Turning the Tables!

"Brother Zhao, what have you been up to lately?" "Up to? What else could I be up to? Don't fucking bother me, I'm picking up a dharma artifact at Treasure Pavilion!!" "I'm picking mine up at Tianji Pavilion. Want to team up later?" "Sounds good!" "Hahahaha! My fire spiritual root is naturally sensitive to demonic qi. This sudden windfall of fortune is bound to be mine!!" "Get the fuck out of here! I'm definitely the one who'll find them!" Li Guanqi sat cross-legged within the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven, while Jiuxiao silently stood guard over one corner. Meanwhile, within another mysterious domain... Lu Kangnian looked on with a grave expression as a white-robed figure sat upright in the thunder pool. At this moment, the thunder pool hissed and howled. Violent lightning primal energy crashed against the figure in relentless waves like a surging tide. Seated deep within the thunder pool, the figure trembled, as though enduring boundless agony. With furrowed brows and gritted teeth, they held on stubbornly. Back in the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven... Before Li Guanqi stretched a chart measuring a full hundred zhang across, upon which countless dense points of light moved at high speed. As the points of light appeared, one black flame after another ignited. The instant a flame arose, several brighter points of light rushed swiftly toward it. Afterward, the black flame detonated, scattering into countless dark specks that fled in all directions. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. His vast spiritual consciousness manipulated the Tianji Chart, meticulously recording the trajectory of every vanishing speck of black light. Relying on his formidable divine sense, he deduced where the Sha organization's headquarters might be hidden. The Three Pavilions' immense influence had drawn in nearly every sect and clan across the Six Domains. Not only the prominent clans of the Six Domains, but even the re-emerging Ancient Clans were no exception. Amidst this burgeoning chaos, every clan and sect yearned to claim the staggering bounty offered by the Three Pavilions. Such a vast sum of spirit stones was enough to elevate any clan or sect to an entirely new tier overnight! The cultivators of the Six Domains currently hunting for traces of the Abyss Demons numbered far more than hundreds of millions! Watching the lines on the chart gradually take shape, Li Guanqi murmured softly, "Still refusing to play your piece? Then I'll corner you until you have no moves left!!" *Crack!* A jade slip shattered in his grip. Li Guanqi said coldly, "Raise the bounty. Whoever locates the headquarters of the Sha organization will be rewarded with a peak Heaven-rank sword technique!" *Boom!!* The news swept across the Six Domains like a tempest. Cultivators flying through the mountain ranges with compass artifacts in hand hastily drew jade slips and pendants from their waists. "A Heaven-rank sword technique?! Peak Heaven-rank?! Are they insane..." "Now almost every cultivator in the Six Domains is going to throw themselves into this." In an instant, even more cultivators plunged into the hunt. Some were even willing to pay the exorbitant price of five million high-grade spirit stones just to secure an array compass! One had to remember that these compasses had been distributed by the Three Pavilions free of charge. Yet only three thousand had been forged in total. With so many cultivators seeking the Sha organization, three thousand compasses were nowhere near enough. The clans and sects of the Six Domains mobilized all their connections to track down compasses. Moreover... Several cultivators carrying compasses began vanishing without a trace, leading many to suspect that someone was moving in the shadows. Within the grand hall of the Sha organization, a man sat upon a throne, his feet resting on a stool fashioned from grim white bones. Beneath his mask, his eyes gleamed with excitement. "Haha, fascinating. Truly worthy of a mind as monstrous as a demon's." "Still... do you truly think a trick like this is enough to find me?" "Naive... far too naive." As he spoke, Sha crooked a finger. In an instant, more than a dozen red-robed cultivators materialized within the hall. The man spoke with an amused lilt in his voice. "Since the other side has made their move, let us make ours." "Go. Have the clans under our control spread the word: buy up the compasses at the exorbitant price of ten million spirit stones!" "I want to see what kind of plaything Meng Jiangchu has actually crafted." As his words fell, someone below hesitated before asking, "My Lord, are we truly to purchase them for ten million spirit stones? Or should we merely spread the rumor?" The man frowned. With a flick of his hand, a blood-red spear coalesced in an instant and shot forward! A crushing pressure suppressed the entire hall as the spear pierced through the speaker, pinning him firmly against a stone pillar. "Did you not understand my words?" "If we don't buy them for real, how will anyone else believe it?" "And if I don't buy one for real, how the fuck am I supposed to examine the formation compass Meng Jiangchu forged?" With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the rest of the assembly. Inside the Purple Spirit Grotto-Heaven, Qianqiusui stood beside Li Guanqi with an anxious expression. "Jiutian Palace of the Daochan Domain spent ten million spirit stones to buy a compass?" Li Guanqi frowned, instantly sensing trouble at the news. "If that's the case, haven't a great many cultivators already started dumping their compasses?" Qianqiusui raised her hand to project a curtain of light, the jade pendant in her grasp glowing brightly. With a grim expression, she said, "Indeed. Right now, the intelligence walls of Tianji Pavilion, Treasure Pavilion, and our Guanyun Pavilion are plastered with such offers." Li Guanqi glanced at it calmly. At a brief glance, there were tens of thousands of requests to purchase compasses, with prices driven up to ten million or even fifteen million. Without exception, most of these offers were fake, yet powerful factions were undeniably mixed in among them. Qianqiusui looked at Li Guanqi in slight surprise. She saw not the slightest hint of panic in his eyes. It was as though he had foreseen all of this long ago. A faint smile touched the corners of Li Guanqi's lips as he murmured, "Taking the bait, are you? Good..." Raising his hand, Li Guanqi retrieved a jade slip and said in a deep voice, "Father-in-law, I must trouble you to pay a visit to three factions: Jiutian Palace, Ziyan Hall, and Kongyun Island." Soon, Meng Jiangchu's voice came through the jade slip. "Rest assured, I'll set out at once!" Qianqiusui frowned. "Why seek out those three factions?" Li Guanqi replied casually, "Those three were the earliest to start buying them up. At least one of them is under Sha's control!" Then, with a detached gaze, Li Guanqi said, "No matter. Pass down the order." "All compasses cannot be transferred. Once bound by blood to a cultivator, any compass that is handed over will be rendered completely useless. Any cultivator at or above the Void Refining Realm, or any sect or clan faction, may go to the Three Pavilions to claim one individually." Qianqiusui's eyes lit up. She had never expected Li Guanqi to anticipate things to this extent! Every move the enemy made seemed to fall squarely within his calculations. His tall, proud figure stood before the Tianji Chart, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze resolute and confident. Streams of black lines appeared to converge toward a single location, yet no definite trace could be found just yet. At present, battles raged across the Six Domains. Many Abyss Demons roaming remote mountainous regions and slaughtering villages had been uncovered and slain. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes and murmured softly, "It seems... it's time for your next move, isn't it?" Turning toward Qianqiusui, he asked quietly, "Where is Senior Ye Xuan right now?" The woman bowed and replied, "Senior Ye Xuan is currently at the summit of Tianjian Peak. The four black flood dragons have already been escorted back to the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect." A gleam flickered in Li Guanqi's eyes as he whispered, "Gu Li should be returning soon, shouldn't he?"