Taking in the Scenery on Yangguan Avenue, Crowding Together on the Single-Plank Bridge

The Contemporary Celestial Master had stood everyone up.

This first blow of the new year left Tang Xiaotang dumbfounded.

"The Ordination Ceremony isn't until the fifteenth of the First Month. There's still half a month left." Wang Guiyuan comforted her.

"That's right..." Tang Xiaotang came back to herself, instantly brimming with energy again. "Maybe tomorrow or the day after."

Lei Jun said, "Little Senior Sister, if the Celestial Master still hasn't emerged from seclusion by then, will you still attend this Ordination Ceremony?"

Tang Xiaotang's eyes widened round.

Lei Jun said, "I mean, if."

"There is no if!"

The tall girl turned her back to him. After a long while, she gave a snort. "...I won't attend it. I'll keep waiting. I refuse to believe it!"

Clearly, Tang Xiaotang was not the only one left dazed by this blow delivered through the closed doors of the Celestial Master's seclusion.

"Li Ying from the First Courtyard, Shangguan Hong from the Second Courtyard, Chen Yi from the Eighth Courtyard..."

Wang Guiyuan said from the side, "I heard that the sponsors they invited have formally presented memorials, asking the Celestial Master to conduct their Chuan Du Initiation and accept them as his direct disciples."

Chuan Du Initiation was the formal entry of a Dao devotee into the Dao: receiving a lineage from a master, establishing vows and precepts, and being taught by one's sect the methods of saving the world.

By procedure, Chuan Du Initiation required paying respects to three masters: the Transmission Master, the sponsor, and the supervising master.

Generally speaking, the Transmission Master was the original master who guided the disciple into the Dao.

But if one wished to become a direct disciple of the Celestial Master and serve him as both Ordination Master and original master, a different procedure was required.

Of course, becoming a direct disciple of the Celestial Master was not something one could achieve simply by applying.

Even qualifying to submit such an application was no easy matter. The candidates carried far more weight than those attending an ordinary Chuan Du Initiation.

Lei Jun had a rough understanding of all three names Wang Guiyuan mentioned.

Take Li Ying of the First Courtyard, for example. There was no need to guess—she was a Li Clan Disciple of the purest pedigree, the beloved youngest daughter of Elder Ziyang, one of the core upper echelons of the Celestial Master Mansion.

Elder Ziyang was the Contemporary Celestial Master's Third Junior Brother, as well as his blood brother. The two brothers were both sons of the Previous Generation Celestial Master.

In other words, Li Ying was the Contemporary Celestial Master's own niece.

Direct disciples of the Celestial Master were extraordinary, after all. Background and bloodline alone were not enough.

Li Ying had powerful connections, but her own abilities were equally formidable.

Across the entire Dao Child Courtyard, aside from Tang Xiaotang, that exceptional existence beyond comparison, no Dao child had dared claim to be more outstanding than Li Ying these past few years.

In fact, she had already spent four or five years in the Dao Child Courtyard. She had skipped the previous Ordination Ceremony three years ago solely to wait for her uncle, the Celestial Master, to emerge from seclusion.

Then there was Chen Yi of the Eighth Courtyard, the foremost rising figure in the Dao Child Courtyard last year. Fairly speaking, his talent for cultivation matched his talent for stirring up trouble, and his cultivation had been advancing with tremendous momentum.

There was only one small problem.

Over the past year, he and the Li Clan Disciples had gotten along very poorly.

The two sides had engaged in more than one friendly and enthusiastic physical exchange.

"My master and the others aren't that petty. Even if they truly were, they wouldn't take it out on a Dao child."

Xu Yuanzhen said, "But Xiaotang and the others may all be disappointed this time."

Just as she had said, the days passed one by one, yet the Celestial Master never emerged from seclusion.

At the Eighth Courtyard of the Dao Child Courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

Within the small courtyard where Chen Yi lived alone, he wore a standard gray robe, his body drawn taut and straight as he looked up.

The rolling mountain peaks all shimmered with spiritual light beneath the clear daytime sky.

Faint golden radiance intertwined, blanketing the entire mountain range.

Thunder rumbled continuously in the distance, yet rather than sounding earthshaking, it settled the heart and calmed the mind.

Amid the mountains, halfway up the Main Peak, a magnificent Dao Palace formed from vast clusters of buildings could be seen.

That was naturally the Main Mansion of the Celestial Master Mansion.

But higher still, at the summit of the Main Peak, something lay concealed amid auspicious clouds, too indistinct to see clearly. Treasure-light flashed from time to time, like an immortal realm.

"Supreme Clarity Thunder Mansion Grotto-heaven..." Chen Yi murmured. "I must reach that place as soon as possible. Only then can everything rise to a new level!"

His gaze became incomparably resolute.

Naturally, he was not the only one watching the Supreme Clarity Thunder Mansion Grotto-heaven.

In truth, it was not only the few candidates for direct discipleship under the Celestial Master.

Lei Jun was also looking toward the Supreme Clarity Thunder Mansion Grotto-heaven.

Choosing the fate path of the Upper Middle Auspicious Sign this time and temporarily abandoning the competition for direct discipleship under the Celestial Master did not mean Lei Jun would have no other goals after completing his Chuan Du Initiation.

After all, Tang Xiaotang stood before him as an example.

Lei Jun's motivation to cultivate was now even stronger than it had been before awakening his Hidden Dragon Spirit Body.

His own experiences and those of others all showed the same thing: the higher one stood, the more scenery one could see.

First Month Tenth Day.

On this day, Lei Jun and the other Dao children participating in the Chuan Du Initiation went up the mountain to the Main Mansion of the Celestial Master Mansion halfway up the slope.

There were still some days before the formal Ordination Ceremony, but the young Dao children needed to make preparations first: burn incense, bathe, and recite Daoist scriptures.

As the day of the ceremony approached, the Dao children prepared their respective initiation fees and petitions, then delivered them to their Ordination Masters.

Lei Jun's side was very convenient. He had chosen to enter Elder Yuan's lineage, so he did not need to worry about either the sponsor or the supervising master.

The supervising master was the same for every Dao child: the current Head Instructor of the Dao Child Courtyard.

As for the sponsor, Elder Yuan had contacted another elder of the Celestial Master Mansion from his own generation.

Naturally, Lei Jun sent his initiation fee and petition to Elder Yuan.

But Tang Xiaotang's situation was difficult.

There was no need to consider the supervising master, and Elder Yuan personally served as her sponsor.

But where was her Transmission Master—or rather, her original master, her true master?

Who would receive her petition?

"Don't be impatient. Let's go take another look together." Yuan Mobai said gently.

He led Tang Xiaotang and Wang Guiyuan, who attended them at their side, toward the back courtyard of the Celestial Master Mansion.

Lei Jun and Xu Yuanzhen remained in Yuan Mobai's courtyard. Xu Yuanzhen spread out brush and ink and casually began to paint.

"With Little Senior Sister's talent and gifts, when the Celestial Master emerges from seclusion, even if it isn't the once-every-three-years Ordination Ceremony, he might make an exception and set up an altar to accept her as a disciple on the spot, right?" Lei Jun asked from the side.

Xu Yuanzhen said, "She asks for too much, so her state of mind is inevitably unsteady. Yet it does not affect her cultivation progress. That, too, is a sight within the mansion."

Lei Jun grew more curious upon hearing this.

Since Xu Yuanzhen said so, it meant that even if Tang Xiaotang's state of mind were calm and steady, her cultivation progress would not differ much from what it was now.

That truly could be called a sight to behold.

It was hard to say whether she ought to be criticized or praised.

"Senior Sister, are you painting... clouds?"

Lei Jun looked at the paper beneath Xu Yuanzhen's brush. Rather than a painting, it looked more like patch after patch of scattered ink stains.

When they joined together, they gave off the suffocating feeling of Black Clouds Pressing the City.

"The mood struck, so I made a few strokes." Xu Yuanzhen tossed down her brush. Looking at the great swath of dark clouds on the White Paper, she nodded in satisfaction, a rare hint of a smile appearing at the corner of her lips.

Could it be that the Celestial Master not emerging from seclusion and everyone's hopes falling through put you in the mood? Lei Jun grumbled inwardly.

As though suddenly recalling something, Xu Yuanzhen turned and glanced at Lei Jun.

Lei Jun found her look utterly baffling.

She shook her head and casually wiped her hand across the paper. The vast ink-stained clouds vanished, turning it white once more.

Xu Yuanzhen left the desk and sat beside a tea table. She propped an elbow on it, rested her head against her hand, closed her eyes, and feigned sleep.

Lei Jun looked at the blank sheet of paper, one eyebrow rising.

At that moment, Wang Guiyuan suddenly returned. "Eldest Sister, Master and several other Martial Uncles ask that you go over."

Xu Yuanzhen opened her eyes. "What is it?"

Wang Guiyuan said, "They said it concerns Junior Sister Tang's cultivation from here on."

Hearing that, it was clear the Celestial Master had ultimately not emerged from seclusion.

Xu Yuanzhen rose and walked out without a word.

Wang Guiyuan nodded to Lei Jun and followed after her.

Lei Jun shrugged and began Sitting Cross-Legged in Meditation.

His mindset was completely steady. Taking advantage of this spare time, he continued his own cultivation, silently Breathing and Circulating Qi.

No matter how many troops and horses competed over there, it no longer had anything to do with him.

Besides, whether those troops and horses were charging down Yangguan Avenue or all squeezing across a Single-Plank Bridge remained to be seen.

Lei Jun cultivated in peace until, who knew how long later, someone burst in from outside.

He opened his eyes and looked at the person before him in surprise.

Tall and slender, with perfect features—it was Tang Xiaotang.

But this tall girl's beautiful hair, along with even her eyebrows, had turned pale gold. They gleamed with faint golden radiance even beneath the night sky.

Even her pupils had become gold.