Ninth In the World

In the past, it had taken Di Jiu a few days of desperate running to reach the Twilight City from the Five Continent City. However, now that he traveled with Fu Che and his team, it only took them two days to reach the Five Continent City.

When he entered the city, Di Jiu was completely relieved. There was no arrest warrant, nor did any Spiritual Force land on him. Only the occasional Spiritual Force landed on the red embellishments on his Heavenly Aqua Saber.

Fu Che, Liang Guqing and Bei Shitao had all entered the Five Continent Dao Pagoda before, so they did not intend to enter it again. The only objective they had for going there was to wait for the Sea Roll’s Five Young Masters to come out so that they could hand in their Roast Divine Herbs and enter the five large sects.

There was still a crowd gathered on the Five Continent Square. Various auctions and information exchange points could be seen everywhere. However, what attracted the most attention was the humongous Five Continent Dao Pillar in the center of the Five Continent Square.

Di Jiu noticed that the first place on the Dao pillar was not occupied by Gun Yantao from the Ocean Monarch Palace or Yan Tashan from the Mirage Sword Sect. Instead, he saw a name he had never heard of before: Ji Hongchuan.

He had a vague impression of the ranking stone pillar, as he had glanced at it briefly in the past. However, he did not remember seeing the name Ji Hongchuan.

“Didn’t people say that Young Master Gun ranked first?” Liang Guqing had also discovered that the name at the top of the stone pillar was unfamiliar.

“Who cares?” Fu Che said. “Remember what we came here for. Brother Di, there’s nothing we could help you with if you want to enter the Five Continent Dao Pagoda. I can only wish you luck.”

Di Jiu nodded his head before suddenly telling Fu Che, “Brother Fu, if you have any extra Roast Divine Herbs, keep them for yourself. That herb can expand one’s Spiritual Sea and strengthen one’s Spiritual Force. Remember, you can only consume half an inch at a time…”

“What?” Fu Che was shocked by Di Jiu’s words. Before he could ask anything else, Di Jiu had already walked over to the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.

The Five Continent Dao Pagoda had been open for a few months, yet there were still a lot of cultivators entering it. Di Jiu blended into the crowd. If one ignored the red embellished saber he was carrying, he was just another ordinary cultivator.

Every cultivator who entered the Five Continent Dao Pagoda needed to engrave their name on the pillar outside the entrance at the first level. Di Jiu carved his name without hesitation. No arrest warrant had been issued, which meant that it was safe to use his name.

When he entered the Five Continent Dao Pagoda, he felt some dense Spirit Qi.

Di Jiu was stunned. He was not shocked by the density of the Spirit Qi, for he had stayed in places with even denser Spirit Qi. However, as he was standing on the first level, he could sense clearly that one could cultivate at a faster speed here compared to the outside.

Di Jiu closed his eyes and started to sense the differences between the area inside and outside the pagoda. In five minutes, he opened his eyes. He could tell that the Law Aura there was even more distinct. He had heard his master say that the Laws of the Small Central World were complete and distinct, so cultivators could attain a higher cultivation level. However, the Laws of the Small Central World seemed incomplete compared to the inside of the pagoda.

No one was able to sense whether the Laws there were distinct. Di Jiu possessed that gray stone, which was why he was very sensitive to all Laws.

After scanning the place with his Spiritual Force, Di Jiu saw a shiny stairway in the middle of the first level. There were no cultivators around, as even the cultivators who had just entered the pagoda had not stayed to cultivate on the first level. Instead, they had all entered the second level.

Just as Di Jiu was planning on entering the second level, he once again captured a different Law Aura. Something was not right. There should have been a kind of Order under a certain Law. The aura of this Order seemed like the foundation of a building before its construction had even begun.

Di Jiu sat down without hesitation. After putting a defense restriction on himself, he started to sense around for the Order Aura in an effort to gain a deeper insight into it. He understood more than most cultivators the importance of gaining an understanding of the Orders.

How great one’s achievements could be was determined by how deep their understanding of the various Laws of the Universe was. Orders were the basis of the creation of the various Laws, so being proficient in them was the first step to being proficient in Laws.

At first, Di Jiu had not paid much attention to Laws. However, after what Master Qian Fenghua had taught him, he now understood the importance of Orders.

The few cultivators who came in and saw Di Jiu starting to cultivate on the first level shook their heads speechlessly. This was too embarrassing a sight. Some Golden Core Realm Cultivators would not cultivate on the first level upon entering the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.

Di Jiu, who was completely unperturbed by such matters, was immersed in gaining insight into the Orders present in that space.

The Galaxy Art was completing Qi Circulations, yet his cultivation speed was much slower than it was under usual circumstances. The galaxy meridian sensed repeatedly the Order Aura within the Spirit Qi absorbed.

Di Jiu captured an indistinct Order Aura that became gradually clearer. This Order seemed to be much simpler compared to the spatial order he’d sensed at the Teleportation Array.

Three days later, Di Jiu opened his eyes. He had indeed gained insight into an Order on the first level. However, this Order was completely useless to him. Although he knew that it was called the Foundation Order, he had no clue what the element of the Foundation Order was.

After deciding to head to the second level, Di Jiu stood up. This Order might be useless to him at the moment, but he believed that every Order would be useless in the future.

Di Jiu climbed up the stairway and reached the second level. The Spirit Qi density there was slightly greater. The second level was filled with a form of pushing force that the first level had lacked. Although this force was very weak, all the cultivators who entered had to use a part of their concentration to resist it. Otherwise, they could accidentally be teleported out.

On the second level, Di Jiu sensed another Order Aura. Although this aura was completely different from the one he had felt on the first level, it still belonged to a Foundation Order.

His purpose for coming to the Five Continent Dao Pagoda was to cultivate and gain insight, so Di Jiu naturally continued to gain insight into this Foundation Order on the second level.

Thanks to his experience on the first level, it took Di Jiu only a day to gain insight into this Foundation Order, despite the presence of a pushing force.

Then, he moved on to the third level, the fourth level…

The higher Di Jiu climbed, the more Foundation Orders he gained insight into. Meanwhile, the higher the level, the stronger the Five Continent Dao Pagoda’s pushing force became.

On the 10th level, Di Jiu encountered an increasing number of cultivators that stayed there to cultivate.

He suddenly frowned. He did not mind cultivating there if he did not gain insight into the Order Aura within the Dao Pagoda. Now that he was gaining insight into Orders on each level of the pagoda, he would be shoved out of the pagoda by the pushing force if he was not careful.

He had to think of a way to avoid this!

Di Jiu sat down and started to gain insight into the Order Aura on the 10th level of the Dao Pagoda. Meanwhile, he attempted to set up a restriction that could resist this pushing force. He was disappointed to discover that the restrictions he set up were useless against the pushing force, regardless of how high their level was.

If he could not find a way to stop or lessen this pushing force, gaining insight into the Order on the next pagoda levels would be wishful thinking.

Wait, the Orders!

Di Jiu suddenly remembered the nine Foundation Orders he had gained insight into on the first nine pagoda levels. He immediately merged himself into the restriction.

In an instant, he felt the pushing force lessen quite significantly. Could this Order be used to reduce the pushing force? If that was its only purpose, then it would be a great disappointment.

However, Di Jiu quickly corrected his mindset. He could use these Foundation Orders to climb up to higher levels after all. Once he had a reputation, he would not need to worry about being a part of the Potential Roll. He could just challenge the experts on the Sea Roll.

Di Jiu merged all nine Foundation Orders into the defense restriction. When he was done, as expected, the pushing force on the 10th level disappeared without a trace and Di Jiu gained insight into the 10th Foundation Order easily.

Then, he climbed up to the 11th level, the 12th level…

At first, he still needed to merge the Foundation Orders into the restriction. However, later on, he did not need to set up any defense restrictions. He simply needed to merge the Foundation Orders into his Qi Circulation while he was cultivating.

Di Jiu reached the 41st level, the 42nd level…

Beyond the 40th level, he saw a decreasing number of cultivators. Evidently, there was a reason why the various sects had set the 50th level as a benchmark for score computation.

When Di Jiu ascended to the 49th level and gained insight into the 49th Foundation Order, he instantly understood the supernormal ability called the Jumbo Footprint better.

Di Jiu, who was pleasantly surprised, took a step forward. When he did, ripples formed in space and spatial Quintessential Essence explosions were heard on the 49th level.

These Foundation Orders could indeed be used outside of the Five Continent Dao Pagoda. Di Jiu lifted his head and looked at the stairway leading up to the 50th level with desire.

What would happen if he gained insight into all 108 Foundation Orders?

When Di Jiu climbed up and entered the 50th level, he immediately sensed that the space there was much smaller than on the 49th level. Actually, it was less than one-tenth of the space on the 49th level.

Several dozens of cultivators were frantically absorbing Spirit Qi while cultivating. Once again, Di Jiu sat down and started to gain insight into the Foundation Order.

A piercing aura rushed into his Spiritual Sea, shocking Di Jiu, who thought that someone had sneaked an attack on him.

He quickly understood that this was not the case. This sensation came from a unique Spirit Qi that targeted one’s Spiritual Sea. This Spirit Qi could stimulate one’s Spiritual Sea and allow it to become more condensed.

The Five Continent Dao Pagoda could indeed condense one’s Spiritual Force. It was unfortunate that not many cultivators could reach the 50th level.

However, Di Jiu did not intend to stay there and condense his Spiritual Force. After gaining insight into the 50th Foundation Order, he immediately entered the 51st level.

“Who’s that?” A cultivator on the 50th level had noticed Di Jiu.

Anyone who could enter the 50th level was essentially a well-reputed person. Although Di Jiu looked unfamiliar, the red embellished saber on his back was eye-catching.

Plus, that fella had reached the 50th level in a day and entered the 51st level without cultivating.