Ninth In the World

Half a month later, Di Jiu still had not found a good opportunity.

He did not dare cultivate, so he could only stay at the Heaven Spine Rest Building and study the array formation. Back on the Fairy Planet, Di Jiu had actually been a fourth-level array formation master. However, he did not have much experience refining array flags, so he had only crossed into the fourth array formation level theoretically.

During the past few years, Di Jiu had arranged various Dharma Arrays at almost every battle with an enemy, so he had already gained his own insight on Dharma Arrays. Except for the initial Dharma Arrays that he had arranged, his Dharma Arrays were not limited to what he had learned. He had actually added something original to each Dharma Array.

Di Jiu’s array formation level was already at the peak of the fourth level, so he could become a fifth-level array formation master any time now. After spending half a month studying, his array formation level entered the fifth level without any hindrance.

During the past year, Di Jiu had studied more than 1,000 jade slips associated with array formation. Thus, he knew that there were very few seventh-level array formation grandmasters in the entire Polar Night Continent. Even sixth-level array formation masters were rare. If he was able to become a fifth-level array formation master, then he would rank really high in array formation in the Polar Night Continent.

In the Ji Nation, no one had compared to Di Jiu when it came to learning about anything apart from cultivation. However, Di Jiu knew very well that his array formation had not reached these heights in just five or six years because of his natural learning ability, but because of the gray stone.

According to his understanding of the array formation, most people could spend a lifetime studying and still be unable to become fourth-level array formation masters. Anyone who did lived for at least 200 years.

There was no way that he was smarter than everyone else on the continent.

“Brother Jiu, I found an opportunity!” Geng Jihua’s excited voice came from the door.

“Is the Essence Soul of the Qi Family gone?” Di Jiu asked joyfully.

They would only get a chance to rob the Qi Family’s Commercial Building in the North Ridge City when the Essence Soul Expert left this place.

“Yes, the Essence Soul expert is definitely gone,” Geng Jihua said affirmatively. “The Polar Night Continent will be opening the Sky Screen, so many experts will go there. I saw the Essence Soul Expert leave the city with my own eyes.”

“What is the Sky Screen?” asked Di Jiu.

While he had been studying the array formation, Geng Jihua had been gathering information outside.

“I just found out about this,” Geng Jihua said with a hint of excitement. “It has been rumored that the Polar Night Continent has a mysterious secret territory called the Sky Screen. Many people say that the Sky Screen is not within the Polar Night Continent, so its opening time is not fixed. Therefore, every time the Sky Screen opens, all the cultivators in the Polar Night Continent celebrate. Do you know why there are so many Essence Soul cultivators in the Qi Family? Almost all the Essence Soul cultivators of the Qi Family have come from the previous Sky Screen of the Polar Night Continent. There are countless cultivation resources and treasures, so some people dream of robbing the Sky Screen.”

“When was the last time the Sky Screen was opened?” Di Jiu suddenly wanted to go to the Sky Screen more than he wanted to deal with the Qi Family’s Commercial Building. The Sky Screen was where he should be.

“570 years ago. I heard that the cultivators who entered the Sky Screen must be less than 100 years old. Unfortunately, we won’t get a chance to go in,” Geng Jihua said reluctantly.

“Why not?” Di Jiu asked in confusion. “The Sky Screen is not owned by anyone. Can’t we enter if we meet all the conditions?”

“No.” Geng Jihua shook his head. “There are almost no stray cultivators in the Sky Screen. Even the few that exist are a minority. The majority of the people who enter the Sky Screen are sect disciples. Before anyone enters the Sky Screen, there is a competition among the major sects. The participants are genius disciples from the various major sects. The number of people who enter the Sky Screen from each major sect are determined based on this competition.”

Di Jiu finally understood why Geng Jihua had said that they were not qualified to enter the Sky Screen. They were stray cultivators, so they could not compete on the behalf of any sect.

“I don’t care if we are eligible to go or not. After we destroy the Qi Family’s Commercial Building in the North Ridge City, we will go check out the Sky Screen.” Di Jiu immediately made up his mind. If he did not enter that place, he would not be happy.

“Alright, wherever you go, I will follow,” Geng Jihua said excitedly. Thanks to Di Jiu’s influence, he was no longer an innocent teenager. The Sky Screen was a place everyone wanted to visit, so it would be strange if he did not want to go.

“You need to learn more about Fulu. Your advancement is too slow. I’m going to go outside the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and arrange the array formation,” Di Jiu said before patting Geng Jihua.

He had focused on studying the array formation, so he was now a fifth-level array formation master. Meanwhile, the Tiny Treant had been studying alchemy. After practising on countless low-grade spirit herbs, it could now refine a second-grade Spirit Elixir. Geng Jihua had made the slowest progress. His fast cultivation speed aside, despite using a lot of materials, he could barely refine a first-grade Fulu.

“I have no talent for that, Brother Jiu.” He touched the back of his head in embarrassment.

“I am leaving first.” Although Di Jiu did not care about the improvement of Geng Jihua’s Fulu, he had always believed that one should master more than one skill.

…

The Qi Family’s Commercial Building in the North Ridge City was majestic indeed. Di Jiu’s mental strength was isolated, so he paced around the building before he got a full view of its surroundings.

This was the largest commercial building he had ever seen. In most commercial buildings, spiritual herbs, elixirs and Dharma treasures were only at different departments. However, at the Qi Family’s Commercial Building, they were on different floors.

Elixirs, dharma treasures and cultivation techniques had their own corresponding floor. In addition, there were also leisure floors and various cave abodes that the Qi Family cultivated in.

All these floors were linked by high-altitude, suspended corridors similar to the massive malls on Earth. This was a place where people could both spend money and relax.

Di Jiu was now a fifth-level array formation master, so after observing his surroundings, he began to quietly arrange a killing array and an Explosive Array.

The Defense Array of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building was on the fifth floor. Di Jiu did not simply arrange an Explosive Array like he had before. He was going to spend a few more days arranging a true fifth-level killing array and a fifth-level Explosive Array. Even though all the array flags were made of materials provided by the Qi Family’s Commercial Building, he did not feel bad at all.

Di Jiu had just started arranging an array foundation, when he heard a sneer behind him.

Shocked, he quickly reacted by running a few dozen meters before unconsciously turning back. There was no need for him to use his mental strength. In front of him stood a guy with messy hair and clothes that looked like they hadn’t been changed in a long time. The guy, who even seemed to smell, was a hunchback. It looked like Di Jiu had reached a dead end.

However, he did not regard this guy as a dead end, as he did not know how strong he was yet. Given his current knowledge, he could even have sensed if a perfected Golden Core cultivator had been standing in front of him. If he couldn’t sense the strength of the guy in front of him, then this guy had to be an Essence Soul cultivator or a cultivator above the Essence Soul Realm.

“You must be very brave. You have destroyed several branches of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and are now trying to destroy the Qi Family’s northern province headquarters in the North Ridge City. Ha ha ha ha… You are one of the boldest guys I have met in my long life…”

Di Jiu’s heart sank. He suddenly felt his scalp go a little numb. He instinctively wanted to retreat, so his mind flashed with countless ways to escape. Soon, he was despondent to discover that none of those ways would allow him to escape from the old man in front of him.

“Don’t think about escaping. If you flee right before me, then I might as well close my eyes and bury myself,” the old man, who seemed to sense Di Jiu’s thoughts, said disdainfully.

Di Jiu had only one regret in his heart at the moment. He had not realized how important an escape technique was until that day. If he survived this, he would abandon everything else to learn an escape technique.

“I don’t know who you are, sir, and I don’t understand what you are saying.” Di Jiu clenched his fist. Although he knew that his denial was useless, he still didn’t want to admit to anything.

The old man waved his hand. “It doesn’t matter who I am. I am sure that even if I didn’t appear and you arranged your killing array and Explosive Array, you would still die the moment you entered the Qi Family’s Commercial Building. You are really ignorant and fearless. Do you know how many Golden Core Guards there are inside this building? There is even an Essence Soul cultivator. How dare you come here to cause trouble. Do you have a death wish?”

As soon as he said this, the old man started laughing. “You must be glad that you destroyed four branches of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building in a month. If you try to destroy a fifth one though, you will die before you do any more ignorant, fearless things.”

“It was you…” Di Jiu finally understood who had framed him for robbing the other three Qi Family’s Commercial Buildings.