Dyon always believed that the Mist Clan must have some sort of treasure that allowed her to climb match Jasmine's Higher Dao Realm cultivation despite being within the Middle Dao Realm. He thought that this was the reason Jasmine couldn't shake the Mist Clan, but he was wrong, very wrong.

Within the meeting room, Grand Elder Mist didn't sit in the main seat. Though it was true that from the arrangement, she was second in command. Second was still second.

In the main seat was a man. He didn't seem old, maybe late twenties on the verge of his thirties. However, considering he was a dao expert, this meant that it hadn't been a short time since his last breakthrough, but it hadn't been an extremely long time either. Likely around 20-30 thousand years.

The pressure this man gave off was by far the strongest. Though Dyon didn't use his divine sense, he could rely on Little Yang to see through the fact this man was a Higher Dao Expert on the level of Glorianice. No, Glorianice was a bit stronger, but it was only by a hair.

'So the Water Mist Quadrant has men this powerful as well So why is it that they've chosen the female only route? This obviously wasn't the desire of the Mist Clan. As things stand right now, if the Water Mist Sect suddenly relaxed their rules to allow men, Jasmine wouldn't have a foot to stand on anymore.'

The reason Dyon thought this was clear. It was because the meeting didn't just have the elder generation, but several young men emanating fierce auras. The weakest of them were Kings, while the best could most definitely match the status of Gods. And, almost as though to fit every checkmark of an opposite party's revulsion, one young man had a face contorted with such arrogance it could make one gag.

He was very clearly the strongest individual among the youth, and if Little Yang's eyes weren't incorrect, he was a Pseudo Dao expert who had entered the celestial realm as a 9th Order expert and comprehended enigmatic qi at the 5th Order.

What did this mean? It meant he would become a 5th Order dao expert once he broke through! Four Orders above Zabia!

He most definitely had the right to be arrogant.

'The Mist Clan must be kicking themselves. They have a talent on his level, but are forced to give key wielding responsibilities to a weak-willed cultivator like Anabella instead all to conform to the rules of their Sect

'But it seems to me that the Mist Clan alone should have enough Faith to not fall far behind the Water Mist Clan So why do they insist on keeping it around?'

Dyon's confusion was warranted. While the Mist Clan's Faith was partially tied to the Sect, it seemed obvious that they had strong power centers irrelevant of the Sect. So shouldn't?

'Wait. This young man. I've never seen him before, nor have I ever heard of the Mist Clan having such a genius Why are they hiding him?'

The more Dyon thought, the more he realized that his hopes at an 'easy' takeover of the Water Mist Quadrant was slipping further and further away from him.

'I can't kill Grand Elder Mist I was wrong. If I do that, they'll definitely react in a manner I can't control.'

Dyon was uncertain, but he felt that if Grand Elder Mist died, the Mist Clan might not deem their patience and low-profile worth it anymore. In that case, they might directly sweep the Water Mist Sect away. If that happened, Dyon would have no choice but to abandon his foothold in this quadrant.

Of course, he still had the Dark Ocean now, and he also had a newfound appreciation for just how hard it must have been on Jasmine to distract the Mist Clan for so long. But, his path toward an easy victory would be gone.

Dyon sighed. 'I don't have time Jade said I needed to grow quickly. I can't just leave'

Dyon was facing a major dilemma. If he left the Water Mist Sect alone due to this hiccup, then he'd have to conquer it in a more straight forward way in the future. That would waste valuable time and resources.

'But it's already impossible to use that method With the Mist Clan here, Ri's rise to power won't be smooth. And, if the Mist Clan begins to feel that Ri is taking over too smoothly, they might just forget all about their original plans and force her out. I don't know if I have the skill to keep that delicate balance.'

'I need information. I need more information.'

Dyon thought of the Shadows Faction once more, but it only filled him with depression. He had been working on it for more than a hundred years already, but he had yet to succeed. It really was too depressing.

'If the Shadows Faction won't work for now I'll have to become the Shadows Faction myself.'

Dyon immediately got to work. Thanks to the Mortal Network, the process was far easier. He created multiple monitoring arrays. They'd record sound and visuals. Then, he gave them to Little Yang to place them in strategic places around the Mist Clan's grounds.

He wasn't worried about the Mist Clan finding his arrays. He was going all out. Each and every array was of the Moon grade. In addition, because he was relying on the Mortal Network, even if they somehow sensed odd fluctuations, it would be mistaken for the work of the Network.

The choice to make the arrays moon grade made the process take an incredibly long time, but Dyon had to be meticulous.

As he quickly completed these tasks, he continued to listen in on the meeting.

" I still believe that we should send someone to investigate Dark Ocean." A lesser elder of the Mist Clan spoke. "It's too valuable at this time to give it up so easily. Even if it takes time, it will be worth it."