The truth had finally come fully to light.

The Outer Court Cataclysm had been far more than a disaster that happened by chance.

Whether it was Huo Mu seizing sole control or stealing the Black Flood Dragon Remnant Soul that had originally been sealed inside Caijun Tower, everything had been entirely under Li Haoran’s control and guidance.

And the reason behind it all was the so-called “cause and effect.”

As a cultivator in the Unity Realm, Chen Yan found it difficult to truly understand the “cause and effect” and “backlash” Li Haoran spoke of. Everything was closely tied to the secrets of heaven, and to Chen Yan, these concepts were simply too abstract.

But he understood one thing.

That was, a cause and effect already ordained could not be prevented, no matter what.

In other words, on the day the Outer Court Cataclysm took place, Kongshan Sect should have been destined for destruction.

Yet what was destined to happen had ultimately failed to occur.

This left Chen Yan confused and baffled. But when he tried to ask Li Haoran why the cause and effect that had long been predetermined had not come to pass, Li Haoran gave him no definite answer.

Because he did not know either.

The only thing Li Haoran was certain of was that this would not simply end here.

Now that the Black Flood Dragon Remnant Soul had been completely destroyed, the destined cause and effect would surely not come to pass. This meant that Kongshan Sect would certainly face even graver karmic backlash in the future.

Li Haoran had originally hoped to resolve all these hidden dangers while he was still alive. Now he could only abandon his original plans and begin reclaiming the authority that should have been his, hoping to nurture someone from among the sect’s talented disciples who could prop up a tottering edifice and turn the tide in the future, someone who could eventually succeed him as Kongshan Sect’s Supreme Pivot Steward.

But among Kongshan Sect’s Four Supreme Courts, there was no one capable of taking on this responsibility.

Li Haoran was quite interested in Lu Li of the Supreme Martial Pacification Court. However, after meeting Lu Li some time ago, he began to abandon that idea.

Li Haoran had governed Kongshan Sect for more than seven thousand six hundred years. Though he had not Ascended to Immortality, the distance between him and the Immortal Ascension Realm seemed even shorter than the distance between him and the Dao Union Realm.

He had seen through the decisive ruthlessness hidden beneath Lu Li’s unruffled exterior.

This was a gambler.

Perhaps Lu Li was the most suitable candidate Li Haoran could currently find to serve as the sect’s Supreme Pivot Steward, and he was certainly capable enough to lead Kongshan Sect to even greater heights in the future.

But if he chose the wrong path, Kongshan Sect would be doomed beyond recovery.

Li Haoran did not have the nerve to place the sect in Lu Li’s hands, but he had no other, more suitable candidate.

So he began cultivating a group of trusted followers within the sect’s Four Supreme Courts.

That way, after he passed away, they could still clear the path for whoever was qualified to succeed him as Kongshan Sect’s Supreme Pivot Steward.

Chen Yan of the Pivot Court and Wei Mian of the Surveillance Court were both people Li Haoran had already selected.

The reason was simple. These two cultivators had only entered the upper three realms within the past one or two centuries, and neither had any foundation within the sect’s Four Supreme Courts.

The power struggles among the Grand Elders of the sect’s Four Supreme Courts were far more complicated than Chen Yan had imagined.

Besides, Chen Yan agreed with Li Haoran’s views far more than he did with Huo Mu’s.

Chen Yan had spent several hundred years in Kongshan Sect. Almost from the day he became the chief disciple of Kongyuan Mountain, everything about him had been bound to this colossal sect in the northwest region of Chenping Continent.

His feelings for Kongshan Sect ran deep.

So when Supreme Pivot Elder Li extended an olive branch, Chen Yan naturally did not refuse.

......

Time continued to pass.

Another hundred years went by, and all authority over the Supreme Pivot Court had now returned to Li Haoran’s hands.

Even the other three Supreme Courts followed his orders completely. The authority held by this Supreme Pivot Steward of Kongshan Sect had returned to what it had been more than three thousand years ago, at the height of his power.

Huo Mu’s former ambitions had also vanished, and he had submitted completely to Li Haoran.

Kongshan Sect was once again peaceful, at least on the surface.

Chen Yan continued cultivating at a steady pace, and by now he had gained the clearest possible understanding of himself.

He was no protagonist in some cultivation novel. He had neither the talent nor the insight to roam the cosmos, nor the will or ability to rule an age.

His talent might only be enough to carry him to the Unity Realm. If he was lucky, he might even have some chance of reaching the Divine Ability Realm.

There were more than seventy Unity Realm cultivators in Kongshan Sect’s Four Supreme Courts alone.

Across all of Chenping Continent, there were nearly eight hundred.

Looking back through the long history of Chenping Continent, there must have been at least several hundred thousand Unity Realm cultivators in the world.

Chen Yan was already quite satisfied.

He had seen the vastness of these domain heavens, scenery that the version of himself who had only recently graduated from university before transmigrating could never have imagined.

With that in mind, Chen Yan began to take everything in stride. Aside from the occasional sect affairs he had to handle or summons from Supreme Pivot Elder Li, he spent his time either quietly cultivating, playing chess with Qi Yi, or going out drinking with Li Haowen and Lin Xinyang.

Sometimes, the four of them would go fishing on Yuanhua Mountain with Wei Mian.

After Cheng Ziying, the Offering Elder of Mingxiao Peak, merged Myriad Transformations into Unity and broke through to the upper three realms, becoming a Grand Elder of Kongshan Sect’s Supreme Surveillance Court, she also came to visit Chen Yan from time to time.

People from Kongyuan Mountain, including Zhong Yin, Yue Chi, and Liu Yantang, as well as the juniors he had known back when he was on Kongyuan Mountain, all maintained quite good relationships with him.

What Kongshan Sect gave Chen Yan now was a genuine feeling of home.

Peaceful and warm.

Chen Yan’s cultivation continued to progress, though at an extremely slow pace.

Another five hundred years passed, and Chen Yan finally reached the peak of the Unity Realm.

He had long expected this, because the greatest difference between the Unity Realm and the Divine Ability Realm was comprehending one’s natal divine ability.

Who knew how many Myriad Transformations Realm cultivators on Chenping Continent had been worn down on the path to condensing ten thousand strands of innate true energy?

And who knew how many Unity Realm cultivators had been stuck at the threshold of comprehending their natal divine ability?

Chen Yan had little confidence in his ability to comprehend his own natal divine ability.

Throughout history, countless cultivators with greater talent than his had failed to comprehend a natal divine ability to the very end.

Still, he had to try.

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