“Anyway, you get the gist of the situation,” the Blazing Sun Immortal said, his voice distorted in his blazing form. “Shan Yi became an Immortal, and he just decided to dip out. Which I understand. I doubt he would’ve become an Immortal in the first place if he’d been okay working under someone else.”

I glanced at Zun Gon. The buff bald guy still had his mouth agape, stunned by the true form of the Blazing Sun Immortal.

“I’ll be the first to admit, he outmaneuvered me a bit,” the Immortal continued, his voice still carrying that strange, echoing distortion, like it was being filtered through a layer of space that didn’t belong to this world. Hollow and vast, and a sound that bent across dimensions and brushed the edges of sanity.

“Since I wasn’t paying much attention to the Sect,” he said, each word rippling unnaturally through the air, “he took advantage of that.”

There was no anger in his tone. No frustration. Just a calm, almost amused acknowledgment, like being outmaneuvered was an interesting surprise, not a threat.

And that, more than anything, made the unease settle deeper in my bones.

Because when a being like this could admit to being caught off guard without the slightest concern… it meant he was still holding cards no one else could see.

Also, could he turn that form off anytime soon?

The thought echoed in my head as I stood there, trying to act composed, while every instinct I had screamed at me to step back, to look away.

He wasn’t releasing any Qi pressure. Not even a ripple. And yet, the weight of his presence was unbearable. Like an invisible hand pressing down on my thoughts, squeezing my mind until even breathing became a conscious effort.

I tried not to look at him. Turned my gaze to the ground. The sky. Anything else.

It didn’t help.

The pressure wasn’t coming from his form. It was coming from what he was. A presence that didn’t belong in this realm of existence. A presence that bled into the air, into the space around him, and into the edges of thought itself.

He stood there like a sun disguised as a man, and even in silence, that form felt like it was bending reality just by existing.

“I mean, most of the previous Sect Leaders reached the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm at one point, unless they died prematurely,” the Immortal continued, still speaking like none of this was unusual. “To reach that stage, they were already talented. And now they have all the time in the world to cultivate. But they never even had a chance of taking that one final step.”

“But we have to admit that Shan Yi was a good Sect Leader while he still cared. One of the best,” he said. “That guy came the closest to bringing my dream of a wild Sect to life, where only the best survive. Where someone’s background doesn’t matter. Only talent, intelligence, cunning, and ruthlessness determine who makes it to the top.”

Admit what? A good Sect Leader?

The guy ended up destroying the Sect in all but name. He doomed it. There was a real chance the Blazing Sun Sect would become nothing more than a footnote in history books.

From what I'd seen, many elders had died, including some Core Elders. It was entirely possible the Sect would never recover from this.

As for his dream of creating some Wild West version of xianxia, where anyone could learn anything they could get their hands on… well, that kind of environment had clearly produced some very dangerous people, including an Immortal. So… it wasn't necessarily a bad idea.

At its core, cultivation was about power. A fighting force.

My idea of turning cultivation into something structured, like a school or formal system, might produce a bunch of competent, balanced cultivators. Ones who lived up to their potential.

But it was very unlikely to produce monsters. Not Immortals.

Still, I said nothing.

I didn't argue with his teaching methods. I didn't offer my opinion of the former Sect Leader. I wasn't here to debate ideas with someone whose strength and existence were so far beyond my comprehension that even standing near him made my thoughts blur.

"With that said," the Immortal continued, "I will absolutely kill him the next time we meet. It's more a matter of principle."

"Sorry," I said, rubbing my forehead, trying to pull my thoughts back together. "But could you turn off that form of yours? It feels like something is slamming into my skull."

Then I added, "Also, did you know someone is acting as the Song Clan Leader who might still be taking over people's bodies?"

I wasn't certain. Not yet. But I was nervous about the whole thing. Hopefully, I was just being paranoid. Maybe the Song Clan Leader was just a loving father, in his own twisted, possessive way.

Then something changed.

A shift passed through the burning light of the Immortal's face. Subtle at first, like a flicker in a flame caught by a sudden draft.

Then, slowly, disturbingly, a jagged seam of molten red split open across the surface of his sun-like head.

It began as a faint crack, glowing with the intensity of fresh magma. Then it widened, stretching unnaturally into a grotesque arc carved across the blazing sphere like a molten wound.

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A mouth.

Formed of fire and liquefied stone, it twisted into a smirk. Mocking. Impossibly expressive, despite having no lips, no flesh, just heat and blazing fire. The molten grin stretched too far, splitting the flaming orb in two, as if the sun itself had learned how to smile…

…and thought it would be funny to do it at me.

Holy shit. That was creepy.

And it wasn't just the shape. That was definitely the kind of smirk that said he knew something I didn't.

Or worse, it was the kind of smirk that said he knew everything I was worried about.

Honestly, any expression on a condensed ball of flame for a head was going to be creepy.

“I somewhat knew,” the Immortal admitted, his voice coming off like a distorted radio, then settling into something more human near the end.

The flames around him began to flicker and draw inward, their once-vast intensity softening into controlled, deliberate currents. The oppressive heat faded with them, though the memory of it still clung to the air, like the aftermath of a lightning strike.

First, the outline of a humanoid body emerged from the fire, its surface still glowing and rippling with residual heat. Limbs took shape, solidifying from flame into flesh. The molten aura gradually retreated into his core.

Then came the head.

The blazing sun that had served as his face dimmed. Its radiance collapsed inward, pulsed once, then cooled, reshaping into a familiar silhouette.

And just like that, he stood before me again.

Not like a god of fire or a cosmic nightmare. But as the same teenager who once joked about his friend’s rejection by the river. The same unassuming village boy, now barefoot and very naked, with steam still curling off his skin.

He didn’t even flinch.

With a casual wave of his hand, a robe shimmered into existence around him. Muted in color. No grand gestures. No flashy lights.

Just… reality bending to accommodate him? I had no idea what that was.

I didn’t see a storage ring. I doubted he used one.

It was hard to reconcile the two, the being that had just made the world feel small and fragile, and the smirking teen now brushing imaginary dust off his sleeves.

But they were the same.

Despite the transformation, my mind stayed on what he’d said.

So… my assumption had been correct all along.

My heart dropped, and my hands trembled for a second before I let out a breath and calmed myself. Now wasn’t the time to lose focus. I had to think like a machine, logical, detached. Otherwise, the emotions related to this problem would get in the way of solving it.

“What do you mean you kind of knew?” I asked.

“When I married one of the Song Clan Leader’s daughters, back in the day,” he said, “she mentioned her father changed after taking the Clan Head seat.”

He shrugged. “But I didn’t care enough to look into it. I mean, if you start digging in this world, a body-snatcher isn’t even the weirdest thing you’ll find in a Sect.”

Before I could get a word in, he added:

“Also, just to be clear, she was my thirty-fourth wife. Not a marriage for love. Though she was crazy hot.”

Okay. I didn’t give a shit.

But... noted.

Also, did he have to act like some teenager trying to brag that he was dating some girl who went to another school? He was trying to have the bro talk.

“Why didn’t you dig deeper? Letting someone like that hang around is like letting a parasite fester in the flesh,” I said.

Zun Gon stared from the sidelines, wide-eyed, clearly overwhelmed by the conversation. I guess the Song Clan’s secrets weren’t something many were privy to.

“Meh,” the Blazing Sun Immortal shrugged. “People who bother taking over other people’s bodies are usually losers. Couldn’t finish their goals in one life, so they needed more chances.”

This guy…

It was like my biggest problems meant nothing to him. Like he could solve them with a snap of his fingers, but just didn’t want to.

Also… was he taking into account that the body snatcher might be an Immortal?

I wanted to ask, but held back. The Blazing Sun Immortal had probably already thought about it. Maybe he just didn’t care enough about the Song Clan to get involved.

“Listen, kid,” he said, “if you want me to solve your problems, I’m not going to do that. Unless the Song Clan Leader gets in my way, I won’t bother intervening.”

“What about the Blazing Sun Sect?” I asked.

The Immortal sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. His emerald eyes stared into the distance, like he was watching something I couldn’t see.

“Sure,” he waved his hand. “I’ll make sure no one attacks the Blazing Sun Sect directly. If any Nascent Soul Cultivator even tries, I’ll kill them.”

I think this was the first person I genuinely didn’t understand. He’d gone through much effort to build the Blazing Sun Sect. But now… he didn’t seem to care whether it lived or died.

Did his survival-of-the-fittest ideology extend even to the Sect itself? That if it couldn’t survive on its own, it deserved to disappear?

“What about the rest of its territories?” Zun Gon finally asked, making his presence known.

“Well, the territories can handle themselves,” said the Blazing Sun Immortal. “They didn’t come under the Blazing Sun Sect to be coddled. They survived before; they can survive again.”

Perfect. Despite everything, things were going according to plan.

I’d never expected the Blazing Sun Immortal to be the solution to all our problems. If anything, I was relieved he wasn’t trying to take control again.

I also had a suspicion he’d noticed something about me. But he hadn’t said a word.

And… I might be learning a Sky Grade Technique soon.

“Anyway, that’s that,” the Immortal said, brushing off the whole subject. “Return to the Sect and assume leadership.”

He scratched his cheek and looked around absently. “I’d take over myself, but between enjoying my eternal vacation or saving the Sect… yeah, I don’t care much about the latter.”

Was this guy trying to be obnoxious?

He acted like all our problems were background noise. Which, to be fair, they probably were to someone like him.

But he didn’t have to be such an asshole about it.

“So… are you going to be in the Sect or–” I started.

“What? Of course not,” he cut in. “I’ll just observe from afar. Don’t worry. If something happens, I can be there pretty fast.”

I wanted to trust him.

But the way he said that? It sounded like someone casually saying: Trust me, bro.

Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

Still, all things considered… this meeting hadn’t gone that badly.