Ninth In the World

“I am worried that this man has strong support, Big Brother,” said Little Tree as he expressed his concerns.

The fact that this tuberculosis-stricken scumbag had been able to come to the Sky Screen, when others couldn’t, meant that he was not ordinary. The Tiny Tree Root didn’t bother reasoning why Di Jiu had been able to come. Why would it treat Di Jiu as its Master if he was not formidable? It had completely forgotten that it had been forced to leave with Di Jiu in the past.

“Don’t worry about this man. Let’s go to the Heaven Saber Sect,” said Di Jiu as he waved his hand. He didn’t pay attention to the tuberculosis-stricken scumbag at all.

Could his support be more powerful than Mei Bashan’s? Now that he had defeated Mei Bashan, he didn’t care where that tuberculosis-stricken scumbag had come from.

…

Di Jiu had been to the Heaven Saber Sect once before. This time, he had gone there mainly for the Heaven Saber on the Heaven Saber Peak’s summit.

He had taken away the sutra depository of the Heaven Saber Sect before. Now, he decided to take the Heaven Saber as well. Although he did not want to own the Heaven Saber, Di Jiu knew very well that the Sky Screen would be refined into a world sooner or later. He felt quite good about the Heaven Saber Sect. Therefore, he might as well take the Heaven Saber.

The Heaven Saber Sect’s Defense Array had been degraded by a few levels since the last time Di Jiu had visited this place. It looked like the Defense Array hadn’t been completely restored ever since it had been broken last time.

Di Jiu led Little Tree and Black Fire to the Heaven Saber Peak. The Heaven Saber was still on the peak. Nobody had the ability to take it away, even if they wanted to.

Previously, Di Jiu had only managed to reach the 72nd step of the Heaven Saber Peak before his skeleton had been torn by a saber intent that had suddenly appeared. In the end, he had only been able to back off.

This time around, Di Jiu had attained the fifth-stage True Form Realm. Thus, the streaks of saber intent couldn’t harm him at all. Instead, the saber intent heightened his understanding.

The Heaven Saber Peak had 108 steps. Di Jiu didn’t pause at all. This time was different from the last one. He could feel a different kind of saber intent with each step he took.

Di Jiu had felt a similar feeling while climbing the Five Continent Dao Pagoda previously. The Five Continent Dao Pagoda had contained a Foundation Order. However, this place had a different kind of saber intent aura. Di Jiu’s Saber Dao had always been at a very high level. This was evident as he gained insight into the saber intent aura with every step he took.

Regardless of whether he used the Wind-Rustling Move, the Split-Wave Saber Move, or the Sky Screen Saber Move, it seemed that the saber intent of every saber could totally fit in with the saber steps on the Heaven Saber Peak.

During the course of climbing these 108 saber steps, Di Jiu didn’t once get attacked by the saber intent. Finally, he reached the summit.

On the Heaven Saber Peak’s summit was a long saber. At least half of this saber had been inserted into the hard rocks. Di Jiu stretched out his hand and held the saber handle. He wanted to pull the Heaven Saber out.

Di Jiu had just touched the saber handle when it started to emit a frightening aura. Di Jiu was shocked. Just as he thought that he had been tricked, he discovered that the frightening aura was an extremely thick Dao rune Spirit Qi.

Such Spirit Qi was extremely rare. It was extracted from the various places where the large sects cultivated their priceless treasures and was used to ensure that the light continued to shine from providence on the sects. Di Jiu couldn’t let such a good opportunity pass. It would be a waste of pure Dao rune Spirit Qi if he let it pass.

Di Jiu quickly circulated the Galaxy Art. The Spirit Qi, which was immediately absorbed by Di Jiu, transformed into cultivation experience. Although he had been stuck at the fifth-stage True Form Realm, he was finally going to break into the sixth stage.

The thick Dao rune Spirit Qi seemed to have felt the strength with which Di Jiu was absorbing it, so it flooded over like crazy. Di Jiu was starting to understand what this was all about. Besides ensuring there was enough light shining from providence for the sects, the Dao rune Spirit Qi had probably been left behind by the Heaven Saber Sect so that their disciples could use it while conquering the Heaven Saber Peak.

The Dao rune Spirit Qi was his now that the Heaven Saber Sect had fallen.

Di Jiu absorbed all the Spirit Qi that had flooded over. His starry sky meridian was like a huge grinding disc that absorbed all the Spirit Qi available.

Within a few days, Di Jiu had broken through to the seventh-stage True Form Realm.

When the Spirit Qi from the saber handle started to weaken, Di Jiu realized that it wasn’t going to yield much more benefits even if he continued cultivating. As the Quintessential Essence swirled, the Heaven Saber had already been pulled up into his hands.

The long saber, which was nearly five feet in length and dull red in color, had a wide blade. Within its thick ancient aura was boundless Saber Dao aura.

Di Jiu, who had his own Saber Dao, didn’t mind cultivating with the help of the Spirit Qi there. However, he didn’t plan on getting a thorough understanding of the saber intent in the Heaven Saber at the moment.

He put the Heaven Saber away into his Quintessential World and started to descend from the Heaven Saber Peak.

“Congratulations for obtaining the Heaven Saber, Big Brother!” said Little Tree when he saw Di Jiu come down.

“There is nothing to congratulate me for. I will be giving this saber away sooner or later. We can leave the Sky Screen now. Let’s go!” Di Jiu hadn’t ever planned on getting the Heaven Saber.

Maybe there were more quality items hidden in the Sky Screen. Di Jiu might have stayed on a little longer to search for them if the incident in the Evil Beast Valley hadn’t happened.

However, because of what had happened in the Evil Beast Valley, Di Jiu had to find a place in the True Dominion to cultivate for a period of time first.

The Heaven Saber Peak had given him a surprise by allowing him to break through to the late-stage True Form Realm. He felt that his strength was still not good enough to go to the Evil Beast Valley. He needed to attain at least the ninth-stage True Form Realm. It would be even better if he could break into the Domain Realm.

The Law in the Sky Screen was shattered. Thus, it was not suitable for him to cultivate there.

After Di Jiu sent Little Tree and Black Fire back to the Quintessential World, he activated the Plane Split Talisman again.

Di Jiu had used the Plane Split Talisman a few times in a row before. Thus, he was very familiar with its usage by now. He managed to return to the True Dominion once again in a very short time.

Di Jiu could cultivate in both the Small Central World and the True Dominion. However, he believed that cultivating in the True Dominion was way better.

There were many treasured cultivating grounds in the True Dominion. All the Five Major Protectorates and top-notch families had their own sacred cultivation grounds.

Actually, as long as Di Jiu was willing to, he could approach any of the powers to get permission to cultivate on their grounds for some time. He thought that nobody would reject him.

However, Di Jiu didn’t plan on looking for any of these powers. Instead, he went to a place nobody would think of—he visited the Evil Beast Valley.

While he had been going through the test trial in the Evil Beast Valley earlier, he had discovered that it was a treasured cultivating ground. Therefore, he had naturally chosen to cultivate there now that he was trying to improve his strength.

Although the Life Transformation Array in the depths of the Evil Beast Valley was powerful, Di Jiu wasn’t worried. No matter how frightening the man behind this array was, Di Jiu knew that he couldn’t come out. If he could, then he wouldn’t have let Di Jiu leave earlier.

Thus, Di Jiu considered the Evil Beast Valley a sacred cultivation ground.

…

Although it was a sacred cultivation ground for Di Jiu, it was a restricted place for all the True Dominion cultivators.

When Di Jiu reached the Evil Beast Valley, he didn’t see anybody within an area spanning a few thousand miles. He felt a dense Heaven Earth Spirit Qi coming. Thus, he confirmed that he hadn’t chosen the wrong place.

If the natural Heaven Earth Spirit Qi reached a certain density, it would become way better for cultivating compared to Spirit Stones and spirit meridians. It was different from Spirit Stones and spirit meridians because it contained Heaven Earth Dao runes. Even if the Spirit Qi of the Spirit Stones and spirit meridians was denser, it was something that was separated.

It was akin to a natural spirit meridian. If one cultivated with a natural spirit meridian without extracting it, it would be much better.

Di Jiu didn’t start cultivating immediately after choosing a cultivating spot in the Evil Beast Valley. Instead, he began setting up a Defense Array and a Surveillance Array.

Even though he was sure that the person in the Life Transformation Array couldn’t come out, he had to ensure his own safety and set up the Surveillance Array first. It would be disastrous if that person came out without him knowing.

After setting up the Defense Array and the Surveillance Array, Di Jiu set up another level-nine Confinement Killing Array. This was so that he would have the means to protect himself if he was wrong and the person came out of the Life Transformation Array.

After setting up these arrays, Di Jiu planted two spirit meridians in his cultivation ground. He had abundant supreme-grade spirit meridians. This time around, he wanted to be able to improve his strength by leaps and bounds. Thus, he planted one supreme-grade spirit meridian as well as the Herb King Spirit Meridian.

Although the Herb King Spirit Meridian that Geng Ji had given him was only a high-grade spirit meridian, it was much more valuable than a few dozens of supreme-grade spirit meridians combined.

Di Jiu only realized how wise he was after he set up his array and started to cultivate. At the same time, he was amazed by the prowess of the Herb King Spirit Meridian.

The natural conditions that the Evil Beast Valley possessed complemented the Herb King Spirit Meridian, making Di Jiu feel extremely satisfied as he circulated the Galaxy Art. Although his cultivation speed now was not as fast as when he had been absorbing the Dao rune Spirit Qi on the Heaven Saber Peak’s summit, the satisfaction he got from cultivating here was much stronger.

Di Jiu didn’t have to worry about when his Spirit Qi would falter while he was cultivating here.

All the True Dominion experts knew that they, as well as Di Jiu, would be going to the Evil Beast Valley to deal with the Life Transformation Array in eight months. Therefore, all the experts of the major powers and the major Protectorate Lords were madly trying to increase their cultivation level like Di Jiu.

Everyone was trying, except Bai Hong.

Bai Hong could not allow Di Jiu to live after he had witnessed his prowess. He didn’t only hate Di Jiu for his prowess, but also because he had killed his son, Bai Shaoxiang.

Although Bai Hong had many sons, Bai Shaoxiang had been his only legitimate son who had been endowed with unmatched talent.

He had to kill Di Jiu. However, neither he nor any other people in the True Dominion could do it. Bai Hong thought for a whole two months before he concluded that the only chance he would get to kill Di Jiu would be in the Evil Beast Valley.