That surly-looking craftsman was currently in seclusion. He had gone in as a peak stage core formation expert, and if Old Lei's assumption proved true—which Yang Qing believed it would (if nothing else, he knew that old fiend to be a highly insightful individual)—then Chief Song Chuanli would be emerging from that seclusion as a domain expert, having leapt directly past the palace realm.
That wasn't to say he would necessarily skip the palace realm. It was just that, because of how deep his accumulations of the Grand Dao were, he wouldn't remain in the palace realm long enough to even be considered part of it. He would break through to the palace realm, and in the very next heartbeat, he'd already be at its peak, breaking through to the domain realm.
