“Got it.”

Chen Yiming nodded his head.

The sect master of the Myriad Phenomena Sect, Ye Jianyuan, had gone to the otherworld to oversee the stronghold. This meant that the Myriad Phenomena Sect had suddenly lost its strongest backing. In fact, the entire Jiangnan province was in the same situation.

This way, the deterrence of the Myriad Phenomena Sect would naturally decrease greatly in the short term. They had to move as a group outside of Jiangnan province to prevent anyone from attacking them.

After passing on the message to Chen Yiming, Zhou Xuesheng arranged for them to wait where they were. Then, with a serious expression, he went to discuss it with the other two court heads of the Myriad Phenomena Sect.

After Zhou Xuesheng left, Su Mo’er took the initiative to say, “Junior Brother, I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

It had been two days since the incident on Mist Island, but her face was still a little pale. Clearly, she had not completely calmed down since then.

The male true disciples nearby who didn’t know him looked at him with displeased expressions as they sized Chen Yiming up.

Although they came from different inner courts, they were one level higher than Chen Yiming on the surface. Previously, they had already heard from Zhou Xuesheng that this inner sect disciple would come to meet them.

The team led by Zhou Xuesheng already had Su Mo’er, who was a burden to them. However, Su Mo’er had a good figure and had some level of charisma, so everyone subconsciously ignored her weaker combat strength.

As for Chen Yiming, they didn’t know him, so they subconsciously labeled him as a burden.

In one team, there were two burdens. Chen Yiming suddenly felt like he was an unwelcome addition.

However, Chen Yiming couldn’t be bothered about it. “I happened to be on a mission in East Sea province. I didn’t expect to suddenly be summoned here.”

Su Mo’er pursed her lips and whispered, “Junior Brother, you’re really daring. If it were me, I would definitely stay quietly in the mountains.”

Chen Yiming raised an eyebrow and said calmly, “I heard that several sect masters from large sects died on this trip to Mist Island. Senior Sister, I’m honestly impressed that you actually dared to participate.”

Su Mo’er blushed and quickly explained, “That’s not it. In the past, there wasn’t much danger on Mist Island. I was only trying to make use of my last chance to master the transformation of my internal force, so I begged the court head to bring me along…”

After she spoke, she sighed regretfully. “Unfortunately, the valley that produces the most willow tree cores was monopolized by one person. We worked so hard for nothing the entire time. We didn’t get anything out of it.”

Chen Yiming felt a little bad about it and stopped teasing Su Mo’er.

The entire valley’s willow tree cores and the spiritual spring had been sucked dry by him alone. In the end, even the roots of the willow trees had been destroyed by him and Lu Zhenshan.

Even without the willow tree king breaking through to the master realm, the valley would not have recovered in three years.

Since they had missed this opportunity to get the willow tree cores this time, it meant that they had lost the chance forever.

Su Mo’er’s face was filled with disappointment. Once she started talking, it was as if she could not stop. She continued, “Junior Brother, I’ve discussed the plan you suggested to me with the court head. He said that it makes sense, but he thinks that the risk is still very high. I’ll have to consider it carefully.”

Hmph! Woman, do you know what you missed?

Chen Yiming nodded and said in a low voice, “It’s not a bad thing to play it safe. I was just throwing out a suggestion.”

Chen Yiming, who had mastered two complete concept diagram techniques, had a clearer understanding of the fusion of internal force, let alone the simple combination of two types of internal force.

However, on the surface, he was just an inner sect disciple. It was normal for others to not have confidence in him.

It would work out if she believed Chen Yiming, but if she didn’t, she would just remain stuck. Chen Yiming wasn’t the one who would have any regrets.

Hearing this, Su Mo’er became even more discouraged.

Since Chen Yiming had already said so, she didn’t dare to take her future lightly. Furthermore, she was a timid person.

The speaker did not have any special intent behind his words, but the listener would read into it and find some meaning behind it.

The look that the nearby male true disciples gave Chen Yiming changed from displeased to hostile.

A mere inner sect disciple was actually so arrogant as to casually give pointers to others after learning a little.

It had to be known that the problem Su Mo’er was facing was not an ordinary problem. If she was not careful, it was very likely that her martial arts path would be cut off.

Chen Yiming ignored their gazes.

Who was the frog at the bottom of the well would be revealed soon.

Every dog had its day. He hoped that when the time came, they would not shamelessly come over to beg for guidance.

Soon after, melancholic music rang out.

The host came to the stage and announced the start of the memorial service.

The atmosphere in the entire venue suddenly became oppressive. Many people could not help but put themselves in the shoes of those who had died. They might be the next to die.

Zhou Xuesheng reappeared and brought the disciples of the Myriad Phenomena Sect to the back. They lined up and waited for their turn to go up and offer their prayers.

First, it was the higher-ups of the East Sea Provincial Government and the military. Then, it was the representatives of the various martial arts factions. Chen Yiming and the others following Zhou Xuesheng were among them.

There were professional photographers at the side who recorded these scenes.

Soon, it was their turn.

Following the crowd, the group arrived in front of the photos.

These photos were divided into two types. There were five in the top row, and dozens of photos at the bottom.

The photos on top were of the leaders of the large sects who had died. Most of the photos below were of people who had died from the aftershock of the battle between Chen Yiming and Lu Zhenshan.

Great reward comes with great risk. While most people had evacuated in advance, these people had gone to the place where the two warriors at the peak of the warrior realm were fighting to find the willow tree cores.

Once they could not dodge the flying internal force fragments, they would die instantly.

“Jiangnan province actually lost two sect masters from large sects at once.”

Chen Yiming sighed to himself.

He read the brief descriptions under the photos and found out that the sect master of the Jiyang Sect, Wei Tianlong, was also on the list of people who had died. The other three sect masters were from East Sea province, Minzhou province, and Yuedong province.

Even with the sudden death of two sect masters, the long-term plan to have a stronghold in the otherworld continued as planned.

On the other hand, this also meant that the overall level of martial arts in Jiangnan province was not on the same level as most other provinces. Among all the provinces in the Daxia Kingdom, only a few provinces were stronger than Jiangnan province.

Soon, Chen Yiming and the others returned from the stage.

“Our Jiangnan province is really unlucky. Many other provinces along the coast have not lost a single sect master,” Su Mo’er pouted and whispered.

As a member of Jiangnan province, she felt an indescribable discomfort.

This was probably how one felt sad at the loss of one’s kind.

Chen Yiming glanced at her and whispered, “This isn’t entirely a bad thing, right? At least not for us.”

As a disciple of the Myriad Phenomena Sect, if he could not obtain the method to fuse the internal force from his own sect, it should not be a problem to get it from the enemy, the Kunshan Sect, right?

Perhaps, those things would be like a hot potato for the Kunshan Sect at this moment. If he took over the sect as the masked man, he could stop the other factions from spying on him.

The Kunshan Sect was no longer strong enough. They had to retire from their position as a large sect at the provincial level. However, at the very least, their scale was not something that the lower-level factions could compare to for the time being. It should not be a problem for them to protect themselves.

Zhou Xuesheng glared at Chen Yiming, indicating for him to keep his mouth shut.

At this moment, the memorial service was still ongoing. It would not be appropriate if others had heard him. Some things were better left unsaid.

The disciples of the Myriad Phenomena Sect, who were previously frowning, relaxed at Chen Yiming’s words.

The one who benefited the most from the loss of power of the Kunshan Sect was naturally the opposing faction, the Myriad Phenomena Sect. The two factions had conflicts all year round, and the more conflicts there were, the more they knew about each other.

Now that the sect master of the Kunshan Sect had fallen, they had to shrink their sphere of influence. The Myriad Phenomena Sect could often make a move faster than other factions.

All the disciples of the Myriad Phenomena Sect would benefit indirectly.