Volume 1 Volume 5 Chapter 157

Volume 5 Chapter 157: Before the Beginning (Part 1)

Anyone who has a belief in their heart is always incredibly lonely.

Because belief means persistence, but not everyone is willing to stick to a purpose and sacrifice everything for it.

Li Yuhan is the kind of person who truly has belief. In this regard, Xu Qingfan is not like him, as most of what Xu Qingfan does is reactive.

Zhang Hualing quietly listened as Xu Qingfan explained everything that had happened. After a long time, he sighed softly and then fell silent.

He personally brought Li Yuhan to Jiuhua. Li Yuhan’s master, Bao Qingfang, is an undercover agent for Zhang Xusheng, who only wants to overthrow Jiuhua. He also personally taught Li Yuhan how to cultivate, so although he is called an ancestral master, their relationship is actually more like that of teacher and student.

Moreover, it cannot be denied that with Li Yuhan’s character and ability, he is better suited to be the sect leader of Jiuhua than Xu Qingfan. If it weren’t for the fact that he is a third-generation disciple, and his cultivation and reputation do not command respect, both Zhang Hualing and Xu Qingfan would not hesitate to make him the sect leader.

In fact, after Xu Qingfan becomes the sect leader, he would indeed make Li Yuhan a Deacon Elder. When Li Yuhan’s reputation and strength are sufficient, he would appoint him as sect leader while Xu Qingfan enjoys his freedom, which is one of Xu Qingfan’s small plans.

But now, none of this can happen. Xu Qingfan has long been destined to become the next Master of Jiuhua, while Li Yuhan’s reputation and strength are still lacking. If things change, Jiuhua will surely fall into chaos.

However, Li Yuhan has begun to show signs of targeting the two of them. We cannot ignore this, but we cannot act either, because Li Yuhan has done nothing wrong, and Jiuhua truly cannot do without him right now.

After a long silence, Zhang Hualing finally spoke.

"I know Yu Han very well. He is not doing this for me. If you truly die, he will still follow your plan to deal with me. He is loyal to me, but even more loyal to the legacy of Jiuhua. He is doing this simply because he does not want someone who might tread the evil path to become the Master of Jiuhua. You have revealed too much in that green slip."

When Xu Qingfan heard Zhang Hualing’s words, he gave a slight, bitter smile. At that time, the situation was urgent, and Xu Qingfan was too focused on recording the events and responses to think about anything else.

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Hualing continued, "Yu Han has not done anything wrong. You can only guard against his actions; his responsibilities should not be undermined. Furthermore, if in the future he truly does something wrong, you can only detain him and not dispose of him at will. You and I both understand what he means for the future of Jiuhua."

"The disciple understands."

Xu Qingfan bowed in response.

After leaving Zhang Hualing’s room, Xu Qingfan’s expression had become incredibly cold.

Zhang Hualing’s message was very clear. He let Li Yuhan act freely, and Xu Qingfan could only guard against him but not stop him. If Li Yuhan succeeded, everything was over. If Li Yuhan failed, Xu Qingfan could not punish him either.

Xu Qingfan knew Zhang Hualing’s purpose. Like Li Yuhan, Zhang Hualing did not trust Xu Qingfan and was afraid that he would go down the wrong path. The reason for making Xu Qingfan the heir of the sect leader was that Xu Qingfan was the best candidate among the second-generation disciples and that Xu Qingfan was recognized as the successor by Li Xuhan. So, all along, he had been trying to develop Xu Qingfan’s skills and reputation. But in Zhang Hualing’s heart, the Li Yuhan he personally trained was probably the best choice.

In short, in Zhang Hualing’s mind, Xu Qingfan was just a stepping stone between him and Li Yuhan. Although it was important for this stepping stone to be as perfect as possible for the stability of Jiuhua, it was still just a stepping stone, and precautions were necessary.

Balance was everything. Zhang Hualing used Xu Qingfan to balance himself and used Li Yuhan to balance Xu Qingfan. Everything was so balanced, striving for perfection; if any link had a problem, there was a backup plan, showing his careful planning.

Xu Qingfan even suspected that Zhang Hualing knew about Li Yuhan’s actions these days, perhaps even encouraging them.

However, Xu Qingfan could not blame Zhang Hualing for all of this, even though he felt cold inside. It was just like how Zhang Hualing didn’t blame Xu Qingfan when he learned about the green slip. Once he became a monster and had Xu Qingfan kill him, it was part of his plan. After all, Zhang Hualing did everything for Jiuhua and could sacrifice himself without hesitation, so why would he hesitate with Xu Qingfan?

Everything was for Jiuhua.

These eight words felt so heavy at that moment.

Xu Qingfan admired everything about Zhang Hualing and Li Yuhan because he felt he could not do those things.

But Xu Qingfan was not willing to be taken advantage of like this.

With a slight sigh, Xu Qingfan’s expression returned to calm as he slowly walked towards his courtyard.

He came here only to determine Zhang Hualing’s attitude, not to seek support or advice.

The goal was achieved, and Zhang Hualing’s attitude was indeed as he had imagined.

Sometimes, having a perfect plan can be a very annoying thing.

※※※※

The calm yet uneasy night passed as everyone had their own thoughts, and when the bright sun replaced the round moon, the light drove away the darkness, as if nothing had ever happened.

Xu Qingfan, Zhang Hualing, and Li Yuhan still met with a peaceful demeanor.

The events that followed began to unfold as planned.

The lower and middle-level cultivators of the Righteous Alliance began to gather and petition, encouraged by those with good intentions, to let Xu Qingfan join the decision-making team of the Righteous Alliance. Faced with the thoughts of many cultivators, Xu Qingfan eventually fulfilled his wish and officially entered the decision-making team of the Righteous Alliance, holding a position equivalent to that of the sect leaders of various major factions, just slightly below the twelve grandmasters.

Additionally, because Xu Qingfan was the first second-generation disciple to join the decision-making team of the Righteous Alliance, he officially became the leader of the young generation.

However, different from the plan, Xu Qingfan did not represent Jiuhua when entering the decision-making team; instead, he represented the smaller sects and rogue cultivators. Out of gratitude for saving their lives, these cultivators were willing to trust Xu Qingfan, as none of them had the prestige or ability to enter the decision-making team.

Also, the reason for Xu Qingfan entering the decision-making team was not because he had accomplished many great deeds to become a hero of the Righteous Alliance, but because his identity was no longer suitable for carrying out dangerous missions.

"With Xu Qingfan’s current reputation and status, if he were to be accidentally killed by an enemy while on a mission, it would greatly hurt morale."

This was the exact quote from Fan Xiaoyao, the sect leader of the Xingyin Sect. Xu Qingfan did not know whether this meant he was being valued or looked down upon. However, one thing was certain: for some time, Xu Qingfan would be in charge of arranging and coordinating missions for various rogue cultivators and those from smaller sects, and he would no longer need to go out on missions himself.

This was something Xu Qingfan had longed for, but he was still somewhat worried about the safety of the Jiuhua Team.

Ten days later, the cultivators of the Righteous Alliance began to gather. Led by the twelve grandmasters, they split into three teams and started sweeping across the Shenzhou Continent to intercept the various demon beasts that were continuously gathering from all corners of the continent. Since the demon beasts were scattered, they achieved great success, even killing two heavenly-level demon beasts, over a thousand earth-level demon beasts, and countless human-level demon beasts.

However, the command ability of the nine-tailed demon fox exceeded the Righteous Alliance decision-makers’ imaginations. Except for the initial successful interceptions, the movements of the demon beasts became more secretive and unpredictable. Occasionally, clear activities were more often traps and smokescreens, causing Righteous Alliance cultivators to either run around fruitlessly or encounter another large group of demon beasts lying in ambush nearby.

So, amidst the interception and counter-interception, the encirclement and counter-encirclement, the gathering speed of the demon beasts became incredibly slow.

Besides slowing down the gathering speed of the Southern Wasteland demon beasts, the Righteous Alliance has also achieved many inspiring things in the past two years. After nearly twenty years, they finally completely destroyed the "Eight Wilderness Hall," which was the first to cause the disaster. Thousands of cultivators from the "Eight Wilderness Hall" were captured, and except for the second hall master Man Di, none escaped. The "Eight Wilderness Hall" officially became a historical term in the cultivation world.

Shortly after completely eliminating the "Eight Wilderness Hall," the "Beast Madness cultivators" were also officially eradicated by the Righteous Alliance from the Shenzhou Continent.

Among these events, Hua Xian, who had recovered from his injuries, achieved a lot. With the help of kind-hearted people spreading the word, he became another hero of the Righteous Alliance, his status among the young disciples only second to Xu Qingfan. Some people compared him with Xu Qingfan, calling them the "Duo of Justice," and he gained much attention.

Additionally, since many alchemy masters from various sects gathered together and, over the years of fighting the Southern Wasteland demon beasts, they obtained countless demon beast inner dan and essence, they created many spirit pills and high-level magical weapons. This led to a significant improvement in the cultivation levels of the Righteous Alliance members below the Real Golden Core Stage. In two years, over twenty Immortal Ascending Pills were refined, and with their power, numerous cultivators who had been stuck at the Lingji Stage for years broke through to become Condensed Core Stage cultivators. The number of Condensed Core Stage cultivators in the Righteous Alliance reached an astonishing two thousand five hundred, surpassing the number when the Righteous Alliance was first established. However, the number of experts in the Real Golden Core Stage remained unchanged, gradually decreasing in ongoing battles.

Nevertheless, everyone began to believe that once the Southern Wasteland demon beasts were driven away, this disaster would officially come to an end.

At the same time, Xu Qingfan and his Jiuhua Team started their rest according to plan, taking a complete two-year break without participating in the battles against the Southern Wasteland demon beasts.

Wang Zegang is the Supreme Protector of a small sect called "Xuanxu Sect," and he has reached the late stage of the Real Golden Core Stage. Despite having a high status in the Xuanxu Sect, he was still an inconspicuous member among the countless experts of the Righteous Alliance.

He has been feeling very upset these days. He does not enjoy fighting, but he dislikes being idle at "Ronghua Mountain" while others battle the Southern Wasteland demon beasts even more. Furthermore, those who participated in the battles received rewards like spirit pills and magical weapons, while he received nothing and was inexplicably arranged to rest, just like the five members of Jiuhua, taking a complete two-year break.

While everyone else was fighting the Southern Wasteland Demon Beast, the "Ronghua Mountain," which only high-level cultivators could enter, seemed empty, and Wang Zegang felt as if he had been abandoned.

That day, Wang Zegang was meditating and practicing in his home when suddenly, a clear yet calm voice came from outside his room.

"I am Jiuhua Li Yuhan, and I seek to meet Taoist Friend Wang."