The woman in the purple robe was none other than Xu Yuanzhen, Celestial Master Li's senior disciple.
She casually asked, "Have you seen Master yet?"
Lei Jun replied, "Not yet, Elder Yuan went out after leaving seclusion and headed to survey the sect's newly opened Cave Heaven Villa,
but he already knew what you had in mind and arranged for Senior Brother Wang Guiyuan to help me out daily."
Xu Yuanzhen said, "Aside from leaving things to chance and waiting for my master, there's no one more suitable than Master for your lineage."
*Lei Jun pondered over it.*
From a distance, two Taoists dressed in yellow hurried over, one was Taoist Luo who oversaw the area, and the other was a new true disciple from Celestial Master Mansion who had just arrived that day, "Senior Sister! You're here too?"
Xu Yuanzhen replied, "On my way back to the mountain, saw you so I stopped to lend a hand."
She took out a small jade vial, "I coincidentally got a bit of Sky Abyss Dew."
The two Taoist Luo brothers were surprised, "The Sky Abyss Dew Elder Ziyang couldn't find anywhere back then?"
Xu Yuanzhen said, "Just sprinkle it, wards off miasma and disease, calms the soul and restores the spirit."
The other Celestial Master Mansion true disciple hesitated slightly,
"Senior Sister, we really don't need that much Sky Abyss Dew for this place, should we save some for Master Ziyang's side..."
Xu Yuanzhen responded, "Third Uncle? How much does he still owe me?"
The other instantly gave a wry smile.
Taoist Luo took the jade vial and said gravely, "Senior Sister's heart is with the common folk, truly a blessing for the refugees."
Xu Yuanzhen replied, "If you're here, help if you can."
Taoist Luo nodded heavily and said to Lei Jun nearby,
"No matter what the future holds, we must remember Senior Sister's lesson today. As cultivators of the Taoist path, we should do our best to help the suffering, for Heaven is compassionate and cherishes all living beings!"
"Yeah, Heaven is compassionate and cherishes all living beings..."
Xu Yuanzhen was indifferent, "...Just don't die at my doorstep."
Lei Jun, "..."
The Taoist Luo brothers, "Senior Sister..."
Xu Yuanzhen said, "Get to work."
"Yes, Senior Sister." The two true disciples of Celestial Master Mansion left with the jade vial as if it were a treasure.
Soon, a veil of gentle radiance enveloped the riverside disaster relief camp, bringing peace and serenity.
Xu Yuanzhen flexed her fingertips, and suddenly had another identical jade vial in her hand.
Lei Jun asked, "Is that Sky Abyss Dew too?"
Xu Yuanzhen replied, "I planned to use it all here to ward off disease, but split it into two at the last minute."
She looked at Lei Jun, "You have Purple-Gold Ganoderma and a Dragon Horse Scale?"
In front of her, Lei Jun answered calmly, "By chance, I got the Purple-Gold Ganoderma essence and a piece of Dragon Horse Scale."
Xu Yuanzhen said, "It really is a rare opportunity, let's give it a try."
As she spoke, she flicked the little jade vial, and a little clear dew floated out, turning mid-air into a mass of azure mist that surrounded Lei Jun.
Lei Jun was neither shocked nor afraid, immediately sitting cross-legged and quietly regulating his breath and Spiritual Energy.
*The moment Lei Jun saw Xu Yuanzhen, he had been guessing that the third-rank opportunity mentioned in his best lot might have something to do with this Senior Sister.*
The azure mist enveloped him and seeped through his body's apertures, merging with his being.
Lei Jun practiced breathing skills, golden light gradually gathered throughout his limbs and bones, finally condensing into a shimmering Purple-Gold Ganoderma.
Purple and azure mingled, and the Ganoderma's light instantly broke apart again.
Strands of golden light twined with threads of azure mist, intertwining endlessly.
Suddenly, the Dragon Horse Scale Lei Jun carried vibrated.
No need for Lei Jun to inject True Qi to activate it, the treasure automatically emitted rippling lights and merged into Lei Jun's body as well.
He only felt all the physical apertures in his body opening at once, three flows of spiritual power intertwined in his breathing skills.
*Lei Jun forgot himself entirely, while from the outside, azure mist and purple light swirled around, and even bursts of dragon chants echoed without pause.*
The special effects really maxed out.
But on the riverside, neither the refugees nor the Taoists and Tao Boys from Celestial Master Mansion paid any attention, as if Lei Jun didn't exist.
They could only faintly see a figure in a black cloak and purple Taoist robe standing by the river.
*A single glance made people shudder, forcing them to look away immediately.*
After a long time, all the spiritual power finally fused together, forming a single stream.
At that very moment, an indistinct dragon shadow coiled around Lei Jun until it ultimately merged back into his body.
The azure mist and purple light faded away.
Lei Jun opened his eyes, Spirit Light radiating from him.
[Hidden Dragon Spirit Body]
*A profound realization blossomed in his mind.*
"Well, my Root Bone just rose from average stature to a kind of Spiritual Body."
Xu Yuanzhen nodded, speaking in her usual rapid-fire way, with words falling like rain on a silver platter, though her voice remained always calm,
"Dragon Horse Scale, Purple-Gold Ganoderma, and Sky Abyss Dew combined can forge a Hidden Dragon Spirit Body..."
Lei Jun leaped up, looking down at himself.
He had crossed over bodily.
According to the Celestial Master Mansion Tao Boy Court's appraisal, Lei Jun's comprehension wasn't bad, but his Root Bone was mediocre, at best counted as having average stature.
Let alone those one-in-a-thousand prodigies or monsters, he was near the bottom even among other Tao Boys.
After all, Celestial Master Mansion was a Taoist Holy Land, and their standards for newcomers were no joke.
Often, those with merely average stature didn't even qualify for Dragon Tiger Mountain's gates.
Back then, Lei Jun was lucky Xu Yuanzhen led him inside.
In these past few months, thanks to the Purple-Gold Ganoderma essence, he improved quickly.
The instructors were impressed when they saw, but inwardly remained cautious about his potential ceiling, all because of his Root Bone talent.
Now, everything had changed.
According to the Celestial Master Mansion's teachings, people usually divided cultivation Root Bone talent into five ranks, from lowest to highest: low, low-mid, average, mid-high, and high.
But above high, there were rumored rare physiques called Spiritual Body, Sacred Body, Immortal Body...
Now, he had basically gone from average stature all the way, skipping mid-high and high, straight into Spiritual Body... *Lei Jun looked up again.*
He immediately sat cross-legged right there, embracing the origin and maintaining unity, quietly channeling mysterious skills.
The surrounding Spiritual Energy flooded into him at speeds he'd never seen before.
Then, with nearly instantaneous speed, he refined it all into True Qi.
Earlier, his progress relied on the power and quantity from the Purple-Gold Ganoderma essence.
Now, though the essence had vanished, the roadblocks and bottlenecks he used to encounter in cultivation also disappeared.
"Bone cleansing" didn't cut it as a description.
This was true rebirth.
The beginning-of-year Transmission Ceremony was no longer hopeless.
Lei Jun took a deep breath, slowly finished his cultivation, then stood and thanked the woman in purple before him.
Xu Yuanzhen said, "Just as you said before, this was your own opportunity that led to such fortune."
Lei Jun nodded and looked back toward Dragon Tiger Mountain.
*Had he chosen to go to the Talisman Ink Workshop earlier, he'd have been dragged into Chen Yi's drama and the ensuing chaos.*
The hostility between the Li clan and the outsiders exploded, and the bystanders paid the price.
Even if he didn't throw down himself, he'd probably have ended up confined with the rest.
This time, Xu Yuanzhen could have pulled Lei Jun out on her way back to the mountain.
But the Sky Abyss Dew would have been gone.
Since Xu Yuanzhen passed by Qingyun Shoal on her way, she'd pause to use up the Sky Abyss Dew here for disaster relief and disease prevention, then head on.
As for how much spiritual object got used—she never looked like she cared.
If Lei Jun had picked the perfectly neutral "fish swimming shallow" middle lot, he'd have avoided jail but missed out on the Sky Abyss Dew.
Only by taking the best lot could Lei Jun end up here at the Qingyun Shoal riverside, meeting Xu Yuanzhen before she used the Sky Abyss Dew, allowing her to notice he had the Purple-Gold Ganoderma essence and Dragon Horse Scale—so she could split the Dew, half for disaster relief, and half to help Lei Jun transform.
Thus, a third-rank opportunity, great fortune.
The road of Eagles Soaring became that of Hidden Dragons in the Abyss, poised to rise sky high.