Fish Leaps in the Sea of Time

Lin Jiufeng had already intended to teach the three little ones cultivation techniques.

Some techniques had been created by those who came before, while others had been comprehended by Lin Jiufeng himself. But no matter which kind they were, techniques needed people to practice them and pass them on before they could truly shine.

If he kept these techniques to himself and never passed them down, then he would merely be entertaining himself alone.

As for others learning the techniques he passed down and surpassing him?

Lin Jiufeng was not worried in the slightest.

One whose heart was like the earth was wise; one whose actions followed the inked line was illustrious.

Those who cultivated should have broad minds and not cling to the petty gains before their eyes.

If he did not even possess such breadth of heart, how could he look toward higher realms?

The path of Cultivation itself only grew lonelier the farther one walked.

Moreover, the power of a secret manual depended on the will of its practitioner. The very same cultivation technique would display entirely different power in different hands.

Now that Lin Jiufeng was passing down the techniques he had comprehended, by the time these three little ones grew up, he would already have comprehended other powerful techniques.

Thus, Lin Jiufeng had never intended to keep his knowledge to himself.

He had originally planned to wait until the three little ones broke through the Third Forbidden Realm before teaching them these techniques, but since they had insisted so strongly, there was no harm in teaching them now.

Wen Xinyun came from a cultivation family, yet she had never been valued. She had suffered since childhood. Though she was a girl, her character was resolute, making her the most suitable for the Grasswood Sword Technique.

Zhou Tianzi's family had been exterminated, and he bore a blood-deep vendetta. Nothing could be more suitable for him than cultivating the Ten Palaces Yama.

As for Yue Dashan, Lin Jiufeng could only say that Dragon Elephant Power had been tailor-made for him.

Over the past year or so, Yue Dashan had eaten and drunk well in the Feather Transformation Sect, and his body had grown ever more robust. An eleven-year-old child standing one meter ninety tall, with no sign of stopping—when he stood there, he was a towering mountain of flesh.

His flesh was not loose, flabby fat, but muscles tempered into steel a hundred times over.

He was even more compatible with Dragon Elephant Power than Lin Jiufeng.

Lin Jiufeng greatly anticipated what realm Yue Dashan would cultivate Dragon Elephant Power to in the future.

After personally teaching each of the three little ones a different technique, Lin Jiufeng told them to comprehend them on their own and come ask him if there was anything they did not understand.

Lin Jiufeng silently sipped his tea and looked out the window.

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, early spring approached.

After the snow melted, it flowed into the streams between the mountains, following the veins of the great mountains and nourishing the forests.

The plants and trees, having stored up strength all winter, could not wait to draw in nourishment and burst forth in fresh green.

Beasts, snakes, and insects that had hibernated awoke one after another, and the mountains, silent for an entire season, once again brimmed with vigorous life.

But the Feather Transformation Sect had no life.

Instead, danger drew ever closer.

Of the six months, one had previously been spent flipping through books, and another cultivating the Ten Palaces Yama. Only four months remained.

Yet Lin Jiufeng had still not broken through the Sixth Forbidden Realm.

Four months later, the Dao Ancestor of the Supreme Dao Sect, who had reached the Eighth Forbidden Realm, would come to destroy the Feather Transformation Sect. If Bai Yunfei had not broken through by then, Lin Jiufeng would have to take the three little ones and flee ahead of time.

Thinking this, Lin Jiufeng looked toward the Feather Transformation Sect's golden summit.

Upon the golden summit, a deep and steady aura was drawing in and releasing spiritual energy. There was still no sign of a breakthrough.

Lin Jiufeng sighed, no longer placing his hopes on it, and focused wholeheartedly on doing his own things.

He had already reached the pinnacle among the pinnacles of the Fifth Forbidden Realm. With the terrifying immense strength of Forty Dragons Forty Elephants, even someone with Sixth Forbidden Realm cultivation would die on the spot if they took one of his punches.

Yet even with power this terrifying, Lin Jiufeng still could not break through the Sixth Forbidden Realm.

Sixth Forbidden Realm: comprehending Dao Rhyme.

Lin Jiufeng had never comprehended any Dao Rhyme. Having cultivated to this point, he still did not know what Dao Rhyme was.

He had also leafed through Daoist scriptures, looking up the records within concerning the Dao Rhyme of the Sixth Forbidden Realm.

Dao Rhyme was a kind of Great Dao born from the laws governing the operation of heaven and earth. Cultivators needed to comprehend it themselves. Once they comprehended Dao Rhyme, they could integrate it into their own techniques, making those techniques conform to the Heavenly Dao and granting them immense power.

Lin Jiufeng could not help wondering where he was supposed to comprehend Dao Rhyme.

The surroundings of the Feather Transformation Sect had been sealed off. Not even birds could enter. How was he meant to comprehend anything in this Inch Land?

Lin Jiufeng could not help but worry.

But the days still passed one by one, and the four months quickly slipped away.

During this time, Lin Jiufeng could sense the approach of the Supreme Dao Sect every day.

From being a hundred li away at first, they had now completely encircled the Feather Transformation Sect's mountain gate. The Supreme Dao Sect's intentions could not have been clearer.

Lin Jiufeng's state of mind had also changed from anxiety, worry, and fear at the beginning to calmness now.

Things had come to this. Worrying would no longer help.

If it truly came to that, he would protect the three children and charge out of the Supreme Dao Sect's encirclement.

With Bai Yunfei blocking them in front, the chances of his escape were high.

But unless he had no other choice, Lin Jiufeng did not want to flee and abandon the place where he had lived for a hundred years.

The moon hung high, stars filled the sky, and the Milky Way reflected in the stream.

In the Scripture Pavilion, under the scattered moonlight, Lin Jiufeng held an ancient Buddhist scripture in his hands and slowly turned its pages.

Within the Feather Transformation Sect were countless books: Daoist, Demonic Sect, and Buddhist Sect texts alike.

There were even books of the Demon Race and the barbarian tribes.

The book Lin Jiufeng was reading now had been written by an eminent monk of the Buddhist Sect.

He said that the world was a vast Bitter Sea, where people struggled. Mortals spent a hundred years in mediocrity, only to sink to the bottom of the sea in the end.

Cultivation was the act of escaping the Bitter Sea and reaching the Other Shore.

But where was the Other Shore?

No one in the world knew.

They could only give everything they had, exhaust every method, and ride wind and break waves upon the Bitter Sea, striving to reach the Other Shore.

There were countless methods, but in summary, there were only two paths.

Some used their fleshly bodies as boats to cross to the Other Shore.

Some transcended through their Primordial Spirits to reach the Other Shore.

Neither path was easy to walk, which was why Cultivation was like rowing a boat against the current: everyone was fighting.

A Daoist master said: "The Great Dao is fifty; Heaven's evolution is forty-nine; the people contend for that one which escapes."

An eminent Buddhist monk said: "Life has Eight Sufferings: birth, aging, sickness, death, separation from those one loves, enduring what one hates, being unable to obtain what one seeks, and being unable to let go."

Lin Jiufeng read on, gradually becoming absorbed.

If the world was a vast Bitter Sea, how should he cross it?

Naturally, he would use his fleshly body as a boat, his Primordial Spirit to steer it, unite the two as one, transcend the Bitter Sea, and reach the Other Shore.

Lin Jiufeng held the scripture and sat motionless through the night.

Early the next morning.

At the moment when the rising sun and setting moon met, when the morning sun and waning moon coexisted for that instant, Lin Jiufeng suddenly opened his eyes.

Yin Yang flowed within his pupils.

That was the accumulation he had built up over this period of time.

Though he had never broken through the Sixth Forbidden Realm, Lin Jiufeng improved every day. The progress was not great, but as the days accumulated and stacked together, it finally erupted into Enlightenment at this moment.

As Lin Jiufeng opened his eyes and felt the convergence of Yin Yang at this moment, his mind became utterly clear, inspiration surged forth, and a line of words appeared before his eyes.

Your inspiration has erupted, activating Heaven-Defying Comprehension. You have comprehended Fish Leaps in the Sea of Time.

Boom, boom, boom!

Outside the Scripture Pavilion, among the towering mountains and ridges, white clouds churned.

Like ocean waves, the energy of heaven and earth surged and shifted rapidly.

It was like someone fishing: the fish took the bait and was lifted straight up.

All that waiting for the right moment had been the time Lin Jiufeng spent accumulating. Once the accumulation was sufficient, the fish naturally came.

At this moment, every little thing from his ordinary days erupted in a roaring flood.

With a thought, Lin Jiufeng seemed to seize the fishing rod and yank it sharply upward.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Outside the Scripture Pavilion, amid the rolling white clouds between the towering mountains and ridges, an enormous Big White Crucian Carp was "hooked."

Yin Yang gleamed in the Big White Crucian Carp's eyes. Its body leaped up, shining brilliantly beneath the first ray of morning sunlight.

At the same time, the energy within Lin Jiufeng surged and roared, wild and violent, smashing through the barrier of the Fifth Forbidden Realm.

With this leap, Lin Jiufeng leaped into the cultivation of the Sixth Forbidden Realm.