Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

Lei Jun’s feeling was not wrong.

Indeed, someone on the guest observation platform was watching him.

The Suzhou Chu Clan, also known as the Chu Clan, was one of the Great Tang’s Five Clans and Seven Noble Families.

At the seat representing the Chu Family at the ceremony, a young woman was eyeing the Celestial Master Mansion’s heir down in the altar field with keen interest.

She appeared to be between twenty and thirty years of age, her beauty both breathtaking and unconcealed, stunning in its intensity, but her makeup and attire were elegant and dignified, like a noble lady stepping out of a painting.

She swept her gaze across the new batch of Tao Boys inducted at this Transmission Ceremony, her eyes lingering for a mere extra instant on the boy of about eleven or twelve years old.

Then, her gaze moved on, shifting to observe some of the Celestial Master Mansion’s transmission disciples present at the ceremony.

Her gaze was forthright.

Lei Jun, being watched, noticed, and so did her family member beside her.

"Auntie, is there something special about that young Taoist?" the Chu Clan youth next to her asked quietly.

The woman answered offhandedly, "Yuan Mobai took only two disciples in total, and he’s one of them. Xu Yuanzhen also only brought back two people to Dragon Tiger Mountain for cultivation, and he’s among them."

The youth turned his head and also looked at Lei Jun, "Is that the one called Lei Jun? Worth watching, but honestly, I don’t see anything especially outstanding about him, except he’s got a Spiritual Body root bone."

The woman said, "In terms of judgement, do you think I trust Xu Yuanzhen and Yuan Mobai, or you?"

The young man gave a bitter smile.

Still, despite her words, the woman’s eyes did move away from Lei Jun, going to look at the other Celestial Master Mansion disciples.

The Chu youth said, "I still think that of Lei Jun’s cohort, the one with the most potential is that boy named Chen Yi."

He gestured to the woman, "Auntie, that one over there."

The woman glanced over, "Mm, Yao Laosi’s disciple."

......

Although everyone had been let down by the Celestial Master just before, the atmosphere adjusted quickly, and this Transmission Ceremony was still carried out to perfection.

*...After all, for four ceremonies in a row, everyone had gotten used to this sort of thing.*

For most, the hottest topic at this year’s Transmission Ceremony was that the Young Celestial Master, Li Zhengxuan, had finally begun to take disciples.

Before this, quite a few of his peers had already accepted students of their own.

Lei Jun, Wang Guiyuan, and others all had collaterally-branch disciples or "junior-uncles" of the same sect but with different inheritances.

But the Young Celestial Master taking his first disciple still drew everyone’s eyes, both within and outside the Mansion.

Yet, none of this had much to do with Lei Jun, who simply stuck close to his own master, Yuan Mobai, and dutifully followed the ceremony steps.

Compared to his fellow disciples, he paid more attention to the guests observing at this ceremony.

After the ceremony ended, Luo Haoran remarked, "Someone came from Pure Yang Palace, too."

Lei Jun turned and saw Brother Luo wearing an expression tinged with some emotion.

Luo Haoran smiled, "I’m from the South myself, but when I was a child, I almost went to Guanlong to stay with distant relatives. Childhood in Guanlong meant dreaming of the Pure Yang Fairy Palace on Zhongnan Mountain—I heard about it many times from those distant cousins."

Lei Jun nodded.

Celestial Master Mansion.

Pure Yang Palace.

Mount Shu.

These three were called the Taoist Sect’s three great sacred lands in this world.

The Pure Yang Palace had always been the ancestral court and holy ground for the Taoist Dan Ding Sect’s cultivators, standing alongside Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Celestial Master Mansion for years.

Though called the Alchemy Cauldron Sect, ironically, they seldom practiced External Alchemy, instead taking themselves as the Cauldron Furnace, cultivating both life and nature, refining body and soul equally, transforming their own essence, qi, and spirit into pills. Hence they were also called the Inner Alchemy Sect or the Golden Core Sect.

Conversely, the Celestial Master Mansion—the ancestral home of the Talisman Sect—actually practiced more External Alchemy.

So, even though both sprang from the Taoist tradition, their cultivation paths diverged greatly.

During the First Heaven Layer, when refining qi, things were still about the same for everyone.

But from Foundation Establishment at the Second Heaven Layer onward, the differences became apparent.

Though called Foundation Establishment Realm in both places, for Celestial Master Mansion disciples that meant constructing a virtual Tao Foundation Altar, preparing to build their dharma platform.

For Pure Yang Palace disciples, Foundation Establishment meant condensing a virtual Alchemy Cauldron.

By the Third Heaven Layer, Celestial Master Mansion disciples would build a virtual three-tiered Dharma Altar upon their altar field, establishing the foundation for writing their own Original Talisman at the Fourth Layer of Heaven.

At the Pure Yang Palace, the third boundary for Alchemy Cauldron disciples was called Cauldron Furnace, combining the virtual cauldron with a virtual pill furnace, letting the two become one, using it to refine great medicine inside and prepare for condensing the Golden Core at the Fourth Layer of Heaven.

As for the relationship between these two holy lands of the Taoist Sect, that was considerably more complicated.

On one hand, they were both part of the Taoist Sect, sharing external pressure from the Confucian and Buddhist sects.

On the other hand, precisely because they were both holy lands, there was a measure of rivalry and friction between them.

Especially after the Li Family successively inherited the Celestial Master title.

Calling them "all smiles, secretly estranged, love-hate relationship" would be exaggerating, but they certainly were not united in spirit and affection.

In the past, the Pure Yang Palace usually sent guests only when the Celestial Master personally presided over the Talisman-bestowed Ceremony.

This year, to have a special envoy come for the Transmission Ceremony was genuinely rare.

Officially, the commonly assumed reason was that the Young Celestial Master, Li Zhengxuan, had finally taken his first disciple.

Privately, the most widespread theory was that the Current Celestial Master’s long seclusion was the cause.

Besides Pure Yang Palace, this year’s Transmission Ceremony featured other high-profile guests: an official representative of the Great Tang Dynasty, along with two prominent families known for their relatively cordial ties to the Celestial Master Mansion.

The Fang Clan of Jingxiang.

The Chu Clan of Suzhou.

Both among the Great Tang’s Five Surnames and Seven Noble Families.

The Chu Clan’s representative this time was a young woman.

After the ceremony, she greeted Supreme Elder Li Song from the Celestial Master Mansion, "Before I left, my father bade me to send his regards."

Li Song smiled, "Elder Chu is far too polite."

Lei Jun stood behind his master, Yuan Mobai, watching that elegant and alluring young woman, and felt fairly certain it was she who had been observing him earlier.

After all, her gaze earlier had been much too direct.

"Chu Yu."

Yuan Mobai smiled as he made introductions, "Elder Chu’s youngest daughter, apple of his eye, known as the Moon Chamber Master.

She was renowned as the brightest talent in the South before coming of age, and when she visited the capital, all of Great Tang took notice."

Lei Jun nodded slightly.

The Suzhou Chu Clan was a famous family founded on Confucian Studies.

In the cultivation world, "brightest talent" meant an unrivaled aptitude for Confucian cultivation, dazzling the entire Chu Clan and even all of Great Tang.

Fang Jian, the Celestial Master’s fourth personal disciple, also stepped forward to greet her as soon as he saw her, "Auntie."

The top noble families of Great Tang often intermarried.

Fang Jian’s mother came from the Chu Clan.

There were quite a few marquees at this year’s event, so Yuan Mobai, Li Song, Li Zhengxuan and others remained busy even after the ceremony, entertaining their important guests.

*Thanks to having read plenty of novels back on Blue Star before transmigrating, Lei Jun had a hunch what was coming when he saw Pure Yang Palace’s elder bring several disciples along as observers.*

First came a round of mutual praise between Pure Yang Palace and Celestial Master Mansion.

Fang and Chu families happily chimed in on the sidelines.

Finally, the real show arrived, as always.

The two Taoist holy lands, as usual, ended up putting young disciples’ skills to the test against one another.

As soon as the ceremony ended, Yuan Mobai, this year’s host, put on a little demonstration, refining a spirit pill on the spot to reward whichever disciple from either sect performed best.

"It’s been a long time since I did this myself—even my own cauldron furnace is gathering dust. Better borrow one from the Great Elixir Room."

Yuan Mobai instructed Lei Jun, "Chongyun, go to the Great Elixir Room and the Medicinal Garden and fetch me a Jiji Furnace and some spiritual medicines."

He smiled at Lei Jun, "But since opportunities to spar with the Pure Yang Palace’s elite are rare, do you want to give it a try?"

Before Lei Jun could reply, the light orb in his mind flared up again, and words emerged:

[Exchange and competition, using pills as stakes, the order of steps unclear, and the changes between fortune and misfortune unpredictable.]

Immediately, three lots flew out from within:

[Moderately good lot, do not participate in the exchange and competition, instead fetch alchemy equipment from the Great Elixir Room first, gain a Sixth-Rank Opportunity, with no future worries, auspicious.]

[Perfectly neutral lot, participate in the exchange and competition, if victorious, obtain a Seventh-Rank Opportunity, but drawing attention and causing hidden backlash, neutral.]

[Moderately unlucky lot, do not participate in the exchange and competition, fetch herbs from the Medicinal Garden first, but accidentally expose a secret, arousing suspicion, planting hidden trouble, inauspicious.]

Lei Jun silently read his lot’s fortune, curious inside.

*Both the moderately good lot and moderately unlucky lot mentioned doing something "first" this time.*

*It seemed the difference lay right there.*

*Was the timing and order really that important?*