Sect Leader Su remained silent for a long amount of time.
Finally, taking a deep breath, he said, "Fang Chen maybe my son, but that doesn't mean he will surely become the next Sect Leader of our Sect."
"I want the next Sect Leader to be someone who can bring our sect one step forward."
"The only reason why I am opposing Yuan Shuchun's claim over the Sect Leader position is because of her uncaring attitude towards the SEct's future. It doesn't need one to have supreme intelligence to know her nature. SHe's someone with a goal, and that goal doesn't include anything good for our sect."
"And as for Fang Chen, well, you said it, he doesn't know the truth. To him, he's the son of the Fang Clan, and most probably it's future Clan Head."
"If he proves himself to be worthy, in terms of both nature and talent, I would not have any problem regarding his claim over the Sect Leader position. Just like I had no problem over Jiang Yun's claim over the Sect Leader position."
"I will choose the disciple who will have the most positive impact over the Sect's future after becoming the Sect Leader. Be it Fang Chen, Jiang Yun, or anybody else."
Peak Master Duan nodded his head and said, "When are you planning to tell the truth to Fang Chen?"
Sect Leader Su pursed his lips and let out a sigh, "It's not easy. I want to do it right now, I want to tell him the truth every time I see him, but it's not the right time yet. It's not the right time."
"When is this 'right' time?" Peak Master Duan asked, "The more you delay, the harder it will be for him to accept you when the time comes. You should tell him as soon as he comes out of this one-month seclusion."
Seeing Sect Leader Su slightly nod his head, Peak Master Duan then continued, "Also, how long are you going to allow that Xuan guy to be so rampant? He's now not even afraid to scheme in front of you against your son."
Sect Leader Su shook his head, "The Grand Elder Xuan faction is still too powerful. We can't take them out one by one; what we need is to trap them in one fell swoop. And as for him scheming to remove the chances of Fang Chen being the next Sect Leader, I am sure he doesn't know that Fang Chen is my son, and he most probably played the trick with Yuan Shuchun in his mind."
Peak Master Duan narrowed his eyes when he heard the last part and asked, "Senior Brother, don't you feel weird about this situation?"
"What situation?" Sect Leader Su asked in confusion, "The situation between Fang Chen and Grand Elder Xuan?"
"No, I mean the situation between Yuan Shuchun and Grand Elder Xuan? Don't you feel weird seeing how GRand Elder Xuan's every action somehow benefits Yuan Shuchun? It's as if… as if they master-servant, and the servant is looking out for the master."
"That's absurd," Sect Leader Su shot down the possibility, "There's no way someone like Grand Elder Xuan could be a servant of a girl."
"And it's even more impossible when you consider her background. I have read the reports. Yuan Shuchun comes from a humble background. And I think the situation is different from what you are assuming. Yuan Shuchun is most probably Grand Elder Xuan's disciple."
Peak Master Duan shrugged while asking, "If that's true, then why is there a need to give subtle support? Grand Elder Xuan only needs to say a word, and the support Yuan Shuchun is getting will become more than double. Why is he not proclaiming that Yuan Shuchun is his disciple?"
Sect Leader Su shook his head, "I have no answer to this. Maybe there's something which we're not seeing, something which is right in front of our eyes, but we're missing it."
Then standing up from his seat, Sect Leader Su continued, "Well, this is not something we need to be worried about right now. There are already enough troubles lying in front of us that will keep us busy for the next few months."
"First of all is last night's incident. Even though Jiang Yun survived the assassination attempt, and Fang Chen's information saved the lives of many disciples, we can't argue the fact that another such incident might happen. We won't be this lucky next time."
"Our Sect needs to be well prepared for the next time, in fact, we need to find out the Sleeper Cells and eliminate them."
Peak Master Duan nodded his head, "Senior Brother, I have an absurd idea to get those remaining Sleeper Cells out of their holes without wasting our time in investigating each of the disciples."
"Oh? What is it?"
Peak Master Duan rubbed his chin and said, "Since we know that those Sleeper Cells will activate and explode when they hear the shout regarding the Demon God, which acts as a trigger; my idea is that we shouldn't wait for our enemies and trigger the Sleeper Cells before them."
"We should activate the Sleeper Cells before our enemies."
"What?" Sect Leader stared Peak Master Duan from up to down before saying, "Have you gone crazy? Activating the Sleeper Cells is very risky, and what if they explode? Won't our disciples lose lives for nothing? We need to find out the Sleeper Cells through any other way."
Peak Master Duan shook his head as he said, "Senior Brother, listen carefully about what I am about to say."
"First thing, we know how to activate the Sleeper Cells."
"Secondly, we know how to identify the activated Sleeper Cells."
"Now, all we have to do is make a batch of disciples and attempt to activate any hidden Sleeper Cells. After that, we will have the elders search for the signs of the Sleeper Cells."
"If we find Sleeper Cells, that's good. If we don't, then we will try this with the next batch of disciples."
"Also, from now on, we can make this shout a secret level in the Sect Entrance Exam. This will fish out the future sleeper Cells who would try to get into our sect."
Sect Leader Su slowly nodded his head as he said, "Good, good, good. This idea is quite viable."
Peak Master Duan smiled and added, "All we need to know is make an excuse to get the disciples to form a group, then put them into an illusion after activating the Sleeper Cell."
"This method will save us from wasting any more time to find another way to find those disciples, and this method is also quite foolproof."
Sect Leader Su nodded his head, "I will have the elders start working on this, but I won't be stopping the investigation. We WILL check the background and history of all the members, be it core disciples or just a new servant."
Taking a deep breath, he continued, "This will handle this issue, but there are other headaches too. Especially the one with the Kang Bai's death."
Peak Master Duan nodded his head, "Yes, this one is inevitable. And I am pretty sure we will lose the alliance with the Kang Clan after the upcoming meeting."
Sect Leader Su pursed his lips, "Not only will we lose the alliance, but we will also create an enemy. Kang Clan will soon join hands with the Xin Royal Clan."
Peak Master Duan frowned and asked, "Senior Brother, is this true that the Royal Family is planning a crusade to suppress the Sects and the other independent powers?"
Sect Leader Su nodded his head as he let out a sigh, "Unfortunately, this is true. The future of the sects is bleak and uncertain with the rising power of Fang Yuan. King Xin is giving free reign to Prime Minister Fang Yuan, and that guy is someone who wants absolute control over everything."
"After a few years, I am afraid the current Xin Royal Clan will be no more than a puppet, dancing at the instructions of Fang Yuan."
Peak Master Duan shook his head, "I can't understand why King Xin suddenly has a problem with the Sects, especially in the recent few years. The changes he has brought have directly affected the sects."
Sect Leader Su nodded his head, "Well, this is something we need to care about after the GRand Spirit Hunt. Now we need to think about the solution for the immediate problem - we need someone who can take Jiang Yun's place in the Grand Spirit Hunt."
Peak Master Duan scratched his chin while thinking, "Don't we still have Yuan Shuchun? And there are other core disciples too. I don't think there's any need to worry about this."
Sect Leader Su shook his head, "No, they are not enough. None of them could even compare to Jiang Yun's power. We need someone who can lead the other core disciples and suppress all the opponents."
"It's time to grind and force out the hidden talents of the sect."
Peak Master Duan asked, "And how are you planning to do that? Don't forget that we only have six months left before the first round of the Grand Spirit Hunt."
Sect Leader Su pursed his lips and said, "We will make use of the first three months and select three teams which will represent our sect in the Grand Spirit Hunt."
"And then, for the last three months, we will have them get the most intense training and best cultivation resources."
Peak Master Duan pursed his lips, "And how are you planning to do that?"