"When that time comes..."

"Whether Lady Pei Zhihan can keep holding onto her position as Sect Master remains to be seen."

"Besides, this Primordial Sacred Land originally belonged to our Jianlan Sect. If you can’t produce good disciples while occupying this sacred ground, don’t waste Primordial sword ancestor’s legacy."

Zichen sat atop the silver lion’s head, his posture casual and lazy. The more he spoke, the smugger his smile became.

However, ever since returning from the Western Region six months ago, the way he looked at this elegant woman before him no longer carried greed. Instead, his gaze held a hint of amusement, as if he were watching a show and enjoying the chaos.

Back then, Zichen had been the Holy Son of the Jianlan Sect. His father, Ji Changsheng, was the Grand Elder of the Jianlan Sect. With such power backing him, Zichen had been something of a tyrant within the sect. He had mastered every vice imaginable, gambling, womanizing, and causing trouble on a daily basis. He had even worn himself out at such a young age from his debauchery. Later, following his father’s recommendation, he had traveled all the way to Western Province City to seek out the master of the Hundred Spirits Pavilion to purchase forbidden medicines from the Western Region to strengthen his body.

Because of his lifestyle and his bullying of other disciples, Pei Zhihan, as the Sect Master, had no choice but to intervene. Even though she didn’t want to offend the Ji family, as the only true inheriting disciple of the Primordial Sword Ancestor, her moral compass wouldn’t allow her to sit by and watch such bullying. She had punished and scolded Zichen countless times in front of the other disciples.

Later, apart from Pei Zhihan, another person had appeared in the Jianlan Sect, an outer sect servant named Lin Che who constantly opposed Zichen!

As fate would have it, this little troublemaker who had offended Zichen, despite having absolutely no talent for sword, had somehow been chosen by Zhihan. He became the only disciple in years to be allowed entry into the Primordial Sacred Land and receive personal instruction from her...

...

In Zichen’s view, this was simply Zhihan deliberately humiliating him!

How could Zhihan’s Primordial Sword Art be taught to a mere outer sect servant with no sword talent?

Because of this, Zichen had long been resentful of Zhihan. It was only because her sword was too formidable that he had kept his anger bottled up.

But later, luck turned in his favor. Zichen learned that Zhihan’s situation was precarious, she had even reached a point where she needed help from the Ji family elders!

From that point on, Zichen had become much more arrogant in front of Zhihan.

He had been watching and waiting, planning to use his family’s power to kill Lin Che and personally destroy everything Zhihan protected. He would carve up the Primordial Sacred Land and Primordial Sword Art that she had guarded for over a century!

But fate had a twisted sense of humor...

In the past six months, Zichen had become much more docile.

Because six months ago, he had suffered a setback in the Western Region.

At that time, he had figured that if he couldn’t mess with the big ice block that was Pei Zhihan, surely, he could handle the little ice block that was Yuyan?

So Ji Zichen had plotted with the Holy Maiden of an evil sect to capture Yuyan. But one wrong step had led to eternal regret. Zichen had ended up offending a true master of the dark arts, and that young man had secretly placed an evil curse on him, turning him into a puppet...

Now Zichen knew that Yuyan had long since been claimed by that young man, and naturally, Zhihan was also being targeted as prey!

Zichen’s life was in that young man’s hands, so naturally he didn’t dare harbor any improper thoughts about his master’s target. All he could do now was mock Zhihan from the sidelines to vent his frustration.

Zichen had genuine respect for that evil cultivator’s methods.

If he could capture both Holy Maidens of the Full Moon Sect and a Sword genius like Yuyan, then his boast about coming to the Jianlan Sect next year to claim Zhihan was no empty threat...

Zichen believed he had the ability.

After all, he had personally experienced the curse that young man had placed on him.

To this day, constrained by the pressure of the curse, Zichen didn’t dare tell his family elders about it. He had searched through the entire library pavilion but couldn’t find any solution. This curse was incredibly bizarre!

But...

Misfortune and fortune were two sides of the same coin. If he looked at it optimistically, this actually gave Zichen something to look forward to.

After all, that young man had said he was simply interested in Pei Zhihan and was willing to help Zichen get rid of Lin Che. Other than that, he had no intention of interfering in Jianlan Sect affairs.

This way, once Yino corrupted Zhihan and took her away, Zichen would have two fewer enemies in the Jianlan Sect. Wouldn’t this domain then be his to rule as he pleased?

Besides...

If Zichen performed well and helped that monster capture Zhihan, earning merit, perhaps he would even be willing to teach Zichen a few forbidden techniques for corrupting woman!

"Heh..."

Thinking of this, the corners of Zichen’s mouth turned upward, unable to hide the wicked thoughts deep in his heart.

Because no matter how you looked at the intentions of various factions, Zhihan’s days of playing the cold and aloof were numbered. Her future held nothing good!

"My affairs don’t require young master’s concern."

The woman in the black dress spoke in cold, detached tones. Her beautiful eyes held only a grayish weariness. Her graceful figure stood tall and elegant, yet radiated a chill that made one dare not harbor any improper thoughts.

Even so, Zichen could detect the uncertainty in her voice.

Compared to Yuyan, who had fought recklessly without concern for her life in the Western Region, Zhihan’s gaze was far more restrained. No matter how much killing intent she held, now she could only swallow her anger for the sake of protecting the sword dao of the Primordial Sacred Land.

"Lin Che, oh Lin Che..."

"Don’t glare at me with such righteous indignation. Instead of worrying about your master, why don’t you reflect on why you’ve made absolutely no progress in your cultivation after training with her for months!"

"You idiot, your days are numbered too!"

After humiliating Zhihan, Zichen shifted his gaze and deliberately glared at the short-haired boy the woman in black was shielding behind her.

Lin Che immediately grew angry and wanted to throw a punch, but Zhihan grabbed his wrist.

"Young master, if you’ve only come today to provoke us, please leave." She had finally lost patience.

"Haha, of course not. I’m not that bored."

Zichen laughed sheepishly, then pulled a letter from his sleeve.

He flicked it gently, and the letter flew in an arc through the air. The woman in black precisely raised her hand and caught it between two fingers.

"My father asked me to give you this letter. He said there’s been new news from the Divine Gate."

"The Divine Gate...?"

Hearing the key words that truly mattered, Zhihan’s brow furrowed slightly. Her beautiful face couldn’t hide her nervousness.

Zichen scoffed and relayed the message with bored indifference: "Apparently, next year in late spring or early summer, the Northern Snowland will open the Northern Ruins, the ancient battlefield where the Primordial Sword Ancestor fell during the War of the Supreme Immortals."

"Is this true?!"

Zhihan narrowed her cold eyes.

Zichen shrugged. "I’m just passing on a message. How would I know?"

"Why would Elder Ji tell me this?"

"Haha, who knows? Maybe he wants to do you a favor."

As he spoke, Zichen’s mind drifted to the seductive demon woman from the Northern Region who had visited the Ji family estate two days ago. His gaze grew even colder.

He didn’t know what his father had discussed with that demoness specifically, but they were surely plotting something sinister. After all, the master of the Hundred Spirits Pavilion that his father had recommended Zichen to meet in Western Province City had also been from the demon race.