"Well, fine. Out of the frying pan and into another fire," Tang Ru said somewhat helplessly.
Yet soon enough he shrugged and added nonchalantly, "Still... building a massive commercial empire completely from scratch is genuinely tempting!"
Li Guanqi, however, shook his head. "You will only be responsible for the initial construction and overseeing the overall situation."
Tang Ru froze slightly at those words. He frowned at Li Guanqi and asked, "What do you mean by that? You don't trust me?"
Li Guanqi smiled gently, then lightly tapped the center of Tang Ru's forehead with a finger.
Guided by Li Guanqi's power, the spirit ruins between Tang Ru's brows unexpectedly surfaced on its own!
The golden abacus continued to emit a faint, shimmering glow. Looking at the abacus, Li Guanqi said softly, "Have you ever experienced the Soul Release of a spirit ruins?"
As he spoke, the sword coffin behind Li Guanqi slowly materialized, and Red Lotus flew into his hand in an instant.
Immediately after, as the Sword Ruins hummed, Red Lotus abruptly flared with a scarlet radiance.
Watching this, Tang Ru's emotions surged, a spark of light flickering in his eyes.
As Red Lotus bloomed, Li Guanqi murmured, "Do you know just how powerful an Apocalypse ruins is?"
After feeling the immense pressure radiating from the sword in Li Guanqi's hand, Tang Ru slowly lowered his head...
Relying solely on the potency of medicinal pills, he had barely managed to scrape his way to the peak Nascent Soul Realm, while the Soul Formation Realm remained unimaginably far out of reach.
In stark contrast, Li Guanqi, who belonged to the very same generation, was already a mighty powerhouse in the late Void Refining Realm.
Even the Body Integration Realm—a height as lofty as ascending to heaven—was now well within his reach...
Such a stark contrast made Tang Ru, every time he saw Li Guanqi, fall back on the comforting thought that he at least possessed an innate talent for business.
Perhaps only by finding a single strength he could present with pride could he keep from feeling so utterly inadequate whenever he spoke with Li Guanqi.
Looking at him, Li Guanqi said, "Your talent isn't weak. It shouldn't be buried away in the trade of commerce.
"I hope that in the future, you too will walk across the Six Domains and carve out a name for yourself.
"I hope that when that time comes, what the world knows is Tang Ru, the mighty cultivator.
"Not... Tang Ru, the exceedingly clever merchant!"
His head hung low, Tang Ru suddenly snapped his gaze upward to look at Li Guanqi. With a somber, determined expression, he said in a deep voice, "All right!"
Li Guanqi smiled, beaming with genuine delight.
He then granted Tang Ru three days to handle the handover of his responsibilities before leaving the Treasure Pavilion.
Setting down the jade slip in his hand, Ji Yuchuan turned to Su You and couldn't help chuckling. "Our pavilion master certainly keeps himself busy. He only just extorted spirit stones from the Five Yang Ghost Emperor,
"and right on the heels of that, he ran off to the Tang family to abduct Tang Ru, their commercially gifted prodigy."
Su You smiled warmly as well. Even he had never imagined that Li Guanqi's abilities and network of connections could run so deep.
At first, he had assumed that joining Guanyun Pavilion was merely a casual endeavor to accompany him in playing around.
Yet now...
The Tianji Pavilion, the Treasure Pavilion, the Six Ancient Sacred Sects, the Great Xia Sword Sect...
Not only them, but also several hidden networks and factions were backing Li Guanqi from the shadows.
It was hard to imagine... if given just a little more time, the reach of Guanyun Pavilion might truly rise to rival the heights of the Tianji Pavilion!
Surpassing it was not even out of the question!
Serving as the vice pavilion master now, Ji Yuchuan was brimming with hope and drive for Guanyun Pavilion's future.
With the Great Xia Sword Sect's recall ceremony in mind, Ji Yuchuan issued several orders in swift succession.
By the time Li Guanqi returned to the sect, it was already the dead of night, yet the main hall remained brilliantly lit.
Li Guanqi soared into the hall. Seeing him return, everyone breathed a subtle sigh of relief.
Lu Kangnian smiled. "You're back? Come, sit."
Taking a seat below him, Li Guanqi looked at the man and couldn't help teasing, "Sect Master, you seem a bit nervous?"
Lu Kangnian took a sip of tea and said irritably, "How could I not be nervous?
"None of the past sect masters has ever pulled off something like this."
Seated below, numerous elders and peak masters nodded in agreement, inevitably betraying hints of concern.
On the other hand, Ling Daoyan, sitting to one side and drinking wine, scoffed, "What's there to be afraid of? Once we recall our sect's disciples, our Great Xia Sword Sect will be the strongest sect in the entire Great Xia Domain!"
Li Guanqi nodded silently. That was a certainty.
"Still... along with it will come all sorts of problems.
"On my end, I have already contacted the Tianji Pavilion, the Treasure Pavilion, and the Six Ancient Sacred Sects.
"These three forces can secure the resources our sect will need after swelling in size over a short period.
"However, resource exchanges will follow, and those details still require further deliberation."
The moment these words fell, everyone present was astonished.
None of them had expected that during his absence, Li Guanqi had quietly made so many preparations for the sect's contingencies!
Li Nanting looked at Li Guanqi with a gratified gaze and chuckled. "You brat, at least you have a conscience. I thought you'd run off to idle away in peace."
Sitting beside him, Shen Lan rolled her eyes at the old man and retorted crossly, "Did you think Guanqi was like you?"
Sensing that the auras of both elders had changed considerably, Li Guanqi smiled with relief.
Before long, the two of them would likely need to enter secluded cultivation.
The other peak masters and elders also felt a swell of pride. Li Guanqi, entirely on his own, had resolved the very dilemmas they had spent days debating.
Li Guanqi continued, "Those are merely peripheral matters; with enough diligence, all of them can be handled.
"When recalling disciples, past elders, and former peak masters, the most important element... is the hearts of the people!"
He did not intend to let too many people know about Guanyun Pavilion; having the sect master alone aware was enough.
Qin Xian furrowed his brows and said in a grave voice, "Indeed. That is precisely what worries me most.
"Leaving everything else aside, the sect is now flourishing and backed by the many allies Guanqi has brought in.
"With an immense influx of resources pouring in, will former sect masters and other predecessors come forward to seize power?"
Before his voice had even fully faded, the atmosphere in the hall grew heavy and tense.
Amid the dead silence of the hall, Li Guanqi's disdainful voice rang out.
"I don't care who they are. The Great Xia Sword Sect belongs to Sect Master Lu—and it can only ever belong to Sect Master Lu!"
The resounding, resolute words echoed through the grand hall, sending waves of stirred emotion through many hearts.
Lu Kangnian's eyes shone brightly, a glistening wetness seeming to swell in his gaze.
With a broad sweep of his sleeve, he declared in a deep voice, "Tomorrow, we initiate the Grand Recall Ceremony!!
"Whatever comes, we shall meet it head-on. The Great Xia Sword Sect... is bound to rise!!!"
Watching the man stand and raise his arm in a rallying cry, everyone rose to their feet and shouted in unison, raising their arms.
"The Great Xia Sword Sect is bound to rise!!"
That night, hardly anyone in the Great Xia Sword Sect slept. Beneath their round-the-clock preparations ran a current of fierce excitement.
Li Guanqi murmured softly, "All of you... should be coming back soon, shouldn't you?"
Several ripples in space vanished instantly into nothingness.
Sitting atop the summit of Yuhu Peak, Li Guanqi gazed up at the bright moon in the sky, sipping his wine.
Glancing behind him, he looked toward the direction of the Great Xia Sword Sect's Sect Cemetery.
Beneath the cool, clear moonlight, Li Guanqi held his wine jug, raised it with a faint smile, and spoke softly.
"Senior brothers and sisters, rest your hearts. As long as I, Li Guanqi, am here, Great Xia stands strong!!"
Chapter 735