Ninth In the World

Bam! Di Jiu slammed against the floor. It was fortunate that the talisman was very powerful. As a result, not all his bones were broken. He had only broken the bone in his leg.

Di Jiu heaved a sigh of relief. Everything should be fine now that he had left the void and landed on the ground. The only problem now was the recovery of the body.

He did not know how long he had been flung around in the void. Fortunately, he persevered. Throughout the past few years, he had yet to completely degenerate the Poison Dao engravings and expel them from his meridians and Spiritual Sea. He had only managed to barely maintain a balance. Now that he had landed on the ground, his condition would only improve no matter which plane he was on.

If this had happened in the past, he would only have needed to complete half a Nomological Qi Circulation for his broken legs to heal. Now, however, the Nomological Qi Circulation was indeed able to heal the bones in his legs, but more focus was put on containing the Dao foundation degeneration brought upon by the Plane Rift Talisman.

Beasts were roaring in the far distance all around him, so Di Jiu felt that this should not be Earth, but a place on the Everlasting Domain Planet. This was because the Heaven Earth Spirit Qi here was extremely deficient, almost to the point that it seemed nonexistent.

The sky darkened gradually. Di Jiu was still sitting in the same spot, as he was unable to move at all. However, he did not lack means of defense. After all, he could construct a nomological flare to maim any being so long as they were not immortal demon beasts.

Di Jiu naturally hoped that no demon beasts would approach him. The balance built to contain the Dao foundation degeneration would be broken the moment he constructed the nomological flare, which would worsen his injuries.

Di Jiu was covered in injuries, but his luck was not bad. Perhaps the wild beasts possessed an innate sense of danger, or they were too far from Di Jiu, but a night had passed and no wild beasts had come by.

Snowflakes danced in the night sky. Di Jiu’s body was soon covered with a thick layer of snow.

He was thoroughly submerged into the Nomological Qi Circulations that were cleansing the degeneration engravings within his body. Just as one full day was about to pass, someone rushed over in a haste.

This person, who seemed to have been running for a very long time, ran to Di Jiu’s side and stopped, pressing one hand onto his shoulder as they panted repeatedly.

Soon, they realized that something was not quite right. There seemed to be someone buried underneath the thick layer of snow.

They quickly reached out and swept away the snow, revealing Di Jiu’s face in the process. The lady exclaimed in alarm, “Ah! Is he frozen to death?”

With a sigh, Di Jiu opened his eyes to look at the lady in front of him and asked calmly, “May I know where this place is?”

“Ah!” The lady screamed and stumbled a couple of steps back, looking at Di Jiu in trepidation. A long moment passed before she spoke up. “You’re still alive?”

After the initial surprise of hearing her speak Mandarin, Di Jiu used Mandarin to say, “Still alive. May I know where this place is?”

The lady finally came back to her senses. She sensed that Di Jiu had to be an ancient martial arts expert. Otherwise, there was no way he could have been buried under the snow for such a long time without dying.

“This is the Major Crooked District, which is considered the border of the place where the ferocious beasts are the most active. Eh? How could you have stayed here for one night and remained unscathed?” She suddenly realized that Di Jiu must have sat here for an entire night for such a thick layer of snow to be on top of him.

The Major Crooked District? Di Jiu suddenly felt that this name was very familiar…

He almost wanted to give himself a slap. Since this person was speaking Mandarin, this was indeed Earth.

He was stunned, as he had been occupied thinking about how to expel the Poison Dao engravings within him.

He immediately reacted after realizing that this was Earth. He did know about the Major Crooked District.

It was one of the districts of the Honor Parade City. Unexpectedly, it had been turned into wilderness. Just now, the lady had mentioned ferocious beasts. Had the demon beasts taken over Earth?

There was something amiss with this situation. He remembered that he had eliminated all demon beasts when he had left the Earth the previous time. How could there still be demon beasts around?

“The Honor Parade City exists no more?” murmured Di Jiu.

The lady had already calmed down. Di Jiu was a living person without a doubt. She scanned him with her gaze, sizing him up before questioning dubiously, “Your strength should be around the late-stage Black Tier, right? Otherwise, how could you possibly have stayed in this place safe and sound? Oh, my name is Fei Yuelan. What is yours?”

“My name is Di Jiu…” Di Jiu said his real name.

Surely, 200 years had passed since he had left Earth? Such a long time had passed that any people who would recognize him should no longer be alive.

“Di Jiu? You have the same surname as the benefactor of my ancestor!” exclaimed Fei Yuelan in pleasant surprise.

“Who is your ancestor?” inquired Di Jiu.

Fei Yuelan replied in a respectful tone, “Fei Qi.”

Shocked, Di Jiu stared at Fei Yuelan. He had truly never thought that he would be able to see Fei Qi’s descendant here. His gaze landed on Fei Yuelan’s injuries, which clearly showed that she had been beaten up by someone.

She was still gripping onto a saber. That year, he had imparted the Di Clan’s Six Sabers to Fei Yuelan. Logically speaking, she should have ended up in a sorry state if she had learned even half of the saber techniques.

“You use the saber?” asked Di Jiu.

Fei Yuelan nodded her head in assent. “Yeah, I use the saber.”

“Why is the Saber Move of the Fei Family so substandard that you were able to harm yourself so badly?” asked Di Jiu with a frown.

Fei Yuelan shook her head. “The Fei Family did not possess a saber technique of its own. What I am cultivating is the Di Family’s saber technique. My father only knew two Saber Moves and now I only know one.”

Di Jiu was completely speechless. He would never have thought that a powerful saber technique like the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers would end up in such a sorry state.

Upon seeing Di Jiu’s expression, Fei Yuelan grunted. “The saber technique is not sub-par. The problem lies in my aptitude. Furthermore, the medical herbs today are far too expensive and we cannot afford them.”

Di Jiu stood up with some struggle. His broken leg had finally healed. The Nomological Qi was constantly circulating across his body so it did not affect his mobility.

“Where are you headed to?” asked Fei Yuelan dubiously.

“I wish to find a place to stay, as my injuries are quite serious,” replied Di Jiu. He was unable to open his storage ring now, so he still needed Fei Yuelan’s help.

“Let’s head to the Honor Parade City then,” Fei Yuelan suggested.

Di Jiu looked at her. “Isn’t the Honor Parade City no longer in existence?”

Fei Yuelan looked back at Di Jiu speechlessly. “Where did you come from exactly? How could you not even know about the Honor Parade City? The place where we are currently is the original location of the Honor Parade City. That year, the number of ferocious beasts was far too big, so the Honor Parade City was rebuilt farther away. There seem to be many ferocious beasts surrounding the city, but it is actually still very safe inside the city.”

“Don’t you have something to worry about if you are headed to the Honor Parade City?” With a glance, Di Jiu could see that Fei Yuelan must have killed someone and escaped.

Fei Yuelan looked uneasy but quickly hid her uneasiness. “What do I have to worry about? I killed a ferocious beast just now. Although I ended up here because some ferocious beast chased me, ain’t I safe now?”

Di Jiu did not continue the conversation. He knew whether Fei Yuelan had killed a human or a ferocious beast with just a glance. There was no need for any confirmation.

…

The Honor Parade City had been reconstructed after Di Jiu had left Earth. However, he saw city walls and a defense laser net. This reminded him of the Fairy Planet back then. The Fairy Planet had only brought about destruction on Earth. Had civilization regressed for this long-disappeared city wall to be reconstructed?

After entering the Honor Parade City, Di Jiu evidently sensed that Fei Yuelan was quite nervous. However, no one approached them or asked questions. Both of them entered the city smoothly. The two city guards guarding the city gates did not even glance at them.

Di Jiu quickly understood why. Many others were also carrying weapons into the city, and some of them were covered in injuries.

Fei Yuelan relaxed completely after they entered the Honor Parade City. She instantly turned to Di Jiu and informed him, “Head to the east district if you wish to stay in a hotel. The hotels there are the cheapest.”

Di Jiu replied awkwardly, “Can you lend me some money? I have none on me.”

Fei Yuelan flushed in embarrassment, awkwardly taking out two wrinkled money notes and stuffing them into Di Jiu’s hands. “I only have 100 dollars on me. Use them during your stay here.”

With that, Fei Yuelan hastily turned and left. Soon, she disappeared from his line of sight.

She did indeed intend to help Di Jiu by entering the Honor Parade City with him. At the same time, however, she wished to make use of Di Jiu’s presence to draw attention away from herself.

She was not any richer than Di Jiu. The 100 dollars she had given him was certainly the last two money notes she had on her.