CHAPTER 364: 212. FOURTH-RANK OPPORTUNITY, SKY-EYE FIERY STAR_2

This generation’s Future Maitreya, though young, was exceedingly gifted and powerful—renowned throughout the Great Tang and beyond, widely recognized as the Buddhist Sect’s future arch-enemy.

About six or seven years ago, the Future Maitreya entered the world, unexpectedly suppressing the chaos at Huai Mountain stirred up by others within the White Lotus Sect; even then, he had revealed Upper Three Heavens cultivation.

Now, with his sudden arrival in the Southern Wildernes and the Zhao River Basin, Tian Linlong naturally could not ignore it.

"The Future Maitreya, huh..." Yuan Mobai, upon hearing this, was also mildly surprised.

*Lei Jun had suspected that the one called Age Star Muyao in the Celestial Book Starry Sky was very likely this Future Maitreya, but he still couldn’t be absolutely certain, nor did he know why this figure had also suddenly come to the Southern Wildernes.*

Yuan Mobai said, "Though Our Sect and the White Lotus Sect haven’t stood directly against one another, with the Southern Wildernes now in chaos, and the White Lotus Sect suddenly stepping in, the situation has grown even messier—we must stay on guard."

Lei Jun said, "Disciple will strictly follow your teachings."

As previously mentioned, though there were dissenting voices within, overall the Celestial Master Mansion currently remained steadfast allies with the Great Tang Dynasty.

The White Lotus Sect, on the other hand, was one of the Great Tang’s disasters.

With the Southern Wildernes already in turmoil due to the descendants of the Former Sui, and now the White Lotus Sect meddling as well, the Tang Imperial Court was left with even bigger headaches.

After ending his communication with Yuan Mobai, Lei Jun continued on toward Kongliu Mountain.

By the time he reached the area around Kongliu Mountain, he saw that battle there was raging fiercely—an all-out fight had reached its pinnacle.

The members of the Great Tang Shenji Army who had come to the Southern Wildernes this time were all elite troops; though their numbers were small, gathered together they were sharp and unrelenting, repeatedly smashing through the defensive lines of the Former Sui’s old remnant forces.

With Shen Qubing taking the lead, they had already fought their way into Kongliu Mountain.

Lei Jun, calm and unhurried, skillfully imbued himself with the Wind-Thunder Talisman’s Night Wind aspect, then drove spiritual power from the Teng Snake Bone, slipping silently into the mountain.

He avoided both sides of the great battle, first trying his own luck to see if the Fourth Rank Opportunity indicated by the lot had already been snapped up.

Choosing a hidden spot, Lei Jun raised the Breathing Soil Banner to shield himself, and quietly entered a meditative state.

Cycling his mana, a black and a white stream of aura drifted out from his body, wandering between the ridges.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when the Nine Abyss Earth Fire at the first level of the True One Altar seemed to pulse faintly.

At the same time, Lei Jun felt a surge of warmth from his Divine Eye Mirror Stone.

He was stirred within, pulled out the Divine Eye Mirror Stone, put away the Breathing Soil Banner’s concealment, and—quietly—surveyed the mountain with the Divine Eye Mirror Stone.

After a moment, Lei Jun’s attention settled on the rear slope of the mountain.

There, a handful of people were fleeing down the mountain’s backside.

At this point, Shen Qubing and the Tang Army’s assault only grew fiercer, unstoppable, while the Former Sui’s descendants gradually faltered and could no longer stand their ground, forced to break through and escape Kongliu Mountain.

To hinder pursuit by the Great Tang’s troops, the retreating Former Sui survivors deliberately produced spiritual objects infused with fiery essence, setting them alight.

Instantly, layer upon layer of blazing fire shot up to the heavens, rapidly sweeping over the entire rear slope.

Lei Jun now felt that burning sensation from the Divine Eye Mirror Stone growing even more intense in his palm.

He kept his composure, quietly heading toward the rear slope.

Though the fire here was fierce, it posed no real challenge for him.

Carefully inspecting the area, Lei Jun suddenly felt that beneath the towering flames and swirling heat, the scene in the sky above seemed to twist—a gigantic eye forming in the vault of heaven, staring downward, gazing upon Kongliu Mountain.

And the source of all this appeared to lie within the burning inferno on the back slope.

Following his intuition, Lei Jun finally found, amidst the raging rear slope flames, a patch of what looked like molten, liquefied mountain rock.

The rock was soft, like flowing magma, searing hot and frightening to behold.

Yet from within, Lei Jun sensed a hint of ethereal purity.

In his mind, barely conscious of it, a name surfaced,

[Sky-Eye Fiery Star]

*Lei Jun’s thoughts spun, and he suddenly caught on, enlightened:*

*So this rock at the rear of Kongliu Mountain was quite unusual, but under normal circumstances, its wondrous qualities wouldn’t show.*

*Simply burning it with fire would never have produced such a strange effect, either.*

*The spiritual object used by the Former Sui descendants to start the fire must have been extraordinary as well, and only in combination with the mountain rock at the rear slope did this fortuitous change arise, resulting in the Sky-Eye Fiery Star.*

*If he hadn’t possessed the keen senses of the Yin Yang Sacred Body, or the Divine Eye Mirror Stone in his hand, he never would have detected any of this in time.*

*People like Shen Qubing and the others were currently unaware; they only focused on breaking through the fire and chasing the fleeing Former Sui survivors.*

Lei Jun weighed the Divine Eye Mirror Stone in his hand.

*As for how exactly to use this object together with the Sky-Eye Fiery Star, he had a few ideas, but needed more experimentation. For now, time was short, so he’d first pocket the Sky-Eye Fiery Star and study it in detail later on.*

Lei Jun gave the Breathing Soil Banner a shake, instantly spawning a mass of dull yellow spirit light, which wrapped around and scooped up the magma-like Sky-Eye Fiery Star.

The blazing magma burned straight through large patches of the earthen mass conjured by the spirit light, but the Breathing Soil Banner’s light was thick and inexhaustible, and in the end successfully collected a huge portion of the Sky-Eye Fiery Star.

The flames subsided accordingly.

Some of the Great Tang troops noticed, but their focus remained on the Former Sui survivors.

By then, Lei Jun had already faded away and hidden himself again.

*This Sky-Eye Fiery Star was surely the Fourth Rank Opportunity revealed by the good lot drawn for Kongliu Mountain—now that it was safely in the bag, Lei Jun sought nothing more.*

*His original plan was simply to watch the aftermath from afar, but one of the retreating Former Sui elders unexpectedly drew his attention further.*

This person looked groggy and confused, as if their Spiritual Soul had been suppressed by an opponent.

But those who had stormed the mountain this time with Shen Qubing were all martial artists.

Martial artists’ Spiritual Souls were completely refined within their physical bodies—sturdy and resilient, hard for outside foes to harm. The flip side was that their souls were utterly internalized, and they had no techniques to directly harm an enemy’s Spiritual Soul.