Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion
Chapter 93: The Li Family’s Difficulties

The Tianshi Sword, Lost?

Lei Jun was shocked beyond belief.

When it came to the Tianshi Seal, he had some psychological preparation for its loss, no matter the outcome. However, the loss of the Tianshi Sword completely caught him off guard.

If Lei Jun was surprised, the other disciples of the Tianshi Mansion were even more stunned. In their view, the Tianshi Seal had disappeared long ago, and now even the Tianshi Sword was lost. This was a huge blow, comparable to the fall of the current Tianshi, Li Qingfeng!

Everyone stood frozen in place, staring at Elder Xin in disbelief.

The old Daoist facing them had realized something was amiss as soon as he spoke. Elder Xin himself, too, was taken aback by the news and had inadvertently let it slip in front of the younger disciples.

Quickly clearing his throat, he said, "Ah, it seems my old eyes are failing me. The Tianshi Sword was taken back to the mountain by Master Zhengxuan. It’s just that it has been heavily consumed and will need some time to recuperate on the mountain."

Lei Jun and the others exchanged confused glances.

Elder Xin maintained a calm expression, scanning the group.

Everyone immediately adjusted their expressions and nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes..."

But what they truly thought, only they knew.

In reality, Elder Xin was merely trying to stabilize the group of young disciples in front of him. His own worries were much heavier than anyone else's.

Just as Lei Jun and the others began to settle their thoughts, someone arrived at the ancestral tomb's forbidden area in the back mountain.

Lei Jun and the others didn't see who it was.

But Elder Xin's gaze flickered slightly, as though he had received some kind of notice.

Remaining calm, he instructed Lei Jun and the other young disciples to continue their usual duties and patrol the back mountain, saying there was no need to stay gathered here.

Lei Jun had some suspicions but remained composed and, along with his fellow disciples, went off to patrol the mountain.

After the others had left, Elder Xin hurriedly made his way to the Taoist temple where the statues and spirit tablets of past ancestors were enshrined.

There, someone had already arrived.

It was none other than the young Tianshi, Li Zhengxuan.

"Uncle Master Xin," said Li Zhengxuan, maintaining his usual calm demeanor, his expression unreadable.

Elder Xin's heart skipped a beat.

Li Zhengxuan's calmness in the face of crisis was certainly a good trait, but his return to the mountain and his presence at the forbidden ancestral tomb area only deepened the sense of unease in Elder Xin's heart. The ominous feeling that had lingered before now seemed almost certain.

"I have business to report to the ancestors and seek their aid," Li Zhengxuan said quietly. "Please, Uncle Master Xin, protect me and assist me in this task."

Upon hearing this, Elder Xin's body shook slightly.

The Tianshi Sword was truly lost!

Li Zhengxuan intended to call upon the spirits of the ancestors to try and locate the sword.

Similar attempts had been made in the past during the period when the Tianshi Seal was lost. Now that the position of Tianshi was vacant and the Ten Thousand Dharma Sect altar could not be opened, invoking the ancestors' spirits had become the last resort.

…

While Lei Jun and the younger disciples were patrolling the mountain, a purple bolt of lightning suddenly shot up from the back mountain's forbidden area, piercing the heavens and scattering storm-like thunder snakes in all directions.

Lei Jun and the others stopped in their tracks and looked up. "Is someone from the Mansion using a ritual to honor the ancestors?"

After a long moment, they lowered their gaze.

They exchanged glances, but no one spoke.

The scene fell into complete silence.

After a few moments, they all silently shifted their gazes, pretending nothing had happened, and continued their patrols.

After a long while, the thunderous light faded, and the back mountain returned to calm.

A deep purple thundercloud flew out of Longhu Mountain.

Lei Jun and the others split up, leaving only him and Wang Guiyuan remaining.

The two brothers, from the same sect, watched the purple lightning cloud fly toward the outside of the mountain. Wang Guiyuan sighed. "Who would have thought that, even though the Tianshi Seal is still missing, now we've lost the Tianshi Sword as well."

Lei Jun nodded slightly. "Hmm."

Wang Guiyuan's expression darkened. "That must be Senior Brother, right? I wonder if he found any clue in the ancestral tomb area, or if this trip out will lead to the recovery of the Tianshi Sword?"

Lei Jun replied, "No matter what, we can only hope the sword is found."

If it can't be found, it won't just be Senior Brother Li Zhengxuan who suffers.

The entire Tianshi Mansion might be affected.

In fact, as of now, the Tianshi Mansion hadn't reached its worst state.

The fall of the current Tianshi, Li Qingfeng, had dragged down the Lin Clan's patriarch as well. The temporarily leaderless Jiangzhou Lin Clan had attracted much attention, relieving the Tianshi Mansion from immediate pressure.

Although after that, besides the old rival Yellow Heaven Sect, there were also appearances from the Southern Wasteland Witch Clan and the Elder of Vajra Monastery, Long Jia Shangren, the overall situation for the Tianshi Mansion had been stabilized.

For Longhu Mountain, this was already a fortunate outcome amidst misfortune.

...Until today, when the Tianshi Sword was lost.

The world knew that in just over a hundred years, the Tianshi Mansion had gone through two large internal conflicts.

Without counting the current situation with Li Qingfeng, just the earlier conflicts had cost them two Tianshi positions.

Looking back a few generations, many old ancestors had been lost, leaving only Li Song as a lone figure.

Even the Yellow Heaven Sect, which had split off, had at most one of their own, Yu Qingling.

For both the Tianshi Mansion and Yellow Heaven Sect, the past decades had essentially relied on the middle generation to hold things together.

For Longhu Mountain, this wasn't just a matter of heavy damage to their vitality.

Otherwise, Lei Jun wouldn't have been so moved when he heard Yuan Mobai speak of past events, reflecting on how the Tianshi Mansion had managed to survive to this point.

It was undeniable that the Tianshi Seal, Tianshi Sword, and Tianshi Robe—along with the Ten Thousand Dharma Sect altar—played a crucial role in maintaining their legacy. They still had solid foundations to keep them afloat.

Moreover, they had to thank the Tang Imperial Family for balancing all factions and maintaining coordination.

Now, with spiritual energy in the world growing more abundant, leading to an era of cultivation prosperity, the new generation of Tianshi Mansion disciples was performing excellently.

Perhaps because their vitality had been severely damaged before, Heaven seemed to have compensated them a little, and the younger generation produced exceptional geniuses.

Xu Yuanzhen.

Li Zhengxuan.

Tang Xiaotang.

In just a few decades, three geniuses of the Upper Three Heavens had emerged from the Tianshi Mansion, an achievement unmatched anywhere else in the Tang Empire.

This helped fill some of the gaps in their higher ranks, making the Tianshi Mansion appear less vulnerable.

The fall of Li Qingfeng, the current Tianshi, and the subsequent stabilization of the Mansion could not have been achieved without this new generation of talents.

But the earlier loss of the Tianshi Seal and now the loss of the Tianshi Sword had made the situation more delicate.

...And it could cause others to begin thinking thoughts they otherwise wouldn't have entertained.

"Uncle Master and Elder Ziyang seem to be fine," Lei Jun asked, "but I wonder if they’re resisting external enemies, or if they’re also searching for the Tianshi Sword."

Wang Guiyuan chuckled bitterly. "Indeed, Senior Brother still has time to return to the mountain and then head out again. At least that shows that Uncle Master Song and Elder Ziyang can stabilize the current situation for now."

What they needed to worry about now was whether the situation would change again.

For Lei Jun, worrying about these things wasn’t particularly helpful.

The Tianshi Seal appeared to have bonded with his soul, so it couldn't be separated or manipulated. For him, it was like distant water that couldn’t save a nearby fire.

If he were to look for something more optimistic and beneficial to himself, at least he could confirm that, inside the ancestral tomb, Li Zhengxuan, such a powerful elder, hadn't discovered the Tianshi Seal.

So, the greater chance was that, once outside the ancestral tomb, they wouldn’t find it either.

Of course, this wasn't certain and would need to be verified.

But Lei Jun had no intention of testing it for now. He preferred to stay quietly in the back mountain's ancestral tomb forbidden area.

Elder Xin, having let his words slip out in surprise earlier, didn't want a group of young disciples to spread the news further. Therefore, he kept Lei Jun and the others temporarily in the back mountain.

Wang Guiyuan had no objections to this.

As he had said before, in the Tianshi Mansion, the back mountain's ancestral tomb area wasn’t the most secure place, but it was definitely among the top.

But, for now, the situation had not worsened.

Two good pieces of news came almost simultaneously:

First, the mysterious expert who had ambushed Tianshi Li Qingfeng never appeared again. Senior Sister Xu Yuanzhen had finally returned to Longhu Mountain.

Upon returning, she immediately confronted the leader of the Yellow Heaven Sect, Tai Ping Dao Ren, who was currently battling with Li Hongyu.

Xu Yuanzhen’s Yin Fire Tiger faced off against Tai Ping Dao Ren’s Yin Fire Tiger. The battle between the two star masters saw their life stars clash.

Xu Yuanzhen overcame Tai Ping Dao Ren and forced him to retreat, wounded.

At the moment, Xu Yuanzhen and Li Hongyu were chasing after Tai Ping Dao Ren.

The second piece of good news was that another powerful elder of the Yellow Heaven Sect, the Taishang Elder Yu Qingling, had also been heavily injured and fled!

Tianshi Mansion’s Taishang Elder Li Song was in pursuit.

When the news reached Longhu Mountain, everyone cheered in joy.

Even in the back mountain's ancestral tomb, when Elder Xin and the other disciples heard the news, they felt a sense of relief, as if the heavy stone pressing down on their hearts had been lifted.

"The Tianshi Sword's loss is now becoming clearer," Wang Guiyuan remarked, feeling thoughtful as he spoke with Lei Jun.

Lei Jun gently nodded.

The struggle for the Tianshi Seal had seen many factions involved, with dragons and tigers clashing in a chaotic scene. But overall, the Tianshi Mansion had an absolute advantage with Li Song, Li Zhengxuan, and Li Ziyang, three powerful figures joining forces.

Without the Tianshi Seal, it could be said that even the Chu Clan from Suzhou was part of their faction.

Seeing that the Yellow Heaven Sect couldn't take advantage of the Tianshi Seal's disappearance, Long Jia Shangren had no reason to unite with Yu Qingling to confront the Tianshi Mansion head-on.

Yu Qingling's situation had immediately become precarious.

But this former elder of the Tianshi Mansion, now the Taishang Elder of the Yellow Heaven Sect, wasn’t someone to be taken lightly. He certainly had his own methods.

Lei Jun suspected that, when the Tianshi Seal disappeared, the experts near Qing Tian Peak had all been baffled. At that moment, Yu Qingling was the first to react.

He seized the one fleeting chance in his life, sacrificing himself to seize the Tianshi Sword from Li Zhengxuan, and then fled immediately.

And so, Li Zhengxuan was left holding the bag.

Lei Jun even wondered if Uncle Master Li Song had played a role in this.

But the problem was, the embarrassment wasn’t limited to just Li Zhengxuan.

The entire Li family was in a difficult spot.

Back then, when the Tianshi Seal was lost, now the Tianshi Sword was gone as well.

Although the Li family still had many powerful experts, after the fall of the current Tianshi Li Qingfeng, they had lost the pillar of support.

Elder Li Hongyu and Uncle Master Li Song were certainly powerful, but now, Xu Yuanzhen had returned.

Both top experts of the Yellow Heaven Sect, Tai Ping Dao Ren and Yu Qingling, had been heavily injured, and the Tianshi Mansion had won this stage of the battle.

However, it seemed that the Li family’s difficulties were only just beginning.