Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Staring at the bone armor wreathed in violet lightning, Lei Jun took a deep breath.

*So this really was linked to the Celestial Master Seal...*

The time and place were unsuitable, so Lei Jun refrained from experimenting further; he used the Breathing Soil Banner to roll up the mysterious bone armor from the Southern Wildernes, stowing it away along with the others.

He moved his mind, causing the Breathing Soil Banner to shimmer with dusky yellow light.

The imprints on both the banner and the bone armor fell silent for now, and the purple lightning vanished from sight.

Lei Jun put the spiritual banner away, then turned his head to look at the glacier where Li Zhenchang lay frozen.

After a brief thought, he drew a mid-grade Blazing Flame Talisman in tandem with a mid-grade Evil-Repelling Talisman, using them to melt the icy shell created by the Cold Ice Worm.

The ice layer slowly melted, and the Cold Ice Worm was killed by Lei Jun.

Li Zhenchang finally saw the light of day again.

Lei Jun saw that the man gripped a Purifying Heart Talisman in one hand and a Golden Barrier Talisman in the other; his body trembled, but his life was in no danger.

That old Worm Master had already been wounded before, so his cultivation outmatched the others; yet he chose to handle two Celestial Master Mansion disciples one by one instead of together.

He had dealt a solid blow to Chu Andong.

As for Li Zhenchang, he had simply chosen to trap and restrain him first.

Of course, now that Chu Andong was no longer a threat, it would have been easy for the old Worm Master to focus his efforts on Li Zhenchang.

That was why he had taken his time, resting and recovering his breath just earlier.

Only, the old Worm Master also failed to realize in advance that there was someone hiding here—Lei Jun, who was an even tougher customer than Chu Andong and Li Zhenchang combined.

"Lei... Brother Lei?" Li Zhenchang stared at Lei Jun in shock, and kept his guard up, eyes full of caution.

Lei Jun said, "I heard sounds of fighting from far off and came running, only to see a Southern Witch Sect Worm Master about to strike at Brother Chu.

I hurried over and stopped him; luckily, the Worm Master was spent, badly wounded, and I barely managed to kill him.

Brother Chu was out of mortal danger but suffered heavy injuries—Brother Li, are you alright?"

Li Zhenchang let out a breath, "I'm fine, let's check on Brother Chu first."

The two of them then worked together to treat Chu Andong.

Though Chu Andong's wounds were serious, his condition stabilized and his life was no longer threatened; finally, he regained consciousness.

After hearing Lei Jun and Li Zhenchang's story, his voice was frail, "Brother Lei, thank you for saving my life..."

Lei Jun shook his head, "You two fought that Worm Master in bloody combat and left him gravely injured. I was just lucky to finish him off; if I'd faced him alone, I'd have fallen prey to his poison, without a doubt."

Li Zhenchang forced a laugh, "Either way, we owe you today—there's no need for words, but someday you'll have my thanks repaid."

As the three spoke, a streak of azure thundercloud drifted over the mountains from afar.

The Azure Cloud landed, and a talisman-bestowed Taoist in a deep red Taoist Robe descended from it.

When Lei Jun and the others saw him, they felt reassured, "Brother Li Kong."

The newcomer appeared to be about thirty years old, and was called Li Kong, one of the standouts among the younger generation of the Celestial Master Mansion, spoken of alongside Zhang Jingzhen and Li Xuan.

He was also of the Li Clan, not a collateral branch like Li Zhenchang, but a direct descendent.

Li Kong was in fact the beloved grandson of Supreme Elder Li Song.

The children of Great Master Li had all been mediocre, with little talent, and most passed away young during the old clan strife.

But with the grandsons' generation, Li Kong at last emerged as a true talent, whose reputation and power were second only to a handful like Xu Yuanzhen and Li Zhengxuan.

It was not the first time Lei Jun had dealt with him, either.

Back when he'd first crossed over to this world at Qingshan, aside from running into Xu Yuanzhen, he'd also met another true disciple from the Celestial Master Mansion—Li Kong.

...In fact, it was this Li Kong who the "worst lot" had mentioned as the talisman-bestowed Taoist sent downstream to hunt Worm Masters beneath the river.

Back then, if it hadn't been for the cleansing breeze atop the mountain that purified the poison from Lei Jun, and he'd run into Li Kong first, Lei Jun might have been slain as a newly crafted poison zombie by a Worm Master.

But now, learning Lei Jun had slain the old Worm Master and saved fellow disciples Li Zhenchang and Chu Andong, Li Kong couldn't help but view his Junior Brother with admiration.

After Lei Jun recounted how he killed the old Worm Master and then purified the lingering worm poison, Li Kong nodded again and again, "You handled it perfectly!"

He checked Chu Andong's wounds once more, then made a sweep of the area; finding no more Worm Masters, he led Lei Jun and the others back up the mountain.

Just as they'd reached the foot of the mountain and were about to ascend, they saw another group hurrying toward them.

Lei Jun and the rest squinted; the other group also had someone gravely injured.

He wore the deep red Taoist robe.

It was none other than Elder Ziyang's eldest son, Li Xuan.

Li Xuan's face looked pallid and thin as gold leaf, his eyes tightly shut. He was so weak that his wounds were even worse than Chu Andong's.

The Young Celestial Master, Li Zhengxuan, personally descended the mountain to greet them.

Thanks to his rescue efforts, Li Xuan's condition improved further, and at last, he woke.

"Senior Brother, I... I've let you down," Li Xuan rasped in a fragile voice.

Li Zhengxuan shook his head, "As long as you're safe, the rest can be said later."

Li Xuan said, "I failed to retrieve the Celestial Master Seal... but at least, the seal hasn't fallen into anyone else's hands."

He had headed north toward the Xinjiang, searching up and down the riverbanks.

He found no trace of the Celestial Master Seal, but at the Grand Ferry of Xinjiang he ran straight into Supreme Elder Yu Qingling of the Yellow Sky Sect.

If it hadn't been for Great Uncle Li Song's timely arrival, Li Xuan's life might have ended right then and there.

Even so, he'd still wound up half-dead.

And if his own father, Li Ziyang, hadn't rushed to Xinjiang too, Li Song and Yu Qingling's fierce battle could have caught Li Xuan in the crossfire, costing him his life.

"Uncle went to the Upper Pure River before Xinjiang," Li Xuan managed to say, almost out of breath, "but both places—Upper Pure River and Xinjiang—yielded no sign of the Celestial Master Seal..."

The Young Celestial Master, Li Zhengxuan, gave a bitter chuckle at those words.

The appearance of the Celestial Master Seal had drawn attention from all sides.

That included Li Song and Yu Qingling.

Both sought to shake off each other and find the treasure first.

One had gone to the Upper Pure River, the other to Xinjiang, but neither had any luck.

After all their effort and chasing about, they each wound up empty-handed.

Li Xuan had even worse luck and was struck by disaster, left severely wounded.

The Celestial Master Seal had only flashed through the world, then vanished again.

*Could it be that the treasure's time truly had not yet come to reappear...?* Li Zhengxuan thought, sighing with a sense of loss.

......

Although the mountain's ranks were stretched thin, Li Kong still arranged for Lei Jun, who had fought fiercely against the Worm Masters, to return for rest and recuperation, cleansing body and mind to guard against lingering worm poison.

Chu Andong and Li Zhenchang needed even deeper rest.

Lei Jun bid farewell to Li Kong and the others, then returned to his quarters, where he silently meditated, exercising his breathing skills and nurturing his spirit.

Once his essence, energy, and spirit had been restored to their peak, he took out the Breathing Soil Banner again.

He first unfurled the banner; yellow light obscured all, cutting him off from the outside world.

Then, Lei Jun once more retrieved that piece of bone armor bearing the imprint of the Celestial Master Seal, and began to study it closely.

In years past, Li Cangting's wife had been from the Southern Witch Sect.

So, the Southern Witch Sect became entangled with the Celestial Master Mansion's third internal strife.

In the end, Li Cangting and his wife perished alongside the previous Celestial Master, both sects suffered greatly, and the Celestial Master Seal was lost.

But it seemed, before then, the Celestial Master Seal had still left faint traces in the Southern Wildernes.

It had simply never drawn notice before; and with the Southern Witch Sect's brutally bloody infighting, so many who knew the truth died off.

As the years passed, much of the truth was buried, so even those of the Southern Witch Sect failed to realize the secret behind this bone armor.

Otherwise, it would never have ended up passing into the hands of that old Worm Master, casually carried around with him... *Lei Jun mused to himself.*

He brought the two Celestial Master Seal imprints together again.

Violet thunderlight arose once more, the two imprints starting to resonate.

With the surge of lightning, something began to form above Lei Jun's head, gradually taking the shape of a luminous mirror.

Gazing into the mirror's violet surface, Lei Jun suddenly felt his spiritual soul grew unstable.

*It felt as if his spirit might slip out from his shell, drifting upward toward the mirror itself.*