Ninth In the World

During the course of this month, spirit meridians were being continuously blasted out, and cultivators kept joining in. Every time a spirit meridian was extracted, a battle would ensue. During each battle over a spirit meridian, being killed was normal. The relentless, silly Di Jiu would have been forgotten by everybody if he had not been slashing with his saber all this while.

Di Jiu, on the other hand, was feeling that his Saber Dao was at the edge of a breakthrough. It might take only one more move for his Saber Dao to break through to a new realm.

When Di Jiu executed the 108th saber again, the natural restriction shielding the supreme-grade spirit meridian emitted a splitting sound. A sense of realization gushed as Di Jiu executed the 109th saber without a thought.

This saber amalgamated with the preceding 108th saber without any difference or mismatch.

Crack! An even louder splitting sound was heard before an intensely dense Spirit Qi lunged forward. When Di Jiu lifted his hand in a ripping motion, this natural restriction, which he had been blasting for the past month, simply dissipated.

A 1,000-feet long, supreme-grade spirit meridian lay in front of him—complete, pure, with some kind of spirit meridian law…

Di Jiu felt somewhat excited, not just about the supreme-grade spirit meridian, but also because his Saber Dao had once again attained new heights. From this moment on, every subsequent supreme-grade spirit meridian would be his.

Had the natural restriction array been opened? Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared in awe at the supreme-grade spirit meridian in front of Di Jiu. In a split-second, at least 100 cultivators rushed madly towards Di Jiu.

“This spirit meridian is mine! I’ll kill whoever touches it!” said a freezing voice. The cultivators rushing towards Di Jiu stopped unconsciously, as if they had been hit on their acupoints.

A man in hemp clothing gave up on the natural Defense Array he was attacking and walked towards Di Jiu.

Di Jiu lifted his hand and put away the supreme-grade spirit meridian. He then looked at the man in the hemp clothes, who was walking over. He knew this man—he was the only seventh-stage Life Tribulation Realm cultivator there.

“You have great guts.” The man in the hemp clothes approached Di Jiu. Although he was talking to Di Jiu, his gaze fell on the point his saber had attacked. It was the point Di Jiu had been blasting for a whole month.

Just like the other cultivators, he had thought that Di Jiu was an idiot. Now, he understood—Di Jiu was not an idiot. He merely had his own technique. This technique was a priceless treasure.

“Since when have I had great guts?” Di Jiu said coldly. “I saw that your cultivation level was high, so I quickly went to the place farthest away from you to search for spirit meridians, my respected elder. I was worried that…”

The supreme-grade spirit meridian was indeed quite a distance away from the high-grade spirit meridian.

“What were you worried about?” The aura surrounding the man in the hemp clothes spread outwards. The whole area was completely enveloped by his aura.

Anyone with a weaker cultivation backed off frantically. They knew very well who the man in the hemp clothes was. If a fight broke out, anyone standing near him might be implicated.

Di Jiu stroked the Heavenly Aqua Saber in his hands and sighed. “I was worried that I would smash your old bones carelessly. If I made another mistake, I would let you bleed out, old man. However, I’ve been bullied too many times over the years, so I knew that if I beat up a little one, an older one would appear. There must be an even older undying old fart behind you, old man. Why wouldn’t I be afraid?”

“You are indeed an upcoming genius. I, Ran Bushang, have heard a lot about you, Young Master Red Embellishment. You are still as vicious with your words as ever. Pity Pavilion Lord Huan is not on the Small Central Planet now. He can’t help you.” The man in the hemp clothes, who was not provoked by Di Jiu’s words, continued to speak in an unhurried tone.

As Di Jiu shook his hand, the Heavenly Aqua Saber fell. However, instead of landing on the ground, it was swirled up by a flash of Spiritual Force onto the palms of his hands. “Oh! You gave me a bad scare. I almost dropped my saber. I thought Senior Huan was behind me. This is the Small Central Planet, though, not the square outside. Ran Bushang, please don’t intimidate others like this, you old fart. Even a pig could scare a man to death.”

At first, Di Jiu hadn’t recognized this man. He had only remembered who he was after he’d said his name. Ran Bushang was a seventh-stage Life Tribulation Realm cultivator who ranked 37th on the Life Roll. He was also an inner sect elder of the Mirage Sword Sect. His fighting spirit currently soared. Di Jiu wanted to know how far apart he and a real Life Tribulation Realm expert were.

According to Huan Mingzi, Life Tribulation Realm cultivators were common in the True Province Genius Tournament.

Although killing intent flashed across Ran Bushang’s eyes, he didn’t attack Di Jiu. This wasn’t because he was tolerant, but because he was sure that Di Jiu had mastered a way to open the natural restriction of a supreme-grade spirit meridian. He had to make Di Jiu reveal the method before killing him.

He wasn’t the least bit afraid of Huan Mingzi, even if he had Di Jiu’s back.

“I am Ran Bushang, number 37 on the Life Roll. I will give you two options—hand over that spirit meridian and reveal the way to break the array.” As Ran Bushang spoke, his intense aura suppressed Di Jiu’s actions.

Di Jiu sighed. “I am thick-skinned enough. However, I only found out what a real pig’s skin is like when I compared myself to you. I extracted the spirit meridian by myself. Why should I hand it over to you? This method is mine. Why should I share it? Why don’t you look yourself in the mirror? Why? To see if your face is bigger than a pig’s ass. You only reached number 37 on the Life Roll after cultivating for a few thousand years! What a waste of life! Don’t you feel any shame?”

Ran Bushang’s face looked gloomy. He knew that Di Jiu wouldn’t relent if he didn’t take action. He had heard of Young Master Red Embellishment’s bad temper. He hadn’t even lasted a move when he had challenged Ren Hai previously. However, he had made the Five Young Masters hand over the Spiritual Force training jade slip only by persuading them. It looked like he truly could only win a battle of the tongue.

Ran Bushang took out the Divine Fire Mirror and flung it towards Di Jiu. At the moment, the whole area was under his control. He was sure that Di Jiu’s body would crumble as soon as the mirror was flung out. Although this move didn’t use any magic techniques, it was blasted mercilessly with nearly 70% of his Quintessential Essence. He planned to destroy Di Jiu’s body and then search his Principal Spirit.

Di Jiu, who had been waiting for Ran Bushang to strike, felt helpless. If he had the support of a top-notch sect, he wouldn’t need to waste his breath on Ran Bushang. The moment Ran Bushang struck, he made a move without hesitation. He couldn’t make the first move against Ran Bushang, precisely because he didn’t have a powerful support. He only had limited strength.

When the Heavenly Aqua Saber struck, the space that had been restrained by Ran Bushang simply dispersed.

Ran Bushang’s expression changed. He immediately realized that he had underestimated Di Jiu and concentrated all the rest of his Quintessential Essence on the Divine Fire Mirror.

Di Jiu’s saber wave had just gushed out when it met the Quintessential Essence on the Divine Fire Mirror and raged instantly.

Di Jiu didn’t hold back any of his saber strikes. He blasted out all of them. The Heavenly Aqua Saber looked like any other ordinary saber, yet it consisted of the killing aura of 109 Saber Daos. Each killing aura was stronger than the previous one.

Boom, boom, boom!

As the ferocious Saber Dao killing aura blasted against the Divine Fire Mirror, messy saber flare and Quintessential Essence exploded. Only the never-ending clanging sound from the collision of the saber and the mirror rang out in the whole area.

When he sensed that the saber aura of Di Jiu’s Heavenly Aqua Saber kept growing stronger after each strike, Ran Bushang smirked. Given Di Jiu’s strength, it would already be a miracle if the saber strikes lasted for 81 moves.

The moment Di Jiu’s saber aura weakened, his body would be crushed. He wouldn’t give Di Jiu any chance to catch his breath.

Although 81 saber strikes had blasted against the Divine Fire Mirror, the saber aura hadn’t diminished. The 82nd saber strike followed immediately. Ran Bushang couldn’t escape from the uninterrupted succession of the Saber Dao killing aura.

By the time the 90th saber strike blasted against the Divine Fire Mirror without any reduction in saber intent, Ran Bushang’s expression changed.

Di Jiu, who sensed the change in Ran Bushang’s emotions, smirked. “Just a month ago, a piece of trash named Yue Henghe showed off in my face and I crushed him with a single fist move. He was supposed to be on the Tripod Roll. I didn’t expect that I would kill a piece of trash on the Life Roll just a month later…”

Ran Bushang was shocked. He knew Yue Henghe—he was second on the Tripod Roll. Even he wouldn’t dare move against him, as he possessed sword intent from the Domain Realm. If that sword intent flashed, Ran Bushang would surely die or be left half-dead. However, Young Master Red Embellishment had actually said that Yue Henghe had died in his hands. Ran Bushang didn’t think Yue Henghe would be killed before his sword intent was triggered.

The 108th saber strike blasted against the Divine Fire Mirror. Ran Bushang, who couldn’t take this any longer, spurted out a mouthful of fresh blood. When he sensed a 109th saber strike coming up, he knew that he had to run. Otherwise, this would become his burial ground.

On the surface, the killing aura of the 109th saber intent was only one level up from the 108th strike. However, this wasn’t the case. Two times one equaled two, but two times two equaled four… Thus, the 109th saber strike was not just two times more powerful than the previous one.

After blocking off the Saber Dao killing aura of 108 uninterrupted saber strikes, Ran Bushang had reached his limit. Before he could put away the Divine Fire Mirror, he activated the escape talisman.

If he didn’t run, he could have resisted Di Jiu’s last saber strike. However, after he left, the Divine Fire Mirror could no longer resist the 109th saber strike. A white flare slashed at Ran Bushang’s back, making blood spurt in the air.

By the time the Divine Fire Mirror landed on the ground, Ran Bushang had already disappeared.

Di Jiu knew that Ran Bushang had escaped. He wasn’t really able to kill Ran Bushang in one saber move. However, Ran Bushang had been awestruck by his 109th saber strike.

Di Jiu now had a rough idea of his own strength. If Ran Bushang hadn’t escaped, he would have been able to kill him. He might just have needed to use a saber array. Although Ran Bushang was only at the seventh-stage Life Tribulation Realm, he was one of the best Life Tribulation Realm cultivators and the 37th person on the Life Roll. From the looks of it, he should be able to compete in the True Province Genius Roll after he attained the Life Tribulation Realm.