CHAPTER 53: 52. THREE-IN-ONE AND FOUR-IN-ONE

Lei Jun thought his vibe finally matched the situation.

Dong Yang thought he was seeing ghosts.

Body-refining martial arts cultivators, those martial artists who placed all their skills into their own physical bodies, moved with lightning speed and overwhelming might. When it came to agility, reaction time, or explosive strength, they were the best of the best in their realm.

And yet, this little Taoist wiped the floor with them, one punch for each guy?

Granted, the Taoist Talisman Sect was also famous for its close-combat traditions, but still—close-quarters fighting was supposed to be the body-refiners’ specialty!

Fine, this young Taoist was tall and lean, built more like a martial artist than any of the Dong Family fellows.

But Dong Yang still found it unbelievable.

There was only one possibility: cultivation suppression... Dong Yang instantly regained his chill.

The Taoist in front of him looked young, but his cultivation, like Luo Haoran’s and Lu Zhaoqing’s, was at the Third Heavenly Layer.

And unlike Lu Zhaoqing, who was aging and declining physically, this Taoist was in his prime—and he was damn good at the Celestial Master Mansion’s Divine Strike Talisman!

While Dong Yang’s gaze flickered, Lei Jun, supporting Luo Haoran, suddenly lifted his leg and strode forward.

In an instant, Lei Jun and Luo Haoran were right up in Dong Yang’s face, filling his line of sight.

...And he even used the Wind Riding Talisman!

*Dong Yang’s heartbeat skipped a beat.*

*Dragging a wounded man, and he could still move that fast?*

Damn it! Who’s the real body-refining martial artist here?!

Martial arts practitioners put everything into boldness of blood and qi, their enthusiasm burning.

Dong Yang’s mind instantly cleared, but his blood qi raged even harder, and instead of backing off, he rushed straight at Lei Jun head-on!

He clenched his fist, muscles bulging and veins popping out like angry dragons, then drove a punch straight for Lei Jun’s throat!

"Smack!"

Lei Jun raised his hand, fingers spread wide, his palm neatly catching Dong Yang’s incoming punch.

Both men’s bodies shook at once.

Dong Yang couldn’t push his fist forward any further.

*Lei Jun suddenly found the whole scene hilariously absurd. He swore he wasn’t doing this on purpose, but damn if it didn’t look exactly like that "bro, you’re really weak" meme.*

Dong Yang didn’t find it funny—just shocking and infuriating.

Fine, the clan juniors were lower-level, but he himself, a Third Heavenly Layer body-refining martial arts practitioner, was held like this by a little Taoist?

Dong Yang’s throat pulsed furiously, swelling up to the size of an egg as if filled with blood.

His blood qi surged again, about to explode for a second time in a blast of raw power.

Lei Jun could feel his opponent’s fist growing hot in his palm.

Dong Yang’s whole body boiled with blood qi, the heat was intense enough that nearby grass and plants dried and yellowed from the heat.

Lifebound skill, secret martial art—Fire Python Spits the Pearl!

"Agh..."

Dong Yang suddenly coughed, choking like something was stuck in his throat.

This killer move—Fire Python Spits the Pearl—got stuck halfway, his blood power unable to erupt.

He was terrified to find himself feeling physically weak, as if struck by some sudden illness.

Lei Jun’s grip around his fist flashed with greenish light.

Under its effect, Dong Yang’s blood qi weakened, his secret move got stuck in his throat, unable to launch. His actions froze, neither moving forward nor retreating.

He paused—Lei Jun did not.

Lei Jun let go of Luo Haoran with his free hand, just for a moment.

Lei Jun balled his fist.

He landed a punch right on Dong Yang’s bulging throat.

"Crack!"

Lei Jun withdrew his fist.

And with perfect timing, reached out to help Luo Haoran before he collapsed.

"Heh...hh..." Dong Yang’s eyes bulged wide in shock, mouth open and gasping, unable to utter a single word.

Lei Jun released Dong Yang’s fist from his grasp as well.

The martial artist before him suddenly collapsed like his bones vanished, his body fell limp to the ground, eyes open in death.

Nearby, Lu Zhaoqing’s eyes bulged just as wide as Dong Yang’s had, not one bit smaller.

This Lei—Master’s nephew—had conquered the Heavenly Chasm, reached the Third Heavenly Layer, and erected an altar?!

*No, wasn’t he supposed to be affected by Green Stone Ink’s tribulation crossing?*

*Wasn’t Green Stone Ink supposed to damage low-level cultivators’ bodies?*

*Look at this guy, dragon-strong and tiger-fierce—where’s the weakness? He’s so damn robust it’s actually overkill!*

*The old Taoist, after years of self-restraint, managed to curse only in his heart and not aloud.*

Luo Haoran was equally stunned.

Normally, at the same cultivation level, a Taoist Talisman Sect cultivator in close combat could still get overwhelmed by body-refiners; with lifebound Divine Strike and Wind Riding talismans, plus all sorts of spirit talismans helping out, most of that gap could be closed. But that was the martial artists’ foundation.

The Celestial Master Mansion’s inheritance was superior to the Dong Family, so Lei Jun had the upper hand—Lu Zhaoqing and Luo Haoran could accept that.

But in just two exchanges, Lei Jun had crushed and killed a Third Heavenly Layer martial artist on the spot.

Luo Haoran and Lu Zhaoqing suddenly felt like all this was a little unreal.

*If he knew all my secrets and was on guard, even if Lei Jun could kill him it wouldn’t have been so easy...* Lei Jun gazed calmly at Dong Yang’s wide-eyed corpse.

*Just like Dong Yang surprised Luo Haoran earlier, timing, environment, and fate all worked to the extreme.*

*Otherwise, in a regular fight, how could anyone defeat a true Celestial Master Mansion heir in a single exchange?*

Head-to-head, Luo Haoran was young; even if the Water-Avoiding Talisman filled a life-bound talisman slot, his skill still outmatched the aged and declining Lu Zhaoqing and surpassed Dong Yang too.

Yet he’d almost been killed by Dong Yang’s ambush.

Real battle meant life and death decisions—nothing like friendly sect sparring or competition matches...

"Many thanks to my master for granting me a Divine Strike Talisman."

Before Luo Haoran or Lu Zhaoqing could speak, Lei Jun offered a wry reflection as if to himself, "Otherwise, today might have ended badly."

Lu Zhaoqing let out a long, slow breath, "Yes—thank goodness, really."

He looked at Lei Jun again, "Lei, you... have you erected your altar?"

Since Lei Jun had revealed his hand, he now nodded frankly,

"Thanks to my honored master’s guidance—instructed to use Green Stone Ink to speed up my cultivation, then journeyed abroad and discovered Misty Cloud Crystals to undo Green Stone Ink’s damage to my body. Only under my master’s tutelage did I manage to survive tribulation crossing and successfully raise my altar."

This was the lot’s perfectly neutral outcome.

*All those years keeping a low profile and now I can’t hide it anymore...*

The doubts Luo Haoran and Lu Zhaoqing had were finally answered.

All that was left was amazement,

Four years!

Luo Haoran had personally watched Lei Jun grow—while Lu Zhaoqing had heard about him at the sect; Lei had only formally entered cultivation after taking part in the transcension ritual four years ago.

Four years—first foundation establishment, then raising his altar.

Such progress was rare even at the Daoist Holy Land Celestial Master Mansion.

"Master Lu, you should rest first. I’ll help Luo with his wounds." Lei Jun shifted the topic.

Lu Zhaoqing’s tense nerves finally relaxed, and he felt a wave of exhaustion, dropping all pretense and collapsing weakly to the ground.

Luo Haoran was in bad shape, too.

Dong Yang had caught him off guard, leaving a bloody cavity punched into his chest and damaging his organs.

Here, Lei Jun found himself grateful to senior brother Wang Guiyuan for being so thorough—plenty of healing medicine and spiritual herbs, which Lei quickly applied inside and out to stabilize Luo’s injuries.

But body-refining martial artists ran hot with blood qi, and the Dong Family’s secret art left a feverish heat in Luo’s body, sending him into a coma.

Lei Jun glanced around and suddenly remembered something. He searched Dong Yang’s corpse.

As expected, he found an odd spiritual object—a golden bead flashing with light.

With Dong Yang and company’s cultivation, they shouldn’t have been able to sneak through the chaotic floodwaters filled with swirling spiritual energy—not without this strange golden bead.

This was the trick behind their stealthy ambush.

Without it, Luo Haoran would have been able to fend them off in time.

"Master Lu, I’ll use this treasure to take Luo into the water—using the flood’s water-elemental spiritual energy to suppress and resolve the heat in his body," Lei Jun said to Lu Zhaoqing, who immediately nodded.

Luo Haoran was badly injured and couldn’t risk a long journey; even with the golden bead, Lei Jun couldn’t safely take him through the waterways out of Qingxiao Lake. He could only suppress and nurse the wound for now.

[Water-Averting Golden Pupil]

As if a ball of light illuminated his mind, Lei Jun suddenly realized the item’s name.

*Was this the Sixth-Rank Opportunity mentioned by the perfectly neutral lot?*

Using the Water-Averting Golden Pupil and Water-Avoiding Talisman, Lei Jun carved out a dry pocket in the turbulent upper Hanging Sky Lake, bringing Luo Haoran inside.

There was no water in the space, but its air was saturated with water vapor, assisting Luo’s body in suppressing the feverish heat.

He visibly improved; under the medicine’s power, still unconscious, but his physical state was finally starting to recover.

Lei Jun finally found free time to examine the Water-Averting Golden Pupil and the Jiji Stone he’d gotten earlier.

These, surely, were the Sixth-Rank and Seventh-Rank Opportunities prophesied by the lot.

Compared to the pupil, Lei Jun was actually more interested in the Jiji Stone right now.

His previous plan for improving comprehension involved the Huo Sui Yang Yu, the Weiji Bowl, and the Water Marrow Yin Fish—three components, combining yin and yang, water and fire.

The Huo Sui Yang Yu and Water Marrow Yin Fish were paired opposites: fire and water.

The Jiji Stone, though, was the polar opposite of the Weiji Bowl.

So, could there be a "four-in-one" method?

Both Xu Yuanzhen and Yuan Mobai had mentioned that with a triple combination, it was possible, at minimum, to raise Lei Jun’s comprehension from high-grade to outstanding.

But whether that was enough to reach clear insight—they weren’t completely sure.

*What about four-in-one?*