Ninth In the World

Di Jiu looked inside the money pouch Jing Moshuang had given him. It contained 10 silver coins and several dozens of copper coins.

Di Jiu was familiar with using gold, silver and copper coins. Although the Ji Nation was very technologically advanced, its residents still used golden coins and silver coins along with paper notes.

Di Jiu had originally thought that this amount of money would last him a few days. When he started to search for an inn to stay at, however, he realized that the amount of money he had was insufficient.

The worst inn in Lonely River City charged one silver coin for a night’s stay, and meals cost additional money. Any slightly better inns charged at least five silver coins per night. However, money was not the only issue. Actually, there were no more vacant rooms available at any of the inns in Lonely River City. All the inns were fully occupied.

Left with no other choice, Di Jiu went to the Immortal Ascension Square. He was prepared to stay temporarily at the edge of the square.

The Immortal Ascension Square had originally been named the Lonely River Square. However, now that Lonely River City was hosting the immortal sect recruitment, the square’s name had been changed to Immortal Ascension Square. The square had also undergone an expansion, so it was now larger than its original size by more than 10 times.

When he arrived at the square, Di Jiu realized that there were many other people without accommodation. It was prohibited to spend the night at the center of the square, so a lot of people had set up simple tents at the edge of the square.

Di Jiu was only planning to stay for one night, so he wanted to find a place with slightly less people at the edge of the square. Before his meridians had been shattered, he had occasionally cultivated for more than two weeks at a time, so finding a place to spend the night was not a big deal for him.

However, after searching for a long time, he failed to find a suitable spot. He had arrived at the square too late.

“You will not be able to find a spot now, Big Brother. I came here four hours early. Why don’t you sit beside me for the night?” a slightly grave voice called out.

Di Jiu stopped. He saw a spotted black mat of unknown origin that looked quite dirty. Sitting on the mat was a burly man of great stature. When he saw Di Jiu look at him, he rubbed his short hair in embarrassment. He was the one who had called out.

Beside this burly man was an empty spot. Although it was not big, it was big enough for Di Jiu to spend the night.

“Thanks a lot.” Di Jiu walked up to the burly man and sat down.

The burly man quickly took out a small mat that looked even filthier from the oilcloth bag by his side. “You sit on my mat, Big Brother. I have another one here,” he said.

Di Jiu waved his hand hurriedly. “No need. I’m alright.”

To be honest, the blue stone slab he was sitting on was much cleaner than the burly man’s mat.

Di Jiu, who was afraid that the burly man would insist enthusiastically on giving him the mat, asked hurriedly, “You arrived four hours early to get this small space?”

“No, no. I was originally occupying that spot, but I gave it up and moved here.” The burly man pointed at a spot not far away.

That spot, which was evidently more spacious than his new one, was currently occupied by two young men.

“That’s not right. Even if you gave that spot to someone else, weren’t there more spots close by?” asked Di Jiu questioningly.

The burly man rubbed his head again and said, “I gave up my spot a few more times before I ended up here.”

Di Jiu was speechless. This burly man had to be given a trophy for helping others out. It was exactly because he enjoyed helping others that Di Jiu had obtained a spot himself.

When he saw that Di Jiu could still not quite understand his actions, the burly man laughed kindly. “My mother told me to be modest and courteous whenever I go out.”

Di Jiu, who was not familiar with the burly man, could only say, “Your mother was right, but you still shouldn’t give away what belongs to you so easily.”

He could see that the burly man was kind-hearted. Thanks to his experiences, Di Jiu knew that, while people should be kind, they should also be careful whom they showed kindness. For example, the burly man had ended up at this corner because he had kindly given up several spots. Not everyone was grateful, and a lot of people probably believed that he had been supposed to do this.

“Yes, yes, Big Brother. My name is Geng Jihua. What’s yours?” Geng Jihua, who had a pleasant personality, did not think that Di Jiu was wrong.

“I’m Di Jiu.” Di Jiu was curious about Geng Jihua’s name. Although he was a burly man, his name actually contained the word ‘flower’.

Geng Jihua was a chatterbox. Without having to ask, Di Jiu soon found out that he came from a faraway village. He had come to Lonely River City after accidentally hearing that the Immortal Sect Test would be happening there. It had taken him six months to reach his destination.

Di Jiu did not learn much from his conversation with Geng Jihua. Geng Jihua came from a remote village, so he did not know much about the power structure of the continent or the rise and fall of the dynasties. When it came to information on the immortal sects, Di Jiu probably knew more than him.

…

The night passed quickly. Di Jiu had only shut his eyes for a short while, when his surroundings became lively once more. He quickly opened his eyes, only to see that Geng Jihua had already put away his mat and was looking excitedly at the various immortal sects entering the square.

When he realized that Di Jiu was awake, he hurriedly took out a canteen and passed it to him. “Use this to wash your face, Brother Jiu,” he said. “I’ve heard that when an immortal sect is recruiting, one must be clean and tidy.”

“Alright, thank you.” Di Jiu wiped his face and adjusted his clothes a little. Then, he followed Geng Jihua onto the square.

“I don’t know which sect is the best, Big Brother.” As he looked at the row of sect emblems, Geng Jihua rubbed his hands together. His eyes were filled with longing.

Di Jiu was not so sure himself, so all he could say was, “I’m just like you. I don’t know which sects are bigger-scale or smaller-scale. I suppose that the sect that occupies the most space should be the biggest.”

A voice beside him answered for him, “This time, all top-notch sects of the northern province are here. The True Li ¹ Sword Sect, the Cloud Seed Sect and the Thunder Feather Sect are all top-notch sects. The Tumultuous Sea Sect, the Galaxy Sect, the Myriad Dharma Palace and the Glazing True Valley are all second-rate sects. The rest are third- and fourth-rate sects.”

Di Jiu looked over. The True Li Sword Sect, the Cloud Seed Sect and the Thunder Feather Sect were indeed the sects that occupied the most space and gave off the most extravagant vibe.

“Let’s line up, Brother Jiu,” said Geng Jihua eagerly when he saw that many people had already started queuing up to wait for their turn to be tested.

Di Jiu, who also wanted to know the rank of his mutated Spirit Root, said, “Alright, we’ll start with the True Li Sword Sect.”

The line before the True Li Sword Sect was the longest, so it seemed like the True Li Sword Sect was the biggest sect.

Although there were many people participating in this Immortal Sect Ascension, Di Jiu noticed that the testing speed was very fast. Everyone simply had to stand on an apparatus and place both hands on the two indents. The back of the apparatus would let out light beams. If there was one light beam, the person being tested had a single Spirit Root. This reasoning also applied to double, triple and quadruple Spirit Roots, which produced the corresponding number of light beams.

After observing the process for a while, Di Jiu concluded which standards the immortal sects used to recruit their disciples. The True Li Sword Sect recruited geniuses with pure Wood Spirit Root [2. According to Wu Xing, the Five Elements include metal, wood, water, fire and earth]. A single Spirit Root would produce an eye-catching green light beam more than three meters tall.

However, not all single Spirit Roots were good. If the light beam’s color contained any impurities, the candidate would not get recruited.

A double-Spirit-Root candidate whose red light beam was less than a meter tall and earth yellow light beam was more than three meters tall, was deemed a genius and was eventually recruited because of his earth yellow light beam, which contained no impurities.

Some people with triple Spirit Roots were also recruited. All these disciples had one thing in common: one of their light beams stood out by reaching at least 1.5 meters. The color of the light beam also had to be pure, so it had to include zero impurities.

Only one person with quadruple Spirit Roots was recruited. Although Di Jiu had seen a few people with quintuple Spirit Roots, none of them was chosen.

“It’s my turn now, Brother Jiu!” Geng Jihua informed Di Jiu excitedly when he realized that the people in front of them were done getting tested. Then, he took a few steps forward and reached the front of the testing area of the True Li Sword Sect.

“I wish you all the best.” Even though Di Jiu knew that this was meaningless, he still wished Geng Jihua good luck.

Geng Jihua walked up to the apparatus and placed both hands on the indents. A blue light beam with some spots of different colors shot out, reaching a height of over two meters.

Di Jiu stared in astonishment at the blue light beam behind Geng Jihua. This was the first time since the testing had started that he had seen a blue light, even though he had already watched at least 200 people get tested.

“A mutated Thunder Spirit Root… Unfortunately, this Spirit Root is filled with impurities. If it wasn’t, you could have become the greatest genius around here…” The cultivator helping Geng Jihua with his test shook his head, gesturing for him to get down from the apparatus before he added, “You failed. Next!”