Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Early morning, Observatory of Profound Mystery.

The bell tolls leisurely, birds linger idly, the treasure banners sway in the wind, and the incense smoke rises towards the blue sky.

As dawn just breaks, a group of Daoists are conducting a ritual inside the Scripture Treasure Hall. The hall doors are tightly closed, but outside, a crowd has gathered.

”What are they doing so early in the morning?”

In the crowd, Zhang Fan squeezed forward.

”Inviting the Seal!” Sui Chunsheng said solemnly, in a low voice.

”Inviting the Seal? What seal are they inviting?”

Zhang Fan looked at the Daoist from the Observatory of Profound Mystery beside him, who had a respectful expression, and couldn’t help but lean closer to Sui Chunsheng, lowering his voice.

”Within the Observatory of Profound Mystery lies a Dharma Seal, gifted a hundred years ago by the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family, it’s mysterious and spiritual, with vast power.” Sui Chunsheng’s eyes reflected respect.

Magical artifacts, as they are known, are tools for Daoists in their cultivation or for exorcising demons. They have internal Dharma lineages and externally manifest Divine Techniques.

Every magical artifact is extremely precious and not randomly crafted just by gathering some treasures of heaven and earth like in novels and movies.

In the Daoist sect, every magical artifact has been meticulously crafted and refined through generations, transformed by skills and techniques.

Therefore, true magical artifacts are systematically passed down through the ages, the older they are, the more powerful they become.

Some highly cultivated Daoists guard an old and worn-out Daoist temple, treating even a broken oil lamp as a treasure, as it may be the ancestral magical artifact passed down their lineage.

To outsiders, it may seem like mere junk, but in the hands of a Daoist from this lineage, it wields immense divine power.

The Dharma Seal of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family is renowned among the many magical artifacts of the Daoist sect.

It is said that the Dragon Tiger Mountain Seal, bestowed upon by Taishang Laojun with a celestial talisman inscribed with ”Taishang Laojun, hasten as per the decree,” harnesses the power to command ghost gods, amaze demons, and suppress evil.

”It’s said that the ancestral seal of Dragon Tiger Mountain comprises only five pieces, gifted by Taishang Laojun to the Great Zhenren Zhang Daoling during his enlightenment on He Ming Mountain, possessing earth-shattering powers.” Sui Chunsheng gravely stated.

The Zhang Family of Dragon Tiger Mountain holds a special status in the Daoist sect, reputed as an Immortal family, the source of the Daoist sect.

Since the establishment of Dragon Tiger Mountain, it commenced the origin of Daoism.

Spanning nearly two thousand years, there are only sixty-three recorded instances of Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family’s crafted Dharma Seals.

”The seal enshrined at the Observatory of Profound Mystery is named [Mighty Spirit Demon-Suppressing Gold Seal], gifted a hundred years ago to celebrate the millennium of the observatory’s founding by the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family.”

Sui Chunsheng looked at the tightly closed hall doors and listened to the chanting inside, with unconcealable reverence in his eyes.

The Zhang Family of Dragon Tiger Mountain is deemed the foremost in the Daoist sect.

Since the great tribulation of the Daoist sect eighty years ago, the gates of Dragon Tiger Mountain have remained closed, severing the incense line, and everything related became legend.

As for the Dragon and Tiger Seal, it’s an even rarer sight.

”So, it’s truly a treasure,” Zhang Fan couldn’t help but eye the tightly shut doors of the Scripture Treasure Hall.

Throughout the Jiangnan Province, even considering Maoshan as one of the ten great Daoist sects, with all its treasures gathered, the Observatory of Profound Mystery’s [Mighty Spirit Demon-Suppressing Gold Seal] might still stand out.

”Why would they bring out such a treasure?” Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask.

Sui Chunsheng hesitated slightly, looked around, then pulled Zhang Fan aside.

”What’s going on?”

”The Dharma Jar we sent.” Sui Chunsheng whispered.

At these words, Zhang Fan’s gaze slightly focused, the Dharma Jar they delivered was a fake, the real one had long been sent to the Observatory of Profound Mystery by experts from the Jiangnan Province Daoist Alliance.

Yun Jianyue, or rather Si Snake Bai Yujing, told Zhang Fan that the jar contained a human-shaped Primordial Spirit.

”Do you know what’s inside?” Sui Chunsheng asked in return.

”What?” Zhang Fan inquired blandly.

”A Human-shaped Primordial Spirit!” Sui Chunsheng whispered.

”A Human-shaped Primordial Spirit!?” Zhang Fan’s eyebrows raised, ”The leader of the Thirteen Zodiacs!?”

”Indeed…”

Sui Chunsheng whispered solemnly: ”I heard from the leader that ten years ago, a conflict occurred within the Thirteen Zodiacs, and Human Xiao was besieged by the other twelve Zodiacs, perishing…”

”This fragment of the Primordial Spirit was drawn from her corpse and has been sealed until today.”

”Well, that’s a second version.” Zhang Fan showed no change in expression, though he remarked inwardly.

Yun Jianyue had told him that Human Xiao was killed by experts from the Daoist sect.

Now, Sui Chunsheng was telling him that Human Xiao died due to a betrayal and attack in the internal conflict of the Thirteen Zodiacs.

In fact, Zhang Fan had been skeptical about everything Yun Jianyue said yesterday, but he remained unflappable, wanting to see what her next move was.

Now, what Sui Chunsheng told him still left Zhang Fan unable to fully believe.

On the day he retrieved the Evil Gods, he saw fragments of that night ten years ago.

That night, under Dragon Tiger Mountain, there were Daoist sect experts as well as the Thirteen Zodiacs. He couldn’t entirely trust anyone’s words.

However, in one respect, both sides shared a rare consensus: the Dharma Jar indeed sealed a fragment of Human Xiao’s Primordial Spirit.

”The purpose of calling forth this [Mighty Spirit Demon-Suppressing Gold Seal] is to refine Human Xiao’s Primordial Spirit.”

Sui Chunsheng’s eyes seemed to hide a spark; Human Xiao, as the leader of the Thirteen Zodiacs, once her Primordial Spirit is refined, many secrets of the Wuwei Sect will no longer be secrets, providing a significant blow to them.

”No wonder such a grand affair.” Zhang Fan mumbled softly.

”The Sealing Ceremony will take a day…” Sui Chunsheng whispered.

”I estimate the Refining Spirit will be in two days… I’ll save a good spot for you.”

Since that night Zhang Fan had revealed his skills, Sui Chunsheng’s attitude towards him had undergone a one-hundred-eighty-degree change, now laced with reverence.