Ninth In the World

“I will not be going to the Granular Sand City. Let’s board the flying boat first.” Di Jiu had no interest in going for a walk in the Granular Sand City, as he did not need to buy anything. His loot from the Qi Family’s Commercial Building was sufficient. He already had everything, so there was no need for him to go to the city.

When he said that, Di Jiu saw Jing Mobing and Wang Zheng scowl. Di Jiu was confused. What had his reluctance to take a walk in the city got to do with them?

Zheng Feisheng, who was stunned for a moment, said, “In that case, we will head back to our rooms and take a break before we go out individually.”

Di Jiu suddenly understood. Jing Mobing and Wang Zheng were very petty. They both thought that he wanted to head to the cabin first to choose a good room for himself.

Di Jiu did not care enough to confront them about this. He had originally intended to head over to the common room to check it out. If the common room was good enough, he’d be satisfied staying there.

After their tickets were checked, the five of them entered the massive flying flying boat. Once he was on board, Di Jiu used his Spiritual Force to scan the large common area on the first floor.

When he assessed his surroundings, Di Jiu finally understood why Zheng Feisheng had wanted to spend such a huge amount of money on a large room.

The common area on the first floor was extremely noisy, even though the flying boat would only be setting off a few days later. He could also clearly see fresh bloodstains at the entrance of the common area, so there mostly likely had been a fight there.

It was indeed quite unsafe to pay 100,000 middle-grade Spirit Stones to sleep in this common room.

Although Room 31 on the second floor could be considered one of the worst large rooms, it was much better than the common area on the first floor.

Di Jiu really wanted to spend some Spirit Stones so he could rent a huge cabin and stay alone. However, he suppressed this thought. The young master of a cultivation family would not possess so many Spirit Stones. If his actions made him stand out, then he might be exposed.

“This room is not bad!” Qi Qian exclaimed joyfully when they entered Room 31. Even though they had only known each other for a short period of time, Di Jiu could tell that Qi Qian was easy to please.

The reason their room was not bad was because it was big enough. The largest areas of the room were the living room and the main cultivation room, which were both bright and spacious.

Everyone looked at Zheng Feisheng. They all naturally wanted the main cultivation room, yet the main cultivation room could only hold one person.

Zheng Feisheng coughed. “We are all Brothers and Sisters in this team. We could even be considered friends who are in the same boat. Junior Sister Bing is the core disciple of the True Li Sword Sect. If she had not accompanied us, she would not have been heading over to the Sky Screen with such a delay. Thus, I suggest that Junior Sister Bing takes the main cultivation room. What do you think?”

Both Wang Zheng and Qi Qian said that they had no qualms about this. Di Jiu, who did not want to bring attention to himself, remained silent.

He actually thought that Jing Mobing would step forward and decline this offer, so he was surprised when she acted as if this was only natural. The woman cupped her fist and thanked the three of them before she entered the main cultivation room.

Was she really that thick-skinned, or did she think that it was natural that she would get the best cultivation room available? Either way, Di Jiu believed that this woman was perfect for the Cultivation World. Her skin was thicker than his when he was in the Pearl City.

“What about you, Daoist Zimo?” Zheng Feisheng asked when he noticed that Di Jiu was silent. Di Jiu’s silence implied that he did not agree with their decision to let Jing Mobing stay in the main cultivation room.

When asked, Di Jiu cupped his fists and answered, “I will head over to the secondary cultivation room. I have been sensing that I am about to make a breakthrough for some time now, so I will be going into reclusive cultivation. I will not leave the room until I succeed.”

The secondary cultivation room was actually not that different from the living room. However, Di Jiu did not want to stay in the pet cultivation room or share the living room with the others.

“Alright, Daoist Zimo will go to the secondary cultivation room. What about you, Junior Brother Wang?” Zheng Feisheng asked Wang Zheng.

Di Jiu really liked Zheng Feisheng. Compared to Jing Mobing’s selfish behavior, Zheng Feisheng was handling this matter fairly.

Wang Zheng pointed to the third cultivation room. “I will go to the other secondary cultivation room.”

This was the pet cultivation room, so its size was similar to that of the secondary cultivation room.

“Alright. In that case, Junior Sister Qi Qian and I will share the living room,” said Zheng Feisheng without hesitation.

Qi Qian, who was very amiable, said happily, “The Spirit Qi on this flying boat is very dense. When we return from the Sky Screen, I have to reach the second-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.”

…

Di Jiu set up a restriction inside his room as soon as he entered it. Then, he set up a Spirit-Hiding Array and a Defense Array.

From what he understood, it would take them six months to travel from the Granular Sand City to the Sky Screen, so he wanted to use that time to attain the seventh-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.

Di Jiu took out several piles of Spirit Stones and started to frantically cultivate. Given his current array formation skills, no matter how big the cultivating disturbance was, thanks to the presence of the level-five Spirit-Hiding Array, he did not have to worry about anyone sensing anything.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye. Although Di Jiu did not go out, he could sense that the flying boat had started to move.

No one disturbed him during his reclusive cultivation, as Di Jiu had said that he was going into seclusion before he had entered the cultivation room.

The piles of Spirit Stones were transformed into pure Spirit Qi by his starry sky meridian when Di Jiu completed a Qi Circulation. This Spirit Qi kept replenishing Di Jiu’s Quintessential Essence. With each passing day, the galaxy within Di Jiu became increasingly clearer. His cultivation also increased substantially.

In just two months, a dense Quintessential Essence Aura broke through the shackles of the sixth-stage Foundation Establishment Realm and Di Jiu attained the seventh-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.

The power of the starry sky meridian allowed Di Jiu to spend some time stabilizing his cultivation after attaining the seventh-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.

Di Jiu took out a pile of Spirit Stones once again. He possessed only a Foundation Establishment Quintessential Flame, so compared to blacksmithing, he would rather continue cultivating.

Just as Di Jiu was done preparing the Spirit Stones and was about to start cultivating, the restriction at the entrance was triggered.

Di Jiu frowned. Before he had entered this reclusive cultivation, he had said that he was not to be interrupted. Who would trigger his restriction? His Spiritual Force scanned the area outside. Qi Qian, Jing Mobing and Wang Zheng were standing there. The one who had triggered the restriction was Qi Qian.

If Wang Zheng or Jing Mobing had dared trigger his restriction, he would have used his title as a young cultivation master and flown off the handle. However, he was not as angry with Qi Qian for triggering the restriction.

Di Jiu put away the Spirit Stones and used a dusting spell on himself. Then, he opened the restrictions and walked out of the cultivation room.

“I’m in the middle of my seclusion, Junior Sister Qi Qian. What’s the matter?” Although Di Jiu was not angry with her, he still needed to clarify why she had called him out without a reason.

“I’m really sorry, Senior Brother Zimo,” Qi Qian said fearfully. “I disrupted your reclusive cultivation because I had no other choice…”

When he saw Qi Qian’s panic-stricken state, Di Jiu waved his hand and said, “We are all in the same team heading towards the Sky Screen. You can tell me anything. I will help in any way I can. By the way, where did Daoist Zheng go?”

Qi Qian rubbed her eyes and said, “Something happened to Senior Brother Zheng. I could not find anyone else that could help…”

“What happened exactly?” inquired Di Jiu. When they had boarded, Zheng Feisheng had warned everyone not to go out without a valid reason, as fights were allowed on the flying boat.

How could something happen to Zheng Feisheng, when he had been the one to warn them? Di Jiu refused to believe that something could have happened to Zheng Feisheng while Zheng Feisheng had been in reclusive cultivation.

“In the morning, Senior Brother Zheng told me that he heard that a Foundation Quintessential Elixir had appeared on the flying boat. He is about to reach the third-stage Foundation Establishment Realm, so he needed a Foundation Quintessential Elixir in order to succeed. Hence, he went over to seek and purchase a Foundation Quintessential Elixir. I sent him a message in the afternoon, but he did not reply. When I went to the flying boat market to look for him, I discovered that something had happened to him…” said Qi Qian, frightened.

“What had happened?” Di Jiu finally understood.

Zheng Feisheng had indeed desperately needed a Foundation Quintessential Elixir, so it was not surprising that he had gone to seek and purchase one. Whoever had delivered this message to Zheng Feisheng must have known that he needed that elixir. Who could that person be?

“After asking around, I found out that Senior Brother Zheng did not purchase the Foundation Quintessential Elixir. Instead, he sought and purchased a Blood Quintessential Herb. Soon afterwards, he was injured and abducted by some people for unknown reasons. The ransom is 100,000 high-grade Spirit Stones…” When she reached this point, Qi Qian could not continue anymore.

They might be staying in a room worth 40,000 high-grade Spirit Stones, but they had accumulated these Spirit Stones after a long time. They would never be able to get so many Spirit Stones. Plus, even if they could, they would not want to spend them on this.

She had already asked Senior Sister Jing Mobing and Senior Brother Wang Zheng, but both of them had made excuses and implied that they were unable to spend so many Spirit Stones in one go.

She had been extremely helpless, which was why she had asked Di Jiu, who had joined the team last minute, for help. If even acquaintances were unwilling to spend that amount of Spirit Stones though, why would a stranger like Di Jiu do it?

Di Jiu’s eyes landed on Jing Mobing and Wang Zheng, who were both top-notch disciples of the True Li Sword Sect. Judging by the Dharma treasures they occasionally used, Di Jiu believed that they were able to contribute some Spirit Stones to this cause.

“If we need 100,000 high-grade Spirit Stones, then we should pool together any Spirit Stones we have. I intend to pool together the right amount of Spirit Stones before I ask his captors why they are doing this. Perhaps the Spirit Stones will not be needed in the end.” Di Jiu thought that Zheng Feisheng was not bad. The man liked to wear a white robe and show off. He also liked to stand out whenever he did something. In addition, he was willing to make sacrifices to make sure that every member of the team was happy.

In other words, Zheng Feisheng liked being a leader.