Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion
Chapter 82.Further optimization of the Five Thunder Talisman

“This inkstone seems different from the Talisman Ink inkstones we usually use.”

Lei Jun examined the inkstone carefully for a moment.

Wang Guiyuan nodded. “Junior Brother Chu hails from the Suzhou Chu Clan, one of the Five Great Surnames and Seven Prominent Clans. Their literary talent is renowned throughout Jiangnan, and their reputation resounds across the Great Tang.

This inkstone, I’ve heard, was crafted by one of Junior Brother Chu’s elders. However, after it came into Junior Brother Chu’s possession, it was further nurtured by our sect’s elders, and thus it changed again.”

Hearing this, Lei Jun nodded slightly, his interest piqued.

If it was crafted by an elder from the Chu Clan, then it was made by a Confucian scholar-practitioner. However, since Chu Andong studied Daoist Talismanic arts at Mount Longhu, this inkstone had also been refined by the teachers of the Tianshi Mansion. Because of this, it differed from the original Confucian inkstones.

In some ways, this inkstone combined the essence of both Confucianism and Daoism.

Lei Jun had never dealt directly with Confucian scholar-practitioners before, so examining this inkstone intrigued him. It could be said that he had a scholarly curiosity about the various Daoist cultivation traditions of this world.

“Later, let’s test how it differs from the inkstones we usually use.”

Lei Jun smiled as he put the inkstone away, then asked Wang Guiyuan, “Has Master returned to the mountain?”

Wang Guiyuan shook his head. “Master hasn’t returned yet, but he sent a message back. He went south to assist Junior Sister Tang.”

Reading between the lines, Lei Jun raised his eyebrows. “So that means the Southern Wasteland Witch Sect is causing quite a stir. Besides the Gu Masters who previously targeted Senior Sister, there are other witch sect experts heading north to our territory?”

Wang Guiyuan nodded. “Apart from the people from the Yin Mountain of the Witch Sect, there are at least some experts from the Blood River Sect showing up.”

The Blood River Sect, part of the Southern Wasteland Witch Sect, was notorious for its bloodthirsty and violent ways. In the Southern Wasteland, they were known for their slaughter, and within the Great Tang, they were considered part of the Demonic Path, watched with extreme vigilance.

Blood River Sect... Lei Jun suddenly recalled the different techniques he had seen Chen Yi practicing.

He wondered if there was a connection between them and what kind of connection it was.

“Although the leaders of the Yellow Heaven Sect came together, our sect has temporarily managed to suppress both waves of their attacks.”

Wang Guiyuan added, “But we can’t let our guard down. As for the Blood River Sect, it’s not entirely unexpected. Recently, there have been continuous battles around Mount Longhu, with casualties on both sides...”

Lei Jun understood.

The Blood River Sect thrived on bloodshed. Cultivators’ life force was far richer than that of ordinary people. The recent battles around Mount Longhu had caused numerous deaths, filling the air with death energy and blood energy, the perfect environment for Blood River Sect cultivators.

Even if they didn’t actively stir up trouble, just sneaking in to collect blood energy would greatly benefit their cultivation. And considering their cruel and murderous nature, expecting them not to cause chaos was like expecting fish not to swim in water.

Therefore, although the Tianshi Mansion had managed to suppress the Yellow Heaven Sect, they couldn’t relax. Patrols were constant, both inside and outside the mountain, to guard against interference from the Blood River Sect.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the Blood River Sect was found committing atrocities, prompting an immediate response from the experts of the Tianshi Mansion.

After a brief conversation with Wang Guiyuan, Lei Jun bid farewell and went to visit Chu Andong and Li Zhenchang.

Chu Andong’s injuries were severe, and he would need a considerable period of rest to recover fully. Li Zhenchang, while not as badly injured as Lei Jun, had regained his energy and mana after a few days of recuperation, and the residual Gu poison in his body had been cleared.

During this time, Xia Qing had also returned from Tianxu Mountain to the Tianshi Mansion. After her recuperation, she had largely recovered her strength and was back to her usual energetic self.

With manpower on the mountain stretched thin, Lei Jun, Li Zhenchang, and Xia Qing, once recovered, were assigned by the sect to patrol the mountains or even confront the disciples of the Yellow Heaven Sect and Southern Wasteland Witch Sect.

Lei Jun thus had more opportunities to test his skills.

So far, the old Gu Master had been the strongest opponent Lei Jun had faced directly. Though circumstances made it hard to say the opponent was still a fully-fledged Fourth Heaven cultivator, his mastery of Gu techniques was undeniably formidable.

The battle had been a valuable learning experience for Lei Jun. For example, during the fight, Lei Jun realized his Five Thunder Talisman could still be optimized.

His initial reasoning wasn’t wrong: making it too complex could compromise its efficiency. The strength of the Five Thunder Talisman lay in its versatility, adapting to different opponents and situations. However, the time it took to transition from activating the talisman to unleashing the thunder technique now seemed too slow.

In gaming terms from before his transmigration, the casting time was too long.

Against opponents of the same level, this was fine. But against someone like the old Gu Master, that delay left openings for the enemy to exploit.

So, Lei Jun’s next goal for improving the Five Thunder Talisman wasn’t to increase its power but to make it activate faster.

With this in mind, the gift Li Zhenchang had given him proved to be quite useful.

The Nine-Return Stone was theoretically meant to help cultivators recover mana. This wasn’t particularly useful to Lei Jun since he had the Breath-Taking Flag, which performed the same function but better.

Instead, Lei Jun had another idea. He crushed the Nine-Return Stone into powder and slowly refined it into his Five Thunder Talisman improvement plan.

With the aid of his exceptional comprehension, Lei Jun devised a clever technique: speeding up the circulation of spiritual energy within the talisman, not the cultivator’s own mana recovery.

The difference was significant.

Of course, the Nine-Return Stone alone wasn’t enough. After pairing it with other spiritual items and conducting repeated experiments, Lei Jun finally made progress.

He used his encounters with Yellow Heaven Sect and Blood River Sect disciples as live combat tests to verify his theories.

And so...

In the forest, a blood-red blade light swept across, felling numerous trees. Branches and leaves flew everywhere as Lei Jun’s agile form dodged the blade light and closed in on the Blood River Sect disciple.

The disciple grinned viciously. The once broad and forceful blood-red blade light suddenly twisted and turned like a narrow stream, shifting from brute strength to dexterous precision.

The blade light closed in swiftly, like a carefully set trap. The bloodthirsty aura was enough to drive anyone mad upon contact, showcasing the lethal essence of the Blood River Sect.

But in that critical moment, the glow of the Five Thunder Talisman lit up in Lei Jun’s hand.

The golden, black, red, and brown hues vanished, leaving only a flash of green light that quickly transformed into countless bolts of lightning.

With a crackling sound, fine threads of green lightning intertwined around Lei Jun, forming a web-like barrier.

The blood-red blade light, swift and deadly like a swimming dragon, was instantly ensnared by the dense green lightning.

It was the Wood Void Thunder of the Five Thunder Talisman.

“Hmm, the speed of the talisman’s thunder manifestation has improved by more than ten percent.”

Lei Jun nodded slightly. “But it can still be faster...”