The Jiangzhou Lin Clan was the same.

The two sides created an interlocking and stubborn battleground in and around Poyang Lake, neither giving an inch.

The intensity nearly matched that of the battle years ago under the former Lin Clan Chief, Lin Qun, and the previous Long Hu Mountain Celestial Master, Li Qingfeng.

Fortunately, the top-level experts of both sides still retained their final bit of rationality and tacit understanding.

Overall, everyone maintained the posture of soldiers facing soldiers, generals facing generals, and kings facing kings.

There had yet to be a massacre of the enemy's lower-level disciples by top experts.

*Before either side had an absolute advantage, taking such action would likely only result in mutual destruction, each side wiping out their respective sons and blood heirs, leaving just naked commanders facing each other.*

However, even exchanging pawns layer by layer, the brutality of this war remained high.

Almost daily, injured disciples were sent back to Dragon Tiger Mountain to recover.

From time to time, news would spread of those who had perished in the fighting.

The Celestial Master Mansion, peaceful for several years, once again tightened with tension.

Across in Jiangzhou, the situation was equally intense.

Lei Jun and Chu Kun, fellow disciples, still remained on Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Chu Kun stayed because his entry was recent, and Yuan Mobai needed his direct disciple by his side.

And Lei Jun, now quietly regarded as the representative of the Mansion's new generation of outstanding disciples, also stayed on the mountain—a sight outsiders found unusual.

Protecting one's talents hardly counted as a reason.

Of course you cherished promising seedlings, but if they always sheltered under the great tree, how could the sapling ever grow strong?

Xu Yuanzhen, Li Zhengxuan, and Tang Xiaotang had also been sent out to train as juniors, not merely guarded out of fear they might wither.

In this war with the Jiangzhou Lin Clan, Zhang Jingzhen and Fang Jian both fought at the front lines.

Normally, Lei Jun should have been out there too.

At most, the battle location and environment could have been more carefully considered.

The reason for his continued stay was not his own request, nor Yuan Mobai's favoritism.

It was because the Treasure Pavilion had filed an official report to keep Lei Jun on the mountain.

With the onset of war, every kind of raw material, talisman scriptures, magic artifacts, and spiritual objects were rapidly consumed.

Lei Jun, as the creator of the Chain Blazing Flame Talisman, Flying Fire Talisman and other spirit talismans, knew these new talismans best, and his improved Azure-quill Brush was also outstanding.

Thus, the Pavilion's elder reported to the High Merit Pavilion to keep Lei Jun on the mountain, where he would be more valuable in logistics.

At the very least, he could be dispatched for combat later.

This request was approved by the High Merit Pavilion, so Lei Jun spent his days making talismans and refining artifacts on the mountain.

He had no objections to this.

*Aside from continuing to cautiously guard the secret of the Celestial Master Seal merging with himself, Lei Jun focused wholeheartedly on supply work, producing ammunition for the front lines.*

Until one day, he received news.

As the conflict expanded and the flames spread, some of the Mansion's branch villas outside Dragon Tiger Mountain began to show obvious shortages in staff.

Helplessly, it became necessary to further redeploy disciples from the Mansion itself, especially Talisman-bestowed Elders and Disciples of the Middle Three Heavens level, to take charge.

"Right now, there are two main places with vacancies."

Though urgent, Master Yuan Mobai's tone remained gentle, his smile unchanged, "One is Xianliu Palace, the other is Qingyu Cave Heaven."

Lei Jun nodded slightly.

He hadn't visited those places, but had heard of them.

Xianliu Palace, located on Xianliu Mountain, was not a sub-branch, but another villa established outside by the Celestial Master Mansion, mainly to facilitate the extraction of Xianliu Mountain's resources and gather local talent.

As for Qingyu Cave Heaven, it lay within Qingyu Abyss, a Cave Heaven Villa established outside the Ancestral Courtyard, not as prestigious as Red Abyss Cave Heaven or Xuanyang Cave Heaven, but still vital—especially since Qingyu Abyss offered abundant resources.

Qingyu Abyss and Qingyu Cave Heaven were the main source of materials for Azure-quill Brush making, supplying vast amounts of spiritual objects to the Dragon Tiger Mountain Ancestral Court each year.

Xianliu Mountain and Xianliu Palace mainly produced Five Qi Stones used by Middle Three Heavens Taoist Talisman Sect cultivators for cultivation, as well as raw materials for high-grade Talisman Ink—Xianliu Ink.

All were key resource areas under Mansion control, outside the Ancestral Court.

With the conflict escalating, these became the main targets for Jiangzhou Lin Clan cultivators.

Yet Yuan Mobai kept his expression warm as he addressed Lei Jun,

"Though staff is tight, it's not absolutely necessary for you to go—Treasure Pavilion has come knocking three times a day, asking you to stay on the mountain a while longer."

Lei Jun met his master's gaze.

Yuan Mobai's eyes, as always, remained gentle and unhurried, quietly soothing.

Everything he said came from sincerity.

From his perspective, though he cared for his disciple, he had no intention of keeping Lei Jun and the others forever under his wings.

*Young birds needed to be sent out for trial and tempering; there was no way around it.*

*Even shedding some blood could not be avoided.*

Though Taoist cultivation advocated serene insight and non-action, the world as a whole simply was not like that right now.

To cultivate the Dao, one had to conquer inner evil, but also learn to overcome external evils.

You could choose not to subdue them, but you could not be unable, could not be left helpless if evil came.

*So the necessary tempering had to happen regardless.*

Of course, this all had a prerequisite.

The true aim of disciple training was training itself, not knowingly sending someone to a certain death.

Compared to Zhang Jingzhen, Fang Jian, even Li Zhengxuan, Lei Jun had a somewhat unique situation.

He was indeed Yuan Mobai's direct disciple.

But his ties with Xu Yuanzhen were no secret now.

It was Xu Yuanzhen who had taken down Lin Zhen, triggering the real start of this war.

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