My Junior Brother Is Far Too Reckless

My Junior Brother Is Far Too Reckless

Reading his Sign Fortune, Lei Jun's eyes flickered.

Holding his ground, he would do nothing wrong. Seeking no merit, only avoiding fault, he would end up safe and sound—no benefits, but no danger either.

If he took the initiative and joined the search, however, the outcome might split into an Upper Middle Auspicious Sign and a Lowest Auspicious Sign—one fortune, one calamity?

"Though that Dao Child is outstanding, so many people have been hunting him, yet he has escaped for so long. There may be more to this."

The Young Adult Daoist, who advocated staying at their original posts, was still trying to persuade him. "Junior Brother, before the situation becomes clear, we should still respond to all changes by remaining unchanged..."

The Young Daoist shook his head. "I too suspect someone else may be helping that little thief. Precisely because of that, we need to uncover the truth as soon as possible!"

He made up his mind and decided to split into two groups.

Though young, he was exceptionally gifted and highly valued by the senior members of the sect.

The Young Adult Daoist had entered the sect earlier, but he was not a direct fellow disciple of the same lineage as the Young Daoist. At this moment, it was not his place to forcefully overrule the Young Daoist's decision.

The Dao Children from the Sixth Courtyard around Lei Jun hesitated somewhat.

They wanted to follow the Young Daoist and take the initiative. That would give them a better chance to earn merit.

But the shadow cast by Elder Du's Dharma Altar explosion several months ago had yet to fade.

Zhang the Dao Child had only just recovered from his severe injuries. Remembering how proactive he had been back then still filled him with lingering fear.

Everyone quietly wondered whether they ought to follow Senior Brother Lei's example from last time...

"Lei Jun stands ready to follow High Daoist's orders at any time."

A tall figure was the first to step forward from the crowd, closely following the young Daoist surnamed Gao.

Everyone around him stared at Lei Jun, who had stepped out, utterly dumbfounded.

"Senior Brother Lei?"

A little Dao Child beside him asked softly, "Last time, you said we should first do our own duties well, then talk about everything else..."

Lei Jun said, "Whether we leave or stay now, we are serving the sect and handling the Celestial Master Mansion's business."

"Excellent!"

The Young Daoist was delighted. Taking several others with him, he swiftly set off.

Not long after they departed, Wang Guiyuan came looking for them. Glancing around, he asked, "Junior Brother Luo, why are you alone? Where is Junior Brother Gao?"

The Young Adult Daoist explained, "Junior Brother Gao suspects the Thief has other helpers, so he took people to investigate and hunt them down."

After hearing the list of those who had joined the proactive search party, Wang Guiyuan said nothing outwardly, but inwardly sighed.

He had no desire to get involved in such matters. He only wanted to lie peacefully in his own little patch of land, but before leaving, his master had unfortunately found this task for him.

And that Junior Brother Lei still seemed quite driven.

"Young people are so full of hot blood."

Wang Guiyuan lightly shook his head. "Still, one cannot blame him. Life is short; one must seize every moment..."

But if anything happened to Lei Jun, he would have a hard time explaining it to his master and Eldest Sister Xu Yuanzhen.

Lei Jun and his group followed the Young Daoist, searching in all directions, but found nothing.

They did encounter other teams along the way. They learned that the Thief had once failed to break through a checkpoint, but had not been caught on the spot and had vanished again. Fortunately, the overall encirclement was gradually tightening.

"If he could not be captured on the spot even under those circumstances, someone was most likely helping him in secret." The Young Daoist became even more certain of his judgment.

The group continued searching through the mountains.

As the encirclement shrank, they found more and more clues.

"He's nearby!"

Before the Young Daoist had even finished speaking, he suddenly noticed a glow shining amid the mountains in another direction beneath the night sky, followed by another peal of thunder.

The direction of the Dao Child Courtyard... Seeing this, Lei Jun fell into thought.

The Young Daoist immediately reacted as well. "The Dao Child Courtyard... a trick of luring the tiger from the mountain!"

The hunted Thief indeed had an Accomplice. While everyone had gone out en masse to search the mountains, that person had gone to the comparatively empty Dao Child Courtyard and struck at another target.

It appeared he had been discovered now, though no one knew whether he had succeeded.

"The one behind this is the real big fish. We must catch him in one net!" the Young Daoist snorted.

"Daoist Priest, we should be close to surrounding that little thief from before," Lei Jun said.

The Young Daoist swept his gaze around, took out a Spirit Talisman, and handed it to Lei Jun. "Take them and continue after the smaller one. I'll go back and block the bigger one."

Several Dao Children's minds began to stir, and they stepped forward, wanting to return with the Young Daoist to catch the big fish.

"What Daoist Luo said was not without reason. The situation is unclear, so High Daoist and all Senior Brothers and Fellow Disciples should be careful..." Before Lei Jun could finish, the Young Daoist had already turned and departed with thunderous decisiveness.

Lei Jun calmly turned back and looked at the few Dao Children remaining beside him. "We continue. We've pursued him this far; we cannot let the original Thief get away."

The Spirit Talisman the Young Daoist had given him was a Thunderstrike Talisman, and its power was extraordinary.

Even cultivators who had reached Foundation Establishment had to be cautious when facing one.

The thieving Dao Child was only at the Qi Refining Stage of the First Heaven, so naturally he could endure it even less.

The Young Daoist had hesitated slightly when handing Lei Jun the talisman. It was not because he begrudged it, but because he feared that one Thunderstrike Talisman would blast both the thief and the stolen goods into nothing.

Being a true disciple was nice—you could make talismans yourself... Lei Jun put away the Spirit Talisman and led the Dao Children onward in their mountain search.

"Spread out the search area, but don't get too far from one another. Call out at any time." With that, Lei Jun was the first to enter the mountain ridge.

Halfway through the search, the earth suddenly shook and the mountains swayed in the distance!

The intensity rivaled the tremendous disturbance from Elder Du's Dharma Altar explosion.

But it was not from the direction of the Dao Child Courtyard below the mountain.

Instead, it seemed to come from the mountain above.

The little Dao Children searching the mountain were all drawn to the violent tremors.

Just then, a black shadow suddenly shot out of the woods and darted behind a cliff.

Lei Jun noticed it at once. He called out and immediately gave chase.

Unfortunately, the unrest in the mountain ridge swallowed Lei Jun's shout.

Yet Lei Jun still quickly caught up to the black shadow.

The other person wore the same gray robe as him, dressed as a Dao Child. But his face was pale, his entire body covered in wounds, and he looked utterly bedraggled.

Lei Jun said, "We are Fellow Disciples. I do not wish to see brothers slaughtering one another."

The Thief sneered. "Cut the nonsense. Move aside!"

Before he had even finished speaking, he leaped up and kicked first at Lei Jun's throat.

Lei Jun remained unruffled. Before he had spoken, the eight Qi Seas within his body had already resonated together, True Qi surging like a Great River.

He neither dodged nor retreated, merely raising a hand to block.

Not only was the other man's leg swept aside, but his whole body was jolted backward into the air, losing balance as he tilted midflight.

Lei Jun stepped forward again and reached directly for the Thief's chest and abdomen.

Unexpectedly, a faint gleam suddenly appeared there.

A Jet-Black Scale resembling a piece of armor appeared, blocking Lei Jun's palm like a heart-protecting mirror.

Centered on the Jet-Black Scale, the light it emitted swiftly formed a huge shield like a door panel, helping the Thief ward off the attack.

But even less color remained in the Thief's face. He was pale as paper and extremely weak.

Lei Jun did not delay in the slightest. With the yellow talisman pinched between the index and middle fingers of his other hand, he raised it upward.

"Swiftly, as the law commands..."

Thunder rumbled overhead, lightning flashed, and thunder roared.

Lei Jun brandished the Thunderstrike Talisman before him.

"Heavenly Thunder, aid me!"

"Boom!"

A thunderbolt crashed down at once!

Lightning engulfed the Thief, while the light shield generated by the Jet-Black Scale on his chest resisted the thunder.

The Jet-Black Scale's defensive power was truly astonishing; even the lightning could not split it apart.

But the treasure's drain on the Thief was immense.

Though the lightning had not harmed him, he looked like a lamp drained of oil. Blood poured from all seven apertures of his face as he fell backward, staring at the sky.

The moment he lost focus, the glow around the Jet-Black Scale dimmed. The light shield dispersed, leaving only the scale itself, which fell toward the ground out of control.

Lei Jun reached out and caught the scale in his hand.

The Thief stood frozen in place, glaring at Lei Jun as he shouted sharply:

"Obviously, you and I are the same kind of person! You aren't surnamed Li either. No matter how hard you risk your life for the Li Family, the position of Celestial Master will never be yours!"

Lei Jun said, "Whether your surname is Li or not, with your cultivation at the First Heaven, getting involved in this will only make you cannon fodder for others."

The other man's eyes split with fury, but his essence, qi, and spirit were exhausted. There and then, he breathed his last.