Starting with summoning the succubus

Age: 18

[Life Level: Tier 7 → Tier 8]

Race: Succubus

[Strength: Tier 7, 9 stars → Tier 8, 1 star]

[Agility: Tier 7, 9 stars → Tier 8, 9 stars]

[Defense: Tier 7, 9 stars → Tier 8, 9 stars]

[Spirit: Tier 7, 9 stars → Tier 8, 9 stars]

[Magic Power: Tier 7, 9 stars → Tier 8, 3 stars]

[Power of Gale: Tier 7, 9 stars → Tier 8, 9 stars]

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A demon at the peak of the eighth rank could rule a region in Hell and be revered as a "Demon Lord" by other demons, a status comparable to Joshua in his prime in the Vast Ocean Realm.

As Elena reached the peak of the eighth rank, Qi Lin felt increasingly safe in this Yuanqi Realm.

But this is not enough.

Catherine also needs to reach the eighth rank.

After Elena ended her slumber, Catherine followed suit by consuming another Ancient Demon Eye, and then also entered a slumber period to advance to the eighth rank.

In terms of the quality of the Ancient Demon Eye, the one that Elena ate was of the highest quality, which is why she completed her advancement after only 8 days of slumber.

In contrast, the Ancient Demon Eye that Catherine consumed was of slightly lower quality.

Therefore, Qi Lin and Elena estimated that Catherine's period of slumber would likely last more than 10 days...

Chapter 418 Yun Muzhi's Advantages and Disadvantages

After Elena awoke, life went on peacefully.

Qi Lin and she basically had nothing to do, spending their days in the room waiting for Catherine's egg to hatch... no, waiting for Catherine to advance to the eighth rank and emerge from the shell.

As for Yun Muzhi?

Meanwhile, Master Yun was still busy in the sect, collecting various pieces of evidence, reorganizing his former connections and influence within the sect, and winning over the elders, preparing for his grand plan to clear his name and bring down the Daoist.

Judging from the current situation, it will be difficult for Qi Lin to obtain the qualification to enter Tai Xuan Mountain and return home in the short term.

After all, according to Yun Muzhi, the real difficulty in bringing down Daozi was not in the "evidence" aspect, but in the "sect" aspect.

As the successor to the patriarch, Daozi Duanmu Yao's position is somewhat similar to that of the crown prince in a secular dynasty, equivalent to the successor to the emperor (patriarch).

The existence of a prince or a Daozi usually represents an entire power group.

Most importantly, the old sect master of Tianyuan Dao Sect is actually nearing the end of his life and doesn't have many years left to live. Therefore, in recent years, he has been delegating power to Daozi, giving him considerable authority over the sect. In the last two years, Daozi has been the one managing the daily operations of the entire sect.

As the old sect leader drew ever closer to his death, Daozi had long since reached the status of "half a sect leader."

In this situation, if Yun Muzhi wants to overthrow Daozi, he must consider whether the power group behind Daozi, the elders who stand with Daozi's faction, will riot due to the change in interests, causing internal strife within the sect.

If the removal of the Daoist Master would cause internal strife within the sect, then considering the stable continuation of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, the former sect leader and the Enforcement Hall would choose to tolerate it, even if the evidence of the Daoist Master's crimes were right in their faces, and at most give him a slight punishment.

After all, for the sect leader and the Enforcement Hall, the stable continuation of the Tianyuan Dao Sect is far more important than the personal virtue of the Dao Child.

As for Daozi's virtues and sins?

Yun Muzhi knew very well that in the face of the stable continuation of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, this "trivial matter" was not worth mentioning at all.

Therefore, in order to bring down Daozi, besides relevant evidence, the most important thing he needs to do is prove one thing to the old sect leader and the law enforcement hall—that after Daozi steps down, he has enough ability to quickly take over and stabilize the sect's situation.

This matter was actually the main task that kept Yun Muzhi busy after returning to the sect.

As an "extraterrestrial demon," Qi Lin was powerless to help in this matter and could do little to assist; Yun Muzhi had to rely on his own efforts.

However, Qi Lin did not completely ignore the matter.

In the past few days, he has also been visiting various places in the Tianyuan Dao Sect, collecting information and analyzing how likely Yun Muzhi is to win.

If the odds of winning are too low, then he will have to abandon the Yun Muzhi route and find another way to enter Tai Xuan Mountain.

finally,

Qi Lin discovered that Yun Muzhi had both obvious disadvantages and advantages compared to Daozi Duanmu Yao.

This Master Yun's main disadvantage is, of course, his weak foundation.

Among the elders of Tianyuan Dao Sect, the only one who can be considered a notable figure on Yun Muzhi's side is his master, Xuancang Daoist, a sword cultivator at the peak of the eighth realm, whose combat strength ranks among the top five in Tianyuan Dao Sect. He is a big name in the sect, but apart from him, there are basically no others.

On the other hand, after years of hard work since being successfully elected as the Dao Child, nearly 70% of the elders in the Tianyuan Dao Sect are now on the Dao Child's side. These people are all waiting for the Dao Child to officially take over as the sect leader and then start dividing up the spoils. Under these circumstances, those elders are even less willing than Duanmu Yao himself to step down.

However, Yun Muzhi's advantages are also obvious.

—Daozi is truly despicable. Once the evidence of Daozi's past crimes of framing Yun Muzhi and his recent attempt to sabotage Yun Muzhi's pardon mission is exposed, it will be enough to prove that Daozi has indeed violated the sect's laws.

—The old sect leader is very old, but he is not dead yet. As long as he is alive, he has the ability to change the choice of the Dao Child at any time, given any legitimate reason.

—The old sect leader actually liked Yun Muzhi, a disciple who was just as good at divination as him. Even when Yun Muzhi clearly stated that he would not participate in the election for Daozi, the old sect leader still voted for him. Although the final Daozi was chosen by Duanmu Yao, who actively participated in the election, the old sect leader's attitude was beyond doubt.

When Qi Lin arrived here after gathering intelligence, he was filled with emotion.

What God does not take, is to be blamed.

If you don't take something when you can, it won't be so easy to get it back once someone else has taken it.

Yun Muzhi was once at the center of power, yet he thought he could live a carefree life. In the end, he paid the price for his naivety. Now, he will make up for his past self's "lack of ambition" with ten or a hundred times the effort.

After all, the election of Michiko mainly involves voting.

While the sect leader's vote isn't exactly a veto, it carries significant weight. In many cases, whoever receives the sect leader's vote is practically guaranteed victory.

However, Yun Muzhi did not participate in the election at all back then, so the old sect leader's vote was essentially invalid and could only express his own attitude.

Anyway,

Yun Muzhi's ambitions were indeed not in this area back then; otherwise, if he had competed with all his might, it's hard to say who would have been chosen as the Daoist Child that year.

After all, Duanmu Yao back then had no other advantages besides being exceptionally good at fighting.

"Combat strength" is only one of the criteria for the election of a sect leader, and it is not even a significant factor.

After all, no matter how good you are at fighting, can you really beat the Supreme Elder?

The guardian deity of the Tianyuan Dao Sect is ultimately the Supreme Elder.

As for the next generation of guardian deities of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, the Supreme Elders will be responsible for finding and cultivating them. However, in any case, such a guardian deity-level figure will not be a "manager" like the sect leader. In fact, the Supreme Elders have never served as sect leaders in their entire lives.

The sect leader is a position whose main responsibility is to manage the sect, lead it forward, and move towards the next millennium of prosperity.

For tasks like charging into battle and defending against foreign enemies, the sect naturally has those with more talent to do them.

For example, the most capable elder was the most capable disciple among his peers from the time he entered the sect as a child. His fighting talent was fully developed. He fought his way up from a menial servant to an outer disciple, from an outer disciple to an inner disciple, from an inner disciple to a true disciple, and then from a true disciple to an elder and a supreme elder, fighting for hundreds of years.

To this day, the Supreme Elder has single-handedly raised the ceiling of combat power in the entire Yuanqi Realm, becoming the first Ninth Realm cultivator in the history of the entire Yuanqi Realm, and the most powerful one in the history of the world.

The Supreme Elder never served as a sect leader.

But years from now, the people of the Yuanqi Realm may forget the name of the current sect leader of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, but they will never forget the name of the powerful figure who single-handedly repelled the alien invaders, turned the tide of the world, and saved the entire world.

—Li Shan!

This is the name of the Supreme Elder, ordinary and unremarkable.

When Qi Lin heard about this name at Tianyuan Dao Sect, he was initially a little surprised. After all, he originally thought that a legendary figure like the Supreme Elder might also have a legendary name commensurate with it.

But then he thought about it again and understood.

The legend is the person, not the name.

Even the most ordinary name will be remembered in history because of an extraordinary person.

In Qi Lin's view, the growth trajectory of the current Daoist Duanmu Yao is quite similar to that of the Supreme Elder Li Shan. Both of them defeated all their peers without being able to defeat anyone, which can be described as outstanding combat power.

But people are ultimately different.

The Supreme Elder never touched the power of the sect in his entire life, and he was very intelligent.

After learning about the life and deeds of this Supreme Elder, Qi Lin discovered that Li Shan had chosen to leave the sect and disappear for more than a hundred years before and after his Daoist selection. He only returned to the sect to present gifts to his junior brother, the sect leader, after the current Daoist succeeded to the position of sect leader.

The "Sect Master's Junior Brother," who is the current Sect Master skilled in divination, has always shown great respect to his senior brother Li Shan, giving him face both in public and in private, because Li Shan was the one who first gave him face.

But Duanmu Yao was different.

Duanmu Yao has always had a strong desire for power. He likes power and has been trying his best to gain it, which is completely opposite to the Supreme Elder's indifference to fame and fortune.

Yun Muzhi is different.

Although Yun Muzhi initially wanted to live a carefree life like the Supreme Elder, the Yun Muzhi of a few years ago was clearly not as sharp-minded as the Supreme Elder.

At least in terms of interpersonal relationships, Yun Muzhi was not as clear-headed as the Supreme Elder.

The Supreme Elder did not want to vie for power, but he knew very well that being in the center of power meant that there were many things he could not control. So he chose to stay away from the center of power, leave the sect to avoid suspicion, and disappeared without a trace.

For over a hundred years, no one in the sect knew whether he was alive or dead, so naturally no one considered him a candidate for Dao Son, allowing his junior brother to succeed him smoothly, with almost no twists and turns along the way.

But Yun Muzhi was being a bit reckless.

Six years ago, Yun Muzhi claimed that he had no interest in vying for power and only wanted to live a carefree life, but on the other hand, he was highly active in the sect all day long, jumping around and occasionally stealing the limelight from the current Daoist Duanmu Yao... The key point is that, according to his investigation, Qi Lin found that Yun Muzhi was indeed a bit too cocky back then.

At Stone Turtle Mountain, Yun Muzhi only told Qi Lin that Daozi Duanmu Yao was targeting and framing him.

However, Yun Muzhi never told Qi Lin that he had never really respected his senior brother Duanmu Yao. In fact, when they went on missions together, he would often show off his cleverness by mocking Duanmu Yao during tasks such as breaking formations or solving puzzles, just to show off and enjoy the laughter of the junior sisters in the team.

Even after Duanmu Yao became the Daoist Master, Yun Muzhi's attitude did not change at all. He even often addressed Duanmu Yao by his given name instead of calling him "Senior Brother" in public.

The Yuanqi Realm has a strong tradition of respecting teachers and valuing the Dao, and the rules among fellow disciples are very strict. They pay special attention to how they address each other. If a junior disciple does not call his senior brother "senior brother" in public, but instead calls him by his first name, this behavior is basically equivalent to disrespect.

In fact, Yun Muzhi once made a drunken slip of the tongue at a gathering of friends, saying, "Duanmu Yao? That guy is good for nothing except fighting, and he's even a Taoist priest, hahaha!"

As a result, he made the wrong friends.

This statement was later spread, causing a great uproar throughout the Dao Sect. Ultimately, it was only because Duanmu Yao and Yun Muzhi remained silent that the matter gradually faded away.

But does Duanmu Yao's silence mean he really doesn't care?

The answer is obviously no.

Yun Muzhi's actions over the years were enough to make Duanmu Yao hostile towards him.