Elon and Ozer were yet to recover from the Hydra's outcry. Apart from a few devices invented by the Guardian Guild, there was no way to gauge someone's cultivation level as they had been doing forever.

  Nonetheless, Ella needed no device to tell Olivier was still at the Core Formation stage. The dark circles under his eyes and the collar bones building out were enough.

  "Come again Sect Leader Ella" Olivier frowned. He could swear that he heard her asking him to join her sect.

  "Drop the formalities Olivier, call me Ella" Ella giggled, waving her hand,

  Olivier was still staring at her without batting an eye as she continued,

  "Rumors claiming you're looking for a new successor to inherit your position as sect leader. Any truth to those rumors?"

  Oliver carried the torch of sect leader of the White Cloud Sect for nearly sixty years. Until two decades ago, the density of Arch energy was extremely low in the world. Thus, the majority of the cultivators born before that time could not reach high stages of cultivation like the youngsters nowadays.

  So reaching the Core Formation stage sixty years ago was a pretty big deal. Olivier was considered a prodigy and inherited the Sect leader position from his predecessor. The stress of being a sect leader had slowed down his cultivation speed. It took him forty years to reach level 10 of the Core Formation stage from level 1 and he spent millions in gold coins buying rare potions and items. Thanks to Ghost and his potions, he was able to cultivate much faster than he used to. Still, it was not enough to make him break through to the Core Strengthening stage.

  Since many of his friends advised him to leave his stressful sect leader position, he was looking for a new successor except he had been doing it under wraps.

  How the hell did Ella know about this was beyond Olivier. However, rather than focusing on how, Olivier just sighed.

  "Matter of fact, I am looking for someone to take over the sect after I enter seclusion"

  Something told Ella that it might be his last seclusion. Many cultivators who were suffering bottlenecks would go to the lonely mountains as a last attempt to break through to the next stage. The lonely mountain was an unhabitable place where extreme yang and yin energy were always colliding with each other. Due to these two extreme energies, the place only had two climates; freezing cold and burning hot. Nine out of ten cultivators would die trying to break their bottlenecks. If a cultivator could absorb and survive the yin and yang energies, it would break the bottleneck.

  Venturing into the lonely mountain was the last resort for any cultivator.

  "Hmm, I've been following your sect closely Olivier. You have certainly done a good job keeping the sect from declining. But your sect has so much potential, it could go beyond and further"

  Surprisingly Olivier gently smiled shaking his head slowly,

  "Ella, I lived long enough to know what you're trying to do. You want my sect to be merged with the Sun Rise sect. You literally said that. I've been doing what's right for my sect ever since I became the Sect Leader. Give me one reason why I should agree to this merger?"

  She would be lying if she said she wasn't pleasantly surprised by Olivier's directness. Wearing a smile on her face, Ella waved her hand as a glistening emerald green potion bottled inside a palm-sized vial appeared on the table.

  "This is my reason one"

  Olivier did not recognize the potion but he sensed a great amount of energy coming from the vial. Before handing over the potion to Olivier, she grabbed a golden parchment and slid it toward Olivier.

  "And this is reason number two. Go on, open and take a look"

  Olivier untied the red ribbon to read the contents inside and the moment he laid his eyes on what was written, he was taken aback by surprise. The parchment contained all the financial information about the Broad River sect for the last five years. No sect leader would reveal this to another one, especially another sect leader. In addition to the financial side of things, the parchment also contained the cultivation status of a number of disciples and elders.

  "You put your soul and body into your sect Olivier. It's your baby so it's no lie that major change such as a merger would greatly concern you. What you're holding in your hands is to reassure you that if you agreed to this merger, it will be in the sect's best interest" Ella paused for a moment and continued,

  "Before we merged the Sun Rise sect and became a part of them, it would be nothing but a miracle to see s disciple breakthrough to the Core Formation stage before the age of thirty. But now, once a month, we get a new Core Formation stage disciple. Each student now has their own cultivation space and they get free potions and pills, made by Ghost himself. Even the disciples of the three big sects don't have such an advantage "

  It was shocking but Olivier agreed with Ella in his mind. He also did his research about her and the sect just as she did. No sect would give their disciples potions and pills every month, let alone for free. It was crazy even to think that they had been giving potions and pills made by the 5-star Alchemist for free as though they were candies.

  His disciples and even the elders had to wait in the line for a day to get their hands on the potions and pills made by the Ghost yet the Broad River sect disciples were getting them for free every month.

  If it wasn't for the rule that a disciple would get only one potion and pill of each kind, the students of the Sun Rise sect and Broad River sect would have made a ton of money by selling them on the side. The demand for Ghost's products was going through the roof.

  "And if I'm right, you are planning to go to the lonely mountain for seclusion. You don't have to if I can help you" Ella slid the potion towards Olivier,

  "Have you heard the news that Ghost could reach 90% purity?"

  Olivier nodded. Following the events that happened in Hades, every newspaper including the royal newspaper had printed Ghost's ability to reach 90% purity in alchemy products he made and his admission to Mazeroth on their front page. At that time, the news spread throughout the continent like wildfire. Not a single soul was unaware of this.

  "That's a 90% pure potion brewed by Ghost himself. And you can't get this particular potion anywhere, it's one of the special potions brewed by him, especially for cultivators such as you"

  Olivier's hands trembled while holding the potion in his hand.

  "In one month, you will be able to break through to the Core Strengthening stage if you take this potion. You are welcome to take this potion with you and appraise it for yourself"

  No cultivator would blindly drink an unknown potion no matter how pure it was. What if it was poison instead of a miraculous potion? They would first appraise the potions using a trusted Alchemist of their own before taking them. Although no alchemist who was qualified enough to appraise Michael's potions existed in Elon, one could find if it was poison or not, unless, of course, Michael didn't want them to find it.

  Despite Olivier knowing she was being so generous and trusting to complete the merger, he still appreciated her gestures.

  "What if I said no to the merger? Do I have to give this back?"

  "Of course not" Ella waved her hand with a smile,

  "Whether you accept it or not, this potion is yours, unless you don't want it"

  Olivier's hand clutched the potion tighter. His heart told him to let go but his brain screamed at him to hold onto the potion. If what Ella said was true, it finally could bring his suffering to an end and make him reach the Core Strengthening stage.

  "As I said, your sect is your child and every parent would want what's best for their child. Don't think that if you agree to the merger, you will be sacked, you will still be the head of your sect who makes all the major decisions. Only your title would change from Sect Leader to Headmaster"

  Olivier took a deep breath,

  "I've served my sect long enough Ella. It's time for me to step down and a young one to take over the sect"

  Ella's eyes twitched after she heard him. She refused to believe after everything she offered to convince him the old coot wasn't agreeing to the merger. Luckily what she heard next put a smile on her face,

  "However I will take a week's time and think about this merger. It's a big decision nonetheless. I will make one last decision that might lead my sect into a golden age before I leave my position"

  Olivier shook Ella's hands and left the room with the potion. It was a sign that he would get the sect's affairs in order before agreeing to the merger.

  "Two sects down, three more to go" Ella grinned. The Sun Rise sect took over not one but three sects in total and with Olivier's sect, the number would be four. Ella was leading the takeovers in front. She was a ruthless negotiator and a leader. That was why Michael chose her to take over the sect instead of Claire. Not to be mistaken, Claire was a great leader but she was not as ruthless as Ella. For instance, If Olivier chose not to accept the merger, Claire would have accepted his choice. On the other hand, Ella would have incited a civil war inside his sect first, and then, she would have killed him and replaced him with someone who would do her bidding.

  Just as Lucifer's influence was expanding throughout the Southern continent, Ghost's power slowly grew in Elon through the Sun Rise sect.

  The three big sects had already noticed the power scale changing in the continent and sooner or later, one of them would make a move to stop the Sun Rise sect from swallowing the small sects and become one major power that could rival them in every aspect.