Ninth In the World

Within this fire ring specially designed to provide an environment with clear Laws for body-tempering, Di Jiu’s Body-Tempering strength steadily increased from the Void Realm to the Soul Realm of the Three-Monarch Realm.

Di Jiu was very pleased and excited. This place was like heaven to him, since he could temper his body without having to undergo any pain. By using this steady method, he would need two weeks tops to be able to attain the Soul Realm. If this state continued, after he broke through to the Soul Realm, he would even be able to attain the True Monarch Realm of the Three-Monarch Realm.

Crack! Just as Di Jiu’s pleasure started to fade, one of his bones cracked. Before Di Jiu could react, the bones within him started to crack one by one in a chain reaction.

A flame sprouted from his galaxy meridian and landed within his Blood Essence. His Blood Essence acted like oil, causing this ball of flame to explode in an instant. His internal body was immediately filled with flames.

There was a terrifying pain. As Di Jiu’s facial features and physical body twisted, blood started to be secreted from his forehead. This level of pain was several times worse than his experience with the spatial wind blades.

Di Jiu had no time to wonder what had gone wrong. He could only frantically circulate the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art and use his Dao fire to protect his meridians and Purple Palace. Once the burning flame damaged his meridians and Purple Palace, he would immediately absorb these raging flames inside him.

If his Spiritual Sea had not been so powerful, this pain would have made him lose consciousness. Even if he did not faint, he would not be able to bear this pain.

The powerful Spiritual Sea made his willpower become stronger. Di Jiu had tempered his body by using the spatial wind blades in the past. Hence, he had some experience with this process. He knew very well that the pain he was experiencing now was inhumane. However, if he managed to withstand it, he would reap tremendous rewards.

As expected, before this pain stopped, Di Jiu felt his body rapidly soar amid the circulation of the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art.

This inhumane torture lasted for several days. Due to the increase of strength in Di Jiu’s physical body caused by the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art, the bones within him started to emit a faint glow. The broken bones slowly healed and the burned blood and flesh started to grow back…

The process was akin to a seed sprouting. The instant Di Jiu’s bones and body were completely healed, his body broke through to the Soul Realm of the Three-Monarch Realm.

Di Jiu was filled with mixed feelings. He thought that he had found a place that would allow him to temper his body without suffering any damage or pain. However, it seemed like any Body-Tempering process came with frightening torture.

Di Jiu, who had made use of this opportunity to attain the True Monarch Realm of the Three-Monarch Realm, once again increased the circulation speed of the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art. He was disappointed that this place would only allow him to cultivate to the Soul Realm. His physical body did not become stronger, no matter how many times he attempted circulating the Colossal Kun Body-Tempering Art.

Di Jiu unconsciously looked at the rest of the people on the same level. He was shocked to realize that they did not seem to experience the same amount of pain he did while body-tempering. He was very tempted to use his Spiritual Force to check on their cultivating situation, but he knew that this was a taboo act. He believed that the effective body-tempering in this area was related to the Tempered-Body Dharma Technique being used.

Di Jiu sighed. He now knew that he would have to search for a new place.

He was about to leave the ring and enter the 65th floor, when a voice suddenly shouted, “You! Move away!” a bearded young man carrying a pair of glaze drills on his back commanded, pointing at Di Jiu. When he checked the cultivation level of the 18 people cultivating there, he discovered that Di Jiu was the weakest.

Di Jiu had originally intended to leave this place, yet he had not expected that someone would ask him to move away. He was not concerned about the words of a mere third-stage Void Spirit Realm Cultivator.

Although Di Jiu had relied on the Foundation Orders of every level to climb to the 64th level without much difficulty, he had not assumed that it would be easy to ascend there. Anyone who could reach the 64th level could not be weak. After all, not everyone was like him. He had been able to gain insight into the Foundation Orders within the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.

The truth was that if he had not possessed that gray stone with the golden streak of lightning, he would not have thought of gaining insight into the Orders either. Even if he had thought of that, he might not have been able to gain any insight.

“I came here first. I am a Young Master.” Di Jiu stopped in his tracks. He possessed the Book of the World and had too many things to do. He had moved past that stage of his life when he would fight for his pride even if the situation did not involve any rewards or cultivation. Anyway, who did this fella think he was to command him to move out of the way?

As soon as he said that, Di Jiu’s heart jumped. He looked at the bearded young man in pleasant surprise. This fella possessed something that he needed.

“Ha ha…” The young man laughed. “How dare you call yourself a Young Master in front of Hu Yipan? The younger generations should be respected indeed.”

Although he looked very young himself, he seemed to consider Di Jiu a member of a younger generation.

Di Jiu did not care about things like this. He was indeed younger, so he looked at everything from a certain perspective. Hu Yipan looked young, yet he had to be older than 100. Hence, he was older than Di Jiu by several years.

“Hu Yipan ranked 63rd on the Potential Roll. He is indeed full of potential. He reached the 64th level only after a few months!” Di Jiu heard the cultivators sitting by the other two fire rings say. His eyes immediately lit up. “You are on the Potential Roll?”

“That’s right,” Hu Yipan said arrogantly. “I rank 63rd on the Potential Roll. Don’t tell me that I’m bullying a newcomer. Come out and fight with me. If you beat my glaze drills, I will avoid every place you visit in the future.”

Di Jiu, who was not listening to Hu Yipan, asked, “After I defeat you, will I rank 63rd on the Potential Roll?”

Hu Yipan was stunned. This cultivator was still thinking about entering the Potential Roll at this time? He shook his head. “No, the Potential Roll is created by the Prophecy Pavilion. Every time the Five Continent Dao Convention ends, the Prophecy Pavilion will refresh the Potential Roll at the Five Continent Square.”

Di Jiu was very disappointed to hear this. He was not the slightest bit interested in fighting with Hu Yipan. “You rank 63rd on the Potential Roll, and I also heard that you are an expert. How would I dare fight with you? Since you asked, I will naturally surrender my position to you. You are an expert on the Potential Roll, so you must possess various treasures. I’m an Itinerant Cultivator with little experience on how the world works. Would you give me something as a token of appreciation instead of bullying me?”

Under normal circumstances, one would have been furious to have their place seized and would have chosen to fight. Why would this cultivator actively give up his seat?

Oh, right. He had to be frightened by his ranking on the Potential Roll.

“Not bad, you actually know when to pick a fight. I have some Level-Four Demon Cloud Gold here. Take it,” Hu Yipan said before taking out a black crystal stone and giving it to Di Jiu.

Di Jiu laughed. “You rank 63rd on the Potential Roll, yet you would actually use a level-four material? This is embarrassing. What’s so scary about a person like you? In that case, let’s fight. You must know that an expert who ranks 236th on the Potential Roll casually gave me a Level-Six Phantom Crystal Stone…”

Di Jiu now intended to fight with Hu Yipan. His goal was naturally to be able to choose one item from his opponent’s storage ring.

“That’s impossible. Who would casually give away a Level-Six Phantom Crystal Stone?” said Hu Yipan automatically. He understood immediately that such a thing could not have occurred.

Before he could speak, Di Jiu took out a red diamond and said, “Good, then I will take this and give my seat to you. I respect experts like you, Brother Hu. Before I leave, I would like to wish you a long life, a healthy body and good luck. May you be infallible and remain prideful… Actually, that last one was wrong…”

With a swipe of his hand, Di Jiu snatched the crystal stone from Hu Yipan, turned around and instantly walked to the exit of the 65th level. Before he could rush away, he uttered a string of well-wishing words.

By the time Hu Yipan reacted, Di Jiu had already finished speaking. “I took out the wrong item,” Hu Yipan said anxiously. “I wanted to give you a Fire Cloud Gold, not this…”

Unfortunately, Di Jiu had already rushed up to the 65th level.

Hu Yipan’s face turned pale. He had actually taken out a Level-Nine Supreme Fire Pure Gold.

A Supreme Fire Pure Gold was considered a desirable, rare treasure even by the five large sects, as it could upgrade Unique Flames. In other words, this was a priceless treasure Hu Yipan had obtained by chance.

This wouldn’t do. This material could not be taken away.

Hu Yipan, who was no longer in the mood to temper his body, reached the exit of the 65th level and crossed the threshold without thinking.

Unfortunately, he was not Di Jiu, so he was not protected by the Foundation Orders of the Dao Pagoda. Thus, ascending to the 65th level when he had just reached the 64th level was just wishful thinking on his part.

As expected, when Hu Yipan climbed up three steps, he could not resist the terrifying pressure anymore and was directly teleported out of the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.

“Hu Yipan has been teleported out!” someone shouted in surprise the moment Hu Yipan was teleported out.

Hu Yipan ranked 63rd on the Potential Roll. Given his strength, he should have been able to ascend to the 68th level and leave the pagoda when the one-year deadline was up. Everyone was astonished to see him leave the pagoda so quickly.

Hu Yipan stood on the square in a daze. His mind slowly cleared up. He had sensed that something was amiss when he had taken out the Supreme Fire Pure Gold. However, that cultivator had simply been too fast. He had taken the crystal stone from him in an instant. Then, the cultivator had said a lot in an attempt to divert his attention.

This was not right. Even though his speed was fast and he had talked a lot to distract him, Di Jiu should not have been able to take anything from Hu Yipan…

…

When he entered the 65th level, Di Jiu let out a sigh of relief.

The moment he’d met Hu Yipan, he had felt his Dao fire pulsate. This had implied that Hu Yipan possessed a treasure his Dao fire needed.

However, he had not had the guts to kill Hu Yipan and seize his treasures. He had originally intended to use words to manipulate Hu Yipan so that the winning party would choose an item from the losing party’s storage ring. Di Jiu had never expected that Hu Yipan would surprise him and take out a Supreme Fire Pure Gold.

When Hu Yipan had taken out the Supreme Fire Pure Gold, Di Jiu had immediately realized that Hu Yipan would not give it to him. Hence, he had seized it.

He felt very fortunate that he’d used his Dao fire to protect his galaxy meridian while tempering his body. Otherwise, he would have missed the opportunity to obtain the Supreme Fire Pure Gold, as his Dao fire would not have been able to sense it.