Chapter 727: 303. A surge of good character, drawing consecutive excellent fortunes! (Combined Chapter)

Above the firmament, the Great Celestial Mirror inherited the characteristics of the Mysterious Void Mirror. It was itself hidden transparently in the void, and, due to its extreme distance from the East Sea below, it was difficult for cultivators in the mortal world beneath to detect its presence.

Bathed in the flowing mirror light, the vast expanse of the East Sea below was faithfully presented to Lei Jun’s view by means of the Heaven-piercing Earth-penetrating Taliscript.

Currently, the scope of observation was still confined to a stretch of sea near the coastline of the East Sea.

Yet, both the land and sea of this world were incomparably vast.

Even so, the area presently covered by the Great Celestial Mirror was already immense.

At the very least, the expansive sea area surrounding the Void Gateway where the Heavenly Order led to the mortal world now all appeared within Lei Jun’s line of sight.

At a thought from Lei Jun, the beam of the Great Celestial Mirror atop the heavens began to shift of its own accord.

The light of the mirror was almost formless; any faint trace blended seamlessly with the sunlight, as if it had always been a part of the sun’s own radiance.

As the mirror’s light gathered, Lei Jun’s field of view contracted, but within this narrower range, the clarity of his observation immediately soared.

Though the two sides were physically far apart on the surface, with the aid of the Great Celestial Mirror, Lei Jun saw every detail of the people and events unfolding on this stretch of sea as if they were before his eyes.

The battle between the Great Tang Cultivators and the Heavenly Order Cultivators raged on.

Lei Jun observed intently.

This time, among the scholarly cultivators of Neo-Confucianism from Heavenly Order who entered the Great Tang Realm, there were both old and young.

But, by and large, they conformed to two patterns.

First, just as Lei Jun had previously noticed, Heavenly Order Cultivators of the middle and higher realms demonstrated far greater prowess in actual combat spellcasting.

The higher the realm, the stronger the fortune enfolding them.

Meanwhile, for those of middle-low realm, the Heavenly Order Cultivators generally fell short of Great Tang Cultivators at the same level.

As for the second...

Lei Jun did not find any particularly young Great Scholar of Confucian Rationalism at the high realms.

Whomever possessed an advanced cultivation realm was invariably not of tender years.

Because he was not interacting with them directly, Lei Jun initially worried he might have misjudged, but after carefully studying several individuals for a long time, he finally confirmed it.

Among Confucian Scholars at the Upper Three Heavens Level, every one of them was at least over four hundred years old, and in fact, many had reached venerable ages of five or six hundred and beyond.

The Middle Three Heavens Cultivators, for the most part, were around two or three hundred years old, with many having passed the three-hundred mark.

*They were, without doubt, very different from cultivators of other Taoist Heritages... Lei Jun was deep in thought.*

*From this preliminary observation, the limits of age and lifespan should be similar to those of other Taoist Heritages.*

*A Middle Three Heavens Cultivator lived to four hundred, while those at the Upper Three Heavens Level could enjoy up to eight hundred years of life.*

*Yet these scholarly cultivators appeared entirely unaffected by the withering of age—there were no stages of a golden period of practice, nor any defined plateau, or decline into old age and twilight years.*

*Even in advanced years, if one persisted steadily in study and accumulation, "the daughter-in-law could one day become the matriarch."*

*However, in contrast, the average progression of these scholarly cultivators was relatively slow.*

*There were simply no examples of youthful prodigies among them, none who soared into the Seventh Layer of Heaven Realm before reaching a hundred years of age.*

*Or perhaps it should be said, youthful success for a scholarly cultivator didn’t come before two or three hundred years had passed.*

*At four or five hundred years old, they could truly be deemed in their prime.*

*Those between six and seven hundred were seasoned, virtuous, renowned in the world, statesmen in their twilight.*

*The only thing Lei Jun remained uncertain about was what might happen to those scholarly cultivators who crossed beyond seven hundred or even approached seven hundred and fifty years—so close to their destined end?*

*Would they still have residual energy to contribute?*

*If those above would not vacate their place, then those below would not advance.*

*Because the overall pace and rhythm of breakthrough slowed significantly, even though their vitality did not wane with age, the total number of Upper Three Heavens Cultivators had not become an astronomical figure with time’s accumulation.*

*But this presented a problem.*

Lei Jun rotated the Great Celestial Mirror, surveying every direction of the seas.

Among the Heavenly Order Cultivators who intruded into the Great Tang Realm this time, those of the Confucian Scholar persuasion were the majority, yet they were not alone.

Lei Jun swept his gaze and had already spotted Martial Tao Practitioners, cultivators of the Confucian Divine Archery Lineage, and cultivators of the Confucian Chanting Sect, all fighting side by side.

Disciples of these heritages, though practicing methods which differed from their Tang counterparts, did not display the same stark age disparity as the scholarly cultivators.

Such being the case, within Heavenly Order, these traditions unquestionably held the upper hand when it came to promising young cultivators in contrast with the scholars.

Yet for now, it seemed the Heavenly Order still prioritized scholarly cultivators, with other traditions relegated to supporting roles.

The core idea seemed to be, "All other disciplines are inferior—only study reigns supreme."

*However, this kind of contrast would, invisibly, harm the foundation of Neo-Confucianism, for their talent pool not only lacked advantage but could even be at a disadvantage.*

*So what, then, allowed Confucian Rationalism to retain its footing at the heart of Heavenly Order?*

"’A father governs the son, a teacher guides the disciple, so there must also be...’" Lei Jun’s face was expressionless, his tone, rather rare for him, somewhat frosty, "’...the monarch to command the subject.’"

Those Confucian Scholars, of course, were also subjects.

Yet, with the power of the realm and fortune of the land upon them, they and the Ming Emperor together composed a firm, integrated system, top to bottom.

Because the fortune blanketed the entire realm, the vastness of this system also encompassed others within it.

While maintaining the system’s function, the Confucian Scholars bore responsibility alongside the Emperor, and, to a significant degree, even supported or borrowed from imperial authority.

As a result, they suppressed—or even dominated—all other cultivators of different Taoist Heritages within Heavenly Order.

*It ought to be said, this was a relationship far above that of father-son and teacher-disciple.*

Heaven Earth Monarch Teacher.

By the virtue of the heavens and earth, they performed the rites due to monarch, kin, and teacher—thus their power could not be contravened.

As for what position His Majesty the Ming Emperor held in all of this, Lei Jun, although he had yet to meet the other party face to face, now had some conjectures after his extensive observation of the scholarly cultivators,