Ninth In the World

Boom! Boom! Boom! The killing aura of the black gonfalon and the killing array collided, resulting in an explosion of Divine Essence.

Pew! Di Jiu’s Heavenly Aqua Saber carved a deep, bloody wound on the itinerant monk’s back. The itinerant monk spat out a mouthful of blood. Hastily, he grabbed a handful of elixir pills and swallowed them. The wound on his back disappeared immediately.

Di Jiu knew, however, that this fellow was quite severely injured. After all, the wound his saber had caused carried some killing intent.

As expected, a short moment passed before that bloody wound split open once again and sprouted blood.

“Do you have a death wish?” The itinerant monk was completely hysterical, and his black gonfalon was creating waves of black walls. The killing aura coming from Di Jiu’s killing array chain was endless but it was still unable to entrap the itinerant monk. Di Jiu’s space domain fell short of that even more.

Di Jiu was alarmed. It was fortunate that the Confinement Killing Arrays he had set up were mostly accomplished at using the nomological array flags. Otherwise, his Confinement Killing Array would have already been ripped apart many times over.

It was also fortunate that this had all occurred within his major array, or there was utterly no way he would have been able to fight with this Primordial Dao expert. The other man’s Primordial Dao Domain would have locked onto him, which meant that finishing Di Jiu off would have been an easy task.

Then, there would have been absolutely no way Di Jiu would have been able to survive, regardless of how formidable he was.

Indeed, Di Jiu was capable of killing a Dao Birth Realm cultivator easily but was still unable to compete against Primordial Dao cultivators. Solely for this battle, he had set up various Confinement Killing Major Arrays an hour in advance before he had successfully sneaked an attack. Even so, he was barely able to defend himself.

The Divine Essence in the area churned and surged. Di Jiu’s Confinement Killing Arrays were continuously being ripped apart by the itinerant monk, making Di Jiu feel increasingly anxious.

The itinerant monk had already ripped through six of the 14 Confinement Killing Arrays in the array chain. With each destroyed array, Di Jiu’s strength to confront the itinerant monk would drop by one degree. His death would be imminent if all these Confinement Killing Arrays were destroyed. Nonetheless, even though he had the help of these Confinement Killing Arrays, the end result would be the same if this battle dragged on for too long.

At the moment, Di Jiu was covered in injuries. The reason he had been able to survive until now, other than the fact that he was hiding within the array chain, was because he was a body-tempering expert who had attained the Immortal Divine Body. Otherwise, there was no way he would have been able to survive for so long.

This time, by ambushing the itinerant monk, Di Jiu had learned that ignorance was scary. The difference between the Primordial Dao Realm and the Dao Birth Realm was unsurmountable if one simply relied on other methods.

Pew! Another gonfalon flare pierced Di Jiu’s body. At that moment, Di Jiu calmed down. He knew that at this rate, he would be killed by the itinerant monk and not the other way around.

He should not continue hiding. Setting his jaw resolutely, he dashed out of the killing array door. The Heavenly Aqua Saber transformed into a deadly blue saber flare.

“I see that you could not keep hiding forever, punk!” jeered the itinerant monk when he saw that Di Jiu had finally left the array to attack him face-to-face. He lifted his fist and punched Di Jiu.

He did not underestimate the saber flare created by Di Jiu, for he was certain that Di Jiu had yet to even achieve the Dao Transformation. A mere Dao Birth Realm cultivator had actually managed to successfully ambush him. Furthermore, his wound had yet to heal. Di Jiu’s Dao runes were evidently very powerful.

The killing intent in the surroundings was sucked into this punch, forming a killing aura whirlpool that engulfed Di Jiu.

Crack! The itinerant monk heard the faint sound of space cracking. Then, all killing intent within his punch disappeared without a trace, leaving only the soulless fist that was still advancing along its path. His expression changed when he realized that the law of his fist’s supernormal ability had shattered.

Just how terrifying was Di Jiu’s supernormal ability to be able to shatter his supernormal ability’s law with one saber swing?

Pew! Before the itinerant monk could retract his fist, the Heavenly Aqua Saber sliced through his fist and blood splattered everywhere.

Feeling extremely enraged, he roared. Giving no thought to his fist or the boundless Confinement Killing Array flares, he transformed the black gonfalon into a black flare that easily tore through Di Jiu’s defensive domain and landed on Di Jiu’s torso. The itinerant monk was determined to never let Di Jiu hide into the array again.

Di Jiu, who was alarmed, had originally planned to execute the Crevice Traverse Saber Move after using the Order Severance Saber Move to cut through the monk’s supernormal ability law.

He believed that the second saber move would be sufficient to kill the itinerant monk. However, he had just executed the Crevice Traverse Saber Move when his opponent finished transforming the gonfalon into a flare that pierced his domain.

The itinerant monk was filled with terror the moment his black flare pierced Di Jiu’s torso. He had sensed that the space had stopped moving and everything seemed to freeze at that moment.

This was the space supernormal ability… No, it was the time supernormal ability…

The itinerant monk burned his Blood Essence in a frenzy. The numerous killing flares inside the Confinement Killing Array sliced his flesh into pieces, but he was in no state to care about that.

The difference between Di Jiu’s cultivation realm and the itinerant monk was too great. Almost the instant that the Heavenly Aqua Saber was about to split the itinerant monk into half, the latter twisted his body.

Pew! The itinerant monk’s black gonfalon pierced Di Jiu’s chest and blood sprouted from the wound.

At the same time, Di Jiu’s Heavenly Aqua Saber landed on the itinerant monk’s thigh, causing blood to splatter everywhere as well.

Di Jiu was sent flying backward before he slammed against the Confinement Killing Array, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood at the impact. After swallowing five drops of First Evolution True Dew, he struggled to escape.

He knew very well that only death would await him if he did not escape now. It was indeed too bold a move of him to face the itinerant monk. Even though the stars aligned for him this time, he still faced the threat of death.

Unexpectedly, before he could escape, the itinerant monk tore his broken limb part, activated a talisman, and disappeared without a trace.

Di Jiu let out a sigh of relief. After taking out a handful of elixir pills, he rested in the same spot for several minutes before standing up with great difficulty. He then put away all the array flags, took out a low-grade flying divine weapon, and went away.

Several days later, he controlled the flying shuttle and led it into the wilderness. Once he reached this place, he escaped underground without hesitation, setting up a Concealment Dharma Array before entering the Ninth World.

The injuries he had sustained were too severe. Several days passed, but his injuries did not improve. Instead, they worsened.

That black gonfalon had been made of something that was killing his life-force with the killing intent left inside his body.

…

Meanwhile, in Dai He Hall…

As a sect of the Dao World, the Dai He Hall was not considered one of the Five Major Sects, nor was it a well-known up-and-coming sect.

However, the majority of the cultivators in the Dao World knew about the Dai He Hall. This was because, while the sect was ordinary, its Hall Master was not.

Jiang Dai was the name of the Dai He Hall’s hall master. It was a name that had resounded in the entire Dao World many years ago, for it belonged to a man who ranked sixth amongst the 10 Major Geniuses of the Dao World.

If such a fact was still unable to invoke any recollection of the person in question, then they should remember the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect.

In the past, there had been 10, not five, major sects, including a top-notch elixir sect called the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect.

This sect had Primordial Chaos Alchemy Saints, yet it had still been wiped out by Jiang Dai.

According to rumors, Jiang Dai had only been at the perfected Primordial Dao Realm then. When he had gone to the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect to seek one Dao elixir, he had encountered Nie Jin, the number one genius disciple of the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect and the number one beauty in the Dao World.

Jiang Dai had fallen in love with Nie Jin at first sight, so he had asked for her hand in marriage immediately.

He had been one of the 10 Major Geniuses of the Dao World without a doubt, but he had only ranked sixth. The Azure Sacred Elixir Sect, which had looked down on him, had rejected his offer without hesitation. Jiang Dai’s request for the elixir had also been rejected.

Jiang Dai had disappeared after leaving the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect. When he’d reappeared, he had already successfully achieved the Dao Validation and attained the Primordial Chaos Realm.

The first thing Jiang Dai had done following his reappearance was exterminate the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect single-handedly. According to rumors, the entire Azure Mountain had been dyed red after that battle.

From then on, no one had dared to offend Jiang Dai.

However, after exterminating the Azure Sacred Elixir Sect, Jiang Dai had disappeared without a trace once again. Many years later, he had built the Dai He Hall.

At that moment, a brown-robed man sat in the Dai He Hall’s main hall with a gloomy expression. Before him was a gray-robed old man who was bowing before him.

The brown-robed man was Jiang Dai, the hall master of the Dai He Hall.

After falling silent for half an hour, Jiang Dai finally opened his mouth and asked, “You’re saying that only two people, outer sect disciple Di Jiu from the First Evolution Dao Sect and core disciple Jiang Dai from the Great Buddha Mountain, failed to pass my Inspection Array?”

The gray-robed old man replied respectfully, “That’s right, Hall Master. Only the two of them failed to pass the Inspection Array at the Dao Ridge.”