The moment those words left his mouth, Jiang Yi’s pupils dilated. Inexplicable unease crept through his heart. He didn’t know when it had started, but Li Guanqi had grown harder and harder to read. It was as if everything, absolutely everything, was already under Li Guanqi’s control. And now he was saying things like this again...

Jiang Yi fixed his gaze on Li Guanqi, his voice cold. “What do you mean by that?”

For the past seven days, Li Guanqi had seemingly never left the courtyard. But in reality, the figure in the courtyard had only ever been a clone. Over those seven days, Li Guanqi had seen far, far too much.

Li Guanqi stood at the center of the four, his voice mocking. “Why don’t you try and see if you can still control Yuan Hongyi with your puppet?”

Yuan Hongyi and Jiang Yi's hearts skipped a beat.

Yuan Hongyi erupted with strength instantly. He yanked his right hand free from the table and drove his left fist forward. Jiang Yi’s vital force surged, but caught completely off guard, he could only raise his arms to block. The punch carried far more power than anything Yuan Hongyi had shown before. Under that terrifying force, Jiang Yi flew backward like a cannonball, smashing through several stone pillars before barely stopping at the entrance to the great hall.

Jiang Yi vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood, coughing harshly. Both his arms were shattered, and his chest had caved in. White bone jutted through torn skin, and fragments of internal organs floated in the wide pool of blood beneath him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

He looked up, staring at Yuan Hongyi in disbelief. “When did you break through to the late Illusory Refinement Realm?!”

Yuan Hongyi laughed coldly and slowly removed his Daoist robes, revealing an upper body riddled with pits and scars. “I broke through while hiding it from you. Poisoning me, tearing apart my primordial soul to make me into a puppet... I had enough of it long ago!”

Jiang Yi still couldn’t believe it. He took out the palm-sized puppet, golden threads from his hand connecting to it, and snapped off its arm. However, Yuan Hongyi showed no reaction.

Both Jiang Yi and Yuan Hongyi had openly been in the early Illusory Refinement Realm. Jiang Yi had thought that by secretly breaking through to the mid Illusory Refinement Realm, he could suppress everyone. He had never expected Yuan Hongyi to have already reached the late Illusory Refinement Realm.

Yuan Hongyi turned to glare at Li Guanqi. “How did you know?”

Li Guanqi didn’t answer. He clapped and burst out laughing. “Magnificent! Truly magnificent! If I hadn’t found out early, I would have believed that when you backed Su You’s rise, you truly couldn’t stand Jiang Yi. You killed a man everyone knew was Jiang Yi’s, then used Huang Bin’s death to make it seem like you and Jiang Yi were at odds. You had me completely convinced. Truly impressive. If I hadn’t dug into certain things, you might really have fooled me.”

Yuan Hongyi crushed the two blue jade beads in his hand.

Bang! Bang!

The beads shattered. At once, blue light flooded the Council Pavilion, and a thick barrier enveloped everyone.

Yuan Hongyi glared at Li Guanqi and sneered. “So what if you know all this? Today, you die!”

Clang!

A glowing golden sword appeared in Yuan Hongyi’s hand. Where the blade pointed, the barrier forced four shadows into the open. They took up position behind Li Guanqi. They were the Dark Pavilion Guards.

Li Guanqi sat in his chair, still calm and unhurried, looking at the enraged Yuan Hongyi with a smile. “Don’t be hasty... there’s more. If this were all, how could it do justice to such a masterful performance?”

He shifted his gaze to Tu Yongsi, smiling. “Right, hidden oriole?”

Tu Yongsi’s pupils widened. His cloudy eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at Li Guanqi. Ty Yongsi spoke calmly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Li Guanqi waved his hand dismissively and laughed. “Don’t be like that. You still want to keep Old Yuan under your control, don’t you? You undying old monster, half a step into the Combined Body Realm!”

Disregarding Tu Yongsi’s swiftly changing expression, Li Guanqi looked at the sword-wielding Yuan Hongyi and smiled. “That’s right, it’s exactly what you’re thinking. The little old man you’ve always looked down on is the same person who’s been extorting you.”

Yuan Hongyi’s eyes widened somewhat, filled with doubt and confusion. Then he saw Tu Yongsi straightening up, his hunched frame growing tall and his features shifting. Before long, he had become a handsome middle-aged man.

No matter how foolish Yuan Hongyi might be, he understood now.

“You damned bastard! So it was you!” Enraged, Yuan Yongyi swung his sword at Yuan Hongyi. “Die, you old dog!”

Terrifying sword light condensed into a three-zhang golden beam and slashed down at Tu Yongsi.

Boom!

Under the terrifying pressure, all the furniture in the hall shattered to dust.

Tu Yongsi’s expression stayed calm. A long knife appeared in his hand, and with one slash, he shattered the sword light, the residual force slamming into Yuan Hongyi unchecked.

Dong!

Yuan Hongyi flew backward even faster than Jiang Yi had, smashing through everything in his path before slamming into the barrier.

Pfft!

Tu Yongsi stood still, holding his knife in one hand, his clear black eyes unfathomably deep. He looked at Li Guanqi and said softly, “How did you learn so much? And when did you start suspecting me?”

He had always prided himself on his scheming abilities, but even he had to admire the monstrous cunning Li Guanqi had displayed from beginning to end.

Li Guanqi had seemed like useless trash, ignorant and naive, impulsive and quick to anger. Yet he had uncovered everything in just over a month. Such methods were terrifying.

Li Guanqi pointed to his nose, wriggling his nostrils. “People from the Sha organization have a nauseating aura about them. And you... have it too.”

Boom!

Tu Yongsi’s pupils shook uncontrollably. He never expected Li Guanqi to know even his greatest secret. But thinking it over, he still couldn’t understand. From beginning to end, he had hidden himself so well.

“Also, I started suspecting you back at the transport array, when we came to the Daochan Territory,” Li Guanqi slowly said.

The great hall was completely silent. As Jiang Yi frantically healed his injuries, he realized he was the only lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Tu Yongsi was too strong. Out of everyone in the room, Jiang Yi was the weakest.

Tu Yongsi narrowed his eyes. “How could you have suspected me back then?”

Li Guanqi snorted. “When Song Yunshu was walking me through the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion’s internal politics, you interrupted too often, sowing discord between me, Yuan Hongyi, and Jiang Yi. It was clear you had a hidden agenda.”