Ninth In the World

Di Jiu broke through the restriction and entered the hall. He stood in front of Ji Ming’s body and stared at it for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that Ji Ming had been poisoned to death. It was ironic that the cause of death for a grade-eight Elixir King had been poison. However, Di Jiu was not surprised, as anything was possible in the Cultivation World.

Something was not right. When his Spiritual Force landed on the spot between Ji Ming’s eyebrows, Di Jiu sensed a faint life-force aura. To be more accurate, this was the aura of a Principal Spirit, not of Spiritual Force. He was sensitive to the existence of Principal Spirits because he had fought with that powerful Principal Spirit female cultivator under the snowy mountain.

Although Ji Ming’s body had been poisoned, his Principal Spirit was still alive.

Di Jiu took no heed of Ji Ming’s Principal Spirit. Instead, he walked up to the cauldron and touched it. This cauldron seemed to be an ordinary Spirit Weapon. Although it looked like a low-grade weapon, it felt better than a low-grade weapon when Di Jiu touched it.

Di Jiu could refine supreme-grade dharma treasures. However, that did not mean that he could refine top-notch cauldrons. Although not everyone could use a cauldron, the value of a cauldron was the highest among all other dharma treasures of the same grade.

One had to use special materials to refine a cauldron. The better the quality of the materials, the higher the grade of the cauldron refined would be. Furthermore, cauldrons refined by alchemists were far more valuable than cauldrons refined by the average blacksmith.

Di Jiu felt a dense wood-elemental aura when his hand came into contact with the cauldron. He was surprised, for this was the first time he had seen a cauldron made of wood. There indeed existed top-notch wood materials in the Cultivation World. However, it did not seem plausible that wood could be used to make cauldrons, regardless of how good its quality was. After all, fire, which was necessary in alchemy, could destroy wood.

“Young man, if you like this cauldron, I can give it to you,” said a weak voice from the space between Ji Ming’s eyebrows. Di Jiu had been right.

He quickly removed his hand from the cauldron, looked back at Ji Ming and asked, “Is your Principal Spirit not hiding inside your Purple Palace because you wanted to possess my body? Why did you speak up?”

Ji Ming’s Principal Spirit fell silent. However, he spoke up again after a long while. “So you already knew that my Principal Spirit was still present. I had never thought of possessing you. I would just be unwilling to let things be if some matters are not passed on.”

“Tell me. I will help you if it’s not too much trouble.” Ji Ming had made a good impression on Di Jiu by deciding not to possess him.

He was really averse to possession. If Ji Ming had dared do this, Di Jiu would have ensured that Ji Ming would have no chance of being reincarnated.

“I am sure that the reason you came to the Cauldron Elixir Mountain was to ask me to help you refine some elixirs,” Ji Ming said slowly. “The truth is that you came here two months too late. I did become a grade-nine Elixir King, but I unfortunately am about to meet my doom…”

“You are a grade-eight Elixir King?” Di Jiu was not concerned that Ji Ming had called the Fallen Elixir Mountain the Cauldron Elixir Mountain once again. Instead, he was astounded by the fact that Ji Ming was a grade-nine Elixir King. The difference between a grade-eight and a grade-nine Elixir King was perhaps only a grade, but this was the grade that most Elixir Kings could not overcome in their entire lives.

Ji Ming sighed. “What use is that? I did become a grade-nine Elixir King and I helped numerous people who now are indebted to me. However, the Cauldron Elixir Mountain has yet to be rejuvenated and the name of the Fallen Elixir Mountain has yet to change.”

“Elixir King Ji, one of the conditions you set for people who ask your help to refine elixirs is that they are indebted to you. Do you demand this so that people will help you when you want to rejuvenate the Cauldron Elixir Mountain?” Di Jiu asked.

“That’s right,” Ji Ming replied. “That is indeed the plan. Unfortunately, I am going to die before I can achieve that.”

Di Jiu laughed mockingly. “Elixir King Ji, if you trust me, I would like to tell you the truth.”

“Do tell, Daoist Di,” said Ji Ming solemnly. He rather liked Di Jiu because he had shouted a few times before entering the hall. He had not ransacked the place or searched for Ji Ming’s ring upon discovering that he was dead.

The first thing most cultivators would do when they saw that an Elixir King had died was search for their ring. The ring of an Elixir King would definitely be a Small World that would contain numerous spiritual herbs and elixirs.

“Your dream will never be fulfilled. You will only rejuvenate the Cauldron Elixir Mountain by using your own strength, not other people’s. You actually possessed this capability as a grade-nine Elixir King. Unfortunately, you used this capability to exchange elixirs for debt. This way, not many people would truly help you. In other words, even if you succeed in rebuilding the Cauldron Elixir Mountain, it won’t take too long before the sect will become the Fallen Elixir Mountain once again. A sect is based on its heritage and roots. Hence, I believe that your dream won’t come true,” Di Jiu said truthfully.

Ji Ming sighed once more. “You’re right. However, it was too late by the time I realized that.”

Ji Ming paused for a while before he suddenly asked, “What kind of elixir did you want me to help you refine?”

Di Jiu sighed. “I wanted to refine two cauldrons of Genesis Ekayāna Elixir…”

“You have attained the perfected Pioneer Sea Realm?” exclaimed Ji Ming, who could sense that Di Jiu was quite young. However, Di Jiu’s aptitude was evident thanks to his capability to attain the perfected Pioneer Sea Realm at his age.

Di Jiu did not withhold the truth. “That’s right. I am indeed at the perfected Pioneer Sea Realm.”

“If you trust me, why don’t you practice alchemy under me for three months?” Ji Ming said suddenly. “I guarantee that you will become an Elixir King above grade-seven within 10 years.”

It would be too late if Di Jiu had to wait 10 years. “Why three months?” he asked doubtfully. “Wouldn’t it be better if the duration was longer?”

Ji Ming smiled bitterly. “I was poisoned by that hateful disciple, so my Principal Spirit will be completely dispersed in three months. That’s why I would only be able to teach you for three months. Given your cultivating aptitude, you should be able to gain a rudimentary mastery of alchemy during this period. Then, you could practice on your own. You would definitely be able to become a grade-seven Elixir King within 10 years.”

Ji Ming agreed completely with Di Jiu. If he had been unable to even defend himself from his scheming disciple, how would he be able to rejuvenate the Cauldron Elixir Mountain? Although his alchemy skills were decent, he was not fit to rejuvenate a sect.

“Your disciple plotted against you? What is your disciple’s name? I will help you take revenge if I encounter him in the future,” said Di Jiu immediately.

A piece of trash who would plot against their own Master would definitely not be a good person. If Di Jiu encountered him, he would just kill him.

A jade slip landed next to Di Jiu. Then, Ji Ming said, “He is called Wei Lun, and he is a cultivation genius. You might not possess a cultivation speed as fast as his, even considering your aptitude. He was already at the fourth-stage Ekayāna Tripod Realm when he poisoned me, yet he had not even turned 100 years old. A genius like him might never have existed even in the entire True Dominion. A Ekayāna Tripod Realm Cultivator younger than 100 years old has most likely not appeared in the Small Central World in 10,000 years.”

“He also took my Small World, which contained mountainous cultivating resources. That would be sufficient for him to attain the True Form Realm. Don’t avenge me. That jade slip recorded my alchemy insights. Practice alchemy here and tell me if you have any questions.”

Being able to attain the Ekayāna Tripod Realm before one turned 100 was indeed very impressive. However, Di Jiu did not take this to heart. He had almost attained the Ekayāna Tripod Realm himself, although he was currently only about 30 years old.

“Thank you, sir.” As Di Jiu picked up the jade slip, his Spiritual Force landed on it.

“It is unfortunate that my ring was stolen by Wei Lun,” Ji Ming commented. “There were numerous alchemy spiritual herbs inside it.”

Di Jiu was completely engrossed in the jade slip. By gaining a rudimentary mastery of alchemy, he finally understood that the golden lightning in his Spiritual Sea, which contained a vast Law, was far inferior to this alchemy jade slip.

Di Jiu had collected many alchemy jade slips for Little Tree back in the Polar Night Continent. After reading Ji Ming’s alchemy jade slip, he realized that the jade slips he had collected in the past had actually been garbage.

If he had obtained this jade slip back then, he would not have had to use so many spiritual herbs or spend such a long time to barely reach the ranks of a level-three Spirit Elixir Master. Plus, being able to refine level-three Spirit Elixirs had to be based on luck. He could only refine level-two Spirit Elixirs most of the time.

It was alright that he was lacking some low-level spiritual herbs at the moment, for he would head out to purchase them immediately. There were not many spiritual herbs at or above level-five in the Small Central World. However, there was an abundance of spiritual herbs below level-five.

“Thank you for your generosity, sir.” Di Jiu bowed before Ji Ming’s shriveled body. This jade slip was invaluable to him.

“There’s no need to thank me. If anyone else came, I would not want my knowledge to be stolen as well. Take this cauldron. It has been handed down for many generations and existed for innumerable years.” Ji Ming’s voice became increasingly softer, as though he was immersed in his own memories.

A long while later, Ji Ming realized that he should also impart his alchemy skills to Di Jiu. “People think a lot when their death is imminent. You might not understand what I’m going to say, but I will still share with you my alchemy insights. Many people think that the reason there are so few Elixir Kings in the Cultivation World is because spiritual herbs are too scarce, and thus insufficient to be used for alchemy practice. Guess how many level-nine spiritual herbs I used to become a level-nine Elixir King.”

“Several hundred?” replied Di Jiu uncertainly. Level-nine spiritual herbs were far too precious, so several hundred was a large number.

One did not necessarily need level-nine spiritual herbs to refine grade-nine Spirit Elixirs. However, the main spiritual herb ingredient had to be at level-nine.

“That’s incorrect. I only have one set of ingredients to make the True Spirit Elixir, which contains seven level-nine spiritual herbs. However, I succeeded in refining it. The product was a high-grade True Spirit Elixir. Unfortunately, the elixir was stolen by that hateful disciple, so I can’t show it to you,” answered Ji Ming extremely seriously.

“Ah…” Even Di Jiu could not quite believe what he had said. An alchemy cultivator, no matter how genius, would not be able to successfully refine a grade-nine Spirit Elixir with one attempt or turn from a grade-eight to a grade-nine Elixir King.

“I have undergone deduction for 137 years and experienced enlightenment on alchemy Dao Law,” Ji Ming said slowly. “My future in alchemy would have been bright if I had been still alive. Unfortunately, that alchemy Dao Law was incorporated into the cauldron by me…”

Di Jiu unconsciously looked at the wooden cauldron, wondering why the cauldron was still there if it had managed to help Ji Ming refine grade-nine True Spirit Elixirs.

Wei Lun had poisoned and killed Ji Ming. Thus, Di Jiu refused to believe that Wei Lun would let go of a cauldron that contained Alchemy Law and could refine grade-nine Spirit Elixirs.