Ninth In the World

Two hours later, the six of them reached the 88th level together.

The first thing they saw was Ji Hongchuan.

The Spirit Qi surrounding Ji Hongchuan was currently surging, ready to physically manifest itself. Di Jiu was astonished to realize that Ji Hongchuan’s aura was rapidly rising. He was about to break through from the first stage to the second stage of the Pioneer Sea Realm.

“This is a Dao Law cultivation level. Let’s cultivate here for a while, shall we?” said Xu Bai excitedly.

The Heaven Earth Spirit Qi of every Five Continent Dao Pagoda level was extremely dense, and this density increased with each level. However, none of the prior levels had had the Spirit Qi density and Dao Law clarity of the 88th level.

“What does everyone else intend to do?” Di Jiu looked at the rest of the group. Almost everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“Alright then. We will cultivate here. Remember, when you cultivate, a strand of your Spiritual Force must be attached to the Five Continent Dao Disc. This strand cannot be moved,” Di Jiu warned them before seeking a place out. He intended to increase his cultivation level and reach the perfected Essence Soul Realm.

Just as he was about to gain insight into the Foundation Order of this level, he actually sensed an Order fluctuation in the space surrounding Ji Hongchuan.

Di Jiu’s heart sank. He realized that Ji Hongchuan was also able to sense the Foundation Orders of the Five Continent Dao Pagoda. The origins of this fella were definitely not simple.

Di Jiu, who had originally intended to directly gain insight into the Foundation Order, placed a restriction on the space he occupied. Ji Hongchuan’s cultivation level might be stronger than his, but he believed that Ji Hongchuan’s Spiritual Force was not as condensed as his.

In an hour, Di Jiu had understood the Foundation Order of this level. He put this Foundation Order into the array disc before starting to circulate the Galaxy Art and cultivating.

Xuanyuan Kong and everyone else had long since been immersed in cultivating under this dense Law and Spirit Qi. The moment Di Jiu started to circulate the Galaxy Art, he felt the benefits of cultivating in the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.

If someone saw the fluctuations of the Spirit Qi, they would surely notice that Ji Hongchuan was absorbing the biggest amount of Spirit Qi. An invisible Spirit Qi whirlpool was formed around him.

In just a few days, Di Jiu broke through to the eighth-stage Essence Soul Realm. The first thing he did after this breakthrough was extend his Spiritual Force to investigate the situation outside. As expected, Ji Hongchuan had already attained the second-stage Pioneer Sea Realm.

Even Di Jiu was impressed by Ji Hongchuan’s potential. He had never seen such potential in a person before.

Di Jiu possessed the galaxy meridian, so his rate of Spirit Qi absorption surpassed even that of a cultivator at a cultivation level above his. Ji Hongchuan had to be a monster for his Spirit Qi absorption speed to be greater than Di Jiu’s.

Half a month later, Di Jiu attained the perfected ninth-stage Essence Soul Realm. When he remembered Ji Hongchuan’s frightening cultivation speed, he decided to break through to the Essence Soul Realm.

Boundless Spirit Qi was absorbed by him and converted into the purest form of Quintessential Essence by the galaxy meridian. The Quintessential Essence was used to break the shackles of the Void Spirit Realm.

Boom! Boom! Boom! With each attempt, Di Jiu could feel all his meridians and bones vibrating. Despite his Soul Realm physical body, his body was shrouded by a layer of bloody mist with every attempt he made.

Several days passed. After spitting out a mouthful of blood with a pale face, Di Jiu realized that he would not be able to break through to the Void Spirit Realm.

The reason he had been able to attain the Essence Soul Realm was because he had condensed the Dao fire. This had allowed him to sense the cultivation barrier of the Essence Soul Realm and break apart the shackles of the cultivation realm in one attempt by using the strength of the Dao fire.

However, even though he possessed the small gray stone, his heritage was still too weak.

“Even I would not dare try to break through to the Void Spirit Realm without using any elixirs. How could you do that?” Di Jiu opened his eyes when he heard Ji Hongchuan’s cold voice.

He stopped attempting to break through and looked at Ji Hongchuan, who was walking towards the 89th level. “I was not wrong,” he said. “It would indeed kill you if you stopped being so pretentious. Let’s go, everyone.”

Although everyone was reluctant, when they heard Di Jiu’s orders, they still stood up and followed him to the 89th level.

After cultivating for more than 20 days, all their cultivation levels had increased significantly. The over 20 days of cultivation had exceeded the fruitful outcome of entering reclusive cultivation for a year in the outside world.

When they reached the 89th level, they saw Ji Hongchuan, who was cultivating frantically.

Di Jiu understood Ji Hongchuan’s strategy. This fella had definitely used the dense Spirit Qi on the 88th level to break through to the second-stage Pioneer Sea Realm, and now he was using the better cultivating environment of the 89th level to break through to the third-stage Pioneer Sea Realm. This way, he would attain the perfected Pioneer Sea Realm when he left the Five Continent Dao Pagoda.

“Daoist Di, why don’t we also cultivate on the 89th level for a while?” said Xu Bai when they reached the 89th level. He was currently at the sixth-stage Pioneer Sea Realm. The 89th level was a well-suited place for him to cultivate for a few more days and perhaps break through to the late-stage Pioneer Sea Realm.

Di Jiu would have agreed to this suggestion if he had not been at the perfected Essence Soul Realm. However, given his cultivation, he was certain that he would not be able to break these cultivation shackles and attain the Void Spirit Realm on the 89th level. In that case, it would be a waste of time for him to stay on this level.

Di Jiu was the team leader, so everyone was looking at him. Just like Ji Hongchuan, they evidently wanted to cultivate there for some time.

Di Jiu glanced at Ji Hongchuan, who was cultivating like crazy, and said solemnly, “I intend to rest here for an hour before heading to the 90th level. You can stay here and cultivate if you wish, Daoist Xu. However, I must remind you that the reason Daoist Dong was able to stay on the 81st level was because he could resist the pushing force of the 81st level so long as he did not walk up the stairway. The pushing force of the 89th level would be unbearable without the Five Continent Dao Disc.”

“We will follow you, Brother Di Jiu. We will head to the 90th level in an hour,” Xuanyuan Kong said without hesitation.

Since Xuanyuan Kong had already expressed his consent, the rest of the group could only agree. After all, Di Jiu had already agreed to everyone’s suggestion once before. They would be disrespecting his position as their leader if he had to agree with their opinion again.

Within an hour, Di Jiu had gained insight into the Foundation Order of the 89th level. He immediately stood up and led the way to the 90th level.

Ji Hongchuan opened his eyes and took a look as the group left. Then, he closed his eyes again and continued to cultivate and frantically absorb the Spirit Qi. Di Jiu had been right. He intended to break through to the third-stage Pioneer Sea Realm on the 89th level first before heading up to the 90th level.

The moment he entered the 90th level, Di Jiu once again sensed the Spirit Qi that assaulted one’s Spiritual Sea. Everyone was really excited to feel this Law Spirit Qi that could condense one’s Spiritual Force.

“There are exactly six futons here. Each of us can occupy one!” Yue Qiongyu said excitedly.

Everyone had seen the six futons. There had been no need for her to point this out.

Di Jiu, who had gained insight into the Foundation Orders of every pagoda level, had a vague premonition. It was too much of a coincidence that there were exactly six futons and six of them had headed up together. The only possible explanation was that, every time the Five Continent Dao Pagoda opened, the first individual that entered the 90th level would obtain a white-jade futon, while the people who reached the level afterwards would get nothing.

This time, the six of them had reached the 90th level at the same time. Hence, there were six futons waiting for them. If one person had reached the level alone, there would perhaps only have been one futon. Di Jiu suspected that the first person to reach the 90th level the previous time the Five Continent Dao Pagoda had opened had not been Yan Tashan. If he’d guessed correctly, Yan Tashan, who ranked first on the Sea Roll, was not as powerful as the fella who had stayed on the 90th level.

“Yes, yes, we all get one futon each. Ha ha! It was fortunate that we listened to Brother Di Jiu. Otherwise, if Ji Hongchuan had come up here first, there would have been one less futon,” said Xuanyuan Kong as he laughed.

Di Jiu also laughed as he said, “That’s right, we all get one futon each. Why don’t we place the Five Continent Dao Disc between the six futons?”

Everyone naturally agreed with his suggestion. Even Ling Yixiao, who wanted to occupy a futon, passed the array disc to Di Jiu without hesitation. Although he did want the array disc, the time was still not ripe. He would have it at the topmost level.

Di Jiu took back the array disc and placed it between the six futons under everyone’s watchful eyes, putting several explosive restriction array engravings on the array disc in the process.

He did not possess the refinement skills to create such an array disc, yet he was still able to communicate with an array engraving within the array disc to make the array disc self-explode.

Di Jiu had originally intended to leave the array disc on the 108th level when he got there and everyone teleported away. After all, no one else would ascend to the 108th level. His wish was obviously unachievable. Di Jiu was certain that Ji Hongchuan would seize the spiritual-force-tempering futons when he reached the 90th level and would most likely seize his futon first. Since he could no longer stay at this place, how could he allow everyone else to stay and cultivate, thus exposing the fake Five Continent Dao Disc?

The Five Continent array disc had to self-explode. He could not take it away or leave it on the 90th level and let the people who arrived later take it. Di Jiu could not think of a better solution other than making the array disc explode.

After putting the array disc in place, the six of them each occupied a white-jade futon.

Before they could temper their Spiritual Force, Di Jiu spoke up. “There are only six futons here. Ji Hongchuan will definitely seize one when he comes up and discovers that there’s none left for him. No matter whose futon he attempts to seize, I hope that everyone will attack him as a team.”

They all knew that Ji Hongchuan would surely seize Di Jiu’s futon when he came up. However, no one objected. It would be easy to remove Ji Hongchuan, who was a mere early-stage Pioneer Sea Realm cultivator, from the Five Continent Dao Pagoda if everyone attacked him together.

After reaching a consensus, no one was willing to waste any time. They all tried their best to temper their Spiritual Force.

Di Jiu guided the piercing Spirit Qi into his Spiritual Sea, feeling intense pain. Shortly thereafter, he discovered that this piercing Spirit Qi had started to circulate in his Spiritual Sea and was quickly converted into an even more condensed form of Spiritual Force. This Spirit Qi could also condense his original Spiritual Force even more.

The most common method to do this was by using up this part of the Spirit Qi before taking in more Spirit Qi to continue condensing one’s Spiritual Force. Di Jiu was a different case, though. He possessed the Forging Spiritual Art, so he could endlessly absorb this Spirit Qi to continuously temper his Spiritual Force.

His condensing speed was much faster than the other five indivinduals’.

In just two days, Di Jiu felt his Spiritual Sea vibrate slightly before expanding. The Spiritual Force condensation increased significantly right away.

Di Jiu believed that his Spiritual Force would be upgraded again. However, he did not know what level his Spiritual Force was at.

He was not sure when Ji Hongchuan would head up to the 90th level. The only thing he could do was frantically absorb the Spirit Qi there and temper his Spiritual Force before Ji Hongchuan came up.

Two more days passed. Di Jiu thought that this condensation speed was simply too slow. Unable to take this anymore, he took out a Roast Divine Herb and consumed it while guiding the Spiritual Force Spirit Qi into his Spiritual Sea.