Master Yuan Mobai said, "Yin Yang Two Spiritual Objects that pair up so perfectly are rare to begin with, but for you, Chongyun, they could be of special use,"

Lei Jun appeared thoughtful.

Xu Yuanzhen glanced at Yuan Mobai, then sized up Lei Jun from head to toe, abruptly asking, "Did you start forming Evil Sha yet?"

"Not yet,"

Lei Jun said, "The original plan was to wait until after the ceremony,"

Xu Yuanzhen looked back at Yuan Mobai, "You're thinking to use Shadow Rabbit Vine and Heartburn Chi to harmonize the Qingxiao Divine Thunder Evil and Earth Core Yin Fire Sha?"

She had already guessed what Yuan Mobai had in mind.

Hearing her ask just so, Lei Jun confirmed his own suspicions at this moment.

Yuan Mobai said, "Want to give it a try?"

Xu Yuanzhen gazed out the window, lost in thought, as if pondering something.

It didn't really matter that she hadn't found Heartburn Chi; since it paired so perfectly with Shadow Rabbit Vine, she could make a rough estimate.

And after considering the conditions of Qingxiao Divine Thunder Evil and Earth Core Yin Fire Sha together, Xu Yuanzhen withdrew her gaze from outside the window and nodded, "It's feasible,"

With her definite reply, Yuan Mobai looked to Lei Jun,

"Earlier, Chonggui explained to you about the downsides of cultivating both Yin and Yang Evil Sha at the same time, and everything he said was true,

However, if you use the right Yin Yang Spiritual Objects to harmonize the two Sha, you might turn ruin into fortune, and make their harm benefit you instead,

Of course, how you proceed depends on what you choose, Chongyun. If you prefer to only cultivate White Tiger Divine Wind Sha or another Sha, that's fine too,"

*At that moment, Lei Jun's thought was that the moderately good lot he drew was actually pointing toward this,*

*No wonder he was told to wait until after the new year,*

*If Xu Yuanzhen had come back to the mountain before, even if he'd asked her to watch for True Yin objects, she could still have missed the Shadow Rabbit Vine from Youpeng Mountain,*

*According to what she said, it was only shortly before she returned home for the New Year's visit that she passed through there, caught a glimpse of the Shadow Rabbit Vine, and managed to get it just in time,*

*If it had happened earlier, she wouldn't even have crossed paths with Shadow Rabbit Vine yet,*

Thanks to Yuan Mobai's explanation, Lei Jun now knew that harmonizing Yin and Yang Two Evil Sha using the Shadow Rabbit Vine and Heartburn Chi required prior preparations before starting to form Sha,

If he had already started forming Qingxiao Divine Thunder Evil or Earth Core Yin Fire Sha, and then found the Shadow Rabbit Vine and Heartburn Chi later, it would be too late,

*Yin Yang Two Evil were hard to work with; if you missed the timing, you just had to grit your teeth and tough it out,*

*The end result was that you'd get a slight advantage in same-realm spell power, but cultivation would become laborious and sluggish, not really worth the effort,*

Of course, he could always choose to cultivate just the Qingxiao Divine Thunder Evil and stay away from Yin-type Sha,

*That seemed to match what was said in the perfectly neutral lot about Qingxiao Divine Thunder Evil: "Follow your heart's development in the future," that was its meaning,*

*And for him to have waited all this time and not started forming Sha yet—that meant he met Xu Yuanzhen and her Shadow Rabbit Vine,*

*So, he had hope to harmonize the Yin Yang Two Evil,*

*If it worked, cultivating both Sha together would not hinder his progress. In fact, it could speed up his advancement in the Original Talisman realm and save him tons of time,*

*At the same time, he'd still enjoy the benefit of dual cultivation: greater spell power,*

*Just like when he entered the Green Stone Ink Mine,*

*Win all the gains,*

*Dodge all the downsides,*

*Lei Jun loved this kind of path,*

"Shadow Rabbit Vine, Heartburn Chi..."

Xu Yuanzhen raised her hand and looked at the Spirit Grass, "Interesting. Guess I really scored a treasure this trip,"

She still handed the Spirit Grass to Lei Jun, "After the ceremony, I'll go look again around Youpeng Mountain,"

There was a rare trace of interest in her voice just then,

*For a moment, it almost felt like that tiny Heartburn Chi was more alluring to her than the Celestial Master's Sword,*

But all of a sudden, she frowned, "Wait a second. Why do I feel like the Earth Core Yin Fire Sha's a bit unstable? How many layers of ritual seals did you guys stack on top to keep a lid on it?"

Yuan Mobai sighed, "That's exactly the other problem I'm about to mention. We only found out recently that the Earth Core Yin Fire Sha is about to run dry. I joined forces with Third Master Uncle and Second Senior Sister and stabilized the Earth Evil veins for now, but you can't make bricks without clay,

If Chongyun tries to cultivate Earth Core Yin Fire Sha, he might be fine with one, maybe two Original Talismans. But starting from the third, he'll probably run out of options,"

*Suddenly, Lei Jun realized,*

*So that was the real story behind the moderately unlucky lot for Earth Core Yin Fire Sha,*

Xu Yuanzhen asked, "Did it have to do with all those battles up the mountain lately?"

Yuan Mobai nodded, "Yes, the earth veins were affected, and not in a small way,

Among our mansion's disciples forming Earth Core Yin Fire Sha, there's still a few left. They'll get priority from now on,"

Yuan Mobai showed a rare bitter smile, "If it's not enough, we'll really have a headache,"

Then he looked to Lei Jun, "So Chongyun, do you want to travel together with Yuan Zhen? After visiting Youpeng Mountain and Qiluo Valley, if you run into Heartburn Chi directly, maybe don't rush back home just yet. You could go straight to Red Abyss Cave Heaven or some other place, form the Yin-type Sha first, then head back to cultivate the Yang-type Qingxiao Divine Thunder Evil,"

The Shadow Rabbit Vine and Heartburn Chi had to be used before the process of forming Sha, or else you couldn't harmonize the two,

So it only mattered for someone like Lei Jun, who hadn't officially started the Sha condensation process,

The Celestial Master Mansion disciples who were already in the midst of forming Earth Core Yin Fire Sha couldn't benefit from this and change course any more,

"Disciple will follow Master's arrangement, and travel with Senior Sister first to Youpeng Mountain, then proceed to condense Yin Sha, and finally return to condense Yang Sha,"

Lei Jun bowed in Taoist fashion to Xu Yuanzhen, "Thank you, Senior Sister,"

Xu Yuanzhen did not look at him, but instead fixed her gaze on Yuan Mobai, "You know my preferences, Master,"

Yuan Mobai smiled, "Just Chongyun. It doesn't count as breaking your rule,"

Seeing Lei Jun's curiosity, he added, "Yuan Zhen hates traveling in groups of three or more,"

Xu Yuanzhen said, "Three's already pretty awful,"

Yuan Mobai kept smiling, "At least this time we don't reach that number,"

Xu Yuanzhen twisted her lips and looked at Lei Jun, "Some folks, some matters... one is already worth two,"

Lei Jun answered with a modest smile, "Senior Sister flatters me,"

"You really are worth two," Xu Yuanzhen said, "Li Zhengxuan just has skin that's way too thin, but his heart's insatiable. If he only had half your thick skin, a lot of things would've been so much easier for him,"

With that, she got up and walked straight out toward the Rear Mountain Ancestral Tomb forbidden zone,

Lei Jun looked back at his own master,

Yuan Mobai nodded, "She was praising you,"

Lei Jun said, "Disciple thought so too,"

......

This year's new Transcension Ritual went off just as scheduled and ended smoothly,

The new batch of transmission disciples formally joined the Mansion and took their masters,

Chu Kun managed to become a disciple under Yuan Mobai as he'd hoped,

But among the Chu Clan folks attending the ceremony this year, Chu Yu was nowhere to be seen,

The Chu Clan guests were mainly Chu Kun's parents,

Yuan Mobai had met them years back while searching for the Celestial Master Seal, and forged a friendly connection,

Now, reunited after all those years, everyone found themselves a bit nostalgic,

When the formal ceremony took place, Wang Guiyuan stood beside Yuan Mobai, while Lei Jun joined Chu Kun's parents at the viewing platform,

Other Chu Clan members lingered nearby too,

The general atmosphere between both sides was rather friendly,

Except a few younger Chu Clan types who kept trying to ask about Lei Jun's marriage prospects…

Lei Jun acted like he couldn't follow the hints, and so, during the ceremony, no one pressed the subject any further,

Just as when Lei Jun joined the sect years ago, after the ceremony, the next day Chu Kun returned to the Tao Boy Court to pack up his belongings and move,

As a newly accepted True Inheritance, the Mansion had accommodations arranged for him,

Compared to Lei Jun and Wang Guiyuan, whose lodgings were right next to Master Yuan Moba, Chu Kun chose a residence a bit more secluded,

The thing that caught Lei Jun's attention was the Taoist name Yuan Mobai chose for his newest disciple,

Generally, new transmission disciples in the Celestial Master Mansion had their Taoist names formed by matching a character in the generation name to one in their real name,

For example, Wang Guiyuan and Wang Zhonggui; Lin Shan and Lin Chongshan; Li Xuan and Li Chongxuan; Fang Jian and Fang Chongjian; Luo Haoran and Luo Chonghao; Xia Qing and Xia Chongqing; Chu Andong and Chu Chong'an; and so forth,

But after Yuan Mobai set a precedent with Lei Jun's name, he broke convention again this year for Chu Kun,

He gave Chu Kun the Taoist name Chu Zhongguang,

Chu Kun listened, and felt like something wasn't quite right…

But he didn't dwell on it, and formally saluted Yuan Mobai in the prescribed way,

The following day, all four master and disciples gathered at Yuan Mobai's residence, where Yuan Mobai once again taught class,

Chu Kun greeted Wang Guiyuan and Lei Jun with the proper etiquette, as fellow disciples with a shared ancestry and master,

*Lei Jun felt a mild surge of emotion,*

*He had a fellow disciple now—same sect, same lineage, a true junior brother,*

*One day, would he have disciples and grand-disciples too?*

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