"Before I told you, Junior Brother, no third person knew about this other than the Sect Master and me."
"So, Junior Brother, you must keep this secret well for me."
Senior Sister Zhao spoke softly, an eerie undertone in her voice.
A fatal sense of crisis suddenly surged in Li Fan's heart.
In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. His body stiffened abruptly for a moment, but soon returned to normal.
Caressing her smooth, fair back, he replied as if it were only natural, "Of course. When I heard the news just now, even I was shocked and found it unbelievable.
"Not to mention the elders—if they were to learn of this, they would surely band together to stop it.
"Even with the Sect Master's support, compared to those old fogies, our strength is still far too weak, Senior Sister. We still need to gather our strength, bide our time, and strive to deliver a decisive blow when the time comes." Putting himself entirely in her shoes, Li Fan offered advice and strategies for Senior Sister Zhao.
Senior Sister Zhao merely lay quietly in Li Fan's embrace, neither answering nor moving.
It was as if she had fallen asleep.
"By the way, Senior Sister... how did Sect Master Ji suddenly come up with the idea of passing the position of Sect Master to you?" After a long silence, Li Fan finally could not help asking aloud.
"Who knows? The thoughts of these old fossils are always so unfathomable. Maybe he sees hope for Longevity and doesn't want to deal with Dadao Sect's mess anymore?" Senior Sister Zhao shifted her posture, her tone lazy.
"After all, the world is growing increasingly chaotic. These so-called Ten Great Immortal Sects—in the eyes of Longevity realm powerhouses, their entanglements far outweigh their actual worth..."
Senior Sister Zhao's voice grew fainter and fainter, until it was barely audible.
Seeing that she had no intention of saying more, Li Fan did not dare press further.
He simply initiated dual cultivation once again.
A fleeting indulgence in pleasure.
-----
Li Fan knew that ever since the day Senior Sister Zhao walked out of the sect's main hall, she had become somewhat different.
It was merely an obscure intuition in his heart, devoid of concrete evidence.
In their daily lives together from morning till night, he found nothing unusual about this senior sister who had accompanied him for a century.
Yet...
Li Fan remained utterly convinced that, bit by bit, some change was unfolding within her.
Where on earth did this lingering sense of crisis entwining his heart come from, though?
Even if Senior Sister Zhao was hiding things from him, from what he could see, her feelings toward him were not false.
If she became the Sect Master of the Dadao Sect, he would be the Sect Master's Dao companion.
One had to understand, this was no ordinary minor sect, but the illustrious Dadao Sect, whose renown shook the entire cultivation world.
When the time came, he would truly be below only one person, yet above ten thousand.
Even in the wild ambitions he had once envisioned, he had never dared dream of such a position.
Now, through Senior Sister Zhao, boundless glory and wealth were within easy reach!
Where on earth had things gone wrong?
Li Fan subconsciously felt that he seemed to have forgotten something important.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not recall what it was.
He had no choice but to carry on with life as usual while investigating in secret.
Time flew like a weaver's shuttle.
Another three years passed.
Over those three years, through the joint efforts of numerous brilliant cultivators from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, a method was finally discovered to eradicate the lingering Immortal Plague permeating heaven and earth.
Thus, a large-scale cleansing operation commenced.
For the sake of their future living environment, every surviving sect had to dispatch cultivators across the Xuanhuang Realm to carry out missions to eliminate the Immortal Plague.
As for Li Fan and Senior Sister Zhao, who had always served as the workhorses, Ji Changxi naturally did not dispatch them down the mountain again now that she was confirmed as the candidate for the next Sect Master.
Instead, another group of five true disciples was sent.
Li Fan also benefited by association, remaining within the sect to enjoy peace and leisure.
As days passed, even while staying within the mountain gates, Li Fan could sense that the environment of the Xuanhuang Realm seemed to be gradually improving.
"Only after great catastrophe comes great order. May the calamity of heaven and earth pass swiftly, so our generation may once again welcome a flourishing age of cultivation!"
Within the sect, Li Fan would often hear disciples wishing aloud like this.
As the Immortal Plague gradually dissipated, Senior Sister Zhao also grew increasingly busy.
Seemingly preparing to officially take over the position of Dadao Sect's Sect Master, she had been continuously attending various meetings lately.
Those attending were all highly respected, senior elders of the Dadao Sect.
Persuading them was certainly no easy task.
Li Fan often saw elders storming out of meeting chambers with fury written across their faces, flicking their sleeves in anger.
Yet Senior Sister Zhao told Li Fan that he didn't need to worry.
More and more elders had been persuaded to support her succession to the Sect Master's seat.
"Soon, I will become the true Sect Master of the Dadao Sect,"
Senior Sister Zhao said with a smile.
Far from feeling at ease over this, the dread that had lingered in Li Fan's heart only intensified.
It was not just Senior Sister Zhao.
Throughout the entire Dadao Sect, a chilling, inexplicable change seemed to be taking place.
Although he could sense anomalies developing, Li Fan was never able to uncover the truth behind them.
Helpless, Li Fan felt increasingly anxious and furious inside.
Senior Sister Zhao, sharing his bed, naturally noticed these emotions in him.
Fortunately, Li Fan merely blamed it on the increasingly frequent demise phenomena appearing across the sky.
He had thought that once the Immortal Plague was cleared away, cultivators would be able to enjoy a moment of peace and stability.
Who could have guessed that not long after, another anomaly would strike between heaven and earth?
The "death proclamations" that Li Fan and Senior Sister Zhao had witnessed previously had only appeared randomly across the vault of heaven whenever a cultivator perished.
Now, however, that "randomness" was turning into a certainty.
Moreover, the scale and influence of these phenomena were steadily intensifying.
When a Dao Integration cultivator perished, the resulting spectacle could cover the heavens for tens of thousands of li around.
What was even more terrifying was that for every cultivator who witnessed heaven and earth's "death proclamation," the tremor and unease in their hearts were continually stirred.
Those cultivators who had long abandoned any hope of advancing their cultivation, wanting only to drift through their days and live out the rest of their lives—
After seeing the celestial visions produced by perishing cultivators day after day,
uncanny emotions began to fester within their hearts.
Grief over the loss of their kind, unwillingness to accept their fate, bewilderment, fury...
When a cultivator within the Dadao Sect also perished as their lifespan reached its end,
an eerie atmosphere began to quietly spread throughout the sect.
It was under such circumstances that Senior Sister Zhao officially succeeded to the position, becoming the Sect Master of the Dadao Sect.
A total of seventeen elders unanimously agreed with former Sect Master Ji Changxi's decision,
leaving many sect disciples who had been waiting for a spectacle utterly flabbergasted.
At the same time, the unease in Li Fan's heart reached its absolute peak.
Chapter 522