This surreal feeling told her that Li Qiye would leave eventually. That day would come soon too.

Divine Black might be a major sect in the northern West King but it was nothing more than a puddle of water to him. It wouldn’t be able to keep him around.

That’s why she was very curious regarding his reason for coming here. A while ago, Li Qiye said that it was due to fate. But what exactly?

This so-called “fate” must still take root in something. That’s why he decided to stay here.

However, he only answered with a smile. His gaze trailed off towards the horizon, returning to the past.

This expression of his made her think that he didn’t belong to this world or this era. She thought that the distance between them was immense.

No existence currently could touch him. Or, perhaps he didn’t belong to the mortal world. He would be an immortal in the legends.

“Why did you come down here, Young Master?” She blurted out, unable to contain herself.

“Because of adorable people like you.” Li Qiye slowly turned around and looked at her.

Qianyue didn’t expect this playful response and certainly wasn’t conceited enough to think that she was the reason.

Adorable people - she deduced that he was referring to a group of people, not just her.

“So what kind of people can make you stick around, Young Master?” She brought the question to the next stage.

In this split moment, her vision and knowledge of cultivation broadened right away.

“None, I simply walk further on the path of the dao.” Li Qiye smiled and shook his head.

She tilted her head and thought about it before stopping with the questions.

“You’re smart with strong comprehension and enough vision to trust your own intuition. Divine Black will do well with you as its leader.” Li Qiye told her while sitting down.

“Well, I haven’t thought about it. I only want to cultivate, nothing more.” She paused momentarily before disagreeing.

This was something separating her from the other disciples.

She was the prized disciple in Divine Black, the most likely successor. Zhan Hu and Huang Ning worked so hard to obtain these goals.

They wanted authority and influence, not just seeking the dao. Thus, this required building status and winning allies.

Qianyue didn’t care at all. She didn’t mind being a regular disciple instead of the sect master. She only wanted to tread on the path of the grand dao. Her true pursuit was to surpass the patriarch or even South Conch Dao Lord by diligently searching for the dao.

Being famous and winning dominion over northern West King? Utterly pointless.

“It’s good being pure. Dao is the source of all, techniques are secondary, and influence is last place.” Li Qiye smiled.

She nodded in agreement, never having thought about becoming the next sect master.

***

The conflict between Divine Black and Three Truths caused quite a stir. A conference was in order for the upper echelon.

Several decades ago, the stars aligned and the ongoing conflict between the two finally stopped with a peace treaty.

Of course, some didn’t like this, especially those who lost close ones in the war. They had a problem with the peace treaty.

Liu Fuyou was one of them. He thought that Three Truths didn’t pay a high enough price for Su Xu’s death.

Nonetheless, the tension remained. That’s why the death of two division leaders was an awfully big deal.

The peak lords and elders knew that Three Truths wouldn’t take this sitting down. This could escalate far enough to nullify the peace treaty. Many didn’t wish for this.

There were two reports. The first came from Liu Fuyou and Huang Jie.

They stuck to the facts, that the ones from Three Truths pushed the issue and blatantly tried to steal a ginseng root from Divine Black’s territory. Finally, Li Qiye and Gong Cangyue came as reinforcement, resulting in the death of the Shu Brothers.

The second version came from Huang Ning and Zhan Hu.

It was nearly identical with a few things added for their own gains.

For example, the two said that Liu Fuyou didn’t pay enough attention to the wellbeing of his juniors. He was too emotional and rash, resulting in a conflict with the Shu Brothers. This dereliction of duty should be punished.

As for the actual killing, the two didn’t dare to be so blatant. They didn’t want to accuse Qianyue of anything because of her high status.

Thus, they pushed it onto Li Qiye and said that he insulted Three Truths. This worsened the situation and led to a fight. In the end, Qianyue had to kill the brothers in order to save Li Qiye and the others.

The two concluded that Li Qiye was responsible for this conflict. His arrogance broke the hard-earned peace between the two sects.

The upper echelon actually believed this because they have seen Li Qiye’s attitude before. He didn’t give a damn about any of the ancestors or even the patriarch of Divine Black. It wasn’t hard to imagine his insults towards Three Truths.

However, they did debate over the two versions.

One elder said that Liu Fuyou and Huang Jie did a terrible job and put others in danger. Another said that Three Truths was out of line - Liu Fuyou and Huang Jie were right to protect the sect’s honor.

All in all, they understood that Li Qiye was the one who ordered Qianyue to kill the brothers.

Huang Jie and Liu Fuyou naturally didn’t like the baseless accusation. Thus, they counter claimed that Zhan Hu and Huang Ning didn’t do everything possible to protect their peers.