Ninth In the World

Chapter 218: The Difficulty Of The Level-Ten Spiritual Sea

This unsettled Di Jiu. He could not touch the barrier of the Pioneer Sea Realm, and there was no way he could have broken through to the Pioneer Sea Realm.

Did he really need a Spirit Rive Elixir? The problem was that he did not have one either.

Di Jiu calmed down after the fifth month had passed. He was still at the peak of the level-nine Void Spirit Realm and had counted two years ever since he had entered this snowy mountain. During these two years of seclusion, he had already achieved quite a lot. However, all these achievements did not meet his objective, which was to break into the Pioneer Sea Realm while in seclusion.

He had to find a way to break through the Void Spirit Realm and into the Pioneer Sea Realm.

When he had broken through the Golden Core Realm into the Essence Soul Realm, it had been because he had been condensing his Dao fire, so this had also helped complete the Dao fire. In order to advance from the Essence Soul Realm to the Void Spirit Realm, he had used the 90th Story of the Five Continent Dao Pagoda, thus allowing his Spiritual Sea to break through to the seventh level by using the Roast Divine Herb. That way, he had been able to break the barrier of the Void Spirit Realm.

The problem he faced now while trying to enter the Pioneer Sea Realm was that he could not touch the cultivation barrier of this realm.

Based on how he had advanced from the Golden Core to the Essence Soul Realm, and from the Essence Soul to the Void Spirit Realm, Di Jiu had thought of two ways to enter the Pioneer Sea Realm. The first was to find a spot to temper his body, raise his body to the Three-Deity Realm, and then take advantage of the timing when his body broke through to reach the Pioneer Sea Realm.

The second way was to let his Spiritual Force break through from level nine to level 10 and break through to the Pioneer Sea Realm when his Spiritual Sea advanced.

Di Jiu had been tempering his Spiritual Force ever since he had acquired the Spiritual Force Escape Technique, so he knew how difficult it was to let his Spiritual Sea’s Spiritual Force make a high-level breakthrough. Moving from level seven to level eight was normal. However, when he had tried to upgrade his Spiritual Force from level six to level seven in the past, his Spiritual Sea had almost shattered.

Advancing from level nine to level 10 would definitely be more difficult compared to moving from level six to level seven. This was almost a level-up that affected one’s nature.

That was why he was leaning towards the body-tempering option. He felt helpless about finding a good spot to temper his body, as these spots were hard to find. Finding a spot that would allow his body to break through to the Three-Deity Realm was almost impossible.

However, he did have some Roast Divine Herb with him, which would give him a good shot at upgrading his Spiritual Sea’s Spiritual Force.

Di Jiu knew that he did not have much time. Thus, his actions were decisive. This time, he moved the pool in the geocentric pattern gold house next to the supreme-grade spirit meridian, surrounded the pool with the shredded spirit meridian, and then filled the pool with two-thirds of the Spirit Baptism Pith in the space container.

Upgrading the Spiritual Sea would naturally be safer in the Spirit Baptism Pith. The reason Di Jiu kept one-third of it was because he was worried that once he leveled up his Spiritual Sea, he might break through to the Pioneer Sea Realm straightaway. If the Thunder Tribulation occurred too quickly, he might not have the chance to reclaim the Spirit Baptism Pith.

When Di Jiu swallowed three pieces of the Roast Divine Herb at once, the trace of a slightly heated wave formed in his Spiritual Sea. The effect of the Forging Spiritual Art made his Spiritual Force increase slightly.

Di Jiu exclaimed. In the past, one piece of Roast Divine Herb had been enough to almost tear apart his Spiritual Sea, yet now he could swallow three pieces at once with no effect.

Tempering the Spiritual Force to level up the Spiritual Sea was something that could not be rushed. When Di Jiu swallowed 10 pieces of Roast Divine Herb, the heatwave was a bit stronger than his level.

A few days later, Di Jiu had refined over 200 pieces of Roast Divine Herb. However, his Spiritual Sea was still nowhere near breaking through to level 10.

This time, Di Jiu swallowed a half-red piece of Roast Divine Herb. As a heatwave that looked like a line of fire rushed into his Spiritual Sea, Di Jiu could clearly feel the Spiritual Force in his Spiritual Sea become active. Some kinds of Spiritual Force were born from nothing. Just a single piece of half-red Roast Divine Herb was more powerful than 100 pieces of normal grass.

Half a day later, Di Jiu refined more pieces of this half-red Roast Divine Herb and swallowed two of them. What disappointed him was that these two pieces were not as powerful as the previous one.

Di Jiu took the remaining eight pieces of half-red Roast Divine Herb, crushed them into a ball and swallowed them without hesitation. Judging by his previous two tests, swallowing them one by one seemed to not have much effect anymore.

The eight pieces of grass that Di Jiu swallowed had the same effect that Di Jiu had experienced when he had started condensing Dao fire. The Spiritual Force in his Spiritual Sea started burning with a boom.

Suddenly, a stream of blood shot out, causing Di Jiu to almost faint. As the shadow of a flame circled his forehead, Di Jiu started to circulate the Forging Spiritual Art like crazy.

This upgrading method was really dangerous, but he had no other choice.

The Forging Spiritual Art and the Spirit Baptism Pith assisted him a lot. The eight pieces of half-red Roast Divine Herb were quickly refined into Spiritual Force by Di Jiu, thus expanding his Spiritual Sea. Just as he felt the faint presence of the tenth patterned circle form in his Spiritual Sea, the effect of the Roast Divine Herb waned. Di Jiu braced himself, took out two more pieces of half-red Roast Divine Herb and swallowed them.

Crack! A loud sound was accompanied by terrifying pain. Di Jiu felt depressed. His Spiritual Sea had shattered!

…

Deep in a valley on the Polar Night Continent, when the final thunder streak landed, Jing Moshuang knelt down on the floor excitedly. She had never thought that she would be able to break through to the Essence Soul Realm one day, or that this day would come so quickly.

Two years! It had merely taken her two years to break into the Essence Soul Realm.

“Senior Sister Moshuang, congratulations for breaking through to the Essence Soul Realm. Unfortunately, the Galaxy Sect did not have any Essence Soul Realm cultivators last time.” When he saw that Jing Moshuang’s cultivation had been stabilized, Wei Shanshan, who was guarding her, ran over agitatedly. Her eyes turned red when she heard that, as she was reminded of the dead Master and the Elders of the Galaxy Sect.

Jing Moshuang cast a dusting spell on herself, changed her clothes and said, “Senior Brother Di Jiu has already taken revenge on the behalf of the Galaxy Sect. If we go to the Small Central World, we will be able to rebuild the Galaxy Sect again.”

“You are right, Senior Sister Moshuang. Too bad that we do not know when Di Jiu will be coming back.” Yu Jie’s words rang out as she walked over with Ceng Beizi.

Cultivating in the Spirit Quintessence Lake for the past two to three years had not just allowed Jing Moshuang to improve her power. Yu Jie and Ceng Beizi were both Level-Seven Golden Core cultivators, while Wei Shanshan and He Tai had both reached the Level-Eight Golden Core Realm.

The one who had improved the fastest was actually not Jing Moshuang, but Geng Ji. Geng Ji had perfected the Level-Nine Essence Soul Realm and was just one step away from breaking through to the Void Spirit Realm.

A white fox flew over and landed on Jing Moshuang’s shoulders like a streak of lightning.

This was the Scout Spirit Fox that Geng Ji had not been able to find last time. After many years of cultivation there, Geng Ji had not found it. However, after just two months of cultivation, Jing Moshuang had been able to spot it. Geng Ji was angry that he had spent so much time chasing after the Scout Spirit Fox last time, only for it to get close to Jing Moshuang on its own. The fox could hardly be separated from Jing Moshuang now.

“Senior Sister Moshuang, Big Brother Geng Ji, the Spirit Quintessence Lake has dried up due to our cultivation. Should we wait for Senior Xian here or should we move on?” He Tai asked when she saw Geng Ji walking over.

In fact, the Spirit Quintessence Lake had dried up due to their cultivation a week ago. Without it, there was no point in continuing to cultivate there.

If Senior Xian Ze had not asked them to wait there, they would have already left long ago.

Geng Ji scratched his head. He had no idea what to do. The reason He Tai had asked him to stay was because his cultivation level was the highest around.

Jing Moshuang hesitated a while before she said, “Senior Xian will definitely come. He said so himself. We’ll wait here for three more months. If Senior Xian is not here by then, we will leave…”

“I am already here!” A raspy voice rang out, followed by the sound of a figure falling down.

“Senior Xian!” Geng Ji’s cultivation level was the highest, so he was the first to lend a hand to the fallen figure.

Xian Ze was covered in blood and his breathing was irregular. It was obvious that he was heavily wounded.

“Let me treat my wounds first. We will talk later!” Xian Ze said as he took out a bunch of spirit stones and started to tend to his wounds.

Half a day later, Xian Ze stood up. His wounds should not have recovered yet, but his breathing was much stabler.

“What happened, sir?” Jing Moshuang asked in disbelief.

Xian Ze had told them before that his cultivation was at the Level-Three True Form Realm. It was hard to believe that a True Form expert had gotten heavily wounded at a place like the Polar Night Continent.

Xian Ze took a breath before he said slowly, “We need to leave now and go to the Small Central World.”

“But we have not found Brother Jiu yet, sir…” To Geng Ji, nothing was more important than finding Di Jiu.

Xian Ze waved his hand and said, “I followed your communication bead and found the right place. It was the Dusk Star Ruins that I mentioned before. Di Jiu’s Array Dao level is very high, so he set up a response array there, probably so he could tell you that he has gone to the Small Central World…”

“Can that place really lead to the Small Central World, sir?” Geng Ji was very excited.

Xian Ze nodded as he said, “Yes, there’s a teleportation array there. I’m sure that it will lead to the Small Central World. The words ‘Dusk Star Teleportation Hall’ were outside the dilapidated ruins. I had heard of this teleportation hall before. I just never thought that it would be in the Western Province. Let’s go, we’ll set off now.”

“But sir, your wound…” Jing Moshuang said worriedly.

“That’s exactly why we need to leave quickly,” Xian Ze said seriously. “There’s a fierce individual in the Polar Night Continent. I’ve never seen him before, but his cultivation level is definitely in the mid-stage True Form Realm, so he is much stronger than me. If I did not possess a few escape techniques, I would have already died in his hands.”

“Oh!” everyone exclaimed when they heard that there was a mid-stage True Form Realm expert in the Polar Night Continent. Even the Void Spirit Realm was a very distant thing to them, let alone the True Form Realm.

“What’s more important is that this person is there to find Di Jiu,” Xian Ze added in an even more serious tone. “Judging by his appearance, he’s definitely not looking for Di Jiu for a good reason. We need to go to the Small Central World immediately and inform Di Jiu.”

Di Jiu was his hope now. Xian Ze would never let this information leak out.

“If this person pursues him to the Small Central World, what are we supposed to do?” He Tai asked anxiously.

“As long as he does not find the teleportation array in the Dusk Star Ruins, he will not be able to reach the Small Central World anytime soon,” Xian Ze said softly.

“We will do whatever you say, sir.” Jing Moshuang was even more anxious than Xian Ze now that she had heard that a True Form Realm expert was looking for Di Jiu. She had to inform Di Jiu as soon as possible, no matter what.