Ninth In the World

When Di Jiu exited the sealed house, what greeted him was the withered spirit herb garden. Two supreme-grade spirit meridians floated in the air above the garden, while a strong smell of Spirit Qi welcomed Di Jiu and made him feel extremely good. When he entered, he had been at the start of the two supreme-grade spirit meridians, but now he was at the end.

Now that his Spiritual Force had reached level nine, it was in the middle of the two spirit meridians once again, allowing Di Jiu to spot some teleportation array markings vaguely.

There should be no more dangers ahead. There were also two geocentric patterned gold doors that could cut off Spirit Qi. Thus, Di Jiu could cultivate as much as he wanted here.

His cultivation technique evolved from the Galaxy Art. Because of the Small Gray Stone in his Spiritual Sea, his Qi channeling method could no longer be called the Galaxy Art. Instead, it should be called the Starry Sky Art.

There were two supreme-grade spirit meridians here, which accompanied his unrestrained absorption of Spirit Qi. Within a short period of time, Di Jiu was surrounded by a spirit cloud. The Spirit Qi of the two supreme-grade spirit meridians was being drawn out endlessly and then getting absorbed by Di Jiu.

Cultivation knew no time, so Di Jiu was completely immersed in this carefree cultivation.

As he sped up the absorption of the Spirit Qi, the Small Gray Stone in his Spiritual Sea floated. Wave after wave of the mysterious, esoteric world’s aura reached his Spiritual Sea and then spread out, stabilizing Di Jiu’s foundation.

Thanks to the Small Gray Stone, no matter how quickly Di Jiu’s cultivation level increased, he did not feel that his foundation was unstable at all.

…

For the first time after the Five Continent Dao Convention, Di Jiu had found a place where he could cultivate.

Four out of the five Sect Masters of the five large sects of the Small Central World had entered the Desert River Forbidden Zone. After a year in the Forbidden Zone and some sustained injuries, the four Sect Masters all managed to leave the Forbidden Zone safely.

The Sect Master who was the most despondent had to be Shu Haolan.

In his pursuit of Di Jiu, Shu Haolan had missed the chance to enter the Desert River Forbidden Zone. After coming out of the Desert River Forbidden Zone, the Mirage Sword Sect Master, Xiao Wu, had broken through to the eighth True Form Realm Level. Meanwhile, the Ocean Monarch Palace Palatial Lord, Ao Huang, had broken through to the seventh True Form Realm Level and entered the late-stage True Form Realm.

Even Yan Xueyi from the Purple Thunder Sect and Shen Feng from the Moonlight Snow Mountain had both broken through to the seventh True Form Realm Level.

Among the Sect Masters of the five large sects, the one with the lowest cultivation level was Shu Haolan from the Genesis Sect, who was still at level six of the True Form Realm.

Shu Haolan hated Di Jiu’s guts. If he ever got his hands on Di Jiu, it wouldn’t matter if Di Jiu had any quality items or not, or whether he lied. Shu Haolan would search his soul and tear him into pieces.

Unfortunately, he could not find any trace of Di Jiu’s shadow. If he did, he would make sure to destroy any place Di Jiu had ever visited.

He had interrogated the people closer to Di Jiu, such as Fu Che, multiple times, but gotten nothing in return. Unfortunately, Fu Che and the gang had already joined the Mirage Sword Sect as inner sect disciples. The Mirage Sword Sect Master, Xiao Wu, was not someone to mess with. His cultivation was two levels higher than Shu Haolan’s, so even though he was brave, he did not dare kill Fu Che and his comrades just to vent his anger.

All he could do was leave some scouts in the Twilight City to keep an eye out for Di Jiu. If there were any treasures related to the Five Continent Dao Pagoda in the Herald Night Lake, Di Jiu would definitely return there. Once Di Jiu appeared at the Herald Night Lake, Shu Haolan would immediately head over and take him away.

However, Shu Haolan was not the only person looking for Di Jiu in the Small Central World, Han Qingyi was also looking for him. Unfortunately, she had gone looking for him in the wrong direction. She was pursuing him outside the Five Continent City, as she mistakenly thought that he had left the city. When she finally turned back, she found out that not only had Di Jiu not left the city, but he had even fought with Sea Roll Cultivator Ren Hai.

Han Qingyi was filled with regret as she left the Five Continent City to pursue him again. How could she even see his shadow anymore?

The Plane Split Talisman was simply too important to her. More than one year after the end of the Five Continent Dao Convention, she was still searching for Di Jiu. For more than a year, she had not obtained any information about him. She did not even know which direction he had taken.

Despite not performing any serious cultivation for more than a year, she still managed to reach the third-level Ekayāna Tripod Realm, which said a lot about her potential.

Just by being at the third-level Ekayāna Tripod Realm, she had managed to make the top 10 of the Tripod Roll. To be specific, she ranked seventh. If she had challenged the top five people of the Tripod Roll, she might have even made the top five.

This showed the cultivators of the Small Central World how scary a True Dominion Genius was. In the past, in order to enter the top 10 of the Tripod Roll, one had had to at least be at the peak of the eighth-level Ekayāna Tripod Realm. A third-level Ekayāna Tripod Cultivator reaching the top 10 had been unimaginable.

…

Boom! Di Jiu broke through another acupoint meridian. The quality of his Quintessential Essence changed again, while his cultivation moved from the sixth to the seventh Void Spirit Realm Level.

In just over a year, Di Jiu had managed to improve his cultivation level and move from the second Void Spirit Realm Level to the seventh Void Spirit Realm Level thanks to the help of the two supreme-grade spirit meridians.

The powers of the supreme-grade spirit meridian made Di Jiu realize that cultivation required the best cultivating resources. Otherwise, even if one had immense potential, one would have to spend way more time than everyone else.

It was a pity that he did not have a top-notch support elixir. If he’d had one, he might even have broken through to the Pioneer Sea Realm by then.

Even though he had reached level seven of the Void Spirit Realm, Di Jiu knew very well that he was still too weak. With a strength like this, he might not be able to enter the Sea Roll, much less escape from a True Form cultivator.

Although he had fought with Sea Roll Cultivator Ren Hai before, given his strength now, it would be difficult to beat Ren Hai handily. Even if he did defeat Ren Hai, he would have to use all his techniques first. He estimated that Ren Hai was at the lower end of the Sea Roll, which meant that he would have a hard time fighting the rest of the Sea Roll Cultivators.

In order to defeat Sea Roll Cultivators like Ren Hai and enter the Sea Roll himself, he would need to enter the Pioneer Sea Realm before he left.

Thanks to his insight into the different laws and the Book of the World, Di Jiu knew that cultivating in seclusion all the way was not the most effective method of cultivation. Given his current level, the best way to cultivate would be to balance hard work with relaxation.

After reaching level seven of the Void Spirit Realm, Di Jiu decided to pause his cultivation and research the Vast Sword Array Art given to him by Dong Youjian.

Di Jiu had witnessed the powers of Dong Youjian’s Sword Array. Even though his Quintessential Essence was way lower than Hong Kui’s, Dong Youjian had managed to defeat him. Although Hong Kui ranked higher than Dong Youjian, this was definitely more than just dumb luck. Dong Youjian’s potential was not necessarily better than Hong Kui’s, yet his ability to defeat him spoke volumes about the powers of the sword array.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force landed on the Vast Sword Array Art’s jade slip, which started by stating, “The sword is used for killing, and the array for momentum. When both are out, no one can stop them! The sword is used for intent, and the array for a domain. When both are out, every magic weakens before them…”

Di Jiu was already a Level-Nine Array King. Even though he was not a sword-user, the golden lighting in the Small Gray Stone allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the Saber Dao than any experts who had been immersed in the Saber Dao for years.

Very soon, he was completely immersed in this sword array, which combined both the Sword Dao and the Array Dao.

When Di Jiu left the jade slip, 10 days had already passed.

In his opinion, the most valuable portion of this jade slip was not the sword array, but the Spirit Combo Art. This technique could allow a cultivator to control multiple Dharma treasures at once while only using a little more mental strength than when controlling one or two Dharma treasures.

The Spirit Combo Art was the perfect fit for a sword array, as it allowed the user to control the biggest number of swords.

When he saw the first sentence on the jade slip, Di Jiu thought that the words ‘The sword is used for killing, and the array for momentum. When both are out, no one can stop them! The sword is used for intent, and the array for a domain. When both are out, every magic weakens before them!’ were exaggerating. However, he did not seem to mind too much, as no sect would belittle their own technique. It was understandable for them to say that a level-one technique was a level-three technique.

After he finished reading the jade slip, he changed his mind. The sword array was like a king, while the saber array was honorable. When the sword or the Saber Dao were combined with the array Dao, the effect would definitely improve 10 or 100 times over.

According to the Vast Sword Array Art, Di Jiu was a Level-Nine Array King, so he could perform a level-nine saber array. Even though he was only at the Void Spirit Realm, if he used the level-nine saber array, he might be a match for the True Form Realm Cultivators.

Of course, this was all in theory. A level-nine saber array required a Level-Nine Array King and at least 6,642 supreme-grade Dao objects.

This saber array worked by using 81 supreme-grade saber weapons as central flags. Each flag was then supported by 81 more saber weapons.

The price of just one supreme-grade spirit weapon was already exorbitant, so no ordinary person would be able to afford 6,642 of them.

Even if Di Jiu had 6,642 supreme-grade spirit weapons, his mental strength would not be enough to use this saber array.

The sword array included the Spirit Combo Art, which could deal with the problem of insufficient Spiritual Force. This was actually the most valuable part of the jade slip. Even so, it was not sufficient for Di Jiu to wield all 6,642 supreme-grade Dharma treasures at once.

Based on this, Di Jiu understood why the Sword Array Sect required an improved blacksmithing skill and array Dao. Only the weapons refined by the cultivator himself could save the most Spiritual Force.

Due to his cultivation, Di Jiu did not have enough Quintessential Essence. However, both his Spiritual Force and array Dao were at level nine. If he wanted to fight by using the level-nine saber array, then he could wield over 2,000 weapons at the same time at best. This type of level-nine saber array was flawed. The level-six violent wind sword array that Dong Youjian had displayed last time was also a flawed array.

Di Jiu’s enemies included True Form Realm experts. Thus, he decided to learn the level-seven saber array called the level-seven Sky Screen Saber Array. This was a name that Di Jiu had thought of himself, as he would be using the essence of his Sky Screen Saber Move.

The Sky Screen Saber Array required 2,450 supreme-grade, saber-like spirit weapons, which Di Jiu did not have. He did not mind, though. Even if he had had over 2,000 supreme-grade spirit weapons, he would not have been able to control them anyway. He planned to refine some low-grade spirit weapons himself, as controlling over 2,000 low-grade spirit weapons was much easier than controlling over 2,000 supreme-grade spirit weapons. Even though the power would drop a few times, it would still be more powerful than all his other techniques were now.

As far as the refining materials of the low-grade spirit weapons were concerned, there were plenty to be found there, including the geocentric pattern gold.

If anyone found out that Di Jiu was using geocentric pattern gold to refine low-grade spirit weapon, they would probably go crazy. However, as long as it made him stronger, he would even refine low-grade spirit weapons by using immortal materials.