Li Haowen's Wish

The turmoil caused by the Outer Court Calamity of the Empty Mountain Sect took five years to finally subside—though only barely.

The Supreme Law Court never announced everything they had uncovered on Qingchan Peak, but the final outcome had already made the truth abundantly clear.

Chu Chen, the Sword-wielding Elder of Qingchan Peak, announced that he was going into seclusion despite still being a considerable distance from breaking through to the Upper Three Realms.

Meanwhile, Fu Qian, Qingchan Peak's Martial Suppression Elder, secluded himself in Cangwu Studio and stopped involving himself in any peak affairs.

Chu Xiyao, Chief Disciple of Qingchan Peak, also resigned from her position. She, too, kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public, even on Qingchan Peak.

Chu Chen's seclusion and Fu Qian's withdrawal from worldly affairs left most of Qingchan Peak's power entirely in the hands of its Elder Zhengfa, Bai Qiming.

His successor as Chief Disciple of Qingchan Peak was also Elder Bai's Personal Disciple, Qin Yue.

It could even be said that Qingchan Peak was now entirely Bai Qiming's fiefdom.

Li Haowen, Lin Xinyang, and Chen Yan had occasionally brought up Qingchan Peak's current circumstances when they were together.

But they had only ever touched on the subject, and none of them dared discuss it too deeply.

The waters of Qingchan Peak seemed impossibly deep.

As Chief Disciple of Kongyuan Mountain, Chen Yan had long known that the Empty Mountain Sect was no monolith, and that every peak was riddled with factions.

After the Heavenly Peak Dao Seeking, he had also vaguely realized why Chu Xiyao and Qin Yue had such a terrible relationship.

But he had never imagined that the infighting within the sect could be so "kill or be killed."

Just as expected, Chen Yan broke through to the Qi