Ji Yuchuan's interest piqued even further.
Clasping his hands behind his back, he asked, "Oh? Neither of those? Then enlighten me. I'd love to know when I gave myself away."
Looking across the deserted domain, Li Guanqi said softly, "To suspect you, once was enough."
Hearing this, Ji Yuchuan laughed even more heartily.
He had kept his identity so well hidden that not even Long Hou knew who he was. His aura and presence were impossible for anyone to detect! Because of the unique nature of his cultivation method and soul, every single one of his clones could be regarded as an independent entity, flawless in every way.
Li Guanqi glanced at Ji Yuchuan and smiled. "The first time was at the Tianji Pavilion's Blue Tower. You shouldn't have recalled all your Blue Tower clones right in front of me. That was the very reason I was so shocked back then. Among the hundreds of personnel inside the Blue Tower, every single one seemed like a completely distinct person to me. Yet despite feeling that way, you recalled them all right before my eyes. Ever since then, I knew you were extraordinary, and I even suspected... whether you might also be a clone!"
Ji Yuchuan nodded with a smile, yet he still felt the reasoning was too flimsy. "That's all? Then I can only say your guess was fairly accurate."
Inevitably, Ji Yuchuan felt a touch of disappointment.
The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth curved upward. Meng Wanshu, meanwhile, was also somewhat bewildered.
Li Guanqi continued, "The moment I truly became certain there was something off about you was back when I performed ruin opening for everyone!"
With his hands behind his back, Ji Yuchuan's eyes glinted slightly as scenes from the past replayed in his mind. He recalled turning down the offer for a ruin opening. He had never imagined that this very detail would plant suspicion in Li Guanqi's heart and leave him so certain!
Ji Yuchuan sighed, rubbing his brow in resignation. "I never expected that the matter of the ruin opening would make you suspect me all this time. No wonder when I saw you setting up a board by yourself, some of the pieces felt like they represented me. To think you truly calculated me into your game!"
Ji Yuchuan wore a look of admiration; for the first time, he felt he had underestimated Li Guanqi.
Then he asked softly, "So when you heard my name from Hong Zhi, were you already seventy percent sure?"
Ji Yuchuan stared fixedly at Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi kept his eyes locked on Ji Yuchuan, an enigmatic smile playing upon his lips. Then he spoke words that seemed bizarre, yet sent a chill down Ji Yuchuan's spine.
"The Eight Generals... are there really eight?"
Ji Yuchuan's pupils shrank to needlepoints!
His chest heaved violently, his gaze shifting repeatedly as he looked at Li Guanqi. The game in his mind... It seemed he had been factored into the equation from the very beginning. Even the other pieces on that board back then, when linked together, had completely enveloped him!
Ji Yuchuan said softly, "All right, our conversation can end here. To pry any further would be impolite."
Li Guanqi smiled without a word, the corners of his lips curving upward. It appeared his guess was right.
The Eight Generals... had only ever been seven people!
The final member, named Wumian, was likely also manifested from Ji Yuchuan's clone! If that were truly the case, then Ji Yuchuan's strength...
Standing beside Li Guanqi, the man seemed to sense what was going through his mind. He turned his head with a smile, giving him a look that said, *Take a guess.*
Li Guanqi curled his lip, looked up, and took a deep breath. "Wanshu, undo the frozen domain. The three of us will find somewhere private. I want to have a good talk with Brother Ji."
Meng Wanshu nodded and raised her hand, unraveling the domain of Ten Thousand Li of Frozen Wastes.
No one inside the domain knew what had just transpired. They only felt soaked through, a creeping chill permeating their bodies that made them shiver involuntarily. Looking up, they saw the Pavilion Master's building belonging to Li Guanqi had shattered, and the mountain peak was fractured and desolate.
The remnants of the battle were harrowing; nobody knew what had occurred here earlier. They only knew that Ji Yuchuan had returned, but then Pavilion Master Li Guanqi had immediately launched an attack. Once the explosions rang out, no one knew anything more.
Within the void.
Meng Wanshu sat cross-legged in the distance with her eyes closed, concentrating her mind. The previous battle had caused severe fluctuations in her primal energy.
Ji Yuchuan raised his hand and affixed an aqua-blue inscribed talisman to her back, helping stabilize her realm.
Then Ji Yuchuan sat cross-legged on the ground, raising his hand to cast a wisp of a five-colored barrier!
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice, "A five-attribute impure spiritual root?"
Hearing this, the man laughed. "No, no, no. This is called a five elements spiritual root. In this entire world, only I lack none of the five elements."
As he spoke, five attributes of primal energy danced across his fingertips, and with a wave of his hand, he conjured five inscribed talismans of varying colors.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi was filled with wonder. He had never imagined someone could possess a five-attribute spiritual root—and that this person had cultivated to such a terrifying realm!
Li Guanqi shrugged and said bluntly, "Then doesn't that mean your cultivation speed was dreadfully slow?"
The corner of Ji Yuchuan's mouth twitched. "Ahem. Let's not speak of that. Come, let's play a game!"
A board of nineteen vertical and horizontal lines appeared before their eyes.
Li Guanqi smiled, waving his hand to expand the board tenfold!
Ji Yuchuan's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected Li Guanqi to possess such capability now, able to control such a colossal game! Looking at the densely packed pieces across the board, Ji Yuchuan's eyes darted rapidly before his brows knitted together.
"Brilliant concept! I just wonder how you plan to execute the most critical step."
Li Guanqi slowly reached out his hand and said softly, "At the crucial moment, assist me."
Ji Yuchuan froze, then curled his lip. "But I've stayed hidden for a full ten thousand years. Putting me on the spot like this... it makes things very difficult for me."
Li Guanqi smiled, looking into the man's eyes as he said softly, "When the time comes, simply appear under another identity. You can continue being Ji Yuchuan just the same."
The man sighed and handed a special five-colored inscribed talisman to Li Guanqi. "Very well. Who told me to be just as curious about who Sha really is?"
Ji Yuchuan slowly rose to his feet. Gazing at Li Guanqi with an indefinable anticipation, he lowered his head and put the board away. Standing before Li Guanqi, he murmured, "What a pity, to have it guessed by you after all. Otherwise, I was even thinking of swearing brotherhood with you lot and roaming the jianghu together..."
A look of wistful sentiment crossed the man's face, as though a pebble had been cast into his undisturbed heart by Li Guanqi and his companions, stirring ripples that refused to settle for a long time. Ji Yuchuan gave a soft sigh, turned his back, and said quietly, "Proceed according to your plan. For once, act as the mastermind behind the Six Domains. I will aid you."
Li Guanqi nodded with a solemn expression, bowing respectfully to the man's departing back. "For forcing Senior to briefly bear infamy, this junior will make amends later!"
With his back to Li Guanqi, Ji Yuchuan waved his hand and laughed audaciously, "Hahaha! Pavilion Master, go play this game! I shall wait and see!"
The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth curved upward. Watching the man's departing back, he murmured softly, "Then... wait and see, Eighth General, Wumian!"
As for the Sixth General, Yu Shan?
Naturally, that was also Ji Yuchuan.
Wumian was Ji Yuchuan's true body—or primary host—stationed within the Eight Generals.
Chapter 909