Ninth In the World

The tall male cultivator was actually startled when Di Jiu agreed to team up so easily. He was even about to explain that the team had just been formed recently, so he hoped that Di Jiu wouldn’t be too wary of it. He hadn’t expected that Di Jiu would join them without even hearing the explanation.

Since Di Jiu didn’t mind, he naturally wouldn’t waste time talking about it. He just waved his hand towards somewhere in the distance and told Di Jiu, “I’m calling the two of them over. My name is Ren Zhiren.”

The other two members had been looking for teammates too. When they saw that Ren Zhiren had found someone, they came over immediately.

It was a man and a woman. When they came over, Ren Zhiren quickly introduced them. “This is Xue Jingkong and Lou Jia, our teammates on this sea expedition.”

Di Jiu cupped his fists and introduced himself. “My name is Qu Xiaoshu.”

Xue Jingkong was a man at the mid-stage Zenith Heaven Immortal Realm. He wasn’t very tall and he seemed like a quiet person. Lou Jia was the only female cultivator amongst the four of them. She was decent-looking and cheerful, and she was at the early-stage Zenith Heaven Immortal Realm. She said hi to Di Jiu after Ren Zhiren introduced her.

“If there aren’t any more preparations to be made, shall we leave now?” Ren Zhiren was looking at Di Jiu when he said that. The three of them had been ready for a long time.

Di Jiu nodded as he responded, “Alright, let’s leave now.”

He had pillaged the New Moon Commercial Building. Although he didn’t have many quality items, he had quite a few ships that could be used in the Lunar Immortal Sea.

Ren Zhiren took the initiative to take out a middle-grade wooden immortal ship. He then said, “We can’t fly above the Lunar Immortal Sea. The four of us have to take the same ship. I will take care of the bow of the ship.”

Lou Jia immediately added, “Xue Jingkong and I will take care of the sides.”

Di Jiu knew that cultivators had to team up at the Lunar Immortal Sea because at least four people were required to sail the sea. Otherwise, it would be extremely dangerous. After all, in some areas, one wouldn’t be able to watch the stern of the ship with their Spiritual Force if one was standing at the bow. Since the three of them each would take care of one side of the ship, he said without hesitation, “I shall take care of the stern.”

After everyone was assigned a side they would be responsible for, Ren Zhiren didn’t waste any more time. He boarded the ship first.

Di Jiu stood at the stern of the ship. Wooden immortal Dharma ships were necessary for sailing the Lunar Immortal Sea because they lasted the longest.

There was a type of metal-devouring beast in the Lunar Immortal Sea that feasted on all sorts of ships except wooden ones.

Di Jiu stood at the stern. Once the ship took off, his Spiritual Force became suppressed and its effective range went down quickly from 100 feet to 50 feet.

Ren Zhiren, who was standing at the bow, said loudly, “Our Spiritual Forces will be extremely suppressed once we are far out in the sea, and the effective range could even be less than a foot. Hence, please watch out for any demon beasts on your respective sides.”

…

Almost as soon as Di Jiu set sail, a man wearing a tall crown rushed into the Chaotic Law Zone of the Lunar Forsaken Tomb.

He was none other than the strongest expert in the Illusionary Rainbow Immortal Continent and the Palatial Lord of the Brilliant Lake Palace, Ye Xi. He had rushed towards the Lunar Forsaken Tomb as soon as he had heard that Di Jiu had entered the Chaotic Law Zone.

He only had a single goal — to capture Di Jiu and tear him to shreds.

This wasn’t because Di Jiu was loaded with Liberal Points, nor because he had purchased the Time Crystal and the Zenith Divine Metal. It was because of the Starry Sky Tea.

He wasn’t after the Starry Sky Tea for money. He just wanted to force the origins of Starry Sky Tea out of Di Jiu.

Unlike other cultivators, Ye Xi had caught a glimpse of Dao Validation. After drinking his first cup of Starry Sky Tea, he had sensed that it was an Immortal Spirit Tea that had been refined from a mysterious, esoteric Foundation Order. Even a grade-nine Alchemy Emperor wouldn’t be able to refine the Starry Sky Tea unless they had completely understood those Foundation Orders.

Mastering Foundation Orders didn’t depend much on one’s talent. All divine powers were constructed by laws. No matter how talented a person was, they could never master so many different Foundation Orders, unless they were keeping an enormous secret — one that could help a person understand more Foundation Orders.

Ye Xi believed that if he could understand so many Foundation Orders, he would have long broken through to that stage, succeeded in Dao Validation, and torn through this plane.

Even though this was enough for Ye Xi to not let Di Jiu off, there was another reason that made him even more determined to capture Di Jiu: He had tasted a chaotic aura of wood element in the tea. There was only one explanation for that. The person who had refined the Starry Sky Tea possessed an epoch-making wood-element treasure.

However, the Starry Sky Tea was only sold for 1,000 Liberal Points per leaf. After all, Starry Sky Tea should be priceless given the value of its contents.

Ye Xi was determined to catch him and seize his possessions even if he had to end his seclusion.

However, Ye Xi was disheartened when he arrived at the Chaotic Law Zone. He suspected that Di Jiu wasn’t here. Unlike other cultivators, he wouldn’t believe that Di Jiu had died in the Chaotic Law Zone.

How could someone with so many huge secrets die so easily? Furthermore, he didn’t sense the aura of Starry Sky Tea at all.

If a cultivator lost their life in the Chaotic Law Zone, their ring would ultimately disintegrate. If Di Jiu’s ring disintegrated, the Starry Sky Tea, which contained top-notch wood element aura, would definitely be exposed. Given Ye Xi’s cultivation, he would be able to sense that aura as soon as he set foot into this place.

However, even though he was currently in the Chaotic Law Zone, he didn’t sense its aura.

The space between Ye Xi’s brows suddenly split open and a third eye appeared. Although Di Jiu wasn’t completely right, his surmise was not far from the truth.

Ye Xi didn’t possess the Dao eye. Instead, he had another type of eye — the Phantasmal Eye. That eye could see through all phantasms and find the safe spots in the Chaotic Law Zone in the shortest time possible.

However, the Phantasmal Eye was still a little inferior to the Dao eye, as it couldn’t see through the Heaven Earth Law. In other words, the Dao eye could identify the true essence of things, but the Phantasmal Eye could only see through their surface.

After just an hour, Ye Xi was already sure that Di Jiu had left.

…

It had been over half a month since Di Jiu and his team had entered the Lunar Immortal Sea. He was a little relaxed, as they hadn’t been attacked by any demon beasts.

Since his Spiritual Force had been suppressed so much after entering the sea, he had decided that he might as well temper his Spiritual Force with the Spiritual Force Training Art.

Di Jiu’s Immortal Force was at level eight, and he had tempered it for many years in the Chaotic Law Zone. Once he started tempering his Immortal Force, it took just over half a month for his Immortal Force to be effective within 1,000 feet. However, its range was still expanding.

After such a long time, Di Jiu realized that they came across more cultivators the farther into the sea they went. Puzzled by his observation, he asked, “Senior Sister Lou, why are so many cultivators heading towards the same place we are?”

Lou Jia chuckled and replied, “Almost all the cultivators at the seaside know about the appearance of Divine Dawn Metal on the Yin Flame Island, so it is only natural that so many people are heading there.”

Di Jiu fell silent. He had thought that this was an exclusive piece of information, but it seemed like he had been overly optimistic.

Although Ren Zhiren couldn’t see Di Jiu clearly with his Spiritual Force, he could hear his words. Since he hadn’t explained this beforehand, he quickly exclaimed when he heard Di Jiu asking about it, “Yin Flame Island is a place filled with natural restrictions and hazards, which means that the early birds won’t necessarily get the worm. That depends on one’s luck…”

Boom! Before Ren Zhiren could even finish his sentence, a terrifying wave came crashing towards them. The creamy-white wave blasted the wooden ship’s restriction and tore a hole in it. That was just the first wave that struck them.

“It’s the Lunar Immortal Sea storm… Let’s work together and stop the waves now…” Ren Zhiren shrilled. There was despair in his voice, for he knew very well that once the Lunar Immortal Sea storm hit them, it wouldn’t matter if they worked together or not.

“Ah…” They heard the heart-rending cries of other cultivators on ships coming from farther away. Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force sensed that two wooden ships were swept away by a creamy-white wave that was close to 100 feet tall, not even leaving a single scrap behind.

They watched as a 100-feet-tall wave swept towards the ship. Ren Zhiren was throwing out array flags frantically, but he was so overwhelmed with despair that he couldn’t even make a sound.

Di Jiu knew right away that Ren Zhiren’s proficiency in Array Dao was too pathetic. Without hesitation, he rushed onto the deck and threw out several hundred array flags.

If he didn’t take matters into his hands, Ren Zhiren, who was only a level-three Immortal Array Master, probably wouldn’t even survive a single wave.

Boom! As soon as Di Jiu set up the first Defense Array, the violent wave crashed against the wooden ship’s restriction.

Ren Zhiren, Lou Jia, and the other guy, who were too desperate to even say a word, watched dumbfoundedly as the Defense Array stopped the wave. They had no idea what was going on.

‘What’s going on? A 1,000-feet-tall wave in the Lunar Immortal Sea storm didn’t manage to tear through the wooden ship’s Defense Array? This doesn’t make sense.”

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force had already detected that even more violent waves were coming their way. As he kept throwing out array flags, the Defense Array made cracking noises and became increasingly reinforced.