At this moment, Li Zhanlu was a little flustered.
He should not be panicking.
Throughout the entire Taicang Residence, he was definitely the top powerhouse.
However, that did not include the Holy Land.
In other words, almost all the powerhouses who could strike fear in Li Zhanlu came from Taicang Holy Land.
The profundity of the Holy Land was way beyond that of ordinary Celestial Sects.
Taking the Unyielding Sword Celestial Sect as an example, on the surface, they seem superior and can even manipulate the rise and fall of nations.
But when placed in front of one of the Holy Lands, they are nothing.
If Taicang Holy Land was willing, they could easily destroy the Unyielding Sword Celestial Sect with just one-tenth of their power.
Beneath the Holy Lands, all are trivial.
This sentence was not empty talk, but a fact that had been verified many times over tens of thousands of years!
...
Originally, there was no conflict or contradiction between the Unyielding Sword Celestial Sect and Taicang Holy Land.
On the contrary, both forces were very close to each other.
The Unyielding Sword Celestial Sect could even be considered as one of the vassal forces that Taicang Holy Land took care of the most.
Even though Li Hanguang had crushed one of the Holy Land's disciples before he was ten, that had not been a serious issue.
For those who were truly powerful, it was not a bad thing for the younger generation to experience some setbacks. It was beneficial for the tempering of their minds.
For Li Hanguang to have cruised by those True Disciples of the Taicang Holy Land, it meant that his talents were impeccable.
Not only did Taicang Holy Land not bear any grudges against him, but they even mentioned recruiting Li Hanguang and wanting to train him as their True Disciple.
After all, the talents of Taicang Holy Land's current generation of True Disciples were not that strong.
The aptitudes of the few True Disciples they had could only be considered good.
They were not at a level where they could squelch an entire Residence.
If they were made the Holy Sons of Taicang, they would only be suppressed by other geniuses when Taicang Holy Land communicated with the other Holy Lands and bring embarrassment upon their Holy Land.
Hence, they would be better off training Li Hanguang since he might be able to shoulder the burden after he switched to cultivating with the 'Taicang Crown Scripture'.
Of course, this proposal was eventually rejected.
Because like any major power, there were factions, and all major factions had descendants.
Within factions, there would be disputes.
If Li Hanguang were to join the Holy Land, the direct lineages of certain factions would be even less qualified to fight for the position of Holy Son.
This relationship was extremely complicated.
Moreover, Li Hanguang was amazing back then, but it might not mean anything now.
Some people were born gifted, while some matured slowly.
At the end of the day, the former Li Hanguang only had a top-grade Water Spiritual Root, not a Celestial Body such as the Miaoyin Celestial Body or the Taicang Celestial Body.
Making an exception to recruit him?
It could not convince everyone. It was controversial at the very least.
So in the end, Taicang Holy Land's attitude was: continue observing the performances of a few True Disciples of the Holy Land and Li Hanguang.
If Li Hanguang's performance was still as amazing as it was when he was a child and even advanced by leaps and bounds, perhaps an exception could be made for him to become the Holy Son of Taicang.
...
At first, Li Zhanlu was very proud.
He himself was the strongest person in the Unyielding Sword Celestial Sect. Without considering Taicang Holy Land, almost no one across the entire Taicang Residence could rival him!
His son was even better since he bested a True Disciple of the Holy Land and had hopes of becoming the Holy Son.
No matter which perspective one looked at him from, he was a winner in life.
But yesterday, Li Zhanlu was stunned when he sensed that awe-inspiring grade-9 Righteous Sword Aura.
People might be oblivious about that vision, but how could he?
That was the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, Yan Chixiao's Sword Intent!
700 years ago, Li Zhanlu was still a boy.
At that time, the prestigious names of the Two Geniuses of Taicang had already spread throughout the Taicang Residence and even across the Eastern Desolate Realm.
The Righteous Hero Sword Sage who cultivated in the Forgotten Love Blade was even deemed unrivaled by all.
Even when he was dueling against the older generation of secluded masters from various Holy Lands, he had never once been in a disadvantageous position. Sometimes, he would even stomp on those several stages higher than him.
It could be said that Li Zhanlu grew up listening to the legends of the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, Yan Chixiao.
For a long time, he admired and yearned to become like him.
But later, Li Zhanlu heard that the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, Yan Chixiao, fell in the war between the Holy Land and the Dark World.
That war swept across the entire Taicang Residence with almost all of the Dark World's powerhouses being deployed from their lair.
Taicang Holy Land and the seven major Celestial Sects likewise, spared no effort.
The land was ruined, mountains collapsed, and the world was in chaos. Countless powerhouses fell because of that war.
Among them, there were numerous Saint-stage powerhouses!
The fall of Yan Chixiao was not unacceptable, but Li Zhanlu felt that it was too coincidental.
Because that happened during the special period of where the Holy Lord of Taicang was going to select his heir and only two people were eligible to compete for that position.
After the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, Yan Chixiao, fell, Jiang Xuanyu assumed the position of Holy Lord the following year.
The cause and effect of this were indeed a bit scary to think about.
Moreover, after Li Zhanlu became successful in his cultivation, he had inquired of many elders who participated in that battle by means of devious questioning.
Although all the elders provided him with all kinds of exaggerated tales, everybody felt that there something was fishy about it.
...
Right now, Yan Chixiao's signature vision, the river of Sword Intent, had appeared near the Unyielding Sword Celestial Sect.
Coincidentally, Li Hanguang happened to be nearby at the time.
Is there a connection between him and the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, Yan Chixiao?
Li Zhanlu felt that he could not take it lightly.
After all, if the fall of the Righteous Hero Sword Sage back then was plotted by the Holy Lord of Taicang.
The Holy Lord of Taicang, Jiang Xuanyu, would certainly not sit back and watch the Righteous Hero Sword Saint stage a comeback. He would inevitably dig up the roots of this sprout.
At that time, everyone involved in this matter might be endangered.
Worse, they might even be silenced!
Did he see Yan Chixiao?
He must have!
Li Zhanlu looked at his son with complicated eyes, feeling both proud and worried in his heart.
He was no fool.
A grade-9 Righteous Sword Aura erupted and his son happened to be taking a stroll nearby? Who would believe this?
It had to be that the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, Yan Chixiao, did not fall entirely and had left a part of his soul inside an object.
And that was accidentally awakened by Li Hanguang.
Perhaps when Elder Yan Chixiao saw Li Hanguang's exceptional talent, he accepted him as his disciple and bestowed upon him everything had learned in his life.
Lots of cultivation-themed novels were written in this way!
Besides, if it were not for Elder Yan's personal guidance, how could Li Hanguang's Cultivation Base improve so quickly?
Forming a Golden Core in seven years and producing a Nascent Soul in four?
No one knew better than Li Zhanlu how incredible this kind of cultivation speed was!
Something had to be wrong!
But what made Li Zhanlu's balls hurt was that after such protagonists came across an old Guru, nothing would happen to them.
However, their parents, master, family, and sect would all perish one after another!
Was Li Zhanlu afraid of dying?
Of course, he was afraid… Not!
As a Swordmaster, how could he be afraid of death?
However, he was worried that once drawn into this Holy Lord whirlpool.
His wife and sect would all become victims and die meaningless deaths.
This won't do!
I must test him!
It would be best if I can make him sever all ties with Elder Yan!
I cannot let him sacrifice me, my wife and my sect!
Safety first~
Li Zhanlu took a deep breath and stared at Li Hanguang, "Let's have a duel! Let me see how much you have improved over the past three years!"
...
Seeing his father who drew his sword and pointed it straight at him, Li Hanguang was stunned.
W-weren't we gossiping?
Why is it that once Taicang Holy Land was mentioned, you proceeded to unsheathe your sword and point it at me?
You even want to see how much have I improved over the past three years?
I think we should pass on that~
My level 4 at the Spiritual Qi Refinement stage might scare the sh*t out of you!