A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Xi Yunhuai’s eyes lit up as he quickly realized what Li Guanqi was planning.

—Pavilion Master, have negotiations between you and the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion completely broken down?

Li Guanqi sneered but didn’t elaborate on what had happened between him and Gu Yong. Instead, he calmly continued giving out instructions. “Remember, don’t approach the major factions at first. Start with the small and mid-sized clans and factions. Once one of them relents, everything else will become much easier. Above all, we cannot let those clans kill our undercover agents. Once people lose faith in us, it will be almost impossible to win them back.”

—Understood. I’ll take care of it immediately!

Li Guanqi then contacted Qian Qiusui. “You told me the Guanyun Pavilion has been secretly buying the title deeds to the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s shops, correct?”

Qian Qiusui’s excited voice came through the jade pendant.

—That’s right! Of all the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion shops we know of across the Six Territories, we now hold the title deeds to nearly thirty percent of them!

Even Li Guanqi was astonished. His eyes narrowed, and he said coldly, “Send word immediately. Clear the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion out of those shops and take control of them as quickly as possible. You have three days. Can you do it?”

—Rest assured, Pavilion Master. I’ve been ready all along. Two days will be enough!

The corners of Li Guanqi’s lips curled upward as he murmured coldly, “If you won’t play fair, don’t blame me for responding in kind. If you want to scheme out in the open, I’ll play along. If you want to play dirty, I can do that too.”

Li Guanqi put away the jade pendant. Lightning flashed beneath his feet as he sped toward the Daxia Territory.

Only then did he realize just how much he had relied on Ji Yuchuan. If Ji Yuchuan were still around, he wouldn’t have had to deal with all of this himself.

***

At the Daxia Sword Sect, an exhausted Wu Bing sat ramrod straight in the seat at the head of the Council Pavilion.

Near the entrance, Xuan Lin stood beside a chair in his red robes, drinking wine. He was effectively one of the Daxia Sword Sect’s elders now, though everyone understood that he also served as Li Guanqi’s eyes within the sect.

Kong Yan stood solemnly in the middle of the pavilion and spoke in a firm, forceful voice. “I’ve said this several times already. Elder Li Guanqi personally told me I could take whatever resources I needed. I used to be the Daxia Sword Sect’s disciplinarian. When I returned and was reduced to a mere guest elder, I didn’t say a word. And now, you want to put me on trial over a few hundred extra high-grade spirit stones?”

He sneered coldly and looked at Wu Bing disdainfully. “Even Lu Kangnian addresses me as Elder Kong. What gives a brat like you the right to put me on trial? What authority do you have to question me? Hmm?”

Kong Yan’s voice rose as he spoke, and his presence seemed to grow more imposing. He looked around the pavilion with contempt, pointing at each person in turn. “Have you all forgotten the battle at the Purple Sun Pavilion? If I hadn’t returned, the Daxia Sword Sect would’ve been crushed long ago! Without me, would the sect be enjoying such prosperity today? If the other elders and I hadn’t returned to back up the sect, Li Guanqi would have died long ago.”

Tu Shan’s expression darkened, and she shot to her feet. “Enough!”

She appeared in front of Kong Yan in a flash and pointed at his nose. “Kong Yan, listen carefully! The Daxia Sword Sect is nothing like it used to be. Drop that arrogant act you picked up outside, or sooner or later, you’ll regret it. And another thing... I don’t know what happened to you over all these years. When you first returned, you were still humble and reasonable. Why did you change so drastically in just a few days? Why are you going everywhere using Li Guanqi’s name to deceive people and throw your weight around?” ℯ𝓵.

Kong Yan’s eyes flickered. Naturally, he would never admit how useful he had found Li Guanqi’s reputation. Because of it, even Qian Qiusui of the Guanyun Pavilion treated him with courtesy whenever they met.

Within the Daxia Sword Sect’s sphere of influence, Kong Yan only had to claim he was close to Li Guanqi, and people would rush to curry favor with him. His cultivation was nothing remarkable, but wherever he went, word of their supposed friendship was enough to earn him the treatment of an honored guest. The gifts and favors practically never stopped coming. Even at the Guanyun Merchant Guild, he could basically take whatever he wanted merely by speaking up.

Kong Yan slapped Tu Shan’s hand away. “I don’t need you telling me how to conduct myself!”

Boom!

A terrifying pressure descended upon Kong Yan. Wu Bing slowly stood up, his expression grim. The pressure held Kong Yan in place, leaving his entire body rigid. He stared at Wu Bing in alarm. “What? Are you going to kill me? You dare?”

Duantai Yiting, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, muttered under his breath, “What a fucking idiot.”

Wu Bing frowned from his seat at the head of the pavilion.

One of the elders below smiled and took out a jade slip. It was Gong Ze, a former disciplinarian. He looked at Kong Yan and said, “Guanqi, you heard all of that clearly, didn’t you?”

Before long, Li Guanqi’s voice came through the jade slip.

—Kill him.

Boom!

Before Gong Ze could act, the mature woman beside him, dressed in a long blue gown, unsheathed her sword. The scabbard on the table shifted slightly as her blade cut horizontally through the air. She turned her wrist and sheathed it again. There was no blood on the blade.

The woman, Nangong Qianyan, frowned slightly and calmly took a sip of tea as Kong Yan’s head rolled across the floor. He had died without ever knowing what had happened. Not a single drop of blood spilled from the wound in his neck.

“That old bastard has been getting on my nerves for a long time,” she said. “When I was the disciplinarian, he was only a menial disciple who had just entered the outer sect. I can’t believe he dared spout such nonsense in the Daxia Sword Sect’s Council Pavilion.”

Duantai Yiting sat across from her, hardly daring to breathe. He took a sip of tea to steady himself, then touched his neck. His palm came away damp with sweat.

He could hardly be blamed; Nangong Qianyan had glanced at him as she spoke. ℯ

Wu Bing cupped his fists toward Nangong Qianyan, then sat back down and said, “Someone, take the body away.”

***

After ordering the elders to kill Kong Yan, Li Guanqi put away his jade slip and contacted Xi Yunhuai. “Kong Yan is dead. Did you find out why he was captured back then?”

Soon, Xi Yunhuai’s voice came through the jade slip.

—We just found out. He was indeed captured because of a spirit herb, but... the truth was not quite what we expected. Kong Yan’s friend was a member of the Luo family. The two of them discovered a spirit herb together, and a great deal happened afterward. In the end, once they had left with the herb, Kong Yan decided he wanted it all for himself. He betrayed and murdered his companion, then took the spirit herb. Once the Luo clan discovered the truth, they captured him.”

Li Guanqi was taken aback. No wonder Kong Yan had been reduced to a slave after his capture. There had been another side to the story all along.

He scratched his head and fell silent for a long time. So that was the truth. In the end, maybe I was the unreasonable one.

Light flashed, and a pitch-black saber appeared in Li Guanqi’s hand. He looked down at it, unsure whether to return it to Luo Changqing.

Li Guanqi put the saber away and pushed the thought aside. He needed to return to the sect as soon as possible. The confrontation between the Guanyun Pavilion and the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion had already begun, and he needed to personally take charge at the Guanyun Pavilion.

Meanwhile, at the Daxia Sword Sect, everything suddenly went black before a group of five disciples on patrol. A moment later, the five disciples continued their patrol as though nothing had happened. After completing their assignment, they began making their way back to the Daxia Sword Sect.

However, all five of them headed straight for Heavenly Lightning Peak.