Li Guanqi shook his head. Beneath her blindfold, Song Yunshu sensed waves of destructive power approaching her forehead and panicked. She shook her head desperately as tears slipped beneath the black cloth and ran down her cheeks. The sight was heartbreaking.
Boom!
Yu Hua frowned. “Pavilion Master, knocking her out won’t stop that power... Why not just kill her to prevent any more trouble?”
Li Guanqi carved out a space about one zhang across with his lightning power, isolating it from its surroundings, then sealed Song Yunshu inside. He sighed. “Gu Yong’s gamble paid off.”
He left the domain and said coldly, “Phew. All right. The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion has presented almost all its evidence, and the public outcry is loud enough. It’s time to deal the fatal blow and end this!”
Yu Hua and the others were elated. Tang Wei stepped out of the void, his eyes red, and declared, “I’m ready!”
Li Guanqi turned to Shen Feng and the others. “Give me your public support here in Flying Cloud City! Yu Hua, set up a few hundred projection stones above the city. Uncle Tang, get ready to sell off our goods and buy at the bottom.”
Shen Feng and the other two were shaken. Only now did they understand Li Guanqi’s plan. They exchanged glances and flew above Flying Cloud City, where hundreds of projection stones cast their images across the sky. Light screens dozens of zhang across covered the sky.
Nearly a million cultivators had gathered in the city for the Yunding auction. Flying Cloud City sprawled over hundreds of li, yet it was already packed. Everyone looked up at the three figures standing in the air.
“Who are those people? Don’t they know flying is banned in the city right now?”
“Uh... Three Combined Body Realm experts? They must have something big to announce!”
The chatter rose to a deafening roar. Shen Feng took a deep breath, changed into his Purple Tower robes, and held up his deactivated heavenly intelligence jade pendant. “I’m Shen Feng, Purple Tower Lord of the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion. You’ve all heard that I was stripped of my position.”
“Red Tower Lord, Jia Kun.”
“Blue Tower Lord, Wei Song.”
Hiss!
The crowd erupted, staring at the three in shock as news of their appearance spread.
Shen Feng’s eyes flickered as he continued coldly, “The poisoned pills were not the Guanyun Pavilion’s doing! The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s alchemists failed to notice that similar-looking spirit plants produced pill poison when combined! The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion refused to admit its mistake and blamed the Guanyun Pavilion instead!”
The crowd burst into an uproar. “No wonder the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s evidence was always so vague about the poison!”
“Hmph! So they were trying to frame the Guanyun Pavilion!”
Public opinion reversed. With three Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion Tower Lords backing the account, the news swept across the Six Territories instantly.
Tang Wei began dumping his stockpile of pills, spirit herbs, and other goods worth ten billion, selling on a massive scale regardless of cost. His prices were half the original market rate or even lower. He was practically selling at a loss.
With Yu Hua’s help, cultivators who held pills, spirit herbs, or other Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion goods began demanding refunds.
It all happened at lightning speed, like a tower collapsing from its foundations. Trust in the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion plunged across the Six Territories. Even cultivators who didn’t know the truth joined the rush to sell.
Li Guanqi’s lips curled into a faint smile as he murmured, “Uncle Tang, slow down the selling and start buying. Old Xi, Yu Hua, the two of you will run the Guanyun shops together. Issue a notice that we’ll accept Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion goods to limit cultivators’ losses across the Six Territories. We should keep our purchase prices down too.”
Li Guanqi slowly turned, gathered his loose hair, and put on his jade crown. A hint of murderous intent flickered in his eyes. “The Guanyun Pavilion has won this trade war. Now, Old Master Gu, isn’t it time we met face to face?”
Whoosh!
Li Guanqi took Song Yunshu from Shen Feng’s domain and vanished from Flying Cloud City in a single step.
An oppressive atmosphere settled over the Heavenly Intelligence Realm. The sound of smashing furniture echoed around Gu Yong as he stood with his hair in disarray, surrounded by broken jade slips and scattered objects. Disbelief clouded his eyes. He had walked into Li Guanqi’s trap, step after step, without realizing it. The schemes he had thought he could see through had all been bait.
Once credibility was lost, it could never be rebuilt. The Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion had lost both its authority and its credibility. The rush to dump its goods had swept across the Six Territories, and with the Guanyun Pavilion fanning the flames, there was no longer any point in buying them back at low prices. Once the storm passed, the Guanyun Pavilion would have made a fortune, and its pills and spirit herbs would rise severalfold in value as they returned to normal market prices.
Gu Yong slumped to the floor and muttered, “I... lost...”
With a flip of his wrist, a pitch-black scroll wreathed in chaotic qi appeared in his palm. The other Heavenly Intelligence Map was still bound in red threads. A closer look revealed that the two scrolls could interlock.
The old man smiled bitterly. “In the end, I still couldn’t force Li Guanqi to undo this red thread seal. The Great Yan Heavenly Intelligence Map... Can we truly never glimpse fate? Heh. Was all of this destined?”
An inexplicable aura descended, vast enough to encompass heaven and earth. A young man’s stern shout rang across the sky. “Gu Yong!”
Boom!
Heaven and earth seemed to shatter. Li Guanqi’s aura had reached its peak, rivaling that of a half-step Mahayana Realm cultivator. He had reached the fifth level of the Spirit Comprehension Stage. His sword cleaved the sky, carving a thousand-zhang-long rift through the heavens as brilliant lightning spread outward.
Gu Yong jerked his head up toward the white-robed young man forcing his way into the realm from the void. His eyes flickered, and he rose with his sword. Everyone in the Heavenly Intelligence Realm watched in horror. Li Guanqi had come, but none of them knew how he had found the realm.
Gu Yong narrowed his eyes and asked coldly, “How did you find this place?”
Li Guanqi looked at Gu Yong, so familiar yet so strange, and replied calmly, “Shouldn’t you know best how I found it?”
A crack opened in the void beside him as he spoke. Song Yunshu appeared in midair, sealed within lightning.
A flicker of heartache passed through Gu Yong’s eyes.
“You’re just as I imagined,” he said softly.
Li Guanqi slashed his lightning sword several times. Fierce lightning sword lights shot toward Gu Yong, who shattered them with his own sword.
Li Guanqi spoke coldly, barely containing his anger. “And you’re not the man I thought you were! The Gu Yong I knew would never stake his own granddaughter’s life on whether I’m good or evil! Who’s really behind you?”