Indeed, it makes sense.
Someone of the level of his master, Wei Mian, within the sect, probably only the Grand Elders would be qualified to use him as a scapegoat and push him forward.
A sense of powerlessness washed over Li Haowen's entire body.
He certainly wanted to avenge his master.
But his enemy was a Grand Elder within the sect, a great power of the upper three realms.
Li Haowen was very clear about the magnitude of the gap between himself and that person.
His current cultivation realm was merely at the mid-stage of the Spirit Connection Realm. If everything went smoothly, he believed he could probably condense his innate true energy and break through to the Myriad Transformations Realm before the age of fifty.
But after advancing to the Myriad Transformations Realm...
Among the Nine Realms Below Immortality, the largest gap between two major realms is the gap between the Sixth Realm and the Seventh Realm.
Countless once-renowned heaven-chosen talents had a smooth path on their journey of cultivation, until they advanced to the Myriad Transformations Realm.
Li Haowen had even heard that over sixteen hundred years ago, Lingxiao Temple produced a genius hailed by the world as having the "aptitude to ascend to immortality," who smoothly broke through to the Myriad Transformations Realm at the mere age of thirty-seven.
Yet, for the rest of his life, he was unable to advance a single step further.
Ultimately, that prodigy of Lingxiao Temple fell five hundred years ago.
By the time he died, he had only managed to condense a little over a thousand strands of innate true energy.
A Spirit Connection Realm cultivator only needs to condense a single strand of innate true energy to break through to the Myriad Transformations Realm.
A Myriad Transformations Realm cultivator, however, must condense ten thousand strands of innate true energy to advance to the Unity Realm.
The difference in difficulty is truly immense.
It is precisely because of this that there have been far too many heaven-chosen talents, whose prestige was no less than Li Haowen's in his prime, who were trapped for life in the Myriad Transformations Realm, unable to advance even half an inch.
Revenge, revenge.
With just his current self, what qualifications or abilities did he have to seek revenge against a Grand Elder of the upper three realms?
Even exterminating a single Spirit Connection Realm cultivator causing trouble within the borders of Qingque Kingdom had already given him such a headache... Hah.
Chen Yan watched Li Haowen, who was visibly struggling before him.
The path of cultivation is long and arduous, a truth he understood all too well.
If not for his ability to save-scum again and again, and receive rewards based on the evaluations of his cycles of reincarnation.
The Martial Spring Realm would be the upper limit that Chen Yan's cultivation talent could reach.
In fact, even to break through to the Martial Spring Realm, he would need to rely on various elixirs to barely push himself up.
Therefore, Chen Yan understood very well what Li Haowen was currently thinking. The experiences of these past years had long since worn away the arrogance that this once high-spirited chief disciple of Yuanhua Mountain should have possessed.
"I am merely telling you the truth as I know it, Senior Brother Li. As for what exactly to do, or whether to do anything at all, those are matters for you to decide yourself," Chen Yan said.
As for whether the true culprit who framed Wei Mian was actually that Grand Elder named Song Changgeng, Chen Yan didn't know either.
This was just the so-called "truth" that Kong Yang had told him. Whether it was true or false, probably only Kong Yang knew.
Li Haowen looked at the chief disciple of Kongyuan Mountain before him, whose appearance showed no significant change compared to sixteen years ago, his gaze extremely complex.
"But, why are you telling me the truth?"
Clearly, he did not completely believe the words spoken by Chen Yan either.
Someone who should have died in the Outer Court Cataclysm sixteen years ago, yet now suddenly appeared before him without any warning—Li Haowen was obviously wary of Chen Yan.
Moreover, even sixteen years ago, he and Chen Yan were not very familiar.
They had only met a few times at most.
"Of course, it's because I have a request to make of you, Senior Brother Li."
Chen Yan laughed:
"As for whether the person who framed Elder Wei back then was actually Song Changgeng, you will have plenty of opportunities to investigate and verify that in the future, Senior Brother Li."
"A request of me?"
Li Haowen was puzzled.
"That's right. I need Senior Brother Li to come with me to Shengyuan Mountain."
Shengyuan Mountain is located in the Western Region borderlands of Qingque Kingdom, approximately four thousand five hundred li from Taiyun City.
It is about seven hundred zhang in height. Compared to the mountains of Chenping Continent, which often reach two or three thousand zhang, Shengyuan Mountain cannot be considered a tall mountain.
But it is treacherous.
This "treacherous" refers not only to its perilous terrain; Shengyuan Mountain is also infested with a large number of demonic beasts and monsters.
It is said that ten thousand years ago, demonic beasts of the Fifth or Sixth Realm frequently appeared in Shengyuan Mountain. In fact, almost every millennium, a great demon of the Seventh Realm or above would almost certainly emerge.
It could be said that Shengyuan Mountain caused considerable trouble for the surrounding cultivation sects, and even for Kongshan Sect itself.
It was only after True Person Caiyun, Kong Yang, personally went there that Shengyuan Mountain finally became much more peaceful. However, even to this day, demonic beasts of the Third Realm still frequently appear there, and occasionally, Fourth Realm demonic beasts show up as well.
Although this situation still gives the cultivation sects around Shengyuan Mountain some headaches, it no longer poses any major threat.
Actually, the cultivation sects around Shengyuan Mountain could also relocate their mountain gates away from the area.
But if they were truly asked to move, those cultivation sects would be rather unwilling.
Because Kongshan Sect sends people every year to purchase the products and demon cores from the demonic beasts hunted by these sects, and the price Kongshan Sect offers is at least thirty percent higher than the usual market price for these demonic beast products.
This is also Kongshan Sect's way of rewarding and supporting these cultivation sects that encircle and suppress the demonic beasts of Shengyuan Mountain.
"Shengyuan Mountain..."
Li Haowen frowned slightly, as if not understanding why Chen Yan wanted to go to Shengyuan Mountain.
"There's one more thing. When we go to Shengyuan Mountain, you need to bring your two swords, Senior Brother Li."
Chen Yan continued.
The swords he referred to were naturally the two swords currently hanging at Li Haowen's waist: the Yuanji Sword and the Xiaohua Sword.
This was just the so-called "truth" that Kong Yang had told him. Whether it was true or false, probably only Kong Yang knew.
"I truly must apologize, Junior Brother Chen. The matter of exterminating the Ding Bandits is currently at a critical juncture. I cannot leave."
Li Haowen originally had no desire to go to some Shengyuan Mountain with Chen Yan, but he didn't make up any excuses either.
It truly was a critical juncture in the extermination of the Ding Bandits.
Just a few days ago, they had accidentally found Ding Qiu's hiding place. Although Ding Qiu managed to escape by luck in the end, Li Haowen's people were not completely empty-handed.
In fact, it could be said they achieved significant success.
Right now was the perfect opportunity to press the advantage and pursue the victory.
"If Senior Brother Li truly cannot leave, then there is another way."
Chen Yan said calmly, as if he had long anticipated that Li Haowen would not readily agree to go to Shengyuan Mountain with him:
"Senior Brother Li only needs to lend the Yuanji Sword and the Xiaohua Sword to me for use. I will definitely return them to you immediately upon my return from Shengyuan Mountain."
Upon hearing this, Li Haowen was stunned once more. He simply couldn't have imagined that Chen Yan would dare to make such a request.