On the other end of the teleportation formation at Dongyan Island, the Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy and Venerable Chongxiao were developing their partnership at a remarkable pace.
Headmaster Su Zhenhuan was clever and perceptive. She understood that this was an extraordinary opportunity for the Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy, so she spared no effort.
In just a few short months, she had won Venerable Chongxiao's full favor toward the academy.
As a result, the heritage of the ancient Danxiao Sect gradually merged with the Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy. Su Zhenhuan herself had already earned the approval of both Venerable Chongxiao and Jiang Chen.
Should Jiang Chen ever step down from the position of sect master in the future, the first in line to succeed him would be Headmaster Su Zhenhuan.
Venerable Chongxiao had originally harbored some doubts about whether Su Zhenhuan was qualified, but after a prolonged period of observation, he found that she possessed tremendous potential — both in terms of bold vision and innate talent.
Although Venerable Chongxiao had recruited a number of disciples when he restarted the Myriad Spirits Lock Divine Grand Formation the previous time, when it came to carrying on the true lineage, Su Zhenhuan was by far the most orthodox choice and the most suitable candidate.
Everyone else still needed more time to mature.
Once Venerable Chongxiao acknowledged Su Zhenhuan, everything fell into place with relative ease.
Before long, a stirring piece of news spread throughout the human territories: the ancient Danxiao Sect — one of the ten great leader forces of antiquity — had also found a present-day successor lineage. The Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy would serve as its foundation, and the Danxiao Sect would be rebuilt.
Among the ten ancient leader forces, the Danxiao Sect had not been particularly outstanding, ranking rather toward the bottom. But no matter how low its ranking, it was still a leader force at the end of the day.
Everyone understood what an ancient leader force meant.
Aside from the Ancient Glazed Glass Palace, the Danxiao Sect was the first ancient sect to reemerge. This news left many factions throughout the human territories both envious and consumed with jealousy.
Not long after the Danxiao Sect's reconstruction announcement, Jiang Chen, on behalf of the Ancient Glazed Glass Palace, issued a declaration of support for the Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy inheriting the Danxiao Sect's legacy. He expressed his hope that the Danxiao Sect's heritage would flourish and thrive. As a reward for the academy's years of keeping the peace, Jiang Chen also pledged to present a batch of gifts to aid in the Danxiao Sect's reconstruction.
The Danxiao Sect's ruins at Illusory Wave Mountain naturally had to be transported over as well. What even Jiang Chen hadn't expected was that the heritage he had originally obtained from the Danxiao Sect was only some of its superficial traditions. The true, grand heritage of the Danxiao Sect had actually been hidden within those ancestral statues.
This was something Jiang Chen hadn't anticipated at the time either, but after giving it careful thought, he understood. The heritage he had received back then clearly hadn't been on par with the level of a leader force.
Only with the true heritage unearthed did the sect truly deserve its standing as a leader force.
Jiang Chen felt no jealousy. The heritage he had obtained back then had indeed provided him with tremendous help. Far from being resentful, he even handed over many of Pei Xing's array formations as well as the ancient Dizang Gate's array formation heritage to Venerable Chongxiao and Su Zhenhuan.
With the exception of the Dizang Source Pearl, Jiang Chen essentially gave everything he had.
Thus, two ancient sects renowned for their array formation lineages merged within the Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy, incorporating Pei Xing's partial heritage as well.
By this reckoning, the new Danxiao Sect, in terms of its array formation heritage and depth, was already poised to surpass the original Danxiao Sect.
However, at the same time, the Dizang Gate — another leader force — would likely never see its heritage restored. Even the True Martial Sacred Ground on Wanyuan Island had ties to the Dizang Gate, but without Jiang Chen's support, it would probably be very difficult for them to revive the Dizang Gate's lineage.
With the Danxiao Sect's reconstruction underway, Jiang Chen wasn't idle either. In every border region of the human territories where the Realm Boundary Stele existed, he would conduct careful inspections — strengthening defenses, deploying array formations, and tightening security.
The current human territories, along the border facing the Savage Wilderness, had the Myriad Spirits Lock Divine Grand Formation in place and no longer needed to worry about demonic invasion.
But along the other end of the border, there were still a number of adjoining territories — the former Barbarian tribes and the Nandou Li clan, among others.