Li Guanqi sulked as he traveled through the void. He had not expected that running an intelligence organization would cost so much. They had barely gotten started and were already coming to him for a million high-grade spirit stones.

A million.

Yet, Ji Yuchuan had told him the Guanyun Pavilion had already burned through three million high-grade spirit stones since its founding, which practically choked him on the spot. Still, Ji Yuchuan had assured him that the upfront costs were inevitably high, but the pavilion would not burn through money at the same rate going forward.

The lantern keepers’ work needed time to bear fruit. Qian Qiusui’s commercial profits were still far too low to sustain the Guanyun Pavilion’s growth, and the disciples they were nurturing were all young. It would take at least ten or twenty years before any meaningful results showed. Until then, all the children would need enormous resources to support them.

Li Guanqi didn’t have much to say, but he did issue one clear order: the Guanyun Pavilion would accept no assassination contracts. None.

Intelligence trading could run in coordination with the Yunding Auction House. Clients who made purchases at the auction house could receive a Guanyun jade slip based on their circumstances, and the entire arrangement could be structured as a tiered system. The higher a client’s tier at Yunding, the more access to intelligence the Guanyun Pavilion would grant them.

Ji Yuchuan’s eyes lit up at this strategy, and he agreed to it immediately. Though even so, as Li Guanqi was leaving, Ji Yuchuan urged him to send the spirit stones over as soon as possible.

“Damn it... How could it be this expensive!”

Li Guanqi rubbed his chin and muttered, “Should I borrow some spirit stones from my father-in-law?”

The thought made his eyes brighten. He cleared his throat, drew out a jade slip, and spoke in a pitiful, teary voice. “Mother, I’m out of money... I set up a little organization, and it’s burning through cash like crazy...”

Li Guilan was feeding chickens at the back of the mountain. She raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her face, then sensed the incoming transmission and glanced down at her hand, still covered in chicken feed. Without hesitating, she wiped her hands on her silk dress, and the moment she saw it was Li Guanqi’s jade slip, she broke into a delighted grin.

Listening to his message, her heart ached for him. “Alright, alright, don’t you worry. Just tell me how much, and I’ll talk to Old Meng about it. Your Uncle Meng is loaded, so spend away to your heart’s content! The Meng family doesn’t even have an heir. If not for you, then who would all that money be for anyway?”

A warm current surged through Li Guanqi’s heart like a roaring river. Li Guilan truly treated him well.

With some embarrassment, Li Guanqi said, “Well... Mother, it’s a bit much...”

Li Guilan’s booming voice could practically be heard from outside the mountain. “A bit much? How much are we talking?”

“One... one million high-grade spirit stones.”

“How much? A million? Do you think so little of your Uncle Meng? What a fuss over nothing. I thought you were going to ask for thirty or fifty million... Wait there.”

Li Guilan set down the jade slip, a faint smile tugging at her lips. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened as her eyes curved shut. “Heh. That little brat called me Mother. If he can come to me with something like this, it means he doesn’t see himself as an outsider. Just as it should be.”

“Old Meng! Old Meng, get me some spirit stones to play with!”

Li Guanqi could hear Meng Jiangchu’s aggrieved voice through the jade pendant. “What do you mean, get you some? I heard everything from the front pavilion! You’re just going to give that little brat money whenever he asks?”

Li Guilan planted her hands on her hips and pointed toward the distant mountains. “Are you going to give the spirit stones or not? If not, you can sleep in the front pavilion tonight. Getting all wishy-washy over a million... Isn’t the furnace running? Swing your hammer a few times and you’ll make it back. Guanqi finally managed to set up a little organization of his own. Aren’t you going to show him some support?”

Meng Jiangchu, who had been enjoying his tea in his study, now found it unbearably bitter. He glanced at the small, half-empty pouch of spirit tea on the table and muttered, “These few tea leaves... costing a million spirit stones! That’s truly exorbitant! That brat really knows how to play dirty!”

Li Guanqi set down the jade slip in high spirits, humming a little tune as he flew off toward the Daxia Sword Sect.

If push had come to shove, Li Guanqi had actually considered just tying Peng Luo up and sending him to the Guanyun Pavilion. Peng Luo would have nothing to do all day but sit around and snap off bits of himself.

In a mountain range within the Falling Sunset Territory, Peng Luo suddenly shivered, a chill shooting through him from head to toe. The green leaves on his head bristled at once. “W-who is it?! Who is it?! Who’s trying to do me harm?!”

Peng Luo’s little eyes darted around in alarm. Then he heard a slightly childish voice.

“Dad?”

“Uh... my child?”

“DAD!”

“MY CHILD!”

***

In the council hall of the Daxia Sword Sect, everyone sat on either side with grave expressions.

Lu Kangnian, in the seat of honor, had frost-white hair at his temples, and the lines on his face had deepened considerably. He could not hide the weariness in his eyes. Below him, Li Nanting flung down a blood-stained stone tablet and spoke in an icy voice.

“Tuwozi Village was massacred last night. The sect lost two patrol disciples.”

Qin Xian let out a sigh and said solemnly, “This is already the eighth village, isn’t it?”

Lu Kangnian’s eyes snapped open. He said in an icy voice, “Increase the number of disciples on patrol immediately. The seven peak masters are to be on standby at all times. Every disciple on patrol is to collect three times the usual allotment of pills from Pill Peak. Have the sect’s artifact blacksmiths forge short-range transporter artifacts. The seven peak masters are on full alert from this moment forward.”

The more Lu Kangnian spoke, the more agitated he became. His features twisted slightly. “These wretched heretical cultivators, wreaking havoc and slaughtering common folk without restraint! They deserve to die!”

Buzz!

A figure in white robes slowly materialized in the center of the great hall. Li Guanqi, his expression grave, gave a deep bow. “Greetings, Sect Master.”

Lu Kangnian’s eyes lit up. Some of the gloominess on his face dispersed, and a hint of a smile finally appeared. “You little rascal! You’ve come back!”

Li Guanqi spoke up. “There’s no need to spend the effort forging transport arrays. It would be better to forge warning artifacts.”

As those words fell, Li Guanqi raised a hand, and the wind surged across heaven and earth. Amid crackling sounds, terrifying dark-purple lightning gathered in the sky above the Heavenly Sword Peak.

In moments, the boundless lightning converged into a terrifying spirit sword fully a hundred zhang long. A closer look revealed that this solidified lightning sword had taken shape from the convergence of tens of thousands of devastating streaks of sword qi. The spirit sword hung suspended high above the mountain peak, radiating an overwhelming aura.

Every disciple of the Daxia Sword Sect stopped what they were doing and looked up. Their eyes lit up with excitement. The lightning sword meant Li Guanqi was back.

Li Guanqi’s mouth curved up slightly. “With this sword in place, any Abyssal Demon that appears within a hundred li will be cut down automatically.”

Lu Kangnian’s eyes blazed. “Good, good, good!”

Then Lu Kangnian’s voice turned solemn. “Notify the sect’s disciples to move the villagers within three hundred li to safety. Any further than that... The sect cannot tend to them.”

Every face in the hall shifted, as those words undeniably meant the Daxia Sword Sect was abandoning its protection of the common folk beyond that range. Yet everyone knew there was no helping it. They had already given everything they had.