A Year Passes

Having comprehended the Grasswood Sword Technique, Lin Jiufeng's days remained as they had always been.

Even though he had cultivated the Grasswood Sword Technique, he currently had no one to use it against.

The Supreme Dao Sect eyeing the Feather Transformation Sect like a tiger outside its gates would have been a fine target, but his cultivation was still too shallow. He needed more time to settle and build his foundation.

In the days that followed, aside from stimulating the aura of his five organs and condensing the Five Elements Divine Beasts, Lin Jiufeng also needed to comprehend Sword Intent each day.

The Grasswood Sword Technique needed Sword Intent to drive it. The stronger the Sword Intent, the stronger the Grasswood Sword Technique.

Naturally, Lin Jiufeng could not give it up.

Just like the five-organ divine beasts, he comprehended a little every day. As it slowly accumulated, it naturally grew.

Time passed slowly.

In the blink of an eye, a year quietly slipped away.

Over the past year, Lin Jiufeng had condensed the other four great divine beasts at an average pace of one every three months.

A year later, he stood at the peak of the Fourth Forbidden Realm. His five organs had reached perfection, with the Five Elements Divine Beasts dwelling within them and forming a flawless cycle.

Vermilion Bird, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Qilin, Black Tortoise.

The five great divine beasts directly pushed Lin Jiufeng's strength to Ten Dragon Ten Elephant Strength.

Now, a single punch from him was enough to kill a Fifth Restriction Cultivator. He did not even need to rely on the Grasswood Sword Technique.

With the Grasswood Sword Technique added in, he even dared to cross blows with a Sixth Forbidden Realm cultivator.

After all, over the past year, he had indeed comprehended a great deal of Sword Intent for the Grasswood Sword Technique.

During this year, neither Lin Jiufeng nor his three martial nephews had gone out, and no one had come in.

The Feather Transformation Sect had truly become an isolated island, left unattended by all.

But this was nothing to Lin Jiufeng. Even without going out, he could cultivate in peace.

Inside the Scripture Pavilion.

The fragrance of tea curled through the air, while sandalwood incense permeated the room.

Lin Jiufeng sat with Wen Xinyun, Zhou Tianzi, and Yue Dashan, drinking tea.

The three children had cultivated diligently over the past year, day and night without rest, and had finally raised their cultivation to the Second Forbidden Realm.

Second Forbidden Realm at eleven years old.

If word of that got out, it would absolutely make countless jaws drop.

Even the Supreme Dao Sect did not have an eleven-year-old Second Forbidden Realm genius.

Fortunately, the Feather Transformation Sect was now sealed off, and no one knew of them. If the Supreme Dao Sect found out about them, they would likely have charged in long ago.

Either defect to the Supreme Dao Sect, or be killed on the spot.

There was no third option.

"Martial Uncle, I still need to cultivate. You called me here to drink tea, but I can't taste a thing," Yue Dashan complained. A year older now, his body had grown even sturdier, his height shooting up to one meter eighty, and he weighed more than three hundred jin. He was practically a mountain himself.

"Martial Uncle wants you to balance work and rest. You've been running without pause all year long; you need to stop and rest once in a while, and plan for the future," Wen Xinyun said, lightly patting Yue Dashan with her slender jade hand.

Because of her cultivation, Wen Xinyun had also blossomed. She stood graceful and slender, her unadorned face possessing a breathtaking beauty. One look was enough to tell that she would become a beauty capable of toppling kingdoms.

Beside them, Zhou Tianzi, with sword-like brows, starry eyes, and an upright, handsome bearing, smiled. "Getting Dashan to settle down and drink tea isn't an easy thing."

Looking at the three children, Lin Jiufeng could not help but marvel at how quickly cultivation made people grow. In just over a year, they had shed their childishness and taken on the air of youths.

"Enough complaining. Finish this cup of tea, then go cultivate," Lin Jiufeng said irritably.

Yue Dashan chuckled, lifted the teacup, and drained it in one gulp.

A cow chewing a peony!

Lin Jiufeng glared at him in anger and refused to pour him another cup, instead sipping his own tea slowly.

Wen Xinyun shot Yue Dashan a glare. "This tea may have grown in the mountains, but Martial Uncle picked it himself. You're truly wasting it like this. You don't know how to appreciate it at all."

After finishing his tea, Yue Dashan did not leave. Instead, he sprawled across the tea couch and asked, "Martial Uncle, the people from the Supreme Dao Sect have surrounded us but aren't attacking. What exactly do they want?"

"Attack? Your Master is still alive," Lin Jiufeng said.

"Master is a Seventh Forbidden Realm cultivator, but the Supreme Dao Sect is so powerful. Would they really fear a Seventh Forbidden Realm cultivator?" Wen Xinyun asked curiously as well.

"If they destroy the Feather Transformation Sect without being certain they can kill your Master, wouldn't they gain an enemy hiding in the shadows from then on?" Lin Jiufeng said.

"So they won't destroy us. They're only sealing us in. That way, Master can't leave and can't become their enemy," Zhou Tianzi said.

"Your Master is waiting to break through. The people of the Supreme Dao Sect are likely waiting as well. It depends on who gets there first," Lin Jiufeng guessed.

By surrounding without killing, the Supreme Dao Sect had already forced the Feather Transformation Sect into a desperate corner.

Yet they did not attack. The only explanation was that they had no way to deal with Bai Yunfei of the Seventh Forbidden Realm.

If they could deal with Bai Yunfei, they would probably have attacked long ago.

"Doesn't the Supreme Dao Sect have several Dao Ancestors at the Eighth Forbidden Realm?" Yue Dashan asked.

"The Supreme Dao Sect isn't our only enemy. With how overbearing the Supreme Dao Sect acts, do you think they have no other enemies?" Lin Jiufeng answered Yue Dashan.

"Then we can only hope Master breaks through soon," Wen Xinyun sighed.

"Go cultivate. These matters aren't for you to worry about. You have me and your Master," Lin Jiufeng said, shooing them away before quietly drinking tea by himself.

He looked out the window.

Beyond the towering mountains lay an invisible net.

Lin Jiufeng could sense that over the past year, this net had drawn much tighter.

The Supreme Dao Sect was not merely besieging the Feather Transformation Sect. They were also slowly advancing.

They were simply still somewhat wary of Bai Yunfei.

As long as Bai Yunfei did not appear and the Supreme Dao Sect's Eighth Forbidden Realm Dao Ancestors did not act, the Feather Transformation Sect could still cling to life for a while longer.

Because among Seventh Forbidden Realm cultivators, Bai Yunfei had already displayed his strength.

"Never mind all that. While the Supreme Dao Sect hasn't attacked yet, I need to break through to the Fifth Forbidden Realm as soon as possible. Then I'll have at least some ability to protect myself," Lin Jiufeng muttered.

He had already reached perfection in the Fourth Forbidden Realm.

Having condensed the five-organ divine beasts, his physical body had reached perfection. Next, he needed to cultivate the Primordial Spirit.

The Fifth Forbidden Realm opened the Primordial Spirit.

Regarding Primordial Spirit cultivation, Lin Jiufeng found a Daoist scripture and began reading it carefully.

Daoist texts stated that a person's Primordial Spirit was the convergence of essence, qi, and spirit, the most precious thing a person possessed.

A body without a soul was nothing but a walking corpse.

To break through to the Fifth Forbidden Realm and open the Primordial Spirit, one needed to gather essence, qi, and spirit, forging a Primordial Spirit.

Then one opened the Primordial Spirit, leaving the body and wandering the heavens and earth in spirit.

How did one leave the body?

Lin Jiufeng did not know, but the Daoist scripture recorded that the simplest method was to step on one's right foot with one's left foot, then leap out through the Mud Ball Palace.

Lin Jiufeng could not help frowning. Could that actually work?

He continued reading.

The book also said that the human body held infinite possibilities and infinite treasures, foremost among them being the Primordial Spirit.

The Primordial Spirit possessed many strange and marvelous abilities beyond investigation, requiring one to ignite one's imagination.

For example, one could regard the physical body as a prison, with the Primordial Spirit trapped within. Stepping on the right foot with the left was like a prisoner breaking out of jail.

Or one could regard the Primordial Spirit as a small boat, the physical body as a vast ocean, and the Primordial Spirit as drifting across that ocean in search of a new continent.

Lin Jiufeng was absorbed in his reading. These wildly imaginative thoughts might seem utterly unreliable to others, but Lin Jiufeng liked them precisely because of that.

Cultivation was already unbelievable enough. If one still had to follow rules and conventions, then what the hell was the point of cultivating?

As he read on, countless thoughts collided in Lin Jiufeng's mind, striking sparks.

Information concerning the Primordial Spirit slowly unfolded before him.

Lin Jiufeng felt that he had touched the threshold.

He sank into it, unable to pull himself free.

The thoughts colliding together slowly converged, becoming two sentences that appeared before Lin Jiufeng's eyes.

You carefully read Daoist scriptures and expanded your thinking, gaining much understanding of the soul.

You activated Heaven-Defying Comprehension and comprehended the Nascent Soul Transcendence Method.