Celestial Master Mansion

Celestial Master Mansion

At the foot of Dragon Tiger Mountain, Sixth Courtyard of the Dao Child Courtyard.

Lei Jun wore a standard gray Daoist robe and sat in the main hall, swaying his head as he recited Taoist scriptures alongside the other gray-robed Dao children.

As a transmigrator, he had arrived in a world utterly unlike Blue Star.

It was a world where immortals and demons rose together, gods and monsters emerged in endless streams. Here, cultivators could fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, move mountains and part seas.

It should be said that Lei Jun had been quite fortunate.

Not long after transmigrating, he had entered the gates of the Celestial Master Mansion.

The Celestial Master Mansion had always stood among the three great sacred lands of the Taoist Sects. It was the Ancestral Home of the Taoist Talisman School, and the Contemporary Celestial Master was one of the foremost powers among the Taoist Sects, leading all others.

But that was only the beginning.

At present, Lei Jun was merely a Dao child who had entered recently. He had undergone neither Chuan Du Initiation nor Ordination, and could not yet be called a True Disciple of Celestial Master Mansion.

In this world's Celestial Master Mansion, Eight Outer Mountain Dao Child Branches had been established beneath Dragon Tiger Mountain. New Dao children like Lei Jun spent most of their time there.

At this stage, everyone attended collective lessons twice a day, morning and evening.

During the Morning Lesson, they collectively recited Taoist scriptures and all manner of precepts and regulations.

In the morning, Instructors guided them through their initial cultivation.

In the afternoon, they were free to do as they pleased. Most chose to collect assignments from the Hall of Affairs and complete them to accumulate merit and virtue.

During the Evening Lesson, they collectively studied foundational Taoist texts.

Fortunately, although Lei Jun and the others could only be called Dao children rather than Daoists for now, the Dao Child Courtyard of the Celestial Master Mansion—one of the world's foremost sacred lands of cultivation—already taught them rudimentary Daoist arts to lay their foundations.

That day, after finishing their morning cultivation and eating lunch, Lei Jun and several other Dao children arrived at the Talisman Paper Building to the east.

The assignment they had collected from the Hall of Affairs that day was to help cut Talisman Paper.

The Taoist Talisman School often used Spirit Talismans. Besides the maker's own cultivation and adherence to the Talisman Scripture, materials such as the Talisman Brush, Talisman Ink, and Talisman Paper could also affect a Spirit Talisman's efficacy.

Even the most basic Yellow Paper used by Celestial Master Mansion disciples was specially commissioned.

Not only did the preparation of materials and papermaking require specialized workshops, but even the dividing and cutting had to be done by Dao children like Lei Jun rather than handed over to ordinary people.

"What a pity. We cut this Talisman Paper, but we can't use it ourselves." People sighed repeatedly.

Lei Jun remained silent. Completely focused, he neatly cut apart the Yellow Paper without the slightest error.

Another Dao child sighed. "Cultivate diligently and earn merit and virtue seriously. Once we undergo Chuan Du Initiation and formally take a master, we'll be able to make Talismans ourselves."

The Taoist Talisman School emphasized cultivating both life and nature, with the cultivation of life preceding that of nature. Broadly speaking, life referred to the material body, while nature referred to the soul and spirit. Thus, cultivation in the Celestial Master Mansion began with strengthening the body and building fitness.

Though Lei Jun had only entered recently, True Qi already filled his body, and his flesh and blood were strong. Having diligently practiced Taoist martial arts, neither ordinary people nor demons could easily approach him.

If he had Spirit Talismans passed down by senior members of his sect, he could even activate and use them.

However, without Chuan Du Initiation, they had not received the true transmission of the Talisman Scripture. Lei Jun and the others could not make Talismans themselves, nor did they understand any higher-level Taoist divine abilities.

Did this count as being a temporary apprentice worker?

After transmigrating into a cultivation world and entering the Ancestral Home of the Taoist Sects, he still had to work hard to pass the civil service exam and secure a position, so that one day he could work with a license... Lei Jun shook his head and stacked the Talisman Paper he had cut into a neat pile.

Based on the novels he had read in his previous life, he could only be considered an outer disciple or an unofficial disciple now.

The distance between a Dao child and a Daoist lay between the Dao Child Courtyard at the foot of the mountain and the Main Mansion of the Celestial Master Mansion halfway up the Main Peak.

One day, once they entered the Main Mansion of the Celestial Master Mansion for Chuan Du Initiation and received their own lineage, Taoist Name, and generation name, Dao children would formally enter the Dao and become Daoists—true True Disciples of Celestial Master Mansion.

That was what the novels Lei Jun had read on Blue Star often called inner disciples or personal disciples.

As for the further step of Ordination, that was not yet something a group of young Dao children should consider.

Halfway through their work, a skinny gray-robed youth rushed into the Talisman Paper Building like a gust of wind.

Everyone asked curiously, "Senior Brother Zhang, didn't you take an assignment down the mountain to gain experience and accumulate merit and virtue? You're back so soon..."

The skinny Dao child also began cutting Talisman Paper. "Don't even mention it. My luck was rotten to the core!"

Though he said not to mention it, he could not help saying, "I went to the area around Clear Stream, fifty li outside the mountain. I heard demons were causing trouble, so I hurried over to subdue demons and eliminate evil, ridding the people of harm!"

He could also earn a little incense money along the way, and there might even be rewards from the Dao Child Courtyard after he returned to the mountain.

But...

"What demon would be blind enough to cause trouble right beneath our Celestial Master Mansion's nose?" Lei Jun casually asked while cutting paper.

"Exactly?!"

The skinny Dao child stopped moving. "They weren't demons at all, but a few petty thieves playing gods and ghosts, disguising themselves as demons to frighten people and rob them!"

His face was full of grief and indignation. "Damn it, I finally managed to get an Evil-warding Talisman, and it was wasted just like that!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing, feeling the skinny Dao child's grief and depression deep in their bones.

"What a sin!"

For young Dao children like them, who could not make Talismans themselves, they could obtain Spirit Talismans from the Hall of Affairs—but only by exchanging the "hard-earned money" they had accumulated through daily merit and virtue.

Beyond that, there were sometimes more rewarding assignments.

Although senior members of the sect had their own Personal Disciples to command, they would occasionally select Dao children or Pill Children from the Dao Child Courtyard for temporary work.

So long as they satisfied them, those elders might directly reward them with Spirit Talismans or Spirit Pills.

Furthermore, if they caught the other party's eye and formed a good connection, young Dao children would always have a little more support to rely upon in the future.

Such assignments were few in number, so naturally the competition was fierce. They could only be encountered by chance, never sought.

As they chatted, a commotion suddenly broke out downstairs.

Voices drifted in through the window.

"Elder Du is Opening the Altar to make Talismans and wants to select Dao children?! Is that for real?"

"Keep your voice down. Do you want the whole of Dragon Tiger Mountain to know?"

"Right, right, first come, first served. Let's hurry!"

"I wonder whether Elder Du will take a liking to us..."

Hearing this, everyone in the building stared at one another wide-eyed.

They had just been discussing this, and now the perfect assignment had come knocking?

"Could it be false information?"

Beside Lei Jun, someone instinctively licked his lips, his face full of longing.

Senior Brother Zhang slapped his palms together. "Won't we find out if we go take a look?"

The others also set down their work.

At that moment, however, a flickering Light Sphere suddenly appeared in Lei Jun's mind.

Then words emerged in his consciousness:

The elder opens the altar and selects Dao children. Everyone cheers like sparrows and rushes to be first. Yet fortune leans upon misfortune, and misfortune hides beneath fortune. A startling change is imminent.

Upper Middle Auspicious Sign: Do not join the bustle. Calmly finish your own task. After the startling change, go to the elder's Cave Abode and help treat the wounded. Obtain one Fifth Grade Opportunity, act in secret, and leave no future worries behind. Auspicious.

Middle Middle Auspicious Sign: Do not join the bustle. Wait quietly for the right moment. After the startling change, go to Spirit Mushroom Platform. Obtain one Sixth Grade Opportunity, but a tall tree catches the wind, drawing envy and concealing future troubles. Ordinary.

Lower Middle Auspicious Sign: Go participate in the selection. You may have a chance of being chosen, but before gaining anything, you will first encounter a great calamity. Trapped in danger, whether you live or die cannot be foretold. Inauspicious.