Qin Xian hauled back the bowstring with everything he had. His bare forearms bulged with veins, his face ferocious, a wildness blazing in his eyes.

With one hand, he snatched up a wine jar and upended it, pouring the spirits straight down his throat.

Still laughing, he bellowed, “Now this is what I call living! This is the most alive I’ve felt in years!”

The Lu clan cultivators found Ling Daoyan’s mad laughter incredibly grating, while the Daxia Sword Sect disciples felt a surge of pride swelling in their chests, especially those who had been with the sect through its long history.

In the past, a handful of Divine Transformation cultivators from Purple Sun Pavilion had been enough to make the Daxia Sword Sect buckle. Now, facing eight Combined Body Realm cultivators and twenty-odd Illusory Refinement Realm cultivators, they were the ones threatening to slaughter everyone.

How could they not be proud of their sect? Pride shone in the eyes of every disciple of the Daxia Sword Sect.

Only Han Chenxian and Duantai Yiting looked on with unreadable expressions. Had Li Guanqi not interfered in the sect’s succession all those years ago, either of them might have stood where Lu Kangnian stood now.

Up in the air, the Lu clan cultivators had gone pale. They had all seen what happened to Lu Tao earlier. Even though Lu Tao had only retreated defensively from the Demon-Slaying Crossbow, the power in that bolt had been undeniable.

Lu Wuhen’s expression kept changing. His keen gaze swept across Daxia Sword Sect’s Three Thousand Strange Peaks. His clan was only facing a small sword sect, but he couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that, despite his clan’s foundations being passed down for tens of thousands of years, they were somehow inferior.

Even the eight Combined Body cultivators trailing behind him were sweating. Their senses had detected even more formidable auras coming from the radiant, heaven-piercing pillars of light in the back mountain. Shock crashed through them and would not settle.

Lu Wuhen rested one hand behind his back, his eyes involuntarily drifting to Li Guanqi. He raised his other hand, and the figures behind him faded into the void.

Turning away, he looked back at Li Guanqi one last time and said quietly, “I hope you have the courage to face me head-on.”

Li Guanqi’s temper flared.

Clang!

The Lock Moon Sword snapped into his hand, and he activated its Heaven-Opening Tier.

Lu Wuhen was already smiling, both hands behind his back as he dissolved into the void. But just as his silhouette was about to vanish entirely, a hand wreathed in dark qi lunged out of the void.

Ye Feng’s cold voice followed, unhurried. “Who do you think you are, talking to my big brother like that?”

The phantom of a long sword manifested in the ghost hand’s palm and slashed in a single horizontal arc, swift and merciless.

Rip!

Lu Wuhen used his sprint technique to evade, but even so, the sword shadow grazed his mouth, carving a wound from the corner of his lips to behind his ear. At the same time, Lu Wuhen struck back, his fist shattering Ye Feng’s shoulder

Boom!

Lu Wuhen raised a slender finger and wiped the blood from his cheek, his expression turning grave as he studied the man before him. Ye Feng’s golden hair flowed in the wind, his eyes deep as an abyss, sinister demonic qi churning around his right arm. Savage scars riddled his lean, powerful frame from head to toe.

Ye Feng stood before Lu Wuhen like a sword in Li Guanqi’s hand. The moment Li Guanqi gave the word, he would strike.

Lu Wuhen laughed. It was a genuine, quiet laugh. “Hahahaha. Interesting... Then we shall meet again in seven days, Li Guanqi.”

Cao Yan and Xiao Chen had rushed over at full speed. Ye Feng had been in the final stage of refining the metal spirit, so even after sensing the commotion outside, neither of them had dared move. The moment Ye Feng woke, however, he didn’t even stop to steady his cultivation. He stepped outside and vanished. By the time they arrived, Ye Feng had already split open the corner of Lu Wuhen’s mouth.

Li Guanqi lowered his sword and grinned at Ye Feng.

Ye Feng shrugged, glaring after Lu Wuhen in frustration before muttering, “Should’ve just cut him down when I had the chance.”

Then he turned to Li Guanqi with a sheepish grin. “Hehe. Hey, Boss.”

Li Guanqi looked at him with quiet warmth. The Ye Feng before him had shed his old self completely, reborn into something new. The change was already plain. Ye Feng’s spirit root now matched his own, and the spirit void weapon Ye Feng had chosen had earned its name in the Immortal World. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Ye Feng was deeply grateful for everything Li Guanqi had done for him. Cao Yan and Xiao Chen felt the same. Without Li Guanqi, none of them would ever have dreamed of opening their spirit voids again. And what they saw when their spirit voids reopened... was something they would carry to their graves without a word. They had seen eighth and ninth-tier spirit void weapons scattered across the floor like trash. Never in their lives could they have imagined such a sight. And it was all thanks to Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi turned to look at Lu Kangnian. Lu Kangnian stood motionless, eyes half-closed. The rolling thunder overhead didn’t disturb his composure in the slightest.

Li Guanqi exhaled quietly. His forced breakthrough had looked impressive, but it had taken its toll. The days ahead would be difficult.

The pillars of light from the back mountain’s peaks slowly faded. Jade slips and jade pendants streamed back to Lu Kangnian in glittering arcs.

Li Guanqi turned to face the cultivators still flying in the air and said steadily, “All of you, go back to what you were doing. Things are about to get difficult.”

They all bowed toward Li Guanqi and scattered, each flying off to their own duties.

The sect forces who had come seeking refuge under the Daxia Sword Sect now looked at Lu Kangnian with burning eyes. Some had already made up their minds. Even if it emptied their coffers, they would do everything they could to join the sect.

The Spiritfish Clan had essentially become Peng Luo’s assistants, helping manage the medicinal pool they had built in the clear stream that was their natural domain. With Pill Peak’s support, the pool had become the equal of a natural spirit pool in all but name.

Peng Luo crouched at the edge of the pool, sneakily eyeing the purple-skinned ginseng submerged in the water. “Listen here, son. Right now, you don’t need to do anything except drink it in. Every drop, you hear me?”

He sighed. “Your old man’s telling you, the simple days don’t last long. There may be many strenuous days ahead.”

Peng Luo glanced up at Lu Kangnian, his mouth curving faintly as he patted the ginseng on the head. “But just remember what your dad says. Latch onto that Lu Kangnian and don’t let go. No matter what happens, he won’t let you take a serious loss.”

The purple-skinned ginseng had grown dramatically since anyone last looked, nearly as large as Peng Luo himself now. The same purple patterns that appeared on Peng Luo when he fought were beginning to show on its surface, faint but unmistakable.

Peng Luo looked over his shoulder at the Spiritfish Clan members tending to the pool and gestured for them to come closer. “Come on, come on, you little ones, get in and have a soak.”

The Spiritfish Clan’s patriarch looked at Peng Luo in disbelief. “Sir, may we truly...?”

Peng Luo grinned. “We’re all family. Better for us to enjoy this before those other bastards.”

A few people from other sects were still in the pool. They couldn’t help but frown at Peng Luo’s words.

A cold gleam passed through Peng Luo’s eyes. He reached over and flung all of them straight out. “We helped you, and you’re sulking? I’ll do whatever the hell I want. Don’t give me that attitude. Get lost!”

With that, he turned to the Spiritfish Clan elders. “Old ones too! All of you, get in!”

He snapped off his own arm and tossed it into the pool. Then he froze, turned around, and muttered under his breath, “No, no, no... I can’t keep doing this. Why does every pool I see make me want to snap something off? I need to break that habit...”