Chapter 30: Flowers Bloom on the Other Shore of Heaven

The Taishang Sect's experts had returned empty-handed from the Million Mountains, having failed to capture the juvenile Qilin. Now they had all come back.

They had the energy to deal with Bai Yunfei.

Before, when the Taishang Sect had wanted to move against Yuhua Sect, they had needed to enlist an Eighth Seal Dao Ancestor from the Demon Sect — a clear sign that the Taishang Sect had been short-handed at the time.

But that was no longer the case, and so Bai Yunfei was in grave danger.

"I don't know where Bai Yunfei is, but if even I've heard this news, he must have known long before me. I can only hope the Taishang Sect's Dao Ancestors don't find him." Lin Jiufeng murmured, his voice heavy with worry.

Worried as he was, there was nothing he could do. He didn't know where Bai Yunfei was — if he had, he could have rushed over and offered some help.

For now, all Lin Jiufeng could do was continue comprehending the Great Dao in the Canon Pavilion, strengthen himself, and wait for Bai Yunfei to return.

Time passes swiftly, and the years wait for no one.

Ever since learning that the Taishang Sect had freed up its forces to deal with Bai Yunfei, Lin Jiufeng had quickened the pace of his cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and summer arrived.

The trees on Yuhua Sect's mountain turned a lush, deep green. Flowers bloomed in abundance, and all living things surged with vitality.

Before the Canon Pavilion, a sea of clouds churned and billowed, swallowing the building whole.

At the very peak of the Canon Pavilion, Lin Jiufeng and the white fox sat in quiet meditation, cultivating in silence.

The morning glow had faded, and the red sun had just risen. Lin Jiufeng ended his meditation and opened his eyes. He looked at the white fox curled into a tight ball, his expression gentle.

The white fox cultivated differently from humans — she would curl herself into a ball, then draw in the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, letting it flow into her body and condense into liquid.

After more than a month of living together, the white fox still wasn't willing to come close to him, but Lin Jiufeng could sense that she had developed a simple, tentative trust in him.

In the beginning, whenever Lin Jiufeng ended his meditation, she would immediately end hers as well, then dart away and hide herself out of sight.

But now, even after Lin Jiufeng finished his session, the white fox continued cultivating undisturbed. That, in itself, was trust.

Lin Jiufeng did not disturb the white fox's cultivation. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the sea of clouds.

White clouds tumbled before his eyes, draping the mountains in a veil and blocking out the sunlight. Today's mist was especially thick, and under the sweeping wind, it shifted and morphed into countless different shapes.

"A whole month already. I wonder how Bai Yunfei is doing." Lin Jiufeng let out a long sigh, deeply troubled.

A month ago, when he had heard that the Taishang Sect's experts had returned from the Million Mountains, he knew that given the Taishang Sect's vindictive nature, they would certainly go after Bai Yunfei. So every night for the past month, he had sent his Divine Soul out of his body to gather information.

But he had found nothing.

Not a single piece of news — neither about Bai Yunfei nor about the Taishang Sect's movements.

This left Lin Jiufeng deeply anxious, yet all he could do was wait.

During this time, Lin Jiufeng had thrown himself into cultivation with fierce dedication — studying by lamplight through the night, never sleeping, consolidating his peak of the Seventh Seal cultivation and bringing his Dao practice ever closer to perfection.

Yet the feeling of breaking through to the Eighth Seal remained elusive.

Lin Jiufeng knew this could not be rushed. Now, watching the sea of clouds shift and swirl under the breath of the wind, he gradually fell into a trance.

The white clouds tumbled — one moment forming a fish, the next a great ape, then a divine dragon, then a mighty elephant...

As Lin Jiufeng watched, a gentle breeze suddenly swept through, and the white clouds coalesced into a flower.

The flower bloomed beautifully, bathed in the morning sunlight, as if it had drifted in from another world entirely.

Lin Jiufeng's eyes lit up. A line of text appeared before him:

[You have observed the sea of clouds, activating Heavenly Comprehension. You have comprehended: Flowers Bloom on the Other Shore of Heaven.]

This time, Lin Jiufeng achieved direct enlightenment. A unique Dao Rhythm emerged in his mind — after the flower bloomed, each petal became a world unto itself, and by crossing through those worlds, one could reach the other shore.

This Dao Rhythm phenomenon also merged with the Dao Rhythm phenomena Lin Jiufeng had previously comprehended.

A Bright Moon Rises Over the Sea. Planting a Golden Lotus in the Sea of Suffering. Fish Leaps Through the Sea at This Moment. Flowers Bloom on the Other Shore of Heaven.

These were all the Dao Rhythms Lin Jiufeng had comprehended. There was also the Rain Technique, but since it had little offensive power, it was not counted among them.

The four great Dao Rhythms — four great phenomena — resonated together within Lin Jiufeng's body.

In that moment, Lin Jiufeng did not wake from his trance. He continued comprehending the Dao, weaving the four great Dao Rhythms and four great phenomena into a unified whole.

In that moment, Dao Rhythm flowed all around Lin Jiufeng, radiating a mysterious aura that jolted the white fox awake.

The white fox looked at Lin Jiufeng with puzzled eyes, then realized he was in the midst of enlightenment. Not daring to disturb him, she quickly retreated and watched from a distance.

Lin Jiufeng sat cross-legged at the peak of the Canon Pavilion, his white robes flowing like those of an immortal. A wondrous aura radiated from his body, stirring the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth and drawing it to gather within the sea of clouds.

As Lin Jiufeng's comprehension deepened, the sea of clouds continued to transform.

Though it was broad daylight, a bright, luminous moon rose above the sea of clouds, casting down its gentle silver light.

In that moonlight, a golden lotus bloomed. Then a great white crucian carp leaped from the sea of clouds, its eyes holding the yin and yang within them, trailing another flower of the other shore in its wake.

The scene was so beautiful it seemed to belong to no world of mortals.

The white fox stared, utterly transfixed. She only knew that what she was seeing was breathtakingly beautiful.

She had no idea just how fearsome those layered Dao Rhythms and phenomena truly were.

It was not until evening, when the moon truly rose, that Lin Jiufeng finally came back to himself.

The sea of clouds dispersed. The bright moon, the golden lotus, the great white crucian carp, the flowers of the other shore — all vanished, like reflections in a mirror or the moon in water.

Only Lin Jiufeng remained, letting out a hearty laugh, his mind and spirit refreshed and clear.

This activation of Heavenly Comprehension, which had led him to comprehend Flowers Bloom on the Other Shore of Heaven, had not shattered the threshold of the Eighth Seal — but his physical power, Dao Rhythm, and Divine Soul intensity had all surged dramatically.

Before, Lin Jiufeng's power had stood at five hundred dragon and five hundred elephant units.

Now it had leaped directly to one thousand dragons and one thousand elephants.

His Divine Soul's range had expanded to four thousand li in every direction.

This level of power and Divine Soul range already surpassed the vast majority of Eighth Seal Dao Ancestors.

And yet Lin Jiufeng had not broken through. He was still just that one sliver away.

"Were you the one who caused those phenomena in the sea of clouds?" The white fox slowly drew closer, gazing at Lin Jiufeng with wide, astonished eyes.

Lin Jiufeng nodded. "That was me comprehending the Dao."

"That kind of ability... even immortals and gods could hardly surpass it, could they?" the white fox murmured.

"You're underestimating immortals and gods far too much." Lin Jiufeng smiled faintly. He was about to say more when he suddenly sensed a terrifying surge of energy erupting four thousand li outside Yuhua Sect's mountain gate.

His Divine Soul spread out in an instant and swept toward it — and he saw eight Eighth Seal Dao Ancestors encircling and hunting Bai Yunfei.

Bai Yunfei was drenched in blood, his face deathly pale, his aura unstable. Fighting one against eight, he retreated step by step, making his way back toward Yuhua Sect.

The eight Eighth Seal Dao Ancestors pursuing him were cold-eyed and ruthless, their strikes vicious and their coordination flawless. The eight of them moved as one mind, neutralizing nearly every attack Bai Yunfei launched.

Even with the Yuhua Ascension Scripture, it was not enough.

"Bai Yunfei, you cannot escape. You will die today."

"Once you're dead, Yuhua Sect will crumble to dust along with you."

"Don't worry though — we'll perform a soul search and claim the Yuhua Ascension Scripture. The Inheritance will live on."

"Bai Yunfei, you are formidable, but the eight of us brothers have trained together since we first took our master. We have long been of one mind. After a hundred years of cultivating the Wuxiang Grand Art together, the eight of us united can even challenge the Ninth Seal. Even with the Yuhua Ascension Scripture, you are nothing more than this."

"Bai Yunfei, you should never — not in a thousand ways, not in ten thousand — have offended our Taishang Sect. Before, we had no energy to spare for you. But once our hands were free, killing you is no different from crushing an ant."

The eight Taishang Sect Dao Ancestors traded barbs, mocking Bai Yunfei one after another.

Bai Yunfei said nothing. He ran toward Yuhua Sect.

His only hope now was to join forces with his Senior Brother Lin Jiufeng and break through the enemy together.