Chapter 17: Heaven-Shaking Seal

Bai Yunfei had indeed slain Changsun Yu.

Fighting upward from the Seventh Seal against a Eighth Seal opponent, he had crushed the Taishang Sect's plan to annihilate Yuhua Sect.

Yuhua Sect, which had been blockaded for years, was finally free. No one surrounded its mountain gate any longer.

Whoosh!

In a short while, Bai Yunfei streaked back like a rainbow of light and landed before the Canon Pavilion, where he found Lin Jiufeng and the three disciples.

"Senior Brother, you killed Elder Qingshan?" Bai Yunfei asked in surprise.

Lin Jiufeng smiled. "You fought upward against the Eighth Seal — what's the problem with me killing someone at the Seventh Seal?"

Bai Yunfei laughed and nodded. "Senior Brother, this is a sudden awakening — a towering building rising from flat ground. I fear it won't be long before you surpass me."

Lin Jiufeng studied the fluctuating aura around Bai Yunfei and asked, "How far are you from the Eighth Seal?"

Whether Bai Yunfei could break through to the Eighth Seal was a matter of life and death for Yuhua Sect.

Only if Bai Yunfei broke through to the Eighth Seal and wielded the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] would Yuhua Sect be safe from destruction — so long as the Ninth Seal did not emerge.

Bai Yunfei understood this well. He said in a low voice, "Three years in seclusion, and I've always felt something was missing — I could never break through. But that fight with Changsun Yu just now let me see through many things. The Eighth Seal is right before my eyes."

Lin Jiufeng felt relieved. Although Bai Yunfei had just slain a Eighth Seal Dao Ancestor, that opponent had only recently broken through and was by no means formidable within the Eighth Seal. If he were to face a Dao Ancestor at the peak of the Eighth Seal, even the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] might not be enough.

As Bai Yunfei chatted with Lin Jiufeng, he noticed the three disciples who had grown up and said with feeling, "You've all gotten so big."

Wen Xinyun, Zhou Tianzi, and Yue Dashan called out respectfully, "Greetings, Master."

Bai Yunfei said self-deprecatingly, "Compared to your Senior Uncle, I am a completely unqualified master. Your Senior Uncle has taught you all very well."

Lin Jiufeng said from the side, "Let's go inside the Canon Pavilion and talk."

Bai Yunfei nodded and followed Lin Jiufeng inside.

The Canon Pavilion housed tens of thousands of texts — vast and immense.

Lin Jiufeng settled in a tea room nestled against the cliff's edge, brewing tea and sitting across from Bai Yunfei, just as they had done years ago. The difference was that Lin Jiufeng was now in the prime of his life.

Bai Yunfei still had his baby face — delicate features, fair skin — looking almost the same age as the three young disciples beside him.

After a while, the tea came to a boil. Lin Jiufeng poured a cup for everyone and asked softly, "Junior Brother, the crisis facing Yuhua Sect has been temporarily resolved. What do you plan to do next?"

Bai Yunfei was the Sect Master of Yuhua Sect; the direction the sect moved forward was his to steer.

Lin Jiufeng was merely the keeper of the Canon Pavilion — and he was content to grow stronger quietly within its walls.

"This time the Taishang Sect has returned in defeat, but they will certainly not accept it. Their next counterattack will be fierce, so I must first break through to the Eighth Seal. Only by reaching the Eighth Seal can I withstand their retaliation." Bai Yunfei took a sip of tea and spoke in a measured tone.

"Yuhua Sect will remain as it is for now. You three young ones, continue cultivating diligently under your Senior Uncle. Everything waits until I break through to the Eighth Seal." Bai Yunfei addressed the three disciples.

The three young ones nodded obediently.

Lin Jiufeng agreed with this arrangement. "Then go into seclusion. The Taishang Sect should have no spare energy to deal with us right now — we can buy some time."

Bai Yunfei looked at Lin Jiufeng with a puzzled expression, unsure of what had happened.

Lin Jiufeng explained, "A juvenile divine beast — a Qilin — has appeared in the Million Mountains. The Taishang Sect's top experts all rushed there, hoping to capture the juvenile Qilin as their sect's guardian divine beast. That's why they maintained a blockade on Yuhua Sect rather than launching an all-out assault. Even Changsun Yu had only just broken through after a hundred years in seclusion."

"A divine beast Qilin…" Bai Yunfei stared at Lin Jiufeng in astonishment. "Ever since a great war three thousand years ago, the traces of divine beasts vanished from this world. The Demon Race in the Million Mountains fell into decline because of it, forced to huddle in a corner. I never imagined that three thousand years later, a divine beast would appear again."

"What happened three thousand years ago?" Lin Jiufeng asked curiously.

"I don't know the full details either. I only read about it in the secret archives that only successive Sect Masters may access. That war was brutal — it swept across the entire cultivation world. Our founding patriarch rose to prominence during that time, creating Yuhua Sect through the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture]. The Taishang Sect also seized that opportunity to leap from a third-rate minor sect to the pinnacle of the Daoist Order." Bai Yunfei recounted the tale calmly.

"The Sect Master's secret archives?" Lin Jiufeng raised an eyebrow. So that was why there were no books in the Canon Pavilion recording that war three thousand years ago — only the Sect Master could read those records.

"The Sect Master's secret archives are right here in the Canon Pavilion — a separate Small World that can only be opened with the Sect Master's jade pendant. Senior Brother, you may go read them whenever you wish." Bai Yunfei produced the Yuhua Sect Sect Master's jade pendant and handed it to Lin Jiufeng.

The jade pendant was crescent-shaped, entirely white, with a few wisps of azure blue running through its center — beautiful and mysterious.

"You're just giving me the Sect Master's jade pendant like that?" Lin Jiufeng said.

Bai Yunfei nodded. "Truthfully, Senior Brother is far more suited to reading those secret archives than I am. They contain everything collected by Yuhua Sect's successive Sect Masters. I hope they will be of some help to Senior Brother's cultivation."

Lin Jiufeng did not refuse again. He accepted the crescent white jade pendant and said, "I'll go read them."

Bai Yunfei drained the last of his tea, then rose and flew toward the Golden Summit Hall.

This time, he would definitely break through to the Eighth Seal!

Bai Yunfei entered seclusion once more, and the three young disciples turned their eager eyes to Lin Jiufeng, like hungry fledglings waiting to be fed.

Especially after witnessing Lin Jiufeng effortlessly kill Elder Qingshan of the Seventh Seal across cultivation levels, the three young ones were even more eager for Lin Jiufeng to impart cultivation experience to them.

Lin Jiufeng finished his tea, then began to guide the three disciples.

All three had already stabilized their cultivation at the Third Seal, so Lin Jiufeng began explaining more advanced cultivation knowledge to them.

The three young ones were like sponges — gifted as they were, they grasped what Lin Jiufeng explained with ease.

Before long, Lin Jiufeng shooed them out to cultivate on their own, telling them to come back if they had questions.

And so, only Lin Jiufeng remained in the tea room.

He quietly sipped his tea, replaying in his mind the battle between Bai Yunfei and Changsun Yu.

The Dao they had displayed, the Divine Abilities they had unleashed — it had been an eye-opener for Lin Jiufeng, broadening his worldview considerably.

After all, in the past hundred years within Yuhua Sect, where would he have ever witnessed a battle between experts of that caliber?

Everything he knew about the Eighth Seal had come from books.

But knowledge gained from books always feels shallow — true understanding only comes from personal experience.

Having witnessed it with his own eyes, the words on those pages took on vivid form. Scene after scene surfaced in Lin Jiufeng's mind.

He contemplated deeply.

He combined the knowledge he had absorbed from books with the battle he had witnessed today, forging new insights.

Gradually, a new comprehension took shape in Lin Jiufeng's mind.

A line of text appeared before his eyes.

[You have reflected with great focus, activating Heavenly Comprehension — you have comprehended the Heaven-Shaking Seal!]