Ninth In the World

“Master, I am too incompetent. I let Di Jiu run away!” Jue Zhan, who was hunching his back in front of Mei Bashan, didn’t even dare to catch his breath.

Suddenly, a Quintessential Essence hand seal slapped Jue Zhan’s face and sent him flying.

Jue Zhan hit a stone pillar outside the door and vomited a mouthful of blood before falling onto the floor. He immediately picked himself up and continued to hunch his back in front of Mei Bashan.

Mei Bashan stared coldly at Jue Zhan and said, “Gou Shang, you are a first-stage Domain Realm Cultivator. However, you have actually let a nobody escape from your hands. Please kill yourself if you cannot explain this.”

“Okay.” Jue Zhan didn’t even dare look up as added, “When I was about to strike, I found out that Di Jiu had escaped, but I didn’t even get a chance to chase after him. It was only after I sensed the ripples in the surrounding space that I realized that Di Jiu had executed the Spiritual Force escape technique.”

“Spiritual Force escape technique?” Suddenly, Mei Bashan seemed to feel better and his eyes beamed with delight. “Good! Very good...”

Mei Bashan seemed to have recalled something as he said immediately, “Gou Shang, go invite the Interstellar Protectorate Lord Bai Hong over. Tell him that I have some matters to discuss with him.”

Mei Bashan didn’t have anything to discuss with Bai Hong. He was merely worried that Bai Hong would go and kill Di Jiu. He wanted to obtain the Spiritual Force escape technique from Di Jiu. Therefore, he couldn’t allow Bai Hong to kill him.

Mei Bashan didn’t want to get his hands dirty. Therefore, he naturally wouldn’t kill Di Jiu in the Immortal Ascension City. If Bai Hong really killed Di Jiu there, he would have to obtain the Spiritual Force escape technique from Bai Hong. This would be much harder than getting it from Di Jiu.

...

When Di Jiu returned to his abode, he found Xian Ze waiting anxiously at the entrance for him. Xian Ze, who was relieved when he saw Di Jiu return, greeted Di Jiu and continued to cultivate.

After that, nobody else came to look for Di Jiu. Thus, he was idle for the next three days. Di Jiu had thought the Interstellar Protectorate Lord would come and look for him, but he didn’t. He had not expected this.

Then, on the third morning, he heard a message from a Voice Transmission Dharma Array. The message was asking the top 500 True Dominion Geniuses from the first round of the tournament to enter the Immortal Ascension Square and get ready for the second round—which was the battle round.

Di Jiu and Xian Ze no longer felt like passersby on their second trip to the Immortal Ascension Square. The crowd on the square even cleared a pathway for Di Jiu when he arrived.

The Number One of the first round of the tournament had to be an expert, regardless of whether he would end up in the top three at the end of the tournament.

“May I invite the top 500 of the first round of knowledge testing to come onto the competition platform? We are about to begin the second round—which is the battle round.”

...

Zhuo Changgeng, who was on the suspended level beside the Immortal Ascension Square, looked in shock as Di Jiu walked to the competition grounds. He had thought that Di Jiu would definitely have been killed, so he had been too lazy to check. He didn’t dare fight against powerful forces such as the First Kun Protectorate and the Interstellar Protectorate over the supreme-grade spirit meridians, even though they were good to have.

He didn’t understand why Di Jiu was still fine even after three days. Either Mei Bashan or Bai Hong should have struck by now.

“I thought that you would teach Di Jiu a lesson, Protectorate Lord Bai. Why is he still walking around in high spirits without any injuries?” The Skygold Protectorate Lord, on the other hand, was not as surprised to see Di Jiu.

Even he had to be wary of Di Jiu. Bai Hong was almost on par with him, so it would be difficult for him to kill Di Jiu as well.

Bai Hong looked just as glum. He had planned on killing Di Jiu personally, but Mei Bashan had wanted to discuss the Dao with him. They had talked for three days. The second round of the tournament was about to start by the time he returned.

Han Wushui from the Falling Ice Mountain remained expressionless. He believed that Bai Hong might not have been able to do anything to Di Jiu, even if he had tried to deal with him personally.

The Skygold Protectorate Lord, Huan Changzhu, had been in charge of the opening of the Small Central World before. Thus, he must have known Di Jiu well enough to make those sarcastic comments about Bai Hong.

By now, the top 500 had gathered on the Immortal Ascension Square. Many people went up to greet the previously-unknown Di Jiu, who had now become Number One.

The True Dominion Geniuses were still open-minded enough to befriend anyone who was more gifted than them.

Suddenly, Di Jiu heard a sarcastic remark. “You have improved a lot, but you are not qualified to use the saber yet. I heard that you like to advise others. Let me give you some advice as well. I think you’d better take the saber down. Otherwise, you will not be able to make it out of the Immortal Ascension City alive.”

Di Jiu saw Ji Hongchuan walk towards him. When he had first seen Ji Hongchuan, he had only been at the Pioneer Sea Realm. However, he was now already at the first-stage Life Tribulation Realm. If he had been in the Small Central World instead of in the True Dominion, he wouldn’t have been able to improve so fast even by using elixirs.

“Scram!” shouted Di Jiu as he directed his True Qi at Ji Hongchuan. Ji Hongchuan immediately felt a heavy blow reach the depths of his Spiritual Sea, as though it was going to blast his Spiritual Sea into pieces. He took a few steps back in shock. He had realized how much stronger Di Jiu was than him, so he no longer dared mess around with him.

Ji Hongchuan came from the Ji Family, which was where Han Qingyi’s auntie was from too. Di Jiu had blacklisted the Ji Family because they hadn’t allowed Jing Moshuang to recuperate in the Turning Sphere Resuscitation Spring. He wouldn’t treat the Ji Family nicely, although he wouldn’t destroy them either.

However, he would find the perfect excuse to exterminate them if they insisted that he put the Heavenly Aqua Saber away.

“I’m sorry for what happened to Moshuang, Di Jiu.” Han Qingyi apologized as she walked over to Di Jiu.

She was terrified when she found out that he was even stronger than her father. It was a fact that she had lost Jing Moshuang. If Di Jiu had been bad-tempered, the Falling Ice Mountain would have been exterminated. Plus, Di Jiu had enough reasons to justify this.

“I hope what you said is true,” said Di Jiu coldly. “If I find out that this had nothing to do with the ancestors of the galaxy, I will still do what I said earlier.”

Ji Hongchuan seemed worried as he looked at Han Qingyi, who was talking to Di Jiu.

“He he... You speak with awe. Do teach us a lesson if you please,” said a long-haired young man sarcastically as he stared at Di Jiu.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force landed on the young man. The man, who looked lean and handsome, was a seventh-stage True Form cultivator.

Seventh-stage True Form cultivators were considered top-notch experts in the Small Central World. This young man was barely 200 years old. Di Jiu was sure that he was Mei Bashan’s son, Mei Zhiyun.

Mei Zhiyun stared provocatively at Di Jiu. His father had instructed him to kill Di Jiu at all costs during the second round of the tournament. He didn’t have the ability to check Di Jiu’s soul yet. However, his father had given him a Soul Search Talisman that he could use to search the soul of even a ninth-stage True Form cultivator.

Di Jiu retorted with sarcasm, “He he... You’ve joined the Genius Tournament at such an old age! I think you will only last two to three more years before you become too old. Why don’t you give this opportunity to the younger generation? I would be too ashamed to join the Genius Tournament if I were you.”

Mei Zhiyun had to be almost 200 years old according to Jue Zhan.

“Ha ha... The Young Master Red Embellishment is right. It was indeed shameless of this old fogey to dare join the True Dominion Genius Tournament at almost 200 years of age,” said a young man with a full beard as he walked over.

Di Jiu, who had won the bid for the qualification jade card against him previously, hadn’t expected that he would be able to get another one. This man was not that young anymore. He had to be about 20 years old now.

Then, Mei Zhiyun snorted, “Take care of yourself, Hu Burang. You don’t even know if you can survive the second round yet.” If his main aim had been not to kill Di Jiu and get the Spiritual Force escape technique from him, he would have chosen to kill off Hu Burang first by virtue of what he had just said.

“Keep quiet, everybody!” shouted Xigu Boyang.

Zhuo Wenshu, who had wanted to walk over to Di Jiu and thank him, had to stop. Actually, she didn’t know how to face Di Jiu. Di Jiu had exchanged his life for hers in the past. However, the Zhuo Family wanted to kill him now. She couldn’t do anything to stop this, as she was a nobody in the Zhuo Family.

After everybody quieted down, Xigu Boyang said, “The second round of the battle is not a one-on-one battle. It will be based on the Survival Law. The venue will be at the Evil Beast Valley...”

When Di Jiu heard the name, he felt a few of the genius participants beside him shudder subconsciously.

He hadn’t heard of the Evil Beast Valley before. However, it sounded like an unusual place.

“During the second round of the tournament, you will have to live on the Evil Beast Valley for 10 days. An Illusionary Beast Core is worth 10 points, while the Beast Cores of other demon beasts are worth one point each. I will set up the Teleportation Door here in a while. It will teleport you right to the entrance of the Evil Beast Valley. When everybody exits the valley in 10 days, it will teleport you back here. If anybody leaves before the 10 days are up, they will not get any points. Your scores will be displayed on the large array screen on the Immortal Ascension Square as you progress during this round. Please ask me any questions you have.” By now, only Xigu Boyang’s voice could be heard on the square.

While nobody else asked anything, Di Jiu stepped forward and asked, “May I ask what will happen if I get more than 100 points by killing demon beasts?”

Many people on the square laughed when they heard Di Jiu’s question. The second round of the Genius Tournament had mostly been held at the Evil Beast Valley because Beast Cores were very useful. However, nobody had ever gotten more than 100 points.

Xigu Boyang replied coldly, “It is commendable that you have emerged as the winner of the first round. However, when it comes to the second round, you had better think of how to avoid getting killed during these 10 days before you think of anything else.”

“The mortality rate of the second round has traditionally always exceeded 40%,” added Xigu Boyang. “You can still back out of the tournament now if you wish to.”

Di Jiu was still doubtful. Even if it was difficult to kill the demon beasts for their cores, some cultivators must have thought of snatching cores from others.