Jun Yelin... back in the day on the Dao Sect’s Thought Cliff, when he dissected Li An’s dantian and seized Li An’s Demon Seed, Li An had never forgotten.

This was indeed a good opportunity to make a move.

"If I strike from the shadows, I don’t necessarily have to kill Jun Yelin; just seizing his Demon Emperor essence will be enough."

"...After the Spirit Medium is refined, it won’t be long before Jun Yelin should send over the Demon Emperor essence for nurturing. At that time, he and Grandmaster will surely appear, guarding around the Seven Yin Sect, and perhaps other experts from the Demon Sect as well."

"Of course, it might also be Lin Fangping who sends the Spirit Medium over to Jun Yelin."

Li An pondered all the possibilities.

Ultimately, he decided to take the plunge!

In fact, Li An currently held all the advantages.

To put it simply, Li An could directly send a message to the Dao Sect, and they would immediately come to devise a plan, and maybe Jun Yelin himself would die.

But doing so had a downside: the Demon Emperor essence would definitely be taken by the Dao Sect.

Li An would only be getting revenge, which didn’t seem worthwhile to him!

Moreover, one concern he had was that Jun Yelin might have inside help within the Dao Sect, making it uncertain if he could be killed. If it failed, alerting the enemy would be unfortunate.

Therefore, Li An decided to make the first move himself.

He planned to try and seize the Demon Emperor essence first. If successful, he could then report it to have Jun Yelin pursued by the Dao Sect. If he failed, he could still report it to prevent Jun Yelin from absorbing the Demon Emperor essence.

He dared to act this way because he relied on his status as a Dao Sect Great Dao disciple, which awarded him considerable authority. At his command, Dao Sect experts from across the Emperor Origin Realm would gather, and even if discovered, it would be difficult for anyone to kill him.

Besides, he also had things like a life-saving talisman, which gave him confidence!

Planning for failure before considering victory has always been Li An’s principle in tackling problems.

Immediately, he started devising a plan.

"If Jun Yelin and Grandmaster come, I can prepare my layout here, and the success rate will be high. But if the Spirit Medium is sent away somewhere unknown, I just need to ascertain the location and report it immediately. I mustn’t dive recklessly into danger!"

He had a direction in his heart.

The primary focus was on the Seven Yin Sect.

He repeatedly rehearsed in his mind. At that time, the experts present would certainly include Grandmaster and Jun Yelin, and possibly other Demon Sect experts...

To safely seize the Demon Emperor essence, timing was crucial. The best would be to lure the tiger away from the mountain, drawing most experts’ attention. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

This sounded simple, merely a matter of calling in Xiang Yuntian and Gu Canye, or gathering Dao Sect experts...

But doing so would also expose Li An himself, at least drawing attention.

Not suitable, still not suitable!

It would be best to leverage forces outside the Dao Sect.

Suddenly, a bold idea flashed in Li An’s mind!

"Shangguan Xiaoxiao once said, the Demon Emperor essence was once controlled by her master, Grandmaster. Now in this world, only Shangguan Xiaoxiao and Jun Yelin each hold a piece..."

This information was extremely important!

Does this mean... Shangguan Shengxian doesn’t have any???

Li An seemed to suddenly see the light, everything connecting in his mind.

The first detail, why did Jun Yelin choose to expand his power in the Emperor Origin Realm after leaving the Dao Sect? Raising the Spirit Medium right under the Dao Sect’s nose was inherently risky!

Unless, elsewhere... he felt even less secure.

He didn’t trust other Demon Cultivators!

The second detail, Shangguan Shengxian was striving to connect with forces above the Southern Sea. From the current look of things, the biggest benefit those forces could offer her should be Exotic Spirit corpses.

If she had the Demon Emperor essence, would she be in such a hurry?

From all this, Li An reached a bold conclusion: Jun Yelin and Shangguan Shengxian’s Demon Sect were not aligned.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed true. Grandmaster Ye Mo once held a high position in the Demon Sect, yet ultimately betrayed the sect.

Shangguan Shengxian has now become the heir to the Demon Emperor, wielding authority over the Demon Sect. Would she accept Grandmaster and Jun Yelin?

Highly unlikely.

Moreover, with the Demon Emperor essence in Jun Yelin’s possession, at this stage, he likely wouldn’t dare directly approach the Demon Sect. Whatever he planned to do, it would certainly be after absorbing the essence.

Li An was elated.

If he could lead Shangguan Shengxian over and incite a conflict between Demon Sect factions, allowing him to reap benefits amidst the chaos, it would be ideal.

The first thing to do now was to pass this information to Shangguan Shengxian...

After some thought, he quietly withdrew.

Li An began his search centering on the Seven Yin Sect.

His goal was to find a member of the Demon Sect.

Although the Emperor Origin Realm was under the Dao Sect’s governance, Li An didn’t believe the Demon Sect had no spies.

The Demon Sect had developed rapidly over the years, infiltrating the entire New Continent underground, with the Dao Sect being its greatest adversary, unlikely to go unnoticed.

...

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Li An’s relentless search had driven him to desperation at times; he had traveled through many major cities, using the Life Nourishing Immortal Skill and the Demon Seed to sense, but found nothing.

That day, Li An arrived at Celestial Wind City, at the border between Xiling Origin Continent and Central Celestial Continent, and he finally found traces of a Demon Cultivator!

This was a female cultivator, her cultivation merely at the Foundation Establishment Stage. Her appearance elated Li An, and he quietly followed and observed the female cultivator.

He needed to verify this female demon cultivator’s identity — whether she was a member of Shangguan Shengxian’s faction or someone developed by Jun Yelin?