Retirement at Taixuan

"I am who I am, a firework unlike any other."

Lin Xian stood with his hands behind his back, looking every inch an exalted master. The corners of his mouth lifted. Got you.

He was an Earthling who had read all five thousand words of the Dao De Jing. What was strange about that?

Without his gift of gab and knack for winning people over, how could he have become the Tianxuan Sacred Lord? How could he have brought things to this point?

Everyone wanted something. Give them what they wanted, and you could get what you wanted.

To take, first give. That was the path to unfettered freedom for an otherworldly demon like him.

A few words were all it had taken to get Li Ruoyu to admit him to Clumsy Peak.

Applause, please!

Li Ruoyu was moved. He started to speak, then held back. After a long pause, he said slowly, "I can give you a chance. You may stay..."

"Wait."

A commanding voice rang out. Boundless light formed a Divine Bridge stretching toward them, with an immortal-looking figure standing atop it. It was the head of the Taixuan Sect.

Behind him came a Ji Family expert with longstanding ties to the Taixuan Sect. He had been speaking with the sect head about collecting someone.

When they saw two powerful cultivators testing each other above Clumsy Peak, they hurried over and heard the discussion about passing on its teachings.

"Ruoyu, the teachings of Clumsy Peak cannot be passed to an outsider," the Taixuan sect head said firmly. "The sect's legacy of millions of years is at stake."

The two Ji Family experts exchanged a glance and shook their heads. A sect's legacy was not open to negotiation. If someone had come to the Ji Family asking to learn