Suspicion, Breaking the Deadlock!

Yuan Hongyi was drenched in sweat. He had already spent an hour keeping Li Guanqi company over wine. No matter how dull he might be, he would have realized Li Guanqi's intentions by now! To make matters worse, Yuan Hongyi was the one in charge of all the business operations across the Tianji Pavilion's Six Domains. Throughout the entire hour, Li Guanqi had said nothing of substance and asked no questions. He simply dragged Yuan Hongyi along to sit and drink, shooting the breeze about trivial nonsense. The longer Yuan Hongyi stalled here, the more the others would suspect that he and Li Guanqi were secretly plotting something! That they were discussing some closely guarded secret! An hour had already passed. During that time, he had come up with countless excuses to take his leave, only for Li Guanqi to politely brush them all aside. This sent Yuan Hongyi into a panic, cold sweat pouring down his face. "Pavilion Master... I truly must head back. The tower's affairs are pressing, and things will fall into chaos if I am not there!" Li Guanqi leisurely sipped his wine, glancing at the man with a faint smile. "Don't rush off. Look, I still have plenty of wine left..." "Today... even if your wife were to drop dead, you'd still have to stay until I finish this wine. Understand?" The veins on Yuan Hongyi's forehead pulsed. He clearly understood what Li Guanqi meant. Li Guanqi was determined to keep him here today, and would not let him leave until he was thoroughly satisfied! As time ticked by, the masters of the other three towers harbored thoughts of their own. Jiang Yi's face was dark as stagnant water, while Tu Yongsi wore a contemplative look, his cloudy eyes flickering with indecipherable thoughts. Ji Yuchuan rose from his grand formation and looked toward the Pavilion Master's courtyard, his eyes gleaming. He murmured under his breath, "This strike packs quite a punch... but if this is all he has, I'm afraid it won't be enough." With that, he raised a hand and drew several streaks of spiritual light from the void. Every word contained within those lights actually pertained to the movements of Tu Yongsi and Jiang Yi! Tu Yongsi set down a blood-red jade slip and murmured softly to himself, "Is he making his move on the Yellow Tower first...?" "Where on earth is the Old Pavilion Master's natal soul lamp...?" The portly Yuan Hongyi gradually composed himself. Resting both hands on the arms of his chair, he spoke in a calm voice. "Since the Pavilion Master is in such fine spirits, I shall gladly keep you company. We can drink for as long as you wish." Li Guanqi felt a slight flicker of surprise. He wondered why Yuan Hongyi had suddenly ceased to be anxious. Could it be that he had already found a way to break the deadlock, which was why he had turned so composed? Li Guanqi smiled, rising to his feet and walking toward the rear courtyard. Sensing that nearly two hours had passed, he smiled and said, "That's about enough drinking for now. Brother Yuan, hurry back and attend to your affairs." "If there's anything else I don't understand, I'll call on you again." Yuan Hongyi's expression turned as foul as if he had swallowed a fly. He had just steeled himself for a long, drawn-out battle, only for the other party to suddenly pull his punch! Yet he did not argue. Bowing respectfully, he withdrew from the courtyard. The moment he stepped past the courtyard's barrier, his face darkened completely. However, Yuan Hongyi did not dare reveal too much here. The space beside him warped slightly, and he vanished from the spot. During his return, the man's expression twisted drastically, for he discovered that both Jiang Yi and Tu Yongsi had sent him transmissions. Back in his study in the Yellow Tower, he channeled primal energy into his jade slip, and Jiang Yi's voice instantly blared out. "You stayed at Li Guanqi's place for two whole hours! What on earth did you talk about?!" "Are you planning to take his side?!" The barrage of questions made Yuan Hongyi's face grow uglier by the second. "If I told you that nothing happened at all, and that I merely sat there drinking with him for two hours... would you believe me?" The moment the words left his mouth, Yuan Hongyi cursed under his breath. Let alone that cunning old fox, even he himself wouldn't have believed an excuse like that! Sure enough... "Two hours, and you just drank with him?! Without saying a single word?!" "Yuan Hongyi! Do you take me for a fool?!" "Two whole hours! Drinking? Then what was with the hundreds of jade slips you prepared for him?!" "Are you planning to hand over the Yellow Tower's entire foundation to him?!" Yuan Hongyi's expression was ghastly as he snarled in a low voice, "Those were his own jade slips!! I only gave him three!! Three!!" "Bullshit!! When he walked out, there were nearly three hundred jade slips floating behind him!" "His own jade slips? Do you honestly expect me to believe that?!" "He publicly announced that he would ask you if there was anything he didn't understand, and right after that, you went over and stayed for two full hours!" Yuan Hongyi had no way to clear his name, and could only repeat himself over and over. "I'm not an idiot! How could I possibly tell him everything?!" "I'll say this one last time: I didn't say a damn thing, and we didn't discuss anything! Believe it or don't!" *Smash!* Furious, the man smashed the jade slip to pieces. His chest heaved violently, his breathing as heavy as a bellows. Yet immediately afterward, as though realizing something, a cold sweat broke out all over him! He realized he had walked straight into a web—a web woven effortlessly by Li Guanqi! With just a few casual words and a seemingly offhand action, Li Guanqi had plunged them into mutual suspicion! Tu Yongsi had also sent inquiries about the matter. Yuan Hongyi gave him the exact same answer before tossing the jade slip back into his storage ring. Utterly infuriated, Yuan Hongyi took out a jar of strong liquor and gulped it down noisily. Before long, sounds of smashing objects and furious curses echoed through the room. As the barrier enveloping the Yellow Tower dispersed, Jiang Yi, who oversaw intelligence, quickly confirmed that Yuan Hongyi had indeed brought out only three jade slips for Li Guanqi earlier. The old man sat in his chair, his eyes narrowed into slits as his fingers tapped lightly against the desk. He murmured in a low voice, "Three slips, was it... Yuan Hongyi isn't completely stupid; he knew to hold them openly so many people would see..." "Still... two hours. Was there truly nothing between the two of you?" "Li Guanqi, you'd better behave yourself and remain a decorative vase!!" Inside a pitch-black secret chamber, Tu Yongsi spoke in a low voice. "Still haven't found it?" A whisper rose from the darkness. "Still searching." Ji Yuchuan stood by the window gazing out at the domain, murmuring softly, "Dark clouds press upon the city, threatening to crush it... The rain is about to fall, isn't it...?" Sitting in his study, Yuan Hongyi stared at the jade slip in his hand, a chilling glint in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he said in a heavy voice, "Xiao Mingtang! I need you to repay that favor!" In a low-lying mountain valley, the ground lay utterly devastated. A gaunt man, his face smeared with blood, slowly severed the head of the corpse in his hand and grinned. "Oh? Speak. What do you need?" "Kill someone." "Give me the coordinates. Once the target is dead, the debt is settled." "Deal!" Yuan Hongyi transmitted a set of void coordinates to him and then crushed the jade slip into dust. Having done all this, Yuan Hongyi sat back in his chair, his eyes icy as he murmured, "Li Guanqi... what a brilliant move!"