Mid-Stage Great Grandmaster

The Founding Grandmaster of Shangqing Palace had risen amid chaotic times. He had roamed the land with unmatched dominance, fought powerful experts from the Outer Domain, and emerged victorious every time. His fame had been resounding, and the Yuqing Sword Technique he created had been unrivaled beneath the heavens, hailed as the greatest sword technique of the age.

After the war in the Outer Domain ended, the Founding Grandmaster returned to the Old Land, retired into the mountains and forests, established Shangqing Palace, accepted disciples, and taught the Dao.

However, because the consecutive battles had often forced him into seclusion, the Yuqing Sword Technique had not been passed down.

As his direct disciple, the Second Grandmaster had been the only disciple in all of Shangqing Palace at the time who knew the Yuqing Sword Technique.

In the end, the Founding Grandmaster's old wounds erupted due to the severity of his injuries, and his soul returned to heaven and earth. Shangqing Palace had then hoped that the Second Grandmaster would inherit the position of Sect Master, revitalize Shangqing Palace, and carry forward the Yuqing Sword Technique.

Unfortunately, the Second Grandmaster had ultimately traveled far from home, causing the Yuqing Sword Technique to be lost.

There was a reason Shangqing Palace had not promoted the Second Grandmaster over the years.

"Right and wrong, grudges and grievances from the past can no longer be sorted out. The Second Grandmaster was, after all, one of Shangqing Palace's founders. Once I break through to the Ancestor Realm, I'll carve his name onto the ancestral tablet." Li Qingshan calmed down, sighed, and chose to let it go.

Li Jiusheng smiled. "It has only been over nine hundred years since the Second Grandmaster traveled far away. As an Ancestor Realm expert, his lifespan is far from exhausted. Perhaps he isn't even dead yet, and you're already putting him on an ancestral tablet?"

Those in the Ancestor Realm could live for a thousand years.

Theoretically, the Second Grandmaster still had some of his lifespan remaining.

Li Qingshan shook his head. "Let's not talk about this anymore. After this, things should be peaceful for a while. Next, I'll enter closed-door cultivation. I won't come out unless I break through to the Ancestor Realm."

Li Jiusheng said, "Then I'll use tea in place of wine and congratulate you in advance on breaking through to the Ancestor Realm, Junior Brother."

Li Qingshan raised his teacup, clinked it with Li Jiusheng's, drained it in one gulp, then rose and left.

Li Jiusheng watched Li Qingshan turn into a rainbow and vanish into the horizon. His gaze slowly shifted back to the tea room, where he saw Little Fox leap onto the platform and say in her soft, childish voice, "It's time to practice boxing."

Li Jiusheng smiled faintly, rose, and took Little Fox outside to practice boxing.

After Li Qingshan killed six Human World Venerable assassins with a single sword strike, Shangqing Palace finally welcomed long-awaited peace.

Over the next few days, Li Jiusheng spread out his primordial spirit and released his domain every day, inspecting everything within Shangqing Palace. He found no suspicious outsiders.

That makes sense. Six Venerables from the Human World died here. Even they probably never expected it. In any faction, Venerables are extremely important. Losing even one would cause an uproar, much less six at once. They probably don't even know what to do right now. Li Jiusheng thought silently.

The Human World assassins did not emerge, while Shangqing Palace sealed its mountain gates and cut off contact with the outside world.

Even the factions hostile to it could not find a pretext to stir up trouble.

For a time, all was calm.

Li Qingshan's days continued as usual. Every morning, he took Little Fox to practice boxing, absorbed some spiritual energy, then began cultivating, comprehending the Dao, and practicing techniques. At night, he meditated, his body absorbing vast amounts of spiritual energy while his primordial spirit visualized Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva within Senluo Hell.

Every day, he could feel himself improving. Though the progress was slight, dripping water could pierce stone. With day-after-day accumulation, a stream would become a river, and a lake would eventually flow into the sea.

One day, after Li Jiusheng finished cultivating, he had nothing to do and wandered through the Scripture Repository Pavilion. To his surprise, he discovered a biography left behind by the Second Grandmaster.

The biography had been pressed beneath a bookshelf in a corner of the third floor of the Scripture Repository Pavilion. It was covered in dust, ignored by everyone, and had even been used as a book to prop up the shelf.

It was clear that the previous keeper of the Scripture Repository Pavilion had not been very friendly toward the Second Grandmaster.

Li Jiusheng did not have any particular opinion on the matter. Those events had happened nearly a thousand years ago. What did they have to do with him?

Yet upon seeing this biography, Li Jiusheng suddenly felt a stir in his heart. He wanted to see whether he could gain some insight from it, so he pulled out the book propping up the shelf, dusted it off, and read it carefully.

It was a biography casually written by the Second Grandmaster in his youth.

It recorded his thoughts and feelings from different periods of his life, essentially serving as a diary.

At the very beginning, the Founding Grandmaster established Shangqing Palace. The Second Grandmaster wrote in the biography that he did not approve.

The Founding Grandmaster had only just emerged from a great battle and was severely injured. He should have entered seclusion to recover, even sought out all kinds of heavenly treasures, rather than taking in disciples, establishing a sect, and exhausting his mind.

The Second Grandmaster wrote that he had repeatedly advised his master to put his health first, but his master had only smiled each time.

At the end, the Second Grandmaster wrote that he disliked the disciples of Shangqing Palace, believing they disturbed the peace between master and disciple.

After reading this biography, Li Jiusheng shook his head. The Second Grandmaster had only been sixteen when he wrote it. His temperament had not yet matured, his restless mind had not been subdued, and his thoughts had still been simple. He did not understand the Founding Grandmaster's desire to spread the knowledge he had learned throughout his life.

The Second Grandmaster later wrote many other biographies, recording his emotions at different stages of his life. Some were despondent, some joyful, some excited, and some sorrowful...

From these biographies, Li Jiusheng seemed to see a living person rather than a symbol.

In the biographies, the Second Grandmaster's personality was displayed vividly. He was not good at speaking with others, often kept matters to himself, possessed exceptional talent, had a delicate mind, enjoyed being alone and pondering all kinds of questions, and would ask his master about anything he did not understand.

If his master was absent, he would ask no one else and instead rack his brains over it alone.

As he read on, Li Jiusheng suddenly turned to the day when the Founding Grandmaster's soul returned to heaven and earth.

The Second Grandmaster wrote painfully in the biography, "Alas, my master's hidden wounds erupted yesterday. The demonic seed surfaced, and he ascended into immortality. He was the one who loved me most in this world. My grief has pierced my heart. I will avenge him."

The Second Grandmaster wrote in detail that, over the past few years, the Founding Grandmaster had fought a mysterious expert through the air every day. Over several years, his essence, energy, and spirit had been severely depleted. His body, already riddled with hidden wounds, had finally lost control, and all the injuries erupted at once, taking away the Founding Grandmaster's hope of survival.

The Second Grandmaster swore bitterly that he would take revenge. Yet he knew that his peak Great Venerable strength was insufficient to contend with that mysterious expert, so he rejected the position of Sect Master of Shangqing Palace and entered life-or-death seclusion in hopes of breaking through to the Ancestor Realm.

In the end, he succeeded.

After breaking through to the Ancestor Realm, the Second Grandmaster did not hesitate in the slightest. He went directly to the Outer Domain to seek out that mysterious expert and avenge his master.

The biography ended there as well.

After reading the entire biography, Li Jiusheng fell into deep thought.

"So that was it. The Founding Grandmaster's strength had been at the peak in both the Old Land and the Outer Domain. Even with injuries, he should have been able to live another hundred years, yet he ascended after only a few years. So there was such a hidden truth behind it." Li Jiusheng murmured.

For those years, the mysterious expert had fought the Founding Grandmaster every night, consuming enormous amounts of his essence, energy, and spirit until he was finally worn down. Only the Second Grandmaster knew of this. He was someone who was not good at speaking with others and kept everything bottled up inside, so he had not told a single disciple of Shangqing Palace. After breaking through to the Ancestor Realm, he had left directly, without even passing down the Founding Grandmaster's ultimate art, the Yuqing Sword Technique.

This had led to the series of events that later befell Shangqing Palace.

Li Jiusheng could not help thinking that if Li Tianxian had possessed the Shangqing Sword Technique back then, perhaps the ending would have been different. "Everything has its cause and effect. Such is fate, such is destiny."

But just how powerful was the Yuqing Sword Technique?

Li Jiusheng was especially curious. It had been the Founding Grandmaster's lifelong ultimate art and had been praised as the foremost sword technique of the Old Land.

Ancestor Realm was a realm, and there were strong and weak experts within it. The Founding Grandmaster of Shangqing Palace had definitely been among the strongest in that realm. No one would refuse his sword technique.

Unfortunately, even after reading the entire biography, Li Jiusheng failed to comprehend the Yuqing Sword Technique.

That was because the Second Grandmaster had only recorded the changes in his state of mind throughout the biography and had not written about the mysteries of the Yuqing Sword Technique. Though Li Jiusheng's comprehension was heaven-defying, every cultivation method required an opportunity. Without one, even with comprehension alone, he could not create something out of nothing.

"Once I break through to the Venerable Realm in the future, perhaps I can go to the Outer Domain and take a look." Li Jiusheng murmured inwardly.

This world was so vast that no one could explain its full extent. Few people could even travel across the entire Old Land, much less the Outer Domain.

Li Jiusheng had spent his entire life circling around Shangqing Palace. He had seen very little, and everything he knew about the outside world came from books.

He felt that he had to find an opportunity in the future to travel ten thousand miles, throw a million punches, and comprehend the Dao of the world.

The days passed leisurely, and before he realized it, three months slipped away.

Winter arrived with the cold winds.

Goose-feather snow drifted down as howling winds swept past, dyeing the earth white.

Outside the Scripture Repository Pavilion, Li Jiusheng used his fingers as a sword and continuously practiced the sword techniques he had learned.

The heavy snow scattered through the air, yet Li Jiusheng left no trace upon the snow. His sword technique was exceedingly simple, even plain and unadorned. There were no flashy moves, only killing strikes meant to take lives.

The Great Dao was simplicity itself!

Li Jiusheng had also thoroughly comprehended sword techniques, simplifying complexity until only one purpose remained: once the sword was drawn, the opponent would be slain.

He had already passed through the initial realms of "Intent" and "Essence," entering the level of "Dao."

Within every move and stance, he focused on the Dao contained within.

Over these months, he had never slackened. He cultivated diligently and had long since stabilized his early-stage Great Grandmaster cultivation. He had mastered all kinds of cultivation methods and was only a sliver away from reaching perfection.

As Shangqing Palace encountered trouble, urgency had grown in Li Jiusheng's heart.

Though his cultivation advanced quickly, it was far from enough for Li Jiusheng.

A Great Grandmaster appeared powerful in the eyes of others, but in Li Jiusheng's eyes, it was not enough.

He wanted to become stronger.

He wanted to break through to the Venerable Realm, even the Ancestor Realm.

Over the past few months, Li Jiusheng had cultivated bitterly every day. Only today, as he continued contemplating, did he sense a trace of an opportunity for breakthrough.

The accumulation of this time had all been waiting for this moment.

Practicing his sword in the snow, Li Jiusheng wore a dark black Daoist robe, his mind immersed in a wondrous state. It was as though he was not standing amid the overwhelming snow, but within a warm hot spring. Dao Rhyme within reach surrounded him, slowly flowing into his body.

At this moment, Li Jiusheng's control over his body reached an unprecedented level.

Every bone, every meridian, every drop of blood, every cell was under Li Jiusheng's control.

At the movement of a thought, his body moved with it. The Dao Rhyme within reach around his body was stirred by Li Jiusheng and flowed continuously along with him.

Under the eaves of the Scripture Repository Pavilion, the grown Little Fox watched in shock.

In her eyes, Li Jiusheng had already merged with heaven and earth. The mountains and rivers were him, the grass and trees were him, and the wind and snow were him as well.

"So amazing!" Little Fox watched him with admiration.

"The Dao is mysterious beyond words. Cultivation is a process of continuously comprehending the Dao." Li Jiusheng's thoughts and primordial spirit merged as one, and he murmured to himself.

He displayed different cultivation methods. One moment he practiced swordsmanship, the next he practiced boxing. At another moment, his body suddenly shook, golden light filling the sky as a hundred-zhang golden body appeared amid the heavy snow. Then an ocean emerged, koi leaped, and flowers of the other shore bloomed...

As Li Jiusheng displayed all kinds of cultivation methods, the wind and snow across the sky wrapped around him layer upon layer. Every snowflake and every wisp of cold wind wound around his body, transformed by him for his own use and becoming part of his moves.

The process seemed long, but it lasted only the time it took to burn an incense stick.

Gradually, Li Jiusheng stopped moving and stood amid the snow. The wind and snow filling the sky fell around him, while an invisible force spread outward from him in all directions. In an instant, it reached a range of four hundred li, enveloping all of Shangqing Palace.

Mid-stage Great Grandmaster!

BOOM!

With a tremendous crash, the snow around him shattered and exploded, blasting open a path that stretched beneath the eaves of the Scripture Repository Pavilion. Wind and snow surged backward, smashing into Little Fox and leaving her in a sorry state.

Little Fox jumped in fright and angrily said in her childish voice, "You're bullying me again!"

"Haha, it would be a waste not to have a snowball fight during the season when heavy snow seals the mountains." Li Jiusheng laughed.

"Hmph!" Little Fox turned away, unwilling to pay him any attention. Then, when Li Jiusheng was not looking, she swiftly manifested nine tails and swept them through the snow. Snow and wind filled the sky as they crashed toward Li Jiusheng.

Pfft!

Li Jiusheng did not use Dao Rhyme to block it and was struck squarely.

Little Fox giggled and said mischievously, "How about it? Do you still want to have a snowball fight now?"

Li Jiusheng shook the snowflakes from his body and said helplessly, "No more. You win. You have nine tails, while I only have two hands. How am I supposed to fight?"

Little Fox said innocently, "It would be a waste not to have a snowball fight during the season when heavy snow seals the mountains."

She returned Li Jiusheng's own words to him without changing a single one.

"You little thing, you really hold grudges." Li Jiusheng reached out with his hand, grabbed Little Fox through the air, pulled her into his embrace, and vigorously ruffled her several times.

Little Fox struggled with all her strength, but it was useless. In the end, she could only give up and let Li Jiusheng knead her as he pleased. Humming and grumbling, she asked, "Did you break through again?"

Li Jiusheng nodded. "I just broke through to the mid-stage Great Grandmaster realm."

"Are you even human? Why do you break through so quickly?" Little Fox looked at Li Jiusheng suspiciously. "My inherited memories tell me that when you humans first begin cultivating, your progress is extremely slow, far slower than the Demon Race. Why aren't you like that?"

"Am I not?" Li Jiusheng carried Little Fox into the tea room.

"You're not. Your breakthroughs are so fast, faster than mine." Little Fox nodded. She had cultivated alongside Li Jiusheng, and her realm had advanced very quickly. She had already entered the Innate Realm, but she could clearly feel that Li Jiusheng's breakthroughs were even faster than hers.

"That's because you're still little. Once you grow up, I won't be able to compare with you." Li Jiusheng stroked Little Fox's head and explained.

"Really?" Little Fox was doubtful, feeling that Li Jiusheng was fooling her.

"Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?" Li Jiusheng blinked sincerely. He was not lying. No human cultivator could compare to a Nine-tailed Demonic Fox.

Except him.