Hearing those words, monstrous waves churned within Li Guanqi's heart!
He had never imagined that an organization as immense as the Tianji Pavilion would recognize nothing but a single jade pendant!
And something so crucial had actually been kept on Song Yunshu's person!
Song Yunshu reached up to touch the blood on her neck, clearly not yet free from the terror of death she had just endured.
Li Guanqi glanced around, letting out a cold sneer in his heart.
"It seems certain eyes have been watching our movements the entire way."
Although the mysterious assassin from earlier only had the aura of the middle Void Refining Realm, the lethality he displayed was definitely comparable to the late Void Refining Realm!
Moreover, the assassin's methods of concealing his aura were truly shocking—the man had reached their very side, yet Li Guanqi had noticed nothing!
Some unknown technique had shielded the killer from his divine sense.
Storing the jade pendant into his origin space, Li Guanqi sneered. "Quite a show of force to put us in our place..."
Tu Yongsi also edged warily closer to Song Yunshu's side, his voice chilling. "It seems certain scoundrels are already losing their patience to strike."
His expression calm, Li Guanqi rested his hands behind his back and gave a soft chuckle. "Then let's see whose methods prove superior."
As his words fell, a sharp glint flashed through the elder's eyes. He nodded and stepped forward, forming hand seals as a golden Tianji jade pendant drifted into midair.
Buzz!!
Wave upon wave of profoundly wondrous spatial fluctuations rippled outward.
Immediately after, the empty sky began to twist and warp, and a spatial rift roughly a zhang wide opened before the three of them.
Li Guanqi glanced back at the unsettled Song Yunshu and said softly, "Don't be afraid. Stay behind me."
The elder looked at Li Guanqi and said, "Go on in."
Li Guanqi took the lead and stepped forward, an aura of majestic authority inexplicably rising about him.
Whoosh!
The light curtain closed behind them. Li Guanqi cast his gaze outward and immediately beheld a colossal white tower soaring straight into the clouds, easily a hundred zhang tall!
Thousands of cultivators bustled to and fro in the surrounding expanse!
Each wore robes of differing colors; even upon spotting Tu Yongsi, they merely nodded in greeting. Armfuls of jade slips were piled in their hands as they darted ceaselessly through the air, looking utterly preoccupied.
Around the White Tower standing at the center rose four other towers of varying colors.
Red, yellow, blue, and purple—these four colored towers were not flamboyant; their hues were even rather somber. Though these four towers were only fifty zhang tall, they remained exceptionally imposing. Furthermore, Li Guanqi noticed that most disciples traveled back and forth between the White Tower and the Purple Tower.
Understanding dawned on Li Guanqi; evidently, this Purple Tower was responsible for intelligence across the entire Tianji Pavilion.
He glanced back at the gray-robed elder, who smiled and pointed toward the red tower radiating an aura of slaughter.
As for the other two, the Yellow Tower was the Tianji Pavilion's moneymaking machine—handling fees collected for intelligence on one hand, while managing diverse enterprises established throughout the Six Domains on the other.
As Li Guanqi looked toward the final blue tower, Song Yunshu stepped to his side and explained, "That is where the Tianji Pavilion's Lantern Lighters reside!"
Li Guanqi nodded silently. The Lantern Lighters were those who handled all matters concerning the pavilion's "chess pieces." It was likewise an extraordinarily vital sector of the Tianji Pavilion.
Looking up at the giant white tower, Li Guanqi turned to the elder and smiled. "With the Pavilion Master's jade pendant, I am the Pavilion Master of the Tianji Pavilion, right?"
Tu Yongsi had no idea what Li Guanqi intended to do, but he still gave a firm nod. "That's right. You are now the Pavilion Master!"
A playful smirk touched the corners of Li Guanqi's mouth. "Oh... that's good then."
Then, before Song Yunshu's shocked gaze, Li Guanqi actually produced the jade pendant symbolizing the station of Pavilion Master right then and there!!
Buzz!!!
The purple-gold jade pendant radiated a tremendously powerful aura of pressure!
Boom!!!!
In an instant, every cultivator darting through the air froze in their tracks!
Hesitating for barely a breath, a sky-shattering roar of salutations nearly overturned the heavens!
"Greetings, Pavilion Master!!"
"Greetings, Pavilion Master!"
Even Song Yunshu and Tu Yongsi bowed deeply behind him, raising their voices in respectful unison.
Infused with potent primal energy, Li Guanqi's voice resounded throughout the entire Tianji Domain!
"In the name of the Pavilion Master, I command everyone of Hall Master rank and above to assemble for council in one incense stick's time!"
Spanning nearly five hundred li, the Tianji Domain echoed endlessly with Li Guanqi's proclamation.
Scattered voices of acknowledgment rose from the crowd in midair.
Li Guanqi chuckled. "As for the rest of you, carry on with your duties."
The robed cultivators in the air promptly set back into motion.
Tu Yongsi soon realized what was happening. His pupils constricted as he looked at Li Guanqi and sent a hurried transmission: "Isn't this too rushed?!"
Song Yunshu bit her lip and stayed silent. Her thinking was simple: if Grandfather could trust him, then she would trust Li Guanqi unconditionally! She felt Li Guanqi was not a brainless fool who acted recklessly without reason.
Li Guanqi smiled and said, "They already gave me a warning shot right out of the gate. What's the point of worrying about whether it's rushed or not? If they want to play, let's play with the unexpected. Heh, whether they're men or ghosts... let's see who they are first."
With that, Li Guanqi took a step forward, his figure appearing instantaneously atop the White Tower.
Looking at Li Guanqi standing atop the White Tower with such an imposing presence, Song Yunshu felt an immediate surge of confidence. She felt certain Li Guanqi could manage the Tianji Pavilion well.
Overlooking the Tianji Domain, Li Guanqi looked like an overseer; the cultivators flying below hastened their speed by a few notches.
Yet right at that moment, Li Guanqi, standing high above, awkwardly sent a voice transmission to Song Yunshu: "Uh... where exactly is the Deliberation Hall?"
Song Yunshu suddenly had no idea whether Li Guanqi was truly brilliant or dense. With a dark face, she replied, "The Deliberation Hall is on the ninety-seventh floor. If you didn't know, why did you fly up to the very top?"
Li Guanqi answered nonchalantly, "I moved too fast. Halfway up, I realized I had no idea where it was... So to protect my dignity, I just kept going all the way up."
With a sullen expression, Song Yunshu then led Li Guanqi down to the Great Deliberation Hall.
To his surprise, when he arrived, someone was already seated inside.
It was a pale-faced young man with dark circles under his eyes, looking sickly and frail. Yet undeniably, this young man in a pale yellow robe was exceptionally delicate and handsome.
Seeing Li Guanqi and the others arrive, the young man unhurriedly rose, cupped his hands, and smiled. "Ji Yuchuan, Master of the Blue Tower, greets Pavilion Master Li."
He then looked toward the elder behind Li Guanqi and chuckled, "Old Tu, long time no see."
The elder merely shot him a glance, offering no reply.
A sharp glint flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes. In this vast hall, only this single person had come so far; that was truly something worth pondering.
Li Guanqi looked at the young man and smiled. "Ji Yuchuan... 'A thousand trees of forest blooms white; willow-fringed isles along a golden stream.' A fine name!"
Chapter 677