Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time

The two men in black were dead, leaving behind several Storage magical treasures: bags, bracelets, wooden boxes, and the like.

"How many Secret techniques did they steal? They certainly had plenty of Storage magical treasures." Li Jiusheng was amazed. These things were not cheap. Only cultivators who had comprehended the Great Dao of Space were qualified to refine Storage magical treasures. More importantly, to comprehend the Great Dao of Space, one had to at least surpass the Great Grandmaster realm and enter the Venerable Realm, where one stood below only a single person and above tens of thousands.

Below a single person meant that the Venerable Realm was inferior only to the Ancestor Realm. Beneath the Ancestor Realm, countless cultivators had to submit before a Venerable.

At the beginning of cultivation came the Postnatal Triple Layer, then the Golden Core Triple Layer, followed by the Grandmaster realm and the Great Grandmaster realm, before reaching the Venerable Realm, and finally the Ancestor Realm.

These were the cultivation realms of the Old Land. Li Jiusheng had only just entered the Grandmaster realm, and he still had a long road ahead.

"Still, the manuals within these Storage magical treasures can help me rise another level." Li Jiusheng looked forward to it greatly. Any manuals that had caught the attention of those two brothers had to be powerful. He trusted their judgment.

At the very least, this Anomaly Diagram was an invaluable treasure. Even the disciples of Shangqing Palace had not recognized it, yet those two had found it.

Li Jiusheng put away all the Storage magical treasures without examining them for now. He then picked up the Anomaly Diagram, returned to the tea room, spread it out, and studied it carefully.

The painting depicted an ocean. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about it. It was simply an ordinary painting of a boundless sea, devoid of any variation.

No wonder disciples of Shangqing Palace had come and gone without a single one discovering anything unusual about it. It was simply too ordinary.

Yet as Li Jiusheng continued looking, his gaze suddenly sharpened. Beneath the tranquil sea, he saw raging waves and surging billows, heard a low roar, and saw endless Dao Rhyme circulating through the ocean. Every strand of Dao Rhyme was beyond his comprehension, profoundly mysterious. They gathered together to form two Big Crucian Carp, Yin and Yang contained within their eyes, biting each other's tails to form a Yin-Yang Diagram. Then they leaped fiercely, and with a boom, endless towering waves and boundless tsunamis rose upon the sea, flooding everything.

Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time!

This was the imprinted anomaly, the ultimate art of some ancient powerhouse.

That leap sprang from the still painting into Li Jiusheng's eyes, making his body tremble. He closed his eyes and carefully comprehended the terror and profundity of the anomaly.

A line of text appeared in his mind, but he had no time to read it. He immersed himself completely in the anomaly of Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time, comprehending it madly, absorbing it madly, making it his own, heedless of the outside world.

The knowledge contained within Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time was far too vast. Even the person who had originally copied it had failed to comprehend it, and the Shangqing Palace Ancestor who obtained the Anomaly Diagram had likewise never understood it throughout his life.

Now that Li Jiusheng had begun to comprehend it, he vaguely seemed to see the past. The anomaly had used the sky as a blue sea, rolling across the horizon and wantonly releasing its Dao Rhyme. A passing traveler saw it and immediately sat down to comprehend it. Yet with so little time, he gained no insight. He could only weave Dao Rhyme into a canvas and imprint the anomaly in the heavens, creating an Anomaly Diagram.

Li Jiusheng also vaguely saw an earthshaking battle. Countless top experts fought over the Anomaly Diagram, until a Daoist sent nine enemies flying with a single sword strike and departed with the diagram.

He saw the Daoist in the Scripture Repository Pavilion, holding the Anomaly Diagram and studying it intently as time passed outside. Yet in the end, he still gained nothing. The Daoist sighed. "This Anomaly Diagram is exceedingly difficult to comprehend, yet it is a source of disaster. If I pass it down to the disciples, they will not be able to protect it, and it will instead bring calamity upon them. Better to hang it here. Whoever among those who come after can discover it and comprehend it will depend entirely on fate."

Li Jiusheng suddenly understood. So that had been what the Ancestor had thought.

On further thought, it was reasonable. For the increasingly weakened Shangqing Palace, possessing such a great treasure was no different from a child carrying gold through a bustling market.

After understanding this, Li Jiusheng continued his comprehension.

At the very end, he saw a dazzling starry sky and a lone back. Raising a hand, that figure unleashed Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time. In an instant, the entire world became the two endlessly circling fish in his palm.

As his comprehension deepened, Li Jiusheng gained a deeper understanding of the anomaly of Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time. He gradually branded the anomaly within his body, pairing it with Golden Lotus Seed in the Sea of Suffering without the two interfering with each other.

That day, night fell.

A silver moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the dark night. The Scripture Repository Pavilion was quiet, as were the surrounding mountains and wilderness. Occasionally, the sounds of small animals could be heard. Other than that, there was only the distant waterfall, rumbling as its waters crashed down.

In the tea room, Li Jiusheng sat quietly alone with his eyes slightly closed. The aura within his body rose and fell. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him was unconsciously absorbed, drilling in through his limbs, every inch of skin, and every pore, then being refined by various cultivation arts into the purest energy.

At that moment, the rising and falling energy exploded and spread out, forming a vast sea. It was magnificent and turbulent, its waves surging with terrifying force.

Li Jiusheng, seated in the tea room, opened his eyes. Like Tai Gong Fishing, he grasped an invisible fishing rod and jerked it upward.

BOOM!!!

Two fish were abruptly hauled from the sea, erupting with terrifying power. They churned the rivers and seas, threw the tides into chaos, and their immense, dreadful force woke countless animals in the mountains. Every one of them panicked.

Upon noticing this, Li Jiusheng decisively dispersed the anomaly of Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time. He walked out of the tea room and into the wilderness, spreading his domain and releasing a peaceful aura to soothe the panicked beasts.

Only then did he prevent a chaotic stampede of countless beasts.

Just as Li Jiusheng was calming the animals, a white streak flashed through the wilderness. It was so fast that he failed to see it clearly, but he sensed it through his domain.

Little Fox!

She had taken the initiative to leave the place where her mother had passed away and dispersed into the Dao. She stopped three meters in front of Li Jiusheng and glared at him angrily.

Li Jiusheng looked at Little Fox in confusion. During this time, they had not interfered with each other, and he had never done anything to anger her. "What is it?"

Little Fox puffed up her cheeks and opened her mouth to speak, but only soft little cries came out. She could only use her paw to scratch words into the ground.

Li Jiusheng looked closely and saw that they were words.

[You promised my mother you would take care of me, but you left me alone for several days...]

Li Jiusheng froze. He recalled comprehending Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time. Several days had apparently passed, and Little Fox must have been hungry.

"I was sitting in meditation and cultivating. I lost track of time. I'm sorry," Li Jiusheng apologized.

[I haven't eaten anything these past few days. I'm starving...] Little Fox wrote indignantly.

Li Jiusheng apologized sincerely. "I'm sorry."

This time, he truly had not thought things through. He had always been alone before and could do whatever he wished, but he had forgotten that he now needed to care for the newborn Little Fox.

"I'm sorry. I'll prepare food for you right away. I won't make this mistake again," Li Jiusheng said sincerely. He immediately brought over delicious food and pills, placing them before Little Fox.

Little Fox was so hungry that she could no longer be bothered with caution and quickly began wolfing down the food.

Li Jiusheng watched her with a smile.