I Have A Sword-Chapter 1405: Pawns

Ye Guan slowly walked toward the city. Before long, he stopped. Not far ahead, beside the road, there was a small teahouse. A few outdoor tables were set up outside, and at one of them sat a lady in a flowing, ink-colored long dress.

Her long hair cascaded over her shoulders, and she was a breathtaking beauty. She sat gracefully at the tea table, holding a cup of tea in both hands. She brought it to her lips and took a light sip before closing her eyes, as if savoring the taste of the ordinary tea.

Ye Guan walked straight over and sat down across from her without speaking. He then picked up the teapot on the table, poured himself a cup, and drank it in one gulp.

The lady opened her eyes and looked at him.

"How does it taste?" she asked coldly.

Ye Guan said, "It doesn't taste like anything special."

The lady stared at him, her gaze piercing as if it could see straight into his soul. "This is just an ordinary cup of tea. Here, it sells for only a single common coin. But if this were served in the Celestial Hall, it would be priceless.

"In other words, status matters."

"I had already expressed my willingness to surrender, but you refused to accept it, so why are you trying to recruit me now?"

The lady replied calmly, "Value. You must prove your value. Only those with value have the qualifications to change their status."

Ye Guan locked eyes with the lady. "The moment you learned that I was establishing an Order, you never intended to let me live. After all, how can one tolerate someone possibly hostile sleeping soundly beside their own bed?

"You deployed the Dao Illumination to kill me outright as well as test my backers, but I suppose you were surprised when I resisted the Dao Illumination with my own strength.

"You needed to test me further, but you were cautious. Instead of confronting me, you used the forces you had planted within Old Lands's core to probe me..."

"Hahaha." Ye Guan suddenly laughed. "You're waiting for me here now, pretending to negotiate, but you don't actually intend to recruit me. Our conflict isn't just a simple grudge; it's a difference in ideology.

"I aim to establish Order, and I've already made some progress. That is something your civilization will never allow, will it? Miss Sui Gujin?"

Sui Gujin took another light sip of her tea and said, "You're right about everything. However, I've changed my mind. If you're willing to abandon your pursuit of Order, I can spare your life."

Ye Guan looked at Sui Gujin. "Not only do I have to abandon my order, but I also have to hand over that pagoda, don't I?"

Sui Gujin gently placed her teacup down. "Actually, there was a third way for us to work together in the beginning. When I first learned that you were building an Order, I had two choices: eliminate you or recruit you.

"But you should understand that even if I recruited you, you would never truly submit to Suiming Civilization. You would only use our resources to grow your own power, and one day, you would swallow us whole..."

Sui Gujin took out an ancient book and placed it in front of Ye Guan.

The book contained the details of the Guanxuan Laws!

Sui Gujin stared at Ye Guan. "Your heart is with the people, and your ambition spans the vast expanse. Recruiting you would be raising a tiger that would one day turn on us."

Ye Guan remained silent.

Sui Gujin continued, "Your original plan was to integrate into the Suiming Civilization and use us to strengthen your power and influence... Now, let's hypothesize. If one day, your strength surpasses the greatest power within Suiming Civilization, how would you treat us then?

"Even if you didn't destroy us, you would still impose your Order on us. But let me tell you, we have our own Order. We don't want to follow yours. That's why I decided to kill you before you could grow too strong.

"Do you think I made the wrong decision?"

Ye Guan said nothing. He poured himself another cup of tea, downed it, and smiled. "Your meticulous planning is truly impressive."

Sui Gujin shook her head. "You're extraordinary, but forgive my bluntness, you are not my true opponent. My opponent is your backer; the real player of this game."

Rumble!

Terrifying auras suddenly descended from the distant sky. They were people from the Eternal Civilization and the Old Lands.

A middle-aged man in a refined robe stood at the helm of the group from the Eternal Civilization. He had the demeanor of a scholar. He was none other than Fu Yue. He was a great elder of Eternal Civilization and one of the top five strongest experts. He was also a key figure in the ruling faction.

Qiu Nie, a great elder of the Old Lands stood at the helm of the group from the Old Lands.

Both groups brought powerful experts with them, but their auras were hidden, making it impossible to gauge their full strength.

Their eyes locked onto Ye Guan as soon as they arrived.

Qiu Nie glared at Ye Guan and bellowed, "From what I know, Xuanxu treated you well! Not only did he give you a Pure-grade Supreme Emperor Origin Essence Vein, but he also took you to explore the Xianfu Civilization!

"Why did you repay his kindness with treachery?"

Ye Guan said, "If I told you that this was all a setup, would you believe me?"

Qiu Nie's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to say that you didn't kill him?"

Ye Guan nodded. "Indeed, I didn't."

"Ridiculous!" Qiu Nie was so furious that he laughed. "If you didn't kill him, then why was your sword sticking out of him? Why is his armor on you? And why is it that the three Supreme Emperor Origin Essence Veins he owned are now in your possession?"

Ye Guan remained silent.

"Dammit!" Little Pagoda roared, "So that guy gave you those Supreme Emperor Origin Essence Veins and that armor for this moment! Damn it!"

Ye Guan turned to Qiu Nie and smiled. "He took his own life."

"Preposterous!" Qiu Nie roared, and a terrifying aura descended upon Ye Guan alone, sparing everyone else.

Ye Guan's sword intent surged, forcibly resisting the suppression.

Seeing Ye Guan withstand the pressure with just his sword aura, Qiu Nie's eyes narrowed.

Ye Guan stepped forward. "Mu Xuanxu did take his own life. As for why... Miss Sui Gujin, you should know it better than I do."

Sui Gujin calmly asked, "Do you have proof?"

"Of course!"

Ye Guan laughed. He opened his palm, and a spherical object appeared in his hand. "Miss Sui, do you know what this is? My mother invented this thing, and it's called a Cloud Recorder!"

"Holy shit!" Little Pagoda suddenly gasped. "Y-you asked me to give you that earlier. I thought you wanted to record your matches in the Holy Martial Tower...

"So this is your plan?! You suspected Mu Xuanxu from the very beginning?"

Ye Guan nodded. "Yes."

Little Pagoda was bewildered. "Why did you suspect him?"

Ye Guan said calmly, "At first, I didn't. But when he gave me those veins, I felt something amiss. Even Ruler Yong didn't have that many. How could he just give them to me without a second thought?"

Little Pagoda asked, "That's all?"

Ye Guan closed his eyes slightly. "No. The real reason is... my opponent is the most cunning person in Suiming Civilization. Someone that intelligent won't send just an idiot like Hao'er to deal with me. The more I thought about it, the less it made sense... and I realized that things weren't that simple."

"So you suspected Mu Xuanxu?"

Ye Guan nodded. "At that time, whoever approached me was the most suspicious, but Mu Xuanxu had a strong and reasonable goal when he approached me, especially when he claimed that the Old Lands had already uncovered the conspiracy of the Suiming Civilization. I found no flaw in that reasoning.

"After all, the Old Lands have survived here for so many years, how could they be so easily framed by the Suiming Civilization? But deep inside, I still remained wary of him..."

Little Pagoda asked, "Why?"

"It's simple, one should not have the intention to harm others, but one must always be vigilant against bad actors."

Little Pagoda trembled as it spoke, "But didn't you trust that little guy, Tian Chen, back then?"

Ye Guan shook his head. "The situation was different. Besides... I didn't fully trust him from the beginning."

Little Pagoda was speechless.

Ye Guan slowly opened his right hand, and the recording device floated up. A light screen was projected, displaying footage of his journey with Mu Xuanxu, from their departure from Heavenly Capital to the Xianfu Civilization.

When they saw Mu Xuanxu commit suicide, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.

Ye Guan turned to look at Sui Gujin, who was sitting not far away. "Actually... in this game, there were two chess pieces, Hao'er and Mu Xuanxu. At first, I thought Hao'er was just a pawn, but I didn't expect that both of them were."

He raised two fingers and pointed at the recording device, which slowly floated in front of Sui Gujin. "Miss Sui Gujin, you lost this round."

Sui Gujin glanced at the recording device without speaking, but the corners of her mouth slowly curled into a smile.

Seeing that, Ye Guan frowned. Something was wrong. Then, realizing something, his face turned pale. "N-no, wait, wait, wait. No way!"

Master Pagoda hurriedly asked, "What is it?! What is it?! Say it! Hurry up and say it! Are you trying to kill me with suspense?"

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