Li Fan walked within the Grand Dao Sect, his mind swirling with countless thoughts.
The sect was decorated everywhere with lanterns and banners, finally lightening the gloomy atmosphere caused by the recent calamities.
Whenever disciples encountered Li Fan, they would stop in their tracks and bow in respect.
Li Fan nodded in return each time.
As the Dao companion of the Sect Master, Li Fan had gained access to an abundance of cultivation resources—something that most cultivators could only dream of. Even if the respect shown to him wasn’t always sincere, it was a necessary pretense.
However, at this moment, Li Fan had already made up his mind. He needed to find an opportunity to escape from the Grand Dao Sect as soon as possible.
"Senior Sister Zhao has just been promoted to Sect Master and is busy handling various matters within the sect. Representatives from other sects are also visiting to offer congratulations, and she has to make time to meet them," he thought.
"Right now, she's at her busiest, so she’s less likely to notice me."
"If I miss this opportunity, when she has more free time...”
As this thought crossed his mind, Li Fan resolutely made his decision.
Two days later, he seized a moment when no one was paying attention and quietly made his way to the sect's exit, alone.
Looking back at the Grand Dao Sect, Li Fan’s mind flashed with memories of Senior Sister Zhao, with whom he had spent more than a hundred years side by side. He hesitated for a moment.
But in the end, he gritted his teeth and flew away.
He raced eastward at full speed until he finally left the boundaries of the Grand Dao Sect.
The ominous feeling of danger that had been weighing on Li Fan's heart finally began to fade.
"My intuition was right!" he thought to himself.
Just as he was feeling secretly relieved at having escaped, two beams of light suddenly appeared behind him, catching up in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the lights landed in front of Li Fan, blocking his path.
"Where do you think you're going, junior nephew?" an elderly man with long eyebrows smiled as he looked at Li Fan.
"Uncle Dong, Uncle Jiang..." Li Fan's face darkened.
These two were elders of the Grand Dao Sect, part of the sect's seventeen core cultivators who had reached the Dao Integration stage.
It seemed that his plan to escape had already been discovered.
Despite this, Li Fan wasn’t ready to give up.
"Haha, well, let me explain to you two elders. Although I am honored that Senior Sister has been promoted to Sect Master, I've been feeling a bit troubled."
"Senior Sister Zhao's status is now exalted, and her power is growing every day. As her Dao companion, I'm still only at the Soul Transformation stage, and people are bound to gossip. The pressure has been unbearable."
Feigning a look of deep distress, Li Fan slowly approached the two elders. "The sect is rebuilding, and everyone has their roles. But I find myself idle every day, which is truly..."
Without warning, a chaotic gray light shot out from Li Fan’s eyes, striking Uncle Dong and Uncle Jiang directly in the face.
It was an attack from the sinister technique Li Fan had mastered, the Soul-Cutting Divine Light, part of the 'Soul-Severing Divine Radiance Art'.
It wasn’t until more than ten days had passed that a flicker of life returned to his eyes.
With great effort, he pushed himself up, his body trembling as he took shaky steps toward the exit.
Because he hadn’t walked in so long, his body was weak, and he immediately fell to the ground.
He struggled to stand up and took another step, only to fall again.
In this manner—crawling and stumbling—he finally made his way back outside.
The Grand Dao Sect before him looked exactly as he remembered.
Disciples wandered between the mountain peaks, cultivating.
It was even more lively than before.
But...
It was eerily quiet.
Not a single voice could be heard within the entire sect.
It was as if all the cultivators living within had become mute.
Or perhaps...
They all shared the same thoughts and no longer needed the "lowly" method of communication known as speech.
Not even eye contact or divine sense was required. They understood each other perfectly without such means.
Li Fan stumbled through the sect.
After being imprisoned for who knows how long, his appearance had become utterly disheveled.
Yet no one seemed to notice him.
They simply carried on with their own tasks as if he didn’t exist.
The feeling of being rejected by everyone around him gnawed at Li Fan’s mind.
Eventually, after wandering through the entire sect and still not finding the person he sought, Li Fan couldn’t hold back any longer.
"Senior Sister!"
"Where are you, Senior Sister?!"
It took him a long time to remember how to speak.
Then, with a hoarse voice, he roared in anger.
His voice grew louder and louder, echoing throughout the entire sect.
And then, every single cultivator in the sect turned to look at him.