Ninth In the World

After he got the Spiritual Force Training Scroll, Huan Mingzi couldn’t wait to enter reclusive cultivation in a room. Although Di Jiu had entered seclusion too, he didn’t cultivate. Instead, he took out the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers that he had reclaimed from Liang Jueren of the Abstruse Fire Sect.

Di Jiu had a manual on the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers with him. After the death of all his elder brothers, Di Shan had given the original manual to his only surviving son, Di Jiu. Even though the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers looked very normal to Di Jiu, it had been useless to him ever since he had developed an insight into Saber Dao and condensed three of his own saber moves—the Wind-Rustling Saber Move, the Split-Wave Saber Move and the Boundless Saber Move.

Pearl City had been exterminated by the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers. When he had retrieved the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers manual, he hadn’t found anything strange about it. However, when he had subsequently taken out the manual on Earth, he had occasionally seen a streak of grayish light in it. This had made Di Jiu wonder whether there was anything special about it.

The manual he had reclaimed from Liang Jueren looked visibly newer than the one his dad Di Shan had given him. If only one of them was authentic, it had to be the one he had with him. However, he had studied his own manual countless times and, besides the fact that the seventh saber move was slightly harder to execute, it showed no trace of a true cultivation technique.

The manual he had reclaimed subsequently looked newer, so it didn’t look like it was authentic. When Di Jiu flipped open the manual, he saw that it only recorded the normal seven saber moves. The seventh saber move seemed kind of unsafe. As Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force fell on the manual repeatedly, the fact that he did not see the grayish streak of light made him feel somewhat worried.

About two to four hours passed, yet Di Jiu didn’t find anything problematic about this manual. He was disappointed. However, the restriction on the cave abode was suddenly activated.

This cave abode dharma treasure belonged to Huan Mingzi. Now that Huan Mingzi was studying the Spiritual Force training jade slip, Di Jiu could only put away the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers and open the cave abode restriction that had been activated.

Two people were standing at the door of the cave abode. One of them was an extremely handsome middle-aged man with a cultivation level around the third-stage Life Tribulation Realm. Behind him stood a beautiful young lady. Despite her beauty, there was an air of lifelessness in her eyes, as if resentment was buried deep within her. Her cultivation level was not low either. It was actually at the second-stage Ekayāna Tripod Realm.

What made Di Jiu feel strange was that both of them carried sabers on their backs. Based on their looks, they seemed like cultivators who regarded sabers as dharma treasures—just like he did.

“May I ask if this is Young Master Red Shirt Di Jiu?” asked the middle-aged man apologetically upon seeing Di Jiu.

“Yes, I am. And the two of you are?” Di Jiu looked at the two individuals in confusion. The word “closed” was hanging outside Huan Mingzi’s cave abode, so no normal person would open the restriction unless there was an emergency. Doing so would surely result in a huge battle if they were bad-tempered cultivators.

The man quickly replied, “I’m Di Caishang from the Di Family. This is my daughter, Di Feixue. Can we enter and talk to you?”

Why had the Di Family from the Small Central World come looking for him? Of course, Di Jiu knew about the Di Family. Di Feixue was very famous. How could he not know her? When he had first reached the Five Continent City, Di Feixue had already ranked third on the Five Continent Dao Pillar and risen to the ninetieth stage, the stage that was perfect for Spiritual Force condensation. Di Feixue had also ranked fourth during the second Five Continent Dao Convention and 23rd on the Sea Roll.

“Of course, please come in.” Di Jiu extended his hands in invitation. He was actually puzzled. Di Feixue was considered a proud daughter of heaven in the Small Central World. Why were her eyes lifeless now?

After he led Di Caishang and Di Feixue into the cave abode and put up the restriction again, Di Jiu asked, “Why have you two come looking for me?”

Di Caishang was at the third-stage Life Tribulation Realm, while Di Feixue was only at the second-stage Ekayāna Tripod Realm. Even without Huan Mingzi, Di Jiu wasn’t afraid of these two.

Di Caishang, who had just sat down, stood up again and said with clenched fists, “Young Master Red Embellishment, there is something I’d like to ask of you. I’m afraid it’s too bold… Before I seek your help, may I ask which continent you come from?”

Although Di Jiu didn’t quite understand what Di Caishang meant, he replied all the same, “I come from the Yalun Continent.”

Many people were aware that he was from the Yalun Continent, so there was no need to hide it.

Suddenly, Di Caishang took out a white jade cup, filled half of it with a colorless liquid, and said, “Young Master Red Embellishment, when I saw that you use the saber too and your surname is Di, I started to suspect that you share the same origin as the Di Family of the Small Central World.”

Di Jiu, who was amused, didn’t know what to say.

“I know that this sounds baffling,” Di Caishang added. “However, if you knew why I said this, you might not feel so strange.”

“Please speak.” Di Jiu could sense that Di Caishang wouldn’t bring this up for no reason. His Spiritual Force had detected that the colorless liquid Di Caishang had poured was One Origin Water. This kind of water was considered quite valuable and rare in the Cultivation World.

It was mainly used to verify bloodlines. If two people from the same bloodline dropped their blood into One Origin Water, the two drops of blood would slowly dissolve and merge into one. If there was no blood relation between the two individuals, the two drops of blood would condense into two separate blood pearls that would slowly harden.

The longer it took for the drops to merge, the more distant the relationship of the individuals was.

Di Jiu would not offer a drop of his blood before Di Caishang explained himself clearly.

Di Caishang nodded solemnly and said slowly, “The Di Family was once one of the top-notch large clans of the Small Central World. Their abilities were no weaker than those of the current five large sects of the Small Central World. One year, the Di Family produced two geniuses that may not appear again even in 20,000 years. One of them was called Di Yichuan, and the other was called Di Huangcheng. You might not understand how formidable these two geniuses were. Let me put it this way—the aptitudes of both Di Yichuan and Di Huangcheng were by no means poorer than any of the True Province geniuses now. If they took part in this True Province Genius Tournament, they would most likely enter the top 10…”

Di Jiu was shocked to hear this. Based on what Huan Mingzi had said, he didn’t think that the True Province geniuses were weak. If Di Yichuan and Di Huangcheng had been no weaker than the top-notch geniuses of the True Province, then they had been more formidable than he was now.

“A stunning lady called Mei Xiyin, who came from a small clan, suddenly appeared in the Small Central World. Coincidentally, an elder of the Di Family had recently attained the True Form, so the Mei Family attended the celebrations. Mei Xiyin came with her family. Di Huangcheng fell in love with Mei Xiyin at first sight…”

By now, Di Jiu could already guess how this story ended.

Di Caishang kept speaking. “When the Di Family found out about Di Huangcheng’s feelings, they initiated a marriage alliance with the Mei Family. The Mei Family agreed instantly and Di Huangcheng and Mei Xiyin became a couple. However, right before they were supposed to get married, rumors that Mei Xiyin was pregnant started spreading. Di Huangcheng was enraged, and so was the Di Family. They all wanted to exterminate the Mei Family.”

“Panicked, the Mei Family sent Mei Xiyin over to the Di Family to accept her punishment. Unfortunately, Mei Xiyin alone couldn’t put out the rage of the Di Family. As the Di Family was about to completely destroy the Mei Family, Di Yichuan suddenly said that the child was his…”

Di Jiu sighed. This was indeed a soap opera that could leave one speechless.

“Di Huangcheng was so furious that he wanted to kill Di Yichuan. He said that Di Yichuan didn’t love Mei Xiyin, but had merely plotted against him because he wanted to be the family head. Di Huangcheng and Di Yichuan fought, starting a battle between two factions. This big war caused the Di Family to degrade itself and fall from grace. It went from being a top-notch clan to being a second-rate clan. Although many years passed, the Di Family was not able to regain even a small part of its previous vigor.”

Di Caishang took a breath and pointed at the bowl of One Origin Water. “The reason I wanted to see if we come from the same ancestors is because, after that war, Di Huangcheng went missing. Rumor has it that Di Yichuan inherited the position of the Di Family Head…”

“Are you Di Yichuan’s direct descendant?” asked Di Jiu suddenly.

Di Caishang shook his head and said, “No.”

“Good, let’s try this then.” Di Jiu stretched out his finger and let a drop of blood drip into the white jade bowl.

Di Caishang let a drop of his blood drip into the white jade bowl as well. After a long time, the two drops of blood didn’t form blood pearls. Instead, they slowly merged.

Di Jiu had already realized that he and Di Caishang shared the same ancestors. Judging from the speed at which their blood merged, their relationship was definitely very distant.

“Di Jiu, we really are both descendants of the Di Family!” Di Caishang shouted excitedly.

Di Jiu could tell that Di Caishang’s excitement was real. He was happy that Di Jiu was part of the Di Family. However, Di Jiu wasn’t as happy. Based on Di Caishang’s words, he could be Di Huangcheng’s descendant. Fortunately, Di Caishang wasn’t Di Yichuan’s descendant. Otherwise, he would have felt even more perturbed.

Di Yichuan had snatched Di Huangcheng’s fiancée. As Di Huangcheng’s descendant, Di Jiu naturally wouldn’t have any friendly feelings for Di Yichuan’s descendants.

When Di Caishang saw Di Jiu’s expression, he realized that he wasn’t enthusiastic about returning to the Di Family.

Before Di Caishang could speak, Di Jiu said coldly, “Daoist Di, if you are about to invite me back to the Di Family in the Small Central World, don’t say a word.”

“No, there are only some personal matters that I need your help with,” Di Caishang replied hurriedly.

“Go on…” said Di Jiu helplessly.

Although he could see that Di Jiu wasn’t enthusiastic, Di Caishang still said, “Young Master Red Embellishment, you certainly do not need to fear Ju Qi given your strength. Your lack of fear for Ju Qi places you among the strongest cultivators who can enter the Small Central World. I hope that you can take care of Feixue Yier after you enter.”

Di Feixue hadn’t spoken ever since they had arrived.

Di Jiu, who felt curious, asked, “Fairy Feixue ranks 23rd on the Sea Roll and is at the second-stage Ekayāna Tripod Realm. She is no weaker than me. Why would I have to take care of her? Is Fairy Feixue worried about anything? Why does she look so pale?”

Di Caishang gritted his teeth and said, “It’s all because of those five beasts—the sect masters of the five large sects. They initially suspected that Feixue had the Five Continent Dao Disc and took her ring. They even scanned her entire body with their Spiritual Force…”

There was no need for Di Caishang to continue. Di Jiu was already furious. He immediately stood up and slammed the table. “Those beasts!”