The current Celestial Master had stood everyone up.
That first gut punch of the new year had left Tang Xiaotang utterly dumbfounded.
"The Transcension Ritual isn't until the fifteenth of January, so we still have half a month," Wang Guiyuan comforted her.
"Right..." Tang Xiaotang snapped out of it, her spirit soaring again, "Maybe it's tomorrow or the day after."
Lei Jun said, "Little senior sister, if the Celestial Master doesn't come out by then, would you still attend the Transcension Ritual?"
Tang Xiaotang's eyes went wide.
Lei Jun said, "I mean, just if that's the case."
"No way in hell!"
The tall girl turned her back, sulking for quite a while before letting out a hum, "*...Then I'm not going. I'll keep waiting. I refuse to believe this!*"
Clearly, Tang Xiaotang wasn't the only one left stunned by that metaphorical smack over the head from the Celestial Master behind those closed doors.
"Li Ying from the first branch, Shangguan Hong from the second branch, Chen Yi from the eighth branch..."
Wang Guiyuan spoke at the side, "I heard their sponsors had formally submitted requests, asking the Celestial Master to perform the Transcension for them and take them on as personal disciples."
Transcension referred to officially entering the Tao, being accepted by a master, swearing oaths, and learning the art of salvation from the sect.
As for the steps, the Transcension required three masters: the master of the ceremony, the sponsor, and the supervising master.
Normally, the master of the ceremony was the true master who led the disciple onto the path.
But if you wanted to be a personal disciple of the Celestial Master, having him as both your master of ceremony and actual mentor, you'd have to go through a different process.
And of course, wanting to be the Celestial Master's disciple wasn't as simple as applying for it.
Getting the qualifications for the application was no easy feat; the candidates were way more impressive than those just going for a regular Transcension.
Lei Jun had a pretty good idea about those three names Wang Guiyuan mentioned.
Take Li Ying from the first branch, for instance—not hard to guess she was from the Li Clan, and not just that, but the most pure of them all. She was the beloved youngest daughter of Elder Ziyang, one of the core upper echelons of the Celestial Master Mansion.
Elder Ziyang was the third junior brother of the current Celestial Master. They were actually blood brothers, both sons of the previous Celestial Master.
So that meant Li Ying was the current Celestial Master's niece by blood.
But becoming a personal disciple of the Celestial Master wasn't so typical—you couldn't rely on connections or bloodlines alone.
Li Ying had serious connections, but her skills were just as serious.
Across the entire Tao Boy Court, except for Tang Xiaotang—the resident exception—no Tao Boy had the guts to claim they were better than Li Ying.
She'd actually been waiting at the Tao Boy Court for four or five years. She skipped the last Transcension Ritual three years ago just to wait for her uncle, the Celestial Master, to come out of seclusion.
And Chen Yi from the eighth branch, last year's breakout star—being fair, the kid's talent for cultivation was as good as his knack for stirring up trouble. His progress was roaring ahead.
Just one little problem.
This past year, his run-ins with the Li Clan had been... less than pleasant.
The two sides had enjoyed more than a few rounds of physical 'friendly' exchange.
"Masters like ours aren't that petty; even if they were, they'd never take it out on a Tao Boy."
Xu Yuanzhen said, "But this time, Xiaotang and the others probably have to face disappointment."
Just as she said, day after day passed, yet the Celestial Master never emerged from seclusion.
At the Tao Boy Court's eighth branch at the foot of the mountain,
Chen Yi sat alone in his courtyard. Clad in standard gray robes, he sat ramrod straight, gazing upward.
The mountains stretched out, dazzling under a clear sky, all aglow with spirit light.
Faint golden radiance swirled together, bathing the whole range.
In the distance, thunder sounded constantly—not a violent roar, but something that made you feel calm inside.
Amid the peaks, halfway up the main mountain, a sprawling, grand Tao Palace could be seen.
That, of course, was the true mansion of the Celestial Master.
But higher up, atop the main peak, was something shrouded in auspicious clouds. Not quite visible—every now and then dazzling rays flashed, like the realm of immortals.
"Supreme Pure Thunder Mansion Cave Heaven..." Chen Yi murmured, "I have to get up there as soon as possible, then things can really level up!"
His eyes grew incredibly firm.
Of course, he wasn't the only one staring at Supreme Pure Thunder Mansion Cave Heaven.
In fact, not just a few candidates for the Celestial Master's discipleship.
Lei Jun was gazing at Supreme Pure Thunder Mansion Cave Heaven too.
This time, he'd drawn a moderately good lot and chosen not to compete for the Celestial Master's personal discipleship for now. That didn't mean Lei Jun was out of goals after the Transcension.
Tang Xiaotang was always there as an example before him.
Lei Jun's motivation to cultivate now was even stronger than before he awakened his Hidden Dragon Spirit Body.
*All his experience and those of others just went to show—the higher you stand, the more you see.*
January tenth.
That day, Lei Jun, along with the other Tao Boys joining the Transcension, went up the mountain to the Celestial Master Mansion halfway up.
Though the actual ritual was still days away, the young Tao Boys had to get ready—with incense baths and the recitation of Taoist Scriptures.
As the big day approached, they had to prepare their incense tokens (the Transcension fee) and their pledges, each handing them to their designated master.
Lei Jun's situation was easy. He chose to enter Elder Yuan's tutelage, so his sponsoring and supervising masters were already arranged.
All Tao Boys had the same supervising master—the current chief instructor of Tao Boy Court.
The sponsoring master would be another Celestial Master Mansion Elder that Elder Yuan coordinated with.
So Lei Jun would naturally hand his incense token and pledge to Elder Yuan.
Tang Xiaotang, though, wasn't so lucky.
Supervising master, no problem; sponsoring master, Elder Yuan himself.
But what about the master of ceremony—or her true master, the real teacher? Where was that person?
Who would accept her pledge?
"Don't get anxious, let's go check again together," Yuan Mobai said gently.
He took Tang Xiaotang and Wang Guiyuan, his regular attendant, walking toward the back courtyard of the Celestial Master Mansion.
Lei Jun and Xu Yuanzhen stayed at Yuan Mobai's place, where Xu Yuanzhen spread out her brush and started sketching absent-mindedly.
"With Little Senior Sister's talent, if the Celestial Master emerges, even if it's not the ritual every three years, he might just break the rules and take her as disciple on the spot," Lei Jun asked nearby.
Xu Yuanzhen said, "She wants too much, so her state of mind isn't always stable, yet it doesn't stop her progress. She makes for quite a sight around here."
*Lei Jun found himself more curious after hearing that.*
*If Xu Yuanzhen was saying this, that meant even if Tang Xiaotang was much calmer and more balanced, her cultivation wouldn't actually improve much more than it already did.*
*She really was something else.*
*He couldn't decide whether to praise or scold her.*
"Senior Sister, what are you drawing...clouds?"
Lei Jun stared at Xu Yuanzhen's brushwork—it looked less like a 'painting' and more like splotches of ink after ink.
As the spots clustered together, the page gave off a suffocating vibe, like black clouds pressing over a city.
"Just in the mood, so I doodled a few strokes," Xu Yuanzhen tossed down her brush, glancing at the expanse of dark clouds on the paper, nodding in satisfaction, with a rare touch of a smile at the corner of her mouth.
*Are you in the mood because the Celestial Master hasn't come out, leaving a bunch of people's hopes dashed?* Lei Jun grumbled internally.
Xu Yuanzhen suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to look at Lei Jun.
Lei Jun couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
She shook her head, wiped her hand over the paper, and the mass of inky clouds vanished, leaving the page pure white again.
Xu Yuanzhen left the desk, went to sit at the nearby tea table, propped her elbow up, and rested her head, closing her eyes as if napping.
Lei Jun glanced at the blank sheet, eyebrow raised.
Just then, Wang Guiyuan rushed back, "Big senior sister, Master and several other Masters asked you to come over."
Xu Yuanzhen opened her eyes, "What's the matter?"
Wang Guiyuan said, "It's about Tang's next steps in cultivation."
By the sound of it, it was clear—the Celestial Master still hadn't emerged.
Xu Yuanzhen got up and walked out in silence.
Wang Guiyuan nodded to Lei Jun and followed.
Lei Jun shrugged and sat down to meditate.
His mindset was totally steady. Taking this spare time, he kept cultivating, quietly practicing his breathing skills.
*Whatever competition raged over there, none of it mattered to him now.*
*Whether it was all-out war for the main road or everyone cramming the narrow bridge, who's to say?*
Lei Jun focused on his cultivation, until—he didn't know how long it had been—someone burst in from outside.
He opened his eyes, surprised to see the person before him.
Tall and stunningly featured, it was Tang Xiaotang herself.
But the tall girl now had golden hair—even her eyebrows had turned to a pale gold, shimmering with subtle golden glow even at night.
And her irises, oddly enough, were gold too.