Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion
Chapter 419: Dongyang leaves the mountain

Disguised as Wang Xu, the Recluse of Dongyang Mountain, Lei Jun quietly passed through Datong and arrived in the Han Mortal Realm.

Outside the exit of the void gateway connecting Datong to the Han Realm, elite troops of the Han Dynasty were stationed. Leading them was none other than General Yin Ming, whom Lei Jun had dealt with in the past.

Although their first meeting involved Lei Jun briefly detaining Yin Ming in Datong, things ended fairly amicably and without much conflict. Due to his familiarity with cultivators from the Tang Realm, Yin Ming had since been assigned by the court to guard the gateway.

Over the years, aside from Xu Yuanzhen's solo journey into the Han Realm—which caused some discomfort among the Han authorities—most exchanges between Tang cultivators and the Han court had remained courteous and orderly. Both sides had repeatedly exchanged envoys for mutual visits.

However, after the recent incident in Sumeru, the ripple effects stirred unrest throughout the Han Realm. With their forces focused on quelling internal chaos, the Han Dynasty had scaled back contact with the Tang Realm.

But as Lei Jun knew, the Tang Realm had just sent a new delegation to the Han Realm. Reportedly, Fang Yue, Chancellor of the Academy, was leading the group. He was said to be interested in the Han's widespread academic institutions and planned to study them firsthand.

That Fang Yue—not an official or royal—was heading the group gave the visit a mild and scholarly tone, avoiding suspicion from the Han court in this sensitive time, while still signaling Tang’s concern about Han’s internal affairs.

The delegation included representatives from Pure Yang Palace, Shushan Sect, Bodhi Monastery, and Xuanyan Temple. Ji Chuan had returned from delivering the Azure Abyss Sword to Penglai and now represented the Tang Shushan Sect in the Han Realm.

As for Pure Yang Palace, its envoy was Yu Yichen, the new standout after Yue Xiling and Jiang Yu. Despite his youth by Upper Heaven Realm standards, Yu Yichen had already served as a high-ranking elder in Pure Yang Palace for nearly twenty years. He was also part of the first Pure Yang delegation to visit the Han Realm.

Fang Yue’s group first went to Chang’an, the Han capital, to meet the Empress before splitting up to visit various sects such as the Han’s Pure Yang Palace and Shushan Sect.

Lei Jun, however, had no need for formalities. Under the cover of the Eight Sceneries Treasure Mantle and empowered by his Heavenly Travel Talisman, his current cultivation allowed him to traverse the void passage undetected, causing no ripples.

Thus, despite Yin Ming’s presence, no one sensed Lei Jun’s arrival in the Han Realm. Silently crossing through, he made no announcement and left the gateway, heading straight for his objectives.

His goals were several. First, he planned to investigate the site of the former Mount Longhu in the Han Realm. The prodigy Pan Hailin, who had not gone into seclusion, might offer clues.

Next, he would visit Kang Ming, Chen Ziyang, and the rising Yellow Heaven Sect, now gradually establishing itself in the Han Realm.

He also intended to probe the local Witch Sect, focusing on their ties with the Grand Shaman of Kongsang.

Finally, he wanted firsthand understanding of Vast Void Temple, whose recent rampant actions in the Han Realm hinted at hidden agendas.

All this could be done quietly. Or, if necessary, Lei Jun might go public using the identity of Wang Xu.

But for now, subtlety prevailed.

His first stop was the ruins of Mount Longhu. The main peak and much of the sect had retreated into the Taijing Salvation Grotto, leaving behind devastation where the majestic mountain once stood.

Even now, the terrain appeared twisted. From a distance, Lei Jun activated his Zhou Heavenly Mirror of Jade Purity, which ascended to the sky and transmitted panoramic views to him.

From above, he could survey Mount Longhu’s surroundings, and even further northwest, he could glimpse the familiar region of Jiangzhou.

Among the once-renowned Seven Prominent Clans of the Han Realm, only the Chu Clan of Suzhou had perished. The rest, including the Lin Clan of Jiangzhou, still remained.

Due to their geographical proximity, the Lin Clan and Han Mount Longhu had long been bitter enemies. Though the Han court was strong, and Mount Longhu was once mighty thanks to its legacy from the Heavenly Master, the sect had consistently suppressed the Lin Clan.

Upstream from the Lin Clan, the Fang Clan of Jingxiang supported them, unlike in the Tang Realm where similar clans restrained Jiangzhou’s influence.

It wasn’t until Mount Longhu vanished that the situation changed.

Yet without Mount Longhu holding the southern line, new problems arose: Vast Void Temple moved northward, and demon activity surged. The Lin Clan now bore the brunt of the assault.

Facing shared threats, the Lin Clan, other noble houses, and sects of the Han Realm had begun to unite—a rare development.

Lei Jun’s mirror found nothing unusual around the ruins. Walking the ridges with hands behind his back, he appeared relaxed, but his mind was alert.

Years had passed, yet in his memory, he could still see the Grotto-Heaven collapsing, swallowing the towering peaks.

“Hmm. Quite a few have investigated this area over the years,” he murmured.

Even now, the Lin Clan had agents monitoring the ruins. Mount Longhu remained a fixation for them, though none had sensed Lei Jun’s arrival.

Despite the foot traffic over the years, no new discoveries had been made.

Lei Jun’s biggest find was the hidden setup left behind by his Senior Sister, Xu Yuanzhen. Her talismans were buried deep and undetectable unless the Grotto-Heaven reopened.

He scanned the area, thoughtful.

Something felt off—not because there was too much, but because something was missing.

After some inspection, he left a few talismans of his own, then quietly departed.

In the distant hills, Lin Clan sentinels remained unaware of his visit.

Heading east from the ruins, Lei Jun traveled overseas to a solitary island in the vast ocean.

The island, bleak and craggy, appeared deserted. Sailors rarely docked there, opting for more hospitable shores. But Lei Jun saw through the illusion.

Shrouded in an elaborate talismanic ritual, the island concealed the newly built main altar of the Yellow Heaven Sect, transplanted from the Tang Realm and founded by Han Wuyou.

Its existence was a closely guarded secret—only known to the sect’s core leadership.

Currently, Sect Master Kang Ming was in seclusion at the altar.

Lei Jun silently observed, noting that Kang Ming had reached the Eighth Heaven Realm, proficient in both Alchemical Dao and Talismanic Dao.

That day, another key figure, Chen Ziyang, returned.

“Master,” he greeted.

Kang Ming returned the salute and they sat. “How went the journey?”

Chen Ziyang replied, “All four newly founded branches are progressing steadily.”

He added quietly, “The Ye Clan of Qingzhou is offering less support now.”

Kang Ming nodded. “Expected.”

Ever since Mount Longhu vanished, the Han court had continued to view Yellow Heaven Sect as heretical. Prominent clans like the Ye Clan were mending ties with the imperial court and had scaled back covert support.

Still, with their hands full battling Vast Void Temple and demon hordes, the court couldn’t spare the resources to root them out. Thus, Yellow Heaven Sect survived and even grew—especially by converting displaced civilians.

Chen Ziyang asked, “How is Junior Brother Qin?”

Kang Ming replied, “He’s begun secluded cultivation, preparing to cross the Heavenly Chasm Tribulation from the Sixth to the Seventh Heaven. I believe he’ll succeed.”

Chen Ziyang sighed in relief. “Another Upper Heaven Realm elder for our sect.”

Though they had been in the Han Realm for over a decade, caution had kept their numbers modest. Fortunately, several who had arrived from the Tang Realm had now risen through cultivation.

The Han Realm’s spiritual energy had grown abundant, comparable to the Tang Realm. Once their new disciples matured, their status would rise dramatically… or so Chen Ziyang believed.

Just then, he noticed Kang Ming seemed distracted.

“Is something wrong, Master?”

Kang Ming had sensed a faint anomaly in the sect’s spiritual flow—nothing overt, but troubling. Chen Ziyang appeared oblivious, so Kang Ming didn’t elaborate.

He simply said, “Recently received word from the Tang Realm—the Mortal Dao Kingdom is officially destroyed.”

Chen Ziyang had heard of the kingdom’s base in Penglai, ruled by the likes of Huang Xuanpu. Despite its fall, many experts survived—until now.

“Lei Chongyun razed Penglai single-handedly,” said Kang Ming. “It’s his now.”

Chen Ziyang knew Kang Ming had secret information sources and asked no further. He simply nodded and said, “We will focus on our own path.”

Lei Jun was still within the Yellow Heaven altar.

Just like at the snowy mountains of Western Sichuan, he did not destroy the sect's base. On the contrary, he reinforced it—adding a few things of his own, yet not merging his spiritual talismans with the altar directly.

Something had already altered the altar before his arrival.

Chen Ziyang hadn’t noticed. Kang Ming sensed something vague. Lei Jun confirmed it.

Above, a faint spiritual light descended from beyond the skies, touching the altar. It was so subtle even Lei Jun barely detected it.

Using his Zhou Heavenly Mirror, he confirmed the light came from outside the world—employing ancient Talismanic techniques far beyond Ninth Heaven standards.

Even Ji Daocheng, once of Mount Longhu, couldn’t achieve this, even if he had advanced further.

Lei Jun surmised that someone behind Ji Daocheng was now eyeing the Yellow Heaven Sect—not to interfere now, but to prepare for future actions.

So Lei Jun merely left a few talismans as a precaution and left the island.

He then headed southwest, back to the mainland, into the Southern Wasteland of the Han Realm.

His mirror hovered above, scanning.

This time, he sought the Witch Sect’s remnants. But local practitioners had dwindled. Lei Jun only found a few, better described as scattered cultivators.

According to Tan Muwei, a Great Shaman remained hidden somewhere—but not in the Southern Wasteland.

Unhurried, Lei Jun continued investigating, following clues from Tang Xiaotang.

After much searching, his effort finally bore fruit…

He hovered above a vast lake.

As Lei Jun descended, the lake parted on its own, water flowing to both sides and eventually revealing the soil and rocks at the lakebed.

Everything seemed ordinary, but Lei Jun could tell this place once held a void gateway.

On the other side of that gateway was likely one of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths—Kongsang.

According to legend, it had been occupied by a Great Demon, but now it appeared to be a realm ruled by experts of the Witch Sect.

The void gateway had been tightly sealed—so much so that Lei Jun couldn’t find an entry point at the moment.

Still, he was certain he’d found the right place.

Because the Sunrise Bow he carried was faintly trembling, its surface flickering with radiance.

So the premature death of the Eastern Yang Hermit was indeed connected to Kongsang… Lei Jun thought to himself.

But just as this thought rose, Lei Jun sensed something off.

Wisps of black mist suddenly emerged as if from nothing—illusory and intangible—trying to entangle his soul.

A curse?

Lei Jun stood with hands behind his back, unfazed by the sudden change. Instead, he carefully observed it.

His soul had undergone many layers of refinement and was exceptionally resilient, but those wisps of black mist—seemingly soft and faint—were in fact lethally sharp. They pierced into his soul and attempted to burrow deeper.

From deep within Lei Jun's soul, three radiant lights—purple, gold, and green—flared simultaneously.

An ethereal white jade seal emerged, forming a three-tiered altar woven from the trio of lights.

The altar expanded outward from Lei Jun’s body, halting the invasive black mist.

At the same time, a Nine-Segment Green Bamboo Staff appeared in Lei Jun’s hand. From solid to incorporeal, it turned into a phantom form, passing through his physical body to lash at the black mist.

The black mist scattered but lingered in the air, attempting to regroup.

Lei Jun didn’t pause. The Jade Celestial Bamboo of Jade Purity struck repeatedly, shattering the mist into fine fragments.

Even so, a patch of Lei Jun’s soul where the mist had touched had already turned black—tainted.

If that blackness spread, it could generate more of the same sinister mist.

But once Lei Jun had dispersed the external mist, he activated the Dark Side of the Heavenly Book, combining it with his own mana to cleanse the blackened patch of soul completely.

Only then did the threat truly vanish.

Lei Jun felt no shock or anger—only intrigue. He glanced around.

Under the radiance of the Zhou Heavenly Mirror of Jade Purity, no one was near.

The black mist really had appeared from nowhere.

But it hadn’t been without cause. Lei Jun had discovered that the Eastern Yang Hermit’s death was linked to Kongsang.

“No wonder that Daoist left no message before dying—took the secret to the grave,” Lei Jun mused. “So that was... the legendary Witch King's Curse?”

The Reincarnation Curse was rare but had at least been seen in the past few centuries.

But the Witch King's Curse had long since vanished from the Tang Mortal Realm.

It was said to be a secret art practiced by the Witch Sect experts above the Ninth Heaven—no longer seen since the end of the Han Dynasty.

Even secondhand transmission through the Eastern Yang Hermit had already made it extremely troublesome.

If someone were hit directly by that curse, the result was easy to imagine.

The Witch Sect’s secret arts were indeed sinister.

Lei Jun gripped the Sunrise Bow and looked down at the lakebed.

Its glow pulsed again and again.

He fell into silent contemplation.

This void gateway had been closed for a long time.

Could Kongsang have opened another gateway elsewhere?

And what exactly was the current state of Kongsang?

If it was anything like Sumeru, Shambhala, or Guixu, realms that possibly housed entities beyond the Ninth Heaven, then it was odd that after Tang Xiaotang killed a Great Shaman of Kongsang in the mortal realm of the foreign khanate, no ancient shamanic figure had responded.

Lei Jun shook his head slightly. Once the glow on the Sunrise Bow faded, he rose into the sky, and the waters below converged back to the center, quickly smoothing out like a mirror once more.

Lei Jun continued searching around the Southern Wasteland, but with little further gain, he temporarily halted.

The Vast Void Temple had many outposts in the Southern Wasteland.

But none were like traditional sect gates.

That was tied to their doctrine of annihilating all things.

They rarely left physical traces—their philosophy considered everything transient, destined for destruction.

In a way, wherever Abbot Juexiang was, there lay the sect gate of the Vast Void Temple of the Han Dynasty.

Lei Jun moved silently, leaving no trace, inspecting several outposts of the Vast Void Temple—yet found little of value.

After some thought, he decided to deliberately stir the snake from the grass.

The Zhou Heavenly Mirror of Jade Purity rotated, its light scanning in all directions.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared.

First came streaks of flowing light. As they approached, they revealed several Daoists in plain robes and straw sandals.

Among them was a young man whom Lei Jun recognized—Ji Chuan, a High Priest Elder of the Shushan Sect of the Tang Dynasty, and an acquaintance.

Among those accompanying him was another familiar face—Wang Jianan, who had once visited the Tang Mortal Realm with other Shushan Sect cultivators from the Han Dynasty.

He was a talented disciple of the sect and also a member of the Wang Clan of Langya.

The other two looked unfamiliar, but Lei Jun recalled portraits he'd once seen while chatting with fellow Shushan cultivators.

Matching the faces with the portraits, he identified the two men: Miao Feng, at the Seventh Heaven Realm, and Yu Boyan, already at the Eighth Heaven Realm (Celestial Roaming Stage).

Yu Boyan, Miao Feng, and Wang Jianan were all outstanding figures of the younger generation in the Han Dynasty’s Shushan Sect—Yu Boyan especially was regarded as a likely future sect leader.

They had come here to destroy a nearby outpost of the Vast Void Temple.

“Junior Brother Wang, stay here with Junior Brother Ji for now,” Yu Boyan said with a nod to Ji Chuan and Wang Jianan.

Ji Chuan understood that while Yu Boyan and Miao Feng likely didn’t mind, the Han Dynasty’s official stance toward Tang cultivators remained cautious. So he didn’t insist on joining the fight and said with a smile:

“I’m still a bit green. Watching you two in action will surely be enlightening. Please don’t hold back your guidance.”

Yu Boyan replied, “Junior Brother Ji is too modest. Once we’ve dealt with these Vast Void monks, we’ll catch up properly. Excuse us for now.”

With that, he and Miao Feng immediately took action.

Both were sword cultivators, and neither held back. They infused their souls into their swords, merging with them, transforming into two streaks of sword light—one thick, one thin—that slashed toward a solemn temple in the distance.

The Vast Void monks immediately responded, but Yu Boyan’s sword was too fierce—the monks couldn’t withstand it and scattered in all directions.

Yu Boyan and Miao Feng pursued their targets relentlessly.

Yu Boyan, with his Celestial Roaming strength, quickly caught and eliminated his foe.

Miao Feng, however, had to chase his enemy farther away, soon leaving the area.

He grew uneasy.

The Southern Wasteland held many Vast Void outposts, likely harboring other experts. A deep pursuit risked falling into a trap.

But with fellow Tang cultivators watching, Miao Feng didn’t want to appear weak. So he pressed on.

Eventually, he succeeded in killing his target.

But then he sensed danger—other Vast Void monks had arrived.

There were many of them, forcing Miao Feng to retreat immediately.

The situation had reversed.

Though swift, Miao Feng couldn’t retreat the way he came. He had to veer off course.

Still, he knew Yu Boyan’s strength. As long as he held out a bit longer, his senior would come to his aid.

But then—something strange happened.

While fused with his sword, flying through a mountain pass, Miao Feng suddenly noticed a change in the landscape.

He’d clearly seen nothing unusual before entering the valley. But now, it was as if he’d stepped into another realm.

Miao Feng, heir to a Daoist Holy Land, quickly realized what had happened—he had stumbled into something like a Confucian Nation Realm or a Daoist Divine Court Universe.

The Vast Void monks pursuing him also sensed something was off and halted.

But the scenery had already shifted.

Where moments ago the valley had been deserted, now there was a small courtyard up ahead.

Simple in appearance, with a lone house inside.

On either side of the gate were couplets:

“Azure sky painted with four mountain peaks, thunder rolls a hundred steps in broad daylight.”

Through the open gate, they could vaguely see a figure reclining inside, as if taking a nap.

Miao Feng and the others couldn’t make out the figure’s face or clothing.

But the intense Righteous Scholarly Aura blanketing the area made it clear—this was a Grand Confucian Scholar of extraordinary power.

None of them—neither the pursuing monks nor Miao Feng—had realized they were stepping into such a domain until it was too late.

Miao Feng might have been fine, but the Vast Void monks panicked and turned to flee.

Only to find that the mountains behind them had closed off their path. The way they came had vanished.

They all thought of the couplet: “Azure sky painted with four mountain peaks…”

And then—

Before they could move again, thunder cracked.

A sea of lightning surged forth, drowning the monks in blinding light.

When the storm passed, the place was silent. The mountains remained. The monks were gone.

Miao Feng turned stiffly, looking toward the house.

The man inside seemed to have just woken, now sitting up:

“You’re from Shushan?”

Miao Feng snapped to: “Miao Feng of the Shushan Sect. Thank you, senior, for your aid.”

The man asked, “Is Daoist Chen Lingfeng of your sect well? And how is Sect Master Deng of the Pure Yang Palace?”

Guessing at the man's identity, Miao Feng cautiously answered: “Our sect master is currently at Xiaoding, and I heard Sect Master Deng recently went to the capital for an audience.”

The scholar slowly stood up: “Woke up a bit early… but close enough. Might as well get up for good.”

As he rose, Miao Feng saw that the green mountains and clear waters around them retracted, as if all had been centered around this man.

The valley returned to its true form, with a rushing stream flowing through.

The middle-aged scholar now stood at the bow of a small boat, dressed in a reed cloak, bamboo staff in hand, drifting downstream.

“Little Daoist, give my regards to Daoist Chen. Tell him that Wang Dongyang of Langya will visit Xiaoding once he has some free time.”