Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion -
Chapter 404: Tang Xiaotang's New Fun
Although the Jiuli people practiced the Witch Sect's legacy, most of them were physically strong.
Even though Li Ying was a woman, she was tall and powerfully built, her form radiating strength.
Since arriving in this world, this was the first time Lei Jun had seen a woman taller than Tang Xiaotang—only about an inch or two shorter than him and Shen Qubing.
As far as he knew, she followed the Cursing Lineage of the Witch Sect.
But despite being blessed with all kinds of curses and spells, she was said to favor close combat in real battles—a stark contrast to the Reincarnation Abyss cultivators of the mortal Witch Sect.
Back when Li Yuanheng and Li Zhongding fought over control of the Land of the Deep Sea, the Wu Li Tribe had been allies of Li Yuanheng’s Tan Li Tribe.
Previously, the Tan Li, Wu Li, and two other tribes had jointly fought off the demonic beasts of Luoyuan.
Later, an attack from Li Zhongding and several other tribes caused heavy losses to the Tan Li and Wu Li.
Not only was Li Yuanheng injured, but the Wu Li’s old chieftain—Li Ying’s father—also perished after being caught between Li Zhongding and the Luoyuan demons.
After his death, Li Ying succeeded him as the new chieftain of the Wu Li Tribe.
At first, she still supported Li Yuanheng on behalf of the Wu Li Tribe.
But when she witnessed Li Yuanheng reopening the Land of the Deep Sea’s gateway to Luoyuan—intentionally unleashing demonic chaos to cover his escape—her disillusionment was immense.
Ironically, it was Lei Jun, a mortal Xuanyuan clansman, who slew the Corpse Flea King and Li Zhongding, bringing her some measure of peace when remembering her late father and fallen kin.
Still, because of the long-standing conflict between the Jiuli and the Xuanyuan people, Li Ying couldn’t help showing a cautious attitude when meeting Lei Jun with Shen Qubing.
Lei Jun, however, remained calm. “Laywoman Li.”
Compared to mortal cultivators, Li Ying’s emotions were more visible on her face when her mind was troubled.
Nonetheless, she composed herself and, following Witch Sect custom, saluted him. “Tianshi Lei.”
Lei Jun gave a small nod, avoiding any mention of the Jiuli’s ancient hostilities with the mortal realm. He simply said,
“I have a few questions I hope to resolve here in the Land of the Deep Sea. As for the rest, perhaps Laywoman can speak later with General Shen or Fellow Daoist Li Tianqing of the Blood River Sect.”
Li Ying was mildly surprised but caught his implication.
This Tianshi of the Talismanic Branch from Mount Longhu didn’t seem particularly aggressive or expansionist.
But he clearly minded the presence of people who had once held hostility toward him or the mortal world.
“What is it that Tianshi Lei wishes to ask?” Li Ying, though still wary, asked straightforwardly.
Lei Jun replied, “The current nine Jiuli clans—Tan, Ju, Lu, Wen, Wu, Po, Guang, Fu, and Bi—have they existed under these names since ancient times?”
Both Shen Qubing and Li Ying froze for a moment.
“Celestial bodies may endure, but their names may emerge at different times,” Lei Jun said. “As far as I know, this set of nine stars being named together doesn’t seem to date back to antiquity.”
“So, when did the Jiuli begin using these nine designations?”
Li Ying’s expression grew more serious. After a brief moment of thought, she answered,
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure when it began, but it certainly wasn’t from ancient times. It should have been within the past few thousand years.
Not even my grandparents or parents knew the exact details—it’s an old story, but not that old.”
Li Ying replied frankly, “That’s true. The Tan Li have always been our largest and strongest clan.
Though not always formally leading, they’ve usually been at the forefront.”
“Thank you, Laywoman Li, for clearing that up,” Lei Jun said politely.
He took his leave from Shen Qubing and Li Ying and went off on his own.
Due to previous large-scale battles, he couldn’t always recognize every location in the Deep Sea, but he knew the direction of the Tan Li ancestral grounds.
Li Ying guessed where he was going, but said nothing.
A Tang Dynasty Divine Strategy Army soldier approached Shen Qubing and reported.
Glancing at Li Ying, Shen Qubing asked, “Is this about Elder Li of the Blood River Sect and Li Bin of the Ju Li Tribe?”
“Yes,” the soldier replied.
“Then speak plainly.”
The soldier immediately reported, “General, Elder Li of the Southern Wasteland’s Blood River Sect has slain Li Bin of the Ju Li Tribe.”
Li Ying took a deep breath.
Back then, it was Li Bin who colluded with the Corpse Flea King and used Li Zhongding’s corpse to launch a surprise attack on the Tan Li and Wu Li Tribes during the Luoyuan demon invasion—resulting in her father’s death.
Had she not come to meet Lei Jun, she’d have gone to see Li Tianqing about Li Bin herself.
“Where is Elder Li now?” Shen Qubing asked.
The soldier answered, “We don’t know his exact whereabouts, but rumor has it he’s gone to find Li De, the chieftain of the Bi Li Tribe.”
Shen Qubing gave a subtle nod.
He was now on familiar terms with Wen Xi, the leader of the Sacred Ground of the Divine Dance Lineage, Gepo Mountain, in the Southern Wasteland.
He had once heard her mention that the destruction of their ancestral ground and the death of the former Holy Master Sang Lu were caused by the Po Li and Bi Li Tribes.
Not only did Gepo Mountain hold a grudge, but so did Li Tianqing.
Years ago, he missed his chance to enter the Deep Sea due to the mission to slay the Nine-Winged Golden Centipede.
He wouldn't miss this opportunity again.
Li Ying stood silently, gazing out at the dim Deep Sea.
With the deaths of the Corpse Flea King and Li Bin, and Li Yuanheng’s escape, even the Luoyuan demon had been repelled.
This calamity in the Deep Sea had finally drawn to a close.
But for the Jiuli, the damage was far beyond mere depletion of resources.
What path lay ahead for the Deep Sea remained uncertain.
With the Tan Li Tribe also having retreated from the Land of the Deep Sea into this mortal realm under Li Yuanheng's command, it wasn’t just a fire breaking out in the Golden Khanate’s backyard—it was a raging inferno.
No matter how unwilling they were, they had no choice but to send top experts south to stabilize the situation.
According to Tang Xiaotang, Zongjia, Lord of the Lotus Division, had come this time bringing more of his sect’s foundations than even Jialuotuo, Lord of the Vajra Division, had before.
Of the three great treasures of the Sumeru Lotus Division, aside from the Prajñāpāramitā Bodhisattva Mother Diagram, the other two—the Solid Gold Vajra Pestle and the Amitābha Peacock Throne—were all in Zongjia’s possession, his combat strength at its peak.
Even so, Zongjia couldn’t guarantee he could suppress powerhouses like Lei Jun, Tang Xiaotang, Li Yuanheng, Li Hang, and Zhu Junjie all at once.
His primary mission was to stabilize the chaos, not escalate the conflict.
Fortunately, those top-tier experts weren’t all on the same side—some were even enemies.
Among the five divisions of the Sumeru Vajra Realm, the Lotus Division had always prioritized spiritual cultivation and insight.
Zongjia didn’t force a direct confrontation with Tang Xiaotang and the others.
Still, his presence—being a Nine Heavens-level Buddhist Master with a perfected Dharma Body—did disrupt Tang Xiaotang’s plans, delaying her pursuit of Li Yuanheng.
Normally, Tang Xiaotang would’ve exploded in anger.
This time, she was itching to stuff Zongjia’s head into a lotus seed pod.
But other matters had caught her attention.
As the saying goes, “lost in the east, gained in the west.”
Losing the trail of Li Yuanheng, Tang Xiaotang unexpectedly stumbled upon another opportunity.
“A former Pure Yang Palace elder’s hidden estate from the Song Dynasty?”
In the Deep Sea, at the ruins of the Tan Li ancestral ground, Lei Jun was sorting through swirling spirit smoke from his talismans while chatting with Tang Xiaotang.
She was carrying one of his Heaven-Eyes-and-Ears Talismans, allowing Lei Jun’s Celestial Sight and Earthly Hearing Canon to link their senses so he could see and talk to her remotely.
“It’s more than just an old residence,” Tang Xiaotang said cheerfully. “I went through it, and I think I can pull off something like how you impersonated Elder Chen of Shushan.”
“...”
Lei Jun was speechless.
He still remembered when he had taken down Fu Dongsen, the former Sect Leader of the Tang Dynasty’s Shushan Sect, disguised as Chen Donglou.
Back then, Tang Xiaotang had been thoroughly amused and declared she wanted a disguise of her own.
But knowing her personality, Lei Jun found it hard to imagine her impersonating someone convincingly for long.
“Hmm... Senior Sister, the key is contrast.
If your new identity acts just like you do, it’s way too easy to get exposed,” Lei Jun said.
“More importantly, you have to match their original temperament and style.”
“Got it! I’ll give it a shot!” she replied, clearly excited.
Imitating the cultivation of a Pure Yang Palace True Disciple wasn’t even that hard for her.
Her aptitude had evolved into the Primordial Dao Body, yet she retained her Pure Yang roots.
She wielded Pure Yang True Flame with ease, her body and fate-bound techniques were exceptionally strong, and her spiritual defenses were second to none thanks to her powerful Great Ascension Realm Dao Domain.
Lei Jun could only wonder what expressions Lu Jinduan, Wang Xuan, and others from the Pure Yang Palace would have if they found out.
“I’ll keep refining the act,” Tang Xiaotang said, sounding like she was growing attached to her new role.
To the rest of the Golden Khanate’s mortal realm, Tang Xiaotang had vanished.
Some people breathed a sigh of relief.
Others grew even more uneasy.
Back in the Deep Sea, Lei Jun, through the linked talisman, now saw what Tang Xiaotang was seeing:
a middle-aged Daoist, wearing a black outer robe and white inner garment, with a Daoist headscarf, looking every bit like an immortal in mortal form—except he suddenly couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.
“Zheng Chen—by seniority, Li Hang should be calling me Martial Uncle!” Tang Xiaotang guffawed.
Lei Jun replied, “Elder Zheng, this poor Daoist is Lei Jun of Mount Longhu.”
In character, Tang Xiaotang—now disguised as Zheng Chen—bowed slightly and said, “Before the Tianshi of Mount Longhu, this poor Daoist pays respect.”
As much as she wanted to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with Nephew Li Hang, she ultimately decided to try tracking Li Yuanheng again first.
To their surprise, the once-mighty Golden Khanate had indeed hit a streak of misfortune.
Just as Zongjia had finally arrived to clean up, trouble came one after another.
Tang Xiaotang disappeared. Before Zongjia could even breathe easy, a new void gateway opened in the southwest.
The Yellow Springs, one of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, which had been sealed due to the Wangchuan surge and the Whitebone Divine Ark, descended into the world again.
Its gateway to the Tang Dynasty’s mortal realm remained shut tight,
but its connection to the Golden Khanate’s mortal realm had reopened.
The Shushan Sect of the Yellow Springs didn’t invade wholesale,
but Zongjia faintly sensed that a top-tier cultivator from the Yellow Springs had arrived.
That level of mastery likely meant the Sect Leader Ji Yao himself had come.
He would obviously be more familiar with this realm than the Tang side.
To make matters worse, even the Guixu, another of the Ten Earths, suddenly established a connection to the Khanate's realm.
Unlike the Ming Dynasty, for this realm, it was the first time Guixu had ever opened a gate.
But the result was the same—demons ran rampant.
Zongjia hadn’t anticipated the fire spreading so wildly while he was still trying to put it out.
And yet, the Golden Khan himself remained absent, a fact which made those paying attention even more uneasy.
Inside the Deep Sea, Lei Jun, though surprised by the flurry of developments in the Golden Khanate’s mortal realm, remained focused, maintaining his own cultivation pace.
Aside from reminding Tang Xiaotang to be extra cautious, Lei Jun spent the following days studying the spirit smoke still burning on his talismans.
Time had worn the traces thin, but by piecing together fragments, Lei Jun gradually unearthed the answers he sought.
He had Li Yuanheng to thank.
Though their motives differed, Li Yuanheng had also investigated the events of that era.
As a cultivator who had perfected the Ninth Heaven, he too was drawn to the legend of the Immortal Realm.
The potential connection between the Immortal Realm and the Jiuli’s ancestral history had driven Li Yuanheng to explore.
Realizing this, Lei Jun had an epiphany.
As expected, the clues woven into the drifting green smoke eventually pointed toward the Golden Khanate’s mortal realm—or rather, what used to be the Song Dynasty’s mortal realm.
No wonder Li Yuanheng fled with the Tan Li Tribe to that region.
He had already scouted it in secret and understood the environment, including the lightless territories.
But the key lead had stemmed from his earlier search for signs of immortals.
The spirit smoke coiling around the talisman finally came alive, forming a clear directional path stretching into the distance.
Lei Jun followed it with his gaze—it pointed straight toward the gateway linking the Deep Sea to the Golden Khanate’s mortal realm.
After notifying Tang Xiaotang and Shen Qubing, Lei Jun followed the trail.
Upon reentering the Golden Khanate’s realm, he didn’t linger in the lightless territories.
He suppressed his own cultivation and aura, cloaking himself under the Eight Sceneries Treasure Mantle, rendering his presence nearly undetectable.
The trail led northward, toward the central plains of this world.
Lei Jun observed as the spirit smoke spiraled above that location before silently sinking into the ground.
Though other regions had recently opened gateways to the Deep Sea, Yellow Springs, and Guixu,
this particular area’s void boundary remained remarkably stable.
The green smoke vanished into the earth without forming a new portal.
Lei Jun made a rough estimate.
This place seemed to match the location where the Youyin first descended—a faction that had fought the Song Dynasty for years, even driving it to near-collapse.
Back then, the Song court had lost its entire northern territory, reduced to defending a southern corner of its domain.
Later, the Youyin’s internal strife gave the Song court a chance to recover.
But not long after, the barbarian tribes of the Northwestern Wilderness rose, and the Golden Khanate invaded from the south, crushing the Song Dynasty for good.
Since that time, the Youyin had never resurfaced.
Nor had there been any recent reports of them from the other mortal realms.
Now, standing in the frozen northern wilderness, Lei Jun said nothing, silently surveying the land.
Later, a message from Tang Xiaotang snapped him out of his thoughts:
“Guixu’s extreme cold waters are spreading everywhere, tons of big monsters showing up, but there’s also some neat stuff.
Wanna come try your luck?”
It was just like her—attention flitting with every whim, always chasing the next curiosity.
But before Lei Jun could reply, a light sphere blinked in his mind and words began to form:
“The four directions converge, Guixu shapes the world.”
Then came four omen readings:
Upper-Moderate Omen
Destination: Mouth of the Nine Provinces River
Chance: Obtain a Third-Grade Opportunity
Conditions: Some minor turbulence, no danger at present
Outcome: Manage wisely, no future concerns—Good
Upper-Moderate Omen
Destination: Southern slope of Longwind Mountain
Chance: Obtain a Fourth-Grade Opportunity
Conditions: No risk now, no issues later—Good
Moderate-Moderate Omen
Destination: Any location other than the above three, such as elsewhere beyond Longwind Mountain or Nine Provinces River Mouth
Chance: No extra gains, but also no losses—Neutral
Lower-Moderate Omen
Destination: Yellowleaf Lake
Chance: Obtain a Fourth-Grade Opportunity
Conditions: Perilous, danger lurks with every step, escape is difficult—Bad
Lei Jun read each omen carefully, his attention especially drawn to the last one.
At his current cultivation level, it was rare for any omen to still describe the path as “fraught with peril and full of deadly traps”.
That in itself made it worth considering.
A Fourth-Grade Opportunity was tempting—but combined with that warning, it was undoubtedly a road to calamity.
In contrast, the two Upper-Moderate Omen paths seemed much safer, even pleasant.
But this last one... might just be made more pleasant—if handled properly.
After some thought, Lei Jun reached out to Tang Xiaotang:
“Little Senior Sister, where are you right now?”
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