Thud thudâ¦
Inside the Heavenly Tower Palace, Lan Yu knocked on the room door.
âCome in.â
A sluggish sound came from inside the house.
Lan Yu pushed open the door and walked in just to see Chu Kuangren letting out a yawn. He had just woken up not long ago, and he flashed her a faint smile.
She went forward and skillfully made Chu Kuangrenâs bed for him. Then while she helped him change into his clothes, she said, âMaster, Elder Ruyan has asked me to remind you to arrive at Longevity Hall on time for the meeting.â
âMeeting? Oh, today is the beginning of the month.â
Chu Kuangren said it as if it had just dawned on him.
The Black Heaven Sect would hold a meeting once every month to discuss the matters that had unfolded throughout the whole of last month, such as how the disciples were performing, or if the other sage orthodoxies had done anything worth mentioning.
After he was done grooming himself, Chu Kuangren took a close look at himself in the mirror. âAfter being the Sect Leader for a year, I feel like my hairline has receded a bit. If this keeps on, I think Iâll be bald in no time.â
Lan Yu laughed helplessly. âMaster, youâre just overthinking things. Your hair is still quite thick. Your hairline didnât change at all.â
âIs that so?â
âYes, youâre still as good-looking as always.â
âVery well then.â
Along with Lan Yu, Chu Kuangren was about to venture out of the house.
In the courtyard, Lil Bing was feeding Lil Red some spirit fruits.
âMaster.â
âFairfrost Sage has sent us some spirit fruits again?â
âYes, and this time she sent two large baskets of them. She told us that she has planted more because Godly Phoenix likes to eat them.â Lil Bing pointed at the two baskets of crimson red spirit fruits at the side, which was emanating a surge of thick Fire-based Daoist Rhyme.
Any one of these was an incredibly valuable Top-tier medicine.
However, they were merely Godly Phoenix, Lil Redâs snacks too.
âHow thoughtful of her. Oh, right.â
Chu Kuangren then took out a book and also a bottle.
Inside the bottle were some seeds.
âThis is the solution to the alchemy question she asked me to solve last time, as well as some Supreme Elixir seeds. Please pass it to her for me later.â
Throughout the year, Fairfrost Sage had sought Chu Kuangrenâs consultation on her problems from time to time. Sometimes, some problems were more complicated so he would jot them down and save them up until he had some free time, then write down the solutions in a book for her.
Besides that, he would sometimes draw some very strange items from the gacha roll, and these Supreme Elixir seeds were one of those.
He did not have the time to plant them, so he passed them to Fairfost Sage for her to deal with.
âAlright, Master.â
Outside the Heavenly Tower Palace.
Chu Kuangren and Lan Yu walked in the direction of the Longevity Hall.
Every disciple who met them on their way there would bow down respectfully.
âGreetings, Sect Leader.â
âGreetings, Sect Leader.â
As compared to a year ago, Black Heaven Sect had indeed changed a lot.
One of the most noteworthy things was that in just a year, the disciplesâ cultivation bases had shown improvements.
This was especially the case for Daoists like Murong Xuan and Nangong Huang. Under Chu Kuangrenâs close tutelage, their advancement in realms was incredibly fast.
At the Longevity Hall, the elders were already gathered in full.
When they saw Chu Kuangren, everyone bowed.
âGreetings, Sect Leader.â
âAlright, no need for courtesy. Letâs begin.â
Chu Kuangren let out a faint smile before he sat down on the main seat of the big hall.
Each elder began to report their work progress.
The majority of those were unimportant small matters. It was not even halfway through the meeting yet and Chu Kuangren had already started to yawn. It was too boring for him.
âOh, right. Horizon Wing Sect has asked us for backup recently. They said that they were overrun by tormented souls. Iâve already dispatched some people there to deal with it.â
Elder Ruyan suddenly brought this up.
Upon hearing that, Chu Kuangrenâs interest was finally piqued a little.
âTormented souls?â
âYes. Horizon Wing Sect is based near the Ancient Battlefield, so itâs not uncommon for them to be invaded by tormented souls at times,â Elder Ruyan said.
Tormented souls originated from the Ancient Battlefield, one of the Ten Great Forbidden Areas. They were formed when the infinite ferocious qi at the Ancient Battlefield combined with the hateful spirits of those who had died, shaping this unique existence whose souls would wander at the regions around the Ancient Battlefield.
The tormented soulsâ disturbance on the Horizon Wind Sect was not anything unusual. Black Heaven Sect had also sent some people there to support them before, and such problems were always settled swiftly.
The elders began to report the remaining matters.
Nevertheless, these two words â Ancient Battlefield repeated in Chu Kuangrenâs mind.
He recalled the Sage War that the Eternal Sage King mentioned in the past, wherein the venue for it was exactly this Ancient Battlefield.
This inadvertently brought up his desire to go and look at the place.
âIâve decided. Iâll be heading to the Ancient Battlefield.â
His people were still in the midst of reporting to him, but when they heard what Chu Kuangren said, they were all momentarily stunned as they looked at each other.
âSect Leader, why do you want to go to the Ancient Battlefield?â
âFor training.â
Chu Kuangren simply made up an excuse.
âSect Leader, what do you need more training for?â one of the elders said in a speechless tone, and the others expressed a similar look.
âSect Leader, quit playing us.â
âYou can already kill Sages, why else do you need training for?â
âWell, I just need it.â
âBut once youâre gone, who will look after Black Heaven Sect?â
âWhen Iâm away, Iâll temporarily put Elder Ruyan in charge over everything regarding the Sect. If thereâs anything important, just contact me.â
âButâ¦â
Elder Ruyan and the rest were still somewhat hesitant.
âAlright, thatâs that. Black Heaven Sect has had such great improvements over this one year. You guys have also dealt with our sectâs matters in a very organized manner. Itâs not like you wonât be able to handle things without me here, isnât it?â Chu Kuangren smiled back at them.
What a pity.
He had secluded himself in the Black Heaven Sect for a year now.
If he still did not venture outside, he feared that his body would start to rust.
âAh⦠alright then.â
Elder Ruyan nodded.
Truth be told, it was not that they did not want Chu Kuangren to leave. However, throughout this one year, the fact that Black Heaven Sect could develop until its state today was mostly owed to Chu Kuangren.
They had unknowingly developed a sense of dependency on this young Sect Leader who had just reached the age of twenty.
Hence when they heard that he was going to leave the sect, they felt at a loss and found it hard to believe that this would happen to them someday.
How did they develop such high dependence on such a young Sect Leader?
âGreat.â
A smile was etched on Chu Kuangrenâs face. âLan Yu, letâs go. Letâs pack our stuff and then go catch some waves. Oh, I mean, catch some training.â
â¦
Deep inside Black Heaven Sect.
Inside a cottage, Black Heavenâs Third Forefather smiled faintly. âThis little guy is going out to stir up trouble again. Shall we get someone to follow him?â
âThereâs no need for that.â
Black Heavenâs Second Forefatherâs voice rang out. âSince he can already slay Sages, I donât think heâll need any Protectors now.â
Sages were known to have the combat strength in Firmament Star.
Undoubtedly, the current Chu Kuangren already stood amongst the most elite group of people in the entire world. Why else would he need Protectors for?
âHeh, who knows what sort of trouble would this little guy create this time?â Honorable Xuan Qi chuckled lightly and said.
He remembered the times when Chu Kuangren went out for training in the past. There was not once where he would not do something incredibly shocking and almost turned the whole world upside down.
Now that he was out once again, who knew what kind of havoc would he wreck this time.
Honorable Xuan Qiâs sentence left the few other forefathers rather speechless.
âEverything this little guy does is incredible, but one thing heâs too capable of is causing a stir.â
âHah, thatâs pretty good too. Young people should have the energy to be allowed the freedom to express themselves. After all, thereâs still the few of us old ones to stand guard.â
Black Heavenâs Second Forefather laughed.
Black Heaven Sect was now at an unprecedented height in their strength. Besides Chu Kuangren who had the combat strength of a Sage, they also had Second Forefather, Third Forefather, and Fairfrost Sage, not to mention Honorable Xuan Qi who was a Boundary Sage on his way to becoming a Sage.
On top of that, Seventh Forefather was going to attempt ascension soon as well.
Once he succeeded, they would have another Boundary Sage,
Moreover, Black Heaven Sect aside, these two sage orthodoxies â the School of White Lotus and Royal Azure Dynasty also provided Chu Kuangren with a strong backing.