Chapter 1: In Need Of A Successor

"Venerable Deity, when will you be ascending to the realm of immortals?"

A young woman wearing the clothes of a servant spoke while filling a golden chalice with a red substance that gave off a pungent smell of fine wine while a man with long black hair took the chalice and swirled the liquid in the cup around before taking a sip.

"Xiao Mei, how many times have I told you, just call me Li Feng, or Master Li. I'm no deity just yet, so I can't accept your flattery"

The man gave off a domineering aura, but when he spoke to the girl known as Xiao Mei, his expression softened as he gave her a smile, causing Xiao Mei's cheeks to grow a tinge of red hue.

"Yes, Master Li. I will do my best to serve you for the rest of my life"

Xiao Mei gave Li Feng a deep bow before retreating with the pitcher of wine, leaving her master to continue contemplating the worldly laws.

'That is the question, when will I make my ascension? I've been stuck at the Tribulation Rebirth stage for 3 thousand years, and I don't seem to be anywhere near achieving a breakthrough'

Li Feng was at the 3rd stage of the Tribulation Rebirth realm, and had gone through 3 lightning tribulations, and needed another 6 tribulations to break through and become a true immortal deity.

'I guess it's time I pass on my position as sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect and officially enter seclusion until I either die, or ascend to the immortal realms'

Li Feng released a sigh as he took another sip of spiritual wine from his cup as he prepared to call a meeting among the elders. Li Feng then took out a jade token engraved with the characters for 'Master' from his robe as he imbued his Qi into the token and spoke a simple message informing everyone who was to receive the message to report to the gathering hall before he himself got up from his resting spot and made his way to the hall to wait for everyone. After 15 minutes, Li Feng noticed that the first to arrive was the 3rd elder, and upon entering the hall, the 3rd elder voiced his queries.

"Sect Master Li, what's with the urgent call for a meeting? Shouldn't our yearly gathering be held in 4 months?"

The 3rd elder was an elderly man by appearance, he had long white hair, as well as a long white beard to accompany his hair, adding a sense of wisdom to his appearance for anyone who spoke with him. 3rd elder's appearance was more of a choice rather than old age catching up with him, as the 3rd elder was even a bit younger than Li Feng himself by a few hundred years, but none of that mattered as more and more elders began to enter the gathering hall one after another until everyone was present.

"First, I would like to thank all of you for coming on such short notice, but I have recently decided how I will move forward with my cultivation situation. I have decided to step down as sect master and enter seclusion until I either break through, or die trying"

When Li Feng gave a pause to his words to let all the elders present digest what he had just told them, a small uproar began to form as the first to speak up was the 3rd elder, followed by the 1st elder who had the same indigent expression.

"But Master Li, how are we supposed to expand our influence without you, our great and powerful master?"

"Yeah, old 3rd is right! The other sects only look the other way when our sect is mentioned because you are the Divine Sword of our Heavenly Sword Sect, one of only 5 Tribulation Rebirth realm experts in the entire Huaxi continent. Without you as our backing, the other sects will definitely begin their advances thinking we are weak without you"

Seeing the other elders giving nods in agreement towards the 3rd and 1st elders qualms, Li Feng decided to give them a confidence boost, as he was dead set on stepping down and stepping out of the picture entirely.

"Well, are you guys weak without me?"

Hearing Li Feng's question, all the elders quickly realized where he was going with his question and quickly responded with gusto.

"No! We are strong, even without Master Li's backing"

"Then I see no need for me in the picture. I only came to this conclusion because I know that even without me, you all are strong individuals who will reign over the Huaxia continent all on your own, you all just need a little push to put it in motion, and I feel my absence will give you all that push and make your strengths soar to heights never before seen. All I hope is that my absence will also help me push myself to new heights"

Hearing how confident Li Feng was about their strength without him gave all the elders the motivation they needed as the once tense and depressing atmosphere changed to a happy and jovial one as they all gave out laughs and smiles as the serious talk changed to happy banter between close friends, but it was soon brought back to topic when the real question, and the reason for all of them to assemble was asked by the grand elder who had been silent for the most of the meeting.

"So, who do you have in mind to replace you as sect master after you enter seclusion?"

Li Feng gave the grand elder a wide smile as the correct question was finally asked, causing all the elders present to quiet down, waiting for Li Feng's answer, while they all held hope that it would be them, most suspected it would be the grand elder, as the grand elder was the oldest and wisest of all the elders, and was even older than Li Feng by a few thousand years. They all felt that he was the most fit for the position, but they were all surprised by the next set of words that came from Li Feng's mouth.

"I want Xiao Mei to become the next sect master"

"Xiao Mei? Your servant girl? Why?"

When Li Feng spoke, all the elders were surprised as they all spoke while asking questions to confirm if they heard correctly, or as to why she was his choice, but they were all silenced as the grand elder raised his hand and gave Li Feng a knowing smile as he spoke up.

"It's a wonderful choice, Master Li, I wouldn't have made any other choice knowing her background"

When the other elders heard the words of the grand elder, looks of confusion began to appear on their faces as they thought that the grand elder would be upset, but when Li Feng spoke up to clear their confusion, they understood everything.

"Xiao Mei is actually my daughter, but she is unaware of this and I would like to keep it this way. About 19 years ago, I was out exploring the wonders of the world when I had entered a brothel on recommendation of one of the merchants I was friends with at the time, and when I met with Xiao Mei's mother, I was captivated and decided to spend a night with her. I left believing I would never see her again, but 7 years later I found out through that very merchant friend that Xiao Mei's mother died and Xiao Mei was left in the care of the brothel. I didn't want a kid to be raised like that so I planned to take her here to be a disciple, but upon meeting her I felt our connection and decided to get closer to her, but due to the amount of enemies I have, I decided to raise her as a servant so nobody tries to take her as a hostage"

After hearing the story, all the elders present began to feel a little emotional, while the female elders even felt a heart wrenching pain in their chest after imagining being put in such a position of being unable to show parental love in fear of having that be used against you by wicked enemies.

"Although I raised her as a servant, I don't have her do any kinds of tasks I would give to an actual servant, and she's believed that she was a servant who was picked up off the street ever since that day, but in actuality, she has an impressive talent in cultivation, maybe even talent that surpasses mine, but she refuses to cultivate because she believes she doesn't hold any special talents and any resources used on her would be wasted, so I want her to be groomed to be the next sect master, and until she's ready, I want grand elder Yang to be in charge"

Hearing the end of the story, all the elders felt relieved, while the grand elder gave a deep bow and vowed to do his best in raising the next sect master.

"I swear to make Xiao Mei a great sect master worthy of the title and respect that comes with it, you can leave it to me."

With the grand elders' reassuring words, Li Feng felt that he could finally enter seclusion with peace of mind.

"Alright, with that come the end of the meeting I called for today, We will be holding a transfer of power ceremony tomorrow afternoon, so gather all the disciples and servant and tell them all to gather at the ceremonial hall tomorrow, I'll be unavailable until tomorrow evening, right before the ceremony, as I will need time to prepare my place of seclusion. I'll also be in and out of the sect treasury to gather the materials I will be using, so I'll be needing help from you, Nie Ling, as you are the sect's treasurer, and you will need to update the books after I'm done"

When Nie Ling heard this, she felt the blood drain from her face as she wondered just how much money this sect master of theirs was about to drain from the sect, but steeled her nerves as she nodded and spoke in a reassuring tone.

"I'll do my best, sect master!"

With a smile on his face, Li Feng was preparing to leave, but was stopped as the 3rd elder had one last question for him.

"Master Li, Will you still be around to give your divine protection to the sect in case we ever face a disaster?"

When Li Feng heard this, he gave a slight smirk as he spoke in a condescending yet joking tone.

"I thought you all were strong? Perhaps you all lied to me? Anyway, I will not be returning, so if the sect flourishes or falls, it has nothing to do with me anymore, I can only give you my parting hopes that you all uphold the strength of the sect when I'm gone, but if you do fall, i can only say that you or future generations just weren't worthy to be disciples of the Heavenly Sword sect"

Without giving the elders a chance to ask anymore questions, Li Feng quickly left the gathering hall and went back to his resting spot where he had left his cup of spiritual wine as well as a game of Go that he was playing against himself. Raising a black Go piece and placing it on the board, successfully capturing a group of white Go pieces, Li Feng looked out into the sunset as he took another sip of spiritual wine and enjoyed the feeling of peace that he had fought so hard for over the past thousands of years.

'I will miss the setting sun, but if I achieve my goal of breaking through to the immortal realms, then perhaps I can see sights that are much more beautiful than this'

Soon, the night passed as the morning of the next day came as Li Feng stopped by the sect treasury where he saw elder Nie waiting for him with a stack of thick books in her hands.

"So, shall we proceed into the treasury, sect master?"

"Mmn, we shall"

Li Feng and Nie Ling entered the treasury while being greeted by the sects inner disciples that took on the guard duty, and upon entering, they were greeted with a large expanse of space that seemed to go on endlessly, but this was all due to a spatial expanding formation engraved into the floor and powered by the spiritual veins under the sect. There were hundreds of rows of shelves containing things like books, weapons, armors, talismans, spiritual plants and herbs, and vials of spiritual beasts blood, and spatial rings that contained spiritual stones and precious metals and jewels such as gold, silver, platinum, emerald, jade, ruby, sapphire, and diamonds among other things. All these treasures were the gatherings that Li Feng and the members of his Heavenly Sword sect had gathered over the last 8 thousand years since its founding.

"So, what will you be needing, sect master?"

Li Feng heard Nie Ling's words and thought for a moment before he finally spoke as he began listing out the ingredients he needed.

"I'll need a space sealing and space silencing talisman, along with 3 drops of 6 star flood dragon's blood essence, and the heart of a golden lotus beetle. That should let me make an unbreakable formation that will let me cultivate in peace and quiet, while I'll be needing quite a lot of spiritual plants to produce a Qi enriched environment that will better enhance my cultivation speed. That should be about it"

When Nie Ling heard this, she nodded her head in agreement, but when she thought about each ingredient individually, the color began to drain from her beautiful face as she realized just how rare and precious these ingredients were.

"Sect master, are you sure you're not trying to bankrupt the entire sect? 3 drops of flood dragon blood essence in itself is already quite expensive and rare, but a 6 star flood dragon that is rumored to be only a single step away from becoming a dragon deity is extremely hard to come by, and we only have 4 drops of this blood essence, while the heart of a golden lotus beetle is also a rare ingredient used for strengthening formations to an utmost limit. Are you trying to survive the destruction of the entire Huaxi continent by using both the flood dragon essence and the golden lotus beetle heart?!"

Lie Feng released a small laugh as he looked at the frustrated elder before he spoke with a chuckle.

"I'm Just trying to be prepared, I don't know what will come of the future, and since I'm trying to stay out of the worldly affairs, I don't wish to be bothered by even the destruction of the entire world, I just want to ascend or die trying"

Nie Ling felt exasperated at her sect masters' inconsideration towards his disciples and the future generation, but there was nothing she could say, as Li Feng was the one to gather most of these ingredients himself, so technically they were his to use however he saw fit.

"I see, then let me prepare all the things you need, sect master"

Li Feng gave a silent nod as he watched Nie Ling take a look at a few of the books in her hand before using the Qi tracking charm to get everything.