Ninth In the World

“Big Brother Fu, there has been no news from Big Brother Di Jiu yet. Did something happen to him?” Di Jiu had not contacted them for the past two days, so Liang Guqing was worried as a result.

The distance between them and Di Jiu was only about 2,000 feet. However, in the Herald Night Lake, everything beyond 200 feet seemed blurry. Even the Herald Night Lake itself seemed like an indistinct shape.

Shouting loudly was pointless, as nothing could be heard beyond 1,000 feet.

Fu Che was silent for a long while before he said, “We need to go rest before the sky gets dark tonight. However, there has still been no news from Brother Di Jiu. I’m just as worried as you are. If one loses their ability to move in this place, they will definitely die. We will push the date back by one day. If there’s still no news from him by tomorrow morning, we will retreat and rest for a day.”

Fu Che was worried that if Di Jiu got severely injured by the Herald Night Lake, he would not be able to find them once he got out. He had invited Di Jiu to join their team, so they all had to help each other out.

“Alright, let’s wait for one more night.” Liang Guqing had intended to suggest staying one more night anyway.

…

Di Jiu was standing beside a red Roast Divine Herb by the Herald Night Lake once again. When night fell, he could clearly see the Roast Divine Herbs within the lake.

This time, he decided to use his fastest speed to grab a Roast Divine Herb from the lake while also circulating the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art and the Forging Spiritual Art.

He did not refine a Dharma claw to make an attempt. The Book of the World said that one had to use one’s bare hands to pick the Roast Divine Herb, as its medical properties had to be preserved the moment it was uprooted.

Di Jiu also believed that using claws to pick the Roast Divine Herb would cause his Spiritual Sea to get assaulted.

When the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art and the Forging Spiritual Art completed three Qi Circulations, Di Jiu used his fastest speed to submerge his hand into the lake.

A sizzling sound was heard as a terrifying aura assaulted his Spiritual Sea and traveled over to Di Jiu. In an instant, Di Jiu had already grabbed hold of a red Roast Divine Herb with his hand and placed it inside a jade box.

The flesh on his hand, which was partially corroded, looked ghastly. However, Di Jiu let out a sigh of relief. He only cared about obtaining the Roast Divine Herb. Thanks to his Body-Tempering Art, his hand would only need a night to fully recover. Of course, this was provided that he had not let the Herald Night Lake water corrode the bones of his hand. Once the bones were corroded, his hand would truly be destroyed.

After four more hours, Di Jiu did not dare grab any more Roast Divine Herbs. The bones of his hand had started to turn gray, so if he submerged his hand into the Herald Night Lake once again, he would not be able to ensure that his hand would remain intact.

Fortunately, during these four hours, he had obtained five red Roast Divine Herbs and 10 half-red Roast Divine Herbs.

He still possessed several hundreds of blue Roast Divine Herbs, so these would allow him to cultivate for a long period of time. He would come back again to the Herald Night Lake when he used up all the Roast Divine Herbs he possessed.

Di Jiu found a safe place to circulate the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art so he could start healing. Then, he placed the 15 hard-earned Roast Divine Herbs into the jade box.

A night passed in the blink of an eye. By the time Di Jiu opened his eyes again, it was already dawn.

It was time to head back. Di Jiu did not intend to come back to the Herald Night Lake in the near future. He would simply give the others several of the blue Roast Divine Herbs he had obtained.

…

“Big Brother Fu, Big Brother Di Jiu has still not come back…” Liang Guqing’s face was a little purple as she spoke.

Her Spiritual Force was the weakest. Although they should have left this place before nightfall the previous day, they had stayed on for one night to wait for Di Jiu. She could not bear the corrosion to her Spiritual Force and Spiritual Sea that the Herald Night Lake caused any longer.

Fu Che could also see that Liang Guqing was unable to hold out. Actually, he was in a similar state. As he glanced in the direction Di Jiu had disappeared to two days ago, he sighed and said, “Let’s go. Let’s head out before we plan our next move.”

As soon as Fu Che said this, a violent Quintessential Essence explosion was heard. The three of them looked over instinctively.

No one dared fight while searching for Roast Divine Herbs in the Herald Night Lake. After all, one could not extend their Spiritual Force out here. It would be suicide to do this by force.

Fu Che, who did not think of it this way, saw a few more dozens of people rushing over.

Were they suicidal? Why had they forcefully extended their Spiritual Force and used it to travel?

“Shall we head over and take a look, Big Brother? We’re only 340 feet away,” Liang Guqing could not help but ask.

Considering that so many people were rushing towards the same place, it was highly possible that some quality items had been discovered.

“Let’s head over. We will retreat immediately if anything happens,” said Fu Che without hesitation when he saw an increasing number of people rush over. These people came from distant locations, while their team was very close to the destination.

The three of them quickly reached the site of the battle. They were all shocked when they saw the items inside the humongous basin. There were more than 10 Roast Divine Herbs scattered all over inside it. It was evident that there were even more Roast Divine Herbs within the basin. In one of the water puddles were two half-red Roast Divine Herbs, which had to be the cause of this battle.

“Go!” Fu Che rushed in swiftly. They had gone there for the Roast Divine Herbs, but had only found one in two days. One would be a fool not to join in and seize some Roast Divine Herbs when there were so many lying around.

The battle quickly died down. All cultivators bore the danger of their Spiritual Force getting compressed, so they just seized the herbs.

As the number of people increased, the Roast Divine Herbs in the basin lessened.

“Guqing, Shitao, let’s go!” When Fu Che saw the Void Spirit Realm Cultivators joining in, he knew that he had to leave. They would reap no benefits by staying.

Liang Guqing’s face was purple, yet her eyes shone with excitement. She had obtained 12 Roast Divine Herbs, which would be enough for her to enter the five large sects and become an inner sect disciple.

The remaining teams were also getting ready to retreat. They were not aware of the purpose of the Roast Divine Herb. Hence, obtaining more than 10 herbs was enough for them.

“Leave? Do you think you can still leave? I will kill anyone who leaves!” a frosty voice said. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been splashed over everyone who had seized any herbs.

“It’s the Spirit Blaze Team and the Twilight Team!” said someone with a quivering voice.

The team leader of the Spirit Blaze Team was Ren Bafei, a perfected ninth-stage Essence Soul Realm cultivator. The team leader of the Twilight Team was Yin Lin, a second-stage Void Spirit Realm Cultivator.

These two teams were infamous in the Twilight City for killing many solitary, weaker teams. No one would dare do anything now that these two teams had blocked this place.

When everyone had rushed over, their Spiritual Force had been severely oppressed. Thus, they all had extremely pale faces. They had no other choice than to give up everything they had to these two teams.

Fu Che and company had ugly expressions on their faces. Fu Che knew very well what the intentions of the Spirit Blaze Team were. Hence, he had not planned on searching the Herald Night Lake for three months before leaving, like he had done in the past. They would leave the lake in a month.

Obviously, his plan would not work anymore. They would definitely not be able to leave unscathed after getting intercepted by Ren Bafei. Ren Bafei knew that they possessed many Roast Divine Herbs, so he had not dealt with them immediately so that he could use them as free herb-picking labor workers.

“I want to kill three people first, Brother Yin,” Ren Bafei told Yin Lin with a cupped fist after seeing that no one would dare leave. He was disappointed that the person he wanted to kill was missing.

Ren Bafei from the Spirit Blaze Team was only at the ninth-stage Essence Soul Realm, yet Yin Lin was still very wary of him. It was said that Ren Bafei’s brother was on the Sea Roll.

Even True Form Realm Cultivators would not attack a cultivator who was on the Sea Roll unless they felt exceptional hatred. This group of people were considered superior existences in the Small Central World. No one could be sure how far they would go in the road of cultivation.

“Please go ahead, Brother Ren,” said Yin Lin with a smile and a wave of his hand.

If Ren Bafei killed some people, his actions would deter everyone else.

“Fu Che! How dare a tiny weakling like you steal business from the Spirit Blaze Team and use my team to recruit people for your team? Are you sick of living, or did you underestimate the Spirit Blaze Team? Kneel in front of me, give me your storage rings and cut a limb each. If I’m in a good mood, I might let you off,” said Ren Bafei in a mocking tone as he walked over to Fu Che and company.

Meanwhile, his Dharma twin-headed horse was already floating above him.

The Spirit Blaze Team included seven people. Ren Bafei faced Fu Che, while everyone else blocked Fu Che and the other team members’ escape route.

They were beside the Herald Night Lake, so Fu Che and company would not be able to escape, no matter which formidable technique they used.

“Ha ha…” laughed Fu Che. “The Spirit Blaze Team has killed many innocent cultivators in the Twilight City in the past. Our team originally had four members. Tong Fei was killed by your younger brother, Ren Xinxuan. Did you think that I did not know that? Even if you had not found me today, I would have come back to avenge Tong Fei one day. You are not formidable enough for me to kneel down before you and beg for mercy.”

“I didn’t expect you to be clever enough to actually be able to tell that I killed Tong Fei,” said Ren Xinxuan, who was beside Ren Bafei, mockingly.

“Enough with this nonsense. Let’s fight.” Bei Shitao, who was usually a person of few words, took out her Dharma treasure. Although she knew that her death was imminent, she had zero intention of begging for mercy.

“If they have a death wish, then let’s kill them all…” said Ren Bafei, who had no intention of attacking them personally.

“Grandfather Di will show you who has a death wish!” Before the Spirit Blaze Team could attack, Di Jiu landed beside Fu Che.

“Brother Di Jiu? What are you doing here?” Although Fu Che was touched, he sighed silently. He knew that they would definitely die there, so he did not want to drag Di Jiu down along with them.

When Di Jiu spread his palms, the Heaven Aqua landed in them. Di Jiu laughed. “A team always sticks together. I never hide behind my teammates.”

Di Jiu looked at Ren Bafei. “I originally intended to leave this place and spare your life. Who knew that you would intercept my teammates before I left? Unfortunately, I have to warn you…”

Di Jiu did not attack immediately. Instead, he used his Spiritual Force to observe everyone else’s expressions. If an arrest warrant had been issued on him, one of the many people there would surely have heard the news. Now that he had taken out the Heaven Aqua, which was engraved with red embellishments, there would definitely be some sudden movements.