Ninth In the World

The Teleportation Array was already open when Di Jiu reached the exit of the Evil Beast Valley. He didn’t see the rest of the cultivators, so he thought that he had come later than the others.

In actual fact, amongst all those who had ever taken the test trial in the Evil Beast Valley, Di Jiu was the only one who had reached its deepest part. Most geniuses would remain near the entrance to wait for their chance. Only a handful of top-notch geniuses would venture into the middle-portion, purely for the sake of looking for the Illusionary Beast.

Then, Di Jiu stepped into the Teleportation Array and got teleported back to the Immortal Ascension Square.

Di Jiu scanned the area with his Spiritual Force the minute he landed on the Immortal Ascension Square. Less than 200 people out of the 500 that had gone in had made it out alive. The survival rate was less than 40%.

When Di Jiu realized that Xian Ze had been nailed onto the Array Formation Screen, he flew into a rage. It felt as if somebody had splashed oil onto him, setting off a huge fire in his heart.

Fortunately, Xian Ze had not been killed. The other party was probably waiting for Di Jiu to appear before killing him.

Di Jiu immediately rushed over and helped Xian Ze get down as he waved four array flags.

“It was Mei Bashan...” said Xian Ze feebly. Di Jiu nodded his head. “Please help me take care of him first,” he told the surprised An Xiaoqi, who was standing beside him.

It only took Di Jiu a few moments to save Xian Ze after exiting the valley. Everybody on the suspended level was surprised that he had managed to do so.

They were not surprised because they thought that Di Jiu wouldn’t have dared to save Xian Ze, but because Mei Bashan hadn’t just casually nailed Xian Ze onto the Array Formation Screen. He had utilized a level-seven Spiritual Lock Array. If anyone had attempted to rescue Xian Ze without first understanding the array, they would have died the moment an array flag that was nailing him down was removed.

The fact that Di Jiu had been able to save Xian Ze without any considerations meant that his Array Dao was higher than Mei Bashan’s. He wouldn’t have been able to save Xian Ze in such a short time if they had been just on par.

Mei Bashan dashed out of the suspended level the instant Di Jiu rescued Xian Ze. Bai Hong could only follow him.

It wasn’t clear yet if it was Di Jiu who had killed Bai Shaoxiang. However, even if Di Jiu was the murderer and Bai Hong wanted to seek revenge, he would have to wait until after Mei Bashan captured Di Jiu. It would be disrespectful towards Mei Bashan if he struck before him.

The expressions of An Lingzhou and Bai Xizhou, who were on the suspended level, turned ugly. Mei Bashan wasn’t giving due respect to the rules of the True Dominion Genius Tournament by attacking its genius participant so brazenly. The True Dominion Genius Tournament would surely become a laughing stock after such an incident. The two of them stood up but didn’t dash out as impulsively as Mei Bashan had.

Both of them were aware that this True Dominion Genius Tournament would be ruined if they dashed out too. The entire True Dominion would be thrown into a chaotic battle as well. They could only wait until after Mei Bashan captured Di Jiu.

Mei Bashan would not kill Di Jiu before he got a clear picture of what had happened.

A hunchbacked man following Mei Bashan dashed out too. Many people recognized him. He was Mei Bashan’s lackey, Gou Shang. He had naturally followed Mei Bashan to prevent Di Jiu from escaping now that Mei Bashan was about to kill Di Jiu.

Mei Bashan wouldn’t have minded. He would at most have thought that Gou Shang was being loyal.

After entrusting Xian Ze to An Xiaoqi, Di Jiu slashed out with his Heavenly Aqua Saber, which had been transformed into a saber flare. He didn’t wait for Mei Bashan to strike first.

Finally, An Xiaoqi understood why Di Jiu had asked her to take care of Xian Ze. Protectorate Lord Mei must have known that Di Jiu had killed Mei Zhiyun and have come to kill him the moment he’d appeared.

However, Di Jiu had struck first. This made Mei Bashan go crazy. Meanwhile, all the experts on the suspended level, as well as the cultivators on the Immortal Ascension Square, were also stunned.

Was he oblivious? How daring was he to dare attack Mei Bashan first?

Both An Lingzhou and Bai Xizhou sighed. They could still have tried to persuade Mei Bashan, provided that Di Jiu wasn’t the one who had killed Mei Zhiyun, if Di Jiu hadn’t initiated the attack. In the event that Mei Bashan killed Di Jiu, they could also penalize him for causing harm to a True Dominion Genius during the battle round of the tournament and settle the matter.

However, they could no longer say anything now, even if Di Jiu wasn’t the one who had killed Mei Zhiyun. This was because Di Jiu, who was a genius participant, had dared to make a move on the Protectorate Lord, Mei Bashan. This, in itself, was enough to turn the world upside down.

“You lowly being!” shouted Mei Bashan in anger. Then, he took out his Yin Yang Gonfalon, which transformed into two streaks of frightening aura, one Yin and one Yang. These two streaks of aura loomed over the entire Immortal Ascension Square. Nobody without a Spiritual Force that exceeded level ten could have extended it against such a Yin Yang aura.

The saber shadow of the Wind-Rustling Move that Di Jiu cleaved transformed into a space filled with boundless saber intent. Against the immense churning of this saber intent, even the space began to produce sizzling sounds from the lacerations.

The Wind-Rustling Move dashed forward, as if it was going to engulf Heaven and Earth. However, Di Jiu felt upset that his Wind-Rustling Move couldn’t break into the space over-casted by Mei Bashan’s Yin Yang Gonfalon. Both Mei Bashan and Mei Zhiyun had executed the Gonfalon. However, they were as different as heaven and earth in terms of level.

Before the Wind-Rustling Move collided with the Yin Yang Gonfalon, Di Jiu had already executed the second saber move, which was the Split-Wave Saber Move.

Thanks to the support of the Split-Wave Saber Move, the killing saber intent of the first saber move transformed into a continuous wave of sabers and finally managed to create a slit in the space over-casted by the Yin Yang Gonfalon.

However, Di Jiu didn’t feel happy. He knew that he had to depend on Jue Zhan if he wanted to escape death that day.

Only one thing would result from his battle with Mei Bashan. He would either die, or Mei Bashan would. Mei Bashan had already locked up the entire space in the Immortal Ascension City. Thus, he couldn’t escape, regardless of how powerful his Spiritual Force escape technique was. Besides, he didn’t want to escape. If he did, Xian Ze would die a worse death.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The saber aura of the Wind-Rustling Move and the saber waves of the Split-Wave Saber Move banged hard against Mei Bashan’s Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi. A deafening explosion was heard before Quintessential Essence made the Defense Arrays around the Immortal Ascension Square shake. A few of the weakest cultivators were sent flying off as they vomited blood.

Crack! Suddenly, Di Jiu felt his saber waves, which had been raging forward, become weaker against the Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi. The saber waves were disrupted while the saber aura dissipated. They didn’t form any saber ripples that could threaten Mei Bashan.

How formidable! Di Jiu could only think of this word to describe Mei Bashan’s Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi. After it tore up the Wind-Rustling Move and the Split-Wave Saber Move, it locked in on Di Jiu’s body, both on the left and on the right.

Even though the Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi had weakened after two saber moves from Di Jiu, the two streaks of Yin and Yang aura still cut into Di Jiu’s body and caused two bloody mists to spurt from Di Jiu.

What Di Jiu should have done was leave. However, he chose to put up with the pain as his body got ripped apart by the Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi and dashed towards Mei Bashan.

Mei Bashan shrieked in surprise but immediately came to a realization. “You have an immortal-like Tempered Body! No wonder that you dared act so arrogantly in the True Dominion. However, you have to kneel down before me even if you have an immortal-like Tempered Body...”

Mei Bashan’s Yin Yang Gonfalon didn’t cut Di Jiu into three like he had expected it to. However, he didn’t mind. He entered Di Jiu’s Domain as he smiled hideously.

When he executed the Yin Yang Gonfalon again, the space froze up once more. Suddenly, Mei Bashan felt that something was not quite right.

Logically speaking, Di Jiu shouldn’t have had any ability to resist after he’d cast the Yin Yang Gonfalon over the entire space. He shouldn’t have had the ability to retaliate, even if he was a Domain Realm Cultivator.

However, Di Jiu had actually managed to fight back with two saber moves. He had even taken one more step forward, even though he had been seriously injured by the Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi. This was hardly normal.

It was impossible unless Di Jiu had a more powerful Spiritual Force than him. He already had a level-ten Spiritual Force. Nobody else in the Cultivation World could possibly have a more powerful Spiritual Force than him.

Mei Bashan quickly dispelled his doubts. His priority now was to restrain Di Jiu. Suddenly, he found out yet again that the space over-casted by his Yin Yang Gonfalon hadn’t managed to restrain Di Jiu.

Di Jiu had to have a level-eleven Spiritual Force. It looked like he hadn’t only mastered the Spiritual Force escape technique. He also possessed a top-notch Spiritual Force tempering technique. Mei Bashan believed that Di Jiu was keeping a huge secret.

Jue Zhan, who had been watching the battle from behind Mei Bashan’s back, was anxious. He doubted that Di Jiu had exaggerated about the fact that nobody outside of the Immortal World could possibly tolerate a kick from him. Right now, Di Jiu had no means of executing a kick in Mei Bashan’s domain. Instead, he had been overpowered.

Jue Zhan had almost given up hope when he saw Di Jiu spurt out the two bloody mists thanks to Mei Bashan’s Yin Yang Gonfalon’s Qi.

He knew very well that Di Jiu was not to be blamed for this. Mei Bashan was too powerful. Even a Domain Realm Cultivator wouldn’t have been able to kick Mei Bashan, let alone send him flying.

...

The killing aura within the space over-casted by the Yin Yang Gonfalon gathered once again. Suddenly, Mei Bashan saw Di Jiu kick out with his leg in his direction.

Mei Bashan laughed coldly. Di Jiu must have been overly confident and ignorant if he had tried to kick him instead of trying to escape from the Yin Yang Gonfalon.

It was no wonder that he had dared to kill his son, Mei Zhiyun. This man was totally oblivious! Zhiyun was unlucky enough to run into him.

Mei Bashan had thought that Di Jiu’s kick was a joke. However, his expression became grim when Di Jiu executed this kick.

Although the space was under the control of his Yin Yang Gonfalon, he had nowhere to hide from Di Jiu’s kick.

“It’s the spatial order...” said Mei Bashan as he took in a breath of cold air. His scalp went numb. It frightened him to realize that Di Jiu had come into contact with the spatial order.

The killing intent of the Yin Yang Gonfalon diminished tremendously and the Yin Yang space started to dissipate as well.

Bam! Mei Bashan could only stare as Di Jiu kicked against his chest. A frightening force was emanated from the Quintessential Essence and Spiritual Force. Mei Bashan couldn’t tolerate such a kick, even though he was wearing armor.

A blood-arrow that contained internal organs shot out. Mei Bashan was sent flying by Di Jiu’s kick.