Xuan Yan's eyes flashed with a hint of gravity at his words. He then replied through voice transmission, his tone carrying a measure of sudden realization. "No wonder Ghost Elder has remained indifferent to all matters concerning the Dongting Immortal Sect over the years. I once thought he was simply aloof by nature, untouched by karmic ties.
"Now that I think about it, he had been plotting something from the very beginning."
Xu Changqing's heart tightened, and he hurriedly pressed on through voice transmission. "So Ghost Elder had been disguising himself from beginning to end?"
"Most likely."
Xuan Yan spoke with some certainty. "About two thousand years ago, Ghost Elder suddenly appeared in the Dongting Immortal Sect. With his unfathomable cultivation, he swiftly took control of Dark Nether Peak.
"At first, he kept a low profile and gradually won the trust of everyone in the sect. No one had ever questioned his origins.
"Looking back carefully now, all of it was merely a disguise.
"His goal was likely to wait until today, dig open the Earth Vein beneath the Old Site of the Dongting Immortal Sect, and take away that Mysterious Yellow Ancient Coffin."
Xu Changqing asked again, "What exactly is hidden inside that ancient coffin?
"What could possibly make Ghost Elder willing to lurk within the Dongting Immortal Sect for two thousand years?"
Xuan Yan fell silent for a moment before finally explaining through voice transmission, "There is no corpse or skeletal remains inside that ancient coffin. There is a Dragon Pearl."
At those words, Xu Changqing's pupils contracted violently. "What?"
Xuan Yan continued, "This Dragon Pearl was not formed from an ordinary member of the Dragon Clan. It was refined from one of the Defiled-Earth God's eyes.
"Back then, the Mysterious Yellow Spirit Sect was able to raise