Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Within the belly of Qiantian Peak, Spiritual Energy surged skyward as if a furious dragon.

This underground dragon seemed to crash into the Dragon of the Firmament above.

Therefore, heavenly Divine Thunder descended, thunderbolts thicker than one could imagine striking the summit of Qiantian Peak, torrents of lightning racing endlessly down to its depths.

The grass and trees atop the mountain were obliterated, not to mention, an even greater force erupted from the mountain's interior.

Lei Jun and Xia Qing turned to look, and from where they stood, it felt as if Qiantian Peak first swelled outwards from the inside.

Then, it suddenly collapsed inward with a deafening roar, shrinking as a whole.

The prior collapse of the Grand Formation atop the main peak had caused a chain reaction, splitting Qiantian Peak open with a single breach.

But now, amid billowing dust, the entire peak was caving in.

To say it was flattened from the ground up no longer sufficed.

The location where Qiantian Peak once stood continued to sink down, forming a deep pit and vast valley.

The shaking of the land even dragged the surrounding mountains with it, causing all to sway and topple.

Within Mount Tianxu, it was as though a tremendous earthquake had exploded; even the main peak trembled twice, and a mass of earth and stone cascaded down the mountainsides.

Both sides' disciples, who were still clashing, could no longer spare attention for one another; all looked on in shock and confusion, unable to fathom what was happening before their eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" Lei Jun exchanged a glance with Xia Qing.

Xia Qing's eyes widened, "I don't know either."

Lei Jun turned back, looking at the stunned and confused disciples on both sides, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly,

"Dragon Tiger Mountain High Merit Masters have arrived, by command of the Masters, root out all evil—leave not a single Demon Person of the Yellow Sky Sect!"

Everyone was startled to their core.

Xia Qing shot Lei Jun a surprised look, but soon came to realize, and immediately joined in shouting, "Leave not a single Demon Person of the Yellow Sky Sect!"

The two infused their voices with Mana, letting the sound roll far across the mountains.

With the chaos earlier leaving the peaks of Mount Tianxu momentarily silent, suddenly the mountain range erupted with echoed cries,

"Dragon Tiger Mountain High Merit Masters have arrived...Demon People of Yellow Sky Sect...leave none...leave none..."

The disciples of Yellow Sky Sect who had held the advantage were now terrified, having no idea what had happened at Qiantian Peak, their minds thrown into complete turmoil.

The disciples of Tianxu Sect cared no longer to distinguish truth from lies, seeing the enemy's momentum falter, and seized the opportunity to counterattack.

The tide swiftly shifted, and the overall situation changed.

*It was as though confirming what everyone had been thinking.*

Atop the main peak, in the Tao Palace within Tianxu Sect's grand hall, the last four Talisman Scriptures still held firm—not only had they not fallen, at this moment, their number even grew again.

First recovering to five, then increasing yet to six.

Seeing the uncertain situation and unable to break through Tianxu Sect's final defense, the elders of Yellow Sky Sect atop the summit grew unsettled in spirit.

With no alternatives, several Yellow Sky Sect elders withdrew from the main peak, first gathering their disciples before beginning a retreat.

Qiantian Peak's explosion had caused no further aftershock.

Some among Yellow Sky Sect had already realized it wasn't the High Merit Elders of Dragon Tiger Mountain descending upon them.

But the Tianxu Sect disciples' confidence was already ignited—their fighting spirit swelled, and Yellow Sky Sect could no longer expand their gains, forced to quit while ahead, holding back to observe coming developments.

Tianxu Sect had at last repelled their attackers, but with their Vitality severely damaged, they were in no condition to pursue, opting to rally their own disciples together and rebuild the destroyed mountain passes and Taoist halls.

"Lei, your warning was spot-on, it was my own fault for entertaining such wishful thinking."

When Lei Jun next saw Tu Guangyu, the leader of this Talisman Sect branch, the man looked battered, injuries clear upon his body.

He had received Lei Jun's earlier warning, and had been on alert.

Thus he managed to keep the last half of the formation's core intact, defending the main peak Tao Palace to the end.

*But the blow Tu Guangyu had suffered in spirit far surpassed his physical wounds; his very essence and vigor had been drained, leaving him looking much older than before.*

*To be stabbed in the back by a comrade and brother who'd been trusted for so many years—it truly tasted bitter.*

"Master Tu, you flatter me; I only voiced a hasty suggestion, had no real proof, and could never have guessed the traitor would turn out to be someone like Elder Zhong."

Lei Jun said, "None of us wished for this, and Tianxu Sect still needs your leadership—please, I beg you, take good care of yourself."

Tu Guangyu rallied himself, "Don't worry, Lei, I'm not that easy to topple."

The people of Tianxu Sect were left in charge of the cleaning up.

Though Xia Qing suffered no grave harm for the moment, with so many Sealing, Binding Body, and Soul Calming Talismans pasted onto him, his essence, vigor, and spirit had also suffered quite the loss.

Lei Jun decided to keep the secret of the Vermilion Peak Pen; when helping Xia Qing, he used a medium-grade Purifying Heart Talisman he'd prepared rather than a top-tier one.

Thus Xia Qing's head still swam, his limbs weak, and he would need help from Tianxu Sect's elite Middle Three Heavens experts to fully recover.

After a night of struggle, Lei Jun's spirit and Mana were also severely depleted.

Though he was young and would recover faster, he still felt some fatigue for sure.

Luckily, he had freshly acquired the Breathing Soil Banner.

The Breathing Soil Banner could not only channel earthen yellow radiance for defense and stealth at fixed locations, it also offered a steady supply of Kun Yuan Earth Qi, helping Lei Jun quickly regenerate his Mana—truly a miraculous treasure.

Limited by Lei Jun's current cultivation realm, he could not even activate the relic's full power yet.

No wonder then the worst lot had warned of certain death—a dire omen.

Given the thunder that flattened Qiantian Peak, even with the Banner in hand, if Lei Jun had dared to venture within the mountain's belly after midnight, his fate would've been sealed.

There would be no return.

The Banner itself might have endured, but lacking the full spiritual power, it could not protect its bearer.

If Lei Jun ventured forth past midnight, the only outcome awaiting him would've been for cleanup teams to discover his corpse with the Banner at his side.

"Well, thankfully, everything I needed to claim, I managed before midnight."

Lei Jun unfurled the Banner; upon its surface, beyond the original 'Breath' character, now lay an intricate and mysterious mark.

...Lei Jun pondered over it deeply; if it were the true seal itself, the mysteries within would likely exceed even the Banner's.

"The Celestial Master Seal, huh?" Lei Jun stared at the mark in reflection.

*To say he wasn't tempted would be a lie.*

He could already confirm that he now held a vital clue toward locating the Celestial Master Seal.

*But if he assumed he could simply find it now, that would be far too optimistic.*

*Moreover, just as the lot had described, this treasure's history tangled with many interests and powers—great opportunity, but a heavy load of karma as well.*

It was not unattainable,

But required utmost caution.

*In Lei Jun's mind, it felt as if a door stood before him, still closed.*

But it was truly there, not some mirage.

He felt himself able to reach out and touch the door now.

The door waited for a worthy successor to push it open.

*Earlier, he had wondered when he could return to Qingshan and discover the truth; now, he realized that gentle wind might also be tied to the Celestial Master Seal. So many mysteries remain—best to seize the day and revisit the site as soon as possible...Lei Jun thought it over and made up his mind.*

For now, he needed to wait till Tianxu Sect settled its affairs here.

"I heard Lei, from Xia, about your performance last night. My respect grows again,"

The next day, when Tu Guangyu, Sect Leader of Tianxu, met Lei Jun again, his tone was full of feeling, "We owed it to you for that bold shout; otherwise, those Demon People from Yellow Sky Sect would have kept resisting."

Xia Qing, standing by, looked at Lei Jun with even deeper admiration than before.

Anyone could've shouted like that—it had already occurred to many.

In fact, some of the Yellow Sky Sect's own disciples might have wanted to claim it was their high-level experts who brought down Qiantian Peak, in hopes of boosting morale and wrecking Tianxu Sect's spirits.

But Lei Jun's ability to react the fastest and seize the initiative right before anyone else had determined the direction of the whole situation.

"I only had a spark of inspiration and ran my mouth, Master Tu; you all were the ones holding our main peak that never fell—that's the true backbone."

Lei Jun offered some humility, then asked, "Last night at Qiantian Peak—what exactly happened?"

Tu Guangyu managed a bitter smile, "The earth vein Spiritual Energy under Mount Tianxu, for reasons unknown, underwent a huge shift; it wasn't caused by our clash with the Yellow Sky Demon People,

But when the eighth-layer Grand Formation collapsed, it forced the earth veins' Spiritual Energy to change even further, growing ever more volatile and unstable.

Eventually, someone caused the spiritual energy of the earth veins to erupt skyward, agitating the Heavenly Spiritual Energy, which then brought about the merging of heaven and earth dragons—a miracle and disaster both, with Divine Thunder crashing down."

That Qiantian Peak endured for a thousand years, but was ruined in a single night by this calamity.

At this, the Tianxu Sect leader's expression grew complicated, gaze drifting aside.

In that direction, Tianxu Sect disciples salvaging the ruins of Qiantian Peak reported,

"Sect Leader, the sediment and rubble buried all below, and the one who triggered the disaster has no corpse left; from a few broken fragments remaining, it seems to have belonged to...Zhong Yunfei, that traitorous scoundrel."