Ninth In the World

“You must know about the Five Continent Dao Convention, right?” asked the middle-aged man.

Di Jiu, who sensed that the man did not harbor any ill intentions, nodded his head. “I know about that. I was planning on heading over to the Five Continent Dao Convention to take a look before I tried to ascend the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.”

“Ha ha! Then you’re lucky that you met me,” said the middle-aged man with a laugh.

When he sensed that Di Jiu was still a little confused, he added, “You should know that essentially every genius will be attending the Five Continent Dao Convention this time. Before the opening of the Five Continent Dao Pagoda, the Five Young Masters of the Sea Roll said that whoever found more than 10 Roast Divine Herbs would be guaranteed an inner sect disciple spot. One could become an inherited-teachings disciple if they found more than 100 Roast Divine Herbs.”

“The Five Young Masters of the Sea Roll represent the five large sects. If one could really join one of the five large sects and become an inner sect disciple…”

Although the middle-aged man did not finish his sentence, Di Jiu could guess what he was going to say…

Confused, Di Jiu said, “You must also be at the early-stage Essence Soul Realm. Given your cultivation level, you could be an inner sect disciple anywhere. Are the criteria for becoming an inner sect disciple of the five large sects so strict?”

Di Jiu’s question was reasonable. In the Polar Night Continent, an Essence Soul Realm cultivator could be a Grand Elder of a sect or even an overlord of the entire continent.

The middle-aged man sighed. “How could the inner sect disciples of other sects compare to the five large sects? The sacred cultivation grounds of the five large sects are sufficient to make everyone go crazy with the desire to enter these sects. If you entered one of the five large sects, you could get a chance to attain the True Form Realm. Otherwise, you would have no chance whatsoever.”

“You must have heard of the Dao Roll. More than 80 percent of the people on the Dao Roll come from the five large sects and the Prophecy Island. The Moonlight Snow Mountain produced the youngest Void Spirit Realm Cultivator in the past 1,000 years, Su Yuelan. She attained the Void Spirit Realm before she turned 60 and the late-stage Void Spirit Realm before she turned 100. She would have entered the Sky Screen at the seventh-stage Void Spirit Realm, had it not been for the fact that the opening of the Sky Screen was a few years late.”

“Is it hard to attain the True Form Realm?” asked Di Jiu unconsciously.

Although it was hard to attain the True Form Realm in the Polar Night Continent, there had to be many True Form Realm Cultivators in the Small Central World. Otherwise, how had the Small Central World become the leading continent among the five great cultivation continents?

After he asked, Di Jiu realized that his question had been inappropriate. Thus, he explained, “I mean, there are many True Form Realm experts in the Small Central World.”

The hidden meaning of his words was that if attaining the True Form Realm was so difficult, then there would not be so many True Form Realm Cultivators.

The middle-aged man glanced at Di Jiu speechlessly. “You must come from a remote cultivation family. A few thousand years ago, attaining the True Form Realm was not difficult. Now, however, it is hard to attain the Life Tribulation Realm, let alone the True Form Realm. During the past 1,000 years, a total of three True Form Realm experts were produced from the five large sects. Although there might be many True Form Realm experts today, they all broke through more than 1,000 years ago. Even True Form Realm experts have a certain lifespan, so the True Form Realm Cultivators of the Small Central World have been decreasing every year.”

Di Jiu laughed awkwardly. All the information he had had been given to him by Master Qian Fenghua. However, it had been an extremely long time since Master Qian Fenghua had visited the Small Central World.

“Even Essence Soul Realm cultivators like us have minimal hope of breaking through to the Void Spirit Realm, let alone the True Form Realm.” The middle-aged Essence Soul Realm cultivator seemed wistful about his own circumstances.

“So what’s the purpose of the Roast Divine Herb?” asked Di Jiu.

This time, the middle-aged Essence Soul Realm cultivator shook his head. “I don’t know. I only know that this herb is able to provide one with a chance to enter the five large sects. I have a total of three people on my team. If you want to join us, we could leave tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll search for someone else.”

“I’d like that,” said Di Jiu without hesitation.

He could not return to the Five Continent City, so it would be a good move to follow this middle-aged cultivator first and gain some understanding on the situation in the Small Central World. Otherwise, once he started being chased by experts, he would have no place to escape to.

“Good. I’m Fu Che. What’s your name?” asked the middle-aged Essence Soul Realm cultivator as soon as Di Jiu agreed.

“Di Jiu.” Di Jiu cupped his fists, making no attempt to hide his name.

“We will leave tomorrow then.” Fu Che was very discreet.

“You actually had the guts to use the team formation notice put up by the Spirit Blaze Team?” said a sinister voice.

A young cultivator sneered as he looked at Di Jiu and the middle-aged man. The cultivator, who was around the fourth-stage Essence Soul Realm, was wearing a red robe.

The middle-aged man’s facial expression immediately turned ugly. Before he could speak, however, Di Jiu said, “I teamed up with Daoist Fu out of my free will. How does this affect you?”

This fella was really domineering. So what if he’d put up that piece of information? Did anyone who saw it automatically have to team up with him? Plus, Di Jiu had already been chatting with Fu Che about the Herald Night Lake before he had seen this piece of information.

“Good, good…” said the red-robed cultivator before he turned around and left.

“We are in big trouble,” Fu Che said with a pale face.

Di Jiu, who thought that nothing could be worse than his trouble with the Book of World, asked carelessly, “Where did this fella come from, Daoist Fu? Could he be a disciple of the five large sects?”

Fu Che pulled Di Jiu aside and said softly, “That man is a member of the Spirit Blaze Team who wants the same thing we do. He wants to use the Roast Divine Herb to become a disciple of the five large sects. His name is Ren Xinxuan and he is at the fourth-stage Essence Soul Realm. He is not the problem. The problem is his elder brother Ren Bafei, who is a ninth-stage Essence Soul Realm expert. These people are so arrogant that they have been killing innocent cultivators in the Twilight City. These fellas are to blame for the desolate state of the city. I’m certain that they would intercept us the moment we left the Twilight City.”

“What’s your opinion, Daoist Fu?” Di Jiu asked instead. If Fu Che wanted to clean his hands off Di Jiu, Di Jiu would leave the Twilight City immediately. If Fu Che was still willing to form a team with him, however, he would leave the Twilight City and head to the Herald Night Lake with Fu Che. He could deal with the Spirit Blaze Team alone. He had killed more than one Void Spirit Realm Cultivator in the past, so a mere ninth-stage Essence Soul Realm cultivator did not scare him.

“It’s hard to settle this matter peacefully, Daoist Di. The Spirit Blaze Team is very vengeful, so they would definitely not let us off. Let’s just leave the Twilight City together. Even if the Spirit Blaze Team chases us and we are not able to beat them, we could still flee and go our separate ways,” Fu Che said quickly.

“Alright, I’ll listen to you.” Di Jiu clapped Fu Che on the shoulder casually.

Fu Che was a really courageous man, so Di Jiu wanted to team up with him.

When he followed Fu Che to their lodgings, he saw two other people. Liang Guqing was a second-stage female Essence Soul Realm cultivator. Although she looked average, she was cheerful and she knew how to sweet talk people. She called Di Jiu Big Brother Di the moment she saw him, even though Di Jiu believed that she was older than him.

Bei Shitao was a third-stage Essence Soul Realm cultivator much younger than Fu Che. She was thin, tall and very quiet, so she was the complete opposite of Liang Guqing.

Di Jiu could tell that the relationship between the three of them was very good. When Fu Che informed them of what had happened, no one complained. Both Liang Guqing and Bei Shitao agreed to Fu Che’s suggestion to leave the Twilight City immediately without hesitation.

…

Ren Bafei, who was in Room No. 7 on the second floor of the Twilight City Guild, heard the news almost as soon as the group of four left the city.

“Let’s follow them out now and kill them all, Big Brother,” Ren Xinxuan said maliciously.

Ren Bafei sneered coldly. “I never liked these fellas. If Fu Che has a death wish, then I won’t be polite. However, this is not the right time to kill them.”

“Why?” Ren Xinxuan did not understand.

Ren Bafei laughed. “These people are evidently heading to the Herald Night Lake to search for the Roast Divine Herb. Each Roast Divine Herb is very dangerous, so it’d be great if they helped us find the herb.”

“Oh…” Ren Xinxuan said in surprise. “I understand.”

He naturally understood what Big Brother meant. They would kill Fu Che and company after they found the Roast Divine Herb and keep the herb for themselves.

…

“This is strange. The Spirit Blaze Team has not intercepted us,” said Fu Che in confusion when they were not intercepted after leaving the Twilight City behind them.

“I think that they plan on letting us help them find the Roast Divine Herb, Big Brother Fu,” Liang Guqing said worriedly.

Fu Che snorted. “That must be it. However, the Herald Night Lake is really big. If they plan on using us as bait, how could we let them get what they want? We will shorten the duration of our search to a month. If one of us entered the five large sects, we would no longer be afraid of Ren Bafei.”

“I’m worried that the Spirit Blaze Team will enter the five large sects earlier than us,” said Liang Guqing.

Fu Che shook his head, “There’s no need to worry about that. The Five Young Masters will need at least a year to come out of the Five Continent Dao Pagoda, which means that our playing fields are equal. Ren Bafei is still not a disciple of the five large sects, and what if he is? The five large sects could not hoodwink the public. Worst-case scenario, we go to the Prophecy Island…”

“What’s the Prophecy Island? Can’t the five large sects go there to capture people?” Di Jiu instantly captured the most important part of Fu Che’s words. This was the first time he’d heard Fu Che mention the Prophecy Island.

Fu Che looked at Di Jiu speechlessly as he said, “I’m starting to suspect that you don’t come from our Small Central World, Daoist Di. The Prophecy Pavilion on the Prophecy Island is the only ten-star sect in the entire Small Central World. You must know about the Dao Roll, which is ranked by the Prophecy Pavilion. It’s said that the Prophecy Pavilion placed a surveillance aura array on the entire Small Central World. Such arrays cannot be detected by the average individual. The guild in the Twilight City is also property of the Prophecy Pavilion. Even the five large sects dare not provoke the Prophecy Pavilion.”

Di Jiu sighed silently before he made a decision. The moment he heard any news about his arrest, he would go to the Prophecy Island.