"Aside from the sect leader and myself, no third person knows of this matter. Of course, that was before I told you, Junior Brother.
"So you absolutely must keep this secret for me, Junior Brother."
Senior Sister Zhao's tone was soft and distant.
A lethal sense of crisis surged through Li Fan's heart.
In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. His body stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.
He stroked his senior sister's smooth, pale back and spoke as if none of it troubled him in the slightest.
"Of course. Hearing this just shocked me, it feels unbelievable. And if the elders were to learn of it, they would certainly move together to stop it.
"Even with the sect leader's support, we are far too weak against that lot of old fogies. We must accumulate power, bide our time, and strike only when the blow can be decisive." Li Fan spoke as though the matter were his own, offering counsel and strategy.
Senior Sister Zhao lay quietly in his embrace, neither answering nor moving, as if she had fallen asleep.
"By the way, Senior Sister," Li Fan said after a long silence, unable to hold the question back any longer. "Why would Sect Leader Ji suddenly conceive the idea of passing his position to you?"
"Who knows? The thoughts of old relics like him are always unfathomable. Perhaps he has set his sights on the Eternal Life realm and no longer wishes to manage this mess that is the Great Dao Sect." Senior Sister Zhao shifted her position, her tone languid.
"After all, the world grows more chaotic by the day. The so-called Ten Great Immortal Sects, in the eyes of those at the Eternal Life realm, could be said to be more of a hindrance than of any practical value."
Her voice grew softer and softer, until it faded to near silence.
Seeing she had no intention of saying more, Li Fan dared not press further. He simply resumed their dual cultivation and let himself sink, briefly, into pleasure.
***
Li Fan could tell that Senior Sister Zhao had become somewhat different ever since the day she walked out of the sect's main hall.
It was only a vague intuition, with nothing concrete to support it.
In their daily life together afterward, he failed to discover anything unusual about this senior sister who had been at his side for a century.
Yet he remained utterly convinced that some change was taking place within her, bit by bit.
Where exactly did this persistently lingering sense of crisis come from?
Even if Senior Sister Zhao was keeping something from him, her feelings for him seemed genuine by every outward measure.
If she became the leader of the Great Dao Sect, he would be the sect leader's Dao Companion.
This was no minor sect. It was the illustrious, renowned Great Dao Sect, whose name shook the entire cultivation world.
When that time came, he would truly be second only to one, standing above myriad others.
Even in his most ambitious moments, he had never dared covet such a position.
Now, through Senior Sister Zhao, wealth, honor, and glory were within easy reach. So where was the problem?
Li Fan had the nagging sense he had forgotten something important. No matter how hard he tried, he could not recall what it was.
He had no choice but to carry on with his ordinary life while quietly investigating.
Time flew, and another three years passed.
During those three years, through the combined efforts of many extraordinarily talented cultivators from across the Ten Immortal Dao Sects, a method to eliminate the Immortal Plague was finally discovered. The plague had spread without cease throughout the world, and now a large-scale purification operation began.
For the sake of the world's future, every surviving sect was required to dispatch cultivators to locations across the Xuanhuang World to carry out the work of eliminating the Immortal Plague.
Li Fan and Senior Sister Zhao had always been the ones assigned the difficult labor, but Ji Changxi did not send them down the mountain this time. Senior Sister Zhao had already been confirmed as the next sect leader candidate. Another group of five hereditary disciples was dispatched in their place.
Li Fan, benefiting from the association, was able to remain within the sect and enjoy a life of ease.
As the days passed, even from within the mountain gates, he could sense that the Xuanhuang World's environment was slowly improving.
"After great calamity comes great order. May the tribulations of heaven and earth pass swiftly, so that our generation may welcome a new golden age of cultivation!"
He heard disciples within the sect make such wishes from time to time.
As the Immortal Plague gradually dissipated, Senior Sister Zhao grew increasingly busy. In preparation for formally assuming the position of Great Dao Sect leader, she seemed to be attending one meeting after another, all of them with the sect's venerable elders.
Persuading them was no easy task.
Li Fan often saw elders storming out of the meeting venue, faces flushed with anger, sleeves flung in frustration.
Even so, Senior Sister Zhao told Li Fan not to worry. More and more elders were coming around, agreeing to support her succession.
"Soon, I will become the true sect leader of the Great Dao Sect," she said with a smile.
Li Fan felt not the slightest relief at her words. The dread that had long lingered in his heart only grew stronger.
It was not Senior Sister Zhao alone. Throughout the entire Great Dao Sect, an eerie and unsettling change seemed to be taking place, yet it was impossible to name or explain. He could sense that strange phenomena might soon manifest, but he could never uncover the truth behind them.
The helplessness gnawed at him. Li Fan grew increasingly anxious and furious.
Senior Sister Zhao, who shared his pillow every night, naturally noticed his state of mind.
He attributed it to the death phenomena of cultivators that had been appearing in the sky with growing frequency.
He had originally expected that once the Immortal Plague was cleansed, cultivators would enjoy a period of peace.
He had not anticipated that another anomaly would follow so quickly.
Previously, the death proclamations Li Fan and Senior Sister Zhao had witnessed appeared at random whenever a cultivator perished. Now that randomness was closer to certainty, and the scope and influence of each phenomenon were slowly growing.
When a Dao Unity cultivator fell, the resulting spectacle could blanket tens of thousands of li of sky.
And those who witnessed these proclamations found themselves stirred by a persistent unease and agitation.
Many cultivators had long since abandoned thoughts of cultivation, content simply to muddle through and live out what days remained to them. Yet seeing the phenomena born from the deaths of their fellow cultivators appear in the sky day after day, different emotions began to fester. Sympathy for the fallen. Resentment. Confusion. Rage.
Then a cultivator within the Great Dao Sect itself reached the end of their lifespan and perished.
After their fall, a strange atmosphere slowly began to permeate the sect.
It was precisely under these circumstances that Senior Sister Zhao formally became the sect leader of the Great Dao Sect.
All seventeen elders unanimously endorsed the decision of the former sect leader, Ji Changxi.
This left many disciples who had been preparing to watch a spectacle utterly dumbfounded.
And the unease in Li Fan's heart reached its peak.