Zhao Gang took a deep breath, his eyes locked firmly on Lei Jun.

Lei Jun met his gaze with calm.

"Zhao," came Ji Chuan's voice from afar, "Master is summoning us."

Zhao nodded, withdrew his gaze, and left.

Lei Jun remained composed.

If his observations weren't mistaken, this Zhao might be Elder Ji's disciple, but he only knew his master had some old grudge with Yuan Mobai. *He didn't seem to know the details or the real story behind Yuan Mobai.*

Compared to this guy who couldn't beat him and was clumsy even in a verbal fight, Lei Jun paid more attention to someone else.

His eyes moved toward the distance.

There, Lin Xinran stood together with Ji Chuan, Zhao, and the other Mount Shu disciples.

*Whether that one was from the Jiangzhou Lin Clan or Youzhou Lin Clan, Lei Jun didn't care much for now.*

Before Lei Jun left the mountain this time, Master Yuan Mobai had mentioned that the internal affairs of the Mount Shu Sect weren't peaceful either.

At present, there wasn't anything like the Li Clan of Dragon Tiger Mountain, where they ruled alone and handed down the Sect Leader position within the family.

Cultivators of Mount Shu weren't forbidden to marry, but generally, the sect held to the principle that children wouldn't inherit their parent's teachings directly.

If a disciple had offspring, they wouldn't personally teach them; instead, the child would become a student of another senior or peer.

Later generations, barring major exceptions, would likewise switch branches and masters within the sect.

There were large crossovers on occasion, but so far, there hadn't been any massive clans inside Mount Shu.

Still, *every family had its own troubles.*

The biggest split inside Mount Shu's ranks had always been between those wanting to engage with society and those preferring seclusion.

Compared to Zhongnan Mountain's Pure Yang Palace and Dragon Tiger Mountain's Celestial Master Mansion, the Mount Shu Sect was the most distant from the Great Tang Imperial Family.

One reason was their remote home in Bashu.

Another was that Mount Shu had always kept to its traditions throughout history.

Even in dynasties before the Tang, they had mostly stayed in Bashu, rarely leaving, guarding the mountain range, and dodging the storms outside.

But the Tang Imperial Court had actively supported Buddhist and Taoist Holy Lands to counterbalance the Confucian Family Clans, the Five Clans and Seven Families.

Meanwhile, as Mount Shu developed, their need for cultivation resources grew.

As the Daoist External Alchemy School—or Artifact Refining Sect—their heritage meant Mount Shu cultivators needed huge amounts of resources.

So for nearly a thousand years, more and more voices inside Mount Shu had called for coming out of seclusion, increasing contact with the Tang Imperial Court and the wider world.

The benefits were clear.

Mount Shu rapidly thrived, quickly securing its place among the three major Taoist Holy Lands despite being the youngest. The Daoist Artifact Refining Sect had grown strong, becoming equal to the Talisman and Dan Ding branches.

The influence of Mount Shu began spreading beyond Bashu, reaching the two lakes region and even Guanlong.

But naturally, problems arose too.

The influx of outside talent made the voices within Mount Shu chaotic and diverse.

*Was this fortune or misfortune?* Lei Jun wondered.

The current era had produced many cultivators of high skill within Mount Shu.

But ironically, they lacked a true leader whose word was binding.

This led directly to—

A forest of factions.

"To be honest, as long as things don't devolve into all-out internal strife and violence, having multiple factions isn't all that unacceptable."

Yuan Mobai once said, "Tracing history, it all began as a loose alliance of small sects and rogue cultivators in the mountains of Bashu. Eventually, the Mount Shu Alliance was formed, which evolved into the Mount Shu Sect, solidifying the External Alchemy legacy's ancestral roots."

Factionalism had practically become tradition in Mount Shu.

"But today, the world is rife with undercurrents and turmoil. Radical change could erupt at any moment."

Yuan Mobai sighed, "My worry is that with so many forces pulling from outside, Mount Shu might repeat the mistakes our sect made in its own past."

If it came to civil war and division, the outcome could range from bad to worse.

Maybe, scattered forces could unite into something greater.

But far likelier, the sect would bleed itself dry through infighting, severely damaging its vital energy.

In some ways, the Celestial Master Mansion had already served as a cautionary tale for Mount Shu, showing how leaders could maintain conflict without falling apart entirely.

Yet, as Yuan Mobai had said, in these unpredictable times, one move or one accident could drag countless people into disaster.

When Tang Emperor Zhang Qilong left the capital, he never could have predicted that his tour would end with such earth-shaking consequences.

Even the heads of the great noble families, in their earliest attempts to balance the Emperor's power, likely couldn't foresee how things would play out.

Many sides moved, changing with circumstance, and only after the dust settled did the outcomes reveal themselves.

As to whether these were the results people actually wanted—well, as with drinking water, some found it cold, some warm.

In all this, who would end up playing what role? It made one wonder... *Lei Jun quietly watched Lin Xinran in the distance.*

Among the noble scions, there were those like Chu Yu, Fang Yue, Fang Jian, Chu Kun, and Chu Andong.

And there were others like Fang Mingyuan, Fang Lu, and Lin Liao.

*Just what kind was this Lin Xinran, anyway?* Lei Jun mused.

A violent earthquake shattered Lei Jun's train of thought.

Elder He Dongxing had already finished his preparations.

He kept a cheerful smile, standing atop the solitary peak and beckoned casually.

Suddenly, a Magical Sword rose, soaring through the air. In mid-flight, it split into ten, ten into a hundred, a hundred into a thousand…

The next instant, a deluge of sword rain fell from the heavens.

Lei Jun stood far out on the periphery, gazing at the torrent of sword light as it crashed over the mountains below.

Like knives slicing through tofu, the sword light made barely a sound but pierced mountains and earth, leaving thousands of gaping wounds and burrowing deep underground.

Everything seemed eerily silent for a second.

Then, the earth erupted in violent trembling.

The mountain ranges below quaked, huge tracts collapsing.

From a distance, Lei Jun lifted himself into the sky, surveying the scene from above.

He could just make out, beneath the crumbling mountains, the ground subsiding into hollows.

Suddenly, in one area choked with broken rocks, the surface seemed to bulge upward.

Then, something beneath the earth sped away, churning up stones as it tunneled rapidly toward the horizon.

But all around, the area was saturated with the magic artifacts deployed by Mount Shu Sect.

The artifacts formed a formation, beams of light shooting up toward the sky and down into the earth, making a three-dimensional cage.

The thing trying to escape underground immediately slammed into the prison made of magical light.

The beams wavered, rocked by considerable force.

If given more time, that thing probably could force its way out underground.

But He Dongxing wouldn't give it the chance.

He floated, recalled his Flying Sword and condensed it back into one, then fused himself with the sword, transforming into a dazzling meteor that plunged straight into the earth.

From deep underground came a series of deafening roars, shaking the land.

Then, as rock collapsed and dirt flew, a gigantic figure flashed by.

With Lei Jun's current cultivation and eyesight, he still couldn't make out its full form.

It wasn't until He Dongxing's sword light flushed it out into the sky, tangled around the huge black shadow and slowed its movements, that Lei Jun and the other Mount Shu disciples finally saw its true face.

It looked shockingly like the stone lion statues so common outside mansion gates.

Except it was massive—floating in midair like a mountain come to life, coiling through the sky.

This animated stone lion had nine claws arranged under its belly, in a grid of nine palatial squares.

As it roared, a thick yellow light poured from its mouth, making the entire area swirl with yellow sand and choking dust.

The heavy demonic aura instantly contaminated and vaporized the surrounding Spiritual Energy.

Lei Jun and the other human cultivators immediately felt their mana sluggish, breath growing hard.

*This was alarming enough—this wasn't even a proper Great Demon's home turf yet…* Lei Jun thought, suddenly tense.

He glanced at Ji Chuan and the Mount Shu disciples.

The group all summoned their life-bound magical artifacts for protection. The demonic energy affected them, but they managed.

Ignoring individual differences and just comparing the characteristics of the two legacies, the current environment—the kind where magic draws on earth and sky—was notably harsher on Talisman Sect cultivators.

Small details reflected greater trends.

In a Great Demon's domain, where evil miasma overwhelmed Spiritual Energy, Talisman Sect cultivators would be at an even greater disadvantage casting spells.

In places rich with Spiritual Energy, Talisman Sect practitioners could call on the power of heaven and earth. But by the same token, their casting relied more on the external environment—a double-edged sword.

Lei Jun was able to analyze all this because He Dongxing, the Mount Shu Elder, still had things under control.

That Nine-Clawed Stone Lion, vicious as it was, already had several wounds slashed open by the sword light.

Its defenses were mighty, but even so, it couldn't withstand the sharpness of Mount Shu's great sword cultivator.

But just then, a violent quake struck the mountains in another direction.

Next, a thunderous roar echoed out from deep underground, shaking the land.

He Dongxing's smile faded, his brows drawing together,

"Two of them…"

Sure enough, as the mountains collapsed and rock flew, another massive black shadow surged up from beneath the ground, shooting into the sky.

*This can't be blamed on me, right?*

*I'm just a bystander, passing through here…* Lei Jun watched from afar, speechless.

He Dongxing quickly relaxed his frown.

Even with two Nine-Clawed Stone Lions, he showed no fear.

But now that he had to go all in, he wouldn't be able to watch over his junior disciples anymore.

"The rest of you, clear out, now." The old Taoist's voice echoed from the sky.

With that, the sword light in the sky surged, moving like a startled dragon, weaving throughout the battlefield.

The two mountain-sized Nine-Clawed Stone Lions tumbled and tore at each other, clashing with the great sword cultivator from Mount Shu.

All at once, the sky and earth shook, the chaos far fiercer than before.

With He Dongxing no longer stabilizing things, the fight grew wild, and huge shockwaves began blasting out in all directions.

Mountains collapsed everywhere.

The earth veins of Mount Shu, always unstable, now joined the uproar, stirred by the battle.

Chasms and deep valleys split open, earth energy forming mighty gusts that shot up toward the heavens.

Lei Jun focused his gaze, seeing those underground gales fiercer than any he'd seen before—rock reduced to powder at the slightest touch.

Two deep chasms, one north, one south, split open, trapping Lei Jun and the others in a narrowing strip of land.

Above, one man and two giant demons still battled in midair.

East or west, the escape route had to be chosen fast.

As Lei Jun considered his options, a glowing sphere abruptly flickered in his mind, forming written words,

[Mount Shu subjugates demons, chaos rages in all directions, remain calm, avoid risk and disaster.]

At the same time, four lots appeared,

[Neutral lot, remain within the bounds of Cangbo Mountain without moving—there's a chance to escape, the storms settle, no real danger, safe.]

[Neutral lot, head toward West Mountain—there's a chance to escape, some trouble but no real danger, safe.]

[Moderately unlucky lot, head toward East Mountain—there's a chance to escape, but huge danger lurks, a near-death escape, ominous.]

[Moderately unlucky lot, force your way through the north-south earth veins and gales—there's a chance to escape, but extreme danger awaits, proceed with utmost caution, ominous.]

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