A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Yu Changbo narrowed his eyes as his icy killing intent swept through the study. A deathly silence settled over the room, broken only by the crackle of lightning around him. The flesh around Zhang Qixuan’s neck slowly charred black. Yu Changbo seemed ready to crush his throat at any moment.

Gradually, Zhang Qixuan’s patience wore thin, and a cold gleam flashed.

Slash!

Yu Changbo’s eyes widened in horror. His severed hand dangled from Zhang Qixuan’s neck.

Zhang Qixuan sneered and turned to leave, glancing back at him. “I gave you a chance, and you threw it away. I’ll find someone else. You may not want it, but plenty of others do. The Yu clan can spend the rest of its days bowing to others.”

He left the Yu clan’s domain without looking back. Once in the void, he began setting his plan in motion without waiting for their answer. He slowly removed an earring that seemed merely ornamental, its pendant shaped like a tiny length of chain.

He smiled coldly. With a sinister look, he stepped forward and vanished, muttering, “Looks like I’ll have to handle this myself after all.”

Swoosh!

Li Guanqi, who had already left the Black Sect Territory, had no idea that a conspiracy was slowly taking shape, one that would soon thrust him directly into the center of attention.

Shortly after the black-robed Zhang Qixuan departed, Yu Changbo appeared outside the void. He scanned his surroundings with a keen gaze, extending his powerful divine consciousness a hundred li in every direction.

“Come out. Let’s talk!”

No one answered. He could detect no trace of Zhang Qixuan’s aura, only a faint residual fluctuation that showed he had already left.

Yu Changbo’s face darkened, a sharp glint in his deep-set eyes. His expression shifted several times as faint arcs of lightning flickered around him. Despite their apparent weakness, each held devastating power. The head of the Yu clan was a mid Mahayana Realm expert.

He took out a jade slip and said coldly, “Call a clan meeting. No one is permitted to be absent! This concerns the rise and fall of the entire Yu clan!”

Li Guanqi drank as he wandered through the sky, his figure ethereal and indistinct. He waved the withered branch in his hand randomly, each movement imbued with powerful sword intent.

Countless cultivators along the way looked up at him as his wide sleeves drifted in the wind. He looked like an immortal descended to the mortal world, tilting his head back to drink. Even the drunken sway of his steps had an utterly carefree air.

Li Guanqi headed straight for the Daochan Territory. Just as he arrived, Zhang Qixuan crossed into the Daxia Territory. The man glanced warily back at the barrier between the two territories and breathed a small sigh of relief when he confirmed he had escaped a certain person’s notice. He feared Zhou Yunqing, the Daxia Territory Lord, but Zhou Yunqing was in seclusion and had not noticed the faint spatial fluctuation.

After entering the Daochan Territory, Li Guanqi headed straight for the Chi family ruins near the Central Prefecture. Once again, he chose to investigate under the cover of night.

His black robes blended into the darkness as his bright eyes scanned the ruins. He frowned. The Chi family estate must have been quite large. The blood on the ground had long since dried to a purplish black, but there were surprisingly few signs of a chaotic battle.

Li Guanqi frowned. His sea of consciousness hummed as his mind power spread silently outward like a rising tide.

Li Guanqi stood in a void interlayer, eyes closed, his expression slowly darkening. None of the traces left behind by the battle belonged to Ye Feng. They all carried Song Zhi’ang’s aura, which meant she had wiped out the Chi family on her own. In other words, Ye Feng had not come with her.

Was Ye Feng not alone during the other four massacres? Was Song Zhi’ang with him the whole time? If so, what was her role? Was she watching him?

Not alerting the demonic spirit would have been hard enough. How could he have hidden the messages from her too?!

Li Guanqi’s thoughts were a tangled mess, and he could make no sense of them. At last, he murmured a possible explanation, though he could hardly believe it himself. “Could Song Zhi’ang have known all along that Ye Feng was passing along information, but waited until after the fourth attack to tell Sha? That would explain why Ye Feng wasn’t there when the fifth faction was wiped out and why Song Zhi’ang came alone!”

Swoosh!

Li Guanqi looked at the life jade slip in his hand. Seeing no significant change, he relaxed slightly. “I don’t know why things turned out this way, but it seems Sha hasn’t discovered what Ye Feng is doing. Or perhaps he has, but hasn’t acted on it.”

His heart sank a little as he considered the possibility.

After a moment, he murmured, “Was the information Ye Feng sent me even true? They might have let him send it to mislead me!”

Li Guanqi forced himself to stop dwelling on his tangled thoughts. People who worried too much often imagined the worst, making themselves anxious about things that might be nothing at all.

He pondered for quite some time before giving the ruined remains of the Chi family one last, lingering look. He pressed his lips together and flashed away.

Li Guanqi pulled out his heavenly intelligence jade pendant and gave a faint smile. “Old Gu, are you still at the pavilion?”

Gu Yong soon replied with a soft chuckle.

—What’s this? Coming to see me, kid?

Nothing in the elder’s voice struck Li Guanqi as unusual. He replied with his usual smile. “I had some free time, so I thought I’d stop by.”

—Hahaha! Sure, come on over. I’m at the pavilion. Someone recently sent me some fine spirit tea.

Li Guanqi laughed in reply, put away the pendant, and flew toward the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion at a leisurely pace. Along the way, he took out his Guanyun jade pendant. “Tell me, what’s the biggest source of conflict between us and the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion right now?”

In the Guanyun Pavilion, Qian Qiusui shot to her feet at the sound of his voice. She made sure everyone before her heard his message, then headed out as they watched uneasily. At the doorway, she turned a cold gaze on them. “I’ll reply to Pavilion Master Li. Once I’m done, we’ll keep discussing this.”

She turned and murmured, “Cloud Shadow Guard!”

Swoosh!

Gu Chuan, dressed in black robes, instantly appeared at the doorway. “I’m here.”

Qian Qiusui sneered, turned, and handed him a jade slip. “Kill everyone on this list.”

Her tone was perfectly calm. She swayed gracefully as she closed the door behind her. Muffled booms erupted inside, mingled with screams and pleas for mercy.

A drop of blood splashed onto the corner of her mouth. With a faint smile, she ran a slender finger across her lips, smearing them crimson.

“Pavilion Master,” she said softly, “almost everything we do overlaps with the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s operations. That’s our biggest source of conflict. We both want to take over the other!”

Li Guanqi frowned slightly. Even he had not expected the Guanyun Pavilion to expand so quickly. Gripping the jade slip, he asked, “Tell me more. Have there been any clashes between us in the past two years?”

As soon as he asked, Qian Qiusui began recounting everything that had happened in detail, her voice thick with grievance.