Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Chen Yi left Xia Bo's manor and returned to his own place, checking the dan medicines inside the jade vial.

He first nodded, then shook his head.

Dan medicine could increase cultivation, which indeed suited his needs at the moment.

"But, if it were a spiritual object that strengthened the body's blood and qi, that would be even better," Chen Yi muttered to himself.

That way, he would feel at ease implementing his own cultivation plan.

If he could successfully get through the Heavenly Moat Tribulation and reach the Three-layered Heaven Altar Realm, then when he chose his lifebound third skill, he could play a little trick.

Not only could he use the spiritual object to strengthen his own blood and qi, he could fake selecting the Divine Strike Talisman as his third life-bound talisman art, using it to cover up his new trump card.

Even the trump card itself could grow even stronger.

With that, his overall strength would rise by a wide margin.

A faint gleam flashed in Chen Yi's pupils.

Within the gleam, there seemed to be a hidden tinge of blood.

The blood tint faded away with the gleam.

"What a pity..." Chen Yi sighed, dejected, "I'd better keep trying to look for a spiritual object that could strengthen my body and blood."

He re-gathered his spirits and turned to gaze toward the peak of Dragon Tiger Mountain's main summit.

Thunderclouds billowed over there, as if cutting it off from the world—like a celestial paradise above the mortal realm.

"After all, Supreme Pure Thunder Mansion Cave Heaven was still the most important place; the sooner I could get inside, the better, but I just never had the chance."

Chen Yi frowned, "This time, even when the Lin Clan and Yellow Sky Sect attacked the mountain, I still couldn't sneak in. Such a shame, did I really have to wait until after the talisman-bestowed before there'd be a chance?"

......

After Lei Jun caught up with old times with his fellow disciple Wang Guiyuan, he then went to look for Luo Haoran.

The latter had been wounded earlier in the Yunxiao Mountain Range, and was immediately sent back to Dragon Tiger Mountain for treatment and recuperation.

Fortunately, after several months, Luo Haoran's injuries had finally healed up.

When facing Yellow Sky Sect's assault, Luo Haoran had joined the sect elders and fought back alongside his fellow brothers.

But since his wounds had only just healed, once Yellow Sky Sect's attack was repelled, he was assigned to guard the mountain instead of further participating in battles off the mountain.

After checking in on him, Lei Jun returned to his own residence, from which he had been absent for over half a year.

He had just returned to the mountain, and there weren't any new tasks assigned to him for the moment back at his manor.

Taking advantage of the current downtime, Lei Jun turned his attention to the Bear King's Mysterious Gall Xia Bo had given him.

This treasure had been taken from the body of a demon bear king—a great demon, definitely not something any ordinary bear could compare to.

The Bear King's Mysterious Gall brimmed with spiritual energy and blazing blood qi.

Using it as a base for alchemy or for medicinal baths and further adjustment would greatly strengthen a person's physical blood and qi.

Just as Xia Bo had said, this was indeed a treasure that Lei Jun could really use.

The lineage passed down from Yuan Mobai always cultivated Divine Strike Talismans as their lifebound talisman art—the power of their physical blood qi and their prowess in close combat and magic duels had always been outstanding among their peers.

If not for this, Lei Jun would never have been able to directly face off against martial arts practitioners with his top-grade lifebound Divine Strike Talisman.

Now, by further enhancing his body with the Bear King's Mysterious Gall and fusing it with his lifebound Divine Strike Talisman, there was no question that Lei Jun's corporeal life mastery would rise to a whole new level.

"This Sixth-Rank Opportunity truly wasn't bad."

Lei Jun nodded in satisfaction.

Choosing to hurry back to Dragon Tiger Mountain as soon as possible really had paid off.

*Who knows, if I'd been a step late, who would have gotten hold of this opportunity?*

Although all the Talisman Sect disciples cultivated life skill, everyone still had their own focus.

Among Xia Bo's disciples, Lei Jun hadn't heard of anyone cultivating Divine Strike Talisman as their lifebound talisman.

But since the Bear King's Mysterious Gall landed in his hands, Lei Jun certainly wasn't going to be polite about it.

Later, Tang Xiaotang returned to Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Lei Jun finally let out a long breath.

He had coaxed her into taking the path indicated by that moderately good lot, and nothing unexpected had happened.

The road that carried some risks for Lei Jun, Tang Xiaotang had breezed right through.

But she wasn't exactly in high spirits.

"Sure enough, nothing much happened over at Red Abyss Cave Heaven. I really made a wasted trip," Tang Xiaotang grumbled, puffing out her cheeks in displeasure.

She'd been hoping for a hero's grand entrance.

"Oh, right..."

Tang Xiaotang suddenly remembered something and took out an item, tossing it to Lei Jun,

"I wiped out all those small fries. As for the rest of their stuff—whatever, but I did find this spiritual object on someone. Maybe you'll have a use for it someday."

Lei Jun caught the item she tossed over. He hadn't even looked closely yet, but could already sense the intense spiritual nature as he touched it.

Looking carefully, he saw that it was a strangely shaped spirit jade.

The jade was flat and perfectly round, its surface etched with complex patterns, pure white all over, like a hand-carved cloud—yet, on closer inspection, as if naturally formed, without the slightest mark of human craftsmanship. It made one marvel at nature's skill.

[Yuanxin Calming Jade]

A flash of spirit light shone in Lei Jun's mind, and the name surfaced for him.

But he hadn't heard of this spiritual object before, so he looked up at Tang Xiaotang.

The tall woman said casually, "Yuanxin Calming Jade is pretty rare. Its main use is to help our Talisman Sect cultivators who are at the three-layered Heaven Altar Realm get through the Heavenly Moat Tribulation and break through to the Four-layered Heaven Yuan Talisman Realm.

"I certainly have no use for it. And you can't use it just yet, either. But keep working hard on your cultivation—think about it when you reach the third layer of the altar."

Hearing this, Lei Jun raised an eyebrow.

*So this was the Fifth-Rank Opportunity mentioned in the moderately good lot.*

According to Tang Xiaotang's explanation, the Yuanxin Calming Jade served a similar purpose as that Misty Cloud Crystal back then.

Only, the latter was used for the tribulation between the second and third heavens.

*I've got to admit, this Yuanxin Calming Jade is a treasure that fits me perfectly,* Lei Jun thought.

*If I had known ahead of time exactly what fortunate opportunities each lot would bring, when facing a choice between the Yuanxin Calming Jade and the Bear King's Mysterious Gall this time—if I could have picked on my own—I really might have hesitated.*

*Even though the moderately good lot with the Yuanxin Calming Jade carried certain risks, and the Bear King's Mysterious Gall was safe and sound.*

*Still, the outcome now is even better.*

The Yuanxin Calming Jade was only used to help third heavenly layer cultivators breakthrough to the fourth, so Tang Xiaotang definitely had no use for it and didn't care about it either.

So Lei Jun got to benefit just the same.

Both treasures ended up in Lei Jun's stash—this time, he really did get the best of both worlds.

But that was because the other party was Tang Xiaotang.

*If there's a next time, can I really count on running into such a reliable and selfless friend again?*

Lei Jun refrained from further speculation. After thanking Tang Xiaotang, he put away the Yuanxin Calming Jade for now, waiting until he was ready to push for the Four-layered Heaven Yuan Talisman Realm in the future to use it.

Right now, he would continue using the Bear King's Mysterious Gall for body refinement.

Next, he would also observe the mysteries of the imprint on the Celestial Master Seal.

Through this clue, Lei Jun could more or less sense that, amidst shadowy currents, the Celestial Master Seal truly was returning and drawing near Dragon Tiger Mountain.

But as for its precise location and direction, there were still no leads.

Lei Jun was neither fretful nor impatient, and didn't blindly search just on luck. He kept to his daily routine and cultivation schedule, patiently waiting for the timing to ripen.

Later, as arranged by the sect, he would also occasionally descend the mountain to patrol the territory, or clear out Yellow Sky Sect followers who had snuck up to the foot of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

The situation seemed temporarily stable.

Until…

"A Worm Master?"

After Lei Jun returned from an assignment beyond the mountain, he ran into Wang Guiyuan, who brought up a certain matter,

After the incidents with the Jiangzhou Lin Clan and Yellow Sky Sect, at last a new external foe had come to attack Dragon Tiger Mountain.

The newcomers were strong cultivators from the Worm Art Vein of the Southern Witch Sect. There weren't many of them, but their strength was formidable—their methods strange and hard to detect, ruthless and unpredictable.

"Yintuo Mountain is the sacred land of the Witchcraft Worm lineage. This time, those who came are the orthodox inheritors from Yintuo Mountain," Wang Guiyuan said.

Lei Jun said, "I heard master mention that things in the Southern Wilderness were a mess. The Witchcraft Sect experts who had old grudges with our sect were all wiped out in their own internal strife back then..."

As he said this, he suddenly remembered something.

Sure enough, Wang Guiyuan gave a wry smile, "Right, so the Witchcraft Worm masters who came this time—rather than coming for revenge against our sect, they're more like they're targeting Tang alone."