CHAPTER 62: 60.PRELUDE TO GREAT CHAOS

Chaos approached, the rivers surged and the seas boiled...

Lei Jun looked at the new lot he had drawn, and the first thought that came to his mind was to link all of this to the recent reappearance of the Current Celestial Master.

The second thought was,

The third best lot!

A third-rank opportunity!

Then the thoughts that followed were,

This time, there were two moderately unlucky lots...

Lei Jun gathered his wandering thoughts.

*Ever since the Celestial Master had delayed coming out of seclusion and then went back in, only to finally reappear now, did this really mean that the Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Mansion was about to face chaos once again?*

*The fate of the Current Celestial Master was undoubtedly tied closely to Longhu Mountain.*

*Previously, with the Celestial Master in seclusion, tensions between Longhu Mountain and the Jiangzhou Lin Clan had already reached a boiling point.*

*Now, with the Celestial Master reemerging, did that mean a great battle was truly about to start?*

*What fate would await the Celestial Master personally?*

*What about the rest of the Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Mansion?*

Lei Jun thought back to reading novels on Blue Star before he transmigrated.

The moment the protagonist entered a sect, something big usually happened, setting up the stage for the protagonist’s next steps.

The protagonist might single-handedly turn the tide, or perhaps the sect would be wiped out and the protagonist would go on the run, waiting for a future chance at revenge or rebuilding.

*Was Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Mansion about to play out the same script?*

*Lei Jun told himself he really was not interested in performing on a stage like that right now...*

Alright, the only reason he could afford to get sidetracked with these stray thoughts was thanks to the content of his lot:

[A moderately unlucky lot, return to Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Mansion, thrown into the eye of the storm, experts will clash, the rest will suffer, danger is unpredictable, every step is perilous, ominous.]

*Since it wasn’t the worst lot, that meant things hadn’t taken an irreversible turn, at least not yet.*

*But there could still be danger.*

*Who knew who might lose their life in the coming chaos?*

"Master, this disciple does not intend to return to Longhu Mountain for now. I want to visit Mount Tianxu to seek out the rare spiritual objects needed to improve talisman skill," Lei Jun replied to Yuan Mobai.

Yuan Mobai smiled and nodded, "Mm, Senior Brother Tu, Sect Leader of Tianxu Sect, is an old friend of mine. I’ll write him a letter—he’ll arrange for you to stay and cultivate at Mount Tianxu for a while."

Lei Jun took a deep breath, "Master, will Sect Leader Master come out of seclusion in a rush again this time, like last time?"

Yuan Mobai turned his head to look at him in response.

Lei Jun said, "Last time, Sect Leader Master delayed coming out of seclusion, and when he finally did, he soon went back in again. Master, you and Senior Sister both seemed worried..."

*Even without bringing up the matter of the lots, he believed his master must have thoughts or a premonition about the Celestial Master’s reappearance.*

*Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked Lei Jun’s own opinion about returning to Longhu Mountain.*

Yuan Mobai felt his disciple’s concern, and his smile grew a bit warmer, "I trust Sect Leader Senior Brother to handle things well, and I’ll also do my part to help."

As for Tang Xiaotang, even if knives were falling from the sky, she would still rush back to try and stop the Current Celestial Master.

On the other hand, if chaos really did break out, she might actually be excited.

Lei Jun had told her stories where these kinds of grand scenes were exactly the sort of stage prepared for the protagonist...

To be honest, he was now a little bit regretting telling her about all those novel plotlines... Lei Jun held his forehead in his hand.

But given Tang Xiaotang’s show-off, flamboyant personality, if chaos was really coming, it was unthinkable for anyone to be absent—except her.

He chose to have faith in his little senior sister’s cultivation strength for now.

After all, she had gotten where she was now, never because of her brains...

Her sense for kindness and malice was abnormally sharp, so there wasn’t much need to worry about her being tricked.

*Probably...?*

Lei Jun, alongside his master Yuan Mobai, went to bid farewell to Lu Zhaoqing of Qingxiao Temple, and then to the Sect Leader of the Purple Cloud Sect.

Before departing, Yuan Mobai had a brief private meeting with the Purple Cloud Sect Leader.

Lei Jun believed his master was warning the other party to be on guard against the Lin Clan’s coming counterattack.

*But with such great news as the Celestial Master’s return, who could say how much effect that warning would really have?*

Leaving the Yunxiao Mountain Range, Yuan Mobai returned to Longhu Mountain.

Lei Jun headed out for Mount Tianxu on his own.

Arriving at Mount Tianxu and Tianxu Sect went very smoothly, where he met with Sect Leader Tu Guangyu.

Tu Guangyu had already received Yuan Mobai’s letter, so he spoke kindly to Lei Jun, arranged for him to stay, and ordered the disciples of Tianxu Sect to fetch some of the sect’s treasured spiritual objects with affinity to earth and stone for Lei Jun.

Lei Jun expressed his thanks, then carefully studied these spiritual objects.

The items were excellent.

Because of Yuan Mobai’s reputation, Tu Guangyu was not about to hold back any good stuff.

But still, none of it particularly satisfied Lei Jun—at best, these could only serve as backups.

He began to look forward to the third-rank opportunity mentioned in the best lot he drew.

The area around Mount Tianxu was full of rich earth and stone Spiritual Energy, so most treasures found here were related to earth, stone, and flora.

Maybe this third-rank opportunity was related to that.

But according to the lot’s instructions, he had to quietly await the right moment.

Lei Jun did not know what that right moment referred to.

All he could do for now was visit Jiuzhou Ridge every now and again, searching as he went and familiarizing himself with the environment.

Jiuzhou Ridge was a range within Mount Tianxu, surrounded by nine peaks clustered together, so from a bird’s eye view it resembled the ancient nine-province map of this world’s geography, hence its name.

There was a major river here called Tianxu River, and Jiuzhou Ridge was its source.

Between the ridges, around the valleys, the climate was humid and the vegetation lush.

After growing familiar with the terrain at Jiuzhou Ridge, Lei Jun did not discover anything special, so he stopped going there to avoid attracting attention.

While staying at Tianxu Sect, Lei Jun did not neglect his own progress; every day he devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.

Even though he had been away from Celestial Master Mansion for a long time, he had no worries about running out of cultivation resources.

The Cosmic Coordinate Box given to him by Chu Yu was accepted by Yuan Mobai, Lei Jun got one, and the other two were brought back to Longhu Mountain, including one for Wang Guiyuan.

Though the brocade box looked small, it hid a universe inside. Once Lei Jun opened it, the space inside resembled a mini Cave Heaven, at least as large as a courtyard house.

Dragon Saliva, Frost Flower Jade Tree, Qinghua Powder, Celestial Phenomenon Stone... the courtyard was filled with a dazzling array of spiritual objects and cultivation resources.

Even with everything he had seen in two years at Celestial Master Mansion, Lei Jun was overwhelmed by the variety here.

The boxes for him and Wang Guiyuan were the same model, but Yuan Mobai’s set had extra bonuses added.

But Yuan Mobai himself did not care—he accepted the box as a token gift, a symbol that Chu Kun was officially being brought into the Tao, and as for the gifts inside, once Lei Jun and his fellow disciples reached higher cultivation, they would be shared out among them as appropriate.

"Now that’s what you call a loaded family, throwing money around like it can knock someone out," Lei Jun shook his head and laughed.

All he could say was, Confucian Studies truly deserved to be the number one scholarly school of the present age.

The Five Clans and Seven Families definitely lived up to their name as the leading families ruling under the imperial family.

Even though the Celestial Master Mansion had the deep heritage of the Tao, after repeated blows to its Primordial Qi, its current power and wealth were starting to look a bit meager in comparison.

With this haul of spiritual objects, Lei Jun’s cultivation progress would not be delayed even if he was not at Longhu Mountain.

His progress in realm only made him more eager for greater heights, not complacent at all.

Previously, thanks to merging four types of spiritual objects, he not only upgraded his own comprehension, but also built his Law Platform to the second layer.

Generally speaking, when a Talisman Sect cultivator reached Law Platform First Layer, they could make medium-grade Basic Spirit Talismans.

At Law Platform Second Layer, they could draw their Life-bound Talisman as a top-grade Basic Spirit Talisman, but all their other basic talismans would remain medium-grade.

You had to reach Law Platform Third Layer for all your Basic Spirit Talismans to reach the top-grade level.

Thanks to the Vermilion Peak Pen, Lei Jun had been able to produce top-grade versions of Life-bound Divine Strike and Wind Riding even at Law Platform First Layer.

Now that he had reached Law Platform Second Layer, with the Vermilion Peak Pen in hand, he had a good chance to draw not only Life-bound Talismans but also other basic talismans as top-grade.

This made Lei Jun eagerly look forward to reaching the third layer of his Law Platform as soon as possible—in other words, Law Platform Perfection.

But as the saying went, bad omens always came true.

Tianxu Sect was an affiliate branch of Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Mansion, with its own channels for news.

One day, terrible news arrived,

The newly emerged Current Celestial Master Li Qingfeng, while facing off against the Jiangzhou Lin Clan Chief, suddenly fell ill.