Ninth In the World

Di Jiu heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t know Zhuo Wencheng, but he knew this bastard would be dead for sure. Even though he would have died if it hadn’t been for Zhuo Wencheng, Di Jiu didn’t feel any gratitude for Zhuo Wencheng. This man wasn’t here to save him. He had just wanted to cut off his wrist and snatch his ring away, that was all. The man was still fighting over his broken hand even though he had clearly woken up—that was how vicious this bastard was.

Di Jiu, who had climbed 100 steps up the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain, had neither felt any traces of time law nor reaped any benefits. Furthermore, during the time that he had been trapped on the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain, he had come to realize that some roads on the mountain were not meant to be taken. Even he, who possessed abilities admittedly far better than the cultivators at the same level as him, shouldn’t walk down those roads.

Di Jiu took a few side steps, then quickly went down the mountain. He vaguely felt that the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain was like a pit that he didn’t want to play in anymore. The Suo Fruit was gone. Could it only be acquired from the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain?

Di Jiu sped down the mountain at lightning-fast speed. The instant he turned his body, he felt a vague sense of longing to turn back up again quickly. He only needed to turn back and he would reach the summit of the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain. Once he reached the summit, he would have more than enough life left to cultivate.

The Dao fire instantly spread over Di Jiu’s entire body. All the grayish aura buried in his body was burned up. Di Jiu increased his speed downhill. He didn’t even want Zhuo Wencheng’s ring or the dagger that had severed his wrist. Despite his immortal-like tempered body, the dagger had still cut off his wrist—how powerful was that dagger anyway? The more powerful a dagger was, the more afraid Di Jiu was of getting it—which made him look weak.

The fact that Zhuo Wencheng could take 95 steps meant that he was formidable. Such a formidable man at such a young age couldn’t have a simple background. Besides, Di Jiu had an inkling that he shouldn’t just casually take away anything from the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain.

Was that Jing Moshuang? Halfway downhill, Di Jiu saw Jing Moshuang, who was also trapped motionless in the middle of the mountain.

Di Jiu rushed over without hesitation and stretched out his hands to pull her out. Even though he shouldn’t take away anything he found on the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain, Di Jiu couldn’t turn a blind eye to Jing Moshuang.

He had just pulled her up when the deadly aura swept in once again.

Di Jiu, who had experienced this before, immediately covered his body with Dao fire this time. Upon leaning on the Dao fire, the deadly aura instantly disappeared. In a short time, Di Jiu had already reached the foot of the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain with Jing Moshuang.

Jing Moshuang’s originally stiff body instantly softened when Di Jiu carried her down the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain. However, it was still lifeless.

When Di Jiu’s Dao fire permeated Jing Moshuang’s body without hesitation, wisps of grayish aura were put out by the Dao fire instantly. This grayish aura had started to corrode into Jing Moshuang’s blood. It only took one sweep of Di Jiu’s Dao fire for all of this aura in Jing Moshuang’s body to get burned into ashes.

After the Dao fire burned the grayish aura in Jing Moshuang’s body, some life-force aura grew in Jing Moshuang and blood started to flow slowly. Di Jiu heaved a sigh of relief. He now had to think of ways to bring Jing Moshuang back to life.

“Young Master Red Embellishment…” A gray-haired, middle-aged man landed beside Di Jiu just as he settled the problem of the grayish deadly aura in Jing Moshuang’s body.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force scanned him. The sixth-stage Ekayāna Tripod Realm Cultivator’s strength was a few tiers below his.

“What’s the matter?” Di Jiu’s tone was very cold. He wanted to save Jing Moshuang but was being hindered by this gray-haired, middle-aged man. It would have been strange if he’d felt happy about it.

“I heard that you found many supreme-grade spirit meridians in the spirit meridian canyon. There are many people here…”

“Scram!” Di Jiu retorted without hesitation before the gray-haired, middle-aged man could finish talking.

The man’s face changed. He hadn’t expected that Di Jiu would dismiss him like that. As his aura locked in on Di Jiu, the air was filled with killing intent. He hadn’t even taken out his dharma treasure, yet Di Jiu’s Heavenly Aqua Saber had already transformed into a greenish saber flare and slashed down.

A ferocious saber aura locked up the entire space. Only the killing intent coming from the Heavenly Aqua Saber reigned in this space.

This was bad. He had encountered a setback. The gray-haired, middle-aged man sensed that his movements had slowed down due to Di Jiu’s saber aura and his Spiritual Force had been locked up. “Stop!” he shouted.

He had only said this one word when the saber flare of the Heavenly Aqua Saber tore up his body, splitting it into two.

By the time a bloody mist exploded into the whole sky, Di Jiu had already taken the ring from the Ekayāna Tripod Cultivator and left.

The area all around was silent. A few cultivators who had come up to surround Di Jiu stopped subconsciously. Di Jiu hadn’t known this gray-haired, middle-aged man, but many people there had. He had been Number 101 on the Tripod Roll—Lao Jia. That head full of gray hair had been his trademark. Even an expert like him hadn’t been able to resist one saber move from Di Jiu.

Only a suicidal person would dare get the spirit meridian from Di Jiu. In this case, even a group of Life Tribulation Realm experts didn’t dare provoke him.

Given Di Jiu’s strength, he could easily walk away, even if he couldn’t win a fight against Life Tribulation Realm experts. Offending such an expert, when it was impossible to snatch the spirit meridian he possessed, would clearly be a stupid thing to do.

Besides, in the entire history of the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain, Di Jiu was the only cultivator who had survived after being planted for some time on the mountain. Nobody would believe that such a cultivator would have no future.

Han Qingyi was also appalled by Di Jiu’s strength. Di Jiu had still been a nobody in the Void Spirit Realm when she had first seen him, yet he had killed Lao Jia with a single saber swing after such a short time. He had also been holding on to Jing Moshuang with one hand while he had killed Lao Jia.

Lao Jia had meant nothing to her—she could have easily killed him too. However, it was obvious that Di Jiu was far stronger than her.

Han Qingyi let out a long sigh of relief. She knew that using violence against Di Jiu wouldn’t work. Di Jiu’s maturing speed was faster than any other genius’ she had ever seen.

“We finally meet again, Young Master Red Embellishment.” Han Qingyi cupped her fists before Di Jiu. It didn’t matter that Di Jiu had lowly origins, or that she was of noble birth—in a world where the strongest reigned, she had no choice but to lower her stance. Getting Di Jiu to stop carrying a saber was out of the question.

Di Jiu held onto Jing Moshuang as he looked at Han Qingyi peacefully. “You were born in the True Province, Fairy Qingyi. It was indeed a good move to find a cultivation companion to help you climb the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain. Awesome… Just awesome.”

Han Qingyi frowned but quickly suppressed her rage and said in the mildest tone possible, “Believe it or not, Jing Moshuang rushed up the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain to save you because you were trapped on it. This had nothing to do with me.”

Di Jiu looked down at Jing Moshuang, whose eyes were tightly shut. A sense of warmth gushed into his heart. He had fallen on the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain, which few people would have been able to climb to save him. Geng Ji would definitely have gone up, but he hadn’t expected that Jing Moshuang would also do so.

“Believe it or not, I didn’t mistreat Jing Moshuang while she was my cultivation companion. Even though I had my motives, I wasn’t despicable,” Han Qingyi said slowly. If she hadn’t urgently needed the Plane Split Talisman, she wouldn’t have wasted her breath on Di Jiu.

“You want the Plane Split Talisman?” Di Jiu had vaguely guessed Han Qingyi’s motives for wanting the Plane Split Talisman. She most likely needed it to get to the Sky Screen, which probably had something that Han Qingyi had to have.

Actually, he also wanted a Plane Split Talisman to go to the Sky Screen, as Little Tree was there. Suddenly, Di Jiu recalled activating a Plane Split Talisman on Earth. When he had, a mysterious man had appeared in the Sky Screen. That mysterious man had been absolutely powerful. Even now, he would probably be unable to withstand a slap from that mysterious man.

Han Qingyi didn’t hide. Instead, she said calmly, “Correct. I indeed need the Plane Split Talisman. If you give it to me, I can save your cultivation partner.”

“I can save Moshuang by myself,” Di Jiu said nonchalantly.

Han Qingyi laughed coldly. “Any cultivators covered by the deadly aura of the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain need to restore their life-force before they can be saved, even though their Principal Spirit is still around. In order to restore life-force, life aura must still be flowing. I’ve observed Jing Moshuang for a while. Although I can’t really understand why her life aura is still flowing, this is a good thing.”

“I wanted to let you know that there’s no place in the entire Small Central World where life-force could be restored. Instead, there is a Turning Sphere Resuscitation Spring in the True Province. That spring water could bring back Jing Moshuang. Otherwise, she will remain like this forever. If there’s too much delay, Moshuang’s Principal Spirit will dissipate and not even a real immortal will be able to save her.”

Di Jiu’s heart sank. Although he believed that Jing Moshuang could be saved, he didn’t know how. He felt that Han Qingyi wasn’t lying to him. What she said had to be true.

“Do you have the Turning Sphere Resuscitation Spring?” Di Jiu asked hurriedly.

“I don’t, but the Ji Family does,” Han Qingyi said coldly. “My aunt is a member of the Ji Family.”

Di Jiu bowed. “Thanks a lot for giving me this information, Fairy Qingyi. Although I indeed have the Plane Split Talisman, I can’t give it to you now. The True Province Genius Tournament is about to begin. I will bring the Plane Split Talisman to the True Province Genius Tournament. If Moshuang remains safe and sound, I will give you the Plane Split Talisman on the spot.”

Di Jiu didn’t dare say that he had no more Plane Split Talismans on him. If he did, a woman like Han Qingyi would definitely leave.

“Good. It’s a deal. Hand Jing Moshuang over to me.” Han Qingyi sounded very decisive.

Di Jiu handed Jing Moshuang over to Han Qingyi carefully and said, “Moshuang is very important to me. I plead you to do your best, Fairy Qingyi.”

Although his words were tactful, they also contained an element of threat.

Han Qingyi snickered. “You only have to bring the Plane Split Talisman. There’s no need for unnecessary words.”

As soon as she said that, Han Qingyi stretched her body and got ready to speed off.

However, Di Jiu took a step forward and blocked her way.

“Is there anything else you want?” Han Qingyi looked awful. Just because she had a deal with Di Jiu, it didn’t mean that Di Jiu could mess with her.

Di Jiu cupped his fists and said, “Fairy Qingyi, I want to exchange something with you. Do you have the Suo Fruit?”