Li Guanqi pondered for a moment. “Add one more person to the list. Tu Yongsi must also be monitored. And I don’t want the Dark Pavilion guards taking unnecessary risks. There’s no need to eavesdrop on their conversations. Just report who they meet and how long they stay.”

Ge San was clearly taken aback by Li Guanqi’s words, but he silently nodded in agreement before melting back into the shadows.

Li Guanqi rubbed his chin. Later, he could probably ask Gu Yong for a concealment technique that suppressed his aura. He slapped his thigh. A sly grin crept across his lips as he cleared his throat.

Before he could even get the words out, Sword Spirit’s voice was already in his mind. “Yes. Do you want to learn it?”

Li Guanqi chuckled and nodded. “Yes, teach me. This matter might get tricky. If necessary, I’ll have to personally listen in from the shadows.”

Sword Spirit’s beautiful eyes curved in amusement. Whenever Li Guanqi was trying to take advantage of something, even his voice softened noticeably.

Streams of spirit light appeared in Li Guanqi’s mind, forming obscure incantations and cultivation formulas. “Great Void Shadow Concealment Divine Technique.”

After a brief scan, Li Guanqi’s consciousness sank entirely into the technique. From the outside, he appeared frozen in his chair, staring blankly out the doorway.

Song Yunshu was wandering around the backyard and didn’t notice anything unusual. Faint streaks of radiant light gradually appeared around Li Guanqi, drifting like fireflies, circling him. His figure slowly distorted. The surrounding space twisted subtly, yet it emitted no spatial fluctuations whatsoever.

Li Guanqi’s consciousness sank into a pitch-black swamp of emptiness. His vital force flowed like a quiet stream, opening countless subtle meridians. As his understanding of the technique deepened, something astonishing happened. Li Guanqi’s physical body vanished from the chair.

Within the dark void, he faded again, disappearing completely. Before vanishing, he left behind an illusion with the exact same aura as himself—the Void Interlayer.

Li Guanqi now existed between illusion and reality, free to move through the void and its hidden layers. While he was unsure of what lay beyond the interlayer, he felt confident that even reaching the Combined Body Realm wouldn’t allow him to tear through the spatial barrier beyond it.

The moment he entered the interlayer, he sensed a faint presence within a hundred li.

Buzz!

A figure appeared less than a zhang before him and dropped to one knee. “Ge Er greets the Pavilion Master.”

Li Guanqi’s heart tightened. He hadn’t expected Ge Er’s technique to also operate within the void interlayer. The technique wasn’t as complete as his own, though. Ge Er could only partially conceal himself within the void, but even that was incredibly impressive. If Li Guanqi hadn’t just begun mastering the concealment art, he likely wouldn’t have discovered Ge Er hiding in the courtyard at all.

Ge Er was even more shaken. Earlier, Li Guanqi hadn’t been able to sense him. Yet, in less than an hour, Li Guanqi was moving freely between the void and the interlayer.

Li Guanqi nodded. It seemed the surveillance task had been assigned to the others. He narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time. “Ge Er, I order you to learn the technique I’m about to teach you. When you have the chance, pass it on to the others.”

Li Guanqi transmitted the concealment art to Ge Er. He was surprised that Li Guanqi would freely share an incredibly valuable divine technique without reservation. He hadn’t even split it into upper and lower volumes. Is he not worried we'll stop obeying him?

Li Guanqi saw straight through his thoughts and smiled. “Trust the men you use; don’t use the men you don’t trust. You risk your lives working for me. What’s something like this worth?”

Ge Er lowered his head and said nothing, committing those words to memory. “Rest assured, Pavilion Master. The four tower masters won’t be able to detect us. Also, Ge Qi is monitoring the high-ranking members of the Four Towers. He will report to you tonight at the hour of the ox.[1]”

Li Guanqi nodded and stepped out of the void, returning to the study. He turned to find Song Yunshu sitting quietly nearby, watching him. She didn’t ask any questions.

Li Guanqi smiled faintly and calmly poured himself a cup of wine. His gaze flickered when he looked out the door.

Bang!

Jiang Yi slammed the purple clay teapot onto the table. It exploded, pale green spirit tea splashing across the floor. Jiang Han sat below with a grave expression, silent. In the center of the hall, a disheveled young man with a weak aura knelt on the ground. Tea splashed onto his clothes. His shoulders trembled, but he didn’t dare raise his head to look at the old man.

“You useless fool with no ambition! All you do is indulge in luxury and pleasure every day. One day you’ll be killed without even knowing why.”

Jiang Ziang’s face turned pale. He didn’t understand why his grandfather was so furious. He had always lived like this, but his grandfather had never lost his temper before.

Jiang Han stood up when he saw Jiang Yi’s anger rising as if he were about to strike. “Father, you know how he is. Let him go back and rest.”

Jiang Ziang’s face lit up, and he moved to leave, but Jiang Yi’s voice sliced through the hall, cold as iron. “Kneel!”

Boom!

Terrifying pressure erupted.

Jiang Han’s expression shifted as Jiang Yi shouted, “Shut up! You spoiled him rotten! Look at Li Guanqi. He’s younger than him, and look where he is now! Useless! Both of you are useless!”

Jiang Han frowned, unconvinced. “Father, aren’t you overthinking things? Li Guanqi is nothing more than a reckless cultivator. He showed off today, but the Purple Tower is still in our Jiang family’s hands. He only has the title of Pavilion Master. What can he really do? If you ask me, it won’t be long before he leaves.”

Jiang Yi sighed as he sat in his chair, his sharp eyes sweeping across them both. “Useless... both of you are worthless lumps of clay that can’t be shaped. You’ve lived for hundreds of years, yet you still speak with such shallow judgment?”

Jiang Han tried to argue again, but a surge of force blasted him straight out of the hall. Seeing his chance, Jiang Ziang gathered his robes and fled.

Left alone, Jiang Yi sat in silence, a trace of worry flashing through his eyes. Judging from Li Guanqi’s conduct in the hall, his cunning, intelligence, and methods were not to be underestimated.

Jiang Yi rubbed his brow, then rose and headed to his study. With a solemn expression, he approached the desk and removed the ring from his finger, embedding it into the mouth of a carved toad on the desk. A faint glow spread outward, and a small formation hummed to life.

“Speak. What do you all think of him?”

1. Between 1 and 3 AM. ☜