Ninth In the World

“No, no. Big Brother will not starve to death. You still have the cyan life-force. If you take a bit each time, you could survive for many years…” Little Tree said repeatedly when it sensed Di Jiu’s bad mood.

If Di Jiu starved to death, it would die as well.

When he thought about the cyan life-force of unknown age, which was still in his possession, Di Jiu rejoiced. As long as he did not starve to death, he would find a way out sooner or later.

“Tell me about this Big Dipper Palace, Little Tree,” Di Jiu asked casually when his mood improved, even though he knew the Tiny Treant would not know much.

Little Tree did not know what the Big Dipper Palace was all about. According to the memory it had attained, the Big Dipper Palace was an amazing place numerous people were looking for. Whoever entered it would be given amazing opportunities.

To hell with opportunities! Di Jiu could not help but scowl. After taking the Tiny Treant around the palace a couple of times, he concluded that forcefully attacking the Big Dipper Palace was out of the question, so all he could do was learn about array formations.

The totems on the 30 plus pillars inside the hall seemed to be array engravings. Although Di Jiu had possibly gained a rudimentary mastery of the Array Dao, he could not understand even a single array engraving.

Fortunately, Little Tree’s knowledge on array formations was pretty impressive. Di Jiu had even obtained a jade slip on the Array Dao from it before.

His only regret was that he did not possess any materials related to array flag refinement.

He could only study the Array Dao while continuously refining by using the limited materials he possessed. Under normal circumstances, it would have been hard to get the materials refined into array flags or Dharma treasures back to their original state. However, for the purpose of learning, Di Jiu did not care whether the materials returned to their original state or not.

He did not even entertain the thought of touching the jade coffin in the center of the hall. Di Jue had mysteriously lost a hand after using it to touch that coffin, so he did not want to follow in his footsteps.

Days passed while Di Jiu was immersed in the repeated deduction of the Array Dao. Whenever he did not understand something, he would ask Little Tree. If he was hungry, he would eat a small portion of the blue life-force.

At first, Little Tree would guide him a little, but later on, it would only stare as Di Jiu made mysterious, obscure hand seals.

…

Yu Jie lifted her hand and wiped off the blood stain covering her eyes. She stared dumbly as numerous demon beasts broke through the wall of the Fairy Square. A big bear almost seven meters tall grabbed two warriors and threw them into its mouth.

Yu Jie’s only thought was that the Fairy Square was doomed.

A saber flash streaked past Yu Jie, pushing back a long-armed otter about to grab her.

“Let’s leave quickly, Sister Yu. The square has fallen,” said Ceng Beizi.

She had come to the Fairy Square two years ago, when her father had lured away a horde of demon beasts. By now, she had perfected the Earth Tier and was halfway to attaining the Heaven Tier.

During the past two years, she had lost count of the times she had fought with demon beasts. Her face no longer reflected the youth and fear of the past, as they had been replaced by some kind of resolve.

“Let’s go…” Yu Jie murmured.

Her gaze landed outside the Fairy Square, where almost everyone was rushing madly towards the deep recesses of the Fairy Planet. Anyone who stayed at the Fairy Square would die.

Yu Jie witnessed in horror as a four-tailed demon fox captured a warrior and entered a quantum space plane with more than 10 other demon beasts.

“I can’t leave. I need to destroy those planes!” she shouted anxiously.

Before Yu Jie could destroy the planes, a projectile flew towards the airport from afar.

However, her heart sank for she saw the four-tailed demon fox that had entered the plane take off before the projectile could land.

Boom! Amid the dusty explosion that followed, Yu Jie saw a plane break through the smoke shakily.

Yu Jie clenched her fist tightly. She felt powerless, as well as full of hate for the coward taken hostage by the demon fox. If he had not been so afraid to die, he would not have taken off so fast.

Ceng Beizi wiped her eyes. She knew that this was a desperate situation. Once the demon beasts reached Earth, the apex of all calamities would occur. However, she still saw reason, so she pulled at Yu Jie. “Let’s leave quickly, Sister Yu. When our cultivation level increases in the future, we will get the opportunity to return to Earth and chase those demon beasts away.”

Yu Jie sighed. She knew that the only thing she could do now was leave.

The two of them rushed out of the battered wall and disappeared into the boundless Fairy Planet along with everyone else.

….

Another year passed, yet the wall of the Fairy Square was still in ruins. Not a single person could be found on the square, while wild grass grew everywhere in abundance.

When Wu Cheng had become Director, he had implemented the law of the jungle, which had been unable to save the Fairy Square. Earthlings had travelled to the Fairy Planet out of ambition and constructed the Fairy Square in hopes that the Fairy Planet would become a livable planet that Earthlings could inhabit by migrating in the future.

Looking back now, this had obviously been just wishful thinking. Although the Fairy Planet still existed, the Fairy Square had disappeared. The humans that used to live there had also vanished without a trace.

…

Crack! The material in Di Jiu’s hands turned into scraps.

This was one of the two horns that had belonged to the horned lion. After repeated array flag refinement over the past few years, even the last piece had disappeared.

Di Jiu threw away the scraps in his hands carelessly and stood up with a long roar. His hair had grown very long, and his appearance was unkempt.

“Big Brother…” The Tiny Treant did not look much better than Di Jiu. Although it could absorb Spirit Qi, the Spirit Qi there had barely kept it alive. The Tiny Treant was currently devoid of any energy.

Its only hope was Di Jiu, and Di Jiu’s only hope was his theory.

The instant Di Jiu stood up, he felt a barrier inside him break. This barrier, which had led to him being stuck at the sixth-stage Qi Refinement realm, dissolved and disappeared. Then, Di Jiu felt his cultivation level rise rapidly.

Despite the fact that he had not cultivated for a few years, Di Jiu knew what was happening. He quickly sat down once again and started to complete Qi circulations.

Half a day later, he opened his eyes joyously. He had not expected that when his Array Dao attained the fourth level, his cultivation would also advance to the seventh-stage Qi Refinement realm.

The seventh-stage Qi Refinement realm and the sixth-stage Qi Refinement realm were two completely different concepts. One was a mid-stage Qi Refinement realm, while the other was a late-stage Qi Refinement realm. It seemed like the purpose of the cyan life-force was not simply to prevent Di Jiu from dying of starvation. Unfortunately, he did not have any Spirit Stones right now. If he’d had some, he would have kept cultivating and perhaps even advanced to the eighth-stage Qi Refinement realm or the ninth-stage Qi Refinement realm in one go.

“Did you level up, Big Brother?” The Tiny Treant looked happy.

“I just became a level-four Array Great-Master and attained the late-stage Qi Refinement realm,” Di Jiu said joyously. “Not bad, not bad. How many years did I stay in seclusion?”

Di Jiu slapped the Tiny Treant’s head. This time, he did not use any strength, as most of the credit for his breakthrough belonged to the Tiny Treant.

“We have been here for three years, Big Brother. What level is your Array Dao at? Can we go out now?” Little Tree rubbed its hands together. It looked forward to Di Jiu taking it out of this desolate place, which was actually even worse than its old home.

According to the Tiny Treant’s understanding and what Di Jiu had learned from the jade slip, the Array Dao could be split into nine levels. Levels one to three were Array Masters, levels four to six were Array Great-Masters, levels seven and eight were Array Grandmasters, and level nine was Array Kings.

It was extremely rare for someone like Di Jiu to be able to attain level four in only three years. He could actually be considered a genius.

Di Jiu did not know how long it would take someone who had achieved a rudimentary mastery of the Array Dao to become an Array Great-Master, but he was certain that the time he had spent could not be considered long.

The deductions of the Array Dao were very complicated. At first, Di Jiu had still been able to ask the Tiny Treant for help, but later on, he’d had to rely on himself.

Every time he reached a dead end and could not continue or was too busy observing the array engravings on the 34 round pillars, his Spiritual Force would come into contact with the gray stone hanging from his neck and he would gain new benefits as well as a completely new understanding. The stone seemed to contain something that could help him slowly construct his theoretical system, form new array formation laws and find the answer.

If it were not for the gray stone with the golden lighting hanging around his neck, Di Jiu was certain that he would not have been able to become an array master in only three years.

Di Jiu placed the stone hanging around his neck on his palm once more. The golden lines on the stone seemed to be flowing subtly. This stone had helped him more than once.

“This is good stuff, Big Brother,” said Little Tree, which was always eager to please.

“What would you know about good stuff?” Di Jiu, who did not believe that the Tiny Treant would know anything about this, scolded it.

“I have been alive for hundreds of millions of years and sensed even the most primitive aura, back when the planet was forming, Big Brother,” Little Tree said hurriedly. “This stone has a kind of embryonic aura, just like…”

Little Tree could not think of the right description even after thinking for a long time.

Primitive embryonic aura? During the past three years, every time he’d reach a dead end, Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force would come into contact with the gray stone and search for answers. The feeling he’d felt each time had seemed like a form of primitive embryonic aura.

Could the ray of golden lightning have landed and stayed in this stone because of the stone’s special nature?

“Your point of view seems to be right, Little Tree. This item is truly a treasure. Do you have any idea how to make this treasure recognize me as its owner?” Di Jiu’s eyes lit up.

If this item recognized him as its owner, he surely would not need to hang it around his neck all the time.