"Fellow Chen, what is your view? Will you continue down their path?"
Elder Yu looked down at Chen Chuan, his massive form leaning slightly forward, a faint glimmer of anticipation in his eyes.
Meeting his gaze, Chen Chuan replied, "I will not follow their path." He lifted his head slightly. "The path I wish to walk is solely my own."
"Your own path?"
Chen Chuan said, "In my view, Senior Guan was never truly a guide. From what I have learned within the faction, the Purist Faction itself needed such a reform—it was the faction's own choice.
"As long as the Purist Faction still seeks to perpetuate its existence and fight against the beings from beyond, renewal is inevitable.
"Senior Guan merely happened to be someone among the upper echelons with sufficient strength at that time who was willing to step forward and support them. He was not leading anyone; rather, he was being pushed forward by the momentum.
"Therefore, there is no need for me to step forward and lead anything. So long as the members of the faction are given sufficient support, and someone shares and shoulders the pressure coming from the upper echelons, they are entirely capable of accomplishing this on their own."
He looked up at the colossal figure of Elder Yu above him.
"Though our strength may sometimes be sufficient, what we do is not necessarily right. Thus, there is no need for us to indulge in self-gratification or regard ourselves as some kind of guides. If we approve of them, then we need only participate alongside them and perform our own duties well."
"Good. Very good!"
Hearing these words, far from being angered, Elder Yu looked at him with even greater appreciation.
He said, "I originally thought you merely wished to tread the path Guan Dan left unfinished back then. It seems I underestimated you.
"Fellow Chen, you are even more exceptional than I imagined.
"In that case, I shall wait and see. Whatever you wish to do next, go ahead and do it. I will hold back the pressure from the other upper powers within the faction for you. I, too, wish to see just how far you can go."
Chen Chuan asked, "Does Elder Yu place such trust in a junior like me?"
Elder Yu seemed to know what he was referring to. "Before Zhao Zhenye met with disaster, no one imagined he would do such a thing either.
"Yet you are different from him. He gained benefits before rendering any service, whereas you established merits first and received benefits after.
"Judging by your past deeds and conduct, you are worthy of such trust.
"Perhaps you wonder, Fellow Chen, why I did not seek to peer into your true inner thoughts."
He shook his head. "People like us must understand restraint and not act with reckless abandon. The more power one wields, the less one can act willfully; otherwise, grave trouble is bound to follow.
"Furthermore..." he said slowly, "the Great Impact is no longer far from us. It may arrive within a year or two. As for whether this path can be walked to the end, the opportunity before us is already the best one."
Chen Chuan said, "Senior, you mean the Great Impact will arrive within a year or two? When I was with the Tianji Sect, I heard Heavenly Master Lu mention that he went out to combat the otherworldly fiends, thereby delaying it by three years."
Elder Yu replied, "What Heavenly Master Lu said is not wrong.
"Because the Ring of Worlds exists everywhere, the collision between the opposing world and our own is by no means an instantaneous affair. Rather, it will first breach the vulnerable points, then slowly exert pressure, and finally merge into one with us.
"This process may last several years, perhaps a dozen or more, or even longer. For the two worlds to become completely indistinguishable, it could take a century or a millennium.
"However, according to our observations, the earliest front of the collision may appear in about a year's time. At that point, it could manifest anywhere in the world, and this very gorge guarded by our Purist Faction might well become the foremost frontier.
"When that time comes, our Purist Faction will bear the brunt of it, and we will shoulder the greatest pressure. While we have no fear and are willing to stand at the very forefront, I still hope that our internal matters can be resolved before the Great Impact arrives."
Chen Chuan pondered this. If that was the case, it made sense why the Federation was so eager to recover the Weishu Continent from the Tianji Sect. This was likely their last chance; once missed, such an opportunity would never come again.
Moreover, the Federation clearly harbored deep distrust toward the Tianji Sect, likely fearing that the sect's position would be the first to develop cracks, which would then drag down the entire Federation.
Viewed from this angle, the situation was perhaps even more pressing than previously thought.
Seeing that he was lost in thought, Elder Yu deliberately waited a moment before speaking again. "I saw what you said in your reply to Zhao Qilan.
"Fellow Chen, you wish to obtain the method for advancement as well as cultivation resources?"
Chen Chuan nodded. "Yes."
Elder Yu asked, "You stayed with the Tianji Sect, so you presumably received guidance from Heavenly Master Lu. How much do you know about cultivating to the upper realm?"
Chen Chuan answered simply and directly, "Inquire within."
Elder Yu nodded. "That is correct. Although the paths of the Three Visages differ, those saints, heavenly masters, and dhyana masters of the old faiths mostly walk the paths of the Visage of the Aberrant and the Visage of the Divine, and not without reason.
"Because the trails blazed and the experiences gathered by their predecessors, as well as the treasures they found, can mostly aid later generations. A great deal of them were left on the other side of the Ring of Worlds. Guided by what their predecessors left behind—or, as they put it, if they possess the karmic affinity—later generations can journey there to seek them out.
"Our Visage of Man, however, is different. How to cultivate and what specific things are required are known only to oneself; others can hardly assist you.
"Yet difficult does not mean entirely impossible.
"Our Purist Faction has traveled the furthest along the path of the Visage of Man and achieved the greatest results. No other faction in the entire world can compare with us in this regard, and we have consistently dedicated ourselves to leaving behind a substantial legacy for our descendants.
"Thus, we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge regarding the cultivation of the Visage of Man.
"For a Xuanji martial artist of the Visage of Man to attain upper-level power, aside from self-cultivation, three external conditions must usually be met."
Chen Chuan listened with keen attention. Back at the Tianji Sect, he had browsed through some records concerning the path of advancement, but nearly all pertained to the Visage of the Divine and the Visage of the Aberrant. Information regarding the Visage of Man was exceedingly scarce and vague.
"These three conditions are location, rare materials, and relics."
Elder Yu said, "To begin with relics: no matter which path one walks, ascending to the upper-level power requires finding and integrating relics. At the very least, one Grade 1 relic is needed, though this varies from person to person; sometimes certain individuals may require several or more.
"Although Grade 1 relics are scarce, they are not particularly difficult for major factions like ours to find. What is difficult is finding one that is compatible with you. Furthermore, certain relics possess special functions and are unsuitable for use as consumables.
"Above Grade 1 relics, there are higher-tier relics, which are compatible with nearly everyone. But those are exceedingly rare. Our Purist Faction has already exhausted its supply, though the Great Shun government should still possess some, and perhaps the old faiths and the Former Imperial House still retain a few.
"Therefore, major factions nowadays prefer to acquire them from the government. Even if they have any remaining in reserve, they are typically reluctant to use them, preferring instead to obtain them from the Great Shun government."
Chen Chuan nodded slightly. So the Visage of Man also required relics; when he had read the Tianji Sect's classics earlier, this was indeed an indispensable component.
"Next are the rare materials, which are somewhat more complicated. They usually originate from certain things across the Ring of Worlds. For our Visage of Man, they are primarily harvested from the slain otherworldly fiends.
"As for what exactly it is, and which fiends are the ones you require, once you eliminate them, you will naturally come to understand."
Having said this, Elder Yu added another remark:
"Hence, any Xuanji martial artist treading the Visage of Man who reaches the Dongxuan View and wishes to climb higher must inevitably confront those otherworldly fiends. There is no avoiding it."
Chen Chuan understood. If that was the case, he could see why the Purist Faction had always stood on the front lines against otherworldly beings, and why it had consistently remained the most resolute faction opposing the fiends from start to finish.
Because otherworldly entities were the necessary materials for the advancement of the Visage of Man. When the Visage of Man became the mainstream within a faction, such a stance was virtually inevitable.
If one added to this the convictions derived from the faction's philosophy, it was enough to drive everyone across the entire faction, from top to bottom, to follow this path one after another.
Elder Yu said, "When you arrived, you must have seen that many fiends are imprisoned at headquarters?"
Chen Chuan's heart stirred. "Elder Yu, they are used for this purpose?"
Elder Yu said, "We have roughly thirty otherworldly entities imprisoned here, all of which were once utilized as rare materials for the cultivation of the Visage of Man."
As he spoke, vague silhouettes of numerous otherworldly entities flickered faintly around him.
"Once you go out, you may test them to see if any of them are what you need. If so, you need only hunt down such fiends in the future, without having to search and grope in the dark on your own. If none match, at least you will have eliminated these possibilities.
"Of course, for certain exceptionally powerful martial artists, the rare materials they require might not come from a single type of fiend; in that case, one can only expend further effort to track them down."
Chen Chuan nodded.
Elder Yu continued, "Finally, there is the location. On the other side of the Ring of Worlds, there exist specific places where attempting a breakthrough makes it easier to reach the upper level. Some of these locations are still held to this day by members of the old faiths and the Former Imperial House, while others remain in the hands of those fiends.
"Yet in the world today, those who control the greatest number of such sites are the various national governments.
"In particular, the governments of the world's major powers, having been born virtually upon the remains of the Old Dynasty, seized a great deal of heritage from the former empire. Coupled with their own formidable national strength, they naturally became the powers holding the most such locations.
"As for certain regional coalitions, they too claimed a share of the spoils when the Grand Alliance dissolved, securing control over some locations. Without these, one cannot foster upper-level strength of one's own, making it impossible to stand firmly in the world and leaving no choice but to rely on major powers and other alliances."
Chen Chuan considered this for a moment and asked, "Elder Yu, does such a location also depend on an individual's degree of compatibility?"
"You are very sharp, Fellow Chen. That is indeed the case."
Elder Yu said, "Therefore, at present, speaking solely of our Great Shun, any faction that wishes to accomplish something and secure convenient access to the path of advancement must actively participate in Great Shun's political affairs, thereby increasing its own influence and voice."
At this point, his tone grew heavier. "And every political contest directly or indirectly impacts the ease with which a faction can secure resources."
Chapter 1352