Ninth In the World

Di Jiu estimated that, due to the dislocation and chaos of the space, it was highly possible that he was no longer in the Vile Soul Valley. He could even be extremely far away from it.

As he was parting the sand and moving outside, his Colossal Kun Art circulated to its maximum. Di Jiu’s theory was proven true. When he left his original position, several spatial wind blades swept towards him again.

Di Jiu had an easier time facing these spatial wind blades now.

The Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art formed a ring of feeble light on his skin. When the spatial blade flares landed on this light, their killing aura was immediately blocked. Even when the flares entered Di Jiu’s body, they were quickly converted into another form of body-tempering essence energy that tempered Di Jiu’s flesh body.

Di Jiu was extremely pleased. He had not expected that the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art could also be used as a barrier. When his flesh body reached a certain level, thanks to the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art, he would no longer need to use spirit armors or defensive dharma treasures. His flesh body would sufficiently fulfill the role of an ultimate defensive layer.

At first, Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force extended outwards in an attempt to sense the direction of the exit. Later, Di Jiu forgot completely about leaving the place and kept moving around amid the storm of spatial wind blades. He endured the various spatial wind blades and allowed them to temper his flesh body relentlessly.

Within several days, his flesh body had reached the Master Realm of the Three-Master Realm. After attaining the Master Realm, his flesh body was condensed and his bones carried an essence energy circuit.

Di Jiu did not stop tempering his body. Instead, he attempted to enter the first realm of the Three-Monarch Realm, which was called the Void Realm. After he attained the Three-Monarch Realm, he would most likely be able to go to the flaming mountain and take the flame.

Di Jiu spent all his time going through a cultivating and body-tempering routine.

A spatial rift suddenly appeared in front of him. While Di Jiu was able to use the spatial blade flares to temper his body, he would still die if he encountered a spatial rift or dislocation. Spatial blade flares and spatial rifts and dislocations were two different concepts.

Fortunately, Di Jiu’s walking speed was not very fast, as he wanted to temper his body. Hence, he was able to frantically move his body away when his Spiritual Force sensed a spatial rift that posed a deadly threat.

As a result, the spatial rift brushed past Di Jiu’s leg bone.

A bloody mist suddenly erupted as Di Jiu’s leg bone was split in two. Di Jiu almost lost his leg.

He was certain that this spatial rift that had suddenly appeared was related to the tree leaf. Before he could erupt in anger, a second spatial rift appeared in front of him. This time, he rushed into the rift without hesitation. If he had hesitated a moment longer, he would have lost. He could not allow a second spatial rift to brush past his body.

The sound of bones cracking was heard. The moment Di Jiu landed into the spatial rift, his flesh body upgraded once again. His bones were suddenly covered by a layer of transparent, gentle light.

Meanwhile, the leg bone that had been split open by the spatial rift healed instantly.

Di Jiu was in an extreme state of pleasant surprise. He had managed to break through to the Void Realm of the Three-Monarch Realm at such a crucial moment. Watch out, tree leaf. One day, he would find that leaf and crush it to bits.

Although the surrounding spatial blade flares had disappeared, Di Jiu sensed that something was amiss. He should have seen a foggy area or some light after exiting that place, yet his surroundings were pitch-black and the Spirit Qi there was much weaker than in the Sky Screen.

This was…

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force swept out. He quickly determined that he was no longer in the Sky Screen.

It had to be because of that spatial rift. He had rushed into the rift in order to escape getting torn apart. Although he had managed to escape the terrifying consequences of being torn to pieces by the spatial rift, he must have left the Sky Screen and entered another spatial realm.

His surroundings were pitch-black. When his Spiritual Force scanned the area, Di Jiu discovered that he was surrounded by vacuum.

As he stood in the same spot, he felt like he was underground, yet not quite so.

Di Jiu did not take out any flying dharma treasures. Instead, he moved carefully. Half a day later, he stopped moving once again. Based on his understanding of the Law, the aura of the Underground Law had to be here.

This place was definitely not the Sky Screen. Here, he could not sense the aura of Little Tree or the beetle.

Di Jiu used his Spiritual Force to move upwards at a high speed. After moving like this for half a day, he suspected that he had yet to reach the 300-meter mark.

This was provided that his Spiritual Force was condensed and his cultivation had reached the second-stage Essence Soul Realm.

Di Jiu attempted using the Forging Spiritual Art to temper his Spiritual Force while flying up. When he succeeded in moving upwards, he would be able to know where he was exactly.

The more Di Jiu used the Forging Spiritual Art, the more he felt that the Forging Spiritual Art was not simple. The Forging Spiritual Art could temper one’s Spiritual Force and condense it. What made him feel pleasantly surprised about this was that his Spiritual Force could grow if he used the Forging Spiritual Art.

A few days passed, yet Di Jiu had only moved a few kilometers. He slapped himself on the head. Why had he not used the Spiritual Force escape technique instead of flying up so slowly?

He was truly ignorant. Wasn’t the purpose of using the Forging Spiritual Art to temper his Spiritual Force for the Spiritual Force escape technique?

His Spiritual Force extended outwards. Despite the surrounding boundless darkness, Di Jiu still activated the Spiritual Force escape technique.

Boom! As soon as he cast the Spiritual Force escape technique, a terrifying strength hammered at him. Di Jiu knew that this was bad. That strength immediately caused him to drop down like a shooting star.

Di Jiu’s original intention had been to cast the Spiritual Force escape technique and rush out of this void darkness to see where he was exactly. However, he had not expected that rather than rushing out, he would be forced to a lower point than before he had cast the Spiritual Force escape technique.

Di Jiu kept stimulating his Quintessential Essence and Principal Spirit. He only managed to stop his free fall when he had been dropping down for several days.

Once his body was stabilized, his Spiritual Force scanned the area swiftly. He immediately discovered that he was only a few meters from the ground.

Was this an underground world or a pitch-black, void-like world? Di Jiu decided to land on the ground while his Spiritual Force spread and scanned the area.

A skeleton-like man suddenly appeared in his Spiritual Force. The man was seated cross-legged with a small pile of array flags in front of him.

When Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force landed on the pile of array flags, he immediately sensed that they were not refinable.

“Huh? Did someone actually land here without dying? Come here, young man,” said the skeleton suddenly while Di Jiu was wondering if it was dead or alive.

Di Jiu, who was shocked, quickly made a decision. Given the skeleton’s strength, it would be able to kill Di Jiu easily.

When he thought of this, Di Jiu decided to walk over boldly. Thus, he cupped his fists, bowed and said, “I accidentally trespassed on your turf, sir. Please pardon me. I was looking for a way out of here, but I have yet to find one.”

The skeleton sighed. “It’s hard to get out once you’re here. Alas, I will help you when the time comes. Can you tell me how many True Form Realm Cultivators there are now in the Night Star Continent, young man?”

Night Star Continent? True Form Realm Cultivators?

Dazed, Di Jiu paused for a while before he replied, “Sir, the highest cultivation realm I’ve heard of is the Pioneer Sea Realm. There’s no such thing as a True Form Realm Cultivator. Besides, we’re in the Polar Night Continent, not the Night Star Continent.”

The skeleton was also in a daze for a very long time. Eventually, it sighed again and muttered, “It’s part of human nature to be greedy. There will come a day when humankind is exterminated by its greed.”

“Sir…” Di Jiu was a little baffled.

The skeleton came back to its senses and sighed. “The Polar Night Continent was originally a part of the Night Star Continent. At some point, the Night Star Continent was unintentionally split into two by a Galaxy Realm Cultivator, thus forming the Polar Night Continent and the Half-Screen Continent. At first, the Polar Night Continent was flourishing. However, ever since the split, its providence light had dispersed and its Law had become incomplete. I thought that the continent would be much weaker, but I did not expect that there would not even be a single True Form Realm Cultivator. The highest cultivation level is only the Pioneer Sea Realm? That’s awful…”

Di Jiu silently thought that this was an impassioned old skeleton. Despite its high cultivation, it was actually weeping for the Polar Night Continent.

The skeleton cried for a while before it said to itself, “Ever since that incident, I have been trying my best to repair the two continents in the Polar Night Sky Market in hopes that the Half-Screen Continent and the Polar Night Continent will become one again. Numerous years have passed, yet I have not succeeded. Every time I would try, the Spirit Stones and spirit meridians I scattered would all be seized. As a result, I have not even been able to start repairing…”

“This is the Polar Night Sky Market?’ Di Jiu finally reacted. After entering that void rift, not only had he left the Sky Screen, but he had actually arrived at the Polar Night Sky Market, which was several miles away from the Sky Screen.

Should he be happy that he had escaped death or depressed that he had not obtained many items?

He had originally planned to start cultivating the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art so he could have more than a 60 percent chance of obtaining that flame and getting the saber in the Heaven Saber Sect.

What use would it be if he left the Sky Screen, but failed to take Little Tree with him?

He had heard of the Polar Night Sky Market before. The merging of the Polar Night Continent and the Half-Screen Continent would always result in the appearance of many spirit meridians, Spirit Stones, dharma treasures, and top-notch array flags.

Like any other cultivator, Di Jiu had assumed that this was just a mystic area hidden in the void. Now, he finally understood that these items were scattered by this respectful skeleton in preparation for repairing the two continents.

Di Jiu was about to ask the skeleton why he did not go out for the repairs and chose to hide underneath the Sky Market instead, when his Spiritual Force sensed a long, thin chain underneath the skeleton. This chain was evidently holding the skeleton in place.

“I highly admire your lofty decorum, sir. Please command me if you need any help.” Di Jiu bowed. This time, he was being sincerely respectful of the skeleton-like cultivator.

When he heard Di Jiu’s words, the skeleton said self-mockingly, “He he… Decorum…”