Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

Li Guanqi looked at Su Qiu and narrowed his eyes. “Do you want to destroy the Great Wind Mountain Residence?”

He’d expected an eager yes, but to his surprise, she shook her head with a sigh. “You won’t be able to destroy the clan alone. The fact that you chose to sneak in like this shows you’re not capable of killing them head-on. At first, I thought you were working for Fang Yishan, so I had some hope.”

This piqued Li Guanqi’s interest, so he asked, “Why do you feel like there’s hope if I’m working for Fang Yishan? Does Fang Yishan also have his guard up against Fang Zhongnan?”

Li Guanqi paused, then rose to his feet with confidence in his eyes. “Just nod or shake your head.”

Su Qiu looked up at him, her expression unreadable. After a moment, she gave a small nod.

Li Guanqi smirked mysteriously. “Just trust me. I have one final question.”

He slowly leaned toward the woman, which made her panic a little. His handsome eyes, though white, shone with great confidence. “Did the Great Wind Mountain Clan recently capture someone?”

Su Qiu frowned and thought it over, then shook her head. “I don’t know… They call me Young Mistress, but I’m still an outsider. No one tells me anything.”

Li Guanqi gave a small nod and said nothing more. He slipped out the door and vanished into the night.

On his way back, he avoided four patrol teams and quietly returned to his quarters.Inside, the other men were sound asleep. He lay down among them and lit another stick of incense.

Three breaths later, the peace was shattered by a string of curses outside the door.

“What the fuck? These idiots are still sleeping?”

Knock knock knock! Knock knock!

“Wake the fuck up! All of you!”

The door flew open with a violent kick. A stubbled man stormed in, a large knife hanging from his waist. He stepped inside, wrinkling his nose and frowning.

Li Guanqi’s heart sank. Did he notice something?

Fortunately, the overwhelming stench of sweat from the dozen men in the room masked everything else.

The others stirred awake, and Li Guanqi pretended to do the same, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Oh… I slept so well today.”

“Yeah, I haven’t slept that soundly in days.”

Everyone started to chat, but they then spotted the furious man standing at the door. They all snapped to attention. This man was half a step into the Golden Core Realm, and he was their general.

“Li Pei! Do you want to die? Don’t you know something major has happened tonight? And you’re still sleeping?!”

Li Guanqi quickly scrambled to put on his clothes and said, “Aiyo… Don’t be mad, Boss! We’ve just been really exhausted during the past two days. I slept a little too well when I finally got back.”

The man did not know what to say, so he merely ordered them to patrol the grounds.

Li Guanqi laughed to himself and shouted for everyone to hurry up. Once he arranged their patrol routes, Li Guanqi led two other people on patrol.

Along the way, he feigned receiving a message and put on a grave expression before excusing himself. The other two thought nothing of it, assuming that something important had come up.

Keeping his behavior natural, Li Guanqi made his way through the place. Many people greeted him as he passed, but since he didn’t even know their names, he ignored them all.

When he reached a deserted corner, he changed into his stealth clothes and melted into the darkness before dawn.

No one noticed the projection stone left at Fang Yishan’s door until morning. Li Guanqi had planted it after slipping away.

Then, on a whim, he placed another one at the doorstep of Fang Jin—Fang Zhongnan’s father.

He added a note: I know everything you did!

Afterward, he returned the room to receive new orders. The general sent him out once more to search for the intruder.

Once Li Guanqi flew beyond the mountain residence, he tore the skin mask from his face and vanished into the mountains with a smirk.

He took out his jade slip and transmitted, “How’s it going, Brother Ye?”

—Third Brother is currently in closed-door cultivation. His vital force is fluctuating greatly, so I think he’ll break through very soon. How are you doing on your end? I didn’t dare send you a message these past two days.

Li Guanqi confirmed Ye Feng and Cao Yan’s position, but he didn’t elaborate much through the jade slip. He shot off in their direction to meet up.

He reached their cave at noon. They’d dug it themselves. Behind a simple stone door, surges of powerful vital force occasionally burst forth.

Ye Feng stood up as soon as he saw him. “How did it go?”

Li Guanqi sat and recounted everything from the night before, laughing as he did.

Ye Feng swallowed hard. “Boss… that was bold. You basically roasted Fang Zhongnan over an open fire! But… from what you’ve said, I doubt Fang Yishan would cut ties with him over something so minor.”

Li Guanqi glanced toward the room where Cao Yan was still cultivating. He lowered his voice. “I don’t expect him to. But this’ll leave a bad taste in his mouth. And that’s all we need to plant a seed of discord. After that… we’ll push.”

Ye Feng frowned in confusion. “Push? How?”

Buzz!

Suddenly, the surrounding spirit qi began to stir. Both men turned toward Cao Yan’s chamber and quickly stepped out of the cave. All the spirit qi within hundreds of zhang surged inward, with fire-type spirit qi especially intense.

Li Guanqi continued, “From what I sensed, Fang Zhongnan doesn’t feel like someone at the mid Golden Core Realm. His senses are too sharp. If he were truly at that level, he wouldn’t have picked up on my presence. And based on what Fang Hao’s wife told me, the two cousins aren’t close. So here’s the plan—”

He smiled.

“We spread word that Fang Zhongnan is scheming to overthrow the current head of the clan.”

Ye Feng scratched his head and decided not to dwell on it. He felt that if he were in a game of political chess against Li Guanqi, he would surely die from Li Guanqi’s schemes.