10 years later in the Cold Palace, things were still the same as before.

Just that some of the interior parts had been cleaned up.

Lin Jiufeng was the one who tidied and cleaned a few places here and there.

He tidied up the vast garden and the lake, giving himself a place to stroll and relax.

Over these 10 years, Lin Jiufeng's cultivation didn't require the aid of the Millennium Frost Jade Bed anymore, so he let Lin Tianyuan use it.

Other than signing in every day, Lin Jiufeng would just sit quietly beside the lake, looking at the sky, the earth, and the water beneath…

His cultivation level had already reached the peak of the Great Grandmaster Realm.

The Martial Sage Realm was just a fingertip away.

He could break the barrier to this realm just by poking at it with his finger.

But Lin Jiufeng wasn't in a rush to advance to the next realm.

"The Martial Sage Realm truly is a realm far more profound than the previous realms."

"Being an existence of this realm is equivalent to being a sage of the martial path. Not only does a Martial Sage continues to accumulate True Qi to further develop his meridians, but a sage also has to comprehend the concept of the martial path, creating his own unique martial will to destroy all enemies beneath the realm of the Martial Sage with ease."

Lin Jiufeng muttered in his heart.

He had been accumulating his own martial will for the past few years.

After five years, Lin Jiufeng's martial will had become as vast and as deep as the sea, bottomless and boundless.

He looked at the wide lake in front of him and formed a sword seal with his index and middle finger before he slowly raised his hand.

Boom!

All the water in the entire lake leaped into the air at this moment, the water splashed and turned into countless longswords for Lin Jiufeng's disposal.

This scene was seen by Lin Tianyuan in the distance. His eyes widened in shock.

It was because Lin Jiufeng didn't use any of the True Qi in his body. At this moment, he was akin to an ordinary person, yet with just a thought—tens of thousands of longswords instantly condensed from the water in the lake.

They streaked through the skies before they exploded at once.

Shush!

The rain of swords descended, each drop of water powerful enough to kill a Great Grandmaster.

They all landed in the lake before Lin Jiufeng.

Lin Jiufeng's True Qi moved and condensed by itself inside his body, turning into water droplets.

One drop!

Two drops!

Three drops!

At this moment, the vast True Qi in his body condensed into a river, flowing through Lin Jiufeng's body.

He closed his eyes and he felt as if his soul was wandering throughout the world by itself.

He saw a small grass breaking through the soil in the distance, showing its head tenaciously.

He saw the fish in the lake running in a panic as if they were shocked by what Lin Jiufeng had done just now.

He also saw the ants in the soil building a nest and saw an ant in the nest working hard.

…

Lin Jiufeng opened his eyes.

The world depicted in his eyes seemed to have changed dramatically.

But it also seemed that nothing had changed at the same time.

Lin Jiufeng smiled and thought: "The realm of Martial Sages doesn't seem difficult to reach."

In the five years that passed, Lin Jiufeng's Martial Will had already become incredibly strong and solid. Just by closing his eyes, he advanced to the Martial Sage Realm.

This was extremely terrifying and powerful indeed.

'There are several stages in the Martial Sage Realm. The first being Profound Insight, the goal is to obtain a profound understanding of the martial path.' Lin Jiufeng thought silently.

The Profound Insight stage was the first of the many stages in the Martial Sage realm.

The differences between the stages in the Martial Sage Realm weren't in the amount of their True Qi, nor the power of their skills and techniques. It was in the strength of their Martial Will.

At this moment, Lin Jiufeng recalled the two Martial Sages, the Among Flowers Sect's Patriarch and Nameless from more than 10 years ago. He couldn't help but sigh, thinking. 'They are both very weak in the Martial Sage Realm.'

The Martial Will of the Among Flowers Sect's Patriarch could practically be called fragile.

As for Nameless, he didn't have a Martial Will at all.

Back then, Lin Jiufeng used his body to execute Sword Twenty-Two and killed the enemy with one strike.

This was the truth of that event.

After all, Nameless was a corpse that had been resurrected. To be frank, it was already good for him to have the strength of a Martial Sage despite not having a Martial Will.

Lin Jiufeng compared his own Martial Will with those two.

He found the difference between a drop of water and the sea.

"I can kill them with a flick of my finger." Lin Jiufeng sighed, feeling quite invincible.

The Martial Will he spent five years comprehending and accumulating was really too vast and deep.

…

After Lin Jiufeng broke through the realm of Martial Sage, the days passed by like usual.

He would occasionally give Lin Tianyuan some pointers before spending the rest of the time comprehending his own Martial Will.

But today, Emperor Yuan, who hadn't come to the Cold Palace for 10 years, came.

The current Emperor Yuan wasn't as immature as before. 10 years had passed and he was already 30 years old. The sense of majesty in him had grown stronger and his cultivation level had also entered the realm of Golden Core.

Not far from the realm of Grandmaster.

But if he wanted to reach Martial Sage in this life, it was basically hopeless.

After all, he was entangled by a lot of trivial, worldly matters.

"Big Brother!" Having not seen each other for 10 years, Emperor Yuan called out cordially when he saw Lin Jiufeng.

Although he felt that something was amiss…

Why did it seem that his elder brother whom he hadn't seen for 10 years hadn't changed at all?

A cultivator could prevent their age from showing on their appearance, but their temperament would inadvertently change. However, in Lin Jiufeng's case, 10 years for him seemed as to only a single day had passed.

His smile still was as cheerful as ever, like that of a teenager. His smile made everyone feel as if a breeze was blowing in their direction, it felt refreshing and peaceful. Standing beside him made anyone feel subconsciously at peace.

"Father." Lin Tianyuan greeted respectfully.

His name wasn't inside the royal family tree, so he couldn't greet Emperor Yuan as 'Father Emperor'.

Emperor Yuan smiled gently.

Compared to 'Father Emperor', he preferred the title 'father' much more.

"How are you doing?" Emperor Yuan asked in concern.

"Father. Teacher has taught me a lot, especially in the path of martial arts. His knowledge is broad and profound, but I am a stupid person and didn't even manage to learn 1% of Teacher's knowledge," Lin Tianyuan said with shame.

"It's fine. Your teacher is very knowledgeable, but you aren't bad either. You're already at the Golden Core Realm at such a young age, you have a bright future ahead of you."

Emperor Yuan didn't take Lin Tianyuan's words to heart, only treating them as a compliment to his elder brother.

Emperor Yuan truly believed that his elder brother's knowledge of literature was broad and profound.

But as for the martial path?

Lin Jiufeng's cultivation base was destroyed in the past.

This was something that everyone knew.

Although he had started his cultivation journey anew, he wouldn't be able to reach a considerably high realm anymore since he has to start from the beginning at such an old age.

"How come you have time to visit today?" Lin Jiufeng asked curiously when he saw Emperor Yuan again after 10 years.

Regarding Emperor Yuan's reforms, Lin Jiufeng would listen to Dachun speak about it once every seven days.

His reforms really were carried out on the corpses of many.

In the past 10 years, Emperor Yuan never rested for even a single day.

Lin Jiufeng sometimes couldn't help but sigh upon hearing Dachun's expositions.

He felt that Emperor Yuan really was suitable to be the emperor.

"I haven't seen you for 10 years, so I came to have a look at you today."

Emperor Yuan sat beside Lin Jiufeng.

His anxious mood became relaxed due to the subconscious influence of Lin Jiufeng's cultivation base.

He let out a long sigh of relief, the pressure that had been pressing against his heart for a long time disappeared without a trace.

He closed his eyes comfortably.

Lin Jiufeng glanced. He didn't do anything.

Every movement of a Martial Sage cultivator could subconsciously influence those around him.

It was because every Martial Sage had a special field of influence around them.

This was also the reason why the realm had the word, 'Sage' in it.

"Big Brother, I came to visit you and also to bring Tianyuan away. He is already 15 now, and it's time for him to see the outside world. After all, he has already reached the Golden Core Realm,"

Emperor Yuan said.

"En. Bring him out," Lin Jiufeng nonchalantly said.

He didn't plan to teach Lin Tianyuan forever anyway.

It wasn't like Lin Tianyuan could Sign-In like him. In that case, what was the point of staying with him in the Cold Palace all the time?

"Father, I want to continue learning from Teacher," Lin Tianyuan insisted.

Lin Tianyuan had seen the strange scene of Lin Jiufeng's breakthrough to the Martial Sage Realm. He firmly believed in his heart that Lin Jiufeng was a very powerful expert. Learning from him was surely advantageous, so he wasn't willing to leave just yet.

"I am going to do something big, and I need your help. There's no one else that I can trust to help me with it," Emperor Yuan said solemnly.

"Tianyuan, go with your father. The Cold Palace isn't the place where you should be. If you have any difficulties in the future, you can come back and find me." Lin Jiufeng gave a promise to Lin Tianyuan.

They lived together for the past ten years after all.

Lin Tianyuan still wanted to say something, but Emperor Yuan was very busy with things, so he took him away directly.

…

Inside the Forbidden City in the middle of the night, the Central Hall was brightly lit.

The Central Hall was the place where future and past Emperors handled official duties and met with important court officials.

Emperor Yuan, who was already on the throne for 11 years, sat on the dragon chair.

Underneath him stood an old man dressed in the uniform of officials.

He was the Cabinet Chief and the first minister who supported Emperor Yuan's reform.

He was also Emperor Yuan's most trusted person.

Emperor Yuan studied literature with him in his youth, so Emperor Yuan had always addressed him as Teacher.

"Teacher, it has been 10 years…"

"I have reformed the Yuhua God Dynasty for 10 whole years."

"Aside from the land occupied by the nine vassals and the top sects, my reforms had already been implemented in all the other places where the people work and live in peace and comfort…"

"The result of my reforms have strengthened my determination to implement them in the land occupied by the nine vassals and the top sects," Emperor Yuan said solemnly.

"Your Majesty, the problem regarding the vassals, the top sects, and the aristocratic families shouldn't be rushed. We cannot afford to underestimate their strength," The Cabinet Chief advised.

"Of course, I know that it cannot be rushed…"

"But it has been 10 years!"

"Ten whole years have passed, but I still cannot solve these problems. If I continue to wait for the opportune moment, it would only get harder for me to solve these problems for they will continue to consolidate their strength."

"Therefore, I have decided to act and remove the vassals first!" Emperor Yuan said with a cold expression.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't do this!"

"The forces of the nine vassals united are enough to fight against the imperial power, not to mention that there are demonic sects supporting them. Removing the vassals from their power is equivalent to forcing them to join forces to deal with us!"

"It will be a calamity to the nation…"

The Cabinet Chief's expression changed heavily. He knelt on the ground, advising against it.

"No need to say anymore, I have already decided!"

Emperor Yuan remained determined, his eyes were faint and cold.

He knew how difficult it would be to remove the vassals, but now, there were powerful enemies both inside and outside.

Even if he didn't try to remove the vassals, they were already planning to revolt anyway.

He might as well launch a preemptive attack against them before they could revolt!