Entering the Righteous Path

After slaughtering the three Nirvana Life Realm opponents from the Ghu Clan, Yaan returned to Heavenly Path Mountain. He went directly to Elia's cave abode, so that he could explain to her what exactly was going on. Elia had been very patient, asking him very few questions about everything that he had been doing and his plans going forwards, which Yaan was grateful for, but he didn't plan to leave her in the dark forever.

After all, he had already decided to make Elia the new leader of the Ghu Province, which he would rename to the Heavenly Path Province after wiping out the Ghu Clan. He obviously needed to inform her about this before taking action, otherwise she would be too shocked after all was done. Yaan also knew that Elia wanted to reassure her sect members that everything was alright, and at this point…he needed to reveal his existence to the sect.

But not only this sect, he also needed to announce his presence to the neighbouring groups, especially the Zue Clan. There was no doubt that after Yaan's Heavenly Blessing, the other groups would send their people over to investigate. In fact, those people had already arrived a couple of days ago, but Elia had been dealing with them herself, allowing Yaan to continue doing his own thing in peace.

After returning to Elia's temple abode and discussing these various matters with her, Yaan felt heart-warmed when he realised that she had been silently shouldering this without disturbing him. That said, he didn't want to trouble her with any more issues.

The Heavenly Path Sect had a special status due to Elia's strength, but also thanks to Zue Yin. Zue Yin had made it abundantly clear to her clan that no matter what, they needed to maintain a good relationship with Elia and the Heavenly Path Sect. Most of the clansmen thought that this was due to Zue Yin's friendship with Elia, but this was only part of the reason – the whole reason that Zue Yin had made an effort to establish a relationship with the Heavenly Path Sect in the first place, was because she believed that one day, Yaan would return.

Even after Zue Yin surpassed the Yaan whom she had once known in the Southern Continent, reaching the Nirvana Realm and then the Immortal Step, she was still convinced that Yaan was a monster the likes of which she and her clan could not afford to offend. And in the end, both her opinion of Yaan, and her decision to prepare for his eventual arrival, were absolutely correct.

Yaan's battle against the Ghu Clansmen had been witnessed by every single one of the groups occupying the mountains across the Greenwood Mountain Range. To investigate the appearance of a Nirvana Life Realm expert in the Heavenly Path Sect, the other groups didn't dare to send out anyone weak, so only their strongest members had visited, allowing them to see Yaan's overwhelming victory from the peak of the mountain, where Elia had been entertaining the various guests for the past few days.

"Are you sure that you want to show your face in public, Yaan?" Elia asked with concern, grabbing hold of his wrist after he revealed his plan.

He had just explained everything regarding his future plans to Elia. She now knew that he planned to wipe out the Ghu Clan, turning the Ghu Province into the Heavenly Path Province. Even though Yaan had displayed an unbelievable level of strength just now, she couldn't help but worry that he would be endangering himself if he started making public appearances.

Her concern was excessive, but this was just how Elia was. She had always been cautious and overprotective of those close to her, to the point of it verging on being a bit unreasonable. Yaan didn't dislike this however, and he even found it somewhat refreshing compared to the usual scheming fellows in the cultivation world.

"Ghu Lin already knows about what happened." Yaan chuckled and dismissed her worries casually. "He was watching the whole thing from afar via a very impressive treasure. He has no doubt already realised my identity, but it doesn't matter - the Ghu Clan already sent out their strongest force, they do not pose me a threat. Anyone below the Immortal Step is no longer worth worrying about, Elia, so you can put your worries to rest."

Yaan didn't hide anything from his childhood friend, aside from the matter about his new sword being a 'Dao Treasure'. He explained that his sword's spirit was actually the transformed soul of his younger sister, but he didn't go into further details, making Elia realise that it would be for the best if she didn't pry too much. Since Yaan was being very open with her about so many things, she knew that he must definitely have a good reason for withholding any information from her.

Elia knew all too well that knowledge could be a dangerous thing in this world. She wasn't stupid, she realised that this simple looking wooden sword was anything but ordinary. Any treasure that possessed its own spirit was shocking enough, but this sword was clearly tied into Yaan's own life, making it something beyond her comprehension, and something that even immortals would go crazy over.

Elia looked at Yaan deeply. In her mind, the Ghu Clan was a tyrannical force that she could not contest against - it had been this way for hundreds of years, so this fact was firmly rooted in her mind. When Yaan spoke of overthrowing the Ghu Clan, her instinct was to feel worried that he was doing something dangerous, but when she thought about it…

Yaan had just killed three Nirvana Realm cultivators like it was nothing. He also didn't seem to be particularly shocked by his own accomplishment. Elia reminded herself once again that her childhood friend had turned into a true expert over the past few hundred years, and she could not use her own common sense to assess his capabilities.

"Ok then, Yaan. If you say that it's safe, then I trust you. But please promise me…don't do anything dangerous just for my sake, ok?" Elia asked him gently as she leaned in closer.

Yaan was silent for a while, but he eventually nodded.

Perhaps Elia was right; he had grown too accustomed to taking absurd risks, endangering his own life without giving it a second thought. He had always lived the life of a demon, so he had become too used to this way of living…but now, there was someone worrying about him. Yaan didn't want to cause Elia any unnecessary worries, and if he was going to protect Elia and the sect, then he needed to avoid doing anything too crazy.

"Don't worry, Elia. My only objective is to protect you and our home. After I destroy the Ghu Clan and take control over the province, I won't push things any further. However, that said…you know that eventually, a war between the North and South is inevitable. Life won't always be this peaceful, and it might be necessary for me to do things that you see as dangerous, if we want to continue protecting everything that we hold dear."

"Yes…I understand." Elia nodded solemnly.

Both Zue Yin and Yaan had warned her about the Southern Continent and how they had been preparing for a planetary war for hundreds of years now. Elia had also noticed some strange movements of various groups across the Northern lands in recent years, telling her that the Demonic North was also beginning to make its preparations, only, the Northern immortals were far more secretive compared to those in the South.

Eventually, they would also become engulfed by the flames of war…

Seeing that Elia looked concerned, Yaan smiled to lighten the mood.

"Don't worry so much. Once I become an immortal, protecting our home from this war shouldn't be too difficult. The other immortals in the North should be working together; I know that the immortals in the South are. They take different approaches, but both sides are preparing the Foundation Step cultivators for this war, and the immortals will eventually become involved personally…but I couldn't care less about this war. North, South, it's all the same…I won't participate. The Heavenly Path Province will isolate itself from the entire world if it comes to that. We will not fall victim to these people and their pointless war."

After saying this overbearing piece with so much confidence that Elia was left feeling dazed for some time, Yaan walked past her, squeezing her shoulder gently as he went, before leaving this private room and entering her temple's reception hall.

When Elia returned to her senses, she quickly followed after Yaan in time to hear him addressing all of the powerhouses from the other seven Northern groups. She had gathered these people in this hall under Yaan's request, to allow him to address them all at once.

As soon as Yaan entered the room, the twenty or so people, all of whom had been chatting with one another and deepening their various relationships, immediately fell silent.

Earlier on, they had all witnessed the terrifying scene of a blurry silver-haired figure slaughtering three Nirvana Life Realm Ghu Clansmen with a single sword strike. They had only seen Yaan attack from behind and nobody was able to clearly see his face, but when Yaan appeared before them now, his silver hair and domineering aura left them in no doubt that he was the very same person they had seen earlier.

Yaan briefly released his aura, not to suppress these people, but to prove his identity and silence the room. Rather than trying to convince them of his identity, it was easier to handle things more directly in this way.

Elia smiled wryly when she saw this. From her perspective as a righteous path leader, Yaan's act of releasing his aura to silence the room was a bit too overbearing. Yaan didn't seem to realise this, or maybe he just didn't care…either way, she realised that he was clearly accustomed to acting this way, since he did it so naturally that it almost looked like a practised motion.

Yaan scanned his gaze around the room, which had fallen so silent that you would be able to hear a pin drop, and assessed the strength of the people before him.

In the past, out of the former nine groups residing across the Greenwood Mountain Range, only the four clans had possessed Origin Soul Realm powerhouses. Now however, after the Yuso Clan was wiped out, the other eight groups were able to grow without being hindered. The Ghu Clan now occupied the old Yuso Mountain, but they mostly kept to themselves and didn't concern themselves with the other eight groups. Now, it had reached the point that every single group had their own Origin Soul Realm leaders.

There was still a big difference between each group. The Zue Clan was the strongest with six Origin Soul Realm cultivators, including two at the peak of the realm. The Heavenly Path Sect wasn't much weaker with four Origin Soul Realm powerhouses, though only Elia was at the peak of the realm.

None of the other groups had any Peak Origin Soul Realm cultivators, and the weakest of the groups, the Swift Sword School, only had a single Origin Soul Realm cultivator who was at the mid stage.

The old Yuso Mountain was now a territory of the Ghu Clan, that was why the Ghu Clan learned about Yaan's ascension so quickly. Zue Yin had planned to take this mountain for her Zue Clan after reaching the Immortal Step, but unfortunately, her plans never came to fruition.

'Zue Yin, you became quite intelligent…' Yaan thought to himself with a smile. 'You put work into protecting my homeland, but not just because you wanted to form a good relationship between your clan and myself - this was also your way of preparing for my arrival. In the event that you failed to destroy the Ghu Clan yourself, you made it such that I would definitely take over in your absence. In the end, you actually understood me much better than I realised. Not bad, Zue Yin…'

After thinking this, Yaan finally addressed the nervous looking cultivators. He spoke calmly, but his words were so shocking that each syllable sounded like a clap of thunder in the ears of the Greenwood Mountain Range's elite.

"Everyone, my name is Yaan. I'm sure this name is familiar to some of you, so I will start by confirming that I am indeed the person you are thinking of. Secondly, I want to let you all rest assured that I have no intention of interfering with your groups, so long as you do not interfere with my Heavenly Path Sect. And lastly, the main reason that I gathered everyone here today, was so that I can tell you this - from today forth, the Ghu Province will be renamed to the Heavenly Path Province. I will remove the Ghu Clan from this world before nightfall, and my Heavenly Path Sect will take their place as the new ruler of the province."