Ninth In the World

Di Jiu didn’t intend to go ashore immediately and leave the Lunar Immortal Sea, as he was sure that Xiling Yuanyi was faster than him. By the time he arrived at the shore of the Lunar Immortal Sea, Xiling Yuanyi would probably be waiting for him already. He needed to find a place and break through to the Immortal King Realm first, even if he wanted to go back to the shore.

Di Jiu didn’t discard the Spiritual Force imprint. Instead, he placed it on another wooden ship and carved a self-activated Dharma Array on the ship before placing it on the sea. Then, he sped up his own wooden ship in the direction that the other ship was going to and soon left it behind.

Just a few days after Di Jiu left, Xiling Yuanyi appeared on the abandoned wooden ship and retrieved his Spiritual Force imprint.

He sneered as the wooden ship he rode on suddenly turned and went in the opposite direction of the ship that carried his Spiritual Force imprint.

Although Di Jiu had killed his son, Xiling Zai, he was actually impressed that he had managed to get rid of his Spiritual Force imprint in just a few days.

Since Di Jiu had left his Spiritual Force imprint on a self-propelling wooden ship, he must have escaped in the opposite direction of that ship. Even if there was a deviation, he was sure that he could find him. One month wasn’t enough to cover much distance on the Lunar Immortal Sea.

After Xiling Yuanyi spent roughly 10 days looking for Di Jiu, he suddenly stopped. He felt like he had been fooled. Given how cunning Di Jiu had already been back at the Gigantic Tripod Liberal Immortal City, he had probably escaped in the same direction as the ship that carried his Spiritual Force imprint.

He sighed and decided not to turn around and chase after Di Jiu. After all, it didn’t matter if he had escaped in the same direction as the ship carrying the Spiritual Force imprint or had gone in a slightly different direction. He wouldn’t be able to catch Di Jiu considering that he was so cunning. The only solution was to wait for him at the shore of the Lunar Immortal Sea.

No matter how cunning he was, this didn’t change the fact that he was a weakling.

News about Di Jiu’s appearance at the Lunar Immortal Sea and the fact that he had killed Xiling Yuanyi’s son, Xiling Zai, got out in an extremely short time.

Many mysterious, unknown experts suddenly appeared beside the Lunar Immortal Sea. They were wandering around the sea. Although everyone knew that they were there for Di Jiu, no one said a word about it.

…

Di Jiu, who was being targeted by so many experts, felt anxious for the first time. He hadn’t even been as nervous back when he had been pursued by Immortal King experts.

Before entering the Lunar Immortal Sea, Di Jiu already knew that the most frightening part about it wasn’t the storm or the metal-devouring beasts. It was the Lunar Immortal Mist.

Rumor had it that running into the Lunar Immortal Mist meant certain death. No one had ever come back alive after crossing its path.

There were patterns to the appearance of the Lunar Immortal Mist. The cultivators training themselves at the sea most likely wouldn’t run into the mist as long as they set sail only during certain periods.

Di Jiu was anxious because he suspected that he had run into the mist.

A creamy-white mist began appearing in front of him and fused with the creamy-white seawater. It only took half an hour before Di Jiu lost the ability to tell the difference between the sea and the air. Even the ship he rode began dissipating and turning into a white mist.

‘I need to hurry up and jump off the boat…’

Di Jiu knew he couldn’t do that as soon as the thought entered his mind. He would be jumping right into the seawater of the Lunar Immortal Sea.

The mist permeated his skin and all his meridians became rigid instantly. Then, Di Jiu felt like there was a bright, open road in front of him. He’d be able to get out of this place by getting on the road.

Di Jiu quickly executed the Nomological Qi Circulation and soon removed the corrosive toxins of the mist from his body. The bright, open road before him disappeared and Di Jiu regained his consciousness. He was shocked by the mist, which not only contained toxins that would corrode one’s meridian and Spiritual Sea, but could also make one lose one’s mind and start having hallucinations.

Even though Di Jiu’s Immortal Force was at level eight, he couldn’t see through the mist.

He quickly opened his Dao eye and finally managed to make out a blurry image. Di Jiu knew this was because the level of his Dao eye was too low. Once it leveled up, he would definitely be able to see his surroundings clearly.

Although he couldn’t figure out his surroundings clearly with his Dao eye, he roughly knew what it was like. Moreover, since he wouldn’t lose his mind in the mist, he was safe for now.

God knew when the Lunar Immortal Mist would disappear. Thus, Di Jiu started tempering his Spiritual Force with the Spiritual Force Training Art.

He had been to many places that had suppressed his Spiritual Force before. As long as he could get used to it, his Spiritual Force Training Art would be able to temper his Spiritual Force.

However, to his bewilderment, no matter how hard he tried to temper his Spiritual Force, it could only encircle his body. It couldn’t permeate the surrounding area at all.

After an entire day, Di Jiu had calmed down completely. He began to circulate his Nomological Qi to capture the nomological aura of the Lunar Immortal Mist.

Since Di Jiu had already gotten rid of the toxins in the Lunar Immortal Mist through his Nomological Qi Circulation, he soon comprehended one of the Foundation Orders.

At that moment, Di Jiu was even more confident about his cultivation path. He was right — everything in the universe was constructed by laws.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force could finally permeate the mist after he comprehended the first Foundation Order of the mist. Then, he moved on to the second order, the third…

As Di Jiu gained more and more insight into the Foundation Orders of the mist, his Spiritual Force permeated it farther and farther.

Crack! As if an eggshell around him had been broken, Di Jiu could finally see his surroundings clearly as the mist disappeared.

Di Jiu heaved a sigh of relief. The Lunar Immortal Mist had probably dissipated.

However, he soon realized that something was wrong, as the wooden ship he was on had docked beside a huge piece of land. He remembered that there had been no land around him when the Lunar Immortal Mist had appeared.

Di Jiu frowned and turned the ship around instead of going ashore immediately because he wanted to check his surroundings. However, his face turned black quickly. He was trapped. The ship couldn’t re-enter the Lunar Immortal Sea. Once it was 100 feet away from the land, it would be stopped by an invisible barrier.

Di Jiu couldn’t tell what kind of barrier this was, even though he was a level-eight Immortal Array Supremacy. He surmised that this was either a natural array or the work of a top-notch expert. This array might have surpassed a level-nine Immortal Array. Otherwise, he would be able to tell a thing or two about it at the very least.

Di Jiu put away his wooden ship and went ashore.

When his Spiritual Force scanned the surrounding area, he quickly realized that although the Lunar Immortal Mist wasn’t here, the nomological aura of this place was identical to that of the mist. Not only did the air contain invisible and corrosive toxins, but it also suppressed one’s Spiritual Force.

That said, only normal cultivators would be affected by these problems. Since Di Jiu possessed the Ninth Dao Law and had created the Nomological Qi Circulation, this place was just like any other ordinary place for him.

After walking for a couple of miles, Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force detected a massive Defense Array. As a level-eight Immortal Array Supremacy, he could easily break through to level nine and become an Immortal Array Emperor if he wanted to, as long as he was willing to spend time on it.

He knew that this was a level-nine Immortal Defense Array just by taking a quick glance. Furthermore, this Defense Array seemed to have been set up to keep out the corrosive toxins in the air, which meant that there was probably a top-notch Immortal Array Emperor on this island.

Before Di Jiu reached the entrance of the array, his Spiritual Force detected two cultivators coming off a wooden ship in the sea and charging towards the formation as if they were insane. However, they dropped to the ground when they were still several thousand feet away from the entrance of the array.

Di Jiu felt a little depressed, for he knew what was going on. The two of them had definitely encountered the Lunar Immortal Mist as well and been swept here. However, since they weren’t as powerful as he was, they were killed by the corrosive aura on the island.

As soon as the two cultivators dropped to the ground, two incredibly skinny men came out of the array. They charged towards the dead men as fast as they could, grabbed their rings, and rushed back to the array.

Even though Di Jiu was only over 100 feet away from them, they didn’t see him because he wasn’t at the entrance.

There were far more than two corpses outside the array. This showed that the path of cultivation was incredibly tough.

Di Jiu walked towards the entrance of the array. However, before he could say a word, a man with a pointed mouth and thin cheeks exclaimed, “Eh, another newcomer who’s alive?”

Di Jiu cupped his fists and said, “Greetings, fellow Daoist. May I ask if there is a way of getting out of this place now that I’m here?”

The skinny man scoffed and replied, “Why do you need to ask if you already know the answer? Give me your ring before you come in.”

The skinny man couldn’t execute his Spiritual Force, and his cultivation was also declining rapidly. However, Di Jiu could still tell that he used to be at the late-stage Immortal King Realm.

Since he had no intention of giving away his ring, he grabbed the skinny man, threw him several dozen feet away, and entered the array before it closed up.

This array was only useful for stopping the toxins in the air. It couldn’t trap or kill people. Since Di Jiu was a level-eight Immortal Array Supremacy himself, he wasn’t afraid of this Immortal Array at all.