Chapter 1042: A Mysterious Figure Approaches Tu Kui

Yu Hua’s solemn voice rang out from the jade slip.

—Pavilion Master, all thirteen scouting squads I sent out are… d-dead. They didn’t even last four hours before the enemy rooted them out

Li Guanqi smiled coldly. If he had anticipated this, how could that old fox have overlooked it?

“It’s fine,” he said quietly. “At least those losses told us the enemy had taken precautions. All we did was tip them off. It doesn’t matter.”

Yu Hua spoke more quietly, clearly frustrated that the reconnaissance had failed.

—I’m sorry. People died because I was reckless and careless, and now the enemy knows we’re watching them.

Holding the jade slip, Li Guanqi replied softly, “This isn’t your fault. They knew we’d try this, so of course they were prepared. They would have found you no matter how careful you were.”

—Sigh, so what do we do next?”

“We can’t touch their leadership either. In that case…” Li Guanqi tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. “Capture a few of the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s hidden agents and find out how they tell friend from foe. Also, look for ways to win over their middle and lower ranks and sow discord among them!”

—I see! Understood.

Buzz!

The jade slip buzzed once more, and Xi Yunhuai’s tense voice sounded in Li Guanqi’s ear.

—Pavilion Master, as soon as we resumed operations, unknown assailants began ambushing our people! The entire commerce division is on edge. Everyone’s jumping at their own shadow, and the lower ranks are already pushing back.

Li Guanqi nodded, his expression unchanged. “Have the Cloud Shadow Guard kill the assailants and leave their heads on the enemy’s doorstep. One for every person we’ve lost. Tell the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion that if they insist on dirty tricks, the Guanyun Pavilion will play along to the end! Also, increase security at every shop open for business!”

He thought clearly and gave precise orders. But Xi Yunhuai soon encountered a problem, and Gu Chuan contacted Li Guanqi through his jade slip.

—Pavilion Master… the Cloud Shadow Guard alone can’t cover all Six Territories. Even in the Daxia Territory, we don’t have enough people to assign one to each shop!

Li Guanqi’s lips curled upward. “I understand. Someone will be in touch shortly.”

He set the problem aside for the moment and took out another jade slip. “Senior, I’ll need your help.”

An old man set down his jade slip and slowly stood, a faint smile on his face. “All right, time to give these old bones some exercise. Good. A rare chance to gain some experience! Disciples of all seven peaks, hear my command! Use the cross-territory transport arrays and deploy throughout the territories!”

The man giving the orders was Gong Ze. Li Guanqi’s confidence in reopening the shops across the Six Territories rested on the Daxia Sword Sect’s over ten thousand cultivators. Nearly all the sect’s core force had mobilized.

Countless white-robed cultivators took to the skies as the sect’s cross-territory transport arrays flashed one after another. Meng Jiangchu watched the arrays in the sect’s plaza with satisfaction. The cultivators departed for regions throughout the Six Territories, and the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion soon learned of their movements.

The Cloud Shadow Guard also moved far faster than Gu Yong had expected. Soon after his people killed their targets, dozens of severed heads appeared outside the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s shops.

Many cultivators across the Six Territories watched from the sidelines. It was common knowledge that the two pavilions were now in open conflict. The supposed friendship between Li Guanqi and the much older Gu Yong seemed less credible by the day. From the very beginning, both sides had struck hard, and blood had already been spilled.

After the Guanyun Pavilion retaliated, however, the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion stopped its senseless killings. To onlookers, both sides still seemed to be holding something back.

Li Guanqi sat with an unfocused gaze and murmured, “More often than not, organizations fall apart from within. The enemy will do whatever it takes to get close to the Guanyun Pavilion’s upper ranks! Su You… don’t make the wrong choice…”

Then he sent a quiet voice transmission. “Yu Hua, sometimes… you can ease your watch on the Daxia Sword Sect. A spy doesn’t have to know they’re a spy.”

Yu Hua’s eyes widened. Hiding in the void, she replied softly, “Understood!”

She slightly adjusted the Cloud Shadow Guard’s patrol routes. Anyone not looking for the change might never notice it.

The struggle continued, both openly and in secret. After sunset, the Daxia Sword Sect fell silent, but turmoil stirred beneath the quiet night. The sect was nearly empty, with almost all its disciples deployed elsewhere.

A man sat cross-legged in the center of a secret room, taking pills and cultivating. A dark figure appeared in the room and looked at the man without a word.

Li Guanqi sensed the black-robed figure’s arrival at once. A strange, cold smile crossed his lips. He slipped into a void interlayer and vanished from the Guanyun Domain.

The man cultivating seemed to sense something too. His eyes snapped open, and a longsword appeared in his hand. He pushed off the ground and shot forward along the floor, unleashing a flash of golden sword light with a slash.

Swoosh!

A piercing sword cry rang out, but no sound escaped the room. The black-robed figure scoffed and caught the blade in one hand, then opened his left fist and struck with his palm.

Bang!

The man flew backward, his sword slipping from his grasp as his body doubled over like a boiled shrimp.

Bang!

He slammed into the stone wall, but the room didn’t even tremble. Blood sprayed from his mouth as a strange pressure pinned him in place. Its crushing force made it clear that he was no match for the mysterious black-robed figure. He took out a jade slip and crushed it, but the black-robed figure merely sneered.

“Don’t bother. Do you really think I’d let you send a message out? Tu Kui, mid Divine Transformation Realm, peak master of Heavenly Metal Peak. Shall we have a chat?”

Tu Kui narrowed his eyes at the black-robed figure. “About what? Hmph, Guanqi is still at the Daxia Sword Sect. Once he notices something’s wrong, you won’t get away!”

The man chuckled, slowly crouched down, and pulled back his hood.

Tu Kui stared at him. He didn’t recognize the stranger, but he hadn’t expected him to reveal his identity.