Opportunities Came in Different Grades

Opportunities came in different grades.

If he had the chance, Lei Jun would rather catch next year's Ordination Ceremony directly.

Time waited for no one, and cultivation waited even less.

Compared to some novels he had read on Blue Star before transmigrating, the cultivators of this world were somewhat unusual.

Cultivators might possess vast divine abilities and astonishing destructive power, but their lifespans did not casually stretch to thousands or tens of thousands of years.

To sum it up, they were tough, but short-lived.

Shortness was a huge problem. Besides being short-lived, another huge problem was withering.

As long as one had not attained immortality, no matter how high one's realm or how long one's lifespan, a cultivator would still grow old and weak.

From what Lei Jun currently knew, cultivators in this world had to continuously raise their realms, surpass themselves, and increase the upper limit of their lifespans. Otherwise, there was no such thing as becoming stronger with age.

Once they passed a certain age without breaking through, their hopes of progress would only be cut off. They would gradually weaken and might even fall in realm.

Those old immortals with the bearing of transcendent sages, crane-white hair and youthful faces, who could still ascend to the summit, could only fall into two categories:

First, compared to their elderly appearance, their actual age was still far below the limit of their lifespan.

Second, they truly were old now, and their younger selves had only been stronger than their aged selves.

So fame did not necessarily need to come early, but progress certainly had to.

The younger one was, the more drive one had, the faster one improved, and the greater one's potential.

For Lei Jun, who had only begun cultivating the Dao at eighteen, being able to start at a holy land inheritance like Celestial Master Mansion was already extremely fortunate. It had helped him make up a great deal of time.

But there was less than a year left until next year's Ordination Ceremony at the start of the year.

The higher one climbed in cultivation, the harder it became and the more time it consumed.

Just getting a little special treatment from a single Purple-Gold Spirit Mushroom would not be enough to make it in time. He needed more special treatment... The thought flashed through Lei Jun's mind.

The Instructor had no idea that the young man before him had considered so much in an instant. He merely sighed to himself. "Eldest Sister brought you into our Taoist sects and led you to Celestial Master Mansion. That eye of hers is truly admirable."

"You're right," Lei Jun said.

Eldest Sister's name was Xu Yuanzhen.

The Instructor before him did not actually share the same master lineage as her.

But True Disciples of Celestial Master Mansion from the same generation had basically grown accustomed to calling her Eldest Sister.

Because Xu Yuanzhen was the first disciple of the Contemporary Celestial Master.

Eldest Sister was not actually very old, but her reputation was enormous.

Celestial Master Mansion had no shortage of senior elders of its own, yet many people outside Celestial Master Mansion called her the Second Celestial Master.

It had been this Second Celestial Master who brought Lei Jun back to Celestial Master Mansion.

However, she did not seem particularly reliable.

She especially loved roaming everywhere. After bringing Lei Jun back to the mountain, she herself had left again and still had not returned.

Lei Jun did not make much of a fuss over it either. He simply let nature take its course for now.

"Gradually opening your mind in cultivation is naturally a good thing," the Instructor said, "but remember to balance work and rest. Do not be impatient."

"Yes," Lei Jun replied.

The Instructor nodded in satisfaction.

Lei Jun's rapid progress in cultivation pleasantly surprised him, but it was not enough to leave him too shocked.

Even if Lei Jun was improving faster than he had expected, it was not especially eye-catching.

The main reason was that a rising figure had recently appeared next door in the Eighth Courtyard.

After Chen Yi obtained a Pure Gold Spirit Mushroom, his momentum surged explosively, and he began attracting attention.

However, Lei Jun had heard that quite a few people had recently been making things difficult for Chen Yi.

Several Dao children who knew one another in the Sixth Courtyard also talked about the matter.

Senior Brother Zhang, whose wounds had healed enough for him to get out of bed and regain some vigor, said mysteriously:

"It's actually simple. I heard he offended a Taoist Priest from the mansion up on the mountain!"

"Because of that Pure Gold Spirit Mushroom?" Lei Jun asked.

"Exactly. I heard they wanted to refine a batch of Immortal Pills, but they had never succeeded because the Spirit Mushroom Platform had dried up and Gold Spirit Mushrooms had vanished. This time, the Spirit Mushroom Platform unexpectedly revived, and new Gold Spirit Mushrooms grew. They had finally waited for a rare opportunity, only for Chen Yi to swallow the Pure Gold Spirit Mushroom instead. Tell me, how could he not draw hatred?"

"The Taoist Priest in the mansion surely would not stoop to Junior Brother Chen's level, right?" a Dao child beside them asked hesitantly. It was not purely out of sympathy for Chen Yi; it was more a matter of fellow sufferers pitying one another.

Senior Brother Zhang sighed. "Of course the Taoist Priest would not make a big fuss over it. At most, he would sigh that it was not meant to be. But quite a few people in the Dao Child Courtyard want to curry favor with him, so they set their minds on dealing with Chen Yi."

Lei Jun recalled his Sign Fortune from back then:

Middle Middle Auspicious Sign. Do not join the excitement; quietly await the right moment. After the startling change, go to the Spirit Mushroom Platform, and you may obtain a Sixth Grade Opportunity. But a tall tree catches the wind, drawing jealousy and concealing future troubles. Ordinary.

Given Eldest Sister Xu Yuanzhen's style, she would only care if high-ranking elders used their status to bully the weak.

She most likely would not take disputes among the Dao children below to heart.

With her around, if Lei Jun had chosen that Middle Middle Auspicious Sign back then, there definitely would not have been major trouble, though minor trouble would have been hard to say.

It perfectly matched the way of the Middle Middle Auspicious Sign: half good, half bad.

But now, Lei Jun simply hung the matter high since it had nothing to do with him.

After hearing the gossip, he continued following his own pace and focused wholeheartedly on his cultivation.

Until one evening, the Instructor brought a Young Adult Daoist to Lei Jun's small courtyard.

"This is Junior Brother Wang Guiyuan, Martial Uncle Yuan's disciple," the Instructor introduced. "Martial Uncle Yuan has a letter that he asked him to bring you."

"Elder Yuan?" Lei Jun's heart stirred.

Elder Yuan was Xu Yuanzhen's Little Martial Uncle.

The younger martial brother of the Contemporary Celestial Master.

Hearing that the young Taoist before him was his disciple, Lei Jun felt a measure of emotion.

Generally speaking, if the Dao children in the Dao Child Courtyard at the foot of the mountain were permitted to participate in the Chuan Du Initiation, they usually already had some idea of who their future masters would be.

Whichever immortal elder had originally led a Dao child to Dragon Tiger Mountain to enter the Dao would, barring unforeseen circumstances, become the Ordination Master the child formally acknowledged after becoming a Taoist Priest, also known as their primary master.

Celestial Master Mansion valued master lineages, and so-called immortal affinity was usually a single thread running straight through.

But Lei Jun had encountered an exception.

Back when he followed Eldest Sister Xu Yuanzhen to Dragon Tiger Mountain and arrived at the Dao Child Courtyard at the foot of the mountain, Xu Yuanzhen casually stopped someone to ask:

"Master has been in seclusion for nearly ten years. He still has not emerged?"

"The Celestial Master has yet to emerge from seclusion..."

"What about Little Martial Uncle? Did he lecture at any of the courtyards before?"

The other person looked bewildered. "Elder Yuan recently entered seclusion as well. I heard he had previously visited the Sixth Courtyard..."

"Then we'll go to the Sixth Courtyard."

Once they arrived, Xu Yuanzhen pointed at Lei Jun and directly instructed the Instructor on duty:

"I brought him into the Dao. I have no interest in taking disciples, but he is still one of mine. Help look after him in ordinary times. Do not let anyone bully him."

"...Eldest Sister, judging by the last person you brought in, perhaps you should tell them not to bully others instead."

"One person bullying a whole group?"

The other party smiled bitterly.

"I have matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving first. Once Little Martial Uncle emerges from seclusion, give him a word."

Then she left, leaving Lei Jun and the Instructor staring wide-eyed at each other.

Fortunately, Lei Jun did not need to undergo any further screening or assessment afterward, nor did anyone specifically investigate his background and origins.

Since Eldest Sister Xu Yuanzhen had brought him onto the Dao Path, everything seemed to have become Xu Yuanzhen's responsibility.

Thus, from that day onward, Lei Jun became a proud... Dao child at Celestial Master Mansion, the ancestral home of the Talisman School and one of the three great holy lands of Taoist sects under heaven.

Afterward, Lei Jun studied in the Dao Child Courtyard and began encountering Daoist cultivation. He found it quite interesting and immersed himself in it.

But he had never met that Little Martial Uncle who was in seclusion, much less the Contemporary Celestial Master himself.

Until today.

Elder Yuan's disciple, the Young Adult Daoist named Wang Guiyuan, had appeared.

He looked to be around thirty, with an unremarkable appearance, but his Apricot Yellow Taoist Robe marked him as a True Disciple of Celestial Master Mansion.

He spoke in a friendly manner. "A few days ago, an accident occurred at Martial Uncle Du's Cave Abode. Some Dao children rushed over to help treat the wounded. You were among them, weren't you, Lei Jun?"

"It was merely a coincidence; I just happened to be there," Lei Jun said. "The mansion always teaches us to be kind and friendly toward our fellow disciples. We all take that to heart."

"Not bad, not bad." The Instructor nodded with a smile.

Having introduced the two sides, he did not linger and took his leave first.

Wang Guiyuan then said warmly, "Master had been in seclusion before, and I attended him at his side. We only emerged from seclusion with Master the day before yesterday.

"After Master emerged, he learned of Eldest Sister's intentions.

"He had originally wanted to meet you personally, but unfortunately, the mansion recently opened up a Blessed Grotto Heaven outside the mountain. The environment there is unfamiliar and complex, and it needs to be surveyed and stabilized, so Master accepted an invitation to go there after emerging from seclusion."

As he spoke, Wang Guiyuan took out a letter.

"However, before Master left, he specifically wrote a letter for you."