Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Lei Jun did not put on a vacant, absent-minded look that would have aroused suspicion in the Mount Shu disciple before him.

He quickly read the lot's fortune, his face naturally showing an apologetic expression,

"Senior Xie of Mount Shu invited me, and as a younger generation, I dared not refuse, but my master has sent word more than once, commanding me to return to Dragon Tiger Mountain as soon as possible,

my cultivation has recently reached a critical juncture, so my honored teacher allowed me to delay again and again, but now I have already postponed for quite some time,

just these last few days, my training is coming to an end, and my master is urgently summoning me, so I truly dare not further delay, I am already preparing to leave Shu and return to Dragon Tiger Mountain.

I can only hope that next time I'll have the chance to visit Senior Xie of your esteemed sect again, and ask you, fellow cultivator, to convey my apologies to your revered master, Senior Xie, and please, do not blame me."

The other man's attitude was calm, not pressing, "We simply wanted to show hospitality and host you, Lei. But since Elder Yuan of your sect is urgently summoning you back to your mountain, then of course we should not delay you. Lei, do not worry, my master and all of us will always welcome you to visit Mount Shu again."

This Mount Shu disciple was clearly not aware of the grudge between Ji Dongquan and Yuan Mobai, unlike Ji Chuan and Zhao Gang, and followed every rule of etiquette.

As for his true thoughts, only he knew them.

Once Lei Jun watched the other's figure disappear, his smile faded.

In the distance, the old Temple Master who had sent that Mount Shu disciple off at Yushan wore an anxious look.

They all sensed the brewing storm, the tense quiet before the wind and rain.

*So even Mount Shu was about to follow in the footsteps of the Celestial Master Mansion, descending into internal chaos,* Lei Jun thought.

With the Celestial Master Mansion's prior example, the various big shots of Mount Shu in recent years had actually shown quite a bit of restraint.

Yet with tensions only accumulating deeper, the eventual outbreak would inevitably be more violent.

Lei Jun stood outside Mount Shu, unclear about much of the inner situation.

From the outside, it seemed that Mount Shu Sect's internal struggles were not as sharp or fierce as the past conflict in the Celestial Master Mansion between Li Wai and the contest of two suns for glory.

*Was it really not going to come to the point where faces would be torn and fighting broke out?*

*But being an outsider, was he really seeing things any clearer?*

*Many things could only be understood by those involved,*

Mount Shu was always a closed sect, and so many secrets were known only to the core leadership within the Mount Shu Sect.

*How many conflicts and grudges were buried there? Only they themselves truly knew.*

But Lei Jun, judging from the lot's reading, could easily guess that the internal chaos of the Mount Shu Sect was extremely close at hand.

At Mount Shu's Qingcheng Summit, the lot he drew was the most dangerous possible, warning him to stay as far away as possible.

If he dared to set foot, he was dead for sure.

This certainly was not because the Mount Shu Sect hated him, a young disciple of Dragon Tiger Mountain, so much.

It was the inevitable danger that erupted from total chaos.

What's more, if Mount Shu went into civil strife and he, a member of Dragon Tiger Mountain's True Inheritance, recklessly got caught up in the center of the storm, then if anyone wanted to drag Dragon Tiger Mountain's Celestial Master Mansion into the mess, he, Lei Jun, was an ideal fuse.

No matter whether the Mount Shu elders were intentional or not, Qingcheng Summit was at this moment extremely dangerous for Lei Jun.

As for Elder Xie, who invited him there, what exactly he was plotting was very much worth being on guard against.

On the other hand, Ye Dongming, who came from the Jinzhou Ye Clan, invited him to Ba Dong, which seemed to imply he wanted Lei to stay out of it.

*Was that act out of good will? It was hard to say.*

*Lei Jun's feeling was that at least Ye Dongming and the faction around him did not want Dragon Tiger Mountain's Celestial Master Mansion dragged into the coming chaos.*

*Maybe they were more confident of crushing their internal competition, and so preferred fewer complications, to minimize the chance of external parties meddling or disturbing things?*

Lei Jun shook his head slightly, pulling back his scattered thoughts.

Whatever happened, he was definitely not going to go join the crowd at Qingcheng Summit.

After sending away the Mount Shu disciple who invited him, Lei Jun continued to quietly hole up at Yushan.

According to the lot's reading, so long as he stayed at Yushan, he would be safe, with no future trouble.

Even Elder Xie would not come bothering him after all this.

Lei Jun was naturally content to stay put, unmoving, indifferent to the surging tides and gathering clouds outside.

Regarding Mount Shu, he only kept an eye on the news about He Dongxing, Ji Dongquan, Ye Dongming, and Ji Chuan, just these few people.

Speaking of which, Ji Chuan had not come to Yushan for quite some time.

*That too was a sign that Mount Shu Sect's internal situation might already be at a critical point.*

The last time Ji Chuan visited Yushan, he had chatted idly with Lei Jun, mentioning that those three Great Demons who besieged He Dongxing had all been slain by Mount Shu experts over the past year.

Mount Shu had seen fewer demon uprisings of late.

*Maybe with the pressure outside easing, it was now impossible to suppress the internal strife within Mount Shu Sect any longer?*

And just as expected, things started happening quickly,

In less than two days, one night, dazzling radiance suddenly flared up on the distant horizon.

The light was so bright it nearly illuminated half the sky.

Lei Jun, who lived alone in a small dwelling behind Yushan, had not gone to sleep yet, and now stood at the cliff, looking north into the distance.

He saw a bright, majestic, yet chilling and ruthless beam of light rising, tearing open the night.

For a moment, there was a strange beauty to it all.

The glow did not head toward Yushan, but streaked toward an even farther direction, like a rainbow spanning the heavens.

That was the sword light of flying swords!

It was not the work of a Mount Shu disciple from Middle Three Heavens.

Even He Dongxing, that Mount Shu Sword Cultivator of Upper Three Realms, had not unleashed such an awe-inspiring sword light when he once fought the Great Demon.

It was not that He Dongxing was lacking in power, but that the battle back then shifted too quickly, forcing him to adapt to the changing situation.

But what Lei Jun saw now, this sword light came from a Mount Shu Sword Cultivator of Upper Three Realms, who had spent a long time preparing, gathering power and maybe even using sword arrays or magical arrays to further compound and amplify, not needing to worry about any sudden attacks, fully focused, launching an all-out strike.