Chapter 1

1. The Celestial Master's Mansion

At the foot of Dragon Tiger Mountain, the Celestial Master's Mansion has a Daoist Child Academy with six branches.

Lei Jun, dressed in a gray standard Daoist robe, sat in the main hall, swaying his head and reciting Daoist scriptures along with other gray-robed Daoist children.

As a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越者" in English, but in this context, it means "a person who has traveled through time or to a different world"), he had arrived in a world entirely different from Blue Star.

A world where immortals and demons coexist, and deities and monsters emerge together. Here, cultivators can fly through the air, move mountains, and open seas.

One could say that Lei Jun had quite good luck.

Not long after he arrived, he was admitted to the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The Celestial Master's Mansion has always been one of the three major holy sites of Daoism in the world, the ancestral temple of the Talisman Sect, and the current Celestial Master is one of the top Daoist masters, leading the Daoist community.

But this was just the beginning.

Because Lei Jun was still a newly admitted Daoist child, not yet ordained or given talismans, he could not be considered a true disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The Celestial Master's Mansion has eight external Daoist Child Branches at the foot of Dragon Tiger Mountain. Daoist children like Lei Jun, who are newly admitted, spend most of their time here.

At this stage, everyone has two collective sessions of practice every day.

In the morning, they collectively recite Daoist scriptures and various rules and regulations.

In the morning, they are taught the basics of cultivation.

In the afternoon, they have free time, and most choose to go to the Affairs Hall to take on tasks, accumulating merit and virtue.

In the evening, they collectively study the foundational texts of Daoism.

Fortunately, although Lei Jun and others are still called Daoist children and not Daoists, as one of the few Daoist holy sites in the world, the Daoist Child Academy of the Celestial Master's Mansion already teaches basic Daoist techniques to lay the foundation for the Daoist children.

One day, after finishing the morning practice and having lunch, Lei Jun and several other Daoist children came to the eastern Talisman Paper Building.

Their task for today, assigned by the Affairs Hall, was to help cut talisman paper.

In the Talisman Sect of Daoism, the effectiveness of a talisman depends not only on the cultivator's own cultivation and the talisman scripture but also on the materials used, such as the talisman brush, ink, and paper.

The talisman paper used by the disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion, even the most basic yellow paper, is specially made.

Not only do the processes of preparing materials and making paper require specialized workshops, but even the cutting and dividing must be done by Daoist children like Lei Jun, not by ordinary people.

"Unfortunately, the talisman paper we cut, we ourselves cannot use." Many sighed.

Lei Jun remained silent, focusing intently on cutting the yellow paper with precision.

Another Daoist child remarked, "Devote yourself to cultivation and earnestly accumulate merit and virtue. Once we are officially ordained and become disciples, we can make our own talismans."

The Talisman Sect of Daoism emphasizes the cultivation of both body and spirit, with physical cultivation preceding spiritual cultivation. In broad terms, the body refers to the physical form, and the spirit refers to the soul and mind. Therefore, cultivation at the Celestial Master's Mansion starts with strengthening the body.

Although Lei Jun had only been admitted for a short time, his body was already filled with true qi, his flesh and blood strong, and he practiced Daoist martial arts diligently, making it difficult for ordinary people and demons to approach him.

Even if he had a talisman passed down by his seniors, he could activate and use it.

However, without being ordained and without the true transmission of the talisman scripture, Lei Jun and others could not make their own talismans and did not understand other higher-level Daoist techniques.

Was this considered temporary apprenticeship?

Having traveled to a world of cultivation, entering the ancestral temple of Daoism, he still had to work hard to pass the examination and obtain a position, just like in his previous life... Lei Jun shook his head and neatly arranged the talisman paper he had cut.

By his previous life's standards, he was still considered an outer disciple or a miscellaneous disciple.

The distance between a Daoist child and a Daoist lies between the Daoist Child Academy at the foot of the mountain and the main mansion of the Celestial Master's Mansion on the halfway up the main peak.

One day, when they enter the main mansion of the Celestial Master's Mansion to be ordained, they will have their own master, Daoist name, and generation, officially becoming a Daoist and a true disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

This is what Lei Jun had often read about in novels on Blue Star, referred to as inner disciples or room disciples.

As for the higher-level ordination, it was not something the young Daoist children should consider yet.

Everyone was busy halfway through when a thin, gray-robed youth rushed into the Talisman Paper Building.

The crowd was curious, "Brother Zhang, didn't you go down the mountain to complete tasks and accumulate merit and virtue? How did you return so quickly..."

The thin Daoist child began cutting talisman paper, "Don't mention it, my luck was at its worst!"

Despite saying not to mention it, he couldn't help but say, "I went to the area fifty miles outside the mountain, where I heard there were demons causing trouble, and I rushed there to exorcise them and help the people!"

He could also earn some incense money and possibly receive rewards from the Daoist Child Academy upon returning to the mountain.

However...

"Right under the nose of the Celestial Master's Mansion, what kind of demon would be so blind?" Lei Jun asked casually while cutting paper.

"Exactly!"

The thin Daoist child paused, "It wasn't a demon at all, but a few bandits pretending to be demons, causing chaos and frightening people to rob them!"

He was full of anger, "I wasted a precious exorcism talisman I had obtained with great difficulty!"

Everyone stopped their work, feeling the same frustration and depression as the thin Daoist child:

"What a disaster!"

For these young Daoist children who could not make their own talismans, they could obtain talismans from the Affairs Hall, but they needed to exchange them with the "hard-earned money" they had accumulated through merit and virtue.

In addition, there were sometimes better opportunities.

Although the senior disciples of the sect had their own direct disciples to command, they occasionally selected Daoist children and alchemy children from the Daoist Child Academy.

If they were satisfied, they might directly reward them with talismans or elixirs.

Moreover, if they could gain the favor of the senior disciples, it would provide more support for the young Daoist children in the future.

Such opportunities were rare, and the competition was intense, but they were worth striving for.

As they were discussing, a commotion suddenly broke out downstairs.

A voice came from the window:

"Elder Du is opening a talisman altar and selecting Daoist children? Is it true?"

"Keep your voice down, do you want the whole Dragon Tiger Mountain to know?"

"Right, right, this is a first-come, first-served opportunity, let's go quickly!"

"I wonder if we will be chosen by Elder Du..."

Hearing this, everyone in the building looked at each other in surprise.

They had just been discussing this, and now the opportunity had come?

"Is it a false rumor?"

Beside Lei Jun, someone subconsciously licked their lips, full of longing.

Brother Zhang clapped his hands, "Why don't we go and see?"

The others also put down their work.

At this moment, a light ball suddenly appeared in Lei Jun's mind.

Then, words appeared in his consciousness:

【Elder Du is opening a talisman altar and selecting Daoist children. Everyone is excited and vying for the opportunity, but misfortune and fortune are intertwined, and a sudden change is about to occur.】

No one noticed the sudden change in Lei Jun.

The young boys, with eager faces, rushed out one after another.

After the light ball in Lei Jun's mind flashed, three strange sticks flew out, each with different words:

【Upper-middle stick: Do not join the crowd, focus on completing your own tasks. After the sudden change, go to the elder's cave to help treat the injured, and you will gain a fifth-grade opportunity, act secretly without any worries, auspicious.】

【Middle stick: Do not join the crowd, wait for the right moment. After the sudden change, go to the Lingzhi Platform, and you will gain a sixth-grade opportunity, but it will attract envy and hidden dangers, neutral.】

【Lower-middle stick: Go to participate in the selection, and you may have a chance to be chosen, but you will encounter a great disaster before gaining any benefits, and you will be in a dangerous situation, possibly injured or killed, inauspicious.】