Chapter 2: The Sect Master's Friend

Lin Jiufeng never expected that his usual habit of reading diligently would activate Heavenly Comprehension and allow him to comprehend the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture].

He was overjoyed beyond words.

He had already resigned himself to dying of old age in Yuhua Sect — yet here, at the very end of his life, he had been given the chance to cultivate once more.

The [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] was a supreme technique of the world, renowned above all else for defying fate and restoring the body. Though he was decrepit with age and standing at the threshold of death, as long as he had the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture], there was hope of living a second life.

"Now that I have Heavenly Comprehension, can I finally cultivate?" Lin Jiufeng's heart surged with excitement. In the past, he had made no progress in cultivation precisely because his comprehension was too poor — he was simply too slow to grasp anything related to the path of cultivation.

Now that he possessed Heavenly Comprehension, would it not be of tremendous help?

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

Lin Jiufeng closed his eyes and saw a vigorous, spirited middle-aged man fighting ferociously against a peerless expert of the Eighth Seal on the Yellow Sand Ancient Road.

Zhou Sheng.

Though he was only at the Seventh Seal, when Zhou Sheng unleashed the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture], he moved like an exiled immortal — each stance and movement ethereal and transcendent, wreathed in immortal energy, leaving the Eighth Seal peerless expert utterly unable to retaliate.

Lin Jiufeng watched intently.

Zhou Sheng's execution of the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] surfaced clearly within his mind.

From the very basics to the pinnacle, Zhou Sheng demonstrated every step for Lin Jiufeng.

Involuntarily, he began to cultivate alongside the vision.

Starting from the fundamentals — sitting in meditation, absorbing the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth.

Fortunately, the Canon Pavilion was an extremely quiet place. Especially over the past century or more, Yuhua Sect had been suppressed both openly and covertly by the Taishang Sect, leaving the sect with few disciples. Lin Jiufeng could cultivate in peace.

With Heavenly Comprehension guiding him, his cultivation proceeded without the slightest obstacle — smooth and unhindered.

He had already fully comprehended the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture], and Zhou Sheng had even demonstrated it for him once. So now that he was actually cultivating it, everything came naturally — when the water reaches, the channel forms.

The Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth surged from all directions, pouring into Lin Jiufeng's body.

Before long, the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] had completely overwritten the Wood Element Cultivation Technique Lin Jiufeng had previously practiced to extend his lifespan.

The Wood Element Cultivation Technique had no offensive power whatsoever — it merely extended the lifespan of an ordinary person. Lin Jiufeng had practiced it for a hundred years without ever breaking through the First Seal.

In this world, cultivation was divided into Nine Seals — the unlocking of nine hidden shackles within the body, releasing boundless potential and erupting with supreme power.

The First Seal involved unlocking the body's physical shackles to gain Transcendent strength.

The Second Seal involved unlocking the skeletal shackles to gain iron bones.

The Third Seal involved unlocking the spinal shackles to activate the body's Great Dragon.

These three seals were the entry-level gates of cultivation — only by completing them could one truly be said to have stepped onto the path of cultivation.

Yet over the past hundred years, Lin Jiufeng had not even managed to cross the First Seal.

Now, the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] had merely overwritten the Wood Element Cultivation Technique — and that alone was enough to directly carry Lin Jiufeng through the First Seal.

Boom!!

With the First Seal's physical shackles broken open, Lin Jiufeng's aged body was like a dried-up river suddenly flooded with a great torrent of water — the grass and trees meeting spring, all things awakening.

He was reborn.

After a night of cultivation, Lin Jiufeng opened his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror.

Still old.

But in the subtle details, he was already different from the night before.

His limbs were strong, his flesh firm — in a single night, he had grown at least twenty years younger.

"Not bad. This is only the very beginning of my cultivation, and already there are such obvious changes. As long as I keep at it, I will continue to grow younger. Once I break through the Second Seal, I will be completely reborn." Lin Jiufeng said with satisfaction.

He was in no hurry.

After all, he was stationed in the Canon Pavilion with plenty of time to cultivate, and there was no danger — no one would bother targeting a dying old man.

Were it anywhere else, Lin Jiufeng would not feel so at ease.

After all, this was a world of cultivation — with sects, Cultivation Clans, Imperial Dynasties, the Daoist Order, the Demon Sect, the Buddhist Order, Overseas Powers, the Savage Lands Divine Cult…

A world crisscrossed with factions, fraught with danger at every turn.

The Canon Pavilion was still the best — leisurely, carefree, with no one paying him any mind.

Moreover, this place held all the books collected since Yuhua Sect's founding. Lin Jiufeng was eager to see whether, by continuing to read diligently, he might activate Heavenly Comprehension again.

For three days straight, Lin Jiufeng did nothing but cultivate without pause.

The next morning.

The morning sun had just risen.

As a thread of the great sun's violet energy entered his body, Lin Jiufeng closed his eyes and circulated the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture].

In the next instant, the [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] channeled the energy of heaven and earth throughout his entire body.

The energy flowed through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, coursing through every limb and bone, stimulating Lin Jiufeng's aged body and filling it with vitality.

Finally, the energy gathered into the Dantian, completing a full cycle of circulation.

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

"My body is gradually returning to its peak." Lin Jiufeng was deeply satisfied with the changes he felt.

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 grown, and he walked with a brisk, vigorous stride — all of it real, tangible change.

Over those three days, Lin Jiufeng had not looked at any other books, nor had he rushed to activate Heavenly Comprehension again. Instead, he had settled his mind and cultivated quietly, focusing on restoring his body.

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

"The [Yuhua Ascension Scripture] is truly formidable. Three days of cultivation and my cultivation has already been elevated to the peak of the First Seal — something I never managed in the past hundred years." Lin Jiufeng rose to his full height and could not help but sigh with emotion.

But to break through from the peak of the First Seal to the Second Seal, Lin Jiufeng still had a ways to go.

Just as he was contemplating the road ahead in his cultivation, someone arrived at the Canon Pavilion.

Clad in a black Daoist robe, with a face as fair as jade, his aura ethereal — like an immortal drifting among the clouds.

The current Sect Master of Yuhua Sect — Bai Yunfei.

Bai Yunfei entered the Canon Pavilion, caught sight of Lin Jiufeng, and looked pleasantly surprised. He offered his congratulations: "Senior Brother, it's been a while — you've broken through the First Seal. Congratulations, congratulations."

Lin Jiufeng was also taken aback. He looked at his only friend in Yuhua Sect and nodded. "Indeed — a withered tree meeting spring. I managed to break through the First Seal by a stroke of luck."

Twenty years after joining the sect, Lin Jiufeng had begun managing the Canon Pavilion. It was around that time that Bai Yunfei joined the sect. He loved nothing more than coming to the Canon Pavilion to read, and over time, the two had grown close.

Unlike Lin Jiufeng, Bai Yunfei was extraordinarily talented — he broke through the First Seal in one month, the Second Seal in three months, and the Third Seal within a year. He was the hope of Yuhua Sect.

However, the sect's leadership had learned their lesson this time around. Rather than making a great fuss, they suppressed news of Bai Yunfei's talent and let him grow quietly in the shadows, lest they draw the jealousy of the Taishang Sect and bring him to the same end as Zhou Sheng.

Back then, Bai Yunfei and Lin Jiufeng had gotten along very well. He called Lin Jiufeng "Senior Brother," and even after he became the Sect Master of Yuhua Sect, that form of address never changed.

Yet as Bai Yunfei's cultivation grew ever deeper and his lifespan stretched ever longer, his appearance remained forever youthful — a baby face that never aged.

While Lin Jiufeng had grown steadily older, until he became a frail old man.

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

Bai Yunfei, with no regard for appearances, sprawled out on the meditation couch where Lin Jiufeng cultivated and said softly, "There have been too many difficult matters lately — they've left me restless and irritable. It's still most peaceful here with Senior Brother."

The Bai Yunfei that outsiders saw as composed and powerful was now, in front of a half-century-old man, venting his frustrations freely. Had anyone else witnessed this, their jaws would surely have dropped to the floor.

But whether it was Lin Jiufeng or Bai Yunfei, both had long grown accustomed to this way of being together.

No one in the world knew that Lin Jiufeng — the keeper of the Canon Pavilion who had never cultivated — had as his one and only friend the Sect Master of Yuhua Sect.