Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

The elders and the patriarch gazed at Kai Li and watched her complete her words.

"The seventeenth son of the Patriarch, Lian Li was last heard of there, in the Jiao Dian city. We didn't know at that time, but a week later his life bead shattered in the clan as well, informing us he was dead." Kai Li stated.

The expression of the elders darkened while that of the patriarch's turned colder.

"And what do you think this means... Junior elder Kai Li?" patriarch Lian Dajian questioned.

"I'm saying... what if all this was linked? So many coincidences, all linked to the Millennium forest by some person. It is possible that the source of it all lies in the millennium forest. Perhaps we may even find how the seventeenth young master died there." Kai Li answered.

The brows of all the elders furrowed as they thought it over. The words of Kai Li seemed a bit far fetched but at the same time they too felt that this was far too much of a coincidence to not be linked.

"Alright... I'll do what you suggest, junior elder Kai Li. Speak," Lian Dajian asked.

"I simply ask the patriarch that I be sent along with Elder Ruanjian and the first young master. I shall also bring along a few of my trusted people." Kai Li replied.

"Fine, do as you will." The Patriarch replied.

"Thank you for your graciousness, patriarch." Kai Li said while cupping her hands.

"Go, prepare what you have to... also guide that son of mine, just in case." Lian Dajian ordered.

"I will at once." Kai Li said before taking her leave as well.

Once she was gone, the elders all looked at the patriarch, several questions on their face.

"Will this be fine, patriarch? Junior elder Kai Li... she might seem fine, but she has a certain level of notoriety. Additionally, the information that she gave us... some of it seems suspicious." One of the elders finally asked.

The patriarch didn't answer them right away and thought to himself for a few seconds before speaking.

"Elder Ruanjian will be there to keep an eye on him. Beside, I doubt she will want this to go sideways either... if she wants to live, that is." Lian Dajian stated.

The elders could all read between the lines and knew that patriarch was perhaps far more aware of them. Maybe there was a chance he already knew what Kai Li had spoken and was merely testing her. Whatever it may be, the elders knew that this matter was decided and it will be the end of it.

...

Similar to the Lian clan, another discussion was underway in the Ji clan as well.

Though here, the atmosphere was vastly different. Instead of the rather joyous and merry atmosphere, everything was cold and serious.

In the grand palace of the Ji clan sat an imposing man. He seemed to be middle aged but the vitality exuding from him was no less than that of a youth.

This was none other than the Patriarch of the Ji clan, Ji Shan!

Sitting in the hall along with him were several other elders and high elders of the Ji clan.

"What are we to do about this then, patriarch?" An elder holding a document asked.

"Hmm... I'd like to send someone familiar to that region for this." Patriarch Ji Shan replied.

"This... if I remember correctly, young master Shirong is the one who had been to the millennium forest before. And not just that but he also has his own alliance with the Deer wood city's clans along with the Ling Kingdom's royal family." Another elder spoke.

"What is he doing now? Has he come out of seclusion yet?" Patriarch Ji Shan questioned.

"Young Master Shirong he... he has not come out of the seclusion. It's been about nine years now. The last he came out was ten years ago, but it was only briefly. He inquired about some things and took some resources before retreating back into the enlightenment hall. He has kept himself holed up in a chamber there." The elder answered.

"I see..." the patriarch muttered.

The elders all watched pensively as the patriarch thought to himself.

There were several matters bugging him in the recent times and the Millennium forest was another big matter that had been added. He would have been able to deal with it easily, if it were not for the fact that there was an even bigger matter weighing down on him.

'The Long clan... are their words really true?' Ji Shan thought to himself.

Some time ago, the Long clan had held a meeting in which all the important people of the Long continent, including the patriarchs of the various top sects, and the clan heads of the top three clans were called in. The topic of discussion was a great secret, but was also equally important.

The Long clan had stressed this part and had said that the matter could involve the destruction of the Long continent if not taken care of properly.

They had asked all the powers to contribute manpower and look for a certain bloodline. The Long clan didn't have any concrete way to find it and had merely told them to report to them when something suspicious was found. If that happened, the Long clan would send out one of their elders to investigate it.

Then there was another matter that would happen soon enough.

This was none other than the Grand Sect tournament of the Long continent. The Ji clan had some stakes in it too and even had a few spots in the Holy Ming sacred land. It was a different thing that the Ji clan didn't need it as often as the sects did, as they had their own sacred land that they could use.

More often than not, the Ji clan would sell these spots to the sects or other powers for something equal. Though if someone from the clan wanted to go there, they could indeed take a spot. Of course, they would have to prove first that they were worthy of this.

Only if this was done would the Ji clan allow one of theirs to take a spot. After all, if someone took the spot, they were also representing the Ji clan in front of the other powers.

If this person was not right for it, they could bring a loss of face to the Ji clan and that was not something they would like.

'The elders will need to deal with the matters of the Long clan and the tournament. The rest will need to do other duties they already have... this doesn't leave many options...' The patriarch thought to himself.

He thought of his children and rejected most of them right away. Ji Shirong was the most likely to become his heir and he would like him to do this mission, but he didn't know if it was a matter good enough to make him leave seclusion.

Ji Shan had been keeping tabs on his son's progress and knew that he had improved his cultivation base greatly in the past decade. The goals he had set for him were not only completed, but also broken in record time. Ji Shan knew his son's talent was greater than his own and perhaps he would be able to leave his position to Shirong far earlier than he had originally expected.

It wasn't that he wanted to leave the position either though, and it wasn't his age to do that either. Ji Shan was in the prime of his life and was at the Dao Treading realm. He had plenty of lifespan left and even if it took Shirong another thousand years to reach his level, there would be no problem.

But... he wanted Shirong to reach that point as early as possible.

This was because Ji Shan didn't want his clan to stay the same. The clans, who merely aimed to maintain their position, wished for their heirs to be equal to them by the time they reached the end of their lifespan. But those that wanted to rise wouldn't do that at all. Rather, they would want their heirs to be stronger than them and reach the same level as them as soon as possible.

They would even pass on the position of the patriarch to them, so that they themselves could focus on cultivation and vie for greater resources. Being the patriarch of a top clan and also having an Immortal Ascension realm ancestor meant that Ji Shan knew a lot more than what other experts knew.

He knew of the existence of the immortal realm above and the other worlds that existed. He also knew that their world was not much in face of the many greater worlds. And because he knew all this, he had ambitions. He didn't want his Ji clan to be merely limited to this world. He wanted it to expand beyond the Ming Dao world.

But to do that, they would have to start from the base. And for that, they needed to conquer the lands that existed and defeat the other powers. Only when all this was done could he looked ahead to the other worlds.

Half an hour passed in his thoughts before Ji Shan finally made a decision.

He opened his eyes and saw the elders looking at him, waiting for his orders.

"Call Ji Shirong... he needs to go to the Millennium forest." Ji Shan ordered.

"It shall be done, patriarch!

Two elders quickly went away to inform Shirong, while silence descended in the hall again.