The Qianji Sect's mountain grounds comprised four outer peaks and three inner peaks.
Wavelooking Peak housed the Inner Sect disciples. Daily instruction, lectures on the Dao, miscellaneous affairs, and social visits all took place there.
Of the other two peaks, Fate-Watching Peak was where Elder Sui Liushu cultivated in seclusion, while Sun-Watching Peak was where the sect master remained in closed-door cultivation.
Since the Qianji Sect had opened its gates and established its Dharma Lineage, only two or three generations had passed.
Sect Master Liu Huan had succeeded to his position in his youth, but his insufficient cultivation had kept him in seclusion year after year. He seldom inquired into or intervened in the sect's mundane affairs.
In the early years, everything from developing resource sites and managing the workshops on each peak to opening markets for Law Artifacts had largely been handled by Elder Sui alone.
That had continued until Sui Liushu failed in his attempt to reach the tenth level of Qi Refining and suffered a severe loss of vitality, while Liu Huan advanced by leaps and bounds and broke through to the tenth level.
As one man's cultivation waned and the other's rose, the balance finally shifted, and authority gradually changed hands.
"I wonder whether Elder Sui still remembers me-"
Yang Xun rode a Flying Crane halfway up Fate-Watching Peak. Formation restrictions had been laid farther up, preventing direct passage without prior notification or a token, so he could only climb the steps on foot.
He was, in truth, apprehensive about approaching Elder Sui to secure a backer for Jiang Yi.
For one thing, after Sui Liushu's attempt to reach the tenth level of Qi Refining fell short at the final hurdle and he retired into seclusion, his "trusted subordinates" had been dispersed, either to oversee market