voice, "What is his name? From which great clan does he hail?" Lying on the ground, Lin Wujiu found it rather amusing. With hollow cheeks, Lin Wujiu brushed aside the strands of hair blocking his vision and said teasingly, "His name is Li Congxin. Just a few months ago, he was a cultivator who had only recently ascended from the lower realm." Hearing this, Qisha's eyes widened, and his pupils constricted sharply! "An ascended cultivator from the lower realm? A few months?? Impossible... That is absolutely impossible!" Lin Wujiu chuckled. "Believe it or not. If I hadn't met him first, I wouldn't have believed it either." Having said that, Lin Wujiu placed a piece of rubble under his head and looked at Li Guanqi. "I don't know what it is either, but he possesses a strange charm that makes people unconsciously want to draw near him. He's very grounded... When you treat him with sincerity, he treats you with sincerity in return." The corners of Lin Wujiu's mouth curved slightly upward. Li Guanqi could be considered his very first friend, and he treasured that. *Boom!!* Thunderous flames filled the void, and a terrifying sword intent of the Sword Po realm surged straight into the heavens! The altar trembled, and the stone pillars began to crumble. Frightful sword qi crisscrossed through the air, and Li Guanqi's blood-red robe snapped loudly in the wind. Wearing the ghost mask, Li Guanqi's mind remained tranquil. His pressure rose once more! "Sword Ruins, open!" *Boom!!* Li Guanqi stood atop the stone pillar, the aura radiating from the demonic sword forcefully suppressed by him. His eyes narrowed slightly. Exhaling a breath of turbid air, he placed both hands slowly onto the hilt. *Thump!* His head jerked back, and in that instant, Li Guanqi's conscious spirit body was dragged into another realm. A dim world... of corpse mountains and a sea of blood! Li Guanqi stood in an ocean of blood. Beneath his feet, blood mingled with viscous shredded flesh, feeling soft and yielding. Looking up, atop a towering mountain of piled corpses sat an emaciated man who resembled withered wood. The man had dry, long hair draped casually over his shoulders. His garments were meager, a single hemp robe long since dyed purplish-black by blood. His skeletal frame was covered in crisscrossing scars. Sitting on the corpses, the man cradled the demonic sword with the purple hilt against his chest. He turned to look at Li Guanqi. Gazing at him with vacant, lifeless eyes, he rose slowly to his feet. He was tall, yet withered to skin and bones. A pitch-black chain bound his right ankle. Li Guanqi frowned slightly. Looking down at his palm, he found his own sword, Red Lotus, resting within it. The man's gaze peered through the gaps in his hair toward Li Guanqi, and he spoke slowly in a deep voice. "I am... Xue Ming." "What I seek is solely a duel between the strong, for only then is the path of life revealed." "If you wish to depart, you must first transcend the wall of my heart, using victory as the key to unlock the gate of freedom." Li Guanqi's brow furrowed tightly. This demonic sword spirit had endured countless ages, and now only an obsession remained etched into its mind. The sword spirit's words were simple enough. If he wanted to leave this space of consciousness, he had to defeat him. In that instant, Li Guanqi's battle intent surged! And the very moment his aura flared, the man atop the mountain of corpses snapped his head up!