Sect Master's Friend

Lin Jiufeng had not expected that reading seriously as usual would activate his Heaven-Defying Comprehension and allow him to comprehend the Feather Ascension Scripture.

He was overjoyed.

He had already resigned himself to growing old and dying in the Feather Transformation Sect. He had never imagined that, at the end of his life, he would be able to cultivate once more.

The Feather Ascension Scripture was one of the world's supreme techniques. Its greatest strength was defying fate and changing one's destiny, repairing the body. Though he was decrepit with age and his life had reached its end, as long as he had the Feather Ascension Scripture, he had hope of living a second life.

Now that my comprehension is heaven-defying, can I cultivate? Lin Jiufeng was ecstatic inside. Previously, he had achieved nothing in Cultivation because his comprehension was poor and he was far too slow to grasp matters of Cultivation.

Now that his comprehension was heaven-defying, would it greatly aid his Cultivation?

At that moment, a vast flood of memories poured into his mind.

Lin Jiufeng closed his eyes and saw a robust, high-spirited middle-aged man battling a peerless Eighth Restriction expert with fierce might upon the Yellow Sand Ancient Road.

Zhou Sheng.

Though he was only at the Seventh Restriction, when he unleashed the Feather Ascension Scripture, he was like a Banished Immortal. Every move was ethereal, Immortal Qi swirling around him, leaving the peerless Eighth Restriction expert utterly unable to fight back.

Lin Jiufeng watched intently.

The Feather Ascension Scripture Zhou Sheng performed clearly emerged in his mind.

From the beginner stage to the pinnacle, Zhou Sheng demonstrated it all for Lin Jiufeng once.

Without realizing it, he began cultivating along with him.

He began from the entry level, sitting in meditation and drawing in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy.

Fortunately, the Scripture Pavilion was exceptionally quiet. Especially over the past century, the Feather Transformation Sect had been openly and secretly suppressed by the Supreme Dao Sect, leaving it with few disciples. Lin Jiufeng could cultivate without worry.

With Heaven-Defying Comprehension, his cultivation encountered no obstacles and progressed remarkably smoothly.

He had already comprehended the Feather Ascension Scripture in its entirety, and Zhou Sheng had even demonstrated it for him once. Cultivating it now was as natural as water flowing into a channel.

The surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy surged into Lin Jiufeng's body.

Very soon, the Feather Ascension Scripture overlaid the Wood-Element Technique he had previously cultivated to prolong his lifespan.

The Wood-Element Technique possessed no offensive power. It merely extended an ordinary person's lifespan. Lin Jiufeng had cultivated it for a hundred years without even breaking through the First Restriction.

Cultivation in this world was divided into Nine Restrictions. One had to open the nine hidden shackles within the body, unleash endless potential, and erupt with supreme might.

The First Restriction opened the shackles of the flesh, granting extraordinary strength.

The Second Restriction opened the shackles of the bones, granting a body of steel and iron.

The Third Restriction was the shackle within the human spine, activating the Human Body Great Dragon.

These three restrictions were the first three restrictions of Cultivation. Only after completing them could one be considered to have stepped through Cultivation's gates.

Yet over the past hundred years, Lin Jiufeng had not even crossed the First Restriction.

Now, the Feather Ascension Scripture had merely overlaid the Wood-Element Technique, yet it directly helped Lin Jiufeng break through the First Restriction.

Boom!!!

With the bodily shackles of the First Restriction opened, Lin Jiufeng's aged body was like a dried-up river suddenly flooded with an abundance of water. As withered trees met spring, all things revived.

He had been reborn.

After cultivating through the night, Lin Jiufeng opened his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror.

He was still old.

Yet in the finer details, he was already different from the night before.

His hands and feet were strong, his flesh firm. Overnight, he had become at least twenty years younger.

"Not bad. I've only just begun cultivating, yet the changes are already so obvious. As long as I keep cultivating, I'll surely grow younger and younger. Once I break through the Second Restriction, I'll truly gain a new life," Lin Jiufeng said with satisfaction.

He was in no hurry.

After all, he was staying in the Scripture Pavilion, where he had ample time to cultivate. There was no danger, either. No one would target an old man on the verge of death.

Had it been anywhere else, Lin Jiufeng would not have felt so at ease.

After all, this was a world of Cultivation, with sects, aristocratic clans, imperial dynasties, Daoist sects, Demonic Sects, Buddhist Sects, Overseas Forces, the Wild God Sect...

They crisscrossed and clashed, with danger lurking on every side.

The Scripture Pavilion was still best: leisurely, carefree, and utterly ignored.

Moreover, it held every book collected since the Feather Transformation Sect's founding. Lin Jiufeng eagerly anticipated whether diligently reading in the future could activate Heaven-Defying Comprehension once again.

For three consecutive days, Lin Jiufeng did nothing but cultivate.

The next day.

The morning sun rose.

As a strand of Great Sun Purple Qi entered his body, Lin Jiufeng closed his eyes and circulated the Feather Ascension Scripture.

The next instant, the Feather Ascension Scripture poured the energy of heaven and earth throughout his body.

The energy flowed through the eight extraordinary meridians and across his limbs and bones, stimulating Lin Jiufeng's aged body and restoring its vitality.

Finally, the energy returned to his dantian, completing a full cycle.

Lin Jiufeng opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air. His complexion was rosy, his wrinkles had diminished, and he had genuinely grown younger.

"My body is gradually returning to its peak," Lin Jiufeng said, deeply satisfied with the changes.

Compared to his former self, he was practically a young man now.

The wrinkles on his face had faded, the muscles on his body had increased, and he walked as swiftly as the wind. These were all real, tangible changes.

Over those three days, Lin Jiufeng had not read any other books, nor had he hurried to activate more Heaven-Defying Comprehension. Instead, he settled his mind and cultivated quietly, improving his body.

Only with a healthier body could he look toward the future.

"The Feather Ascension Scripture truly is formidable. Three days of cultivation have raised my cultivation to the peak of the First Restriction. This is something I never accomplished in the past hundred years." Lin Jiufeng rose to his full height and could not help sighing in wonder.

But to break through from the peak of the First Restriction to the Second Restriction, Lin Jiufeng still had some way to go.

Just as he was considering his future path of Cultivation, someone came to the Scripture Pavilion.

A man in a black Daoist robe, his face like polished jade, his aura ethereal—as though he were an Immortal amid the clouds.

The current Sect Master of the Feather Transformation Sect, Bai Yunfei.

Bai Yunfei entered the Scripture Pavilion and was rather surprised to see Lin Jiufeng. Then he congratulated him, "Senior Brother, you've broken through the First Restriction after not seeing you for some time. Congratulations, congratulations."

Lin Jiufeng was also startled. Looking at his only friend in the Feather Transformation Sect, he nodded. "Yes. A withered tree has met spring—I was fortunate enough to break through the First Restriction."

Twenty years after Lin Jiufeng entered the sect, he began managing the Scripture Pavilion. Bai Yunfei happened to enter the sect then, and he loved coming to the Scripture Pavilion to read. Over time, the two became familiar with each other.

Unlike Lin Jiufeng, Bai Yunfei possessed exceptional talent. He broke through the First Restriction in one month, the Second Restriction in three months, and the Third Restriction a year later. He was the hope of the Feather Transformation Sect.

Only this time, the upper ranks of the Feather Transformation Sect had learned their lesson. Rather than loudly publicizing Bai Yunfei, they suppressed his fame and allowed him to grow quietly, lest he provoke the Supreme Dao Sect's jealousy and meet the same fate as Zhou Sheng.

At that time, Bai Yunfei and Lin Jiufeng got along very well. He called Lin Jiufeng Senior Brother, and even after becoming the Sect Master of the Feather Transformation Sect, that form of address never changed.

But as Bai Yunfei's cultivation steadily deepened, his lifespan grew long, and his appearance remained unchanged, he had always retained a baby face.

Meanwhile, Lin Jiufeng gradually aged and became an old man.

"You haven't come to read for some time." Lin Jiufeng began brewing tea to share with Bai Yunfei.

Bai Yunfei, without the slightest concern for his image, sprawled across the couch where Lin Jiufeng cultivated and said softly, "There have been too many difficult matters lately. They've left me restless and troubled. Senior Brother, your place is still so peaceful."

Bai Yunfei, steady and powerful in the eyes of outsiders, was now grumbling bitterly before an elderly man. If outsiders saw it, their jaws would surely hit the floor.

Yet both Lin Jiufeng and Bai Yunfei had long grown accustomed to this way of getting along.

No one knew that Lin Jiufeng, who guarded the Scripture Pavilion and did not cultivate, had only one friend: the Sect Master of the Feather Transformation Sect.