Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Misfortune: Starting from the Celestial Master’s Mansion
Chapter 96: List of ordained officials

Xu Yuanzhen looked at Lei Jun, and for once, she felt somewhat emotional. Instead of being embarrassed or angry about being deceived, she gave a self-deprecating smile.

As for whether the disgrace was from letting the Celestial Master Seal slip away at that time, or from misjudging Lei Jun, it was hard to say.

Lei Jun raised his hand and waved it. "Senior sister, I don't deserve such words. I had no understanding back then. It was only after revisiting the place later that I realized the Celestial Master Seal might have been there."

Xu Yuanzhen watched him and suddenly laughed. "Well, that's actually a good thing. For me, this is actually good news."

Lei Jun lowered his hand. "Senior sister, if you take another look, you should notice that, having gotten used to it, I still look quite pleasing to the eye."

Xu Yuanzhen responded, "Stop that."

However, she did get up and walked around Lei Jun, circling him once. "Not bad, you’ve hidden it quite well. If you hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have noticed right away."

"This is thanks to my master," Lei Jun said, bowing to Yuan Mobei, who sat at the main seat.

Yuan Mobei smiled. "With Yuanzhen helping you with an extra layer of protection, you can now rest assured for a while."

As Xu Yuanzhen herself said, her concern wasn’t about who got the Celestial Master Seal, but about who couldn’t get it.

After hearing Lei Jun briefly describe the current situation of the Celestial Master Seal, Xu Yuanzhen stopped asking about the treasure. While she was curious, she, like Yuan Mobei, took action to further cover it up for Lei Jun.

"Master, Senior Sister, I also obtained another kind of spiritual item before."

Lei Jun took out the Nine Sacred Frost: "I used part of it, and kept the rest."

Yuan Mobei smiled when he saw it. "The Nine Sacred Frost, it's been a long time since I’ve seen this. The last time was in the Southern Wilderness."

Xu Yuanzhen asked, "Did you get it from the Blood River Sect?"

Lei Jun nodded.

Yuan Mobei continued, "No wonder you’ve advanced to the third level of the altar faster than I expected. It’s good that you kept half. You can store it for now, it may be useful for cultivating other spiritual items in the future."

Lei Jun was enlightened.

The previous high-level sign had mentioned that the Nine Sacred Frost had potential to expand, and it seemed it had come to fruition here.

Besides helping him reach a more complete altar stage faster, the Nine Sacred Frost also had another wonderful use—it could nurture other spiritual items.

Since this was the case, he decided to keep it for now and decide what to nourish with it in the future.

For now, there were only two main priorities left for him:

One was to focus on cultivation, preparing to challenge the Heavenly Abyss Tribulation from the third to the fourth sky.

If he could overcome this, it would mean reaching the fourth level of the Taoist Talisman Sect. Not only would his strength improve, but his lifespan could be extended from 200 years to 400 years.

Besides that, according to Yuan Mobei and Tang Xiaotang’s speculation, Xu Yuanzhen also agreed that after Lei Jun reached the fourth level of the Talisman Sect, he would have the opportunity to attempt opening the first layer of the True One Altar.

Another important matter related to Lei Jun was the issuance of talismans.

Previously, because Celestial Master Li Qingfeng had been in closed-door meditation for a long time, the talisman ceremony had been delayed.

Now, Li Qingfeng had perished, and while no new Celestial Master had ascended, the next talisman ceremony would no longer be delayed.

Upon successfully receiving a talisman, Lei Jun and other outstanding disciples could begin to access, study, and master higher-level talismans and ceremonial practices that only senior disciples from the Three Heavens could practice. They would be able to independently hold altars, conduct rituals, and even establish their own sects, expanding Longhu Mountain.

In the following days, Lei Jun focused solely on his cultivation, preparing for the fourth sky tribulation.

As for Longhu Mountain, internally it was stable, preventing any outside forces from taking further action.

The earlier loss of the Celestial Master Sword had caused many to focus their attention on Longhu Mountain’s Celestial Master’s residence.

Now, however, their attention had shifted elsewhere.

In Jiangzhou, the Lin Clan was experiencing internal turmoil, with external forces stirring things up, and things were about to boil over.

Lei Jun's old foe helped shield him, allowing the tension in Longhu Mountain to ease somewhat.

Although the position of the new Celestial Master was still undecided, the daily operations of the Celestial Master's residence were unaffected.

Li Qingfeng, the newly appointed "former Celestial Master," had been in closed-door meditation for over ten years.

Everyone had grown somewhat accustomed to the days without a Celestial Master, and at least in the short term, there was no major disruption.

Compared to the past, many things now had clear titles and regulations, both temporary and permanent.

The High Merit Pavilion had been officially established.

Li Song, Li Ziyang, Li Hongyu, Shangguan Ning, Yuan Mobei, and Xu Yuanzhen became the first batch of members.

Tang Xiaotang temporarily attended as an observer, learning by the side, and would gain voting rights later, based on her learning and experience.

Li Zhengxuan, who had lost the Celestial Master Sword, remained in seclusion at the back mountain’s ancestral tomb.

Because of his oversight of disciples, Elder Yao also closed his doors temporarily and did not join the High Merit Pavilion for now.

The Celestial Master’s robe was still temporarily held by Li Hongyu.

The responsibility for managing the Wanfa Altar had fallen to Yuan Mobei.

... While Yuan Mobei claimed he was not the one to become the new Celestial Master, he was fully supported in managing the Wanfa Altar.

Under the leadership of the High Merit Pavilion, Longhu Mountain's post-war tasks were proceeding in an orderly manner.

The senior elders were busy communicating with the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty and other major forces.

They comforted the Tianxu Sect, Zixiao Sect, and other affiliated branches.

They handled the aftermath of deceased and injured disciples.

They opened the Dharma halls to comfort the disaster-stricken common folk.

They began rebuilding the areas damaged in the war.

They monitored and investigated movements in Jiangzhou and the Southern Wilderness.

As for the heavily damaged Yellow Sky Sect, which had not been completely eradicated, the Celestial Master’s residence lacked the resources to pursue them further for now.

They could only track down leads and leave it for later.

In general, Longhu Mountain's surroundings had finally calmed down for the time being.

Everyone could now have a peaceful New Year.

As winter passed and spring came, after the post-war tasks were gradually organized, the new talisman ceremony was finally scheduled.

This was one of the most important ceremonies for the Taoist Talisman Sect, and it was typically held during the Three Yuan Festival.

The Three Yuan Festival is held on the fifteenth day of January, July, and October.

The January fifteenth ceremony was certainly out of the question.

Due to the preparation time and the need for talisman students from all regions to come to Longhu Mountain, the ceremony was postponed to July fifteenth.

As the time approached, the list of talisman students who would participate in the ceremony was gradually revealed.

Lei Jun had expected a large number of names, but Yuan Mobei’s list was much shorter than he anticipated.

"There are a lot of people missing," Lei Jun remarked with curiosity.

Many of the names were unfamiliar, reported by various sect branches from different regions.

It wasn’t that they were unqualified, but many of the "seed" candidates were conspicuously absent.

Lei Jun asked about a few familiar names, "Why isn’t Senior Brother Luo Haoran on the list?"

Yuan Mobei replied calmly, "Zhong Hao mentioned that when you both visited the Blood River Sect's underground palace earlier, he felt guilty about his fellow disciple, Zhong Qing, who was from Xia Shibo's sect. Because of this, Zhong Qing is not participating in this ceremony, and Zhong Hao has voluntarily withdrawn."

Lei Jun asked, "What about Senior Sister Xia Qing?"

Yuan Mobei answered, "It’s reported that Zhong Qing met with Chen Yi this year. While she claims she couldn’t capture Chen Yi, others confirm that they had frequent contact in the past."

Lei Jun said, "... Senior Sister Xia wouldn’t do something like that, right?"

The two of them were part of a well-established familial network, so the relationship wasn’t unusual.

But because of this, Xia Qing was forced to step back from the ceremony and reflect on her actions, ultimately missing the ceremony this year.

It was clear that someone was targeting her.

"Then, what about Senior Brother Li Zhenchang and Senior Brother Chu Andong?" Lei Jun asked next.

Wang Guiyuan responded on Yuan Mobei’s behalf:

"Last year, when the Gu sorcerer from the Southern Wilderness attacked, Senior Brother Li and Senior Brother Chu encountered him and were severely wounded. Upon investigation, it turned out that it was due to Li’s rash actions, so he is in closed-door meditation now and voluntarily withdrew from this year’s ceremony."

"What about Senior Brother Chu?"

"Senior Brother Chu was implicated by the Moon Pavilion’s master. The loss of the Celestial Master Sword was partly connected to this matter. Both the Moon Pavilion’s master and Senior Brother Chu voluntarily expressed that Chu will not participate in this ceremony."

Lei Jun asked, "Surely Senior Brother Fang Jian has no issues, right?"

Though Li Qingfeng had passed away, Fang Jian, as his personal disciple, had worked hard as an intermediary during the Longhu Mountain battle, liaising with the Jingxiang Fang clan and the Celestial Master's residence, earning much merit.

Lei Jun thought there was no way the ceremony would proceed without him.

Wang Guiyuan grimaced, "Actually, there was an issue... Remember when you both went to the Blood River Sect's underground palace? Some disciples reported that the Eight Desolations Blood River Formation they had been trapped in was very close to the place where Fang Mingyuan and Fang Luyu from the Fang family perished. They were attacked and trapped by the formation..."

Although there was no direct evidence, it wasn’t the right time to bring this up... Lei Jun thought.

It had been kept quiet until the selection for the ceremony began, clearly aiming at targeting Fang Jian.

So...

"No external threats from Senior Sister, and now the Li family is back to fighting amongst themselves," Lei Jun commented.

Wang Guiyuan sighed deeply.

He shook his head repeatedly. "How could this happen so soon? The Li family is still united internally, not giving external forces any opportunities, yet they’re already tearing each other apart so quickly? Shouldn’t they be more united, especially now that both the Grandmaster and the Celestial Master Sword are gone?"

Lei Jun wasn’t surprised. "I once read in history books about a dynasty in its final years, already on the brink of collapse, still fighting internally even as foreign forces attacked. I couldn’t understand it at the time.

At first, I thought it was about their greed for power, but later I realized it wasn’t all about that.

Some people probably think like this..."

He shrugged. "The country is about to fall, and only I can save it. You idiots, who are both stupid and malicious, can’t even work together and keep getting in my way. You're no better than traitors."

Wang Guiyuan opened his mouth. "Could this really be the case?"

Lei Jun answered, "The Ziyang Masters and the others will tell themselves that they shouldn’t think or do this, but they can’t help feeling that the others are just getting in their way.

Of course, on the other hand, the High Merit Pavilion’s list really is interesting..."

He turned to Yuan Mobei. "Master, who first proposed the list for the first batch of High Merit members?"

Yuan Mobei glanced at Lei Jun. "Yuanzhen proposed it."

Lei Jun nodded, "That’s truly ruthless."

It seemed like Li Zhengxuan had been left out, but with Tang Xiaotang temporarily not having voting rights, and Xu Yuanzhen often away, most of the time there were actually only five votes in the High Merit Pavilion, and three of them were from the Li family.

Shangguan Ning was mostly neutral.

This illusion of security was not genuine.

Although the Li family seemed to have the advantage, Lei Jun knew, without a doubt, that when the time came, Xu Yuanzhen would have plenty of ways to make life difficult for the Li family.

There’s a saying: "It’s easier to spoil things than to accomplish them."

Xu Yuanzhen may not always get exactly what she wants, but she can certainly prevent others from succeeding.

From what Lei Jun knew of her, he fully suspected she was just waiting for the right moment.

She could even be watching the drama unfold now.

The list of people for the talisman ceremony had been announced, and the internal squabbles among the Li family had nothing to do with Xu Yuanzhen or Yuan Mobei; it was just the Li family fighting after they felt a sense of security.

Fang Jian, though a personal disciple of Li Qingfeng, was now the seed candidate for the Li family faction of Li Zhengxuan and Li Ziyang.

Had Li Ziyang’s second son, Li Ming, not died, he would have had a place too.

Xia Qing was the seed candidate for Li Hongyu's faction.

Chen Yi might have been another, but that no longer mattered.

Li Zhenchang and Chu Andong were candidates for Li Song's faction.

But now, all those contenders were out of the running.

As for Tang Xiaotang, she was a special case.

So now, looking at the list, the remaining candidates were just...

"Me?"

Lei Jun pointed to himself.

Yuan Mobei smiled and nodded.