Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time

The two brothers 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 sure have a lot of storage magical treasures." Li Jiusheng marveled. These weren't cheap; storage magical treasures could only be refined by cultivators who had comprehended the Great Dao of Space. The key was that to comprehend the Great Dao of Space, one had to at least surpass the Great Grandmaster realm and enter the Venerable Realm, standing above the masses but below one.

"Above the masses but below one" meant that the Venerable Realm was second only to the Ancestor Realm. Below the Ancestor Realm, countless cultivators had to bow before a Venerable.

Cultivation began from the Postnatal Triple Layer, through the Golden Core Triple Layer, then the Grandmaster Realm, the Great Grandmaster Realm, reaching the Venerable, and finally the Ancestor.

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

"But the secret manuals in these storage magical treasures can help me reach the next level." Li Jiusheng was full of anticipation. Any manual that caught the eyes of these two brothers had to be powerful—he trusted their judgment.

At the very least, this Anomaly Diagram was a priceless treasure. The disciples of Shangqing Palace had no idea it existed, yet the brothers had unearthed it.

Li Jiusheng put away the storage magical treasures for now, not bothering to inspect them. Instead, he picked up the Anomaly Diagram, returned to the tea room, spread it out, and examined it carefully.

The painting depicted the sea. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about it—just an ordinary painting of an endless, unchanging ocean.

No wonder the Shangqing Palace disciples had come and gone without anyone noticing anything unusual about this painting. It was far too ordinary.

But as Li Jiusheng stared, his gaze suddenly sharpened. He saw the raging waves and roaring depths beneath that calm surface. He saw endless Dao Rhyme flowing within the sea—every strand of it was beyond his comprehension, profoundly deep. They converged to form two Big Crucian Carp, their eyes holding Yin and Yang, biting each other's tails to form a Yin-Yang Diagram. With a sudden leap, bang, the sea erupted into boundless waves and endless tsunamis, utterly chaotic.

Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time!

This was the anomaly that had been transcribed—the ultimate technique of some ancient powerhouse.

That leap, from the static painting into Li Jiusheng's eyes, jolted his body. He closed his eyes, immersing himself in the terror and mystery of this anomaly.

A line of text appeared in his mind, but he had no time to read it. He threw himself entirely into comprehending the Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time anomaly, frantically absorbing it, making it his own, ignoring the outside world.

The knowledge of Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time was vast. The one who had transcribed it had never comprehended it, and the Shangqing Palace Ancestor who obtained the Anomaly Diagram had spent a lifetime without understanding it either.

Now, as Li Jiusheng began to comprehend, he vaguely saw the origin of this anomaly. It had used the sky as a blue sea, rolling across the heavens, freely releasing its Dao Rhyme. A passing traveler saw it, sat down to comprehend on the spot, but in that brief moment, found no clue. He could only weave Dao Rhyme into canvas, transcribing the anomaly in the sky into an Anomaly Diagram.

Li Jiusheng also glimpsed a great battle—countless top experts fighting over this Anomaly Diagram. In the end, a Daoist priest cut down nine enemies with a single sword strike and carried the diagram away.

He saw the priest in the Scripture Repository Pavilion, holding the Anomaly Diagram, studying it intently as time flowed outside. But in the end, he gained nothing. The priest sighed in disappointment and said, "This Anomaly Diagram is extremely difficult to comprehend, and it's a curse. If I pass it to my disciples, they won't be able to protect it—it would only bring disaster. Better to hang it here. Let fate decide who among those who come later will discover it and who will comprehend it."

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

But thinking it over, it made sense. For the declining Shangqing Palace, holding such a great treasure would be like a child carrying gold through a busy market.

After this realization, Li Jiusheng continued his comprehension.

At the very end, he saw a vast, starry sky. A silhouette raised its hand and unleashed this strike—Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time. In that instant, the entire world turned into the two spinning fish in its palm.

As his understanding deepened, Li Jiusheng gained a profound insight into the Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time anomaly. He gradually imprinted it into his body, letting it coexist with the Golden Lotus Seed in the Sea of Suffering without interference.

That day, at night.

The silver moon hung high, illuminating the dark night. The Scripture Repository Pavilion was utterly silent, and the surrounding mountains were quiet too. Occasionally, the sounds of small animals could be heard. Beyond that, only the distant waterfall rumbled with the crash of falling water.

In the tea room, Li Jiusheng sat alone in stillness, his eyes slightly closed. His inner energy rose and fell. The spiritual energy of the surroundings was unconsciously absorbed by him, entering through his limbs, every inch of skin, every pore, transformed by various techniques into the purest power.

At that moment, the surging energy exploded with a bang, spreading out into a vast sea—majestic, with towering waves, terrifying.

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

Boom!!!

Two fish were violently pulled from the sea, unleashing an incredibly fearsome force. They churned the rivers and seas, disrupting the tides. The immense, terrifying power startled countless animals in the mountains, each one panicking.

Sensing this, Li Jiusheng decisively dispersed the Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time anomaly. He stepped out of the tea room into the wilderness, extending his domain to radiate a calming aura, soothing the frightened beasts.

Only then did he prevent a stampede of thousands of animals.

Just as Li Jiusheng was calming the beasts, a flash of white light streaked through the mountains—so fast that Li Jiusheng couldn't even see it clearly, though he sensed it through his domain.

Little Fox!

She had voluntarily come from the place where her mother had shed her form and scattered her Dao, stopping three meters in front of Li Jiusheng, glaring at him with anger.

Li Jiusheng looked at Little Fox in confusion. During this time, they had kept to themselves, and he hadn't done anything to make her angry. "What's wrong?"

Little Fox puffed up angrily, opened her mouth to speak, but only let out a squeaky cry. She had to scratch words into the ground with her claws.

Li Jiusheng looked closely. She had written characters.

[You promised my mother to take care of me, but you abandoned me for days...]

Li Jiusheng froze. He realized that while comprehending Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time, several days had passed. Little Fox must be hungry.

"I was meditating in stillness and lost track of time. Sorry about that." Li Jiusheng apologized.

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

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

This time, he really hadn't thought it through. In the past, he was alone and could do whatever he wanted, but he forgot that he now had to take care of a newborn Little Fox.

"I'm sorry. I'll prepare food for you now, and I won't make this mistake again." Li Jiusheng apologized earnestly and immediately brought out delicious food and Pills, placing them before Little Fox.

Starving, Little Fox forgot her caution and quickly devoured the meal.

Li Jiusheng watched with a smile.