Ninth In the World

Boom! Boom! The sound of thunder rumbling woke Di Jiu from his stupor. When he woke up, he saw that Qian Fenghua was undergoing his Immortal Emperor Thunder Tribulation some distance away.

Di Jiu let out a sigh of relief. His cultivation level had stabilized at the seventh-stage Immortal Emperor Realm, but he had a feeling that his true cultivation had surpassed that. The reason it had stopped increasing was because of the plane he was in. It was not because of this that the Heaven Earth Law was incomplete, but because something unexplainable was repressing the increase of his cultivation level.

“Di Jiu, thank you so much. I don’t know when I would have attained the Immortal Emperor Realm if it hadn’t been for you.” Qian Fenghua, who had successfully completed his Tribulation Transcendence, walked over excitedly.

He had long lost any desire to live on when he had been confined in the underground of the Polar Night Sky Market. It was unexpected that he would attain the Immortal Emperor Realm so shortly after Di Jiu had saved him. This was the most extraordinary event he had ever experienced in his life.

Di Jiu was about to reply when he suddenly sensed Black Fire’s anxiety. Black Fire was his beast companion, which carried Di Jiu’s contract seal. Di Jiu would immediately sense it when Black Fire encountered a life-threatening situation. The person attacking Black Fire was no one ordinary considering Di Jiu’s reputation in the Four Major Immortal Continents.

Di Jiu took out a locale ball for Qian Fenghua as he informed him anxiously, “I own an establishment called the Peace Hotel in the Gigantic Tripod Liberal Immortal City. You can head over there, Master. I need to leave and deal with something urgent.”

With that, Di Jiu disappeared from the range of Qian Fenghua’s Spiritual Force.

…

On the Demonic Clothing Mountain peak, Black Fire was pinned onto the void by a long black nail. The entire Demonic Clothing Mountain peak was silent except for the sound of blood dripping.

Zhangsun Huang was in a similar state, except for the fact that he was pinned onto the ground.

Immortal Emperor Melting Snow, Mo Louxue from Yaohua Snow Mountain, and Sect Master Zhou Bujian from the Sword Shift Immortal Sect stood at one side with blood dripping from the corners of their mouths.

Other than Fang Feilou, who had seized the right opportunity and remained uninjured, the few Immortal Emperors who had come to be judges were all sprawled on the floor after sustaining severe injuries.

An expressionless black-robed man took away the ring on Zhangsun Huang’s finger before asking coolly, “Xie Wanling, I heard that Zhangsun Huang is your son.”

Xie Wanling, who was standing on the sidelines, replied respectfully, “I have long since expelled this unfilial son. I would have slapped him to death long ago if this Di fella didn’t have his back.”

The black-robed man’s gaze landed on Black Fire as he commented, “Not bad, your background should be quite extraordinary. Even I am unable to recognize what you are…”

Black Fire hollered, “My Big Brother will definitely make you die a gruesome death if you dare to kill me! Let me go if you know better!”

The black-robed man could not be bothered to listen to Black Fire. His Spiritual Force landed on Zhangsun Huang’s ring and he immediately looked extremely pleased.

He had found three Supreme Chasm Dao Fruits, which were exactly what he needed.

“Senior…” Xie Wanling bowed respectfully when he saw how pleased the man was. He had called the black-robed man here because he wanted the Supreme Chasm Dao Fruit.

Satisfied, the black-robed man nodded his head at Xie Wanling. “Not bad, I obtained one Supreme Chasm Dao Fruit this time. This thing is useless to me right now. I will give it to you later.”

“Thank you, Senior.” Xie Wanling was so excited that he almost knelt onto the ground.

Zhangsun Huang was pinned to the ground but could still lift his head with difficulty. Shouting, he taunted him. “I obtained three Supreme Chasm Dao Fruits, yet you said you only obtained one… My Big Brother will definitely not let a piece of trash like you off when he comes!”

Pew! Before Zhangsun Huang could complete his sentence, another black nail pinned him at the neck. This time, he was no longer able to make any noise.

The black-robed man grunted coldly. He would have already killed Zhangsun Huang if it weren’t for the fact that he still needed to interrogate him.

“Where is Di Jiu?” After pinning Zhangsun Huang once again, his gaze landed on Black Fire.

Black Fire laughed. “Kill me if you dare. When my Big Brother comes, there is no way a pig like you will be kept alive. My Big Brother would be able to kill a piece of trash like you with one slap.”

Black Fire carried the abstruse aura of a top-notch divine beast. The black-robed man did not kill Black Fire despite how nasty the latter’s words were. Instead, he looked at Zhou Bujian and company. “I wouldn’t mind letting anyone who knew where Di Jiu was go.”

A frosty voice then spoke. “Why do you need to ask others? You could just ask me directly.”

The black-robed man suddenly turned and discovered that a young man in blue was standing before him. He frowned. He had not sensed any spatial fluctuations caused by the young man’s arrival.

“Big Brother!” yelled Black Fire excitedly when he saw who the newcomer was.

Upon hearing that, Zhangsun Huang shuddered in excitement. He wanted to lift his head to take a good look at Big Brother but he could not move a muscle due to the two black nails pinning his body.

Fang Feilou had suffered at Di Jiu’s hands but he too knew how formidable Di Jiu was.

Now that Di Jiu had arrived, he hastily lowered his head. Earlier, he had used his silver tongue and a pile of treasure to bribe the black-robed man into letting him off this once. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that this was why the black-robed man had yet to attack him. He was still unsure as to whether the man would attack him later.

He certainly could not show that he was well-acquainted with Di Jiu, as this would offend the black-robed man. The man’s oppression was simply too great. No matter how powerful Di Jiu was, he would still be inferior to this black-robed man.

“You are Di Jiu?” asked the black-robed man coldly as he stared at Di Jiu. His powerful domain had already locked the surrounding space, so Di Jiu would not be able to escape regardless of how formidable his escape technique was.

Di Jiu knew that the black-robed man had not come from the Immortal World the moment his eyes landed on him. The fluctuations of the man’s aura were similar to Zhong Ao’s.

The black-robed man before him was much more powerful than Zhong Ao, who had gotten injured and lost his physical body then. If this encounter had occurred before Di Jiu had attained the Immortal Emperor Realm, he knew that he would have been no match for this man. Now, however, he was not afraid of the black-robed man, for he sensed a restricting Heaven Earth Law aura on him. This meant that the man was most likely carrying a nomological talisman.

“That’s right, it is I.” Di Jiu did not use his domain to repress the man’s domain, yet his nomological array flags dotted the surrounding space. With a lift of his hand, he took away the black nails on Black Fire and Zhangsun Huang’s bodies.

“Eh?” exclaimed the black-robed man in disbelief when he saw how easily Di Jiu had been able to remove the nails. This stunt showed that Di Jiu had mastered the law of the void as well…

It was simply unheard of for a weakling who had yet to even fully form their Dao to understand the law of the Immortal World’s void. Even a pig would not believe that Di Jiu didn’t have any secrets.

“Not bad, not bad…” The black-robed man tried to grab Di Jiu.

The surrounding space of this plane disappeared, transforming into the black-robed man’s absolute space. At the moment, everyone else within this space could sense the prowess of the black-robed man’s attack, even though they were not the actual target. They believed that they would not be able to do anything but wait for their death if they were in Di Jiu’s position.

Fang Feilou wiped his forehead. The reason he had been able to survive to this day was definitely not because of how powerful he was but because of how sharp his judgment was. Upon comparing the Di Jiu of the past and the black-robed man of the present, he believed that his judgment was accurate. The black-robed man was unbelievably powerful, so Di Jiu would not be able to escape from him.

Di Jiu might be able to catch up to the black-robed man after a few more years. Now, it would only be wishful thinking to believe so.

Di Jiu grunted and took a small step. He unsheathed the Heavenly Aqua Saber, which transformed into a several-thousand-feet-long blue saber flare.

Everyone else in the vicinity only saw Di Jiu take a small step away before the isolated space created by the black-robed man disappeared. Then, their surroundings returned to their original state.