Trash! Don't Save Me!

Li Guanqi stood bent forward with his head lowered, sword drawn back, as blood from his arm dripped rhythmically down the blade and onto the ground. The once-sharp edge was now dense with nicks and notches. A fine ancient treasure-grade longsword had been reduced to such a wretched state after a battle of merely fifteen minutes. The earth beneath their feet was devastated, scarred everywhere by scorched, blackened craters where lightning still flickered incessantly. Bottomless gullies of sword gashes cut across the ground in every direction. Every corner of this nameless valley bore the scars of their clash. By now, Li Guanqi bore fully twenty-odd sword wounds across his body, dripping with blood and looking thoroughly battered. "You are strong. But whoever reaches for the Great Xia Sword Sect... I'll chop their hands off!" Boom! Primal energy roared within Li Guanqi's body as the Primordial Void Refinement Art circulated frantically, surging through his entire frame. His somewhat weakened aura suddenly erupted anew! At this sight, Sun Tianqi's pupils snapped into needlepoints. He fared no better, riddled from head to toe with charred sword marks, with quite a few strikes having pierced completely through his body. A wound the size of a bowl was torn into his shoulder, left behind where Li Guanqi had run him through with a sword. Missing his right ear, Sun Tianqi wore a ferocious expression; he had almost no strength left to sustain the ancient crest. Moreover, the talisman over his chest had nearly burned away completely. He did not understand... why Li Guanqi chose this moment to decide victory, defeat, life, and death. Clearly... as long as Li Guanqi dragged it out for another incense stick's time, Sun Tianqi would become utterly enfeebled. Sun Tianqi's gaze was immensely complicated, holding a glimmer of something more as he looked at Li Guanqi. Yet when he saw the mad battle intent blazing in Li Guanqi's eyes, a trace of understanding dawned upon him. A bitter smile touched the corner of his mouth, and something that had once been rock-solid in his heart wavered for a fleeting moment. He saw purity in Li Guanqi's eyes—a pure will to fight... So he... only wanted to defeat Sun Tianqi at his absolute peak! Sun Tianqi pulled his sword back and stood upon the distant earth, his chest heaving slightly as he drew a deep breath. Though born aloof and arrogant, in this moment, all he wanted was to give everything in one final clash! Snapping open his closed eyes, violent purplish-gold lightning surging around him, he gripped his sword in a reverse hold and clasped his fist in salute. "Sun Tianqi, sword cultivator. Sword name: Illusory Form!" Li Guanqi was slightly taken aback. In his eyes... ...in that instant, Sun Tianqi seemed to have shed layer upon layer of shackles, fighting him purely as a sword cultivator. Yet Li Guanqi also understood that if Sun Tianqi won today... ...he would lead the Sun clan without hesitation to seize the Great Xia Sword Sect! What was more... He caught a deeply hidden venom in the depths of Sun Tianqi's eyes! He had seen such a look far too many times—so many times that... ...his blade had never wavered. Their ideals and stances differed. Yet at least for this single moment, Li Guanqi only wished to fight with everything he had! Li Guanqi smiled faintly and casually thrust the serrated, notched longsword into the earth. Behind him, the sword coffin abruptly manifested. With a single gesture of his hand, the sword coffin sprang wide open! Skree! A piercing, resonant sword cry suddenly rang out! Sun Tianqi's pupils contracted sharply as a flash of crimson sword light streaked instantly into Li Guanqi's palm! The moment the four-foot Red Lotus appeared, it burst with a bloodthirsty, crimson radiance! Red Lotus trembled faintly; the red lotus petals on the hilt had yet to fully restore themselves, but the cracks had faded just a little. When Sun Tianqi saw Li Guanqi grip that sword, his heart violently seized! For the moment Li Guanqi took hold of that sword, his entire disposition underwent an earth-shattering transformation! That sharp, cutting edge that seemed poised to tear everything apart sent a violent jolt through his heart. Sun Tianqi swallowed hard and gritted his teeth, letting his aura flare to its peak! Boom! Boundless purplish-gold lightning spread across the void as his longsword traced a profound trajectory, settling into an opening stance with the blade behind his back. Seeing this opening stance, Li Guanqi's brow knitted slightly. He had never seen a stance that reined in its sharpness so thoroughly... In the next breath, Sun Tianqi's hair and beard bristled, and the ground beneath his feet caved in with a roar! Sword rays surged more than ten zhang from his blade; his footwork was a blur as he shot up over a hundred zhang in an instant! The earth where Sun Tianqi had stood shattered completely, hurling up shards of rock and dirt. "Dayan: Thunder Wrath!" "Die for me!" In an instant, the dark clouds in the firmament pressed down over a thousand zhang, nearly scraping the valley's highest peaks! Frightening purplish-gold lightning rained down upon the valley floor. Rumble! Amidst the ten thousand bolts of lightning, a colossal phantom of thunder seemed to pour down alongside the sword light! The terrifying pressure caused Li Guanqi's breath to hitch, as if a giant hand had seized his heart in a vice grip! After unleashing this strike, Sun Tianqi dropped half to his knees, his face as pale as paper without a trace of blood. The spiritual luminescence of the ancient crest on his arm was extinguished, gradually fading away... The runes over his chest dispersed, the medicinal efficacy drained from his body, and his aura plummeted rapidly, nearly dropping out of late Void Refinement altogether. The earth beneath Li Guanqi suddenly collapsed, and his feet plunged deep into the ground. His long hair whipped wildly in the tempest, the hem of his robes flapping violently. Li Guanqi frowned slightly, looking down at Red Lotus and murmuring softly, "Soul Release: World Extinction!" Li Guanqi slowly raised Red Lotus. Terrifying sword rays flickered ceaselessly; the mere stray pressure shredded the sky above. Boom! A purplish-black beam of sword light slashed through the earth and erupted skyward! Empowered by surging sword intent, that vast sword light flashed and vanished at a speed virtually imperceptible to the naked eye! Boom! A deafening explosion erupted. Half-kneeling on the ground, Sun Tianqi watched with an ashen face as that purplish-black sword light severed the lightning phantom clean through, as though decapitating it... Kneeling on the earth, the expressionless young man muttered with numb eyes, "I lost..." Whoosh! Terrifying sword qi ravaged the void, and wild stray arcs crashed against the earth in rolling thunders, setting the entire valley shaking violently. Through the churning dust and smoke, a blood-drenched figure swung his sword lightly. The dense haze parted like torn cloth. Revealed, Li Guanqi walked toward Sun Tianqi step by step. Looking down at the utterly weakened man, Li Guanqi's throat bobbed slightly as he swallowed back the blood surging up his gullet. Resting Red Lotus against Sun Tianqi's neck, he asked softly, "Do you have any last words?" Sun Tianqi knelt on one knee, his head bowed. Disheveled locks of hair concealed his face as he whispered in a faint voice, "N-nothing... nothing left to say..." Suddenly! A young man's frantic shout reached Li Guanqi's ears. "Brother! No! Li Guanqi! I'm begging you, don't kill him!" Yet for reasons unknown, Sun Tianqi spread his hands wide, his Illusory Form Sword sheathed and laid horizontally before him. Watching Sun Zhen race toward them, Sun Tianqi suddenly roared in humiliation and fury, "Trash, don't save me!" Then he whipped his head toward Li Guanqi, glaring with mad venom, and snarled, "Kill me!"