The Truth Behind the Calamity

Chen Yan was slightly taken aback.

He hadn't expected Li Haoran to toss the list Fu Qian had kept safe for hundreds of years straight into the bonfire.

Yet the gaunt old man before him, clad in the pale robes of Empty Mountain Sect's Outer Court, remained remarkably calm.

As if he'd merely tossed on another log.

"Supreme Cardinal Li, you..."

Chen Yan trailed off.

"Why do you think you found that paper on Qingchan Peak?"

Li Haoran asked.

"..."

Chen Yan didn't know how to answer.

"It was because someone wanted you to see it."

Li Haoran continued:

"Then who do you think wanted you to see it?"

Chen Yan thought for a moment. He had always known that though he might be a cultivation genius, his mind was at best ordinary—not even clever, really.

But the experience he'd accumulated over several hundred years had helped make up for that shortcoming to some extent.

Chen Yan tried to piece together all the information he'd gathered so far: Qi Yi's orders, what he'd discovered on Qingchan Peak, and what Lu Li had told him...

"It was you, Supreme Cardinal Li."

Having put everything together, Chen Yan gave his answer.

"Good."

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

"More than eighty thousand years have passed since Patriarch Li founded Empty Mountain Sect and Ancestors Yan, Xie, and Kong successively led the sect to greater heights. The Empty Mountain Sect of today is the fruit of countless predecessors' efforts."

Then Li Haoran continued:

"I have governed Empty Mountain Sect for more than seven thousand six hundred years. As I approach death, I must find a junior worthy of my trust to take my place and ensure the sect endures in this realm."

Approach death?

At those words, Chen Yan froze.

He