[But Fang Chen was only at 3rd Realm of Qi Refining two months ago, and for him to suddenly reach the Qi Condensation Realm this fast is already suspicious enough.]
"Well, I would have agreed with you if not for your earlier suggestion. You were the one who suggested that I befriend Yuan Shuchun. And the only way to get close to that devil is proving myself as a valuable companion in achieving her goal and choosing to side her when the time comes."
[System will leave the final decision to the Host.]
Ye Tian Yun just shrugged at this and started changing his robes to the new ones he received in the Resource Hall.
"Let's head to the banquet."
…
A few minutes earlier.
The First Peak of the Gracious Sword Sect was situated in the middle of all peaks, standing tallest. It was the home to the sect's core members, including the Sect Leader, Grand Elders, and top five disciples of the sect.
The only thing weird about this peak was that there was no spirit vein in this peak. In the early years of the Gracious Sword Sect, many people assumed that since all the surrounding eight peaks of the sect had Spirit Veins, they should come and intersect at a common point, the First Peak. This intersection, if it existed, would have led to the formation of the High Tier Spirit Vein. Though this theory was supported by many cultivators, either inside or outside the sect, it never came to fruition and was never proved to be valid.
It wasn't much of an effort to search the First Peak. A single sword attack from the then sect leader, Sword Saint Yuan Xuming, would have sliced open the peak into two parts. However, the resulting destruction wasn't something that made it worth it. If the peak was harmed, then the sect will lose its terrain strategic advantage. Hence, it was then decided that the cultivators of lower cultivation realms should be the ones to dig and search for the rumored high Tier Spirit Vien.
In the end, after more than two years of search, no such spirit vein was ever found, and even the Low ranked spirit vein of the other peaks, when backtracked, didn't actually come towards the First Peak to form an intersection, but rather, the roots of these spirit veins dived straight deep into the endless ravine. The result was that this rumor was scrapped, and life returned to normal.
But surprisingly, the Sect Leader and the Grand Elder didn't change their cultivation abodes. In fact, they even called the top core disciples to practice on the first peak.
This action seemed unreasonable at first but after some time, no one complained about this.
...
On the First Peak, alongside the Cultivation Abodes of the higher-ups were few other buildings on the peak, the most prominent of them was the Grand Meeting Hall.
As its name suggested, Grand Meeting Hall was the place where all important meetings of the Sect were held in the presence of the Sect Leaders, Grand Elder, and the Core Elders.
Today was another of those days, with a meeting going on among the higher-ups; however, with the sect's deteriorating political scene, these meetings usually ended up with huge arguments with one side accusing the other and while the other seared at their ancestors.
Peak Master Duan was also present at the meeting and had joined the meeting, which was half-way through, after coming back from the commotion at the Seventh Peak.
As a peak master, he was not allowed to participate in politics and was designated to support the Sect Leader in taking the sect to greater heights. Looking at the ongoing chaos in the meeting, he could only sigh at his fellow elders' incompetence and stupidity. To him, playing politics wasn't something cultivators should waste their time in, but instead, they should focus on cultivation and strive for immortality.
Arguing over stupid things, accusing each other and tainting the sect's prestige was what these elders in front of him were focused on. After a while, as the meeting finally came to a close and elders started to return to their cultivation abodes, he finally had the chance to chat with the Sect Leader.
When the Sect Leader saw that Peak Leader Duan hadn't left but stayed back, he asked, "Brother Duan, you have something to discuss?"
Though there wasn't any change in anyone's expression, everyone else in the room had their ears secretly perked up, waiting for Peak Master Duan's reply.
But he didn't say anything interesting, "Greetings, Sect Leader Su, I wanted to discuss the situation regarding the upcoming missions for the new Inner Court disciples."
The Sect Leader had a confused expression over his face for a moment before he said, "Alright, we will discuss after some time."
Just as Sect Leader finished his words, someone called out Peak Leader Duan, "Ha-ha, Junior Brother Duan, why did you come here as soon as your breakthrough? I will advise you to return and stabilize your cultivation first; you can talk other matters about later."
Peak Master Duan was surprised at these words; however, something suddenly dawned upon him as he said, "Thank you for your guidance, Grand Elder Xuan. I wouldn't have thought that the commotion due to my breakthrough at my peak would have disturbed you."
Grand Elder Xuan just laughed at his words, "Don't you worry about that. However, I am quite surprised that your breakthrough caused such a big commotion that it was felt till here. Congratulations on your breakthrough!"
His words enlightened the surrounding elders, who rushed to congratulate him. But Peak Master Duan met them with indifference in his eyes. He knew their two-faced nature and wasn't a big fan of such people.
Peak Master Duan only bothered to reply to Grand elder Xuan, "Thank you, Senior Xuan."
After a while as everyone, the Grand Elder and other core elders returned to their cultivation abodes, with only Sect Leader and Peak Master Duan left in the hall, both of them headed for the upper floor without exchanging any more words.
When they entered the second floor, Sect Master took out some wine from the cellar, took a seat and poured a glass for himself and Peak Master Duan. Gesturing him to sit, he asked, "Brother Duan, what is it that you really wanted to discuss? We have already talked about those missions, and everything is now finalized. I am pretty sure you don't wish to bring that topic back up."
"Senior Brother Su, do you also think I broke through?"
The Sect Leader smiled a bit as he said, "Well, I did sense something, and it wasn't your breakthrough. However, I chose not to worry about it since you were there. If not for that Bastard Xuan, I would have definitely looked into that matter more carefully. But I chose to continue the meeting because I couldn't let him find out about the disciple who has cultivated the Sword domain."
"Sword Domain!? Impossible!" Peak Master Duan was shocked at this revelation.
---
A/n: If you find any errors or typos, please comment to let me know.