Ninth In the World

This was the first time Di Jiu was witnessing experts of this caliber fighting, so he was shocked. He was currently a mere fifth-stage Essence Soul Realm cultivator. Thus, even if he were to break through to the Void Spirit Realm, he would only be able to escape if he had to face Hong Kui. This man was really formidable.

Just as Di Jiu thought that Dong Youjian would definitely move out of the way by using a body technique, Dong Youjian’s hand seal spread in the air like a blooming flower and several hundreds of sword flares shot out along with it.

At first, Di Jiu thought that this was a magic technique or secret supernormal ability of Dong Youjian’s. However, when he used his Spiritual Force to see clearly, he realized that these sword flares were no illusion, which meant that Dong Youjian had thrown out at least several hundred swords this time.

Di Jiu felt even more astounded. The Spiritual Force of a cultivator had certain limitations. One had to be a Spiritual Force expert to be able to use three Dharma treasures to both defend and attack during a battle. It was absolutely impossible to use several hundred swords at the same time like Dong Youjian was.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The metal hammer and several hundred sword flares clashed against each other. As the spectators were watching, Hong Kui ripped open this rain of swords, but did not appear. In fact, Hong Kui’s twin hammers had been engulfed by Dong Youjian’s swords.

How did he do this?

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force was powerful. Hong Kui’s and Dong Youjian’s strength might surpass his, but he was able to see everything clearly thanks to his Spiritual Force. Dong Youjian was using a Dharma Array, or a sword array, to be more precise.

Di Jiu’s horizons broadened when he saw Dong Youjian use a sword array to envelop Hong Kui’s gigantic metal hammers. He had always thought that array formations were just used for support. However, he finally understood that array formations could also be used against one’s opponents. Dong Youjian’s sword array had obviously used his Spiritual Force to its maximum. A secret technique had to be applied to make several hundred swords revolve around the sword array. Hence, not much Spiritual Force was necessary to keep it working.

If he had the chance to have a chat with Dong Youjian, Di Jiu would surely benefit from their conversation.

The saying that “traveling brought far greater benefits than mere book learning” was true indeed.

If he had remained in a small place like the Polar Night Continent, he would not have been able to bear witness to such an exciting battle.

As the Quintessential Essence around Hong Kui surged with a roar, his pair of metal hammers were about to tear apart Dong Youjian’s sword array. Di Jiu was well-versed in array formations. Although he did not know how Dong Youjian had managed to use his Spiritual Force to maintain his sword array, he knew that this sword array was a Level-Five Rain Screen Array. Thus, this Dharma Array was the best material to be used as a sword array during a battle.

Even though it was evident that Dong Youjian’s Quintessential Essence was not as dense as Hong Kui’s, Hong Kui’s metal hammers were about to be freed from the sword array.

Dong Youjian would definitely lose as soon as this happened.

Almost everyone thought that Dong Youjian was going to lose. Hong Kui’s eyes revealed his killing intent. It seemed like he intended to kill Dong Youjian as soon as his metal hammers were freed from Dong Youjian’s sword array.

Di Jiu frowned. He would have attacked Hong Kui right away if they had been at a different location. Even though he was not aware of the local regulations, he knew that he would be signing his death sentence the moment he partook in a battle between two experts on the Dao Roll. Unfortunately, Dong Youjian’s ability was limited, so his sword array could only envelop Hong Kui’s metal hammers. It was not capable of enveloping Hong Kui as well. Otherwise, Hong Kui would definitely have died.

It now seemed like he would have to flee. Hong Kui’s strength surpassed his by far, so killing Hong Kui while Hong Kui was prepared would be wishful thinking.

Dong Youjian seemed to know that he was in a disadvantageous position. As he let out a long roar, all his Blood Essence surged and several hundred sword flares appeared once again. The sword flares merged into the Level-Five Rain Screen Array in an instant, while the killing aura of the array’s sword flares immediately increased tremendously and the sword aura became way denser.

Was this a Level-Six Violent Wind-Killing Sword Array? Di Jiu immediately confirmed that this was indeed a sword array altered from a Level-Six Violent Wind-killing array. It seemed like Dong Youjian’s array formation skills were not bad either. He had to be at least a Level-Seven Array King.

Di Jiu believed that Dong Youjian lacked enough Quintessential Essence and Spiritual Force. Otherwise, he would not have had to burn his Blood Essence to be able to cast the Level-Six Violent Wind-Killing Sword Array.

The hammers, which were about to escape from the Rain Screen Array, were once again being oppressed. Hong Kui’s expression changed as he punched out.

Bam! When his punch landed on Dong Youjian’s defensive Quintessential Essence, Dong Youjian opened his mouth and spat out blood. Meanwhile, the red sword on his back transformed into a red flare and shot towards Hong Kui.

The surrounding crowd got very excited. No one had expected that the battle between Hong Kui and Dong Youjian would be so fast and thrilling. They had only been exchanging blows for a short period of time, yet the winner had already been determined. The two of them were obviously attacking with all their might, without probing each other’s strength.

Hong Kui grunted. His Quintessential Essence surged and reached out as he took out a hammer made out of a wolf’s fang.

Di Jiu sneered coldly. He knew that Dong Youjian would come out victorious. Hong Kui’s Quintessential Essence might surpass Dong Youjian’s, but Hong Kui should have been trying to dodge and defend himself instead of retaliating. This fella did not know what it meant to die. He was only thinking of experiencing a beautiful victory. If he actively attacked Dong Youjian, he would be basically committing suicide. Dong Youjian would definitely not stop at burning his Blood Essence to create the Level-Six Violent Wind-killing array.

As expected, Hong Kui’s wolf fang hammer had yet to smash against Dong Youjian when the Level-Six Violent Wind-Killing Sword Array enveloping his twin hammers suddenly surged at the frenzied sword flares. The sword flares seemed like a tornado tearing apart Hong Kui’s Quintessential Essence barrier.

Hong Kui did not know what to do right now. However, before he could react, the red sword transformed into a red flare and swept at Hong Kui’s neck.

Flesh blood started spurting as soon as Hong Kui’s head landed on the ground. Meanwhile, his consciousness was thinking that he would only need three more breaths, no, just one more breath…

When Dong Youjian took Hong Kui’s ring, his body stretched and he disappeared out of the Sky Route City.

“He’s so formidable!” Gai Shitian sighed. Dong Youjian had already disappeared for a long time.

Suddenly, Gai Shitian remembered something and instantly told Di Jiu, “You are too bold, Brother Di Jiu. If Dong Youjian had not made his move, you would have been killed by Hong Kui. Hong Kui loved to kill people…”

“Thank you, Brother Shitian. I will take note of this in the future. I will be heading over to rent a cave abode now. Inform me when you are about to leave for the pagoda.” Di Jiu slapped Gai Shitian on the shoulder, indicating that he understood. Although he had known that he would not get killed by Hong Kui, he realized that he should pay more attention to such matters in the future.

After almost getting killed by Hong Kui, Di Jiu was even more desperate to improve his strength.

…

The price of a cave abode in the Five Continent Pavilion was indeed very high. Renting the best cave abode for a month cost several hundred thousand high-grade Spirit Stones. This price was not something Di Jiu could afford. Thus, he rented a cave abode that cost 50,000 middle-grade Spirit Stones for a month.

This price was considered average among all the cave abodes in the Five Continent Pavilion.

Di Jiu simply had too many middle-grade Spirit Stones on him. Given his current cultivation realm, any cultivation improvements would be insignificant if he used middle-grade Spirit Stones. Hence, he thought that he might as well spend them all.

The cave abode was not cheap, yet the Spirit Qi inside was very dense. A cave abode of this price did not have a small courtyard. However, it did include two cultivation rooms.

Di Jiu entered the cultivation room and set up a simple Defense Array. Then, he took out a pile of high-grade Spirit Stones and got ready to break through to the Essence Soul Realm.

Di Jiu’s cultivation disturbance was quite big, so he did not even bother setting up a Spirit-Binding Array there. A massive Spirit Qi whirlpool formed outside the cave abode when he started cultivating.

Fortunately, too many Spirit Qi whirlpools were created as a result of cultivating in the Sky Route City. There were also quite a few Spirit Qi whirlpools bigger than Di Jiu, which had been made by cultivators with stronger cultivation levels than his. Di Jiu’s Spirit Qi whirlpool was not particularly eye-catching.

Three months later, after using up a huge pile of Spirit Stones, Di Jiu broke through to the sixth-stage Essence Soul Realm.

He immediately stopped cultivating. The higher his cultivation level was, the harder it became to increase his cultivation. The starry sky meridian was like a giant mill. No matter how much Spirit Qi was absorbed, it was all used up by the mill.

The Book of the World was simply too vast. Plus, it also involved some law fluctuations. Di Jiu dared not analyze this book in a cave abode of the Five Continent Pavilion.

Gai Shitian would probably send him a message after a while, so Di Jiu would head to the Five Continent City later. The Five Continent City was the biggest cultivation city in the Small Central World, as well as the Five Star Continents. Regardless of whether he was going to join the Azure Sect, he would have to increase his knowledge and understanding of the biggest sects.

The best way to learn about these sects was through the Sutra Depository of the Heaven Saber Sect.

The Heaven Saber Sect must have been a top-notch sect in the past, so its Sutra Depository should contain the information he desired to discover.

Di Jiu had personally taken out and read the array formation jade slips and Saber Dao jade slips of the Heaven Saber Sect. Other than these jade slips, the Heaven Saber Sect also had various types of cultivation technique introductions and magic technique jade slips.

Di Jiu analyzed all the jade slips and understood quickly what a large sect this was. A true large sect was nothing like top-notch sects, first-rate sects, and second-rate sects in the Polar Night Continent.

The categorization of true large sects was very strict. They were divided into one-star sects to nine-star sects. The weakest sects were the one-star sects, which consisted of a few families. Large sects were sects with at least seven stars. Most top-notch sects were nine-star sects.

A sect like the Galaxy Sect would at most be considered a three-star sect, while the Qi Family’s Commercial Building could barely be considered a five-star sect.

In eight-star and nine-star sects, True Form Realm experts were holding down the fort. Their Elders were mostly experts with a cultivation level above the Life Tribulation Realm.

Di Jiu had expected that these sects would be categorized. However, he was completely shocked when he took out a Spiritual Force jade slip.

After reading this jade slip, he discovered that even Spiritual Force could be categorized. Besides being called Spiritual Sense, Spiritual Force was also called mental strength. Newly-formed mental strength was called level-one Spiritual Force. Once Spiritual Force reached a certain standard, it could even reach level ten.

As he held on to this jade slip, Di Jiu really wanted to know what level his Spiritual Force was at.