Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Just when he caught sight of Chu Yu for that instant, he had a flash of inspiration.

The Chu Clan could express their support for the Celestial Master Mansion by sending a junior member of their family over, just like the Fang Clan did. For example, allowing Chu Kun to continue coming over to become a disciple was very suitable.

Regardless of her cultivation level or seniority, Chu Yu was qualified to enter the high echelons of the Chu Clan. Her personal visit to Dragon Tiger Mountain was already significant, and her help in defeating the experts of the Blood River Sect for the Celestial Master Mansion made it an even more major move.

If she had ulterior motives...

Lei Jun suddenly thought of the three groups of people trying to find the Celestial Master Seal. With Chu Yu's high cultivation realm, even though Lei Jun had control over the imprints of two Celestial Master Seals, he could not sense whether she possessed any clues to another Celestial Master Seal. So, he currently had no basis for this speculation. But instinctively, Lei Jun felt that Chu Yu was one of those three groups.

He now recalled why his master, Yuan Mobai, had agreed to take Chu Kun back to the mountain to become a disciple. It was because, during the search for the Celestial Master Seal, Yuan Mobai had formed a connection with Chu Kun's family of three. At that time, Yuan Mobai had returned empty-handed. But now, Lei Jun suddenly felt that his master had not come back empty-handed after all. It was just that the clue to the Celestial Master Seal had been grasped by a high-level expert of the Chu Clan before them.

It might not have been Chu Yu at the time, but now this clue and the matter are in her hands... Lei Jun gazed thoughtfully at the sky.

Meanwhile, after Chu Yu, Chu Andong, and Chu Kun left Lei Jun's residence, they did not depart immediately. She halted at a distance, turned back to look at the closed gate of the courtyard, and fell into contemplation.

Chu Andong curiously asked, "Auntie, is there something wrong with Lei?"

Chu Yu did not respond right away. She had a peculiar intuition but couldn't pinpoint the reason.

After a long pause, she laughed and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong. Master Lei is cool on the outside but warm on the inside, stable and self-possessed, worth deepening ties with. Both of you could benefit from more interaction with him."

Chu Andong replied, "Auntie is right; your nephew feels the same way."

Although Chu Kun also agreed with his grand-aunt's assessment of Lei Jun, he had a different thought:

You've said this many times. Perhaps it's not us she wants to get close to, but rather she herself wishes to have more dealings with him?

As these thoughts swirled in his mind, his gaze became somewhat evasive. Chu Yu noticed this at once, and her eyes swept over him immediately. Chu Kun promptly straightened his expression, dared not indulge in wild thoughts any longer, and focused his attention inward.

Chu Yu's visit to Dragon Tiger Mountain naturally meant staying at the Celestial Master Mansion. Chu Andong took on the role of hosting and welcoming her, while Chu Kun returned to the Tao Boy Court at the foot of the mountain by himself.

Away from Chu Yu's presence, Chu Kun immediately relaxed.

Overall, switching from studying literature to the path of the Tao doesn't seem too bad. This Lei, his prospective senior brother, seems like a very amiable person. Of course, what I'm most satisfied with is that here in the Tao Boy Court at Dragon Tiger Mountain, every Tao Boy has their own separate residence...

At night, when it was deeply quiet and everyone was asleep, Chu Kun made sure to close all the doors of his courtyard and house.

Ultimately, cultivation relies on oneself. I consider myself gifted, but among the myriad of talents in the Chu Clan and Dragon Tiger Mountain, I'm not particularly outstanding. Fortunately...

Holding some Spiritual Objects he had gathered, he took a deep breath, raised his hand, and gently tapped his forehead three times with his index finger, as if knocking on a door. The next moment, the young man's figure, along with the objects in his hand, suddenly disappeared from the room. It was as though he had stepped through an invisible door to another world.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Chu Kun's form reappeared out of thin air in the room. The Spiritual Objects he originally held were nowhere to be seen, replaced by some other items. Chu Kun weighed the items in his hands, nodded in satisfaction, and began cultivating on his own.

That very night, Lei Jun's residence welcomed a second group of visitors. Lei Jun had met the visitor a few times before. With a solemn and upright demeanor, he appeared scholarly and gaunt, looking to be in his thirties or forties, with sharp eyes. It was Fang Yue of the Jingxiang Fang Clan, the precocious 'Qilin Son'.

"Mr. Yongshan's arrival is an honor; this Taoist regrets not having greeted you from farther away," Lei Jun invited the other to take a seat.

Lei Jun did not harbor many other suspicions about Fang Yue's visit to Dragon Tiger Mountain. On one hand, Fang Yue's personality was different from Chu Yu's. On the other hand, Fang Lu and Fang Mingyuan, two direct descendants of the Fang Clan, had perished near Dragon Tiger Mountain, so the Jingxiang Fang Clan would certainly react. The arrival of Fang Yue from the Middle Three Heavens, rather than an elder from the Upper Three Heavens, already showed considerable restraint on the part of the Fang Clan.

"This visit has two purposes. First, to negotiate with your sect on jointly exterminating the Blood River demonic path," Fang Yue explained briefly. "Another is to deliver some items for the clan's younger generation."

Having learned from their painful experience, besides Fang Yue bringing reinforcements, the Fang Clan planned to further arm their own disciples. Not to ensure absolute infallibility, but at least to add another layer of insurance.

In view of Lei Jun's rescue of Fang Jian, Fang Yue also brought along a gift for Lei Jun as a token of gratitude. He unfolded a robe that shimmered with golden brilliance, looking as if it were made from finely interlaced fish scales, yet extraordinarily lightweight.

"This robe, named Gold-threaded Robe, may come in handy when Master Lei faces his enemies," Fang Yue said earnestly.

Lei Jun expressed his gratitude and accepted the Gold-threaded Robe. This robe, which seemed neither armor nor ordinary clothing, was not made of simple woven golden fish scales. Instead, each golden strand contained Spiritual Power. It could protect not only the physical body but also the Spiritual Soul, with many ingenious uses and impressive defensive power.

After bidding farewell to Fang Yue, Lei Jun studied the robe closely. The robe had another feature that piqued his interest. He discovered that the raw materials of the Gold-threaded Robe contained Spiritual Objects rich in Primordial Magnet Force. Consequently, it had particularly excellent defensive power against attacks from various kinds of metal magic artifacts and weapons.

This aspect, interestingly, was remarkably similar in principle to the Golden Barrier Thunder generated from Lei Jun's own Five Thunder Talisman. Indeed, Lei Jun's Golden Barrier Thunder, which could be used both offensively and defensively by transforming thunder into defense, also contained a measure of the Primordial Magnet Force he had pondered over. The Golden Barrier Thunder was most adept at countering not the Spirit Gu of the old gu-master from that day, but metal magic artifacts and weapons.

Not bad. This is worth contemplating further, Lei Jun thought with interest.

As his cultivation level gradually improved, Lei Jun began preparing to attempt a breakthrough to the Fourth Layer of Heaven, the Original Talisman realm. The Yuanxin Calming Jade could help him overcome the Tribulation Crossing. Although it wasn't a direct, worry-free solution where success was guaranteed in one step, and he still needed to make further preparations, the goal was at least within reach. Thus, Lei Jun's restless little heart began to covet even more.

If he could successfully cultivate to the Original Talisman realm, it would mean a longer lifespan, stronger personal strength, and also that he could begin learning his fourth life-bound Spell. Lei Jun already had some preliminary ideas. Especially after overhearing the conversation of the Fang Siblings in the underground palace, his thoughts became even more active, because the matters they discussed were not secret.

The Thunder Law Heavenly Scripture Talismans, the most revered part of the Three Realm True Scriptures Talisman in Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Mansion, indeed could not be taught to those not surnamed Li. This was directly related to the consecutive internal strife at Dragon Tiger Mountain. Repeated turmoil, through a series of unfortunate events, led to the death or injury of all the external Elders who had cultivated the Celestial Book Talisman Script and the Ninth Heaven Thunder Ancestor Dharma.

Including the current elders of the Yellow Sky Sect, none had mastered the Celestial Book Talisman Script. The Three Realm True Scriptures Talisman itself was not transmitted through Taoist Scriptures but was recorded only in the two treasures held by the successive Celestial Masters: the Celestial Master Robe and the Celestial Master Seal. Therefore, it had now become a secret technique passed down within the Li family.

Lei Jun's master, Yuan Mobai, as well as Yao Yuan, Shangguan Ning, and from the next generation, Xu Yuanzhen—several high-merit external Elders—had not cultivated the Celestial Book Talisman Script. Tang Xiaotang, who had previously been an exception and received the Three Realm True Scriptures Talisman, had also studied the Fire Dharma Earth Script Talisman. When Lei Jun first learned of this, he began pondering the related implications.

The Five Thunder Talisman was an initial attempt. In fact, among the High-grade Spirit Talismans cultivated by the Middle Three Heavens Cultivators in the Celestial Master Mansion, one of the most famous was the Five Thunder Righteous Talisman. Lei Jun's newly created Five Thunder Talisman had not been modeled after the Five Thunder Righteous Talisman. To some extent, it was even the opposite.

Of course, if someone called his creation an "external method of the Five Thunders," that would be tantamount to a rebuke.

If I had to label them myself, they could roughly be called the Yang Five Thunder Righteous Dharma and the Yin Five Thunder Righteous Dharma, though my own version is still very rudimentary.

But with good preparation, he could gradually improve. He also had some "unorthodox" ideas waiting to be realized.

Before that, I must first bring my Altar cultivation to Perfection, and then attempt to break through to the Original Talisman realm!

Lei Jun made up his mind, but these were not matters of immediate urgency. The first and foremost issue before him was that the Celestial Master Seal had finally emerged from the water for the second time.

On this day, thunder boomed with no apparent reason above Dragon Tiger Mountain.