https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-24-24-Seizing-Opportunities-and-Setting-Traps/12586146/
Chapter 25: A Trap that Could Cost You Your Life
Chapter 25: A Trap that Could Cost You Your Life
With the mist and clouds obstructing his vision and senses, Li Ming couldn't confirm the truth of Lei Jun's words from a distance.
He searched the area around the Middle Immortal Pool but found no trace of Chen Yi.
What Li Ming didn't know was that while he was inspecting the Upper Immortal Pool, Lei Jun and Chen Yi had both gone to the topmost cloud layer.
At this moment, with Chen Yi nowhere to be found in either the Upper or Middle Immortal Pools, Li Ming began to doubt Lei Jun's words.
If it had just been Lei Jun's word, Li Ming would have been more suspicious than believing.
But then he thought of something else.
That boy Chen seemed to have deep fortunes in recent years and often encountered wonders.
Perhaps he possessed some kind of divine ability, and maybe he had discovered something special in the Lower Immortal Pool?
Li Ming made up his mind at this thought.
He turned to look at Lei Jun, who was still cultivating obliviously, and thought to himself that there would be plenty of opportunities in the future to trim this branch that might grow crooked.
Li Ming quietly left the Middle Immortal Pool and descended to the Lower Immortal Pool.
The spiritual energy in the water here was relatively thin and couldn't provide the same cleansing benefits as the Middle Immortal Pool.
But as Li Ming dove deeper, he indeed discovered an unexpected harvest.
"Hot crystal sand? There's actually hot crystal sand in the Lower Immortal Pool?"
Li Ming found some rare spiritual objects at the bottom of the lake, things he himself didn't know existed in the Lower Immortal Pool.
The Cloud Sea Immortal Pools were ever-changing in spiritual energy, causing the pool water to give birth to unexpected changes as well. Li Ming couldn't guess the reason for the hot crystal sand's appearance, but seeing these spiritual objects, he understood why Chen Yi had come down here.
That boy indeed had an uncanny ability to discover opportunities and treasures that others couldn't perceive.
Where had he gone now?
Li Ming observed the depths of the lake, looking left and right.
Although he had no intention of taking action against Chen Yi himself, he wanted to find out the secrets Chen Yi possessed and then make his plans accordingly.
Thus, Li Ming continued to dive to the bottom of the Lower Immortal Pool, searching for Chen Yi's whereabouts.
...
In the Middle Immortal Pool, Lei Jun sensed Li Ming's departure but didn't follow. He calmly continued his cultivation in the pool water.
Everyone had seen that if Li Ming went to the Lower Immortal Pool, it was his own choice.
Now, the stage was given back to those who loved to perform.
A show was about to begin, and it would prove who the real actor was.
Turning away from the stage, the actor displayed his integrity.
Lei Jun breathed calmly and cultivated, nourishing his Dao foundation.
As the circulation of spiritual power and spiritual force in his body gradually stabilized and balanced, he opened his eyes, and his upper body surfaced.
Lei Jun moved his fingers, and a spirit talisman appeared.
On the yellow paper with its red talisman, a layer of frost had formed.
Lei Jun twisted his fingers, feeling the frost's chill, and a light bulb flashed in his mind.
[Mist Curling Cloud Crystal].
He recalled seeing this name in the sect's ancient texts.
Once, a disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion had collected this spiritual object in the Cloud Sea Immortal Pools, but it had only happened once, and it was several hundred years ago.
The Cloud Sea Immortal Pools were ever-changing, and the spiritual objects formed were equally diverse. Over the millennia, there were probably several hundred types, most of which had only appeared once or twice, rarely repeating.
Because there were too many factors affecting the small cave heaven's spiritual energy, it was difficult for the sect elders to consistently recreate these treasures.
Mist Curling Cloud Crystal was one of the few outstanding products among the myriad of possibilities.
According to the records, it could help a cultivator at the Second Tier Foundation Establishment to more easily break through the heavenly moat and reach the Third Tier Law Forum.
"A nice item, just what I need, although not immediately."
Lei Jun nodded slightly and carefully put away the spirit talisman that had collected the Mist Curling Cloud Crystal.
With today's nourishment from the Cloud Sea Immortal Pools, he should be able to quickly advance to the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment.
However, after that, he would still need to progress from the middle stage to the peak, and then from the peak to the perfection stage.
Only then would he consider climbing from the perfection stage to the Third Tier Law Forum.
For now, he would lay the foundation for the next two steps and continue to work hard at his cultivation... Lei Jun's mind returned to peace, and he continued to quietly cultivate, nourishing his body.
After an unknown amount of time, a disturbance in his spiritual sense alerted him to someone's approach.
Lei Jun turned his head toward a particular direction.
After a few breaths, the clouds and mist parted, and a young boy walked out.
The boy, like Lei Jun, wore an apricot-yellow Daoist robe, and he looked about four or five years younger than Lei Jun.
"Senior Brother Lei?" The newcomer asked, sounding slightly surprised.
The young Daoist who had approached was named Shangguan Hong, a disciple of Elder Shangguan, Lei Jun's fifth grand-shifu.
In terms of when they entered the Daoist Academy, this young boy had actually entered a little earlier.
However, since they had all taken the same initiation ceremony together, their official entry into the sect was considered simultaneous, and since Lei Jun was older, Shangguan Hong politely addressed him as senior brother.
Lei Jun asked, "Shangguan Shidi?"
Shangguan Hong replied, "I wanted to try out the different lakes around the Middle Immortal Pool, so I'm just wandering around to test them out. Apologies for disturbing you, Senior Brother Lei."
Lei Jun shook his head. "No trouble at all. Feel free to do as you please."
"Thank you, Senior Brother Lei." Shangguan Hong immersed himself in the small lake, allowing the water of the immortal pool to refine his body.
As he glanced at Lei Jun, whom he had coincidentally encountered, a curiosity grew within him.
Among those who entered the Cloud Sea Immortal Pools today, aside from Li Ming and Fang Jian, who had special circumstances, Lei Jun was the oldest at twenty years old.
Li Ying, Chen Yi, Guo Yan, and Shangguan Hong himself were all only around fifteen or sixteen years old.
In the perception of people in this world, a fifteen-year-old cultivator at the twelfth layer of Qi Refining possessed far greater talent and future potential than a twenty-year-old cultivator at the same level.
A fifteen-year-old Foundation Establishment cultivator would also likely have a much brighter future than a twenty-year-old at the same stage.
However, there was a problem here.
According to rumors, Lei Jun had only joined the sect and started his cultivation journey about two years ago.
Two years—to progress from a complete beginner to successfully establishing one's foundation was an entirely different concept.
Shangguan Hong quietly observed Lei Jun, who acted as if he didn't notice.
However, Lei Jun's mind had already flashed with information about his junior brother:
Shangguan Hong, his master Elder Shangguan, was also his maternal aunt.
Shangguan Hong was not merely riding on his connections; even back in the Daoist Academy, he had been renowned as a young genius.
Shangguan Hong's reputation as a genius stemmed from his exceptional comprehension rather than his root bones.
Compared to root bones, comprehension was a less clear-cut metric, but the cultivation world of this world still categorized cultivators' comprehension into different grades.
In Lei Jun's case, before he awakened the Potential Dragon Spirit Body, the Daoist Academy had always assessed him as having mediocre root bones but commendable comprehension.
Compared to Lei Jun's initially average root bones, his comprehension was considered at least middle-upper tier, and some instructors believed he possessed top-grade comprehension.
Li Ying and Chen Yi were also assessed as having top-grade comprehension.
Above the basic five tiers of root bones were spirit bodies, sacred bodies, and even divine bodies.
Above the basic five tiers of comprehension were superior, lucid, and serene, indicating even higher levels of comprehension.
Shangguan Hong was a young genius who possessed top-grade root bones and superior comprehension.
Although his progress was slightly delayed after the initiation ceremony, he still managed to successfully establish his foundation before the opening of the Cloud Sea Immortal Pools.
As for his family background, it was even more extraordinary.
The Shangguan clan was a meritorious family that had contributed to the founding of the Great Tang Dynasty, and their close relationship with the royal family had produced numerous imperial in-laws.
They were both a noble family and an imperial in-law family.
They even surpassed the usual meanings of those terms.
Not only was there a lack of suspicion between the Great Tang royal family and the Shangguan clan, but the majority of the time, they were as close as one entity, sharing the same roots.
According to the information Lei Jun had heard so far, the relationship between these two families seemed similar to that of Cao and Xiahou from a certain period in Blue Star's history.
In terms of blood relations, Elder Shangguan, one of the former Celestial Master's five personal disciples, and Shangguan Hong, who stood before him, were actually distantly related to the current royal family of the Tang Court.
The fact that they had both become personal disciples of the Celestial Master was something that easily invited speculation...
"Ah!"
Just as Lei Jun and Shangguan Hong were chatting, a painful cry suddenly rang out from above the immortal pools.
Lei Jun looked up.
(End of Chapter)
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