Ninth In the World

“It’s Daoist Qu!” Ren Zhiren soon realized what was happening. Di Jiu was strengthening the Defense Array.

Lou Jia and Xue Jingkong were also thrilled when they saw Di Jiu deploying an array formation. They thought that they were going to die, and they hadn’t expected him to be an Array Great-Master.

However, they didn’t dare to talk to Di Jiu right now because they were afraid of disturbing him. There was nothing they could do except wait quietly.

Di Jiu naturally wasn’t an Array Great-Master. He was an Immortal Array Supremacy. Thus, instead of reinforcing the Defense Array, he was creating a new one.

Ren Zhiren’s Defense Array was a level-three Immortal Array, which was enough to alert the people on the ship in case of any demon beast attacks.

However, it was completely useless against the Lunar Immortal Sea storm.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Several gigantic waves came crashing towards the ship and engulfed it. However, to Ren Zhiren and the other two people’s pleasant surprise, no matter how many waves came, they couldn’t make a scratch on the Defense Array that Di Jiu had set up.

Di Jiu heaved a sigh of relief and stopped increasing the power of the Defense Array. The level-six Immortal Array should be enough to survive the storm.

The Lunar Immortal Sea storm came and went quickly, disappearing after just an hour.

When Di Jiu stopped reinforcing the array, his three teammates were already beside him. They bowed and paid their respects while saying, “Daoist Qi, if it wasn’t for you, we’d be dead now.”

“We are teammates, so it’s only right for us to help each other. I think that we will be reaching Yin Flame Island soon.” Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force scanned the surrounding area. After the massive storm, he only saw two other ships besides their own. Most ships had sunk to the bottom of the Lunar Immortal Sea thanks to the storm.

Di Jiu sighed, thinking that cultivators of his level were basically considered deities by the common folks, yet their lives were still as fragile as eggshells.

Ren Zhiren responded with a serious expression, “Having said that, Brother Qu did save our lives. I was lucky enough to find an Array Dao expert like Brother Qu to join our team.”

Even the quiet Xue Jingkong said in a muffled voice, “Yeah, Daoist Ren is right. Brother Qu actually saved our lives.”

Lou Jia also nodded and said, “Since we came to the Lunar Immortal Sea, our greatest worry is the Lunar Immortal Mist, followed by the Lunar Immortal Sea storm. Fortunately, we didn’t run into a sea vortex during the storm.”

Everyone went temporarily silent after hearing Lou Jia. They had only survived the storm because Qu Xiaoshu was an Array Great-Master. If they had run into a sea vortex during the storm, all of them would have died, no matter how proficient Qu Xiaoshu was in the Array Dao.

Ren Zhiren broke the silence once again by saying, “We will reach Yin Flame Island in just a few more days. We had originally calculated that a round trip to the island wouldn’t take more than three months. According to historical patterns, the next time the Lunar Immortal Mist appears will probably be three months later. We didn’t expect to come across the Lunar Immortal Sea storm, which is much rarer, instead.”

Due to Di Jiu’s powerful proficiency in the Array Dao and the fact that he had saved their lives, their attitude towards him changed significantly. They started treating him as the leader subconsciously.

They didn’t run into any danger over the next few days. Ren Zhiren was right: Di Jiu sensed a massive island with his Spiritual Force five days after the storm. There was a layer of mist around the island, so he couldn’t see its features clearly.

“We’ve arrived.” The wooden ship soon traveled a distance of a few thousand feet and stopped beside a massive reef.

Di Jiu and his teammates set foot on the Yin Flame Island while Ren Zhiren put away his flying boat.

“Daoist Ren, is the mist on Yin Flame Island the Lunar Immortal Mist?” Although Di Jiu had acquired many introduction jade slips of the Lunar Immortal Sea, they did not contain all kinds of information.

Ren Zhiren quickly explained, “This mist is different from the Lunar Immortal Mist. The Lunar Immortal Mist could make you lose your way and enter a completely foreign place. However, this mist can only obstruct our vision and Spiritual Force.”

Another wooden ship beached a fair distance away from Di Jiu and his team, and five cultivators got off. Surprised to see Di Jiu and his teammates, they started wondering how they had survived the massive Lunar Immortal Sea storm.

However, they ignored Di Jiu’s team and soon rushed into the depths of Yin Flame Island.

“Brother Qu, which direction should we head in?” Ren Zhiren asked as he looked at Di Jiu. He saw himself as the second-in-command after witnessing Di Jiu’s strength.

When Di Jiu heard that, he realized that Ren Zhiren didn’t even know the rough location of the Divine Dawn Metal. Thus, he suggested, “Let’s follow those people first. We’ll decide after entering the Yin Flame Island.”

Once they left the beach and headed towards the depths of the island, Di Jiu felt a strange aura. He felt like he had entered a chilly, creepy underground tomb, yet there was a hint of a scorching aura around as well.

It was no wonder this island was called Yin Flame Island (‘Yin’ usually means creepy or chilly in Mandarin). It truly lived up to its name.

“I can’t see those people anymore.” After heading into the depths of the island, Lou Jia’s Spiritual Force lost track of the group of five.

Although Yin Flame Island didn’t suppress their Spiritual Forces as badly as the Lunar Immortal Sea, Lou Jia was just at the early-stage Zenith Heaven Immortal Realm and her Spiritual Force was nothing extraordinary. Therefore, she could only see up to a mile ahead.

“It’s okay, just follow me.” Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force could see everything within a hundred miles, so he knew exactly where the group of five was.

They were moving quickly, which meant that they weren’t as unprepared as Ren Zhiren, who had just gone there hoping to get lucky. They definitely knew exactly where they were going. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be moving so quickly.

After half an hour, Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force had already discovered where they were heading towards. It was a ruin that stretched over at least several hundred miles. He could also see a faint image of what the building used to look like.

There was a fairly large piece of flatland on the edge of the ruins, where roughly 100 people had gathered.

Di Jiu increased his speed. After half an hour, Ren Zhiren, Lou Jia, and the other guy also discovered that place with their Spiritual Forces. Lou Jia even exclaimed, “There are so many people here.”

A man of average build was talking loudly atop a broken pillar before Di Jiu’s team saw the 100-odd people splitting into four groups.

When Di Jiu and his teammates arrived, the man who was talking saw them, pointed randomly in a direction and said, “You are the last four to arrive, so you will join the fourth group.”

Di Jiu furrowed his brows a little. He didn’t mind joining either one of the groups, but before that, he needed to figure out why they had split into four groups and what was each group’s mission. They had arrived a little later, so they hadn’t heard the details.

Ren Zhiren sensed that Di Jiu was about to say something, so he pulled him away and whispered, “Brother Qu, this man must be an expert at the Immortal King Realm. Let’s join the fourth group first.”

“Wait…” As Di Jiu uttered a word, that Immortal King’s powerful aura locked onto Di Jiu’s team. “Everyone is split into different groups. Since the four of you came late, you better hurry up and join your group and stop wasting everyone’s time.”

The 100-odd people had been separated into four groups that were all spread out. It was kind of strange for Di Jiu and his team, who were standing in the middle.

Di Jiu cupped his fists and said, “We came late, so we have no idea why we are splitting up into groups. I just wanted to ask for an explanation.”

The Immortal King’s face turned black as he said in a harsh tone, “If I have to explain this to every latecomer, will anything ever be done? You have 10 seconds to join your group.”

“There is an ancient market beneath this place that contains many quality items. However, it is difficult to find the entrance, so we are splitting up into several groups to locate it. We are supposed to notify the other groups as soon as we find the entrance so that we can destroy the Defense Array together…” Someone had already sent Di Jiu a voice transmission.

Di Jiu was about to join his group when he heard that, when the Dao fire in his Purple Palace suddenly sparked.

Di Jiu was overjoyed when he felt the Dao fire’s motion, as this was how he had found the Heavenly Fire Spirit back in the Sky Screen Pit.

Now that it was sparking again, it was obvious that there was something good here.

“What’s wrong? Do you think that I am not qualified to command you guys?” the Immortal King said in a harsh tone before he approached Di Jiu.

“Do you guys want to join me or the group?” Di Jiu asked Ren Zhiren, ignoring the Immortal King.

Before Ren Zhiren could even answer, Lou Jia replied, “Since we came here as a team, we should naturally stick together.”

Di Jiu nodded after hearing Lou Jia. Then, he turned towards the Immortal King, who was approaching them, and said calmly, “Anyone can come to Yin Flame Island. We want to look for the entrance ourselves instead of joining your groups. Why do we have to follow your orders after entering this place?”