Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion
Chapter 86: Expandable opportunities, Jiusheng Qingshuang

At that moment, the entire underground palace seemed to be trembling. The rock above began to collapse violently, and rivers of blood surged backward, roaring upwards.

The catastrophe spread out in all directions, causing the ground to crack and the range of the tremors to expand continuously.

Lei Jun stood to the side. Though he had managed to avoid the strongest shockwave from the first wave of the blood sea eruption, he could no longer maintain his position. He was forced to protect himself with the Breath-Taking Flag while moving.

The blood sea was filled with filth, rendering his Water-Repelling Golden Eyes useless. Any contact with the blood would quickly pollute his eyes, stripping them of their spiritual nature.

Lei Jun glanced over at Elder Du and the others. There were no other people left in the blood sea at this point; Elder Du and his group had been swept into one of the blood rivers, carried upstream by the reverse flow. With Elder Du protecting them, while the situation was perilous, it wasn’t dire.

Seeing no one else around, Lei Jun tapped his toe on the ceiling of the underground palace and inverted himself, dodging another cresting wave of blood.

He scanned the raging blood sea and suddenly caught sight of something.

Amid the dark and filthy blood sea, a faint beam of pure light was rising from the center of the red glow. The light was weak, like a lone sail on a furious sea, trembling and ready to sink at any moment, yet still holding on tenaciously.

Lei Jun took a deep breath. The power of his Life-Bound Wind Talisman surged to its limit, allowing him to glide over the sea like a breeze. The Breath-Taking Flag unfurled in the air!

The line of pure light was gathered up, and Lei Jun landed upon it, discovering that it was a lotus flower.

The lotus had been closed, but upon being startled, it bloomed open.

From a distance, it seemed small amidst the blood sea, but up close, the flower was nearly ten feet across, like a small boat supporting Lei Jun.

In the blood-reeking, sinister underground palace, Lei Jun actually caught a whiff of a delicate fragrance, a trace of pure spirituality.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the source of the fragrance and spiritual energy wasn’t the lotus itself, but a layer of frost dew on the petals.

The Nine Saints Frost.

Lei Jun’s mind suddenly sparked with inspiration, a function of the Light Sphere in his mind that often helped him identify unknown objects.

Although he didn’t know much about the Nine Saints Frost, given the current environment, he deduced it wasn’t a naturally occurring phenomenon. It was likely left by a Blood River Sect expert who set up the blood sea and the surrounding formations.

Using the extreme filth of the blood sea to nourish the pure essence of the Nine Saints Frost—once both reached their optimal state, that Blood River Sect expert could refine them together, gaining dual polar spiritual energy to enhance their cultivation.

But that expert had been delayed by the elders of the Tianshi Mansion and couldn’t attend to this area. Now, with the blood sea destroyed, the Nine Saints Frost was about to be lost.

Is this the Fourth-Grade Opportunity mentioned in the Supreme Good Omen? Lei Jun wondered.

Yet he had no idea how it might develop further.

This was no time for contemplation. Lei Jun refocused his thoughts.

In terms of the process, obtaining this treasure was indeed a thrilling success. The fortune indicated there would be no consequences for taking it.

Nevertheless, out of caution, Lei Jun didn’t use his own Spirit Gathering Talisman to collect the frost dew. Instead, he used the spiritual power of the Breath-Taking Flag to sweep up and contain the dew.

Without the frost dew, the giant lotus in the blood sea began to wither.

Fortunately, as the waves surged, Lei Jun and the lotus were carried into one of the blood river channels. Though the river still roared fiercely, it was less terrifying than the blood sea.

Lei Jun noticed a fork in the blood river ahead.

One path was turbulent but wide open. The other was relatively calm but deep and eerie.

Recalling the Eight Desolate Blood River Formation and Eight Desolate Blood Cavern mentioned in the Moderate Omen and Lower-Bad Omen, Lei Jun leapt off the withering lotus, avoiding the deeper path.

Before he landed on the underground palace wall, he suddenly heard voices from the wider channel:

“…Killing someone doesn’t always mean dirtying your own hands…”

Uh…

Hold on.

Lei Jun blinked.

Why does that sound familiar?

Killing without getting your hands dirty, staying spotless.

Well, that’s my philosophy sometimes… Lei Jun chuckled to himself.

But the person who said it piqued his curiosity. The voice also seemed familiar.

With the power of the Life-Bound Wind Talisman, Lei Jun moved like a silent night breeze.

He crept along the rock wall by the blood river and peered around a corner.

In the distance, within a wide underground cave, a massive formation glowing red flickered.

The gigantic formation trembled with the underground cave, resembling a strange, blinking eye.

The Eight Desolate Blood River Formation, Lei Jun realized.

In addition to the scattered ordinary blood river formations, the Blood River Sect expert had meticulously set up eight more powerful Eight Desolate Blood River Formations.

These formations were the core, drawing in blood energy and malevolent energy to cultivate the blood sea.

But now, with the premature eruption of the blood sea and the backflow of waves, these Eight Desolate Blood River Formations were destabilized, on the verge of eruption themselves.

Lei Jun’s gaze shifted.

Outside the glowing formation stood a man and a woman, hidden behind rocks, observing the formation below.

Familiar faces.

One was Young Master Fang Mingyuan.

The other was his elder sister, Miss Fang Lu.

“Li family disciples are naturally an exception. For anyone not surnamed Li, killing them is no big deal. The Tianshi Mansion needs our clan right now,” Fang Mingyuan said with a frown, looking at the Eight Desolate Blood River Formation. “Why make it so complicated? Like this, he might escape.”

Lei Jun raised an eyebrow.

Judging by their conversation, they were clearly targeting Luo Haoran.

Luo Haoran is here too?

Lei Jun continued to observe.

Inside the formation were several figures—all disciples of the Tianshi Mansion.

But Luo Haoran wasn’t among them.

Instead, Lei Jun spotted another familiar person: Xia Qing.

She was with a few fellow disciples, who, while not from Elder Hongyu or Xia Bo’s line, were close to that faction.

They must have entered through another blood river formation or entrance, ending up here rather than the blood sea. But with the eruption of the blood sea, the formation here destabilized, trapping them in the Eight Desolate Blood River Formation.

For Lei Jun, who had treasures like the Breath-Taking Flag, being caught in this formation was a dangerous but manageable fate—a Moderate Omen.

For Xia Qing and the others, it was life-threatening.

They relied on a superior Golden Barrier Talisman bestowed by Xia Qing’s elders to fend off the filthy blood.

The center of the formation exerted a powerful suction, keeping Xia Qing and her group trapped. Once the talisman’s power was exhausted, their own Golden Barrier Talismans would last only a short time before they were fully drawn into the blood river.

To save them, someone needed to either resist the formation’s suction temporarily or redirect the blood flow to ease their burden.

Lei Jun’s gaze swept around.

This time, he saw Luo Haoran.

He was on the other side of the formation, standing on the river’s edge, not trapped.

He was trying to block the blood river.

There, a crack in the rock allowed faint light to filter through.

Clearly, they were very close to the surface.

Luo Haoran was desperately trying to prevent the blood river from leaking to the surface.

Lei Jun wasn’t sure what lay above the rock.

But knowing Luo Haoran, it was likely a populated area—perhaps a village or a town.

If the blood river reached the surface, the destruction would be far worse than a typical flood.

That’s why Luo Haoran was giving it his all to block the flow.

But in doing so, he trapped Xia Qing and the others within the Eight Desolate Blood River Formation.