Ninth In the World

Although Geng Ji wasn’t the scheming sort, he was experienced with wars. When he had initially started out cultivating as a nobody, he had followed Di Jiu everywhere to provoke the Qi Family’s Commercial Building. He had been through countless battles, always between the weak and the strong.

Thus, now that someone had sneaked an attack on him, he wasn’t the least bit afraid. He immediately took out his ax and flung it.

When Bai Wufang saw that Geng Ji had dared use the gigantic ax against his Falling Rain Whip, he smiled coldly. A mere cultivator who had recently attained the Pioneer Sea Realm, and whose cultivation may not even have been stabilized yet, had dared take on him—a third-stage Pioneer Sea Realm cultivator. Wasn’t this practically suicide?

So what if he was being a bastard? By laying his hands on the Herb King Meridian, Bai Wufang would show the descendants of the Interstellar Domain that even a bastard could be a really powerful man.

Boom! When the gigantic ax and the Falling Rain Whip clashed, a violent Quintessential Essence swept in. Bai Wufang, who felt as if his dantian didn’t belong to him anymore, spurted out a mouthful of Blood Essence.

This was impossible. How could a nobody who had just entered the Pioneer Sea Realm have a fight with him, a third-stage Pioneer Sea Realm cultivator, and walk away unharmed? Instead, Bai Wufang had vomited blood, even though he had actually been cultivating the Bai Family’s cultivation technique, which was considered a top-class cultivation technique in the True Province.

Geng Ji didn’t care what Bai Wufang thought. The gigantic ax transformed into an ax shadow and swept towards him. Meanwhile, he opened his arms and slashed with a few Thunder Swords.

Boom, boom, boom! The Falling Rain Whip blocked off Geng Ji’s ax shadow once again. Bai Wufang knew in his heart that his abilities couldn’t match up to Geng Ji’s. Geng Ji’s Quintessential Essence was so dense that it seemed even stronger than a late-stage Pioneer Sea Realm cultivator’s. He needed to use other methods to get the Herb King Spirit Meridian.

Bai Wufang had just thought of this, when a number of Thunder Swords slashed down. One of the Thunder Swords pierced his shoulder and dispelled any thought of escaping.

Was this a cultivator from the Lightning Faculty? Bai Wufang immediately shouted in fright, “Hold it! I am Bai Wufang, son of the Domain Lord of the True Province’s Interstellar Domain.”

Bai Wufang had barely finished his sentence when Geng Ji’s gigantic ax slashed across his waist.

Suddenly, a bloody mist exploded. Geng Ji’s ax slashed Bai Wufang right into two, causing a ball of fire to land on Bai Wufang’s Principal Spirit.

“Stop... My father already knows that you have destroyed my body. If you dare burn my...” Bai Wufang stopped abruptly. Geng Ji’s flame had already cocooned his Principal Spirit—he had no chance of escaping now.

Was this the son of the Domain Lord of the True Province’s Interstellar Domain? Brother Jiu had said before that he had to kill off anybody who wanted to kill him. He could never give the other party a chance to catch their breath. Showing mercy on one’s enemy was being cruel to oneself.

In the past, Di Jiu had taught him how to destroy the Qi Family’s Commercial Building. Now that Bai Wufang wanted to kill him, how could he stop? Furthermore, Brother Jiu had told him to never reveal any good items to others. The Herb King Spirit Meridian was really precious. How could he let Bai Wufang live now?

After killing Bai Wufang, Geng Ji tidied up the scene hurriedly. He put away the Herb King Spirit Meridian and picked up Bai Wufang’s ring before speeding off.

Even though Geng Ji had recalled Di Jiu’s words and killed Bai Wufang in time, he still felt unsettled. Bai Wufang’s words hadn’t seemed like complete nonsense. The instant he had killed Bai Wufang, he had felt someone spying on him.

He needed to find Brother Jiu now. Only Brother Jiu would have a solution for this.

Geng Ji kept sending messages to Di Jiu as he walked. There were too many natural restrictions on the Small Central Planet, so the messages sent out could only travel within a certain boundary beyond which they couldn’t be received. One could only call Geng Ji’s method stupid. This method required some luck in order to work after all.

There weren’t any demons or beasts on the Small Central Planet. After all the spirit herbs were taken away by cultivators, most cultivators had gone into seclusion. Thus, Geng Ji didn’t meet any strong opponents along the way.

...

Six months after entering reclusive cultivation, Di Jiu attained the third-stage Life Tribulation Realm. As soon as he did, Di Jiu started to feel that cultivating was getting increasingly difficult.

There were a few supreme-grade spirit meridians piled up by his side in the spirit stone mine. By swallowing an elixir or two from time to time, Di Jiu had advanced from the second-stage to the third-stage Life Tribulation Realm. However, it had still taken him six months.

Based on this, he would need at least a year or so to attain the fourth-stage Life Tribulation Realm. This was provided that he had good potential. If his potential was bad, then advancement would be even more difficult.

Although Di Jiu sighed helplessly, he could only continue his reclusive cultivation. He had just tidied up his thoughts and started preparing to continue cultivating when the communication pearl on his wrist flashed.

Was it Geng Ji? Di Jiu rushed out of his Dharma Array in surprise and landed in front of Geng Ji, who was still busy tunneling forward.

“Brother Jiu!” Upon seeing Di Jiu, Geng Ji got even more excited than Di Jiu. He had finally found Di Jiu after close to six months.

“Come in with me before we speak.” Di Jiu, who could tell that Geng Ji was troubled, waved at him and led him to the spirit stone mine.

“A mine? Are there supreme-grade spirit meridians here?” Geng Ji was stunned by what he saw before him, even though he had seen the world before. He had actually attained the Essence Soul Realm so quickly precisely because he had gotten a Spirit Quintessence Lake at the beginning.

What was in front of him now was a number of supreme-grade spirit meridians and a spirit stone mine.

Suddenly, Geng Ji recalled the Herb King Spirit Meridian he had. He quickly took out the Herb King Spirit Meridian and flung it onto the floor. “Brother Jiu, I got this Herb King Spirit Meridian. Please take a look at it.”

A strong spirit herb aura was emitted from it. Di Jiu, who immediately felt the benefits of the Herb King Spirit Meridian, knew that there was no way of quantifying its value.

“Good stuff! You are lucky you found a Herb King Spirit Meridian!” Di Jiu praised him.

With this Herb King Spirit Meridian, his cultivating speed would increase yet again.

“Brother Jiu, I think I have gotten into trouble.” Geng Ji pointed at the Herb King Spirit Meridian and said, “When I first found this Herb King Spirit Meridian, I just experienced the Tribulation Transcendence and advanced to the Pioneer Sea Realm. Then, a man called Bai Wufang saw this spirit meridian and tried to kill me so he could steal it. Thus, I killed him instead. It was only afterward that I heard the man say that he wasn’t of ordinary origins. I...”

Di Jiu patted Geng Ji. “Killing him was the right decision. Never mind what his origins were. If someone wanted to kill you, what was there to consider? Now tell me, what were the guy’s origins?”

“He said he came from the Interstellar Domain of the True Province. According to him, he was the son of the Domain Lord of the Interstellar Domain.”

As soon as Geng Ji said this, Di Jiu drew a gasp of cold air. He didn’t know how formidable the Interstellar Domain Lord was, but he had seen the Skygold Domain Lord before. The Skygold Domain Lord could send a sixth-stage True Form cultivator flying with just a slap. No matter how inferior the Interstellar Domain Lord was, he couldn’t be much weaker than the Skygold Domain Lord.

Geng Ji had indeed gotten into big trouble—much bigger than the trouble Di Jiu was in.

“What should I do, Brother Jiu?” Geng Ji, who saw that Di Jiu was frowning, realized that things could not be simple.

Di Jiu laughed. “What’s there to be afraid of? We brought down the Qi Family’s Commercial Building when we were just at the Qi Refinement Realm. No matter how far we are from the Interstellar Domain Lord, we can’t be much further off than we were back then. There are still seven years to go before we leave the Small Central Planet. Let’s stay here to cultivate. I don’t believe that the Interstellar Domain Lord can do anything to us right now.”

Di Jiu had sensed dangers lurking all around him all this while. Now that Geng Ji had caused an even bigger crisis, he felt even more anxious to improve his cultivation level. Geng Ji’s potential was not any worse than his. He was at the first-stage Pioneer Sea Realm now. After a few more years of cultivating, Geng Ji would most likely attain the Life Tribulation Realm too.

“I can’t cultivate here, Brother Jiu. I have found a good place that’s more suitable for my cultivation,” said Geng Ji hurriedly.

“What kind of place is that?” Di Jiu looked at Geng Ji doubtfully. Was there any place better than this? This spirit stone mine had supreme-grade spirit meridians and an additional Herb King Meridian. Di Jiu didn’t believe that there could be a better place to cultivate than this.

“It’s a Thunder Canyon,” Geng Ji said. “I perfected the Void Spirit Realm in that Thunder Canyon. It’s a pity I didn’t have the Spirit Rive Elixir, or I would have continued cultivating in it.”

Di Jiu hesitated for a while before he said, “Then let’s go there and cultivate together. Before we do this, let me teach you a few cultivation techniques to protect your own life. There is the Spiritual Force Escape Technique, the Spiritual Force Training Art and the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art.”

Although the Spirit Qi was strong in the spirit stone mine, Di Jiu felt that cultivating there was too boring. He had improved his cultivation level purely for the sake of improving it.

He could now absorb the Thunder Origin. Along with the abundant spirit meridians on him, cultivating in the Thunder Canyon could ignite his potential even more.

“Brother Jiu, I have something here that can be acquired from the Thunder Canyon. Please take a look.” Geng Ji took out an Octagonal Copper Hammer.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force couldn’t permeate the Octagonal Copper Hammer, which meant that it was excellent. His gaze then fell on the surface of the Octagonal Copper Hammer, which was full of engraved words...

“This is a primeval language...” Di Jiu was much more educated than Geng Ji. Thus, the moment he saw the words on the hammer, he recognized this primeval language. This was exactly the same primeval language described in the Book of the World.

“What is a primeval language, Brother Jiu? I have only followed the direction that the Quintessential Essence flowed in the meridians to cultivate. I was able to condense the Thunder Sword. It was by using the Thunder Sword that I killed Bai Wufang,” Geng Ji said, sounding puzzled.

Although Di Jiu knew that this primeval language was a type of cultivation technique, he was not sure if it was a supernormal ability or a magic technique. When Di Jiu heard Geng Ji say that he had produced a Thunder Sword by following the direction of the Quintessential Essence’s flow in the meridians during cultivation, he was dumbfounded. These were supposed to be words that described a magic technique of the Thunder Faculty. How had they become a pictorial figure for cultivating?

Di Jiu forsook his past knowledge on primeval words and forced himself to look at this as a pictorial figure. Indeed, he soon sensed the guidance of the Quintessential Essence’s flow.

“Where did you get this, Geng Ji?” Di Jiu was sure that this Octagonal Copper Hammer was no ordinary object.

“It came from the Thunder Canyon,” answered Geng Ji.