Cultivation: Fortune by Lots-Chapter 425 - 236. Xu Yuanzhen’s Journey Back_4

With spiritual energy in turmoil, wind and clouds surged between heaven and earth, and the snowstorm that had originally covered the sky above Long Sky Lake was forcibly dispersed.

Noon sunlight cast down from above.

Lei Jun stood up, avoiding the impact caused by the shaking and trembling of the snowy mountain beneath him, but he made no other big moves, choosing instead to watch the overall changes at Long Sky Lake and its surroundings.

He saw the ice on Long Sky Lake crack open, the thick layer of ice coming alive in that instant, with icy water surging upward, rushing into the sky.

After the winds and snow cleared and sunlight spilled down for a moment, it brought no warmth at all; instead, all of heaven and earth felt bleak and murderous.

Lei Jun felt something in his heart, and without a hint of hesitation, he retreated into the True One Altar Cave Heaven derived from the Celestial Master Seal.

In the very last moment before leaving, Lei Jun vaguely saw the global spiritual qi clashing in opposition, as if it would tear apart the space around Long Sky Lake...

Once inside the True One Altar Cave Heaven, Lei Jun stood on the dais before the altar, patiently waiting for the chaos outside to subside.

He didn’t need to sense or observe by himself.

Because the disturbance outside was so great that even the True One Altar Cave Heaven was trembling and shaking slightly at this moment.

Turbulent winds whipped around, the Daoist banners on the altar grounds fluttered continuously, and the Forty-Nine Lamps flickered, blazing and dying in a cycle.

*No wonder that moderately good lot predicted there would be unrest,* Lei Jun thought to himself with understanding.

The subtle mysteries of the Celestial Master Seal were countless; by retreating into the True One Altar Cave Heaven, he avoided nearly all detection by cultivators in the Seventh Layer of Heaven Realm, and could even evade threats from some Eighth Heavenly Layer enemies.

But if confronted by man-made disasters or, like now, a natural calamity that could shake the void, it might affect the True One Altar Cave Heaven and force Lei Jun out.

Of course, as turbulent as this scene was, it hadn’t grown dangerous enough to reach that point yet.

Lei Jun entered the True One Altar and climbed to the summit of the altar’s third level. Calmly, he began to pace through the Gang Step Fighting Method.

The True One Altar started to glow, and together with it, the whole cave heaven became much more stable than before.

After a while, the external influence on the cave heaven began to fade.

Considering the key importance of noon mentioned in the moderately good lot, this time Lei Jun did not wait any longer but left the cave heaven ahead of schedule.

The external storm had not fully subsided; its last remnants still raged violently.

In Lei Jun’s view, Long Sky Lake and the neighboring snow mountains had utterly changed their appearance; the world for a hundred miles around had nearly collapsed into pieces.

The scene before his eyes still appeared to twist and intersect.

Just as he appeared, Lei Jun felt the void twisting around him.

He did not hesitate at all, immediately wrapping himself with the distant power of the Mixed Cavern Nine Lights from the Celestial Master Robe, while at the same time waving the Breathing Soil Banner.

With two powerful layers of defense—one tough, the other unyielding—joined together, Lei Jun stayed protected, preventing the unfinished spatial distortion from injuring him.

Amid the twisted void, Lei Jun could vaguely see flickering spirit lights, rising from below where the icy lake had surged upward.

And as the distortions of the void gradually calmed, those strange spirit lights also began to show signs of fading away.

This was a rare treasure that had arisen by chance in Long Sky Lake from the mutation of global spiritual qi; every condition was indispensable, so it had never existed before, and when the spiritual qi calmed, this exotic treasure would also vanish. Thus, there was only this fleeting moment to seize it—it was like a blossom destined to wilt just as it bloomed...*Lei Jun’s thoughts flashed like lightning, and in that instant, he already understood the reason behind it all.*

Since the void’s twisting hadn’t fully ended, trying to approach the spirit lights actually led him further away, wandering off course.

But Lei Jun had a solution right now.

It wasn’t the Breathing Soil Banner anymore.

He had a new "fishing pole" better suited to the situation at hand.

The Mixed Cavern Nine Lights enveloping him gathered in one stream, and under Lei Jun’s control, carried his whole body forward, allowing him to soar through the not-yet-quelled distortions of the void and reach his intended destination.

As he passed by those spirit lights, Qi from the Nine Lights whirled around Lei Jun, successfully capturing the spirit lights and taking them away.

Under the pressure of the twisting void, the Breathing Soil Banner’s dusky glow scattered at once into a haze.

Fortunately, the Mixed Cavern Nine Lights renewed their blessing over Lei Jun, providing him protection once again.

The opportunity flashed away in an instant.

The distortion in space soon faded.

The icy waters that had surged skyward began to fall again.

The sunlight overhead grew increasingly pale and threadbare.

Wind and snow gathered once more, returning to shroud the icy lake and snowy mountains in a barren veil where no trace of their true shape remained.

Lei Jun then landed atop the snowy mountain, withdrew the Mixed Cavern Nine Lights and the Breathing Soil Banner, and retracted his presence.

Sweeping his gaze around at the silent, empty space—seeing that he was completely alone—Lei Jun finally had the leisure to examine that spirit light.

With the void back to normal, the spirit light ceased to coalesce and instead scattered into small sparkles.

At a glance, it seemed to be one large bead and nine small ones, ten spheres in all. Though they glowed, the beads themselves weren’t transparent, their hues remaining indistinct.

[Mother-Child Condensing Essence Beads]

That name drifted to the surface in Lei Jun’s mind.

......

Great Black Mountain.

The Jiangzhou Lin Clan Chief, Lin Che, refined and elegant in appearance, now looked utterly grave, his gaze deep and heavy.

He too was watching in the direction of Dragon Bone Ridge.

Behind him, several Lin Clan cultivators wore sour expressions.

They had worried that even walls have ears and that the news would get out, so here at Great Black Mountain, they’d faked the real arrangement and instead laid layer upon layer of ambushes to intercept any potential enemies.

But Dragon Bone Ridge was where they had actually set up the ritual instrument!

Now that nothing had happened at Great Black Mountain, it was Dragon Bone Ridge that had gone amiss instead.

But...why?

The Jiangzhou Lin Clan had kept Dragon Bone Ridge a secret even within their own ranks.

Many present here at Great Black Mountain didn’t even know the truth and were now staring toward Dragon Bone Ridge in utter shock at the changes they saw there.