CHAPTER 60: 59. EXTREMELY AUSPICIOUS THIRD STICK

"Master..."

Tang Xiaotang blinked, "Over the years, there must’ve been at least a thousand rumors about the Celestial Master Seal..."

Yuan Mobai smiled, "If the Celestial Master Seal could return to the Dragon Tiger Mountain Ancestral Court even a day sooner, it would be a good thing. A bit of running around is nothing."

Tang Xiaotang mumbled under her breath, "If it’s so valuable, then back then..."

Even she, careless as ever, chose to stop herself from finishing the thought.

Lei Jun, however, filled in the rest of the sentence for her in his mind,

...then they shouldn’t have lost it in the first place.

"The Celestial Master Seal was lost back then because..." Lei Jun probed carefully.

Tang Xiaotang, from the side, replied, "I heard it was lost because of our sect’s internal chaos, but I don’t really know the details."

She hadn’t even joined back then.

Tang Xiaotang looked at Yuan Mobai with just as much curiosity.

After a slight pause, Yuan Mobai nodded and said, "You all are starting to travel around and get some experience, so it’s good for you to know about this. You can keep an ear out for related news."

He seemed a little nostalgic, "Our sect has a long history and a deep tradition, but it’s not without its troubles."

Of the Taoist Sect’s Three Sacred Grounds, the Celestial Master Mansion on Dragon Tiger Mountain held the oldest history, with its founding predating both the Pure Yang Palace and Mount Shu, almost rivaling those prestigious clans that had been passing down their lineages for ten thousand generations.

Even among the Buddhist Sect’s Four Sacred Grounds, only Bodhi Temple matched up in terms of age, while the other three, founded much later, were considered juniors compared to the Celestial Master Mansion.

For thousands of generations, the Celestial Master Mansion flourished without decline, its roots deep and strong, yet today it lagged behind the Confucian Sect, now the most prominent school, for many reasons.

One reason that couldn’t be ignored was the repeated setbacks within the Celestial Master Mansion itself, which wounded its very foundation several times.

"Every family deals with outside threats."

Yuan Mobai said, "But our sect has seen... multiple episodes of internal turmoil."

"The first time, thousands of years ago, began when a few of our Grandmasters disagreed over how to reform the Taoist Laws. It was so long ago, there’s no need to dwell on it."

Lei Jun nodded.

When he had just joined Yuan Mobai through the Transcension Ritual, his master had mentioned it in passing.

Back in the early days, all the Celestial Master Mansion’s talisman scriptures and divine skills were reported to the Heavenly Registry and received with orders from past Grandmasters to manifest their power.

Later, it switched to directly connecting with global Spiritual Qi and borrowing the power naturally.

*Clearly, that transition wasn’t smooth, but accompanied by severe internal strife.*

*Even outright division.*

Because of this, the Taoist Talisman Sect, or the Celestial Master Mansion on Dragon Tiger Mountain, suffered its first major blow to its foundation.

"The second time—well, plenty in the mansion know about it, but most people avoid talking about it."

Yuan Mobai continued, "Several consecutive Celestial Masters came from the Li Clan."

To be precise, up to the current Celestial Master, there had been four in a row from the Li family.

Although four in total, it spanned just three generations.

"The first Li, the Celestial Master, was my Grandmaster," Yuan Mobai explained, "Praised not just for his personal cultivation, but for his exceptional leadership of our sect."

This was the grandfather of the current Celestial Master, Li Qingfeng.

The start of the Li Clan’s continuous control over the Celestial Master Mansion.

At the time, the best and brightest were chosen among their peers—the first Li Celestial Master truly won universal respect.

And it wasn’t just the Li Clan; other masters in the Mansion were also exceptionally skilled. It was one of the most glorious periods in the Mansion’s history, easily matching top families like the Jiangzhou Lin Clan.

Though the Mansion suffered losses in its clashes with the Lin Clan, the Lin Clan also paid dearly—the conflict not only stalled their growth but even made them weaker.

Even now, the Jiangzhou Lin Clan was slipping to the bottom among the Five Clans and Seven Families, and their decline was directly related.

Yet no one realized a new era within the Mansion was quietly beginning.

"When Grandmaster passed, the next Celestial Master wasn’t my own master, but my senior uncle."

Yuan Mobai went on, "They were brothers—both children of our Grandmaster."

To be exact, the first Li Celestial Master had three sons—the youngest was Supreme Elder Li Song, now the Mansion’s most senior elder.

Back then, he was the youngest of the three brothers.

Yuan Mobai said, "Fairly speaking, both my senior uncle and my own master were also the brightest of their peers. Even if my senior uncle hadn’t taken over, it would’ve been my master."

So from the first Li Celestial Master to the second, it was father to son, but the rest of the mansion accepted it without issue.

But the seeds of discontent began to take root.

"This was the beginning of chaos."

The last traces of a smile vanished from Yuan Mobai’s face as he said quietly, "With careful guidance, my senior uncle’s son, Li Cangting, emerged as a prodigy—young, but incredibly gifted... my senior uncle hoped to pass the Celestial Master’s position to him in the future."

The second Li Celestial Master’s son, Li Cangting.

But...

"That name sounds unfamiliar. I’ve never heard it before." Lei Jun and Tang Xiaotang exchanged glances.

Yuan Mobai didn’t elaborate, but simply continued, "But my senior uncle’s desire to have Cangting succeed him, finally stirred up unrest."

As it became obvious the Celestial Master’s seat in the Li Family was starting to go from father to son—and now to grandson—the mansion’s other leading members saw signs of hereditary succession, and their mounting dissatisfaction suddenly erupted.

And so came the second great internal crisis in the Celestial Master Mansion.

A crowd of elders and high-level figures came together, challenging the second Li Celestial Master, trying to put a stop to the Li Clan’s continuous control over the Mansion.

There were some little details behind it all.

From a merit-based perspective, the consecutive Li Celestial Masters really were the standouts among their peers—or at least among the very best.