[“Ownership of Old Self's authority?”]
[You stared at the quest reward field, your gaze sharpening slightly.]
[What did that mean?]
[Was Old Self going to give you a portion of his own authority as a reward?]
[You had never seen "Old Self" take such initiative.]
[In the past, he had always pulled strings from the shadows, exerting his influence in unfathomable ways. He never appeared directly, much less handed over something as fundamental as his authority.]
[But this time was different.]
[This was his request.]
[Since "Old Self," who stood behind you, had asked, you... accepted.]
[But you also knew that [Purple Cloud True Lord] was far too heaven-defying.]
[Even with your [essence] elevated to [Immortal Venerable] (Nascent Soul Perfection, limit-breaking) by [late bloomer] and [heaven rewards diligence], if she could make Old Self this cautious,]
[it probably would not be enough to measure up to her.]
[You might even inevitably clash head-on with her master along the way]
[—[Blazing Sun Immortal Venerable].]
[You began taking stock of your trump cards.]
[[Wish echo] remained unused, but this might not be the right moment for it.]
[[I am the mastermind] had already been used on Zhuo Zhao, leaving it completely unavailable this time.]
[[Unrestricted] was still available, and you could put it to use as circumstances dictated.]
[But that was not enough.]
[Not nearly enough.]
[You lacked two things.]
[First, information.]
[The explanation in that letter was far too brief.]
[You needed to know why [Purple Cloud True Lord's] [life-bound divine ability] could contend with the authority of "Old Self," who was at least a [Half-Immortal], when she had only been a [Foundation Establishment True Person].]
[If she could contend with his complete authority back then, how terrifying had she become now that she had attained the Dao as a [Nascent