https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-93-A-Second-Rank-Opportunity-the-Celestial-Master-s-Seal-Dedicated-to-Flying-Zhu-Yupapa/12586373/
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Chapter 94: A Trial for the Li Family
Chapter 94: A Trial for the Li Family
The Heavenly Master's Sword, lost?
Lei Jun was taken aback by this revelation.
Regarding the Heavenly Master's Seal, whether it was gained or lost, he had always been somewhat prepared for it.
But the news about the Heavenly Master's Sword came as a complete surprise to him.
If Lei Jun was astonished, then the other disciples of the Heavenly Master's Mansion were even more so.
Especially from their perspective, with the early disappearance of the Heavenly Master's Seal, the loss of the Heavenly Master's Sword now was a major event comparable to the fall of the current Heavenly Master, Li Qingfeng!
Everyone was stunned, their eyes fixed on Elder Xin.
The old Taoist priest in front had realized his mistake as soon as he spoke.
Elder Xin himself was so shocked that he couldn't help but let the words slip out, for the group of junior disciples to overhear.
At this moment, he quickly coughed, "Oh, this old man's eyes must be failing him. The Heavenly Master's Sword returned to the mountain with Zheng Xuan. It's just that he's a bit heavily wounded and will need to recuperate in the mountains for some time."
Lei Jun and the others exchanged glances upon hearing this.
Elder Xin maintained a calm expression as he scanned the group.
Everyone immediately straightened their faces and nodded, "Yes, yes..."
But only they knew what they were really thinking.
In fact, Elder Xin was just trying to calm down the eight junior disciples in front of him.
The worry in his heart was heavier than anyone else's.
Just as Lei Jun and the others were beginning to calm down, someone suddenly arrived at the forbidden area of the ancestral mausoleum in the back mountain.
Lei Jun and the others couldn't see who it was.
But Elder Xin's eyes flickered slightly, as if he had received some kind of notification.
He remained calm and instructed Lei Jun and the other young disciples that there was no need to gather here anymore, and they should go about their usual tasks of cleaning and patrolling the back mountain.
Lei Jun had some speculations, but he kept his expression neutral and went on the mountain patrol with his fellow disciples.
After everyone left, Elder Xin hurried to the Taoist temple where the statues and spirit tablets of the ancestors were enshrined.
Someone was already there.
It was the Young Heavenly Master, Li Zheng Xuan.
"Elder Xin." The eldest senior brother of the Heavenly Master's Mansion appeared calm and composed, his face expressionless.
Elder Xin's heart skipped a beat.
It was a good thing that Li Zheng Xuan had the inner peace to remain calm in the face of a major event.
But the fact that he had come straight to the forbidden area of the ancestral mausoleum upon his return made the ominous signs in Elder Xin's heart even more pronounced.
Earlier, it was probably not his imagination...
"This disciple has something to report to the ancestors and hopes to rely on their divine power."
Li Zheng Xuan said calmly, "Please ask Elder Xin to protect this disciple and lend me a helping hand."
Elder Xin's body swayed slightly upon hearing this.
The Heavenly Master's Sword was truly lost!
Li Zheng Xuan intended to borrow the power of the ancestral spirits to try and locate the Heavenly Master's Sword.
Similar incidents had occurred numerous times over the years when the Heavenly Master's Seal was lost, and the Mansion had conducted many such rituals.
Now that the Heavenly Master's position was vacant, the Grand Law Assembly could not be opened temporarily, and relying on the spiritual essence of the ancestral mausoleum was the last resort.
............
Lei Jun and the other young disciples were patrolling the mountains when suddenly, a purple bolt of lightning shot into the sky from the forbidden area in the back mountain, piercing through the clouds above.
As the rolling thunder snakes rumbled, they spread out in all four directions.
Lei Jun and the others stopped in their tracks and looked up, "Is there a senior elder in the Mansion performing a grand ritual to worship the ancestors?"
After a long while, everyone lowered their gaze.
They looked at each other.
No one spoke.
Suddenly, the scene fell silent.
After a moment of eye contact, everyone naturally averted their gazes and looked elsewhere, as if they had come to a silent agreement.
After a long time, the lightning that pierced the heavens and the earth subsided, and the back mountain returned to peace.
A deep purple thundercloud flew out of Longhu Mountain once again.
Lei Jun and the others dispersed, leaving only him and Wang Guyuan.
The two fellow disciples, who shared the same master, watched as the deep purple thundercloud flew towards the mountains. Wang Guyuan sighed, "Unbelievable. We haven't found the Heavenly Master's Seal yet, and now the Heavenly Master's Sword is lost as well."
Lei Jun: "...Mm."
Wang Guyuan's expression turned slightly worried, "That's Big Brother, isn't it? I wonder if he received any guidance from the forbidden area of the ancestral mausoleum. Will he be able to find the Heavenly Master's Sword on this trip?"
Lei Jun: "Regardless, I hope we can find the Heavenly Master's Sword."
If they couldn't find it, then the one who would suffer bad luck wouldn't just be Big Brother Li Zheng Xuan.
The entire Heavenly Master's Mansion might be affected.
In fact, up to this point, the Heavenly Master's Mansion had not yet fallen into the worst-case scenario.
With the fall of the current Heavenly Master, Li Qingfeng, the Lin Clan's leader had also perished.
The Jiangzhou Lin Clan, which had also temporarily lost its leader, attracted even more attention from the world, giving the Heavenly Master's Mansion some breathing room from external pressure.
Although, apart from their old rival Huang Tian Dao, the South Wilderness Witch Gate and the Great Elder of the Vajra Temple, Dragon Jia, had also appeared one after another, but overall, the Heavenly Master's Mansion had stabilized the situation.
For Longhu Mountain, which had lost its current Heavenly Master, this was already a blessing in disguise.
...Until today, when the Heavenly Master's Sword was lost.
It was common knowledge that in just over a hundred years, the Heavenly Master's Mansion had undergone two large-scale internal strife.
Not counting Li Qingfeng in this incident, two Heavenly Masters had already been lost in the previous internal strife.
Going further back, the elders of two or three generations ago were almost completely wiped out, leaving only Li Song as the sole survivor.
Even if you count those who split off to join Huang Tian Dao, there would only be one more, Yu Qingling.
Whether it was the Heavenly Master's Mansion or Huang Tian Dao, in the past few decades, they had been relying entirely on the middle-aged generation to hold up the fort.
For Longhu Mountain, this was no longer just a matter of losing face; their very foundation had been severely damaged.
No wonder Lei Jun had sighed when Yuan Mobai recounted the past, feeling that it was truly remarkable that the Heavenly Master's Mansion had endured to this day.
Undoubtedly, the Heavenly Master's Seal, Sword, and Robe, along with the Grand Law Assembly, played a crucial role in their survival. Their abundant resources and tenacious resilience helped them weather the storm.
Credit was also due to the Tang imperial family, who balanced the various factions and mediated the situation.
Furthermore, the world was experiencing a flourishing cultivation era with abundant spiritual energy, and the new generation of the Heavenly Master's Mansion was exceptionally talented.
Perhaps Heaven was compensating for the severe loss of their vitality in the past, as an unprecedented number of geniuses and freaks emerged within the young disciples of the Heavenly Master's Mansion.
Xu Yuanzhen.
Li Zhengxuan.
Tang Xiaotang.
In just a few decades, the Heavenly Master's Mansion produced three experts who had ascended to the Three Heavens, an achievement unparalleled by any other sect in the Tang Dynasty.
These outstanding individuals helped fill the gaps in the upper echelons of the sect, making their leadership appear less fragile.
The stability the Heavenly Master's Mansion enjoyed after the death of the current Heavenly Master, Li Qingfeng, was inseparable from the emergence of these talented youngsters.
However, the situation became delicate once again with the loss of the Heavenly Master's Seal, followed by the disappearance of the Heavenly Master's Sword.
...It might spark unexpected desires in others.
"How are Master Uncle Xin and Master Ziyang doing? It seems they're fine, but I wonder if they're defending against external enemies or also searching for the Heavenly Master's Sword," Lei Jun asked.
Wang Guyuan smiled bitterly, "Yes, the fact that Senior Brother Li still has the time and peace of mind to return to the mountain temporarily indicates that Master Uncle Song and Master Ziyang are able to stabilize the current situation for now."
What worried them now was the possibility of further changes in the situation.
For Lei Jun, worrying about these things wasn't very helpful.
The Heavenly Master's Seal seemed to have fused with his soul, and he couldn't drive it away or separate from it. It was like trying to put out a fire with distant water.
If he wanted to be optimistic and find something beneficial to him personally, he could at least confirm one thing: even a highly accomplished elder like Li Zhengxuan hadn't been able to detect the Heavenly Master's Seal while they were in the ancestral mausoleum.
This suggested that it was highly likely that others wouldn't be able to discover it once they left the mausoleum.
Of course, this wasn't certain and required further verification.
But Lei Jun had no intention of testing it for the time being, choosing instead to remain quietly in the forbidden area of the ancestral mausoleum in the back mountain.
Elder Xin, startled and distracted, had let the news slip, and now he also didn't want a group of young disciples to spread the word further, so he instructed Lei Jun and the others to stay in the back mountain temporarily.
Wang Guyuan had no objections to this arrangement.
After all, when it came to finding a safe place within the Heavenly Master's Mansion, the ancestral mausoleum in the back mountain was undoubtedly one of the best choices, if not the very best.
Fortunately, the situation didn't deteriorate any further.
Two pieces of good news arrived almost simultaneously:
First, the mysterious expert who had ambushed and assassinated the Heavenly Master, Li Qingfeng, did not reappear, and the eldest senior sister, Xu Yuanzhen, finally returned to the vicinity of Longhu Mountain.
As soon as she arrived, she confronted the Yellow Heaven Sect's leader, Taiping Daoist, who was fighting with Li Hongyu.
Yin Fire Tiger against Yin Fire Tiger.
Fate Star God against Fate Star God.
Xu Yuanzhen decisively defeated Taiping Daoist, injuring him and forcing him to flee.
At that moment, Xu Yuanzhen and Li Hongyu were pursuing Taiping Daoist.
The second piece of good news was that another high-ranking member of the Yellow Heaven Sect, Elder Yu Qingling, had also been severely injured and was on the run! Elder Li Song of the Heavenly Master's Mansion was in pursuit.
The news spread like wildfire throughout Longhu Mountain, lifting the spirits of everyone, even those in the forbidden area of the ancestral mausoleum in the back mountain, where Elder Xin and the disciples were stationed. The heavy burden on their minds seemed to lighten.
"We can more or less guess how the Heavenly Master's Sword was lost," Wang Guyuan sighed as he and Lei Jun spent time together.
Lei Jun nodded slightly.
The battle for the Heavenly Master's Seal had involved multiple parties, resulting in fierce competition and a chaotic scene.
However, overall, the Heavenly Master's Mansion had the upper hand with the presence of three top experts: Li Song, Li Zhengxuan, and Li Ziyang. Their combined strength was formidable.
With the loss of the Heavenly Master's Seal, and even before that, Suzhou's Chu tribe, including Chu Yu, was on their side.
Seeing that the Heavenly Master's Seal was gone and that there was no longer an opportunity to fish in troubled waters, Long Jia Shangren didn't persist in his alliance with Yu Qingling, choosing not to fight the Heavenly Master's Mansion to the bitter end.
Yu Qingling's situation suddenly became precarious.
However, this former elder of the Heavenly Master's Mansion and current senior elder of the Yellow Heaven Sect was no ordinary person. He had his own unique abilities and strategies.
Lei Jun guessed that in the moment when the Heavenly Master's Seal suddenly disappeared, leaving all the experts near Qing Tian Peak puzzled, Yu Qingling was the first to recover his wits.
Seizing what was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he took advantage of his own injuries and the fact that Li Zhengxuan was holding the Heavenly Master's Sword to escape.
And so, Li Zhengxuan was left in a difficult situation.
Lei Jun even suspected that Master Uncle Li Song might have played a role in this turn of events.
However, the problem was that it wasn't just Li Zhengxuan who was in a bind now.
The entire Li family was in an awkward position.
After losing the Heavenly Master's Seal in the past, they had now also lost the Heavenly Master's Sword.
Although the Li family still had many accomplished cultivators, they lacked a pillar to support them after the death of the current Heavenly Master, Li Qingfeng.
The second uncle, Li Hongyu, and Master Uncle Li Song certainly had high cultivation levels and exceptional abilities.
However, now that Xu Yuanzhen had returned, the Yellow Heaven Sect had suffered heavy losses, with both of their top experts badly injured. The Heavenly Master's Mansion had clearly won this round of battles.
But it seemed that the Li family's troubles were just beginning?
(End of Chapter)
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