Meng Fan had some understanding of Lin Jian, as he had inquired about him before.
He had heard quite a bit about Lin Jian's exploits.
For instance, Lin Jian was only a cultivator at the ninth level of the Heavenly Origin Realm and had not yet stepped into the Condensation Pill Realm, yet he often beat up Condensation Pill Realm deacons!
It should be noted that not all Condensation Pill Realm sword cultivators of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect could become deacons.
To become a deacon, one had to be quite strong within the Condensation Pill Realm.
Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't be below the sixth level of the Condensation Pill Realm!
Even Meng Fan couldn't defeat a sixth-level Condensation Pill Realm cultivator unless he used the Sword Seal given to him by Elder Lin, but that wasn't a fair comparison.
Lin Jian could indeed be considered a peak-level talent of this generation in the Shu Mountain Sword Sect.
Barring any unforeseen events, he would likely become a leading figure of the next generation in the Shu Mountain Sword Sect.
Unfortunately, this guy had a penchant for trouble, falling in love with his master.
Now, things were a mess!
Meng Fan shook his head. To be honest, he was quite envious of Lin Jian.
It wasn't because Lin Jian could beat up deacons; Meng Fan was confident that when he reached the ninth level of the Heavenly Origin Realm, he could do the same.
What he envied was that Lin Jian was genuinely outstanding, while he himself had to rely on cheating.
Alright, maybe he was being a bit melodramatic!
Meng Fan shook his head and began cultivating within the formation of the Thousand Catty Fall.
As for where Lin Jian would go after leaving the Cliff of Remorse, Meng Fan had already guessed—he would definitely go to Ice Moon Lake to find his master.
He hoped the Shu Mountain Sword Sect would treat these two well!
***
An hour later, Meng Fan finished his cultivation.
In this state, his Spiritual Wind True Qi and Pure Yang Thunder True Qi had indeed made some progress.
But the progress was minimal, pitifully small.
The drawbacks of having a Mixed Spiritual Root became apparent during cultivation; following the standard path was just too slow.
Meng Fan had to "take shortcuts"!
There was still some time before he had to go to Ye Qingyu to get the elixirs in the evening, so Meng Fan left the Cliff of Remorse and went to see Li Xuerou.
It had been a long time since he had seen his "sister," and it was time to check on her.
When he arrived, he found that she was in seclusion.
Meng Fan frowned. No wonder she hadn't come to see him for so long; it seemed she had been in seclusion the entire time!
"What could have triggered this?" Meng Fan murmured helplessly.
After some inquiries, he found out that she had been in seclusion for over two months.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't push herself so hard unless something had triggered her.
Meng Fan thought for a moment but decided not to disturb Li Xuerou's seclusion. He would wait until she came out to talk to her.
***
Feeling bored, Meng Fan went to the Scripture Pavilion.
When Senior Disciple Jin saw Meng Fan, he instinctively frowned.
This annoying kid again!
"Why are you here again?" Senior Disciple Jin said irritably.
Meng Fan replied with a cheerful smile, "Senior Disciple Jin, I just realized that we've known each other for so long, but I still don't know your name!"
He still remembered that incident from the Sword Wraith Memory.
Although it was highly likely that the Sect Master was the demonic sect infiltrator Lin Jinghong from the memory, Meng Fan had considered another possibility!
The possibility that the infiltrator Lin Jinghong had come to the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, changed his appearance and name, and became Senior Disciple Jin.
After all, Senior Disciple Jin's appearance did bear some resemblance to the infiltrator Lin Jinghong!
Names were easy to change, but appearances were not.
As for the Sect Master, it might really just be a coincidence of the same name, a remarkable coincidence. After all, truth is often stranger than fiction; it wasn't impossible!
In Meng Fan's view, the demonic sect infiltrator was either Senior Disciple Jin or the Sect Master.
Unfortunately, the Sword Wraith Memory was fragmented and not detailed enough.
Otherwise, he could have determined the infiltrator's identity based on the entry time, but the timeline in the Sword Wraith Memory was too chaotic to figure out.
Meng Fan naturally didn't dare to probe the Sect Master. He didn't even dare to approach him, let alone test him.
As for Senior Disciple Jin, Meng Fan had the courage to "chat" with him.
Senior Disciple Jin glanced at Meng Fan and said coldly, "You can just call me Senior Disciple Jin. My name is not important!"
It was clear he didn't want to mention his name.
The more he didn't want to mention it, the more curious Meng Fan became!
However, despite Meng Fan's repeated indirect questions, Senior Disciple Jin remained tight-lipped and refused to reveal his name.
Meng Fan didn't bother pestering Senior Disciple Jin anymore, knowing that there were others who would be willing to talk.
There were many who had joined the sect earlier than Senior Disciple Jin and would likely know his name.
Meng Fan left the Scripture Pavilion and asked around.
In less than an hour, he had found out Senior Disciple Jin's name.
The name was somewhat unexpected.
[Jin Mantang]
"No wonder Senior Disciple Jin didn't want to reveal his name; it's quite rustic!" Meng Fan muttered.
He thought that Senior Disciple Jin was probably not the infiltrator.
Because while an infiltrator could change their name, who would give themselves such a rustic name?
However, it was also possible that Senior Disciple Jin was quite cunning and had anticipated others' suspicions, deliberately giving himself a rustic name.
This way, he wouldn't arouse suspicion!
After all, in the world of infiltrators, whether black or white, their hearts were "dirty," and their methods even "dirtier."
If they weren't, they would have been exposed and killed long ago!
"Forget it, no matter who the infiltrator is, I'll just pretend I don't know." Meng Fan reminded himself.
The main issue was uncertainty. If he were sure that Senior Disciple Jin was the infiltrator, there would be nothing to fear.
But what if the Sect Master was the infiltrator?
That would be deadly!
So, Meng Fan decided to ignore the matter and keep his distance from both of them in the future.
It was a pity, though, that he wouldn't be able to frequently ask Senior Disciple Jin for information anymore!
***
That evening, Meng Fan went to Ye Qingyu's courtyard to find her.
"Senior Brother Meng, your timing is impeccable. The elixirs were just finished, and here you are," Ye Qingyu said in her usual cold tone.
Meng Fan smiled and said, "Better to be lucky than early. Besides, if I came too early, I might disturb you, Senior Sister Ye."
Ye Qingyu took out two jade bottles and handed them to Meng Fan.
Meng Fan didn't open them; a sweep of his Divine Sense revealed that each bottle contained over a hundred elixirs.
One bottle contained Condensing Elixirs, and the other contained Spirit Fusion Pills.
Normally, a single batch of elixirs could produce at most forty-nine pills.
Ye Qingyu must have made several batches!
"Thank you!" Meng Fan sincerely thanked Ye Qingyu.
To be honest, Meng Fan hadn't expected Ye Qingyu to be so considerate.
He thought she would be doing well just to make one batch for him!
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan