"Senior Sister..." Li Fan watched Senior Sister Zhao's unreadable expression as she waited to be summoned by Sect Leader Ji. The words died on his lips.
"Hmm? What is it, Junior Brother?" She glanced at him, her voice soft. "We've faced life and death together for over a hundred years. Is there anything we cannot speak openly about?"
"It's nothing." Li Fan smiled easily. "Go on, Senior Sister. Just remember, whatever you do, I'll stand behind you."
Senior Sister Zhao smiled gently and walked into the sect's main hall.
Boom!
The heavy doors slammed shut. Li Fan watched her silhouette disappear, a barely perceptible conflict of emotion crossing his eyes.
He did not wait obediently outside. Instead, he returned to Penglai Peak where he and Senior Sister Zhao resided and gathered all the valuables from their cave dwelling. Then, under the guise of making his rounds, he repositioned himself near the exit of the sect protection array.
To any onlooker, he was just another disciple going about his duties. In truth, Li Fan was ready to run at a moment's notice.
Not because he wanted to betray the Great Dao Sect, but because during their century down the mountain, he had stumbled upon a secret. Senior Sister Zhao had been quietly collecting blood from those infected with the Immortal Plague. Cultivators and mortals both.
She took only a single drop each time, and she was extraordinarily careful about it.
But how could something like that escape someone who lived beside her every day?
In the beginning, she would fall gravely ill after each collection. Only through Li Fan's attentive care and the generous supply of protective elixirs did she survive each time.
When he asked her why, she would only joke that she, too, wanted to try reversing the principles of the Immortal Plague, to attain the Dao directly and achieve eternal life.
Li Fan naturally didn't believe her.
But he knew her well enough to know that once Senior Sister Zhao set her mind on something, even he, her Dao Companion of a hundred years, could not dissuade her.
So he didn't try to. He simply told her, "Your health comes first."
Later, she seemed to have actually taken his words to heart, gradually ceasing her blood collections. The intervals between her bouts of illness grew longer, and the symptoms grew milder with each episode.
But Li Fan knew it was all an illusion.
Senior Sister Zhao had never abandoned her mad endeavor. The reason she appeared normal now was that she had found some method to insulate herself from the Immortal Plague's effects.
Over those years, though they remained together, her cultivation had grown to depths Li Fan could no longer measure. The various auras that occasionally leaked from her unintentionally made his heart seize with alarm. He was certain she meant him no harm. Yet an inexplicable sense of crisis had taken root in him regardless.
Senior Sister Zhao never spoke of her true purpose, but Li Fan could guess. All that blood, carrying the power of the Immortal Plague would be used against the Great Dao Sect's leader, Ji Changxi.
A century of deliberate suppression had driven her resentment toward this sect leader to its limit.
As the saying goes: “Block my path to the Dao, and it will be a fight to the death.”
Li Fan believed Senior Sister Zhao was more than capable of such a treasonous act. The flash of killing intent in her eyes as she stepped into the sect hall not long ago had not been his imagination.
Sect Leader Ji Changxi may have been in the Dao Unity realm for over six hundred years, possessing unfathomable divine abilities and profound techniques. But he has not yet reached the Eternal Life realm after all.
Given the talent and actual combat prowess Senior Sister Zhao has displayed, plus the aid of the Immortal Plague, it's not impossible for her to have a chance at victory.
But what if she only manages a narrow win? Kill one Ji Changxi, and there are still over a dozen Dao Unity elders. Not to mention those two Eternal Heavenly Venerables in seclusion, holding down the fort.
Could she possibly kill them all?
Li Fan racked his brains, unable to understand why Senior Sister Zhao would make such a decision. Whether she succeeded or failed, the entire Great Dao Sect would know what she had done. She would face the combined wrath of the whole sect. And Li Fan, as her Dao Companion, would likely not be spared.
So he had long since made plans to flee. The only reason he hadn't left yet was the faint hope that some miracle might occur.
Time passed, slow and grinding.
Ji Changxi had given orders beforehand that he and the Dao Heir had important matters to discuss and were not to be disturbed, so the sect's main hall remained sealed. Li Fan watched the distant mountain peak, his unease deepening with every hour.
Seven days later, the great hall's doors slowly swung open. Li Fan's breath hitched.
Then something completely unexpected happened.
Ji Changxi walked out first. Senior Sister Zhao followed behind him.
The two had emerged together.
They didn't fight to the death? Was I overthinking it? Surprised, Li Fan couldn't help narrowing his eyes.
Not only had Senior Sister Zhao's desperate, all-or-nothing attack never come, the relationship between the two seemed even more harmonious than before. When she finally took her leave, Ji Changxi patted her shoulder in encouragement. And Senior Sister Zhao accepted it without a word, without the faintest trace of discomfort.
Li Fan's chest tightened. His mind raced.
In the past, Senior Sister Zhao had been deeply averse to physical contact with anyone but himself. And yet now...
He sensed something was wrong, but there was no time to work through it properly.
He had something urgent to attend to first. He hurried back to Penglai Peak and, while Senior Sister Zhao was still away, returned every item to its original place.
When she came back, she noticed nothing unusual in their cave dwelling. After all, neither of them had set foot in this home for a hundred years.
"Senior Sister," Li Fan said, "we've been busy with one thing after another for the past century. It's been a long time since we've been intimate. How about..." He let the invitation hang, watching her.
A flicker of nostalgia moved through Senior Sister Zhao's eyes. Her expression softened, and she agreed without hesitation.
After a bout of soul-stirring passion, the doubts in Li Fan's heart gradually faded.
"What did the sect leader summon you for this time?" he asked idly, Senior Sister Zhao's flawless, jade-like form resting in his arms.
"He said that soon he will pass the position of Great Dao Sect’s Sect Leader to me. He wants me to prepare in advance." Her voice was perfectly flat, without the slightest inflection.
As though she weren't about to inherit leadership of the foremost of the Ten Immortal Dao Sects, but some child's plaything.
Yet this light, utterly indifferent sentence fell on Li Fan's ears like a thunderclap, shaking his mind into a roaring blankness, temporarily robbing him of the ability to think.
"What about the Heaven-Slaying Great Dao Scripture?" he asked, the words leaving him before he had consciously formed them.
"Hehe, the sect leader's exclusive technique will be passed to me to cultivate as well, naturally." Senior Sister Zhao nestled her head against his chest, traced lazy circles around his heart with one finger, and laughed softly.