Ninth In the World

“We know,” Yuan Jia answered quickly. “The Planted Cultivators’ Mountain was an infamous place in the Small World Planet. A place that attracted many cultivators.”

“Why’s that?” Di Jiu didn’t understand.

Yuan Jia pointed to the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain, where countless cultivators had died, and explained, “Every step one took on the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain was arduous, as it was devoid of life. Every step one took introduced a wisp of lifelessness into the body. When the lifelessness accumulated reached a certain amount, the cultivators going up would die as they were standing there.”

“However, the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain had many benefits too. If one took more than 100 steps on it, every additional step would add 100 years to one’s lifespan. Of course, this extra lifespan would only apply if one made it down the mountain. The mountain also had a type of law used for cultivation. If the cultivators made it down the mountain, their lifespan would increase tremendously, their strength would surpass that of their peers, and their understanding of magic techniques would deepen.”

After listening, Di Jiu took a gasp of cold air. Everything about the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain pointed at the same law—time.

If one spent some time on time law, one would feel some difference when fighting with others—even if they had not yet gained any insight into it.

Yuan Jia chuckled. “Besides, anyone who could reach the side of the cultivators planted on the mountain could get a ring. Come to think of it, this was strange. No matter how long the cultivators had been dead for, the items in their rings remained the same. Even the spirit herbs looked as if they had just been picked.”

Upon hearing this, Di Jiu became even more certain that the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain was a time law mountain.

Thus, he was eager to try this. He had been able to kick Shu Haolan, a True Form expert, into the Herald Night Lake with a single move, not only because the Herald Night Lake had special conditions, but also because he had slightly tempered with space law. Even though time law was not at a higher level than space law, it had greater powers when used in battle.

“Not bad. Let me go up and try.” Di Jiu looked at the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain with anticipation.

“Don’t go, Big Brother Di,” Zhong Yu replied quickly. “Many cultivators who collapsed on the Planted Cultivators’ Mountain had thought that they could handle it, but subsequently got stuck on the ground and never moved again. We have another important thing to tell you—we found a few hundred different types of spirit meridians in a canyon on the Small World Planet. Every spirit meridian was perfectly complete.”

“Every spirit meridian there was also enveloped by a natural restriction. My husband and I were pursued because we had taken a middle-grade spirit meridian. You are way stronger than us, Big Brother Di. You should be able to snatch a spirit meridian or two.”

Meanwhile, Zhong Yu took out a jade slip and handed it to Di Jiu. “The spirit meridian canyon is right here, Big Brother Di. I fear that you may not get anything if you are too late.”

“Thank you both,” Di Jiu said as he put away the jade slip. He decided to go to the spirit meridian canyon first. The Planted Cultivators’ Mountain wouldn’t go away, but there would be one spirit meridian less if someone took one more away.

Yuan Jia cupped his fists and replied, “In that case, my wife and I will make a move first.”

“Okay.” Di Jiu bade farewell to the couple and sped off towards the spirit meridian canyon.

He did not just need spirit meridians for cultivating. Jing Moshuang needed spirit meridians to rebuild the galaxy meridian too. No amount of Spirit Stones could replace spirit meridians. Thus, rebuilding their sect would depend on spirit meridians.

…

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force escape technique was the fastest when it came to traveling quickly. It took Di Jiu less than half an hour to reach the spirit meridian canyon. If there hadn’t been so many natural restrictions on the Small Central Planet, it would have taken him only a few seconds to reach this place.

When Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force revealed a sight full of spirit meridians, he got extremely excited.

There were at least 400 to 500 spirit meridians there, all of them locked in by natural restrictions. The higher the grade of the spirit meridian was, the higher the level of the natural restriction protecting it was. The natural restriction protecting the supreme-grade spirit meridians could only be vaguely seen, even with Di Jiu’s powers.

There were also 300 to 400 people at the bottom of the canyon. They had formed groups of a few people each and were attacking the natural restriction collectively.

It took Di Jiu a while to feel this, but the strongest cultivation level present was the seventh-stage Life Tribulation Realm. This cultivator hadn’t grouped up with anyone. Instead, he acted alone. Just as Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force landed on the ninth-stage Life Tribulation Realm cultivator, the cultivator cracked open a natural restriction and took a pure high-grade spirit meridian from within.

Zhong Yu was right. Every spirit meridian here had very pure Spirit Qi and was more than 1,00-feet long—they were obviously all very complete spirit meridians.

Without hesitation, Di Jiu sped downwards and landed directly outside the natural Defense Array around a supreme-grade spirit meridian.

Although there were many cultivators attacking the restrictions, very few attacked the natural restriction of the supreme-grade spirit meridian, as this restriction was way too strong. Rather than attack such restrictions, which were impossible to open and would be plundered once opened, they might as well attack the restrictions of low-grade and middle-grade spirit meridians.

Di Jiu was seen the moment he landed. Although some people recognized the Young Master Red Embellishment, nobody cared. There were abundant spirit meridians here. The spirit meridians that one harvested would be snatched away only if one’s cultivation level was inferior. However, if one’s cultivation level was actually inferior, one wouldn’t be able to harvest any good-quality spirit meridians.

When the cultivators in the spirit meridian canyon saw Di Jiu run straight to the supreme-grade spirit meridian, they shook their heads speechlessly. If the supreme-grade spirit meridian had been so easy to get, it wouldn’t have still been around when Di Jiu came.

Di Jiu didn’t mind what anyone else thought. The supreme-grade spirit meridian was indeed hard to get. He wasn’t able to pinpoint the exact location of the array core despite his level-ten Spiritual Force. It didn’t matter, though—he still had the Floating Flame Flag. Besides, the restrictions here were much weaker than the one he had opened in the Spirit Stone mine.

As soon as Di Jiu cast the Floating Flame Flag, his Spiritual Force found the location of the array core of the supreme-grade spirit meridian.

Di Jiu put away the Floating Flame Flag and slashed with the Heavenly Aqua Saber.

If he had been alone, he would definitely have spent some time examining these natural arrays. However, there were too many people around. Di Jiu didn’t want anyone to know that he was a top-notch array formation king.

As he held the Heavenly Aqua Saber in his hand, an agitated feeling rushed in his heart. Ever since his Heavenly Aqua Saber had been upgraded to a middle-grade spirit weapon, it had become way more powerful. It had also gotten shorter by an inch and become four-feet and three-inches long.

Boom! The Heavenly Aqua Saber pounded against the array foundation that the Floating Flame Flag had just found. Although Di Jiu heard a faint cracking sound, this wasn’t the sound of something cracking up. Even though he wasn’t fighting an enemy, Di Jiu could clearly feel that the Heavenly Aqua Saber had become much stronger.

Boom, boom, boom! Di Jiu blasted 108 consecutive saber moves as fast as he could. Then, he heard a cracking sound again. A real crack had appeared this time!

This restriction couldn’t compare to the natural Defense Array outside that mine. As Di Jiu had this thought, the crack that had appeared disappeared again.

What a strong ability to recover! Di Jiu exclaimed silently. As a Level-Nine Array King, he naturally knew that all Defense Arrays had the ability to recover. However, this was the first time he had seen a restriction with such a strong recovering ability.

When the Heavenly Aqua Saber was used again, 108 more sabers descended. Di Jiu’s 108 sabers were different from other people’s—each saber was stronger than the previous one. There were also no intervals between the 108 sabers. Di Jiu could do this because he had a level-ten Spiritual Force. Even so, he could only do it continuously for up to 108 sabers.

The second time the 108 sabers descended, another crack appeared. Like before, the crack that had appeared disappeared before Di Jiu could execute the 109th saber.

Di Jiu let out a sigh. If this went on, he would only be able to break the array by attacking a number of array foundations or getting an assistant. If he had help, it would take him at most two to three days to open this restriction.

However, Di Jiu didn’t plan on getting help. He believed that he could hone and further improve his Saber Dao in this place. If his Saber Dao improved, he would be able to execute the 109th saber in the split second that the crack appeared and make the restriction crack open.

Di Jiu kept blasting the Heavenly Aqua Saber. The other cultivators shook their heads speechlessly as they watched Di Jiu blast the restriction shielding the supreme-grade spirit meridian so maniacally. The Young Master Red Embellishment was famous. How could he be so silly?

A day later, Di Jiu was still executing his saber moves outside the supreme-grade spirit meridian’s restriction.

Two days later… Three days later…

Towards the end, nobody cared about the silly Young Master Red Embellishment anymore. The restriction outside the supreme-grade spirit meridian was blurry. Unless one was a Level-Ten Array King, no matter how many people attacked together, nobody would be able to open the supreme-grade spirit meridian’s restriction before the Small Central Planet closed again.

Nine days passed… Ten days passed… One month passed…