It was more of a test at first to see if the Starlight Lake Sect was willing to swallow it which they were, and understandably so. That period was the lowest point for them. If the chronological story handed to Yang Qing could be considered as fact then it could indeed be considered so.
That was the period when Meng Jiayi held the seat of sect master. He was a fourth-stage palace realm expert at the time as evidenced by what was in the report and further supported by the information in the contract he had signed with Fan Ha.
Barring any hidden experts they may have had, he was the most powerful member of the sect. A fourth stage palace realm cultivation base while wasn't much when one considered the entire continent as a whole, it was not dismissible either.