From now on, this Blazing Heaven Palace shall bear the surname of my Qingxuan Sect.

The three of them were calculating their own little schemes in their hearts. For a time, the massive grand hall was completely silent.

Meanwhile, far away in the Qingxuan Sect, Gu Changge looked down upon this series of arrangements through his divine sense. With the mindset of watching a good show, observing their farce in the grand hall actually became an interesting pastime. "Wonderful, truly wonderful."

Looking at the First Elder's incredibly frustrated expression, daring to be angry but not daring to speak, and then at the Second Elder who was secretly rejoicing in his heart while putting on a look of struggling under a heavy burden, he only found it hilarious.

The Third Elder was rather interesting, actually secretly sending out a message...

After a long time, the Second Elder calmed his emotions. He raised his hand to smooth out the wrinkled corners of his robe, replacing his demeanor with the steadiness of a newly appointed official.

"You two Elders, since the Palace Master has gone into seclusion, the most urgent matter is to stabilize the hearts of our sect members. Let us discuss the subsequent affairs."

As soon as these words came out, First Elder Yan Cangyun's anger was like a lit firecracker. "Second Elder! Tell me, those people outside are all mocking our sect right now. If we keep such a low profile every day from now on, is that proper? In the future, who in the Profound State will still look up to our Fentian Palace?"

The Second Elder inwardly cried out 'here it comes,' but his face immediately piled on an expression even more troubled than the First Elder's. "First Elder, calm your anger. Do you think I want this?"

He sighed, lowering his voice to convey a sense of closeness as if they were on the same side. "The Palace Master was beaten into fear by the secret realm. Now his mind is full of nothing but surviving by laying low. Let's just humor him for now. Wait until he comes out of seclusion, and then we will slowly persuade him!"

The First Elder muttered with a face full of helplessness, "That might be so, but we still can't just..."

In the dead of night, the Second Elder dismissed his attendants. Inside the luxurious quiet room belonging to the Acting Sect Master that he had just moved into, he laid down layers of restrictive formations.

The steadiness on his face had long vanished, replaced by an extreme excitement mixed with a sense of absurd tension.

From the deepest part of his personal storage artifact, he took out a jade talisman that looked ordinary but was actually engraved with communication runes.

Injecting his spiritual energy, the jade talisman lit up slightly, projecting the familiar phantom figure of Sect Master Xuanyangzi.

"Junior Brother Qingfeng?"

Xuanyangzi's phantom seemed a bit surprised, his voice transmitting through the jade talisman.

"Sending an urgent message at this hour, could there be a major upheaval in the Fentian Palace? Did that old scoundrel Lie Tianxiong pull some new stunt? Or has your identity been exposed?"

Li Qingfeng, the Second Elder, took a deep breath. The expression on his face was so complex it was hard to describe, looking as if he wanted to laugh but also wanted to cry. He spoke at a rapid-fire pace: "Senior Brother! A major upheaval! A monumental upheaval! Lie Tianxiong... he made me the Acting Sect Master!"

On the other end of the jade talisman, Xuanyangzi's phantom visibly froze for a moment, as if the signal had gone bad.

After several seconds, his voice came through, laced with deep confusion and uncertainty. "...Qingfeng, speak slowly. Who made who what? Acting what? Did something go wrong with your cultivation, making your mind wander?"

"My mind isn't wandering! Senior Brother! It's true!"

Li Qingfeng was so excited he almost jumped up, gesturing wildly with his hands and feet. "Lie Tianxiong seems to have been beaten so badly in the secret realm that his Dao heart is on the verge of collapsing! Today in the grand hall, in front of all the elders, he announced a bunch of twisted fallacies about 'strategic concealment' and the 'Great Dao of Longevity.' In short, he wants the Fentian Palace to tuck its tail between its legs from now on and lay low until the end of time!"

He took a breath and continued, "Then he directly announced that he is going into seclusion to comprehend the Dao, and he made me the Acting Sect Master! To take charge of the overall situation! The First Elder and Third Elder are to assist me! Senior Brother! I am now the boss of the Fentian Palace! Even if it is just acting!"

The other end of the jade talisman fell into an even longer, deathly silence.

Xuanyangzi's phantom even blurred and swayed a couple of times, as if his true self over there was digging out his ears, doubting whether he had heard incorrectly.

After a long time, an earth-shattering roar of laughter that Xuanyangzi could no longer hold back violently erupted from the jade talisman.

"Pfft—Hahaha! Acting Sect Master? Was that old boy Lie Tianxiong beaten silly?! Hahahaha! Strategic concealment, I can't believe he came up with that. Cowardice is cowardice, yet he made it sound so grand and lofty!"

Li Qingfeng looked at his Senior Brother, who was laughing without any regard for his image, with a face full of helplessness. "Senior Brother! Don't just laugh! What should I do now? I went undercover and ended up becoming the enemy boss! How am I supposed to play this role next?"

"Play it! You must play it! And you have to play it well!" Xuanyangzi finally managed to stop laughing, his tone becoming extremely excited and serious. "Junior Brother Qingfeng! Well done! You have made a monumental contribution!"

"An opportunity! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Listen to me! Since Lie Tianxiong asked you to 'take charge of the overall situation,' then don't hold back!"

Xuanyangzi's eyes flashed with the cunning light of an old fox, speaking rapidly.

"Investigate all of Fentian Palace's treasuries, secret realms, spirit veins, hidden spies, personnel rosters, detailed accounts, and distribution maps for me! Get to the absolute bottom of it!"

"Then find a reason to adjust the posts of the sect guards and the intelligence department, and plant as many of our people into key positions as possible!"

"In short, take advantage of this golden opportunity to thoroughly figure out Fentian Palace from the inside out, from top to bottom! Control as much as you can! From now on, this Fentian Palace may nominally bear the surname Lie, but in the shadows, it must bear the surname of my Qingxuan Sect!"

Li Qingfeng was dumbfounded hearing this, but he quickly reacted, a sharp gleam also appearing in his eyes. "Senior Brother, your appetite is truly getting bigger and bigger. I understand! I promise to lay Fentian Palace out clearly for you!"

"Good! Good! Good!" Xuanyangzi said the word 'good' three times in a row, the joy on his face practically overflowing.

He looked at his Junior Brother's face in the jade talisman, which was both nervous and excited, and couldn't help but feel deeply moved, muttering to himself:

"Tsk tsk, my little Junior Brother is the one who brings honor! I saw how clever you were since you were young, a material meant for great things! You actually managed to catch this monumental stroke of fortune!"

The more he thought about it, the happier he became. Stroking a non-existent beard, he began to make comparisons:

"Look! Look at Qingfeng! Going undercover and becoming the Acting Sect Master! Then look at the one planted in the Myriad Laws Pavilion; he's been muddling along for ten years and is only an outer sect deacon... And the one planted in the Tianyan Sect is about to elope with their elder's daughter, having barely accomplished any real business... Sigh, what a gap!"

Xuanyangzi spoke into the void, as if giving a mobilization speech to all the undercover spies. "You all need to work harder! Look up to your Senior Brother Li! Don't set your goals so low! If you can't become an Acting Sect Master, becoming an elder with real power is fine too! You must have ideals! You must have aspirations!"

Listening from his end of the jade talisman, the corners of Li Qingfeng's mouth twitched uncontrollably. "Senior Brother... aren't your demands... a bit too high?"

Is this kind of thing something that can be mass-produced? This requires the opposing Sect Masters to collectively be beaten silly!

"Not high, not high at all!" Xuanyangzi waved his large hand, full of high spirits. "One must still have dreams! What if by some miracle they come true? Alright, Qingfeng, be careful in everything and act according to the circumstances! Whatever you need, the Qingxuan Sect will fully support you! You are now our sect's 'strategic-level asset'!"

The communication ended, and the light of the jade talisman dimmed.

Li Qingfeng stood in place, digesting everything that had just happened, feeling as if he had just had a bizarre and fantastical dream.

He touched the token that represented his status as the acting sect master. Remembering his eldest senior brother's rallying cry to "have ideals and pursuits," he could not help but shake his head with a bitter smile.

"What a mess this is..."

Yet, a fighting spirit soon ignited in his eyes. Pushing open the door to the secret chamber, he held his head high and strode toward the center of power in the Burning Heaven Palace.

The halo of light from the ended communication completely faded away. Xuanyangzi was still clutching the communication talisman with a silly grin, his fingertips rubbing the residual spiritual energy on its surface, when his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"The path of laying low? Strategic concealment?"

He slapped his thigh hard, the look in his eyes changing in an instant. Damn it!

"Isn't this exactly the principle of our Azure Profound Sect's 'keeping our heads down and developing' over all these years? That old geezer Lie Tianxiong got beaten up a few times, decided to change his approach, and actually managed to comprehend our core philosophy?"

At this thought, the smile vanished from his face. He paced around the stone table a couple of times, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. "This is bad, this is really bad! If the Burning Heaven Palace actually learns to behave and turtles up every day instead of causing trouble, who among the seven great sects of Xuan Province will be the perfect target to draw all the enemy fire??"