Hearing
He Gui gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind. "I can cooperate with Young Master Gu Bei, but on one condition — you have to keep this absolutely secret!"
"Of course. Once you cooperate with us, you're one of ours. We'll make sure to keep it hidden properly. And it'll be a far better deal than following
He Gui's capitulation had been entirely within his expectations, though they still needed to guard against him playing tricks.
He Gui thought for a moment, then looked up at Gu Bei. "Young Master Gu Bei, I have a request. I wonder if you might agree?"
"What request?"
"Gu Heng has two right-hand men — one is me, and the other is
"No problem!" Gu Bei nodded immediately. Chai Yue was one of Gu Heng's trusted subordinates, and from what was known, he was fiercely loyal. To deal with Gu Heng, they naturally had to clip his wings first! Gu Bei considered for a moment and said, "After you go back, spread some rumors that Chai Yue has been secretly making contact with us."
"Just that alone probably won't be enough to make Young Master Gu Heng suspicious of Chai Yue," He Gui said after thinking about it.
"That's where you come in. As long as you leak Gu Heng's position to us and we manage to ambush him once, Gu Heng will probably start suspecting Chai Yue. Then we pour a little more fuel on the fire, and Gu Heng won't be able to help but doubt him!" Gu Bei said with a smile.
"Young Master Gu Bei is truly brilliant!" He Gui flattered.
"Alright, now it's time to show your sincerity. Write some letters — the kind you'd secretly pass to us. If you try to play games during our cooperation, these letters will end up in Gu Heng's hands." Gu Bei looked at He Gui and spoke calmly. This way, they'd have leverage over him. If He Gui refused to cooperate later, Gu Bei would have ways to deal with him. "I hope you won't try any tricks. Otherwise, you know the consequences."
He Gui understood. If he didn't submit to Gu Bei today, things were going to get ugly real quick. He fell silent for a while, then finally sat down, picked up a pen, and began writing. At Gu Bei's direction, he wrote a full six letters — all pledging his loyalty to Gu Bei.
"Not bad, not bad!" Gu Bei nodded, patted He Gui on the shoulder, and with a flick of his right hand tossed him a Space Ring containing over two thousand Spirit Stones. "This is your reward. Work for us in the future, and we'll never treat you poorly!"
He Gui caught the Space Ring and glanced inside. His eyebrows twitched involuntarily — there were over two thousand Spirit Stones in there. Following Gu Heng meant risking his neck for a month just to scrape together two or three hundred, but Gu Bei had handed him over two thousand without batting an eye.
It really was more promising to follow Gu Bei!
"Thank you, Young Master Gu Bei!" He Gui said, putting on a look of profound gratitude.
After a short while, He Gui left.
"
"That man only cares about profit. Since we've already offered him generous rewards and we have leverage over him, there's no need to worry about him not falling in line. He should be able to figure it out — going against us would only bring him suffering," Nie Li said.
"Of Gu Heng's two subordinates, He Gui is a petty man, but that Chai Yue — he's genuinely talented,"
"Brother Xingyun, have you had any contact with Chai Yue?" Nie Li asked, looking at Li Xingyun.
"I have, actually. I once invited him to join the Xingyun Alliance, but Chai Yue turned me down," Li Xingyun said with a hint of regret.
"In that case, Brother Xingyun can keep maintaining contact with him. If the day comes when he can no longer stay under Gu Heng, he'll naturally think of you. After all, no faction is willing to take in a defector," Nie Li said.
"Mm." Li Xingyun nodded. As long as someone was talented, he wasn't about to let them slip through his fingers.