Ninth In the World

After taking stock of his harvest from the Qi Family’s Commercial Building, Di Jiu seemed to have reclaimed a cultivation warehouse.

His loot ranged from low-grade to supreme-grade Dharma weapons, including 11 supreme-grade Dharma weapons. However, what pleased Di Jiu the most was the fact that he had obtained a low-grade inner armor Spirit Weapon.

He did not regard elixirs highly, which was why he stacked them all aside. There were also a lot of blacksmithing materials and spiritual herbs, but Di Jiu did not care much about elixirs, so he pushed the spiritual herbs aside as well.

Instead, he organized all the blacksmithing materials. After combining his harvest with Geng Ji’s and Little Tree’s harvest from the Marsh Ocean Forest, their combined blacksmithing materials were enough to form a hill.

Di Jiu’s priority was the pile of jade slips. These jade slips contained various cultivation and Marsh Ocean Forest information. There were also some cultivation technique jade slips, different kinds of magic technique jade slips, blacksmithing jade slips, alchemy jade slips, Array Dao jade slips, Talisman Dao jade slips…

Anything that was related to cultivation was there.

Di Jiu paid no attention to the cultivation techniques, as he believed that the Galaxy Art was good enough. He only looked through the many cultivation magic techniques once. There were at least seven versions of the Aegis Gale Spell that he had not known how to use previously.

In the end, Di Jiu chose two magic techniques, a thunder sword technique and a fist technique that involved only one fist movement. This technique was nameless, so it was possibly an incomplete magic technique.

The thunder sword technique was something Di Jiu intended to give to Geng Ji for his cultivation, but the fist technique he would keep for himself.

If the harvest from the Qi Family’s Commercial Building had given him a surprise, then the items within Qi Shao’s ring gave him a shock.

After killing Ouyang Tao, Di Jiu had obtained several hundred Spirit Stones, so he believed that Ouyang Tao was very rich. However, when he opened Qi Shao’s ring, he found out that Ouyang Tao was actually very poor.

There were at least 20,000 low-grade Spirit Stones in Qi Shao’s ring, as well as several thousand middle-grade Spirit Stones and several hundred high-grade Spirit Stones that Di Jiu had only heard of before.

Although elixirs were only used for healing, he found a higher-grade cultivation jade slip in Qi Shao’s ring.

After reading the cultivation jade slip, Di Jiu decided not to use the Foundation Establishment Elixir to attain the Foundation Establishment Realm. The jade slip explained that, among the thousands and millions of Foundation Establishment cultivators, only one percent attained the Foundation Establishment Realm without using the Foundation Establishment Elixir. The most successful cultivators were among this one percent.

Di Jiu truly believed that the contents of these cultivation jade slips were accurate, for they were the accumulated knowledge of numerous cultivators over the years. These discussions on their experiences were much more valuable than theoretical knowledge.

The Dharma weapons inside Qi Shao’s ring were all higher-grade weapons. Of course, the highest-grade Dharma weapon was the big supreme-grade axe Geng Ji had already refined. Di Jiu predicted that if Spirit Weapons had not required an extremely large amount of Spiritual Force, all the Dharma weapons within Qi Shao’s ring would have become Spirit Weapons.

The most valuable item in the ring was probably the axe technique, and not the several thousand Spirit Stones. Thus, he intended to give this axe technique to Geng Ji.

After organizing the items, Di Jiu gave Geng Ji and Little Tree some of the Spirit Stones and threw the alchemy jade slip to Little Tree. According to Di Jiu, everyone should learn a side skill. He chose blacksmithing and array formation, so Little Tree could only choose alchemy.

Di Jiu gave Geng Ji the Thunder Sword and the axe technique, as well as the talisman jade slip.

Everyone needed to increase their strength, as they were all fugitives in the Marsh Ocean Forest.

Little Tree did not really want to practise alchemy, but it had no choice in this matter, as Di Jiu was forcing it to learn. Meanwhile, Geng Ji just followed Di Jiu’s instructions.

His potential was very good, so spending some time every day on learning how to make talismans would not be a big deal.

…

Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the Galaxy Sect’s conference hall was much more solemn. Virtually all the Galaxy Sect’s cultivators who were at the Golden Core Realm or higher, including Grand Elder Liu Musheng who had recently come out of seclusion, were gathered there.

Xiang Tianyi’s face was still pale. He had lost a limb, so he would most likely be unable to advance to the perfected Golden Core Realm now.

Liu Musheng was sitting beside Xiang Tianyi, looking nothing like an expert who had just attained the Essence Soul Realm.

“Grand Elder Liu, after this incident, the Qi Family’s Commercial Building will definitely not let the Galaxy Sect off. We need to come up with a countermeasure before they retaliate.” Elder He Hui from the Law Enforcement Hall was the first to speak up.

He Hui and Yu Jingyan were very good friends. During the battle that had cost Qi Zhishang and Yu Jingyan’s lives, he had also sustained some injuries.

However, the injuries he had sustained were nothing compared to the destruction of the Galaxy Sect.

Liu Musheng sighed. He looked at Xiang Tianyi before he asked, “What exactly made the Qi Family’s Commercial Building attack the Galaxy Sect?”

He was aware of his own status. When he had gone into seclusion 100 years ago, he had only been left with a lifespan of slightly more than 100 years. Actually, he had originally been unable to break through to the Essence Soul Realm. However, he had still been able to hear the Sect Extermination Alarm in the cave abode he had been in. After hearing the Sect Extermination Alarm, he had frantically attempted to break through and finally attained the Essence Soul Realm. There was usually a Thunder Tribulation when one attained the Essence Soul Realm, but he did not have one.

In other words, his Essence Soul Realm was not real. His lifespan had not increased, so in slightly more than 10 years, he would meet his doom.

Xiang Tianyi told him everything he knew, including that Yu Jingyan, who had discovered Di Jiu and Geng Jihua, was already dead. When he finished his speech, he was worried that Grand Elder Liu would give up on Di Jiu, so he added, “I believe that our sect should protect these geniuses regardless of how much trouble they have caused. Otherwise, what kind of heritage would the Galaxy Sect have? How would we maintain our standing in the Polar Night Continent?”

Liu Musheng nodded his head. Before he could say anything, Ouyang Mufei said without being prompted, “Sect Master, Elder Liu, I do not object to protecting Di Jiu and Geng Jihua simply because they plotted against and killed my grandnephew Ouyang Tao. The two of them robbed the Qi Family’s Commercial Building in the Marsh Ocean Town and killed Qi Shao, which caused the Essence Soul Realm expert Qi Zhishang to come here. It’s not hard to imagine that they would cause more trouble for the Galaxy Sect in the future. These disciples will lead the sect to destruction, so I suggest that the sect issues an Eviction Notice and kicks the two of them out. We should also send someone to chase them down and kill them.”

Xiang Tianyi frowned. Before he could say anything, a flying sword landed on his palm. Xiang Tianyi looked at the contents of the flying sword as he said solemnly, “The whole incident around Qi Shao’s murder has been investigated. Di Jiu’s and Geng Jihua’s cultivating disturbance while they were in the Itinerant Cultivator Inn at the Marsh Ocean Town was simply too great. A Spirit Qi whirlpool was created, which drew Qi Shao’s suspicion. Qi Shao broke open Di Jiu’s Defense Array and discovered a tree spirit.”

“Qi Shao then took Di Jiu and Geng Jihua to the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and prepared to kill them and seize their secrets and the tree spirit. He did not expect that Di Jiu would fearlessly pretend to follow him to the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and kill him sneakily. Di Jiu then robbed the Qi Family’s Commercial Building and escaped into the Marsh Ocean Forest with Geng Jihua and the tree spirit.”

Liu Musheng nodded his head in agreement. He waited for Xiang Tianyi to finish his speech before he said, “Are you saying that Di Jiu was in charge throughout the whole incident?”

“According to the information I have, yes. Geng Jihua has a very low cultivation level, so he does not possess the strength to take any action. I would do the same if I were him. Looks like Elder Yu was not wrong. The cultivation potential of both Di Jiu and Geng Jihua is indeed exceptional. Otherwise, this would not have occurred. The Galaxy Sect paid a huge price on the Sky Market Battlefield. We gained very little, while we took cues from everyone else. Even if Di Jiu had not done this, the Galaxy Sect’s powerful heritage would have been unable to survive in the Polar Night Continent,” said Xiang Tianyi without hesitation.

“This has been hard on you, Sect Master,” Liu Musheng said calmly. “Investigate why Di Jiu wanted to kill Ouyang Tao further. If he has a justifiable reason for killing Ouyang Tao, we will not allow our disciples to be bullied and killed, even if the Galaxy Sect is destroyed completely in the process. If Di Jiu killed him to seize the Spirit Stones, he will be expelled from the sect. We definitely do not need this sort of people.”

“I am worried that Di Jiu and Geng Jihua are in danger in the Marsh Ocean Forest. The Qi Family has issued a killing order, so numerous Golden Core cultivators have entered the Marsh Ocean Forest in search of them,” Xiang Tianyi said with a worried expression.

“Until we know why Di Jiu would kill someone from the same sect, they will have to depend on themselves to stay alive. However, what Elder Hui said earlier was correct. The Qi Family’s Commercial Building has 10 Essence Soul Elders. It’s said that they also have cultivators that surpass the Essence Soul Realm. The Galaxy Sect’s development is limited by our small number of resources and cultivation techniques. Although I could be considered an Essence Soul cultivator, there are essentially no other Essence Soul cultivators…” said Liu Musheng.

The Tributary Lotus Peak’s peak master Wu Zhenzhen stood up and said, “I have been secretly informed that the Qi Family’s Commercial Building has discovered some historical ruins. Almost all their Essence Soul cultivators have headed over there. The Galaxy Sect need not worry about this matter before the Essence Soul cultivators of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building come back.”

…

Meanwhile, rumors started spreading everywhere. People heard that the Qi Family’s Commercial Building branch in the Marsh Ocean Town had been robbed by a Galaxy Sect disciple called Di Jiu. Qi Zhishang had personally headed over with the intention of exterminating the Galaxy Sect, but he had discovered that the Galaxy Sect had been hiding an Essence Soul Realm Ancestor.

These rumors reduced the number of people that entered the Marsh Ocean Forest in search of Di Jiu and Geng Jihua. It was no joke to incur the wrath of an Essence Soul Ancestor after all.

The rumors were confirmed when people discovered that the Essence Soul Ancestor of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building, Qi Zhishang, did not go to the Marsh Ocean Forest.

Qi Zhishang naturally could not head to the Marsh Ocean Forest. One of his limbs had been destroyed, so he had to find a top-notch treasure that could help him recover that limb as soon as possible. Otherwise, he would not be able to progress further than the fourth-stage Essence Soul Realm.

Although the Golden Core cultivators in the Marsh Ocean Forest would still encounter many restrictions, those restrictions would be way fewer for Essence Soul cultivators. Di Jiu and Geng Jihua were much safer now that Qi Zhishang was unable to head to the Marsh Ocean Forest.