Ninth In the World

“My strength is too weak. I don’t feel comfortable joining forces with you.” Di Jiu, who had noticed the problem, felt his unwillingness to cooperate with the hunchback increase.

The hunchback smiled sinisterly. “I understand your concern, but if you cooperate well, I swear that I will never harm you…”

“Would you swear on your ashes that you won’t harm me?” Di Jiu, who naturally knew that the hunchback’s reply was not worth much, simply wanted the other party to swear.

When he heard this, a killing intent flashed in the hunchback’s eyes. Then, he smiled. “Alright, you are smart. We will do it your way then.”

He had never intended to kill Di Jiu. If he had, there would be no need to cooperate with him.

He simply did not consider a weakling like Di Jiu a threat.

Although it was possible to arrange a fifth-level killing array, Di Jiu only arranged a fourth-level peak killing array outside the building, and then added a fourth-level Explosive Array.

Di Jiu did not let Geng Jihua work with them. Instead, he told him to leave the North Ridge City and wait for him at a prearranged place.

“Not bad, not bad. The level of this array formation is hard to achieve.” The hunchback was looking at the Dharma Array Di Jiu arranged as he praised it.

“I still don’t know how to address you, sir. Didn’t you say that we are friends now?” Di Jiu asked with a smile as he arranged the last array flag.

The hunchback waved his hand and said, “You can call me sir or hunchback.”

“Okay, hunchback. My Dharma Array has been laid out. Shall we go in now?” Di Jiu did not want to be polite to the hunchback, as the man obviously wanted to use him.

The old man was not bothered that Di Jiu had called him a hunchback. He intended on using Di Jiu after all.

“Yes, let’s go.” The hunchback stepped into the dharma treasure pavilion of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building one step earlier than Di Jiu, who quickly disguised himself as a white-bearded old man and entered the building. He was sure that the hunchback was not the other man’s original appearance. However, his disguise was as brilliant as his cultivation level, so one couldn’t tell that it was a disguise.

“Enemies ahead! First-level defense…” Di Jiu had just stepped into the main hall of the building’s first floor, when the other man shouted in terror.

Almost every person in the Qi Family’s Commercial Building could recognize the white-haired old man that Di Jiu used as a disguise with their eyes closed, so now that Di Jiu had appeared in the building, they were strangely not nervous.

“Defend yourself at will.” When the hunchback raised his hand, countless saber flares were thrown out. Both the employees of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and the guests were immediately killed by the saber flares.

Di Jiu’s heart turned cold. The hunchback was really cruel.

Di Jiu would have hurt the Qi Family, but he would never have harmed the innocent guests. The fact that the hunchback had no intention of letting the guests go could force Di Jiu into a disadvantageous situation.

Two Golden Core cultivators rushed downstairs, but they were torn by the hunchback’s saber flames before they could get too close.

He was able to kill two early-stage Golden Core cultivators with a few saber flares. Di Jiu realized in an instant that the hunchback was an extraordinary Essence Soul cultivator.

However, he and the hunchback had discussed this beforehand. While the hunchback killed people, Di Jiu would collect all the dharma treasures in his storage bag. He even took the storage bags of the two slain Golden Core cultivators without hesitation.

As far as the invisible ring was concerned, Di Jiu did not intend to expose it to the hunchback.

The hunchback was determined to carry on his killing spree. He killed people in the dharma treasure department, the elixir department, the cultivation resources and spiritual herb department and the cultivation technique jade slip department…

Di Jiu followed him, collecting everything silently. The other man had taken an oath. If he wanted to kill him, even if he did not collect anything, he would still die.

In only half an hour, the hunchback had killed 19 Golden Core cultivators, while Di Jiu had collected several storage bags worth of items. Di Jiu had thought that he’d had quite a lot of possessions before, yet compared to his current harvest, he’d had absolutely nothing.

“We’ve already finished collecting everything in here, hunchback. Shouldn’t we leave the building now and trigger an explosive?” Di Jiu said deliberately. Although he had been collecting things all this time, he knew that the hunchback had not taken anything yet.

“You may have collected what you wanted, kid, but I have not gotten what I wanted,” the hunchback snarled.

Then, he went straight to the deepest part of the Qi Family’s cave abode. All Di Jiu could do was follow him. Now he understood why the hunchback was so cruel. His cruelty served his purpose. By killing everyone in the building and using the Dharma Array to lock the building down, he had made sure that no one would come to stop them now.

The hunchback seemed to have come here before, as he went straight to the deepest part of the cave abode.

When Di Jiu saw the cave abode, he realized that there was a fifth-level peak Defense Array with a Trigger Array. Although he was a fifth-level array formation grandmaster, it was impossible to break open this Defense Array in a hurry. Even if he had the ability to break it open, the cave abode’s owner would know.

The hunchback had obviously taken him there so he could break open the cave abode’s Defense Array and go in to find something.

Just when Di Jiu thought that the hunchback would ask him for help, the hunchback took out an array disc and threw it down.

When he saw this array disc, Di Jiu immediately remembered the array disc he had gotten at the auction on Earth. After buying the array disc, he had refined it and penetrated it with his mental strength, yet nothing had happened. There had been no fluctuation in the array disc, so Di Jiu had thought that he had gotten a defective disc.

Before Di Jiu could consider what type of array disc the hunchback had, the hunchback’s array disc was activated. In less than a minute, Di Jiu saw the hunchback’s array disc ignite a mysterious ripple that collided with the cave abode’s Defense Array. The fifth-level peak Defense Array split and created a path full of hot heat.

Di Jiu did not think about what this heat was. Instead, he stared eagerly at the hunchback’s array disc. This was the first time he had seen this array-breaking technique. He could also tell that the array disc in the hunchback’s hands was a top-quality array-breaking array disc. Even a piece of this array disc was worth 10 times more than that day’s harvest.

If the man had used such a treasure to open the Defense Array, then something good had to be inside there.

“You lead the way. I only have an array disc and I am not very proficient in any other array formations.” When the hunchback opened the Defense Array, he did not go in. Instead, he looked at Di Jiu.

Di Jiu was sure that leading the way would be dangerous. Unfortunately, he was powerless to say no now. The hunchback had told him that if he cooperated well, then he would keep his promise. If he did not go in now, then he would seem uncooperative.

Di Jiu felt helpless as he entered the cave abode first.

As soon as he entered the Defense Array, the heat became even more obvious. When Di Jiu saw the source of the heat, he was stunned.

He finally understood why the hunchback had only wanted one thing. This was 10,000 times more precious than what he had harvested.

It was a flame restricted and shackled on a huge gray stone. It seemed like the flame was absorbing the substance of the stone to grow in size.

When Di Jiu, who had envied the hunchback’s array disc earlier, saw this flame, he realized that the hunchback’s array disc was worth nothing compared to it.

This had to be the legendary Unique Heaven-Earth Flame. Di Jiu had studied countless self-cultivation jade slips during the past few years, so how could he not know how precious the Unique Flame was?

There were not many Unique Flames in the Polar Night Continent, yet he had actually found one in the Qi Family’s Commercial Building.

“Did you notice the restriction on the flame? Help me refine the restriction and collect the flame. Of course, once you touch the restriction, the Essence Soul cultivator is bound to teleport over. I will block him to buy you the time to retrieve the flame.” The hunchback pointed at the Unique Flame.

“But my strength may not be enough to move this flame, hunchback…” Di Jiu’s uneasiness had never been this clear and strong.

“You have to move quickly. I don’t know anything about array formation, so I can’t move this restriction. The flame’s temperature is restricted, so touching the restriction will not pose a threat to you. We don’t have much time. We must fix this quickly!” the hunchback said unhappily.

Di Jiu finally understood why the hunchback had been forced to kill everyone. He had wanted to prevent the news from spreading. The man was implying that Di Jiu had been given what he wanted, so now it was his turn to help.

If Di Jiu dared not do this, he would die.

Di Jiu responded by stepping forward and using some hand seals to break open the flame restriction. He was the type of person who did not waver after deciding to do something. There was no point in wavering, and Di Jiu would not do anything pointless.

Almost as soon as his hand seal touched the flame restriction, a saber flare shot from the outside of the flame and Di Jiu felt a powerful force sweep him. Bang! Blood splashed around as the saber flare pierced Di Jiu’s heart.

Meanwhile, a roar was heard from the void and a shadow appeared in the sky. Di Jiu knew very well that the Essence Soul Expert had just arrived.