CHAPTER 363: 212. FOURTH-RANK OPPORTUNITY, SKY-EYE FIERY STAR

Lei Jun headed straight toward Kongliu Mountain.

From a timing perspective, he had stayed a bit too long in the Zhao River region, and he wondered if he could still make it to the Fourth Rank opportunity mentioned in the moderately good lot over at Kongliu Mountain.

According to the earlier correspondence between Shangguan Peng and that middle-aged captain, everyone except Shangguan Peng had already gone ahead in the direction of Kongliu Mountain.

Lei Jun did not push it, approaching the chance with a shrug of luck, heading for Kongliu Mountain. *If I get it, lucky me. If not, it’s just fate. Best to let things unfold naturally.*

Anyway, he had no intention of sticking around in the Zhao River region just to witness Shangguan Peng’s conclusion.

On the way, Lei Jun contacted his master, Yuan Mobai, again.

The main thing was to remind his master not to go to Silver Flute Rock, Zhao River, and the like, and more importantly, to beware of the Shangguan Clan’s "care" for their apparent companions, which included but was not limited to Shangguan Peng.

Yuan Mobai was already well aware of Lei Jun’s research on their Celestial Master Mansion’s Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman.

Yuan Mobai also knew that Lei Jun’s comprehension had risen from Clear Insight to the level of Serene Insight.

*Even though he was both amused and annoyed by Lei Jun poaching his own Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman, Yuan Mobai did not doubt his disciple’s ability to pull it off.*

After hearing Lei Jun’s take on the intentions of Shangguan Peng and the others, Yuan Mobai seemed unsurprised, only a bit wistful,

"Passing down a family through literature and through martial arts is different, but... once you have such deep roots, people keep hoping the legacy will last for generations."

Lei Jun listened and quietly nodded.

With the Shangguan Clan leading the way as the founding meritorious families of Great Tang, forming an alliance with the Tang Imperial Court, whether it was a power struggle in the imperial court or the rise of new family forces, they were naturally in opposition to traditional noble houses like the Five Clans and Seven Families.

But in one respect, both sides were the same.

They all passed down their bloodlines by family, which was their innate foundation. *So when facing certain issues, strangely enough, both sides tended to think along the same lines.*

The Tang Imperial Family, along with the martial meritorious aristocracy that surrounded it, supported the Buddhist and Taoist Sacred Land primarily to use Buddhism and Taoism to balance out the Confucian noble houses like the Five Clans and Seven Families.

This was their starting point for taking action.

On the flip side, asking them to shield Buddhism and Taoism from the winds and rain was something some among the Shangguan Clan and other meritorious families naturally resisted.

As for the Celestial Master Mansion, currently at a low ebb, urgently needing rest and recuperation...

*In the hearts of Shangguan Peng and his ilk, they probably cared even less, believing the Mansion’s predicament resulted from Dragon Tiger Mountain’s own internal squabbles.*

And as for Bodhi Temple, it suffered disaster simply because Abbot Liaoyuan and the others made a mistake and gave the enemy a chance. They lost out before making any real impact, squandering the court’s support.

Those kinds of views—right or wrong aside—clearly had notable traction among the meritorious families, if not being the absolute mainstream.

"Judging from Her Majesty the Empress’s words and deeds, she often did the unexpected, but for now things should be fine. What we need to watch out for is the Grand General Shangguan’s intentions." Yuan Mobai commented slowly.

Shangguan Peng could not decide for the Shangguan Clan.

But he was a rising leader among the clan’s younger generation, and through him one could gauge trends within the family.

The Grand General Shangguan referred to the current commander of the Great Tang Shenji Army and present Clan Chief of the Shangguan family, Shangguan Yunbo.

Ten years ago, when the Western Regions disaster broke out, the former Great General of the Divine Strategy Army and previous Clan Chief died in battle. Afterward, Shangguan Yunbo inherited the position.

Under the Empress and Shangguan Yunbo’s leadership, the Great Tang Shenji Army slowly regained its Primordial Qi.

But with the Wu Yue rebellion and the East Sea demon outbreaks coming one after another, the recovery fell short of expectations.

Led by the Shangguan Clan, the meritorious families still had not recovered their former glory from before the Western Regions disaster.

It was in this process that the Empress promoted quite a few sons of common families.

Of course, it was not just Shen Qubing who stood out, but he was the exemplar.

As the Divine Strategy Army regained vitality, the martial noble families began losing some influence within it.

*It was hard to predict what was on the minds of Shangguan Yunbo and his circle.*

"For now, everyone was technically sharing the same boat, but the boat was leaking a bit, and people argued over who should jump in to patch it."

Lei Jun smiled, "Overall, we must still pull together and help each other. What others think was out of this disciple’s control, but that was how I insisted on thinking."

Hearing this, Yuan Mobai did not say much, only warned, "Watch your words and actions, don’t get careless."

Lei Jun said, "Yes, Master."

He brought up another topic, "At Red Cloud Sect in the Zhao River region, I heard about something else, that the White Lotus Sect’s Future Maitreya arrived in the Southern Wildernes too."

He had rounded up Worm Masters like Zhao Sen, purposefully exposing his tracks in the Zhao River area to attract Shangguan Peng.

But regardless of whether it was him, Lei Jun, or clues about the Celestial Master Robe, those things likely tempted far more than just Shangguan Peng.

So Lei Jun stayed wary beneath the surface for any other experts drawn in by the news.

Red Cloud Sect was the turf of Elder Tian Linlong from Yintuo Mountain, the old rival of Celestial Master Mansion, and Zhao Sen was Tian Linlong’s star disciple.

Lei Jun caused a stir near Red Cloud Sect, so logically Tian Linlong would be the first to show up.

But Lei Jun waited quite a while, even staying until Shangguan Peng arrived, yet Tian Linlong never appeared.

Instead, while hiding nearby, through some of the Red Cloud Sect’s Worm Masters, Lei Jun picked up a rumor.

The White Lotus Sect’s Future Maitreya arrived in the Southern Wildernes not long ago, and even came to the Zhao River region.

Such an unexpected arrival of an expert caught Tian Linlong’s attention, leaving him stretched too thin to deal with Lei Jun’s situation.

The current Sect Master of the White Lotus Sect was customarily called the Present Maitreya, Maitreya Holy Master, or the White Lotus Holy Master; meanwhile, the master’s heir was referred to as the Future Maitreya.