Little Auntie

Lei Jun's feeling had not been wrong.

Someone on the Guest Viewing Platform really had been watching him.

The Suzhou Chu Clan, also known as the Chu Clan, was one of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans of the Great Tang.

In the seats representing the Chu Family, a woman watched the Celestial Master Mansion's successors in the Ritual Purification Site below with great interest.

She appeared to be between twenty and thirty. Her features were exquisitely beautiful, beautiful in a bold and flamboyant way that could take one's breath away. Yet her makeup and attire were dignified and elegant, like a noble lady who had stepped out of a painting.

Among the Taoist children newly admitted during this Ordination Ceremony, her gaze swept over them all, lingering for only a moment longer on the eleven- or twelve-year-old youths.

Then, her attention shifted from them to several of the Celestial Master Mansion's Transmission Disciples attending the ceremony.

Her gaze was utterly direct.

Lei Jun, who was being observed, noticed it. So did the fellow clansmen who had come to watch the ceremony with her.

"Little Aunt, is there something special about that young Taoist?" the Chu Clan Youth beside her asked softly.

The woman replied casually, "Yuan Mobai accepted only two disciples in total, and he is one of them. Xu Yuanzhen likewise brought only two people back to Dragon Tiger Mountain to enter the Taoist path, and he was among them too."

The youth turned to look at Lei Jun as well. "The one named Lei Jun? He is worth watching, but I truly cannot see what makes him particularly outstanding. I only remember that he has a Spirit Body Constitution."

The woman said, "When it comes to judgment, do you think I trust Xu Yuanzhen and Yuan Mobai, or you?"

The youth gave a bitter smile.

Though she said that, the woman's gaze moved away from Lei Jun as she looked at the other Celestial Master Mansion disciples.

The Chu Clan Youth said, "I still think that among Lei Jun's batch, the youth named Chen Yi has the greatest potential."

He gestured toward someone for the woman. "Little Aunt, that one over there."

The woman glanced over. "Mm. Yao Laosi's disciple."

Although everyone had been stood up by the Celestial Master earlier, once they adjusted their mindsets, this Ordination Ceremony was still successfully concluded.

...After all, everyone had made it through the previous four ceremonies in a row this way.

For most people, the biggest highlight of this year's Ordination Ceremony was that Young Celestial Master Li Zhengxuan had finally opened his doors to accept disciples.

In truth, quite a few people of the same generation had already begun taking disciples.

Lei Jun, Wang Guiyuan, and the others had no shortage of collateral junior nephews from different lineages within the same sect.

But the Young Celestial Master's acceptance of his first disciple into the Taoist path still drew attention from both inside and outside the mansion.

However, none of this had much to do with Lei Jun. He simply followed his master Yuan Mobai and went through the process step by step.

Compared to his fellow disciples, he was more interested in the guests who had come to observe the ceremony.

After the ceremony ended, Luo Haoran beside him said, "Pure Yang Palace sent people too."

Lei Jun turned to look at him and saw a trace of emotion on Senior Brother Luo's face.

Luo Haoran smiled. "I am from Jiangnan, but when I was young, I nearly went to Guanlong to seek refuge with distant relatives. Most children in Guanlong yearned for the Pure Yang Immortal Palace atop Zhongnan Mountain. I heard my distant cousins mention it before."

Lei Jun nodded.

Celestial Master Mansion.

Pure Yang Palace.

Shu Mountain.

They were collectively known as the Three Great Taoist Holy Lands of this world.

Pure Yang Palace had always been the sacred Ancestral Home of the Taoist Dan Ding Sect. For many years, it had stood alongside the Celestial Master Mansion of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Though called the Dan Ding Sect, they actually rarely refined External Elixirs. Instead, they treated themselves as cauldrons and furnaces, cultivating life and nature together, placing equal importance on the physical body and the soul. They refined their own essence, qi, and spirit into pills. Thus, they were also called the Internal Alchemy Sect or the Golden Core Sect.

Ironically, the Celestial Master Mansion, ancestral home of the Talisman School, refined more External Elixirs.

Thus, though both belonged to the Taoist Sects, their cultivation paths differed considerably.

At the First Heaven of Qi Refining, everyone was still largely alike.

But from the Second Heaven of Foundation Establishment onward, the differences became obvious.

Though both realms were called Foundation Establishment, Celestial Master Mansion disciples constructed an illusory Taoist foundation altar, preparing to raise a Dharma Altar.

Pure Yang Palace disciples, on the other hand, condensed a Virtual Pill Cauldron.

At the Third Heaven, Celestial Master Mansion disciples constructed a virtual Three-Layer Altar upon their altar grounds, laying the foundation for writing their own Origin Talisman at the Fourth Heaven.

At Pure Yang Palace, the Third Heaven realm of the Taoist Dan Ding Sect was called Cauldron. They combined a Virtual Pill Cauldron with a newly constructed Virtual Pill Furnace, achieving Cauldron-Furnace Unity and internally refining Great Medicine in preparation for forming a Golden Core at the Fourth Heaven.

As for the relationship between these two great Taoist holy lands, it was rather subtle.

On one hand, they both belonged to the Taoist Sects, with Confucianism, Buddhism, and others outside them.

On the other hand, precisely because they were both Taoist holy lands, there was also competition and friction between them.

Especially after the Li Family had successively inherited the position of Celestial Master.

It would be going too far to call them outwardly united but inwardly divided, or say they loved and fought each other, but they certainly were not like-minded or affectionately close.

In the past, Pure Yang Palace generally sent guests to observe only when the Celestial Master personally presided over the Ordinance Conferment Ceremony.

For them to send someone specifically to offer congratulations at this year's Ordination Ceremony was truly rare.

Officially, most outsiders guessed it was because Young Celestial Master Li Zhengxuan had finally opened his doors to accept disciples.

Privately, however, the prevailing speculation was that it stemmed from the Contemporary Celestial Master's prolonged seclusion.

Besides Pure Yang Palace, this year's Ordination Ceremony also had heavyweight guests: the official representatives of the Great Tang Dynasty, as well as two Aristocratic Clans that had relatively friendly relations with the Celestial Master Mansion.

The Jingxiang Fang Clan.

The Suzhou Chu Clan.

Both were among the Great Tang's Five Surnames and Seven Clans.

The Chu Clan's representative this time was a young woman.

After the ceremony, she greeted Li Song, the Celestial Master Mansion's Supreme Elder. "Before I came, my father instructed me to convey his regards."

Li Song smiled. "Chu Guolao is far too courteous."

Standing behind his master Yuan Mobai, Lei Jun looked at the graceful woman and was basically certain that she was the one who had been watching him earlier.

After all, her gaze had been far too direct.

"Chu Yu."

Yuan Mobai introduced her with a smile. "Chu Guolao's youngest daughter, the cherished pearl he had in his old age. She is known as the Moon Studio Master.

Before she even came of age, she already enjoyed the reputation of Jiangnan's Number One Talented Woman. When she traveled through the Great Capital, her name stirred the entirety of the Great Tang."

Lei Jun nodded slightly.

The Suzhou Chu Clan was one of the foremost prominent clans built upon Confucianism.

In the cultivation world, the true meaning of First Talented Woman was that her talent for Confucian cultivation was peerless, stunning the entire Chu Clan and even the Great Tang.

When Fang Jian, the Celestial Master's fourth direct disciple, saw the woman, he too stepped forward to salute her. "Little Aunt."

The Great Tang's top aristocratic clans often intermarried.

Fang Jian's mother had been born into the Chu Clan.

There were many heavyweight guests at this year's ceremony, so after it ended, Yuan Mobai, Li Song, Li Zhengxuan, and the others remained busy entertaining several important guests.

Thanks to having read quite a few novels on Blue Star before transmigrating, the moment Lei Jun saw the Pure Yang Palace elder arrive with several disciples, he had a vague premonition.

First, Pure Yang Palace and the Celestial Master Mansion began praising each other extravagantly.

The Fang and Chu Families happily egged them on from the sidelines.

Then, the customary finale arrived just as expected.

As the two great Taoist holy lands talked, the conversation turned to sparring and exchanges between their younger disciples.

The ceremony had just concluded, and Yuan Mobai, this year's presiding host, displayed his skills as well. He would refine Spirit Pills on the spot and reward outstanding disciples from both sects.

"It has been too long since I last worked with my hands. Even our own Cauldron has gone to waste. We should fetch one from the Great Pill Chamber instead."

Yuan Mobai instructed Lei Jun, "Chongyun, go to the Great Pill Chamber and the Medicine Garden. Fetch a Both Crossing Cauldron and some spirit herbs for your master."

He smiled at Lei Jun. "But opportunities to exchange pointers with Pure Yang Palace's outstanding disciples are rare. Would you like to give it a try too?"

Before Lei Jun could answer, the Light Sphere in his mind suddenly lit up again, words appearing upon it:

A sparring exchange, with pills as the prize. The order of steps shifts, and fortune and misfortune are hard to discern.

Then, three fortune sticks flew out from it:

Upper Middle Auspicious Sign: Do not participate in the sparring exchange. Go first to the Great Pill Chamber to fetch alchemy equipment. Obtain one Sixth Grade Opportunity, with no lingering worries. Auspicious.

Middle Middle Auspicious Sign: Participate in the sparring exchange. Victory will grant one Seventh Grade Opportunity. A tall tree catches the wind, concealing future troubles. Neutral.

Lower Middle Auspicious Sign: Do not participate in the sparring exchange. Go first to the Medicine Garden to gather herbs. Discover a hidden matter and arouse suspicion, burying future troubles. Inauspicious.

Lei Jun silently read the Sign Fortune, curiosity stirring in his heart.

This time, both the Upper Middle Auspicious Sign and the Lower Middle Auspicious Sign mentioned the word "first."

The difference seemed to lie there.

Were timing and the order of things really that important?