For powerful races, the struggle for the position of Patriarch is exceptionally brutal. Even if he had remained within the Death-Meditation Pagoda Clan, the seat of the Patriarch would not necessarily have been his, let alone now that he had been gone for so long.
Precisely because of this, he had to return to the clan as quickly as possible.
"Five Pagodas Invert, Stirring the Firmament."
Chapter 1019