“Also... You definitely didn’t know that Song Yunshu had the Pavilion Master jade pendant. But when you saw it, you couldn’t help yourself. You hired assassins, who then failed. You were clearly the closest to Song Yunshu. Even if that assassin appeared too suddenly, you shouldn’t have reacted so slowly.”

Li Guanqi sneered. “You wanted Song Yunshu to die!”

He turned to look at Yuan Hongyi. “And of course, Yuan Hongyi was responsible for the assassins on Song Yunshu’s return journey. However, the men still came from within the Red Tower, or rather... You selected them from the death warriors you’d cultivated.”

Tu Yongsi’s lips curled slightly. “Impressive, impressive!”

Jiang Yi was lost, barely understanding anything. He was the biggest fool of them all, kept in the dark from the start. His face contorted with rage and embarrassment.

Incredibly powerful vital force fluctuations surged through Tu Yongsi, wisps of demonic qi escaping from him. He glanced at the Dark Pavilion Guards behind Li Guanqi, then looked at Ji Yuchuan with a mocking smile. “I never expected... that you were the Pavilion Keeper.”

Looking pale, Ji Yuchuan shrugged. “Obviously. But I didn’t expect you to collude with the Sha organization.”

With that, the talented and intelligent Ji Yuchuan bowed respectfully to Li Guanqi. “Ge Yi pays his respects to Pavilion Master Li Guanqi!”

Li Guanqi nodded and slowly stood up, his gaze fixed on Tu Yongsi. As he rose, a magnificent aura radiated outward, surging until it rivaled Tu Yongsi’s half-step Combined Body Realm pressure.

The sword coffin behind him materialized, and the Red Lotus Sword flew into his hand. The moment he grasped it, his entire temperament changed, finally baring his hidden fangs.

Li Guanqi leveled the sword at Tu Yongsi, his voice cold. “In the beginning, I couldn’t understand why Old Gu insisted I come here just because of your ambitions... With just a handful of Illusory Refinement Realm fellows like you, you couldn’t really stir up any trouble. Until... I discovered the clues in the intelligence from the Blue Tower and the Purple Tower.”

Li Guanqi tilted his head slightly, looking at Tu Yongsi with an icy gaze. “The Sha organization had been cultivating demons throughout the Six Territories, which meant they would inevitably turn to the demon-sealing sites of the sects and clans. And the only ones capable of finding so many of them are the Purple Tower and the Blue Tower of the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion! The Purple Tower has the intelligence network, and the Blue Tower has informants and agents infiltrating organizations across the Six Territories.

“If you had been in charge of the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion, the Sha organization would have quickly discovered all the demon-sealing locations across the Six Territories...”

Tu Yongsi’s chest heaved with deep breaths. He could only marvel at Li Guanqi’s cunning. He had a mind like a demon’s. I really underestimated you.

Boom!

Under the explosive pressure, Tu Yongsi raised his hand and slashed at Ji Yuchuan with his blade.

Li Guanqi raised a hand to block the strike, but Ji Yuchuan’s eyes flashed with mockery. As Ji Yuchuan lifted his own hand, a golden brush as tall as a man appeared behind him. Its shaft flashed with golden light, blasting the long blade back. Then the brush spun, its tip shooting toward Tu Yongsi’s skull like an arrow.

Clang!

The brush struck like a spear, driving Tu Yongsi back several dozen zhang. Ji Yuchuan was no longer sickly. His complexion was ruddy, his eyes bright and spirited. He held the brush in one hand behind his back, inscriptions flickering on the shaft.

Li Guanqi noticed two faint, incredibly intricate words. Divine Piercer. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

His heart stirred. The brush shaft was probably quite extraordinary. He could even sense an artifact spirit residing within it.

Vital force surged around Ji Yuchuan, his white Daoist robes snapping loudly. He shook his head, and the hair previously draped loosely behind him gathered at the crown into a topknot, bound by a golden ornament.

He was at the half-step Combined Body Realm.

Ji Yuchuan turned to Li Guanqi with a gentle smile. “Pavilion Master, I should tell you... My brush can kill.”

As he spoke, Ji Yuchuan’s expression became solemn. “Attention, Dark Pavilion Guards!”

Whoosh!

Several shadows appeared behind him, one after another. “Execute the treasonous rebels—Jiang Yi, Yuan Hongyi, and Tu Yongsi!”

Swish!

The packed hall was flooded with waves of potent vital force, and the entire Heavenly Intelligence Realm was sealed off.

That left Li Guanqi with nothing to do.

Then suddenly, Yuan Hongyi pounded his chest with a fist and spat a mouthful of heart blood. Despite his bulk, the fat Yuan Hongyi dodged the attacks with surprising agility, biting the tips of his fingers as he moved. He used the blood as a catalyst, and silver-white marks appeared on his palms.

The dual seals merged, and the exploding blood formed a mist that tore open a spatial crack over a zhang wide in midair.

Ji Yuchuan snorted coldly. “Show-off!”

Boom!

After blocking Tu Yongsi’s sword light and blasting him away, Ji Yuchuan instantly moved away.

Li Guanqi squinted, sensing a powerful aura rapidly approaching from within the crack. Clearly, this was Yuan Hongyi’s contingency plan: a Combined Body Realm assassin.

Tu Yongsi was still lost in thought when Li Guanqi appeared before him. A red sword light streaked past like lightning, and Li Guanqi retreated at once. Half of Tu Yongsi’s ear had been sliced off. He stared gravely at the distant Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi smiled playfully. “Losing focus during battle won’t do.”

As he spoke, the Red Lotus Sword moved faster and fiercer. Backed by his terrifying sword intent, each strike carried mountain-splitting, river-cleaving momentum.

The two figures flashed across the hall, their sword and blade shadows crisscrossing in a treacherous storm. They exchanged over a hundred moves, each sustaining injuries. But Li Guanqi was like an ancient primordial demon, powerful and relentless, pressing forward as if he felt no pain. That half-step Combined Body Realm aura meant nothing to him.

In that lightning-fast exchange, a crushing pressure overwhelmed Tu Yongsi, as if Li Guanqi were not human at all, but a savage primordial demon barely containing its wild nature.

Li Guanqi casually swung his sword. The lotus petals at Red Lotus’s hilt slowly bloomed, and the oppressive feeling climbed sharply. In moments, his sword light blurred from sheer speed. Even Tu Yongsi could no longer track its trajectory.

Tu Yongsi’s breathing stopped, as if a mountain were pressing down on his chest.

“Ahhh!”

Boom!

Tu Yongsi’s blade light merged with dense demonic qi. The blade light shot forth, sending Li Guanqi flying back dozens of zhang. But the overwhelming lightning annihilated the demonic qi in an instant.

Li Guanqi slowly raised his head, eyes cold. “As expected, demonic qi... You absorbed an Abyssal Demon!”

Li Guanqi’s voice turned cold, thick with killing intent. He knew where the Abyssal Demon power Tu Yongsi had absorbed came from. It was just like the Abyssal Demon that had appeared at the Xiao family. Once it had absorbed all the other Abyssal Demons, the Sha organization had taken it away. Li Guanqi had never imagined they were raising Abyssal Demons to absorb their power.

Lightning surged violently around Li Guanqi. His towering aura climbed even higher.

“Weapon-Snatching, Blade Breaker, Illusory Form!

“Heaven-Opening Tier, Red Lotus!

“Dragon-Elephant Subduing Sutra, Sixth Level! Full Release!”