Ninth In the World

Panda Novel

Di Jiu held a tattered jade slip in his hands. This jade slip was only a travel note, not an array formation jade slip.

The cultivator who had left the note had recorded that he had once seen the Heavenly Fire Spirit in the Sky Screen Pit.

Di Jiu immediately recalled that he had been to the Sky Screen before. It was a dilapidated planet in the Cultivation World that had later become a mystic area. The Sky Screen Pit described in the travel note was probably not the Sky Screen that he had been to previously.

However, what had intrigued Di Jiu were not the words “Sky Screen”, but “Heavenly Fire Spirit”.

According to the Book of the World, the Heavenly Fire Spirit, which was formed by the condensation of the purest fire elements in the universe, could make all flames transcend nirvana and turn into immortal flames.

Although his Dao fire had yet to be turned into an immortal flame, this wasn’t because he didn’t have the materials to do so. In fact, Di Jiu had already amassed most of the materials to advance to the immortal flame. He even had two Planetary Core Rocks, including one that had been used to upgrade the Sangharama Flame. Thus, he still had one left.

He had yet to upgrade his Dao fire because he wanted his Dao fire to transcend nirvana first before upgrading it.

Di Jiu had to take a trip to the Sky Screen Pit. Therefore, he raised his hand and sent a message to Yan Xiaosha.

Yan Xiaosha’s cultivation had been at the peak Immortal Lord Realm. After the sun had set in the Immortal World, his cultivation level hadn’t advanced anymore. This was because there was no way of feeling the Immortal Spirit Qi to cultivate in the Sunset Immortal World. Thus, his cultivation level had dropped to the late-stage Immortal Lord Realm before he had come to the Starry Sky Immortal City.

Although he hadn’t been concentrating on cultivating during the past few years in the Starry Sky Immortal City, he had regained his cultivation gradually. Even though he had yet to regain the perfected Immortal Lord Realm, he should be able to do so in another one to two years.

He had admired and been most grateful to Di Jiu. Thus, he had served Di Jiu like a real City Lord.

In Yan Xiaosha’s opinion, although Di Jiu’s Array Dao was better than his, his strength was countless times more powerful than Di Jiu’s. He could have easily killed Di Jiu and become the City Lord of the Starry Sky Immortal City. However, he didn’t want to do so. He believed that Di Jiu was more suited to be the City Lord than him. Therefore, he’d rather render his utmost assistance to Di Jiu.

He rushed to the City Lord Manor immediately upon receiving Di Jiu’s message.

“Are you looking for me, City Lord?” Although his cultivation level was much higher than Di Jiu’s, he still bowed before Di Jiu to express his respect and gratitude to him.

Di Jiu nodded. He admired Yan Xiaosha’s character. Di Jiu was sure that Yan Xiaosha didn’t know that he could kill him in a second here in the Starry Sky Immortal City. It was precisely because he didn’t know that his character stood out.

“Yes, I wish to go out for a while. Before I do, I’d like to ask you a few questions,” said Di Jiu as he signaled for Yan Xiaosha to sit down. Then, he poured a cup of spirit tea for Yan Xiaosha.

Yan Xiaosha said without hesitation, “Feel free to ask anything of me, City Lord. I will definitely defend the Starry Sky Immortal City well. However, the Immortal World is going through the sunset now. There is no place worth going to here. If you leave the Starry Sky Immortal City, your cultivation level will drop. It is not advisable to do so.”

Yan Xiaosha couldn’t wait for Di Jiu’s cultivation level to increase. However, Di Jiu’s concealment technique was too powerful. He looked at Di Jiu as if he were looking at a vast galaxy. He wasn’t able to feel what Di Jiu’s cultivation level was at all.

Di Jiu knew that Yan Xiaosha was speaking the truth. Then, he handed the Sangharama Flame to Yan Xiaosha and said, “I’ve borrowed this flame for a long time. Let me return it to you now.”

“Ah! Has the flame advanced to level five?” Yan Xiaosha looked at the flame in surprise. What he had was a level-four immortal flame, which was already considered extremely rare in the Immortal World. He had spent a huge amount of effort to upgrade the Sangharama Flame to level four previously. Now, Di Jiu was actually returning a level-five immortal flame!

Di Jiu smiled as he said, “Yes. Look at it as my way of thanking you for lending me your flame.”

Yan Xiaosha immediately recalled that many cultivators had brought all kinds of materials from the immortal world to contribute and earn contribution points for the Starry Sky Immortal City. It was highly likely that the City Lord had obtained some treasures for upgrading the flame from those contributions, thereby upgrading the Sangharama Flame to a level-five immortal flame.

He stood up and cupped his fists at Di Jiu as he said, “It is all thanks to you, City Lord, that I can feel the life-force prosper again in the Immortal World. The Immortal World is growing again! Take this Sangharama Flame. Consider it my gift to you. Although it can’t represent the real gratitude I feel for you, it is the only thing I can offer.”

Di Jiu laughed as he forced the flame back into Yan Xiaosha’s hands. “Xiaosha, a flame represents a cultivator’s achievements in the future. Although we are friends, I cannot take precious belongings from others. I have my own flame, even though it is slightly lower in class. I have asked you to come here today because I have a question for you.”

When Yan Xiaosha saw the firm look on Di Jiu’s face, he realized that he wouldn’t accept the flame. Therefore, he put the flame away and asked, “What is your question?”

“Have you heard of the Sky Screen Pit?” asked Di Jiu.

“The Sky Screen Pit?” repeated Yan Xiaosha in surprise. Then, he nodded and replied, “Yes, I have. It used to be very famous before the sun set in the Immortal World. Many cultivators liked to go to the Sky Screen Pit for their test trials. One often found quality items there. However, that place was also extremely dangerous. Although I have never been there before, I have heard rumors that the deeper one went into the pit, the less one’s Spiritual Force could reach out. On top of this, there were hundreds of millions of branching roads in the Sky Screen Pit. Thus, many cultivators who entered never made it back out again.”

Di Jiu felt elated as he immediately asked, “Have you heard any rumors about any treasures in the Sky Screen Pit?”

“Of course!” replied Yan Xiaosha without thinking. “The Sky Screen Pit was most famous for all kinds of Heaven-Earth Unique Flames. Rumor had it that many cultivators had obtained Heaven Earth Flames in the Sky Screen Pit.”

Di Jiu was even surer that the travel note hadn’t lied. It had been recorded that all kinds of Heaven-Earth Unique Flames appeared endlessly in places where there was Heavenly Fire Spirit.

“Give me the location of the Sky Screen Pit, Xiaosha. I want to go and take a look.” By now, Di Jiu was determined to go to the Sky Screen Pit.

…

Xian Ze mustered the courage to stop a few cultivators in their tracks. For many years now, he had been puzzled by seeing many cultivators head in the same direction.

In the past, he hadn’t seen any cultivators for a few years. However, a lot of them had suddenly appeared, all of them heading in the same direction.

He had to summon his courage to ask in order to find out why those cultivators were headed in the same direction.

Xian Ze had stopped three cultivators, two males and one female. He believed that all three of them were most likely experts who had perfected the Domain Realm. None of them were any weaker than Mei Bashan, whom Di Jiu had killed previously.

“What is the matter?” asked a male cultivator straightforwardly as he stared at Xian Ze. His tone was cold.

Xian Ze quickly bowed and said, “Sir, I’ve noticed that many of you are heading in the same direction. Can I know why?”

The female cultivator laughed as she said, “Okay, we can tell you. It is because a Starry Sky Immortal City has appeared in the Sunset Immortal Protectorate. One can cultivate in this Immortal City and even experience the Tribulation Transcendence and become a Perfected Immortal!”

So, this was why! Xian Ze wasn’t overly happy about it, as there were many Immortal Cities in the Immortal World. Besides, most of them supported cultivating. He wouldn’t be allowed into the Immortal City even if he went. He knew that all the Immortal Cities required either immortal crystals or a billion high-grade Spirit Stones to allow one entry.

“You should be relieved. I heard that City Lord Di of the Starry Sky Immortal City doesn’t like too many killings. That’s why Big Brother Wan didn’t bother killing you,” said the tall, thin cultivator walking on the extreme side coldly.

Xian Ze’s heart twitched. City Lord Di? He suddenly recalled Di Jiu. Could City Lord Di be Di Jiu?

It was no wonder that he felt so. In the past, when everybody had thought that Di Jiu’s cultivation was weak, he had killed two Domain Realm experts of two large sects in the Galaxy Master Sect.

Just when he had thought that they needed to tone down and be humble in the True Dominion, Di Jiu had killed the top expert of the True Dominion, Mei Bashan. Nobody in the entire True Dominion had dared to say anything about it. They had even followed the rules that Di Jiu had laid down for holding the next True Dominion Genius Tournament.

Thus, it wasn’t strange that a man as talented as Di Jiu would build an Immortal City in the Immortal World. Besides, that man had mentioned that City Lord Di didn’t like killings. Di Jiu was exactly the kind of person who would kill only if he was provoked.

“Seniors…” Just as Xian Ze was about to ask for the full name of City Lord Di, the three individuals walked far away.

Xian Ze had finally found a new purpose. He had to take a look at the Starry Sky Immortal City and see if the City Lord of the Immortal City was Di Jiu.

Just as Xian Ze was thinking about this, a distressed figure dashed over from afar.

“Zhuo Wenshu!” Xian Ze recognized the cultivator when he saw her dashing over. However, Zhuo Wenshu was very different from the way she had been when she had participated in the True Dominion Genius Tournament. Zhuo Wenshu was in a state of distress.

“Senior Xian!” Zhuo Wenshu called out happily when she saw Xian Ze.

When she had first seen Xian Ze, he had been at the fifth-stage True Form Realm. Since then, many years had passed and she had already advanced to the fourth-stage Domain Realm. Xian Ze was, however, still at the fifth-stage True Form Realm.

She addressed Xian Ze as Senior because she had sensed that Di Jiu had always treated Xian Ze as one too.

“Sorry, Zhuo Wenshu. I was the one who blocked your way,” said Xian Ze guiltily as he looked at the red-haired cultivator chasing after her.

After spending so many years in the Immortal World, he no longer cared about dying. However, Zhuo Wenshu was in her prime. She would have a future different from his, even in the Sunset Immortal World. It would be a true sin if he caused Zhuo Wenshu to die there.