Ninth In the World

Although Di Jiu was filled with contempt, he said, “Sir, give me all the cultivating resources you can. I have a way to avoid getting killed by these fellas.”

Di Jiu was not pleased to see such a righteous reason while he was helping the Prophecy Pavilion out with no remuneration. He was aware that what Huan Mingzi said could be true, yet he was not concerned about it. The more cultivating resources one had, the better one’s chances would be.

Huan Mingzi looked slightly awkward. He was not lying to Di Jiu. However, giving him even some limited resources would be impossible. He could not take resources from the Prophecy Pavilion and give them to Di Jiu. After hesitating for a while, Huan Mingzi took out a ring and passed it to Di Jiu. “This is a small part of my own savings. The Five Continent Dao Convention Auction will be starting soon. Use this to purchase the items you need.”

“Thank you, sir.” Di Jiu, who did not feel sheepish, took Huan Mingzi’s ring and scanned it with his Spiritual Force.

He was amazed when he saw that within the ring were at least 50 million high-grade Spirit Stones. Old cultivators were indeed wealthy.

“I could only provide you with cultivating resources this time. You will have to obtain the resources required later on by yourself. Actually, this is a good thing. If you only know how to drown yourself in cultivating resources, you will not be able to challenge the True Dominion’s geniuses, no matter how high your cultivation realm may be.” Huan Mingzi felt relieved when he saw Di Jiu put away the ring.

It was simply too hard to find a genius like Di Jiu. The one or two that appeared would be adsorbed by the True Dominion. The geniuses on the Dao Roll and the Potential Roll were not qualified to head to the True Dominion Genius Tournament.

The reason the Prophecy Pavilion spent so much effort in creating a Potential Roll was to search for a genius that could participate in the True Dominion Genius Tournament.

“Sir, I will definitely help the Prophecy Pavilion participate in the True Dominion Genius Tournament. However, before that happens, there are still some matters I have to settle.” Di Jiu wished to head back to the Pearl City. If he did not take revenge, his Dao heart would be flawed.

Huan Mingzi took out a talisman and gave it to Di Jiu. “Hold onto this communication talisman. I will send you news through it before the tournament. The True Dominion Genius Tournament participants have to be 200 years old or younger. While that has caused many people anxiety, it is not an issue for you. You just have to work hard and improve your strength. Now, do you have any questions you wish to ask me?”

“I do have some questions for you, sir,” Di Jiu said hurriedly. “Firstly, how could I use my Five Continent Dao Pagoda points? Secondly, I want to head over to the Everlasting Domain Planet. Do you have a solution, sir?”

Huan Mingzi nodded his head. “The Five Continent Dao Pagoda’s points are very useful. The points a sect has correspond to the number of disciples that sect can bring into the mystic area. The mystic areas include the Small Central Planet, the Sky Screen, and the World Herb Garden. Individually, one would have to use 10 points to be able to obtain a chance to enter these mystic areas. Even if you sell your points to the sects, they will only be able to use 10 of your points as one point of their own. You have quite a lot of points, which would be very useful during this auction.”

“As far as the Everlasting Domain Planet is concerned, I would advise you against going. The cultivation standards of the Everlasting Domain Planet are low, perhaps no stronger than those of the broken Night Star Planet. You are still being watched by Shu Haolan. It would not be good for you if you left his line of sight. Shu Haolan looks amicable, but he is actually merciless. It is completely possible for him to exterminate all your friends and family on the Everlasting Domain Planet. Furthermore, Cheng Ji’s Small World is in your possession…”

There was no need for Huan Mingzi to say anything else. Di Jiu knew that Huan Mingzi was implying that, before his strength fully matured, going to the Everlasting Domain Planet would only bring him harm. It looked like Huan Mingzi had guessed that he came from the Everlasting Domain Planet.

“Thank you for your teachings. I will break through to the True Form Realm as soon as possible.” Di Jiu decided to frantically increase his cultivation level before dealing with other matters.

Huan Mingzi shook his head. “The True Form Realm is not the most powerful cultivation realm in this world…”

“There are experts beyond the True Form Realm? In accordance with the acceptance degree of the Law of Heaven and Earth, aren’t cultivators beyond the True Form Realm unable to stay in this world?”

Huan Mingzi, who did not know that Di Jiu had acquired this knowledge from Qian Fenghua, looked at him in astonishment and said, “Your horizons are broad. However, there is a hidden cultivation realm after the True Form Realm called the Domain Realm. Some cultivators do not need to attain the Domain Realm to be able to enter the Immortal World. However, any cultivator who has attained the Domain Realm will be more successful in the future compared to the cultivators who have failed to attain it.”

Di Jiu did not care about the Domain Realm. What he thought of instead was that Huan Mingzi was making sense. The Everlasting Domain Planet could be harmed if he headed over before he matured.

Thus, Di Jiu told Huan Mingzi with a sigh, “Sir, there are a few more days left before the auction starts. I plan on entering seclusion for a few days.”

“Go, but be careful. The Small Central Planet is about to open. Don’t forget to go there, as that place would be very helpful in improving your cultivation. Also, try not to perform too well. The True Dominion is filled with geniuses. If your performance is too eye-catching, you could be killed by your competitors before you enter the line of sight of the ancient large sects of the True Dominion,” Huan Mingzi warned Di Jiu again before he left.

Huan Mengzi was very satisfied with this conversation and had high expectations of Di Jiu. If Di Jiu matured in this manner, by the time the True Dominion Genius Tournament started, he would be able to get a spot in the top 10. The Prophecy Pavilion would thus obtain a slot to head to the Immortal World.

Di Jiu left the Prophecy Pavilion’s inn and returned to his cave abode once again. He knew very well why Huan Mingzi had not shared any life-saving techniques with him.

Strictly speaking, he was considered a disciple of the Prophecy Pavilion. If he died before the tournament started, it would mean that he did not possess the capability to represent the Prophecy Pavilion in the True Dominion Genius Tournament. The tournament slots were limited in number. Therefore, if he was not able to survive, a slot would naturally not be wasted on him.

Di Jiu set up the Defense Arrays after returning to the cave abode. He immediately held onto the Spiritual Force imprint. He had already refined the Small World twice, yet it still contained a Spiritual Force imprint. It was obviously not easy to take items from old cultivators.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force was currently at Level Eight. It was also much more condensed than other people’s, so it only took him half a day to find another Spiritual Force imprint in the Small World.

With a wave of the Dao fire, the Spiritual Force imprint was turned to ashes.

After removing the Spiritual Force imprint, Di Jiu checked the Small World repeatedly. When he confirmed that there were no other problems, he once again put the Small World on his toe and placed a restriction on it.

He did not do anything to the Void Lattice Elixir Shu Haolan had given him. He did not even permeate it with his Spiritual Force to check it. This elixir was like a bomb, yet he was unable to give it to someone else. This made Di Jiu feel helpless.

He disguised himself as a hot-tempered male cultivator, just in case. He also repressed his cultivation aura to the perfected Essence Soul Realm before heading to the auction, which was about to start. He did not need Huan Mingzi’s magic technique jade slip to hide his cultivation level.

…

When Di Jiu arrived at the auction venue, it was already crowded. Suddenly, he realized what a wise move it had been to purchase a hall ticket ahead of time.

The area outside the auction house was filled with cultivators asking to purchase tickets. The majority of the cultivators knew that they did not have the spending power to obtain an auction item, but they still wished to enter the auction house. They just wanted to witness this large-scale auction.

Di Jiu’s seat was No. 39 in the 116th row. This seat was not considered too far back, as he had purchased the ticket early.

A few cultivators who wanted to purchase auction tickets from others hastily moved out of Di Jiu’s way when they saw how ferocious he looked.

At first, Di Jiu had thought that the cultivators sitting in the hall along with him were Itinerant Cultivators or cultivators with low cultivation levels. After reaching his seat and sitting down, he realized that he had been wrong. Sitting on his left was a tall old man. When Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force touched the old man lightly, he discovered that the old man was much more powerful than him. Perhaps he was even a Ekayāna Tripod Realm Cultivator.

Sitting on his right was a Dao nun whose cultivation level was not low. She was probably at the mid-stage Pioneer Sea Realm.

The cultivation level Di Jiu was exhibiting was not very eye-catching.

His disguise might be ferocious, but it could only threaten cultivators at the same or a weaker cultivation level. Cultivators who were more powerful than Di Jiu ignored his appearance.

The auction had yet to start. Thus, Di Jiu started to temper his Spiritual Force on his seat. Several hours quickly passed. When he heard the crisp sound of a hammer, Di Jiu opened his eyes.

A white-haired, beardless old man stood on the auction platform while the surrounding lights shone on him.

The auction platform was enclosed by a powerful, shielding Spiritual Force array that Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force could not permeate. He could sense that this old man was at least at the Life Tribulation Realm.

As the old man’s gaze scanned the auction house, his deep voice resonated. “I’m Tai Yan from the Five Continent Pavilion. During the Five Continent Dao Convention that happens once a decade, the Five Continent City organizes a large-scale auction. This time is no exception. This auction has been jointly organized by the Five Continent Pavilion and the Prophecy Pavilion. I will not explain the regulations of the auction, for I believe that everyone knows them.”

“As the Heaven Earth Essence Energy grows thinner each day, resources grow increasingly scarce. It is rare for any valuable cultivating treasure to appear, but when it does, it represents an opportunity. I hope that everyone will seize this opportunity. There’s no need to say anything else. The auction shall begin now.”

The whole speech was meant to make everyone compete over the auction items even more aggressively. However, Di Jiu knew that what this old man had said was true. The Heaven Earth Essence Energy had been gradually thinning in time, and the treasures had been indeed growing fewer in number.

With a wave of his hand, a jade box was teleported into the old man’s hand. He lifted the box and said, “The first auction item is an extremely rare treasure. In this jade box lies a Plane Split Talisman. To my knowledge, there is currently no one in the Small Central World or any other planes who could make a Plane Split Talisman. This talisman is very rare even within the True Dominion. The remaining few Plane Split Talismans have all been left behind from ancient times. This item is usually a finale item. However, since there are many quality items being auctioned off this time, it is the first item to be auctioned.”