Lei Jun, brimming with excitement, lowered his head to gaze into the depths of the valley, "So it's down there?"

From the crevice beneath, a fierce gale surged upward from the valley's depths.

Lei Jun stepped back a few paces, waiting for the violent Earth Vein Qi to vent itself.

He swept his gaze slowly across his surroundings.

Near Qiluo Valley, there was no sign of anyone else or anything unusual.

But on the main peak, not only was there little movement, there were faint flashes of treasure light shimmering in the distance.

Lei Jun had no intention of heading for the main peak.

*Even if this lot didn't imply any strict time limit, Qiluo Valley already changed—no reason to complicate things.*

*It wasn't that Lei Jun looked down on the potential eighth-rank opportunity over at the main peak.*

*But if, because he went there, someone else seized the third-rank opportunity at Qiluo Valley, he'd really wind up losing more than he gained.*

*It was clear which mattered more between third-rank and eighth-rank.*

*Besides, the main peak might hide its own troubles.*

*For now, those wouldn't be natural disasters from the shaking Earth Veins.*

*So, it'd likely be man-made?*

*He drew a perfectly neutral lot, which meant as long as nothing unexpected happened, he wouldn't be at risk of failure.*

*But Lei Jun honestly had no interest in gambling with fate just for the hell of it.*

*He'd much rather take the best possible lot and keep it safe in hand.*

*Just that—even if nothing there could threaten him, for those Yuhang School disciples, that might not be the case.*

*So Lei Jun had reminded them.*

*Whether they listened or not depended on each one's choices.*

Watching the chaotic flow of Spiritual Energy from the crevice finally calm, Lei Jun stopped hesitating.

After a last survey of the area, he leapt down into the fissure.

His vision instantly became pitch-dark; Lei Jun didn't spark his own fire or Thunder Light to illuminate.

He tossed a few Spirit Talismans down at random.

Only once released did the talismans light up.

In the gloom, they couldn't fully dispel the darkness, but were enough for Lei Jun to see, at least for now.

Searching carefully, finding nothing, Lei Jun continued deeper.

As he descended, the resistance grew stronger and stronger.

The chaotic flow of Spiritual Energy resisted Lei Jun's descent at first, pushing upward.

Then, occasionally, it would spiral into whirlpools that tried to drag him even faster below.

Lei Jun steadied himself, searching as he moved downward.

Suddenly, there was no need to create light—pinpricks of brilliance glimmered from deep down below.

Once Lei Jun got close, he realized with a start it resembled an underground river.

But unlike a normal river, this one wasn't water—it was a surging, turbulent current of Earth Vein Qi.

The ground energy rushed through like a mighty river, endless and flowing; no matter where Lei Jun looked, he glimpsed neither source nor end.

"Earth Vein Spiritual Qi usually follows patterns, yet most of the time, it nurtures quietly, without a trace."

Lei Jun studied closely, "To be this concentrated and wild is truly rare."

*It didn't feel natural—more like something orchestrated.*

*And whoever triggered the Earth Veins, it didn't have to be right at Youpeng Mountain. It might be outside somewhere nearby, hell—even miles away.*

*Earth Vein movements were like meridians in the human body: deep and intricate. Shift one, and you could move the whole system.*

*Two spots that looked totally unrelated might secretly be connected.*

*While a mountain and river that were close as kin might have zero relation at all.*

*There were mysteries here that even top experts among the Upper Three Heavens struggled to fully grasp.*

*If you asked who could most readily stir the ley lines and national fortune, hands down, that'd be the reigning Great Tang Emperor.*

*So, was he making a move again now?*

*Hard to say for sure...*

*His Majesty the Tang Emperor already pulled off a string of big maneuvers before.*

*Did the great clans and noble families really not counter him at all?*

*Out of nowhere, an image of Ye Cheng's gentle smiling face flashed through Lei Jun's mind.*

*Ye Cheng himself wasn't quite able to go head-to-head with the Emperor in such matters.*

*But he'd never stood for himself alone.*

*Confucian Studies—they were the top intellectual force in the world now, surpassing Taoists, Buddhists, Warriors, and Wu alike.*

*In Great Tang, the noble clans and the Emperor ruled the realm together.*

*Those lines, so widely quoted, aren't just figures of speech.*

*They reflect hard reality.*

*His Majesty took his shot at the perfect moment.*

*One of the greatest noble families—the Jiangzhou Lin Clan—lost its leadership, sinking into chaos, shaking one pillar of the Tang's power.*

*But that collapse didn't just leave a gap in one place—it created a vacuum that pulled on its surroundings, affecting everywhere else too.*

*The Five Clans and Seven Families were all interconnected somehow.*

*The new Lin Clan Chief remained undecided, mostly because every major contender had powerful allies backing them.*

*Each noble house hoped the next Clan Chief would lean their way.*

*...If their network penetrated the Celestial Master Mansion just as deeply, then the fate of the new Celestial Master would draw massive attention, too.*

*Leveraging the Lin Clan's ripple effect, His Majesty acted.*

*But none of the great clans could ever afford to ignore the imperial family of Great Tang.*

*His Majesty wasn't guaranteed to get his way on everything... Lei Jun gave a faint shake of his head, reigning in his wandering thoughts.*

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit his mind; he sensed something.

Peering closer, he saw that among the torrents of Earth Vein Spiritual Qi like a grand sweeping river, there was an instant—a thread of Spirit Light flickered through, swept with the current along its course.

The Spirit Light didn't stand out, nor did it seem packed with Spiritual Nature.

But Lei Jun was suddenly seized with an urge to snatch that Spirit Light on the spot.

As the thought surged up in his heart, Lei Jun immediately sprang into action.

He flung out the Breathing Soil Banner, the soft yellow glow condensing into masses of Spirit Soil in midair, winding tightly together and plunging straight into the swirl of the Spiritual River.

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