Ninth In the World

Jing Moshuang had just attained the Foundation Establishment Realm. When her Galaxy Pearl and the galaxy inside her meridian merged together, the Galaxy Pearl became clear and lustrous and lines of words appeared on it.

“Quintessential Essence transforms into Essence Energy and forges itself into the foundation. This is the beginning of the galaxy that transforms into the first star…”

Jing Moshuang was shocked. This was the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation technique she had always dreamed of. She had rushed back to the sect to attain the Foundation Establishment so that the sect would regard her highly. Then, she would be able to become an inner sect disciple and attain a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation technique. She had not expected that she would obtain a cultivation technique as soon as she attained the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Jing Moshuang was no longer the greenhorn she used to be, the person who had started cultivating with no knowledge or experience. She knew very well where the Galaxy Pearl had come from. It belonged to the founding ancestor of the Galaxy Sect, which meant that the Galaxy Art recorded on the Galaxy Pearl was even more detailed than the Galaxy Sect’s cultivation technique. It was said that the Galaxy Sect used to be a large-scale sect in the distant past, so perhaps when the Galaxy Pearl had been lost, it had caused the sect to decline.

If she had known that she could obtain a cultivation technique from the Galaxy Pearl when she broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Jing Moshuang would definitely not have returned to the Galaxy Sect.

Jing Moshuang sighed. She decided to head to the Cultivation Hall to obtain a new cultivation technique before leaving the sect and searching for Di Jiu.

“Is sect disciple Jing Moshuang forging her foundation?” A deep voice echoed, full of the fondness and joy of an elder towards a member of the younger generation.

Jing Moshuang used a dusting spell hurriedly, opened the simple Defense Array and walked out of the room.

A gray-robed, middle-aged man stood several meters outside her room. Although Jing Moshuang did not recognize him, she still bowed respectfully. “I’m outer sect disciple Jing Moshuang. Greetings, Elder. I did indeed successfully attain the Foundation Establishment Realm. Although I obtained a Foundation Establishment Elixir when I was outside, I was worried that it would not be safe to use there, so I came back and unexpectedly succeeded in one try.”

“That is great.” The gray-robed, middle-aged man laughed and said, “I am not an Elder. I am the Galaxy Sect’s current Sect Master, He Hui.”

Jing Moshuang was stunned. Wasn’t the Sect Master of the Galaxy Sect Xiang Tianyi? She could still recognize Sect Master Xiang. Since when had the Sect Master of the Galaxy Sect changed?

When he saw Jing Moshuang’s expression, He Hui knew what she was thinking about. He immediately waved his hand casually and said, “Due to some health issues, I have taken over Sect Master Xiang’s position. I would first like to congratulate you on attaining the Foundation Establishment Realm. You can now head to the Administrative Hall to fill in the papers, complete the procedure and get promoted to an inner sect disciple. Then, you can head to the Cultivation Hall to receive a new cultivation technique… Oh, I remember now. You are Jing Moshuang, the disciple that Brother Yu praised!”

Although He Hui’s words did not make complete sense, Jing Moshuang understood what he meant, so she bowed hurriedly again. “I feel a little embarrassed. I have not been here for a few years, so I did not recognize the sect master. Elder Yu had been joking back then. My potential is not good enough for me to accept such a high praise.”

He Hui’s expression became strict. “No matter how good the opportunities you were given were, if you were able to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm after being in the sect for little more than three years, your potential must be exceptional. I would like to discuss something with you. After you become an inner sect disciple, you can head to the Stardust Peak. I’ll meet you there.”

He Hui had to be the only sect master capable of speaking pleasantly to a disciple. He was very approachable and he truly respected Jing Moshuang’s potential. It was no longer a question of how good or bad one’s potential was. Anyone who was able to attain the Foundation Establishment Realm in three years had to be a true genius.

The Sky Screen was about to open. This time, the Galaxy Sect would send its 10 most outstanding Qi Refinement realm disciples and its 10 most outstanding Foundation Establishment Realm disciples to fight for a slot.

Jing Moshuang had just attained the Foundation Establishment Realm, so she obviously could not represent the sect in the fight for the slots. However, given her exceptional potential, the sect master intended to let her enter the Sky Screen if the sect obtained any additional slots.

Only a genius like Jing Moshuang would be able to improve the most there.

If the light that shone on Jing Moshuang by providence was insufficient, then she would meet her doom in the Sky Screen. Cultivation had always been a fight for survival. No cultivators could succeed if they hid in their homes all day. However, he still planned on letting Jing Moshuang decide for herself.

“I will obey. How has Elder Yu been?” Jing Moshuang quickly changed the topic, as she did not wish to continue discussing her potential with He Hui.

When he heard her question, He Hui sighed. “Elder Yu died a few years ago.”

“Oh!” Jing Moshuang exclaimed in surprise. She did not speak for a while.

She had heard that Elder Yu Jingyan had been an expert at the night-stage Golden Core Realm. How could he meet his doom considering the strength he possessed?

“It’s a long story that involves you as well. I will tell you when you come to the Stardust Peak.” He Hui sighed before he turned around and walked away slowly.

Jing Moshuang thought that his figure looked solemn and desolate. Her heart suddenly grew heavy for no reason.

She did not feel any pleasure for achieving her goal anymore.

…

The Brook Border City was an extremely small city.

Of course, a city, no matter how small, always had its own inns and commercial buildings. There were only two inns in the Brook Border City, including one called the Brook Border Inn.

In one of the suites on the fourth floor of the Brook Border Inn, Di Jiu let out a breath.

The injuries he had received a month ago in the cave abode of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building had completely disappeared. Although the hunchback had plotted against him, he had still obtained a good amount of loot.

He would deal with the hunchback when the time came. For now, he needed to organize and take stock of his harvest. He was not anxious about going to the Sky Screen yet.

He and Geng Ji had discussed this and decided that if Di Jiu did not show up within two days, Geng Ji would leave and head directly to the Sky Screen first.

In the 19 storage bags of the Golden Core cultivators was a total of 2.6 million high-grade Spirit Stones, 34 million middle-grade Spirit Stones and nearly 30 million low-grade Spirit Stones.

This wealth was enough to make Di Jiu extremely rich. He was probably as rich as an Essence Soul cultivator now.

Other than the Spirit Stones, Di Jiu had also attained a stack of level-four and other low-level spiritual herbs. Di Jiu gave all these herbs to Little Tree.

After finding out about the side-effects of consuming elixirs, Di Jiu had decided to never use elixirs to increase his cultivation. Not unless he had no other choice.

There was also a huge stack of blacksmithing and array flag materials. Di Jiu kept these materials with the intention of using them to make a weapon.

As he thought about blacksmithing, Di Jiu immediately thought of the flame the hunchback had taken away. If he’d had that flame, he would definitely have been able to create a high-grade or supreme-grade dharma weapon.

Given the improvement of his blacksmithing skills, he believed that his own flame was insufficient. The current flame he was using was a mere Foundation Establishment Quintessential Flame. This kind of flame was basically trash when it came to blacksmithing.

No matter how pure his Quintessential Essence was, his cultivation level was still at the Foundation Establishment Realm, so the ferocity of his flame was very limited.

What Di Jiu liked the most was the pile of jade slips he had acquired. Geng Ji’s Thunder Sword and two fists, as well as Di Jiu’s Gathering Peaks and Furious Waves, had all been obtained from similar jade slips. It was also thanks to jade slips like these that his array formation and blacksmithing had improved so rapidly.

The jade slips he had obtained previously had come from a desolate branch of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building. However, this time, he had gotten some jade slips from the main branch of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and from 19 Golden Core cultivators.

Thus, Di Jiu had very high expectations for this pile of jade slips.

It always took him the longest to sort out the jade slips, as he would look through every single jade slip once, read it in detail and discover whether it was useful to him.

No matter where he was, Di Jiu always believed that knowledge trumped everything.

It did not matter how sly or cunning the hunchback was. If Di Jiu’s knowledge and experience caught up with or even surpassed the hunchback’s, there would come a day when he would take revenge on the old man.

Di Jiu was not a person one could easily take advantage of.

The highest-level Dharma Array in the array formation jade slips was a level-five Dharma Array. The common knowledge in these jade slips was useless to Di Jiu, yet he was very interested in the Dharma Array setup techniques and some other unusual techniques.

As far as the elixir, blacksmithing and talisman jade slips were concerned, Di Jiu cared more about the blacksmithing jade slips. Just like with the array formation jade slips, he had to look through all the blacksmithing jade slips carefully.

The reason he was able to make a top-notch middle-grade dharma weapon by using the Foundation Establishment Quintessential Flame was because he had read many blacksmithing jade slips and gained a lot of blacksmithing insight.

Di Jiu cared the least about cultivation technique jade slips, so he pushed them all aside after looking through them once.

He was also interested in magic technique jade slips, because that was how he had obtained his two fist moves. One of the Golden Core cultivators he had killed had even said that his fist moves were not magic techniques, but divine powers.

Di Jiu had heard of divine powers, but had not seen one yet. It was true, however, that his two fist techniques were much stronger than the average magic technique.

Di Jiu sieved through one magic technique jade slip after another. Soon, he selected an ancient jade slip titled Void Life-Force.

Di Jiu did not find the name Void Life-Force very formidable. He was actually intrigued because this old jade slip included the words ‘supernormal ability’.

Di Jiu did not remember how many magic technique jade slips he had obtained ever since he had become an enemy of the Qi Family. However, this was the first time he had seen the words ‘supernormal ability’ on a jade slip.