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Chapter 43: The Young Aunt
Chapter 43: The Young Aunt
Lei Jun's instincts were correct.
Among the guests in the viewing gallery, someone was indeed observing him.
The Suzhou Chus, also known as the Chu Clan, were one of the five surnames and seven aristocratic families of the Great Tang Dynasty.
Seated among the representatives of the Chu family was a young woman, curiously scrutinizing the Heavenly Master's Mansion successor in the purification ritual arena below.
She appeared to be in her twenties or thirties, with a stunning beauty that was bold and striking, yet her makeup and attire were elegant and dignified, resembling a noble lady straight out of a painting.
With a sweeping glance, she surveyed the new initiates of this Grand Initiation Ceremony, her gaze lingering momentarily on the eleven or twelve-year-old boy.
Then, the young woman's gaze shifted, turning her attention to some of the other initiates of the Heavenly Master's Mansion.
Her stare was unabashed.
Lei Jun, the object of her observation, noticed, and so did the members of the Chu Clan who had accompanied her.
"Young Aunt," a young man from the Chu Clan whispered, "is there something special about that young Taoist priest?"
The woman casually replied, "Yuan Mo Bai only took on two disciples, and he is one of them. Xu Yuan Zhen also only guided two people back to Longhu Mountain to embark on the Taoist path, and he was one of them."
The young man turned to look at Lei Jun as well. "The one named Lei Jun? He's worth keeping an eye on, but I must admit I can't see anything extraordinary about him. I just remember that he has a spiritual body and root bone."
The woman asked, "In terms of insight, who do you think I should trust, Xu Yuan Zhen, Yuan Mo Bai, or you?"
The young man smiled bitterly.
Despite his words, the woman's gaze moved away from Lei Jun and onto the other disciples of the Heavenly Master's Mansion.
The young man from the Chu Clan continued, "I still believe that among Lei Jun's group, the one with the most potential is that boy named Chen Yi."
He gestured to the woman, "Young Aunt, he's over there."
"Hmm, Yao Lao Si's disciple," the woman remarked after a brief glance.
............
Although everyone had been stood up by the Heavenly Master earlier, the Grand Initiation Ceremony proceeded smoothly after they adjusted their mindset.
...After all, this had been the case for the past four consecutive ceremonies.
For most people, the biggest highlight of this year's Grand Initiation Ceremony was the fact that the Young Heavenly Master, Li Zheng Xuan, finally accepted disciples.
In fact, quite a few peers had already taken on disciples before this.
Lei Jun, Wang Gui Yuan, and the others had a fair number of junior cousins from different branches of their sect.
However, the Young Heavenly Master's initiation of his first disciple still attracted attention from within and outside the Mansion.
But these matters had little to do with Lei Jun. He honestly followed his master, Yuan Mo Bai, and went through the ceremony step by step.
Compared to his fellow disciples, he was more interested in the guests who had come to observe the ceremony.
After the ceremony concluded, Luo Han Ran, standing nearby, said, "Someone from the Pure Yang Palace has also come."
Lei Jun turned to look at him and saw a hint of emotion in his senior martial brother's expression.
Luo Han Ran smiled and said, "I'm from the Jiangnan region, but when I was a child, I almost went to Guanzhong to join my distant relatives. Most children in Guanzhong yearn for the Pure Yang Immortal Palace on Mount Zhongnan. I've also heard my distant relatives mention it."
Lei Jun nodded.
The Heavenly Master's Mansion.
Pure Yang Palace.
Shu Mountain.
These were the three great sacred sites of the Taoist world.
The Pure Yang Palace had always been the holy ancestral court for the Dan Ding lineage of Taoism. Over the years, it had been renowned alongside the Heavenly Master's Mansion on Longhu Mountain.
Known as the Dan Ding sect, they actually refined fewer external elixirs and focused more on using their own bodies as crucibles, cultivating both their physical bodies and spiritual souls, refining their essence, qi, and spirit into a dan, hence the name Internal Elixir sect or Golden Elixir sect.
On the other hand, the Heavenly Master's Mansion, the ancestral court of the Fu Lu sect, refined more external elixirs.
Thus, although they belonged to the same Taoist lineage, their cultivation methods differed significantly.
At the First Tier of Qi Refinement, their practices were still somewhat similar.
However, from the Second Tier of Foundation Establishment onwards, the differences became apparent.
While both sects referred to this stage as Foundation Establishment, the disciples of the Heavenly Master's Mansion established their foundations by constructing illusory Dao foundation altars to prepare for the setup of ritual altars.
In contrast, the disciples of the Pure Yang Palace established their foundations by condensing virtual elixir cauldrons.
By the Third Tier, the disciples of the Heavenly Master's Mansion constructed three-layered ritual altars in their altar fields, preparing to inscribe their primordial symbols at the Fourth Tier.
Meanwhile, at the Pure Yang Palace, the Third Tier of the Dan Ding sect was known as Cauldron Furnace, where they combined the virtual elixir cauldron with a virtual furnace, unifying them to refine great medicines internally in preparation for the Fourth Tier of Golden Core formation.
As for the relationship between these two sacred sites, it was a bit more intricate.
On one hand, they were both part of the Taoist sect, standing united against the influences of Confucianism and Buddhism.
On the other hand, precisely because they were both eminent Taoist sites, there was a degree of competition and friction between them, especially after the Li family had consecutively inherited the position of Celestial Master.
To say that they were "united in name only, loving and killing each other" would be an exaggeration, but they certainly weren't like-minded allies, sharing a deep bond.
In the past, the Pure Yang Palace would usually send guests to observe the initiation ceremony only when the Celestial Master himself presided over the bestowal of the registers.
It was quite unusual for them to send a representative to congratulate them on the ceremony this year.
On the surface, outsiders speculated that the reason for this unusual gesture was the Young Celestial Master Li Zheng Xuan's decision to finally accept disciples.
However, behind closed doors, the most popular guess was that it had something to do with the current Celestial Master's prolonged seclusion.
In addition to the Pure Yang Palace, there were other notable guests at this year's initiation ceremony, including representatives from the Great Tang Imperial Court and two prominent aristocratic families who maintained relatively friendly relations with the Celestial Master's Mansion - the Jingxiang Fang family and the Suzhou Chu family, both of whom were among the five surnames and seven aristocratic families of the Great Tang Dynasty.
The representative from the Chu family was a young woman.
After the grand ceremony, she greeted the eldest elder of the Celestial Master's Mansion, Li Song, with polite respect: "My father sends his regards and asks me to convey his greetings to you."
Li Song smiled and replied, "Old Chu from the State of Chu is too kind."
Standing behind his master, Yuan Mo Bai, Lei Jun observed the graceful and elegant young woman, almost certain that she had been the one watching him earlier.
After all, her gaze had been unapologetically direct.
"Chu Yu," Yuan Mo Bai introduced with a smile. "She is the youngest daughter of Old Chu from the State of Chu, a beloved child born in his later years, and the master of the Moon Pavilion.
Even before she came of age, she was renowned as the number one talented woman in Jiangnan, and her name shook the entire Great Tang Dynasty when she traveled to the capital."
Lei Jun nodded slightly.
The Suzhou Chu family was one of the most prominent families in the realm of Confucian scholarship.
In the cultivation world, the title of 'number one talented woman' meant that her talent in Confucian cultivation was unparalleled, astonishing not only the Chu family but the entire Great Tang Dynasty.
One of the four direct disciples of the Celestial Master, Fang Jian, who was also related to the Chu family by marriage, greeted the young woman respectfully: "Aunt."
The top aristocratic families in the Great Tang often intermarried.
Fang Jian's mother was a member of the Chu family.
With many notable guests in attendance this year, Yuan Mo Bai, Li Song, Li Zheng Xuan, and the others were kept busy even after the ceremony, tending to these important guests.
Thanks to the many novels he had read on Earth before his transmigration, Lei Jun had a certain premonition when he saw the elder from the Pure Yang Palace arrive with several disciples in tow.
First, the Pure Yang Palace and the Celestial Master's Mansion began exchanging pleasantries and boasting about their respective disciples.
The Fang and Chu families, happy to stir the pot, egged them on.
And then, as expected, the final act arrived.
As the two great Taoist sites chatted, the topic eventually turned to their young disciples and the idea of having them engage in friendly competition and exchange.
The grand ceremony had just concluded, and as the host of this year's event, Yuan Mo Bai demonstrated his skill by refining a spiritual pill, which he then awarded to the outstanding disciples of the two sects.
"It's been a while since I last did this. Our ding furnaces must be covered in dust by now. Let's get one from the Grand Elixir Chamber instead."
Yuan Mo Bai instructed Lei Jun, "Heavy Cloud, go to the Grand Elixir Chamber and the Herb Garden to get a Ji Ji Furnace and some spiritual herbs for me."
He smiled at Lei Jun, "However, the opportunity to exchange with the top disciples of the Pure Yang Palace is a rare one. How about you give it a try as well?"
Before Lei Jun could answer, the light sphere in his mind lit up once more, and words appeared:
> Exchanging and competing with others, using pills as tokens of appreciation, the sequence of steps is difficult to discern, leading to ambiguous fortunes and misfortunes.
Three lots flew out from the sphere:
> Upper-Middle Lot: Do not participate in the exchange and competition. Go to the Grand Elixir Chamber to obtain pill refinement tools first. Obtain a sixth-grade opportunity, free from worries. Auspicious.
> Middle Lot: Participate in the exchange and competition. Victory will bring a seventh-grade opportunity, but it will also attract attention and hidden troubles. Neutral.
> Lower-Middle Lot: Do not participate in the exchange and competition. Go to the Herb Garden to gather herbs first. You will stumble upon a hidden situation, inviting suspicion and future troubles. Inauspicious.
Lei Jun silently read the lots, his curiosity piqued.
Both the upper-middle lot and the lower-middle lot mentioned the concept of 'first'.
The difference seemed to lie in the timing and sequence.
Was the order of events that important?
(End of Chapter)
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