Tang Wei was acting on Li Guanqi’s instructions. Under his direction, the Guanyun Pavilion was buying vast quantities of readily tradable goods from the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion, including many pills and other products exclusive to it.
Tang Wei had arranged things so that even the buyers didn’t know they were working for the Guanyun Pavilion. Everything looked perfectly natural. Gu Yong and the others even believed that the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s recent surge in revenue came from suppressing its rival at every turn.
As night descended, Tang Wei reached out to Li Guanqi via his jade slip.
—Young Friend Li, we are spending a massive amount of resources. Should we really continue?
Li Guanqi’s expression remained unchanged. Between loans and his own funds, he had gathered nearly eighteen billion spirit stones to destroy the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion. That might not amount to even a third of its reserves, but it was enough.
“How much do we have left?” Li Guanqi asked softly.
Tang Wei gave a detailed account of their remaining funds, his tone grave.
—We’ve set aside one billion spirit stones for routine expenses and emergencies. We won’t touch that money for the trade war. Of the remaining 17.2 billion, we’ve spent nearly half in just four days. A full 8.2 billion! Every spirit stone went toward buying pills, spirit herbs, medicinal ingredients, natural treasures, and practically everything else the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion sells. But I’ve kept your words in mind. Everything we bought is readily tradable and holds its value well.
Li Guanqi’s lips curved into a slight smile as he transmitted, “Keep going, and step it up! You have three days. I want you to spend all the money you have before the Yunding auction begins!”
Tang Wei swallowed hard. Spending so much in three days would make it hard to avoid drawing the other side’s attention.
Li Guanqi seemed to guess his concern. He smiled confidently and said firmly, “Go ahead. By tomorrow at the latest, the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion will start getting suspicious. However, as long as we cover our tracks, they’ll just think business is booming. Besides, they’re getting real spirit stones for everything they sell. They won’t read too much into it.”
At this point, Li Guanqi paused briefly and contacted Yu Hua too. “Work with Tang Wei to drum up publicity for the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion over the next three days!”
—What? Build up hype for the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion? Our auction starts in three days. Shouldn’t we be promoting ourselves?
Li Guanqi rose and paced slowly around the study, his gaze calm. “There’s no need. The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion will collapse before the auction begins. Tell Tang Wei to scale back operations at all our shops. Make it look like we can no longer fight back. Have our hidden agents in other mercenary groups and families spread rumors as well.”
Yu Hua was struggling to understand Li Guanqi’s plan, but she chose to trust him.
—What should the rumors say, and what are we trying to achieve?
Li Guanqi braced both hands on the desk, watching a thin thread of lightning flicker before him. “Claim that internal strife has left the Guanyun Pavilion on the brink of collapse. As for why? Heh, we want the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s hidden operatives to believe we’re finished and ready to crumble.”
—Understood.
With that, Yu Hua immediately got to work. Li Guanqi rubbed his forehead and took out another jade pendant. “Old Xi, keep an eye on Su You. We may fool the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s people, but we certainly won’t fool him! Also, have some loyal members of the pavilion’s middle ranks put on a show. Some can pretend to leave, while others can stage arguments. How else are we supposed to give Tu Kui something to report?”
Xi Yunhuai soon voiced his agreement through the jade pendant.
At the Daxia Sword Sect, Tu Kui sat cultivating with his eyes closed in Heavenly Metal Peak’s main hall. With a hum, the entrance to the Guanyun Pavilion’s domain opened, and several figures flew out. Their expressions were grim, and they occasionally glanced back with conflicting emotions in their eyes.
Tu Kui frowned, unsure what was happening. He couldn’t make sense of it, so he took no action and kept watching in secret.
Later that night, muffled arguing reached his ears, and several figures flew out of the void and left. Tu Kui narrowed his eyes and murmured, “Has something happened at the Guanyun Pavilion? Those people... aren’t they from the intelligence division’s middle ranks? Is the pavilion really falling apart?”
Tu Kui looked deeply conflicted. His chest rose and fell. He stood in silence for a long time, gripping his jade slip. Finally, he let out a long breath and put it away.
After reaching the late Divine Transformation Realm, his thirst for power had faded. A strange sense of regret washed over him as he looked back at Heavenly Metal Peak, the place where he had spent his entire life.
In the end, he’d resisted the urge. He hadn’t taken any more of the pills Shen Feng had left him. A faint, stinging pain lingered in his heart. He knew that without the pills, no power would remain to suppress the poison, allowing it to spread deeper into his body. However, taking them would only cause more poison to accumulate.
As Tu Kui thought it all through, he seemed to age in an instant. Even his back stooped a little.
He returned alone to his private courtyard. There, he drank wine by the candlelight and took up his brush to write. At the top of the page stood two bold words: Last Words.
Wu Bing watched from the shadows, unsure what to do. He knew Li Guanqi’s character all too well. Even if Tu Kui truly repented, Li Guanqi would never let him off.
Tu Kui knew nothing of this. As he drank, his eyes reddened, and tears ran down his weathered face onto the paper. He thought back on a lifetime of fighting and killing for the sect. He had never imagined that its growing prosperity would leave him craving authority. Yet once desire took hold, he only sank deeper into its mire.
In his haze, he caught a glimpse of the vibrant man he had once been, and his regret grew heavier. He weighed down the pages of his final words with his peak master token, then turned toward his closed-door cultivation room.
As Tu Kui turned, he bowed deeply toward the Daxia Sword Sect’s cemetery in the distance. His aura grew weaker, and he moved like an old man nearing the end of his life. His life force was draining rapidly.
He had severed his own life force, seeking death.