Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion
Chapter 346: Difficulties and Improvements of Magical Powers and Spells

After reading the three omens, Lei Jun had a general idea in mind.

The difference between an Upper-Moderate Omen and a Moderate-Moderate Omen lay primarily in the timing. When Fang Yue ventured to the Dongyang Branch Mansion—a Minor Grotto Heaven—it likely wasn’t during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so his gains were limited. But come Mid-Autumn each year, the place might undergo additional changes.

That said, considering Fang Yue had cultivated the Eighth Heaven of Confucian Recitation, a realm of divine inspiration stronger than typical soul-based communication and perception arts, the fact that the mysteries of the Dongyang Branch Mansion could evade his senses meant it was truly extraordinary.

“The Han Dynasty… I'm interested. No need to add anything else. Just for this, I’m willing to trade for it with a Six-Yang Essence,” said Lei Jun.

Fang Yue replied, “Many thanks, my lord. There’s something I must tell you beforehand. In order to access the Dongyang Branch Mansion through this spiritual item, it needs to be activated with Confucian Righteous Qi. I’m not certain if other cultivation methods would work. If it’s inconvenient for you to activate it, feel free to contact me again.”

Lei Jun nodded. “Understood. That’s very thoughtful of you.”

“In that case,” Fang Yue said, “let’s pick a place. I’ll hand you the spiritual item called the Dongyang Jade Pendant.”

The two agreed on a location and completed the exchange—Lei Jun received the Dongyang Jade Pendant, while Fang Yue took the Six-Yang Essence.

With time still remaining before the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, Lei Jun didn’t plan to make an early trip. He remained on Mount Longhu, everything as usual.

Before leaving the mountain, Xu Yuanzhen and Tang Xiaotang had already used the Dark Dust formed from Mysterious One Qi to refine the Cold Flame Soul.

Now, as Lei Jun continued to expand his Divine Court Manifestation, he could directly refine the Cold Flame Soul as well, building upon the foundation laid by the Fog of Forgetting River, further enhancing his soul.

What once seemed like a flame that could freeze and shatter the soul no longer carried intense heat, nor was it cold enough to pierce to the core.

Lei Jun’s soul separated from his physical body, floating above it.

The formless flame now looked even more ethereal as it attached itself to his soul.

His soul appeared to burn along with it.

As time passed, his soul seemed to become even more immaterial, until the illusory cold flame finally extinguished.

At that moment, Lei Jun’s soul reappeared, vivid and lifelike, almost solid—bearing resemblance to a Yang Spirit formed when a Golden Core Daoist from the Alchemy Sect projected their Nascent Soul outside their body.

Slowly, his soul descended back into his body.

“Very effective,” Lei Jun nodded slightly in satisfaction.

He focused quietly.

His perception of the outside world remained sharp, and now, his soul was even more resilient, harder to exploit by enemies.

Lei Jun composed himself and resumed cultivation.

Until the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival finally arrived.

Lei Jun didn’t descend the mountain.

After privately informing Yuan Mobai, Wang Guiyuan, and Chu Kun, he sat alone in a quiet room.

In his hand, he held a jade pendant carved with the image of the rising sun.

He first nurtured the pendant using his own mana.

A flicker of light seemed to pass across the jade, but nothing further happened.

Lei Jun remained calm and took out his Haoran Mystic Jade.

Through it, his Daoist mana was transformed into surging Confucian Righteous Qi.

Bathed in this vast, awe-inspiring energy, the Dongyang Jade Pendant finally began to change.

A gentle yet radiant glow lit up its surface, like the break of dawn.

Then, as if the sun truly rose, the light grew brighter and more intense.

Light expanded, and before Lei Jun, a Void Gateway appeared.

He stepped through it.

The light was no longer as dazzling as before, like staring at the sun. It dimmed.

What he saw ahead was a scenic landscape—mountains and rivers, and among them, a courtyard. The plaque above its gate read “Dongyang”.

Sensing no one around, he entered the dwelling.

Just as Fang Yue had said, there wasn’t much of use here.

Still, it was evident the place wasn’t that ancient.

Scattered fragments of useful information suggested that the owner once lived in a realm ruled by the Han Dynasty.

But no further clues remained.

Though the courtyard was steeped in scholarly aura, there were no books left behind, frustrating both Fang Yue and Lei Jun’s attempts to study its history.

The place indeed felt like someone’s temporary resting stop.

During his tour, Lei Jun vaguely sensed something unusual but couldn’t quite grasp it.

He waited patiently, quietly observing while keeping time in mind.

Outside the Minor Grotto Heaven, in the real world of the Tang Dynasty, it should now be nighttime with the full moon rising.

Suddenly, the realm around him transformed from daylight to night.

As if one extreme gave way to another—sunlight turned to moonlight.

This realm, typically lit by perpetual daylight, now welcomed the Mid-Autumn moon.

It felt as if it shared the same full moon with the human world.

Sensing something, Lei Jun looked far into the distance.

There, amid distant mountains, an ocean faintly appeared.

And rising from the ocean—another full moon.

This world’s void now appeared split in two.

On one side, mountain dwellings; on the other, swelling tides.

Then, he heard a long, melodic chant drift through the air:

“The moon rises above the sea, and all under heaven share this moment.”

The moon rising from the sea merged with the one already hanging over the Dongyang Branch Mansion.

The two once-separated realms fused into one.

Lei Jun could sense it clearly—as if two worlds were layered upon each other.

“‘The moon rises above the sea, and all under heaven share this moment,’ huh…” he repeated with a laugh.

Turning to the side, he noted the two worlds were now truly one, united under the same full moon on this festival of reunion.

More objects now appeared in the courtyard than before.

Most eye-catching was a tomb.

Its owner was gone.

This was a burial site prepared by the master of the Dongyang Branch Mansion before their death.

No wonder Lei Jun had been unable to find any gateway between this Minor Grotto Heaven and the Han Dynasty world.

In the end, the path had opened through the Tang Dynasty realm—a place that had never connected with it before.

Based on what was known, the Dongyang Jade Pendant had been influenced by fluctuations in spiritual energy across the world, drifting into the Tang Dynasty realm and eventually falling into Fang Yue’s hands.

Lei Jun stood before the grave. Though he didn’t know the person, he offered a Daoist bow out of respect.

There was no headstone, but after a further search, some writings and paintings appeared.

“Wang Xu, courtesy name Minghao, styled himself as the Recluse of Dongyang Mountain…”

Lei Jun nodded slightly.

The name had never appeared in the Tang Dynasty’s history.

Within the Upper-Moderate Omen was a Third-Grade Opportunity—Lei Jun found it:

A grand bow, named Rising Sun Bow.

Of all the Confucian divine archery bows Lei Jun had encountered, this was the finest—superior to those used by Ye Morong of Cangzhou, Lin Yuwei of the Southern Lin Clan, and even Chu Yu.

However, its value was tailored for Confucian archers, and though excellent, it only counted as a Third-Grade Opportunity for Lei Jun.

Next to the bow was a casual note:

“To whoever finds this, may fortune favor you.”

Lei Jun couldn’t help but smile at that.

He ran his finger along the bow’s surface, thoughts stirring.

Since the Void Gateway would only align once a year, taking the bow was not practical. He temporarily stored it away.

He bowed once more to the grave: “Thank you, Mister Wang.”

As Mid-Autumn night faded…

On the sixteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the realm changed again.

The once-unified worlds separated once more.

Part of it vanished without a trace; what remained returned to its quiet, mundane state.

“To preserve such profound meaning of state and self even after death… This is far beyond the realm of an Eighth-Heaven Confucian Scholar,” Lei Jun mused, lost in thought.

The journey to Dongyang revealed that Wang Xu (Minghao) was far from ordinary.

Lei Jun used the Dongyang Jade Pendant to return to the Tang Dynasty.

He kept quiet, storing away both the Rising Sun Bow and the Dongyang Jade Pendant.

In the days that followed, Tianshi Lei resumed his usual routine—cultivating and mentoring the disciples within the Mansion.

During his spare time, Lei Jun turned his attention toward artifact refinement.

As his personal cultivation advanced, the magnetic force generated by his techniques grew significantly stronger.

As a result, his magnetic flying swords became vastly more powerful in actual combat.

But this also introduced a new problem.

Aside from the Seven-Star Sword, most of his other artifact-level weapons, including the Profound Gold Sword Pellets, were beginning to crack under the immense magnetic force.

To make them more durable, he'd need to slow them down—effectively weakening them.

That, of course, made them less effective against high-level foes.

What Lei Jun needed now was more durable ammunition, suited for real combat at his current strength level.

Alternatively, he could develop new mystical techniques.

He still hadn’t used the Heavenfall Meteorite or the Divine Firmament Flowing Gold, intending instead to reserve those materials for other specialized projects.

As for the Seven-Star Sword, Lei Jun had begun formulating advanced plans for it.

Once he reached the Ninth Heaven Realm, he intended to reforge the treasure into something worthy of that level.

The Tianshu’s Dark Side had also begun showing similar limitations.

It had long served him well, erasing traces and evidence left behind in his battles and operations—especially useful when he killed people like Ding Chuan, An Zhiyu, and Li Yuanyuan in Nanzhao.

But before that, after the Snowy Mountains battle in Western Sichuan, he’d tried to use it to erase Huang Xuanpu’s residual traces—only to find it far more difficult than usual.

This, despite the fact that Huang Xuanpu had already been severely wounded in that battle.

It seemed the Tianshu’s Dark Side had limits as well.

Lei Jun wasn’t surprised. After all, the Tianshu’s Dark Side had originally been labeled a Second-Grade Opportunity, so some limitations were expected.

Still, it had done its job—most people connected to Huang Xuanpu had already been sent to the afterlife in advance.

The traces it left behind weren’t easily detectable anyway.

What’s more, the White Emperor of the West from the Great Ming Dynasty had never truly been an ally of Huang Xuanpu.

In fact, it was ironically amusing—Huang Xuanpu had been secretly wary of the very Ming cultivator he pretended to align with and had even set traps.

When Huang Xuanpu’s identity was exposed and he had to flee the Tang Dynasty in haste, he didn’t have time to return to the Pure Yang Palace, inadvertently leaving behind critical clues.

One such clue was his self-proclaimed imperial title: White Emperor of the West.

But now, through evidence gathered by Xue Xingzi and Shang Nan, it was clear that Huang Xuanpu’s true title had been the Black Emperor of the North.

He had deliberately misled the Tang court.

In the end, he was still executed.

The Tianshu’s Dark Side struggled to erase his traces not because of its failure, but because of the intricacy of the deception.

Lei Jun wasn’t dissatisfied—he simply began thinking about how he’d handle similar situations in the future.

While pondering the Tianshu’s capabilities, Lei Jun suddenly noticed that the Dark Luminary Rahu, one of the avatars within the Dark Universe of the Tianshu, had made new movements.

Currently, Kang Ming and his group were in the Northern Frontier.

They were on the run.

Although they’d captured Han Wuyou, the Tang court was relentless in their pursuit.

With no Ancestral Altar to anchor them, the remaining Yellow Heaven Sect disciples were teetering on the edge, despair growing by the day.

Still, Kang Ming hadn’t come to the Northern Frontier for nothing.

According to Lei Jun’s latest intel, Kang Ming had fulfilled a long-cherished wish.

Although their current location was still some distance away from where Fang Yue had originally obtained the Dongyang Jade Pendant, Kang Ming had his own unique fortune.

He found another spiritual treasure, one that had drifted out of the Dongyang Recluse Wang Xu’s grave following changes in the Void Realm.

Unlike the Dongyang Jade Pendant, this new artifact didn’t point to Wang Xu’s final resting place—it led to a broader realm.

It might even offer a way out of the Tang realm altogether.

The Void Gateway it opened was extremely unstable, liable to collapse at any moment.

But given the Yellow Heaven Sect’s current crisis, they had no better options.

Kang Ming, Chen Ziyang, and the rest would have to risk it all—a desperate move from a place of utter defeat.

“Could it be… the Han Dynasty realm?” Lei Jun wondered, but didn’t interfere.

Whether they would forge a new path or perish, it was up to them now.

He remained composed, continuing his cultivation atop Mount Longhu, quietly overseeing the larger situation.

With the fall of the Yellow Heaven Sect, the Tianshi Mansion had one less burden.

Time passed—autumn gave way to winter.

In the mountains, the years slipped by unnoticed.

Lei Jun was approaching sixty-two years old.

During this time, Tang Xiaotang finished her visit to the Shushan Sect and traveled southward to rendezvous with Tang Dynasty cultivators and Southern Wasteland Witch Sect disciples.

Together, they worked on sealing the Void Gateway that linked the mortal realm to the Earth-Sea.

War broke out between Tang cultivators and the Nine Li tribesmen.

Rumor had it, Former Tianshi Tang Zhenren, even without the Three Treasures of the Tianshi, fought so fiercely that no one could withstand her.

Thanks to her assault, the Tang cultivators were able to smoothly proceed with the sealing rituals.

The long-standing Nine Li Earth-Sea incident, which had plagued the mortal world for some time, was finally brought to a temporary halt.

As for Lei Jun, he spoke with Yuan Mobai:

He intended to enter seclusion for focused cultivation.

With the help of the Grand Cosmos Stone and various other spiritual items within the Mansion, Tianshi Lei’s cultivation was approaching a critical juncture.

The time had come.

It was now possible for him to attempt the leap from the Divine Court Manifestation to the Divine Court Projection.