Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

When the good news came from Dragon Tiger Mountain, everyone in the Tianxu Sect was bursting with excitement, "So it was all the Celestial Master's trap, inviting the enemy into the jar,"

The latest message stated that the Celestial Master had actually secretly broken the Samsara Descend on himself long ago, and then, taking advantage of the Lin Clan's attack, used the terrain of Dragon Tiger Mountain's Altar of Wanfa Sect and the Mountain Defense Array to inflict heavy losses on the invading enemy.

There was even a rumor circulating that the Celestial Master had transferred the Samsara Descend from himself onto the Lin Clan Chief, making the latter suffer a huge loss.

The situation atop Dragon Tiger Mountain had completely reversed!

"That's wonderful..."

The usually cold-faced Xia Qing also breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the news.

Lei Jun, next to her, nodded, "Yeah, it's great."

*...Is it really?*

In truth, Lei Jun was not as optimistic as the others.

Previously, because they'd quickly contracted their defenses and abandoned much of the outer perimeter, although the Celestial Master Mansion had been attacked by the Lin Clan up to Dragon Tiger Mountain, casualties were minimal.

Although it was still extremely dangerous for each person involved, *this didn't seem like the ominous sign predicted by the earlier moderately unlucky lot,* Lei Jun felt instinctively.

Still, all he had now was suspicion, with no evidence at all, and he certainly couldn't say anything to rain on everyone's parade.

Lei Jun also hoped he was just overthinking things, and that a greater disaster was not lurking ahead.

Everyone in the Tianxu Sect collectively let out a breath.

The Celestial Master Mansion on Dragon Tiger Mountain had begun its counterattack, the tide turned, enough to strike fear into other petty enemies and keep them from making any rash moves.

People said that even the Purple Cloud Sect in the Yunxiao Mountain Range had been relieved; here, the Tianxu Sect could also lift its special alert and return to the usual state of defense.

Lei Jun's life continued as usual, his daily rhythm unchanged.

He began examining the Breathing Soil Banner.

First, there was some bad news.

Lei Jun discovered the amount of spiritual power he could draw from the Breathing Soil Banner was extremely limited.

This most likely resulted from his own current cultivation realm.

The Breathing Soil Banner's spiritual nature was contained, unassuming in appearance, but it held many mysteries within.

Let alone truly refining and controlling it, just trying to manipulate its spiritual nature was not something a Lower Three Heavens cultivator could manage.

But, as Lei Jun advanced in cultivation strength, he would eventually be able to command it one day.

Its previous owner had left no restriction within the banner, and Lei Jun now counted as its new master.

Next, Lei Jun discovered some good news for himself.

The banner's spiritual energy perfectly matched the earth and stone spiritual nature he currently needed.

So...

After some time spent refining, Lei Jun succeeded in crafting a Spirit Talisman.

When he activated the Spirit Talisman, billowing yellow dust surged forth, the thunder rumbling within the haze, deep and heavy.

"Good, the Earth Seal Thunder Talisman worked too."

Lei Jun nodded in satisfaction, "Next, let's start the full assembly."

The reason he needed an earth-and-stone spiritual object to blend with the Thunderclap Talisman and grind out the Earth Seal Thunder was because the overall structure was so large—it needed the Earth Seal Thunder as a foundation and base, and as a source of continuously flowing essence and spiritual nature.

"Earth" provided support as the bones.

"Wood" gave birth to it—he had already prepared the Wooden Void Thunder and Wooden Void Thunder Talisman to be the flesh on the bones.

Then, a bit of "water" was added.

This "water" referred to the Dark River Energy-refined Dark Water Thunder Talisman—not nourishing, but functioning as lubricant.

Then came a frame of "metal" as the outer shell.

Finally, a spark of "fire," the finishing touch that let the brand-new talisman come to life.

"Is the structure too intricate?"

Lei Jun stared at the Spirit Talisman in front of him, one hand propping up his chin in thought.

Being intricate and flexible was a neutral term in his own vocabulary.

He personally preferred spells and duel of magic methods that were simple, direct, and efficient.

That's why his first two life-bound talismans were Divine Strike Talisman and Wind Riding Talisman—to fit that idea.

Still, since he already had Divine Strike and Wind Riding as a foundation, the Third Art might as well be something fancy.

This way, he'd have a richer repertoire of tactics to handle all kinds of complicated situations in the future.

Straight methods for stability, surprises for victory, the two complemented each other...

*If possible, Lei Jun wished the world would always be at peace, so he could focus solely on cultivation and spells.*

*But as the old saying went, the things you fear always come to find you.*

The latest news arrived from Dragon Tiger Mountain,

"A mysterious powerful enemy ambushed the Celestial Master—he was seriously wounded while suppressing the Lin Clan Chief!"

Just days after celebrating, the Tianxu Sect was left reeling once again.

In an instant, the entire place exploded with chatter; even Sect Leader Tu Guangyu couldn't quiet the discussion for a while,

"Who was it? Did another powerful foe from the Southern Witch Sect sneak in and pull off an ambush?"

"Was it a demon from the Yellow Sky Sect?"

"Did another of the Five Clans and Seven Families make a move?"

"It doesn't seem to be the other prestigious families—they're all watching from the sidelines, even the Youzhou Forest Clan hasn't intervened..."

"Then who was it? What's happening at Dragon Tiger Mountain now? What about the Celestial Master?"

The reports were mixed—there was some good news, some bad—but the overall situation was spiraling downward.

At first, the changes on the field were still acceptable to the folks at the Celestial Master Mansion.

The Yellow Sky Sect's Sect Leader Taoist Taiping had arrived late, finally showing up to join forces with the Lin Clan Chief to take on the Celestial Master in what they called "justice," two against one.

Rumor also said that the Celestial Master's eldest disciple, Xu Yuanzhen, who'd been wandering the world and not returned to the mountain, showed up at exactly the same time.

All signs pointed to this master-disciple pair having planned together in advance—Xu Yuanzhen was the Celestial Master's backup card.

With her blocking Taoist Taiping, the Celestial Master could keep pressuring the Lin Clan Chief with full focus.

But unexpectedly, another mysterious expert made a surprise assault.

This time, Celestial Master Li Qingfeng was truly gravely wounded.

Although Xu Yuanzhen managed to break free from Taoist Taiping and intercept the mysterious challenger's follow-up attack, the situation still plunged downward.

Lei Jun's take on all this was,

They liked to go big.

If the Celestial Master had teamed up with Xu Yuanzhen, Li Song, Li Hongyu, Yuan Mobai, Li Zhengxuan, and other Mansion experts, holding strong atop Dragon Tiger Mountain, no matter how powerful the foe, they wouldn't have faced a true crisis quickly.

The Celestial Master deliberately played weak, invited the enemy into the trap, and managed to make the Lin Clan Chief take a nasty fall.

But in the end, just as things took off, they crashed and burned.

This also left everyone else at the Celestial Master Mansion in the lurch.

They'd just turned defeat into victory, planning to chase down the fleeing enemy, only to be struck back by the opposition immediately.

Even ignoring morale or aggression, in the world of cultivation, this only raised the cost for their side to respond to danger.

Of course, another possibility existed.

The Celestial Master's old wounds hadn't truly healed, only temporarily suppressed.

With this threat looming, the Celestial Master gambled it all on a single decisive battle, aiming to finally resolve the Lin Clan threat in one stroke, or at least for the short term, while intimidating other enemies.

But sadly, the outcome wasn't ideal...

Suddenly, Lei Jun recalled that when the Celestial Master first emerged from retreat, and Xu Yuanzhen returned to Dragon Tiger Mountain, she'd mentioned something,

"What I'm most worried about is that Master overthinks things."

At the time, maybe Xu Yuanzhen hadn't known the whole plan, but from her daily experience with her master, she felt uneasy.

But in hindsight, her words came true.

Xu Yuanzhen wasn't the only one who thought so.

In the waterside pavilion of Jiangnan, Chu Yu stood by the window with hands behind her back, brows furrowed.

Fang Yue sat at the table in the pavilion, "Which mysterious expert suddenly intervened, and was even willing to ambush the Celestial Master without regard for reputation?"

Chu Yu said, "Most top experts keep an eye on each other, there are only so many unaccounted for at any time. But of those with enmity toward the Celestial Master Mansion..."

She shook her head slightly.

"Honestly, it was still the Celestial Master who gave them an opening." Chu Yu looked away from the window, "Just using Samsara Descend to play the Lin Clan Head was enough—he shouldn't have chased them out of the mountain."

Fang Yue looked at her.

Chu Yu sighed, "The Celestial Master's body still wasn't fully recovered, was it? Gambling it all on this one desperate strike, not only did he hurt himself, he let the whole situation spiral out of control..."

Now, the latest update returned, and the result of this battle was even more tragic than anyone had imagined,

The current Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain, Li Qingfeng, and the current Lin Clan Chief of Jiangzhou, Lin Qun, perished together, both falling over the Grand River.