Two hours later, the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s shops across the Six Territories began reopening. As Li Guanqi had predicted, they all offered discounts, sending countless cultivators into an even greater buying frenzy.
Li Guanqi smirked. Tang Wei’s mouth fell open as he read the figures Yu Hua had sent back. At this rate, the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s stock would run out.
“It’s our turn,” Li Guanqi said softly. “Increasing our orders now won’t make them suspicious. Buy as much as you can.”
Tang Wei had begun to guess what Li Guanqi planned to do next. His eyes gleamed, making Li Guanqi laugh. “Uncle Tang, if you have any savings left, you’re welcome to join in. Just don’t blame me if you lose money.”
Tang Wei raised an eyebrow, his eyes lighting up. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he laughed. “Hahaha, I won’t, I won’t. Whatever I make or lose is on me!”
Li Guanqi smiled and went to a room far down the hall. He nodded at the sight of Yu Hua hard at work, then walked over to her.
“There are two days left,” he said softly. “Have our people start leaking bits of news here and there. Did that earlier shipment get into the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion?”
Yu Hua answered rapidly without looking up from the jade slips she was working through. “It did, and we know exactly which batch of pills it was. We have almost the entire batch in our hands. When do we make our move?”
Li Guanqi clasped his hands behind his back. “Start spreading the news early tomorrow morning. Let it build all afternoon, then have it all come out at once tomorrow night! This time, I’ll drive the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion to ruin! Hide it? Heh. They can’t.”
He lowered his gaze, utterly confident. His audacity left Yu Hua staring. She had never seen a young man take on a giant like the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion so calmly. He had entrusted ten billion spirit stones to others without a single follow-up question, seemingly unconcerned that someone would help themselves to the money. Few could match his confidence.
Yu Hua composed herself. As Li Guanqi walked away, his voice reached her. “Once this is over, you and Xi Yunhuai will each receive three hundred million spirit stones.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. Me? Tired? Not anymore! Three hundred million! All mine!
Yu Hua gulped, suddenly brimming with energy. She shattered the spirit stones beside her and gulped down their qi, no longer concerned about how many she used up.
Back in his study, Li Guanqi set up several layers of barriers and extended his Sword Prison throughout the room. He took a deep breath and called out softly, “Peng Luo?”
Silence.
Li Guanqi sighed. After seizing the sword coffin, the other side had somehow blocked his contract link with Peng Luo. His eyes flickered as he frowned and muttered, “Or perhaps... Sword Spirit is doing this on purpose.”
He wasn’t worried about anyone forcing the sword coffin open. Only someone as powerful as Su Xuan could manage that.
He sighed again and put the matter aside. A wisp of lightning appeared in his palm. He stared at it, collected himself, and said quietly, “This is Li Guanqi. Shall we talk?”
Boom!
Shen Feng was still poring over intelligence reports in a secret room on the Red Tower’s top floor when his head seemed to explode. He shot to his feet, looking around. Li Guanqi’s voice had echoed through his sea of consciousness.
He went rigid. His breathing quickened as panic crept into his eyes and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Here, inside the Heavenly Intelligence Realm, any connection to Li Guanqi would mean certain death if Gu Yong found out.
He frantically searched his body with surging vital force and divine consciousness but found nothing unusual. In his panic, Shen Feng suddenly remembered the spirit light on his back. He blasted his robes apart, only to find that the spirit light hadn’t reacted at all.
Gu Yong had planted a safeguard within it. If Li Guanqi contacted him via the spirit light, Gu Yong would sense it. After several breaths of silence, Shen Feng edged toward the door, checked that it was locked, and activated the room’s arrays.
He stood there for a long time, his gaze shifting. At last, he said, “I don’t care how you managed this. We have nothing to talk about. That’s final.”
Even as he spoke, Shen Feng kept searching his body. Whatever Li Guanqi was doing, he must have left something inside him. After a moment, Shen Feng found an arc of lightning hidden in the flesh of his shoulder and let out a sigh of relief. He was in control now.
Gu Yong was cold-blooded. If he discovered that Shen Feng was in contact with Li Guanqi at a time like this, he would kill him without giving him a chance to explain.
Shen Feng sneered, certain that Li Guanqi was trying to turn Gu Yong against him. “Li Guanqi, I know you’re trying to get me killed! Don’t bother answering. You planted this inside me when I came out to welcome you to the Heavenly Intelligence Realm, didn’t you?”
Shen Feng raised his hand to tear the flesh from his shoulder. He didn’t even dare to force the thread of lightning out of his body. As he gathered his strength, Li Guanqi’s voice echoed in his mind.
“No. I want to save you.”
Shen Feng dug his hand into his shoulder and sneered. “You? What a joke.”
Li Guanqi’s voice remained calm. “Gu Yong holds the core part of your divine souls... right?”
Shen Feng’s eyes widened. How did Li Guanqi know about that? Then he recalled that Li Guanqi had once headed the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion. He had even taken Su You and Ji Yuchuan with him when he left.
“So what?” Shen Feng said through gritted teeth. “You can’t take them from him.”
The flickering candlelight danced across Li Guanqi’s face, tracing patterns of light and shadow. The corner of his mouth lifted into a strange smile as he said softly, “What if you no longer needed that fragment of your divine soul?”
Shen Feng felt as though his heart had stopped. He held his breath as countless thoughts flashed through his mind, afraid to consider what Li Guanqi meant.
His heart began pounding. He darted to the door and cautiously sensed the surrounding auras. Gritting his teeth, he tore all the skin and flesh off his shoulder.
The bloodied skin hung like a rectangular cloth. Pale-faced, Shen Feng stared at the spirit light within it. “Why should I trust you?!”