That night, Lin Shuguang appeared in Si Qianjun's office with a rarely seen look of seriousness.
"I want information on the Hidden Sects."
Si Qianjun fell somewhat silent, though he was more surprised than anything. "I thought you wouldn't be interested in them. Sit down."
Lin Shuguang sat opposite him without a word.
Si Qianjun pondered for a moment. "As I understand it, 'Hidden Sects' is simply a veil of mystery people have draped over certain unusual sects. At their core, they're just Martial Dao factions. Their legacies have merely lasted a little longer than everyone else's."
He took a small sip of tea to moisten his throat, then continued, "Think about how many sects and factions there are on our continent. Countless. The Martial Dao factions back then were much the same as those today. Some weathered the years and passed down their legacies, while others lost their lineages altogether and were forgotten...
"But don't assume they're powerful just because their legacies go back so far. They aren't. A hundred years ago, Great Xia's leadership mobilized the entire nation's resources to search for Hidden Sects. We found twenty that time. Apart from three whose strength was comparable to the outside world's, the rest had long since become unremarkable. Even their legacies were incomplete...
"Why is the Profound Connection Realm the highest realm reached by today's experts? Because that's as far as the legacies we've preserved go."
What Si Qianjun said was much the same as what the Silver Seraph had told him before.
Questions arose in Lin Shuguang's mind. "People all say the entire continent experienced the first World Mutation three hundred years ago. But we clearly know now that true cultivators didn't first appear three hundred years ago. Has the leadership known this information all along?"
Si Qianjun