Chen Yan was slightly taken aback.

He had not expected Li Haoran to toss the list Fu Qian had kept for hundreds of years straight into the bonfire before them.

Yet the lean old man before him, dressed in the pale white daoist robes of Kongshan Sect’s outer court, seemed utterly unconcerned.

It was as if he had simply added another piece of firewood.

“Supreme Pivot Elder Li, what are you...”

Chen Yan trailed off.

“Why do you think you found that paper on Qingchan Peak?”

Li Haoran asked.

“...”

Chen Yan had no idea how he should answer Li Haoran’s question.

“It’s because someone wanted you to see that paper.”

Then Li Haoran continued:

“Who do you think that someone might be?”

Chen Yan thought for a moment. He had always known that, while he might indeed be a cultivation prodigy, his mind was at best ordinary, not even clever by any measure.

But his experiences over the past several centuries were enough, to some extent, to make up for this shortcoming.

Chen Yan tried to piece together all the information he had gathered so far, from Qi Yi’s orders to what he had discovered on Qingchan Peak, as well as what Lu Li had told him...

“It was you, Supreme Pivot Elder Li.”

Having figured it all out, Chen Yan gave his answer.

“Very good.”

Li Haoran nodded, satisfied with Chen Yan’s answer.

“More than eighty thousand years have passed since Founding Ancestor Li established Kongshan Sect, and Patriarch Yan, Ancestor Xie, and Patriarch Kong successively led the sect to ever greater heights. It can be said that today’s Kongshan Sect is the culmination of the efforts of countless predecessors.”

Li Haoran continued:

“I, Li Haoran, have governed Kongshan Sect for more than seven thousand six hundred years. As I approach death, I must find a trustworthy junior to succeed me and continue ensuring Kongshan Sect’s survival in these domain heavens.”

Approach death?

Chen Yan froze at those four words.

He knew very well that cultivators in the Dao Union Realm generally lived for over twelve thousand years. Li Haoran, who was now nearly eight thousand five hundred years old, should still have a very long time before passing away.

Four thousand years was enough time for anything to happen.

Perhaps the immortal path of Chenping Continent would revive once more. This Supreme Pivot Elder and Steward, who had already surpassed the usual limits of the Dao Union Realm but had yet to step into the Immortal Ascension Realm, might even ascend to immortality on the spot.

But Chen Yan soon thought of something else.

More than three thousand years ago, Supreme Pivot Elder Li had suddenly begun relinquishing the power in his hands and stopped involving himself in the sect’s affairs. From then on, he had kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public.

Perhaps something had happened around that time, bringing about such a profound change in Li Haoran. His lifespan might also have been greatly affected.

Of course, all of this was merely Chen Yan’s speculation and conjecture.

“You are one of my candidates.”

Li Haoran continued:

“Do you want to know the truth behind the Outer Court Cataclysm?”

Chen Yan’s pupils contracted slightly. Of course he wanted to know the truth behind the Outer Court Cataclysm.

He had still been young then, barely into his twenties.

The Outer Court Cataclysm had also had a considerable impact on him, as he had still been a Martial Spring Realm cultivator at the time.

Chen Yan had originally believed that it had all happened because of the Qingchan Martial Discipline lineage’s dereliction of duty.

But after discovering the list and uncovering inconsistencies in the Pivot Court documents, he had begun to suspect that things were not so simple.

“It all goes back to nine thousand five hundred years ago.”

The lean, short old man sitting before the bonfire slowly lifted his head and gazed at the river flowing away into the distance.

Nine thousand five hundred years ago?

Chen Yan made a rough calculation in his mind and quickly recalled that, at the time, Kongshan Sect should have been nearing the end of Patriarch Kong’s rule as True Person Caiyun.

“Back then, Patriarch Kong peered into the secrets of Heaven and learned that Kongshan Sect would be destroyed nine thousand years later. The culprit behind its destruction would be the Black Flood Dragon Patriarch Kong had sealed.”

Li Haoran recounted slowly:

“To change the ‘effect’ of Kongshan Sect’s destruction, Patriarch Kong decided to start with the ‘cause’ and kill that ninth-realm great demon... But changing something that Heaven’s Dao had long since decreed came at a price even an Immortal Ascension cultivator could scarcely bear.

“So when Patriarch Kong tried to kill that ninth-realm great demon, he was gravely wounded by karmic backlash. His Immortal Platform nearly shattered completely. Unable to kill the great demon, Patriarch Kong could only do everything in his power to seal it away.”

Li Haoran paused briefly:

“Patriarch Kong sealed the great demon’s body at the bottom of Jieyou Abyss on Yuanhua Mountain. As for the soul of that ninth-realm great demon, he personally placed a restriction on it and sealed it inside the Demon Suppression Stone.”

“So, the calamity that would have destroyed Kongshan Sect was averted?”

Chen Yan asked tentatively.

“No.”

Li Haoran shook his head:

“More than three thousand years ago, I had long been stuck at the peak of the Dao Union Realm because of the constraints imposed by heaven and earth. Desperate to find a way to break Kongshan Sect out of its predicament, I took a risk and peered into the secrets of Heaven. The backlash cost me some of my lifespan, but I also glimpsed a secret.

“That was that Kongshan Sect would still be destroyed three thousand years later... on the very day the Outer Court Cataclysm occurred. But you know what happened afterward. Kongshan Sect was not destroyed.”

To Chen Yan, Li Haoran’s words sounded like utter fantasy.

“Then why?”

Chen Yan asked.

“I don’t know either. For the three thousand years that followed, I kept searching for a way to break the deadlock. But I discovered that if I completely obliterated the Black Flood Dragon, it would mean changing a cause and effect that had long been predetermined. That would only lead to Kongshan Sect being destroyed in the future by a calamity even more terrifying than the Black Flood Dragon.”

Li Haoran replied:

“So I decided to take a risk and exploit the ambition and greed of certain Grand Elders in the sect, bringing about the Black Flood Dragon’s calamity so I could minimize the damage as much as possible.”

Exploit the ambition and greed of certain Grand Elders.

Chen Yan could roughly guess who Li Haoran meant.

Huo Mu.

Huo Mu’s immense power over the past three thousand years had, in truth, been the result of Li Haoran deliberately indulging him.

Or rather, Huo Mu had always been nothing more than a puppet on strings, controlled by the Supreme Pivot Elder and Steward before him.

“You know what happened after that. I ordered Qi Yi to leak the list to the outer court, intending to purge the remaining factions after the Black Flood Dragon’s calamity had passed... But by a twist of fate, it was intercepted by the Qingchan Martial Discipline lineage. After learning of it, Huo Mu feared I would discover his scheme and dared not continue with his original plan. So he released the Black Flood Dragon Remnant Soul into the sect’s outer court, shifting the blame elsewhere.”

Li Haoran said.

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