A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Meng Jiangchu paused. He hadn’t expected Li Guanqi to care so much about Tang Ru’s capture.

Meng Jiangchu nodded and said in a low voice, “Right. Tang Ru too.”

As he spoke, Meng Jiangchu gave Li Guanqi a long look. In that instant, a possibility occurred to him.

Everyone else hesitated to speak, so Li Guanqi broke the silence himself, his expression calm. “I know. The enemy is gambling on how much Tang Ru means to me.”

Meng Jiangchu narrowed his eyes and stared at Li Guanqi. “Good, then you understand. They’ll definitely try to lure you out next. When they do, I hope you can keep a level head. Give us old-timers some time, and we’ll root out the Lu clan!”

You Ming sneered. “Heh. Their overt scheme is already in place. What’s left to discuss? That’s just who this kid is. Even if he knows it’s a trap, he’ll walk straight into it.”

He leaned toward Li Guanqi with a grin. “Am I wrong?”

Li Guanqi glanced at him without answering, but he did not deny it either.

You Ming laughed to himself. “See? I know you pretty well.”

Nangong Xuandu frowned. “Guanqi, no matter what happens, don’t fall into their trap!”

Xiang Huaizhi’s expression was equally grave. “When they contact you, let us know. We’ll burn the whole damn lot of them to ashes!”

Li Guanqi forced a small smile and nodded.

Only Meng Wanshu and Gu Li exchanged a look. They knew Li Guanqi well enough to understand that even if he saw through the trap, he would not hesitate to walk into it alone.

Li Guanqi’s thoughts were in turmoil. He did not know when it had begun, but whenever trouble arose, people would step forward to help him. Gradually, he had lost the cool-headedness and caution he once possessed. He had grown increasingly reliant on outside help, leaving him powerless whenever something exceeded his control.

The stakes had simply grown too high.

Li Guanqi’s chest rose and fell as he exhaled slowly and stood up. “Seniors, I need some air. Please continue without me.”

He walked out, followed by Meng Wanshu and Gu Li. No one tried to stop him. After everything that had happened, they understood how he felt.

Outside, Gu Li clasped his hands behind his back, maintaining a neutral expression.

“I’m sorry,” Li Guanqi said, his voice tinged with guilt. “Your clan went through this disaster because of me.”

Gu Li gave an impatient shrug. “What’s the point of saying that now? It’s already done, so just figure out how to make it right. Besides, they took all the alchemists alive, so there’s no way they’ll kill them. If they wanted to, they would’ve done it on the spot. Honestly, our losses aren’t as bad as you think.”

Gu Li deliberately kept his tone light, careful not to place any more pressure on him. He glanced at the silent Meng Wanshu, then turned back and spoke through voice transmission. “What are you planning to do?”

The small purple-black tower in Li Guanqi’s hand crackled with lightning. A faint wail, no louder than a mosquito’s buzz, came from within. His face was ice-cold. “We fight fire with fire. If they want to drag me into their game, I’ll take them on!”

Boom!

A wave of killing intent rippled outward.

Gu Li pulled out a talisman, spat on it, and slapped it onto Li Guanqi’s forehead. “Calm down first, will you? In your current state, forget rescuing anyone. You’ll only get yourself killed too.”

Li Guanqi’s racing thoughts went still. The sudden, unnatural calm left him stunned. Then he held out his hand. “Give me more of those talismans.”

Gu Li clicked his tongue, pulled out a stack of several dozen, and handed them over. “If they really come after you, make sure you call me. If you don’t, you and I are done.”

Li Guanqi took the talismans and smiled, saying nothing more. He turned to Meng Wanshu. “Wanshu, I’d like some time alone.”

Meng Wanshu pressed her lips together and nodded. “Alright, just don’t beat yourself up over this. We’ll face it together.”

The two of them left, Gu Li to his clan’s affairs, Meng Wanshu to the great hall. Left alone atop the ruined peak, Li Guanqi sensed the lingering force of the Mahayana Realm battle and sighed.

He sat cross-legged on the summit and conjured a small Go board before him. A white stone rested between his fingers, suspended above a desperately tangled position.

Li Guanqi stared at one corner of the board. The white stones along the edge had been played almost carelessly. They were surrounded by black stones and had only one open point left, their final liberty[1]. Yet, that single liberty could determine the course of the entire game.

If he tried to save the white stones and preserve their last liberty, he would have to commit even more stones. The black stones were already tightening their encirclement. It was an obvious ploy, a trap he could see clearly yet had no choice but to walk into.

The enemy had not wagered on Li Guanqi’s cruelty. They had wagered on his kindness, on his humanity. As long as Li Guanqi held onto even a sliver of compassion, he was trapped.

Li Guanqi took out one of the talismans Gu Li had given him and pressed it to his chest. It flickered, and his mind became perfectly calm and rational.

He studied the board for a long time without finding a way to turn his move into a winning position. Then, just as his brow furrowed in frustration, Peng Luo appeared from nowhere and sat on his shoulder. Mimicking Li Guanqi’s posture, Peng Luo frowned at the board with exaggerated concentration.

After a while, Peng Luo stood up in boredom and muttered, “Who could possibly play on a board this small? What kind of moron came up with this thing?”

He patted his backside and vanished into the void, leaving Li Guanqi sitting in stunned silence, the stone still frozen between his fingers.

Vital force surged around him, and his expression relaxed.

New lines appeared across the board, extending the grid far beyond its original boundaries. A faint smile tugged at Li Guanqi’s lips. “Right. Who says the board has to stay this small?”

Boom!

Everything clicked into place.

The board more than doubled in size. Li Guanqi raised the stone over the expanded board but still did not place it. Instead, he took out two jade slips. The first was from Tang Ru. It contained an account of everything that had happened. Li Guanqi was about to put it away when it flickered faintly, and Tang Ru’s final, resolute words reached him.

—Li Guanqi, don’t come save me.

Li Guanqi gripped the jade slip and sat motionless for a long time. The talisman on his chest flared and burned away, unable to contain the storm rising inside him.

1. In Go, a “liberty” is an empty point adjacent to a stone or group of stones. Players take turns surrounding their opponent’s stones, and once a group has no liberties left, it’s captured and removed from the board entirely. ☜