"Junior Brother, there's no need to worry. Once I take Ning Fan as my disciple, I'll hand over the sect leader authority to Sister Yu."
As everyone was trying to dissuade him, Taiyi Sect Master Pei Qingyu suddenly spoke up.
His words brought silence to the crowd.
Back in their generation, the ones with the best natural talent were Senior Sister Yu Rushuang and Senior Brother Pei Qingyu.
These two were also the Holy Maiden and Holy Son of the sect.
Both possessed rare constitutions, capable of reaching the seventh floor of the Scripture Library, and their cultivation levels were evenly matched.
But just as both were about to achieve mastery and compete for the position of sect leader, something unexpected happened.
Senior Sister Yu Rushuang voluntarily withdrew from the competition!
Thus, the position of sect leader naturally fell to Pei Qingyu.
Now, many years have passed.
Pei Qingyu suddenly announced that to take Ning Fan as a disciple, he would hand over the sect leader authority to Yu Rushuang.
This was truly shocking, silencing all the elders.
To read the uncut version, go to [p𝘢wread.com].
Yu Rushuang, however, showed no interest, her lazy face revealing a hint of mockery:
"Sect Master Pei, trying to kill two birds with one stone?"
Her words left many elders puzzled.
But to the ears of the Taiyi Sect Master, they were crystal clear, leaving him embarrassed.
He hadn't expected his well-laid plans to be seen through by Yu Rushuang at a glance.
As a top-tier force in this world, Taiyi True Sect dominated the Central State Holy Region, eyeing the Four Realms.
As the sect leader, he wielded supreme authority.
A single decree, and all within the Four Realms would submit.
Outsiders only saw the glory, unaware of the heavy responsibility behind it.
He had been the Taiyi Sect Master for thirteen hundred years, without a day of rest.
The vast sect, with its endless affairs, was like a mountain of burdens.
After becoming the sect leader, his cultivation level stagnated, not advancing for centuries.
Simply because he had no time to cultivate.
He had long had enough of being the Taiyi Sect Master!
Looking back now, he finally understood why Yu Rushuang had suddenly given up the fight for sect leader.
She had clearly foreseen this.
Only he, the fool, had been foolishly happy over the position of sect leader.
So today, the appearance of Ning Fan sparked an idea in him, using the excuse of taking a disciple to resign from his position.
Unfortunately, this little scheme couldn't escape the eyes of Senior Sister Yu Rushuang.
As for the other elders, they were left in a fog.
And the surrounding disciples, even more so.
In their perspective, they saw a scene like this—
The sect master, in order to snatch Ning Fan as a personal disciple from the other elders, was willing to give up his position!
What a terrifying thing!
After all, the identity of Taiyi Sect Master represented supreme authority, capable of deciding the life and death of countless beings.
Ning Fan was merely a mortal who hadn't even begun cultivating, was he worth it?
The true inheritor disciples were in turmoil, unable to comprehend.
They could only feel that Ning Fan was becoming more and more unfathomable, otherwise why would the elders and sect master value him so highly?
Their discussions spread like waves, reaching the inner gate disciples.
Finally, after some embellishment, it reached the outer gate.
Tens of thousands of outer gate disciples were dumbfounded upon hearing the news.
"What? The sect master wants to take Ning Fan as a disciple too?"
"Are you saying the Holy Son fainted from anger upon hearing this?"
"Is it true? The sect master and Elder Yu are fighting over Ning Fan?"
"It's absolutely true! I have someone in the inner gate! They say the sect master is willing to resign just to get Ning Fan!"
"Your news is outdated, latest intel! Ning Fan is actually a peerless master, after reaching the seventh floor, he sensed the sect master and others spying, then just glanced at the 'Taiyi True Ruins', and just like that! The sect master lost all his cultivation on the spot, so he had no choice but to resign!"
"Hiss!..."
"…"
Among the outer gate disciples, rumors spread wildly.
The stories became more and more outlandish.
Many of the rumors were obviously false, and the disciples knew it, but they still enjoyed spreading them.
As if only by doing so could they find some amusement in this lonely secret realm.
The outer peak deacons and elders couldn't let rumors that damaged the sect master's dignity run rampant, so they stepped in to stop them.
Several disciples who spread the wildest rumors were caught on the spot.
These deacons and elders punished the rumor mongers on the spot.
But even as they punished them, they wondered why the sect master would voluntarily propose to resign.
Was it really for Ning Fan?
Could that be possible?
Thinking of this, many couldn't help but shift their gaze downwards, once again focusing on the seventh floor of the Scripture Library.
There, the once unremarkable figure now exuded an aura of a peerless genius.
He stood before the bookshelf, hands behind his back, examining the jade slip in front of him.
"'Lesser Formless Art', Earth-Grade Top-Rank, Spirit Forging Stage technique…"
Ning Fan looked at a piece of paper floating beside the jade slip, densely packed with the technique's introduction, and read it aloud with interest.
The techniques on the seventh floor of the Scripture Library were all Earth-Grade Middle-Rank or higher, their value beginning to show.
Thus, they were no longer recorded in books like on the lower floors.
Instead, they were transformed into specialized jade slips.
When learning, one only needed to align the jade slip with their forehead, and the technique's content would automatically transfer into their Sea of Consciousness.
Because techniques were not lightly passed on, even disciples who reached the seventh floor could only choose one technique to learn at a time.
So, beside each jade slip, there was a piece of golden thin paper with the technique's introduction.
Disciples choosing a technique would use this as a reference to select the one most suitable for them.
Now, with the entire Taiyi True Sect missing and the Scripture Library unguarded, Ning Fan didn't have to follow this rule.
Even if he absorbed all the jade slips on the seventh floor into his forehead, it wouldn't matter.
But Ning Fan didn't do that.
Firstly, he wasn't impressed with the seventh floor's techniques.
After all, with his talent increased ten thousand times, Ning Fan's potential limit became extremely high.
Moreover, with the Great Catastrophe of Heaven and Earth arriving in three years, time was tight, and mere Earth-Grade techniques couldn't help him quickly cultivate a means of self-preservation.
According to the system, to survive the catastrophe, he needed at least the cultivation level of a Heavenly Venerable!
"Heavenly Venerable…"
Thinking of this, Ning Fan couldn't help but sigh again.
He had been here for half a year, and as an Outer Gate Preparatory Disciple, his status was pitifully low.
The Outer Peak Deacon hadn't explained any cultivation realms to him, only saying that after Body Tempering, he would be introduced as a formal disciple.
So before this, he didn't know what these realms represented.
But now, after reading so many floors of books, he deeply understood how outrageous the system's requirement was!
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan