"Grand Elder?" At these words, Han Li was truly stunned.
"That's right. To be honest with you, Junior Brother Han, when you were still at the early Nascent Soul stage, I originally intended to have Junior Brother Lü serve as Grand Elder with you as his deputy. But now that you possess such extraordinary abilities and have advanced to the mid Nascent Soul stage — and have rendered such great service to our sect — the position of Grand Elder naturally belongs to you alone. Junior Brother Lü has no objections whatsoever. After all, in any sect, the Grand Elder is invariably the one with the greatest powers." The old man surnamed Cheng said with a smile.
"Thank you for your kind offer, Senior Brother! But I'm afraid I cannot accept the position of Grand Elder." After a moment of silence, Han Li flatly refused.
"There's no need for such modesty, Junior Brother. Only you can truly fill this role. Surely you wouldn't want an early Nascent Soul cultivator like me to serve as Grand Elder of the foremost sect in Xi Kingdom!" Lü Luo said with a bitter laugh, urging him without hesitation.
"It's not modesty — I truly have no desire to serve as Grand Elder. Both of you Senior Brothers should know that I am a devoted cultivator who throws himself wholeheartedly into his practice. I take the attitude that the fewer things that interfere with my cultivation, the better. With such a mindset, how could I possibly serve as the head of a sect? Furthermore, I will frequently need to enter prolonged seclusion for cultivation, leaving me no time to manage the sect's affairs or guide Luoyun Sect's development. Most importantly, I joined this sect only midway through. Setting aside the low-ranking disciples, I barely know any of the Core Formation stage junior martial nephews. Under such circumstances, serving as Grand Elder would be even more inappropriate. Let me simply remain an ordinary Elder. The Grand Elder position should go to Junior Brother Lü!" A torrent of reasons tumbled from Han Li's lips without a moment's hesitation.
"But Junior Brother..." Senior Brother Cheng furrowed his brows, about to say more.
"If you continue to press the matter, you'll be forcing me to leave Luoyun Sect." Han Li's expression turned serious, a trace of solemnity in his voice as he cut them off.
"Very well! Since you put it that way, Junior Brother, we'll put this matter aside for now." The old man surnamed Cheng and Lü Luo exchanged a glance. Both could see that Han Li's words were not mere pleasantry — he truly and utterly refused to accept the position of Grand Elder.
The two could only exchange helpless looks and shelve the matter for the time being.
"That settles it! Although I will not take the position of Grand Elder, so long as I remain an Elder of Luoyun Sect, I will naturally look after our sect. Barring any major unforeseen events, I believe I can do my best to ensure our sect's prosperity for another thousand years or more." Han Li's expression relaxed as he spoke slowly.
Hearing this, Senior Brother Cheng could only smile bitterly and let the matter drop. Instead, he asked about the purpose of Supreme Zhiyang's visit.
There was nothing to conceal about this matter, so Han Li gave a brief account in a calm tone. In the end, he also asked the old man surnamed Cheng: "From what Zhiyang implied, it seems this matter may be related to the newly emerged Seven Spirit Islands and the Great Maelstrom. Those places aren't far from our Xi Kingdom — surely you've heard some unusual news about them, Senior Brother?"
"Unusual news? I don't think there is any. What's being rumored now should all be true. When the Great Maelstrom and the Seven Spirit Islands first appeared, they were quite close to our Yunmeng Mountains. The sect dispatched several disciples to investigate in person, and what they found matched the rumors exactly. The only notable things were the vast spiritual energy surging from the maelstrom and the rather rare spiritual veins on the seven islands — nothing truly unusual. As for the conference to divide the seven islands, our sect did not participate because you were still missing at the time." Senior Brother Cheng said with a frown.
"In that case, it seems I'll have to wait until I attend the gathering to learn the reason. I hope it's truly as Supreme Zhiyang said — they merely wish to harness the power of the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning, and there's no real danger involved." Han Li sighed.
"Still, no matter what, you should be extra careful, Junior Brother. If even the Three Great Cultivators need to join forces and gather mid Nascent Soul cultivators as well, this is definitely no ordinary matter." Lü Luo said worriedly.
"I'll be careful about that, naturally. But I doubt they'll ask me to do anything too extreme." Han Li suddenly laughed.
"That's true! You've reached the mid Nascent Soul stage at such a young age and possess abilities nearly on par with theirs — even the Three Great Cultivators would never rashly make an enemy of you!" Lü Luo laughed heartily.
Han Li gave a faint smile and said no more.
For the remainder of the journey, the three spoke no more. Before long, they arrived at Luoyun Sect.
The two — the old man surnamed Cheng and Lü Luo — parted ways with Han Li and headed straight for the sect's Great Assembly Hall. They needed to immediately summon their senior disciples to announce that their sect had become the foremost sect of the Yunmeng Mountains, while also discussing the changes and countermeasures this development would bring.
Han Li, meanwhile, went directly to the forbidden grounds where Nangong Wan was sealed. He remained there for several hours before emerging with a somewhat weary expression.
The moment he left the forbidden grounds, he transformed into a streak of azure light and flew toward his cave abode on Parent-Child Peak.
Just moments ago, inside the secret chamber of the forbidden grounds, he had expended a considerable amount of vital energy to perform a secret technique, checking the state of the Soul-Sealing Curse within Nangong Wan's body.
The results left Han Li both pleased and worried!
He was pleased that the Fire Toad Beast's demon core was indeed effective — the Soul-Sealing Curse within Nangong Wan's spiritual sense showed signs of weakening ever so slightly. But he was worried that the demon core's effects were clearly much weaker than originally expected. Whether the curse could truly be broken at this rate was still uncertain. He would need to observe for a much longer time before drawing any conclusions.
Fortunately, Han Li found some consolation in the fact that even if this pill could not break the curse in one go, it could at least delay the curse's activation and even weaken its ultimate effect. The trip to Devilfall Valley to slay the beast and take its core had not been in vain after all.
...
Half a day later, Han Li appeared in the secluded cultivation chamber within his cave abode. His body was perfectly still, his eyes gently closed, deep in meditation.
For now, cultivation was the only way he could force himself to temporarily forget about Nangong Wan. Otherwise, dwelling on the matter constantly would easily give rise to Heart Demons and emotional impediments.
From the moment he entered the chamber, Han Li had been deep in a state of meditative absorption. Now that his heart was finally as still as still water, he slowly opened his eyes.