Sect Leader Su remained silent for some time before opening about his plans for the coming months.
"While the investigation is going on, we will start the tournament for the Gracious Sword Rankings."
"Once this tournament is done, then we will focus on the selected disciples."
Peak Master Duan frowned, "What's new in that? Isn't this the usual plan? We will just be doing the tournament for the Gracious Sword Rankings a few months earlier than when they were supposed to be."
Sect Leader Su shook his head, "That's not the only thing I am planning. I am going to change some of the stages of the tournament and focus more on sword Cultivators."
"Sword Cultivators?" Peak Master Duan frowned, "Why to go for a specific type of disciples this time?"
Sect Leader Su smiled and said, "Have you forgotten about the commotion that happened on your peak yesterday?"
"Hm? Commotion? Oh, are you talking about the disciple who broke through the sword Intent?"
Sect Leader Su nodded his head and said, "Yes, I was referring to that incident. We still haven't found out the disciple who broke through the Sword Domain realm."
Peak Master Duan let out a sigh while saying, "Senior Brother, it won't be easy to fish out that disciple even though we know who that disciple could be."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we do know that the disciple is from the seventh peak due to that commotion. We also know that the disciple is one of the new Inner Court Disciples in the seventh peak due to that Sword Intent released during yesterday's banquet."
"Now, we only need to look into the history of these new inner court disciples. The one who broke through the Sword Domain realm is among them."
Sect Leader Su frowned and asked, "Remind me why we haven't suspected the disciple who broke through the Sword Domain to be an older Inner Court disciple?"
Peak Master Duan replied, "We didn't consider them because no one could fit the description, and we are keeping track of all the disciple's progress. Someone from the older disciples can't be the one who broke through."
Sect Leader Su shook his head, "Let's not rely too much on the reports. We should consider older disciples too. As much as you believe that the disciple is not from older disciples, don't forget that it's equally impossible for a new Inner Court disciple to break through the Sword Domain realm."
Peak Master Duan scratched his chin as he began to ponder on Sect Leader Su's words.
After a while, he nodded and said, "Senior Brother, I will follow your instructions and keep note of the older disciples too. But I want to ask, what are you planning for the sword Cultivators?"
Sect Leader Su slightly smiled while replying, "I have a good assignment planned for the disciples. First of all, we need to filter out the weaker ones; after that, I will start the stage for the sword disciples."
"Since you're not telling me what you have planned, I hope it's enough for that Disciple to show his Sword Domain. But I also hope you don't forget about one important thing - we can't let anyone else know about his Sword Intent talent, or else he will also have a similar outcome like Jiang Yun."
Sect Leader Su's face turned serious as he took a few steps ahead and replied, "Don't worry, the second stage of the tournament will be secret, and only I will know the result. There's no way anyone else will find out about that disciple's identity."
Peak Master Duan smiled when he heard those words, "Yes, that is what we want. Also, Senior Brother, I hope you give special attention to Fang Chen. Even though he doesn't know the truth, it doesn't change the fact that he's your son and someone who is worth grooming."
Sect Leader Su's expression eased at the mention of Fang Chen as a slight smile appeared on his face, "I hope he doesn't disappoint me and uses this month's opportunity to get ahead of his peers."
Peak Master Duan nodded his head and then cupped his fist while saying, "Senior Brother, I should take my leave. I will arrange the things to fish out the Sleeper Cells before the next meeting starts."
Sect Leader Su nodded his head while staring at the disappearing back of Peak Master Duan and thinking about what cultivation realm Fang Chen would reach within this month.
Meanwhile, the disciple in question, Fang Chen, was currently heading towards the Sword Stele with Elder Lai Chang.
After taking leave from the Grand Meeting Hall, they had walked through the same stairway through which they had come earlier.
To Ye Tian Yun's surprise, this stairway had once again changed, and a new way had popped up.
The whole stairway scene had changed from decorated walls to a cave-like scene.
As they headed downwards, both Ye Tian Yun and Elder Lai Chang remained silent for a long time.
After about ten to fifteen minutes, as they finally saw a huge door at the end of the stairs, Elder Lai Chang broke the ice, "I am surprised you haven't asked about the array in the stairway. You aren't intrigued, or you didn't even notice the change?"
Ye Tian Yun let out a slight smile while replying, "It's not that I didn't notice; it's just that something else surprised me that took my attention away from the arrays around us."
"Oh?" Elder Lai Chang asked with an expression of interest, "What was it?"
"Well, I am more interested in the Sword Stele, what it is, and how come I have never heard of something like it that exists in our sect."
"Haha, you will know about it once you pass through that door. Although I am interested to know what your guess is on what it could be."
Ye Tian Yun had an expression of pondering while replying, "Well, from the words of Grand Elder Xuan, I got to know about it having more than one floor, and he also mentioned something about trials."
"And not forgetting about the cultivation speed that everyone was very confident about, I am guessing that this Sword Stele is like a pagoda and is very close to the spirit vein, which gives the faster cultivation speed. And I have a bad hunch that this pagoda is actually related to something significant, like the position of Sect Leader."
Elder Lai Chang let out a slight laugh for a while before saying, "Kid, you will be amazed when you get there. Though your guess seems quite valid, it's also very far-fetched."
"How could the position of Sect Leader be decided just by a trial? That's something that only happens in novels. Though I am not saying you're not wrong about your guesses, what I mean is, your guess is way beyond reality."
As they got close to the huge door, Elder Lai Chang made some weird gestures with his right hand, and by the time they got near the door, a neat and symmetrical pattern appeared on the huge door as it began to move and opened slowly.
Elder Lai Chang stopped just outside the gate and said, "Well, here's the Sword Stele."
Ye Tian Yun walked forward and was quite surprised to see the scene in front of him.
On the other side of the door was the scenery that he was not expecting at all.
He had expected it to be a hall and an underground building where he would cultivate, however in front of him was an underground forest-like garden.
It did look like a huge dome-like hall; however, one might not notice it due to the vibrant and refreshing greenery that met their eyes.
After entering the hall, Ye Tian Yun couldn't help but feel refreshed throughout his body.
In front of him was a forest-like view, with a huge waterfall in the center. The waterfall was coming through the ceiling, and what made it the most attention-grabbing place in front of anyone was that it was in fact shining a lot. It was as if there was a fire under the waterfall and this light was enough to brighten the whole hall.
Ye Tian Yun stared at the waterfall as it gave him a familiar feeling.
After observing for a few minutes and still with no answer to what that waterfall was and how it was coming from the ceiling, Ye Tian Yun took a deep breath and turned around to ask Elder Lai Chang, "Elder, what's that waterfall? It feels familiar, yet I can't seem to recall anything about it."
Elder Lai Chang, still standing outside this hall, replied. "Disciple Fang Chen, this waterfall is quite unique, but I can't speak much about this right now, maybe one day, if fate has it planned, I will tell you the secrets."
Ye Tian Yun shrugged his shoulders and began to observe the underground hall. After a few minutes, he asked another question, "Elder, something else is bugging too, can I ask?"
Elder Lai Chang nodded his head, "Yeah, go ahead."
Ye Tian Yun scratched the back of his head while asking, "What is this light that's coming from the waterfall? And it's bright enough to lighten the whole place, even though we're underground, away from any natural source of light."
Elder Lai Chang smiled and said, "Well, that's an interesting question, but that too will need you to have a certain rank in the sect to know the answer of."
Ye Tian Yun nodded his head and said, "Alright, let's hope it's all worth it."
Then after looking through the hall once again, he asked, "Elder, where's the second floor that Grand Elder Xuan mentioned about?"