"If there is time, certainly."
Chen Yan replied.
"Then, this junior will take his leave first."
Xiao Bo'an bowed once more in Chen Yan's direction, then left his presence.
"That person is... a little strange..."
Si Youyou seemed somewhat uneasy, watching Xiao Bo'an's departing back, and hid herself a little more behind Chen Yan.
"Where is he strange?"
Chen Yan asked.
He suddenly remembered. Back at Heavenly Summit Mountain, Lin Qifeng had told him that Qin Yue possessed a unique talent—she was exceptionally sensitive to the circulation patterns of true qi.
This has nothing to do with cultivation realm.
Those without this talent, even if they reached Dao Union, or even Ascending to Immortality, would still be unable to detect these subtle differences.
Qin Yue had this talent, or rather, Pure Dust True Person had this talent.
This meant Si Youyou should have it too.
Chen Yan also remembered what Xiao Bo'an had told him back at Heavenly Summit Mountain.
The secret illusion art passed down for a million years by the Weaving Dreams Tower also had a true qi circulation pattern different from the vast majority of cultivation arts or techniques in the current world.
He wanted to know what Si Youyou might have detected from Xiao Bo'an's body.
"I don't know, it's just strange..."
Si Youyou shook her little head, her eyes filled with unease.
Forget it.
After all, she is currently just a six-year-old child. Having Martial Spring Realm cultivation is entirely due to Mr. You's 'pulling up the seedlings to help them grow' style of education. At this moment, Si Youyou's true understanding of the immortal path is almost zero; she is just an emotionless cultivation machine.
The most important thing right now is to find Mr. You first.
Despite the many thoughts swirling in his mind, Chen Yan quickly walked down from Floating Light Summit, simultaneously trying to use his spiritual sense to search the surroundings for any trace of Mr. You.
The result was nothing.
This was also normal. If a reincarnated Ascending to Immortal, now a Dao Union Realm great power, was determined to hide his traces, not to mention Chen Yan, even a Divine Ability Realm great power might not be able to find him.
After this, Chen Yan brought Si Youyou back to the courtyard Mr. You had rented at the North Pass River Ferry.
It was still empty.
As said before, if Mr. You was dead set on not showing himself, Chen Yan definitely couldn't find him.
As for the reason why Mr. You left...
Because of intuition?
Chen Yan guessed so.
If Mr. You had already left, then currently it was just him and Youyou.
Where should they go next?
The Chenping Continent is vast, extremely vast.
The straight-line distance from the northernmost to the southernmost point is twenty-one million li, and from the easternmost to the westernmost point is fourteen million li.
Now, Chen Yan was already a Passable God Realm cultivator. With his current true cultivation realm, plus the Purple Mansion Record, he could establish a sect and found a second-rate sect anywhere on the Chenping Continent.
He could even disguise himself as an Upper Three Realms cultivator through the Great Derivation Art and the Hidden Immortal Art.
But he only had eight years.
Eight years later, everything on the Chenping Continent would vanish like smoke.
If Chen Yan failed to advance to the next reincarnation save point, then he would step into the next cycle of reincarnation, repeating these eight years again.
Over and over.
Chen Yan could choose to remain lost within these eight years forever, but after so many cycles of reincarnation, he had come to understand one thing.
The more cycles he experienced, the more things he changed, the heavier the karmic backlash imposed on him by the Heavenly Dao would be.
If he just kept getting lost in these eight years, then after a certain number of cycles, what awaited him would likely be a rather miserable end.
Therefore, he had to find a way to end that apocalypse.
Chen Yan made up his mind.
...
Three years.
Chen Yan used three years to integrate the originally scattered gathering of many rogue cultivators at the North Pass River Ferry into a quasi-first-rate sect located in the Northern Region of the Chenping Continent.
From then on, the Northern Region of the Chenping Continent gained an Upper Three Realms great power named Si Chen.
It also gained a quasi-first-rate sect named the North Pass Sect.
Unlike those long-established immortal cultivation sects, the composition of the North Pass Sect's cultivators was more chaotic and complex. Apart from the disciples newly recruited in the past two years, the middle and upper echelons of the sect were all absorbed rogue cultivators.
After Chen Yan founded the North Pass Sect, many cultivators in the Northern Region of the Chenping Continent came to join, drawn by the reputation of Si Chen.
Most of them were Martial Spring Realm and Qi Sea Realm cultivators, and there were even four or five Passable God Realm rogue cultivators.
During these three years, the development of the North Pass Sect proceeded smoothly.
The reason everything went so smoothly, apart from the resounding reputations of Si Chen and Si Youyou, was another factor.
That was the support of the Lightning-Severing Sect.
The relationship between the Lightning-Severing Sect and the North Pass Sect was very good.
Under such circumstances, as long as the North Pass Sect developed step by step and did not encroach upon the interests of other sects with Upper Three Realms cultivators presiding, naturally everything went smoothly.
Following this current trend of development, all it needed was another twenty or so years of consolidation for the North Pass Sect to become a true first-rate sect.
To become a top-tier sect, even with an Upper Three Realms great power presiding, it required time to accumulate heritage.
This time was often several hundred, or even over a thousand years.
But Chen Yan was completely indifferent to all of this.
Because the North Pass Sect, to him, was merely a tool.
As for what he wanted to use the North Pass Sect for...
Just outside the recently completed main hall, the voice of a North Pass Sect disciple requesting an audience came.
"Enter."
Chen Yan, sitting lazily on the main seat in the center of the hall, slowly spoke.
The disciple quickly walked into the North Pass Sect's main hall and bowed towards Chen Yan on the main seat.
"Reporting to the Sect Leader, the sect's Confidential Affairs Hall has just received a letter jointly signed by the Five Great Sects. We await the Sect Leader's decision."
"Bring it up."
"Yes!"
The Confidential Affairs Hall disciple of the North Pass Sect, holding the envelope with both hands, raised it above his head as he walked towards the center of the hall, then handed the letter to Chen Yan.
"Dismissed."
"Yes, Sect Leader!"
The Confidential Affairs Hall disciple said clearly, then bowed deeply once more in Chen Yan's direction before turning and leaving.
Chen Yan merely stared at the envelope in his hand.
The seal of the envelope bore five stamps, one from each of the Five Great Sects.
Chen Yan certainly knew what this letter represented. This letter was also the true reason he had established the North Pass Sect.
He opened the envelope in his hand and took out the invitation made from high-quality immortal materials and craftsmanship. On the cover of the invitation were two large lines of text:
Dao Inquiry Assembly of the Chenping Continent, Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.