Lin Jiufeng looked at Lin Tianyuan indifferently.

  ‘Say what is needed to be said.’

  ‘Don’t say anything that shouldn’t be said.’

  After Lin Tianyuan teased his Uncle, he quickly realized what he had done and he immediately felt worried. In a hurry, he said, “Teacher, this Holy Maiden of the Great Yan Dynasty has rarely left her place for the past 25 years since she returned…”

  “She’s responsible for the sacrificial matters in her nation.”

  “A lot of people say that she can communicate with the gods.”

  “There are countless people who are said to be able to communicate with the gods, but which one of them has any real ability?” Lin Jiufeng acted nonchalantly. The image of this Holy Maiden had already disappeared from his mind, he totally couldn’t remember what she looked like.

  After all, he hadn’t thought of her even once in the past 25 years.

  How was it possible that he could still remember what she looked like?

  “Uncle, what you said is wrong. According to the information I have received, this Holy Maiden of the Great Yan Dynasty actually has real ability.” Lin Tianyuan explained.

  “What ability?” Lin Jiufeng asked calmly.

  “This Holy Maiden has been blessed by the gods to enlighten others…”

  “A lot of people prayed sincerely and after her enlightenment, they became powerhouses.”

  “A few Martial Sages have already appeared because of her.”

  “Some of these people became her dedicated guards, and they are now a force that cannot be underestimated throughout the Great Yan Dynasty.” Lin Tianyuan explained.

  “Enlightening people into reaching the Martial Sage Realm?”

  Lin Jiufeng’s expression looked strange.

  “That’s right. This is the information I’ve received from our spies. It’s absolutely true.”

  Lin Tianyuan nodded.

  “To be able to enlighten others into reaching the Martial Sage Realm, she definitely has a higher cultivation base than that of the Martial Sage Realm.”

  “As far as I can remember when the holy maiden was caught 25 years ago, she wasn’t even at the Innate Realm at all and was extremely weak.”

  “But to think that she would become such a terrifying powerhouse after 25 years?”

  Lin Jiufeng shook his head. He found it hard to believe that this was true.

  If Lin Jiufeng was asked to mentor someone into becoming a Martial Sage, he could do it with a bit of effort.

  But this was only limited to the first step of the Martial Sage Realm, Profound Insight.

  Lin Jiufeng was now at the second step of the Martial Sage realm, Life Knowing.

  And he was at the absolute pinnacle of this second step.

  He didn’t even dare to waste a second in the past five years, yet how was it possible that the Holy Maiden of the Great Yan Dynasty could compare to him in cultivation speed?

  Lin Tianyuan saw that Lin Jiufeng didn’t believe it. However, he didn’t explain any further as he just said, “I just want to inform you of this, Uncle. After all, she’s a person who had some relations with you before.”

  “If you don’t believe my words, then pardon me for I shall go back and deal with state affairs.”

  Lin Jiufeng watched him leave without saying anything.

  As for the Holy Maiden who was previously related to him?

  “That time would be the last time that I’ll be related to her for the rest of my life.”

  Lin Jiufeng muttered in his heat.

  With his character of wanting to stay in the Cold Palace forever, it was unlikely he would meet this so-called Holy Maiden ever again.

  After Lin Tianyuan took his leave, the white cat walked over slowly.

  It asked Lin Jiufeng through writing.

  “Tell me about this Holy Maiden.”

  “Go practice your penmanship that’s worse than the trails of a crawling dog first.”

  Lin Jiufeng didn’t pay any attention to it.

  The white cat looked at Lin Jiufeng.

  It felt humiliated as it struck the ground angrily with its claws.

  What did he mean by worse than the trails of a crawling dog?

  Just look at how cute the words it has written were.

  …

  Lin Tianyuan started to become busy in the preparations of dealing with the buddhist sects and so did the entire Yuhua God Dynasty.

  But in the Cold Palace, Lin Jiufeng was in the middle of comprehending the third step of the Martial Sage Realm, Fish Leap.

  He was about to make a breakthrough.

  ‘I have to make a breakthrough to the third step as soon as possible. Then, I should start trying to comprehend the fourth step of the Martial Sage Realm. My aim is to eventually make a breakthrough to the Human God Realm and hopefully achieve the peak of cultivation…’

  ‘This is what my goal should be.’ Lin Jiufeng thought silently.

  If there wasn’t a need for him to go out, then he wouldn’t leave the Cold Palace at all.

  He had an incredibly long lifespan by now anyway.

  As winter passed, the ice and snow of the twelfth lunar month finally melted.

  Spring came, and the whole world underwent a few subtle changes.

  In the Cold Palace, Lin Jiufeng has been looking at the sky for the past few days.

  There would always be a frown on his face whenever he did so.

  He visited the underground palace and tapped its doors with his toes.

  After a while, the white cat came out and looked at Lin Jiufeng, astonished.

  Lin Jiufeng never came here to look for it before.

  “Have you felt that there is something strange with the world in the past few days?” Lin Jiufeng asked.

  The white cat thought for a while. Then, it wrote in confusion. “I didn’t feel anything at all.”

  Lin Jiufeng glanced at the words.

  The handwriting was still as ugly as ever.

  Seeing that the white cat didn’t notice anything wrong, Lin Jiufeng turned around and left as he continued to observe the sky.

  Meow!

  The white cat called out and quickly wrote a few words.

  “What have you discovered?”

  Lin Jiufeng stopped in his tracks. He looked at the words for a moment before saying, “The spiritual energy in the world has been extremely unstable a few hours before daybreak.

  “The spiritual energy that exists and we are able to absorb down here is still normal, but there is an abundance of spiritual energy high up in the sky as if there is a storm up above.”

  Lin Jiufeng explained what he had observed to the white cat.

  Ordinary Martial Sages wouldn’t possibly notice these changes.

  It was only Lin Jiufeng who couldn’t sleep at night and whose eyes were sharp enough was able to see such a scene in the middle of the night.

  The white cat also looked at the sky in confusion.

  But it didn’t notice anything.

  But it believed in Lin Jiufeng, so it followed him as he toured around the Cold Palace from morning till night.

  But nothing of significance was discovered.

  At night, the white cat laid on top of the courtyard walls while Lin Jiufeng stood all alone on his own.

  His body was agile and vigorous, and his face was still the same as it was 25 years ago.

  Lin Jiufeng was looking at the sky.

  Thousands of miles high up in the sky.

  There was a tempest of spiritual energy.

  The white cat wasn’t able to see this.

  It observed carefully, but it found nothing.

  As Lin Jiufeng looked at the sky, he realized something in his heart as he said, “This spring, the spring rain still hasn’t come, right?”

  The white cat looked at Lin Jiufeng in surprise.

  Why did he mention this all of a sudden?

  Lin Jiufeng wasn’t a farmer.

  What did the spring rain have to do with him?

  Lin Jiufeng said, “Tonight, there will be a heavy rain that will affect the world.”

  The white cat looked at Lin Jiufeng, bewildered.

  Why wasn’t it able to understand what he was saying?

  Lin Jiufeng stopped talking and returned to his room.

  He opened the doors and the windows as he laid on the frost jade bed.

  Then, he waited at ease.

  …

  In a Buddhist temple, seven or eight old monks stood around an extremely old and shriveled monk.

  “This spiritual energy of the world is really about to make a recovery. There will be a heavy rain tonight, and this heavy rain shall signal the arrival of a new era.” The shriveled monk softly mumbled. His breathing considerably weakened, but his eyes looked bright.

  There seemed to be countless pictures flitting across his eyes.

  “Holy Buddha, what else did you see?” A monk asked.

  “Shaolin Temple is about to encounter a catastrophe. Don’t—” The monk said these with great difficulty. But before he could finish his words, he suddenly stopped breathing and passed away.

  The other monks looked at the breathless Holy Buddha. Then, they looked at each other.

  “Let’s wait and see what will happen. The Holy Buddha used his life to spy on the future and remind us that the Shaolin Temple must withstand this catastrophe,” An upright monk said solemnly.

  “Yes, the Holy Buddha said don’t be afraid before he died. Shaolin managed to remain standing for a thousand years because of our unity,” The head of the Damo Hall said firmly.

  Afterwards, they made arrangements for the corpse of the Holy Buddha as they waited for the heavy rain that was due to come tonight.

  …

  Great Yan Dynasty.

  It was a small country located in a huge mountain range and that had many legends surrounding it. Unlike the Central Plains, there was an exotic atmosphere here.

  Temple of the Holy Maiden!

  This was the most important temple in the Great Yan Dynasty. The masses referred to the Holy Maiden as the daughter of the gods and countless people worshipped her as one.

  In the Main Hall of the Holy Maiden Temple, there was only one woman inside. She wore a red dress that easily swayed side to side, her beautiful face had a strong exotic feel to it, and her every move was captivating.

  However, she didn’t do anything to produce such an effect.

  This natural captivating effect that she had made countless men fall for her.

  But in the 25 years since her return, no man had ever gotten close to her.

  Tonight, she looked at the sky and whispered.

  “This world is going to change. My opportunity is coming.”

  She was also waiting for this rain.

  80 Years Of Signing-In At The Cold Palace, I Am Unrivalled  

  Chapter 36: Lie on Bed at Night, Listen to the Rain and Break Through

  Everyone was waiting for the rain.

  In the imperial capital, there was Lin Jiufeng.

  In the Great Yan Dynasty, there was the Holy Maiden.

  In the Jiangnan area, there were the monks from Shaolin Temple.

  In other places, many people came to know about the arrival of this rain through various means.

  …

  In the courtyard of the Cold Palace.

  Lin Jiufeng was calculating the time.

  In the wee hours, the rain should arrive on time.

  ‘Since I transmigrated here, the spirit energy has been slowly recovering, but this recovery is subtle and very slow. After 25 years, the spirit energy has only increased a little.’ Lin Jiufeng thought silently.

  This was why all of those who managed to reach the Martial Sage Realm became stuck in the first step of the Martial Sage Realm, Profound Insight.

  Even Lin Jiufeng wasn’t spared, he had been stuck for five years in the Profound Insight step. It was only when he took a trip to the Northwest Plains and executed that sword move did he manage to make a breakthrough to Life Knowing.

  Now, he was stuck in the Life Knowing step.

  It was obvious how slow the recovery of the world’s spiritual energy was.

  The recovery was so slow that even the world itself started to become anxious.

  From the beginning of the previous winter until the spring of this year, the world itself was anxious all this time.

  Ordinary people couldn’t see it because they didn’t have the ability to sense it.

  Only a powerful Martial Sage noticed it.

  When the preparations were finally done, the world itself managed to gather a huge amount of spiritual energy that it would spill onto the world by tonight.

  Lin Jiufeng was waiting for this rain.

  The white cat was lying close to the window. It wasn’t really aware of what was happening, but since Lin Jiufeng said it would rain tonight, it chose to accompany him and waited for the rain with him.

  Night descended, and the stars tonight were very bright.

  The moonlight was also extra resplendent and radiant.

  Like the moon on the 15th of the Chinese lunar month[1].

  The white cat looked at Lin Jiufeng in confusion.

  Would it rain?

  Lin Jiufeng closed his eyes. He adjusted his body and adjusted his state to the peak.

  When the rain arrived, he would be able to make a breakthrough to the next stage.

  Time slowly passed minute by minute.

  At midnight, the moon crossed the galaxy, and the timing was in the wee hours.

  Boom!

  At this moment, thunderclap reverberated throughout the entire world one after another, as if a god was raging and roaring at the world.

  The sound of thunder echoed between heaven and earth.

  Tick, tick, tick.

  Rain dropped down and landed on the eaves.

  The white cat looked at this in surprise. It actually rained.

  It couldn’t help but stick its head out, wanting to take a look.

  Shuash!

  But in the very next second, the rainstorm came and the raindrops fell onto its face.

  Caught off guard, its fur got wet.

  The white cat hurriedly retracted its head and shook its head to shake off the rainwater.

  But as it was shaking its head, it stiffened all of a sudden.

  Why was there such a dense and large amount of spiritual energy in the rainwater?

  This amount of spiritual energy was so large that it couldn’t believe it.

  The white cat couldn’t help but look at Lin Jiufeng.

  Lin Jiufeng was already in a cultivation state.

  As rainwater fell, it carried with it dense amounts of spiritual energy.

  Howling gales blew the spiritual energy all over the mortal realm.

  This world was being nourished.

  This was the gift of heaven and earth to the world.

  Lin Jiufeng had already started absorbing the spiritual energy in the air, his body entered a deep state of cultivation.

  Rumble!

  Outside were lightning and thunder, rain and wind.

  Inside the house, Lin Jiufeng was lying on the bed while listening to the rain and breaking through to the next step!

  The white cat learned from him. It knew that Lin Jiufeng was smarter, so it learned from Lin Jiufeng and started to cultivate too.

  It also wanted to become stronger.

  It wanted to defeat Lin Jiufeng and step on him with its paws.

  It wanted to show off its power and might.

  The white cat was already planning its revenge against Lin Jiufeng for constantly calling the words it wrote?‘ugly’.

  …

  Tonight, countless cultivators were surprised to discover that the concentration of spiritual energy in the world was increasing by leaps and bounds.

  50 times…

  100 times…

  Even hundreds of times…

  Some people took in a breath of the spiritual energy and they immediately became bloated as they yelled in surprise.

  There were some old people that were on the verge of death. They were ambitious, but their bodies weren’t capable enough for them to fulfill their ambitions anymore. Each of them had already come to terms regarding their deaths, and they were peaceful.

  But the spiritual energy brought by this rain moisturized their dried bodies.

  They were rejuvenated.

  They directly broke through their shackles.

  They directly broke through the restrictions on their cultivation base and gained a new lease in life.

  These old people were reduced to tears.

  Some old people even yelled. “I really want to live another 500 years!”

  The old seniors that had constantly lived in seclusion for hundreds of years in their various sects and families crawled out of their coffins one after another.

  “This is a totally different world now.”

  “This is a world of great competition. I want to try to leave a legend in this world again.”

  “It was passed down since ancient times that the world’s energies would recover and the world will return to its previous glorious state 1500 years ago. Now, I have successfully waited for its arrival.”

  “It’s not in vain that I sealed myself for 500 years. I can look at this brand-new world with my eyes.”

  “For the next 500 years, this world shall worship me as their master!”

  Different old people said different things but without exception, their cultivation bases were all very high.

  Tonight, their bodies were rejuvenated.

  Then, they directly broke through to the Martial Sage Realm.

  And some even continued to climb higher.

  Great Yan Dynasty, Temple of the Holy Maiden.

  The Holy Maiden was also currently absorbing the spiritual energy in the air.

  She couldn’t help but comment in satisfaction. “It’s indeed a new world now.”

  “This is only the beginning and the amount of spiritual energy is already so huge. From now on, this world will be very exciting. Although I came into this world quite a number of years earlier, I still managed to establish a foundation in this world.”

  Then, she began to cultivate. As lighting flitted across the skies above her, her cultivation base broke through to the Martial Sage Realm.

  But she didn’t stop there as her breakthrough continued.

  …

  Imperial capital.

  The powerhouses of the royal family were also frantically absorbing the spiritual energy in the air, including Lin Tianyuan, who suddenly discovered that he now had a hope of breaking through to the Martial Sage Realm.

  How could he possibly let go of this opportunity and stop cultivating?

  Tonight, no one fought against each other.

  There were no quarrels, nor was there anyone that rested.

  Tonight, everybody cultivated in unison.

  And they achieved breakthroughs in their cultivation in unison.

  In the Cold Palace.

  The white cat’s body shone in a fluorescent light. Deep within this light were traces of energies that it had absorbed back when it consumed those treasures in the underground palace.

  It was completely reborn.

  As for Lin Jiufeng, there wasn’t any phenomenon on him.

  If becoming ordinary was a phenomenon, then indeed he has one phenomenon on him.

  Alone on the frost jade bed, listening to the rain as he made a breakthrough in his cultivation base. This was Lin Jiufeng’s current state.

  The energies that he had accumulated after cultivating for more than 20 years, coupled with the two demonic cultivation techniques that he was simultaneously cultivating, plus a few sword techniques, and countless other techniques he obtained from signing in…

  All of these combined caused him to crazily break through at this moment.

  As his techniques and his insights into them collided and merged with each other…

  Lin Jiufeng suddenly opened his eyes.

  He seemed to be able to see a fish happily swimming within the water droplets in the rain.

  In an instant, he reached the Fish Leap step of the Martial Sage Realm.

  Next was the Great Sage step.

  Which was also the final step of the Martial Sage Realm.

  Lin Jiufeng smiled slightly.

  This wasn’t a problem for him anymore.

  With the help of the Demonic Great Refinement and the Ancient Demonic book, breaking through wasn’t a problem to him anymore.

  …

  Only a night passed, yet the world has changed dramatically.

  Countless cultivators made their own breakthroughs into their next realms.

  Even for the common people, the abundant spiritual energy in the world has healed their old illnesses and injuries.

  The seriously ill old people recovered their health.

  The dying were also redeemed.

  The Children became more intelligent.

  All in all, a new era has officially arrived.

  So in order to cope with the arrival of the new era, the first thing Lin Tianyuan did was to come and look for Lin Jiufeng.

  He knew that in this new era, the absolute strength of every individual would be greatly strengthened, and although it couldn’t be said that Martial Sages could now be found everywhere, they were no longer that rare.

  Therefore, should he still carry out his plan?

  Lin Tianyuan needed Lin Jiufeng’s guidance.

  But Lin Jiufeng didn’t come out to see him.

  Lin Jiufeng was still working hard in his cultivation at this moment, so he didn’t have the time to see anyone.

  “Everything will proceed as per normal but you need to work harder in cultivating talents.”

  Lin Jiufeng only gave Lin Tianyuan these words, but the door to the Cold Palace remained closed.

  [1] [Annotation text missing]

  80 Years Of Signing-In At The Cold Palace, I Am Unrivalled