Chapter 238: The Discussion (I)

A few minutes earlier.

Sect Leader Su was lost in his thoughts as the gate of the Grand Meeting Hall was suddenly pushed open.

While seated on the main seat at the center of the hall, Sect Leader Su raised his head and found Peak Master Duan entering the hall.

He nodded at Peak Master Duan, who, in response, cupped his fists.

Gesturing him to take a seat, Sect Leader Su said, "Didn't see you for the last few days. What are you up to these days?"

Peak Master Duan replied, moving towards his seat on the right of Sect Leader Su, "Senior Brother, that's not important right now, but I remembered that it's my nephew's last day in closed-door cultivation, so I came running. Did you meet him yet?"

Sect Leader Su smiled, "Ah, no, not yet. Elder Lai Chang has gone to bring him here. Both of them should enter the hall any minute now."

Peak Leader Duan frowned, "Elder Lai Chang? Why did you send him, Senior Brother?"

Sect Leader Su shrugged, "He was the only one present in the hall at that time. And he was also the one who took Fang Chen to the Sword Stele last month."

Peak MAster duan pursed his lips and replied, "Senior Brother, I would advise you not to let people of the Grand Elder Xuan close to Fang Chen."

Sect Leader Su rolled his eyes, "Don't you already know which league Fang Chen chose to join last month?"

Peak Master nodded his head, "I know it was the Heavenly League. However, joining the league and being with the core members of the Xuan Faction are two different things."

"Fang Chen is still young and inexperienced in the way of the world. If we let those people be too close to him, he would get brainwashed in their ideals, and it would only make it hard for you to get close to him and for him to accept you in the coming future."

Sect Leader Su shook his head, "Don't worry about that. You should know that I am good at judging people - and I have judged Fang Chen's nature and self-awareness to his surroundings."

Peak Master raised his eyebrows, "What do you mean, Senior Brother?"

Sect Leader Su had his lips curved into a small smile as he said, "Fang Chen isn't a lamb to the slaughter. He knows what others want from him - he's scheming and understands other people's nature very well."

Peak Master Duan was surprised at those words, "And you have judged this after meeting him only twice and talking to him for two minutes in total?"

Sect Leader Su shrugged, "I trust my intuition in this. Fang Chen won't fall for cheap schemes. In fact, this thing was never even a worry for him. I am worried about some other things."

Peak Leader Duan asked, "Other things? What? His talent?"

Sect Leader Su nodded, "I don't want to doubt that. However, I still have my thoughts on this topic. I feel like today; I will be able to judge his talent too. Hopefully, he has gone through some good breakthroughs in his cultivation."

Peak Master Duan replied, "Don't worry about this, Senior Brother. I am sure my nephew will surprise both of us today. I am even hoping that he shines in the Gracious Sword Rankings tournament."

Sect Leader Su smiled, "Yes, me too. I also want to test him through the Rankings tournament. But I don't know if he's ready for it yet."

Peak Master Duan laughed, "If he's not ready, then none of the new Inner Court Disciples are. He spent one month in the Sword Stele. He will be a changed person when you see him."

Sect Leader Su sighed, "Let's hope this is the case."

Peak Master Duan nodded, and after a moment, he asked, "Senior Brother, this reminds me, how is your search going on? Did you find any clues about the disciple who broke through the Sword Domain Realm?"

Sect Leader Su shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. I have personally assessed almost all the disciples who have passed stage one, and I must say I am quite disappointed in the overall result."

"There are very few of the disciples who had cultivated the Sword Intent. Even then, most of them are still at a very basic stage and haven't even fully reached the Manifestation Realm of Sword Intent."

Peak Master replied with a wry smile, "Senior Brother… how come you're disappointed... ? Don't you know that getting even a single disciple with Sword Intent in a whole generation of disciples is a big deal? Here we have a whole bunch of them, and you're disappointed?"

Sect Leader shook his head, "No, I am not disappointed in the number of the disciples who have comprehended the Sword Intent; what I am disappointed in is their performance - it has been very lackluster."

"Almost all of the disciples who have come under my radar have barely done anything worth paying attention to. And I am not talking about the Seventh Peak alone - I have taken the whole sect into account."

"Even though the disciple who broke through the Sword Domain is from the seventh Peak, I still decided to cover the whole sect and assess almost every talent that shows potential."

"And there hasn't been a single disciple who has made me even think that he could be the one we are looking for."

Peak Master Duan scratched his chin while replying, "Senior Brother, maybe it's because the level is too easy that the disciple hasn't shown his full strength?"

"You just said it. The disciples are barely in the Sword Manifestation Realm. This means that that disciple doesn't need to use too much of his strength, and he can easily beat almost all of the disciples."

"In my opinion, the second round will be the key to finding this disciple. I hope you have something very interesting planned for the Second Round, Senior Brother."