Yuan Hongyi’s eyes narrowed to slits. He had nowhere left to retreat. If he failed to deliver the resources on time next year, he likely wouldn’t live to see the day after. He’d thought about resisting, but the other party’s strength was far beyond his own.

Suddenly, Yuan Hongyi’s jade slip buzzed.

—My affairs have been exposed! Huang Bin’s death wasn’t enough to put his suspicions to rest.

Jiang Yi’s voice rang in Yuan Hongyi’s ears, cold and making no effort to mask his killing intent. For some reason, Jiang Yi always took a high-and-mighty tone when speaking to Yuan Hongyi.

Yuan Hongyi’s expression darkened. “What do you want to do?”

“Hire someone to kill him. Only when he’s dead will everything return to normal.”

Yuan Hongyi’s heart jumped. He’d known this day might come, just not so soon. He gritted his teeth. “Where are you? I’ll come find you.”

Meanwhile, Li Guanqi was listening to the Dark Pavilion Guards’ report. A cold glint flickered in his narrowed eyes as he murmured, “Tu Yongsi is training death warriors on his own? Interesting... He’s set up his own independent assassination ring, colluding with the Red Tower and using their intelligence network to take contracts. And Jiang Yi of the Red Tower is leaning on the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s network to build his own intelligence organization... The Yellow Tower has become a treasury for the four of them to draw from at will.”

His fingers unconsciously tapped at the void, points of spirit light flickering into being. Even now, he couldn’t figure out what role Ji Yuchuan played. The others all had traceable activities, each scheming for their own ends. Ji Yuchuan had his own share of the Yellow Tower’s money too, but he seemed to be doing nothing. Or perhaps he was simply hiding too well.

Suddenly, Li Guanqi froze. He faced his clone, who held a uniquely strange jade slip. Li Guanqi rushed over to take it.

Prosperity Village.

Three short words, and his heart tightened. He didn’t know who had left the slip, but the message was clear: someone meant to move against Prosperity Village.

He refused to let those villagers get dragged into the situation. When he and his grandfather had first arrived, they had relied on the kindness of many families there. Li Guanqi took out another jade slip at once and contacted Lu Kangnian, who chose to personally take a look. Li Guanqi held the slip in silence until it lit up and Lu Kangnian’s voice came through.

—Don’t worry, everything’s fine. I’ve brought the entire village to the Daxia Sword Sect and got them settled in.

Li Guanqi finally let out a breath. But his expression darkened right after. He hadn’t expected anyone to target the people close to him. Not his three brothers, not the Daxia Sword Sect, but Prosperity Village of all places.

He vanished from the courtyard in a single step and reappeared on the top floor of the White Tower. His terrifying divine consciousness surged forth like a tide, sifting through recent intelligence.

There. Li Guanqi found a clue buried in an extremely inconspicuous piece of information. The message looked like it concerned a certain sect in the Black Sect Territory, but in reality, it carried hidden information about the village where he’d been staying. And the final destination of that concealed information was the Red Tower.

Li Guanqi’s aura flared out of his control. He ground his teeth. “Jiang Yi!”

What he detested most was people using those close to him to threaten him.

Across the Heavenly Intelligence Realm, the weather shifted, heavy black clouds blotting out the sky. Fierce winds began to blow, and an oppressive aura pressed down on everyone. The news reached Jiang Yi and the others at once, but the aura came and went just as quickly.

Li Guanqi returned alone to the courtyard and looked down at the faintly glowing jade pendant at his waist, his expression unreadable.

In his study, Jiang Yi set down the jade slip in his hand, one corner of his mouth curling into a mocking smile. “Inexperienced brat.”

The space behind him distorted, and Yuan Hongyi’s low voice followed. “Killing him will come at a hefty price. We’ll need to hire at least a Combined Body Realm old monster to do it.”

Jiang Yi didn’t turn. His narrowed eyes flickered with a cold light. “One isn’t enough of a guarantee. Someone like him is bound to have backup plans. We have to make absolutely sure. You know what happened at the Hell Rivers. Long Hou very likely stands behind him. And provoking the Five Yang Ghost Emperor Meng Jiangchu isn’t cheap either.”

Yuan Hongyi nodded. “Exactly. Just what are those two thinking?”

Jiang Yi rose slowly, his voice low. “Whatever those two are thinking, Tu Yongsi will stand with us. I just got word that everything we’ve been doing behind the scenes has been exposed. I’m not entirely sure who’s behind this, but I’d bet it’s that other man. The real Heavenly Intelligence Map is in his hands, after all.”

Yuan Hongyi’s eyes widened. Indeed, he’d recently had the distinct feeling of being watched from the shadows. “Alright. Go find those two and discuss it. Once it’s decided, we’re all grasshoppers on the same rope. If one of us dies... we all die.”

Li Guanqi still didn’t know that a net of death had already been cast.

Returning to the courtyard, Li Guanqi’s eyes gleamed, and he murmured, “I suppose you all can’t hold back much longer... Come on. If you don’t move to kill me soon, your chances will only keep shrinking.”

He’d been on guard for their attack, but so far, there had been no movement. Over the next few days, he noticed that fewer and fewer jade slips were being sent. Eventually, the slips from the four divisions dwindled to barely a dozen.

The implication was clear. Even without their tower master titles, the four of them still controlled the four towers. Interested parties spread the word far and wide. Once again, Li Guanqi was reduced to a figurehead.

He looked at the slips before him and laughed coldly, his eyes glinting. “That’s it?”

Li Guanqi paid none of it any mind. He took out the Heavenly Intelligence Map, left a clone in the courtyard, and concealed himself in the void.

It continued like that for seven days. Throughout it all, Li Guanqi remained in the courtyard, going nowhere. His main body moved elsewhere. Hiding his presence, he saw golden silk threads stretch from Jiang Yi’s hands to a small puppet, and a faint smile touched his lips.

During those seven days, he let the rumors and gossip inside the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion grow wilder by the day. He himself stood unmoved as a mountain.

Until the eighth day.

Li Guanqi looked at the faint glow pulsing from the pendant at his waist. He set down his wine cup and picked up the jade slip, a faintly sinister smile on his lips.

Jiang Yi’s calm and unhurried voice came through.