“You’re putting the only Profound Origin Sacred Soul Pill you have left up for auction! All Six Territories know about it. There’s no way you’d give it to me.”
Li Guanqi said calmly, “What if... I have more than one Profound Origin Sacred Soul Pill?”[1]
Shen Feng’s eyes widened. “Wasn’t Jiang Qizhi’s group leaving with Gu Changsheng and his people to fill the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s four-hundred-million-spirit-stone order? You still have Qilin souls?!”
Li Guanqi smiled. “Help me, and I’ll let you all live. Otherwise, pretend I never came to you.”
Shen Feng’s eyes gleamed wildly. He barely paused to think before asking in a low voice, “How many pills do you have?”
Li Guanqi pondered for a moment before replying, “First, tell me how many people share your resolve.”
“All of us!” Shen Feng blurted. “We’re sick of having no control over our own lives. I’d rather die in battle than keep living as a puppet who can’t even die!”
Li Guanqi was a little surprised by his answer. He could hear the helplessness and longing in Shen Feng’s words, but it didn’t matter whether Shen Feng was lying. Whether they wanted to live was their choice. If they didn’t, Li Guanqi had plenty of ways to make Gu Yong believe they had defected to him.
All he had to do was let Gu Yong hear today’s conversation with Shen Feng. Given the old man’s suspicious nature, Li Guanqi might not even need to act. Gu Yong would kill the current tower lords himself. The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion had no shortage of people to replace the tower lords either, so Li Guanqi wasn’t worried about Shen Feng revealing their conversation.
“I only need you to do one thing for me,” Li Guanqi said softly. “When the time comes, all of you must cut ties with the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion. I’ll give you the pills, and no one will be able to use your divine souls to control you again.”
“Why should I believe you won’t just kill us along the way?” Shen Feng asked coldly.
Li Guanqi said calmly, “I could kill you all with a flick of my wrist. I don’t need to take such a huge risk to get rid of you.”
Shen Feng clenched his jaw, clearly conflicted. He took a deep breath, then asked, “When will you need us?”
“You’ll know when the time comes.”
Shen Feng frowned and asked quietly, “What about the pills?”
A strange smile appeared on Li Guanqi’s lips. “Someone will bring them to you.”
That someone was Tu Kui. Li Guanqi wanted Shen Feng to bring him into the Heavenly Intelligence Realm under the pretext of delivering important intelligence.
Shen Feng’s brows remained knitted. Everything Li Guanqi said was vague. Even he couldn’t tell what Li Guanqi was planning, and letting someone else control everything made him deeply uneasy. But he had no other choice. To break free of Gu Yong, he had to follow Li Guanqi’s instructions.
“Fine! I’ll trust you! Tonight, I’ll contact everyone close to me and discuss it with them. But you need to give me a specific time.”
Li Guanqi frowned. “Why?”
Shen Feng stood with his back against the door, cold killing intent in his eyes. “If anyone I approach refuses to join the plan, someone will have to die! Unless everyone agrees, we’ll be exposed, and we’ll all die. That’s why I need to know exactly when!”
Li Guanqi’s eyes flickered. Shen Feng had a point. “The night before the Yunding Auction! You’ll definitely hear about it by then. In the meantime, find a way to bring Tu Kui over within the next two days. He’s firmly decided to turn against you, by the way. Make sure you bring him over without exposing him.”
Shen Feng’s heart pounded. He hadn’t expected Tu Kui to be the one bringing the pills. He was certain that Tu Kui knew nothing about this yet. Even if Shen Feng managed to bring him into the Heavenly Intelligence Realm, Tu Kui might not even know he had pills concealed on him.
Shen Feng’s eyes flickered as he suddenly remarked, “Perhaps... before long, there will be others arriving outside the Heavenly Intelligence Realm?”
Li Guanqi’s lips curved slightly. Without answering, he crushed the thread of lightning in his hand and severed their connection. He feared revealing his relationship with Shen Feng too soon. Gu Yong was a formidable opponent, after all.
The eve of the Yunding Auction soon arrived. Flying Cloud City teemed with people, and many cultivators had come just to watch the excitement.
Li Guanqi sat in his study until dawn. The moment he opened his eyes, a wisp of lightning flashed through them.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust swept in. The weather was foul, and the looming storm cast a heavy gloom over the city. Light rain had begun falling before dawn. Old trees rustled in the wind, and the windows swung in the gale, banging against their frames.
Li Guanqi stood by the window and gazed at the horizon. With a faint smile, he murmured, “The wind is picking up.”
At the Guanyun Pavilion, Yu Hua and the others seemed to come alive as he spoke. They hadn’t slept in days, and their eyes were bloodshot. Yu Hua spoke softly, saying, “Proceed according to plan.”
Hundreds of jade slips flickered. Tang Wei had slumped in his chair from exhaustion, but he shot to his feet and called in a low voice, “Move as soon as the intelligence division gives the signal!”
Xi Yunhuai watched the bustle at the Guanyun Pavilion, a sharp gleam in his eyes.
Whether by coincidence or not, tens of thousands of cultivators across the Six Territories suddenly began to feel unwell. Expert alchemists investigated and found that everyone whose aura was weakening and whose meridians were constricting had taken pills purchased from the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion.
At first, the matter attracted little attention. As time passed, however, more and more people began showing symptoms. Within several hours, seventy to eighty thousand cultivators across the Six Territories had been affected.
Before long, large crowds surrounded the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s shops in the major cities of the Six Territories. Angry shouts rang out without pause. Many agitated cultivators even began smashing up the shops.
Since the trouble began, the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion had done nothing but insist that its pills were fine.
Gu Yong sat in his study, grim-faced. With a bang, he smashed the desk in front of him into pieces. “Useless fools!”
1. Editor’s note: If the extra pills caught you by surprise, you’re not alone! I reread the earlier chapters and found a few hints I’d missed. Here’s a breakdown of all the relevant details and foreshadowing: