Chapter 750: The Thatched Cottage
The reason Chen Yan had gone to the Martial Pacification Court to find Lu Li was that he did not know what to do with the list he had discovered in Cangwu Residence on Qingchan Peak.
Lu Li’s advice was very straightforward.
There was no need to concern himself with any of it. He only had to hand the list over to Li Haoran.
Chen Yan pictured the slight, white-haired old man in his mind.
Seeing Li Haoran was no simple matter.
The Supreme Pivot Elder of Kongshan Sect had been keeping out of worldly affairs, almost in seclusion, ever since three thousand years ago.
That was true not only for Chen Yan, who was merely an early Unity-realm cultivator and had yet to fully establish himself among the sect’s Four Supreme Courts.
Even the other three Supreme Authorities of Kongshan Sect would find it quite difficult to meet Supreme Pivot Elder Li.
Chen Yan honestly shared his concerns with Lu Li.
Lu Li’s answer was still very simple:
“Just go. He’ll see you.”
……
Chen Yan took Lu Li’s advice.
He went to the Pivot Court to meet Li Haoran, but the person he saw was another Grand Elder of the Pivot Court.
That Grand Elder was named Yan Wei. He was highly senior within Kongshan Sect’s Supreme Pivot Court, though he was not particularly prominent.
Chen Yan had only heard that Yan Wei seemed to have quite a personal relationship with Supreme Pivot Elder Li.
Li Haoran was the only major figure in Chenping Continent today who had been active in the era before the path to immortality was severed and had lived to the present.
He had held the position of Supreme Pivot Authority of Kongshan Sect continuously since seven thousand six hundred years ago.
Over the course of those seven thousand six hundred years, several generations of Kongshan Sect’s Grand Elders had come and gone.
Aside from Li Haoran, the most senior figure among Kongshan Sect’s Four Supreme Courts was now Huo Mu, the sect’s Supreme Enforcing Laws Authority.
“Supreme Pivot Elder Li isn’t in the Pivot Court,” Yan Wei told Chen Yan as he arrived.
The answer did not surprise Chen Yan at all. From the beginning, he had not expected to meet Li Haoran so easily.
Just as he was about to take his leave, Yan Wei continued:
“If you want to see Supreme Pivot Elder Li, you can follow the river below Yuanhua Mountain toward the outer court.”
Chen Yan was slightly taken aback. Then he cupped his hands toward Yan Wei and said,
“Thank you, Grand Elder Yan.”
“You’re welcome, Supreme Elder Chen,” Yan Wei replied with a smile, returning the salute.
Following Yan Wei’s directions, Chen Yan first went to the foot of Yuanhua Mountain and looked at the white waterfall cascading down the black mountain before him.
Then he began walking along the river formed by the waterfall as it gathered on the ground.
As a Unity-realm cultivator, Chen Yan naturally possessed a powerful capacity for spiritual sense perception.
Within a radius of dozens of li around him, every movement, however slight, was entirely within his grasp.
Yet he discovered nothing.
If he continued along the river like this, Kongshan Sect’s outer court would soon enter the range of his spiritual sense.
Where exactly was Supreme Pivot Elder Li?
Though he was beginning to feel perplexed and doubtful, Chen Yan continued along the river.
After roughly half an incense stick’s time, he sniffed lightly, then raised his eyebrows.
That smell…
It was burning wood, and river fish roasting.
Following the river and passing through the small grove ahead, Chen Yan finally spotted a crude-looking thatched cottage not far beyond the trees.
By the river near the cottage, a thin old man wearing the pale-white daoist robes of Kongshan Sect’s outer court sat on a large rock. A bonfire burned before him, with two river fish skewered on thin wooden sticks roasting over the flames.
Although the old man wore an outer-court robe and looked utterly ordinary,
Chen Yan recognized him at a glance as Li Haoran, Kongshan Sect’s current Supreme Pivot Elder.
After all, there were only about a dozen people in Kongshan Sect whose cultivation Chen Yan, a Unity-realm cultivator, could not see through.
Chen Yan was somewhat puzzled as to why his spiritual sense had failed to detect the thatched cottage, but he soon understood.
Concealing the cottage from other people’s spiritual sense was a mere parlor trick for the foremost cultivator in Chenping Continent today.
Without hesitation, Chen Yan continued toward the thin old man roasting fish in front of the cottage.
“This junior Chen Yan pays his respects to Supreme Pivot Elder Li.”
Stopping about three zhang behind Li Haoran, Chen Yan respectfully bowed and cupped his hands toward him.
Li Haoran was one of only two peak Dao Union cultivators in Chenping Continent today.
How powerful was a Ninth Realm cultivator? Li must have discovered Chen Yan’s presence long before Chen Yan even reached the foot of Yuanhua Mountain.
A breeze swept past, and the thatched cottage rustled softly.
The pale-white daoist robes on Li Haoran shifted slightly, and a few sparks scattered from the bonfire at his feet.
He did not immediately respond to Chen Yan, who stood behind him bowing with cupped hands. Instead, he first picked up one of the fish roasting over the fire and examined it carefully before holding it out behind him.
“Have some fish.”
The thin old man spoke slowly.
Chen Yan was slightly stunned. He had not expected Supreme Pivot Elder Li to say or do that.
“Yes.”
But he did not hesitate for long. He immediately agreed, stepped forward to cross the several zhang between them, and took the roasted fish from Li Haoran’s hand.
After accepting the roasted river fish, Chen Yan looked at its golden, crisp skin for a moment, then brought it to his mouth and took a bite.
It was just an ordinary roasted fish, nothing special.
Since it had not been seasoned at all, once the crispness and savory aroma of the skin faded, all that remained in his mouth was a slight fishy taste and the flavor of the fish itself.
“So, what did you come to see me about?”
Li Haoran asked.
“In answer to Supreme Pivot Elder Li,”
Chen Yan hurriedly swallowed the fish in his mouth before replying:
“Not long ago, Qi Yi, Grand Elder Qi, asked me to go to Qingchan Peak and handle the affairs following the death of Fu Qian, the Solemn Martial Elder of Qingchan Peak. At his residence, I found a list. Since it contained some names that were difficult to ignore, this junior did not know what to do, so I could only come here to seek your advice, Supreme Pivot Elder Li…”
“Where’s the list?”
Li Haoran asked.
Chen Yan presented the list to Li Haoran.
But Li Haoran did not even look at it. He simply tossed the sheet into the bonfire before him, and two breaths later, it had turned completely to ash.