Ninth In the World

Panda Novel

“Di Jiu, let’s take He Tai with us and head to the garrison. Given our strength, we would be easy prey if we participated in the trial.” Pang Fan felt helpless too. It was unfortunate that he was so weak, yet so honest.

As soon as he said that, Pang Fan got ready to pick up He Tai.

Di Jiu pulled Pang Fan away speechlessly. “If you carried him to the garrison alone, you’d get eaten by demon beasts before I even got there,” he said.

“No, Teacher Wang Chuangtian said that the path to the first garrison is still considered safe.” Pang Fan shook his head as he looked at the long saber in his hand.

His only regret was that, if he went to the garrison now, his saber would be of no use to him temporarily.

Di Jiu smiled coldly. “You are really stupid. Don’t you understand the meaning behind Wu Cheng’s words? From now on, we will all follow the law of the jungle. Only the fittest will survive. It was Wang Chuangtian who said that the path to the garrison was safe. I don’t believe his words. If you believe him, then you should get ready to die.”

If Pang Fan did not bring anyone along, Di Jiu could predict that he would probably still reach the garrison safely. If he was carrying someone, though, given his strength, he would not even get a chance to run away if he came across a demon beast.

“Ah…” Pang Fan did not quite believe Di Jiu.

He might not know Wang Chuangtian that well, but Teacher Yu Jie would definitely not send him to his death.

“I only said that it was a possibility. Perhaps they were right. However, now that demon beasts have approached the safe zone, anything could happen.” When he realized that Pang Fan could still not quite understand, Di Jiu tried to comfort him.

“Let’s leave quickly then.” Pang Fan believed that Di Jiu’s words made sense. Staying there would be too dangerous.

Di Jiu pulled Pang Fan aside, took out two bottles of medicinal liquid and gave them to him. “You drink a bottle and try cultivating. Let me take a look at He Tai and see if I can cure him.”

“What kind of medicinal liquid is this?” Pang Fan, who ignored Di Jiu’s last words, asked in astonishment as he took the bottles Di Jiu gave him.

“It’s a medicinal liquid handed down my family from generation to generation. It increases one’s strength. The effect is not bad. Perhaps you might attain a late-stage Yellow Tier Cultivation Level if you drink a bottle and cultivate. Try it…”

This medicinal liquid was of no use to Di Jiu anymore. Now that he was on the Fairy Planet, he did not believe that anyone would capture him, even if he was exposed.

“Late-stage Yellow Tier?” When he heard these words, Pang Fan quickly put one of the bottles into his pocket, opened the other one and poured its contents into his mouth.

He was obsessed with attaining a late-stage Yellow Tier Cultivation Level. Pang Fan’s talent in martial arts was quite good, so he had broken through to the Yellow Tier much earlier than most people and attained a mid-stage Yellow Tier early as well. That was how he had been able to enter the elite class.

The elite class consisted of elite students from various classes, so there were no limitations to the time one spent at the Institute of Martial Arts. That being said, the most fundamental requirement to entering the elite class was attaining at least a mid-stage Yellow Tier Level.

Unfortunately, after Pang Fan had attained the mid-stage Yellow Tier and entered the elite class, he had become an average cultivator. Everyone in the class had been improving, so the lowest cultivation level was currently the late-stage Yellow Tier. Pang Fan’s cultivation had remained stagnant ever since he had entered the elite class.

He was unable to wait any longer, especially when he heard Di Jiu say that this medicinal liquid would help him break through to the late-stage Yellow Tier Cultivation Level.

While Pang Fan started to cultivate, Di Jiu walked over to He Tai, took an antidote pill out of his backpack and put it in his mouth. Then, he struck He Tai’s acupuncture points several times.

He Tai had been poisoned for only a few hours, so it was easy for Di Jiu to save him.

He Tai, who had earlier been deemed incurable by Wu Cheng, opened his eyes 10 minutes later, stood up and started puking violently a liquid with a fetid, disgusting odor. Then, he wiped his mouth, walked over to Di Jiu and knelt on the ground in front of him.

“Thank you, thank you…” No amount of thank-yous could fully express He Tai’s gratitude.

He had only lost his ability to move and speak, but he actually had been able to hear clearly what Wu Cheng and Wang Chuangtian had said. He also recalled hearing Di Jiu suggest that he take a look, and then giving him a pill and striking his body a few dozen times.

That was why the first thing he did after being cured was kneel down before Di Jiu. Perhaps other people had thought that his life was worth nothing, but to him, his life was his everything.

His appearance was not too shabby. He actually looked a little like the international star Varney, with his tall, erect nose and great stature. He had just advanced to an early-stage Black Tier that year and entered the Fairy Planet’s Institute of Martial Arts at his prime. A beautiful future awaited him. Why would he want to die?

Unfortunately, when Director Wu Cheng had announced that he could not be saved, he had not had the energy to climb up from the ground and say that he did not wish to die.

“You are welcome. I study medicine after all.” Di Jiu gestured for He Tai to stand up.

“Even Director Wu Cheng said that I could not be saved. If it wasn’t for you, I would have definitely died.” He Tai’s gratitude was genuine.

“My ability was greater. That’s why I was able to save you.” Di Jiu was not humble by any means.

He Tai used his hands to slap his face lightly a few times. “It is laughable how arrogant I was. I was just like the rest of them. I thought you were someone who pulled some strings to enter the elite class as a mere formality. I would never have thought that you’d be so formidable.”

He Tai was not referring to Di Jiu’s martial art techniques, but his medical expertise.

Di Jiu, who suddenly felt the surrounding air start to vibrate, did not continue this conversation. Pang Fan was about to break through.

Pang Fan’s face was red as his hand gestures kept changing. He Tai, who had experienced a breakthrough, could tell that Pang Fan was about to break through. He was astonished.

It was really careless of Pang Fan to choose to break through at such a place.

Sure enough, more than 10 minutes later, Pang Fan’s aura had increased greatly. Pang Fan opened his eyes and laughed. “I have broken through to the late-stage Yellow Tier, Di Jiu… He Tai! How did you come back to life?”

He Tai wanted to ask if Pang Fan wished he had died instead. However, he knew that Pang Fan and Di Jiu were close, so all he could say was, “Di Jiu saved me. If it wasn’t for him, I would have died.”

“You are really a doctor?” Pang Fan forgot all about his excitement over attaining the late-stage Yellow Tier. He suddenly remembered that Di Jiu had previously said that he wanted to take a look and see if He Tai could still be saved.

“Of course. My medical skills are probably unsurpassable by anyone on Earth. Let’s not talk about medicine anymore, though. Since we are already here, we should search for some treasure and opportunities.” Di Jiu was not interested in talking with the two of them about medicine. To him, studying medicine was not a feat to be proud of.

This was also meant to remind Pang Fan not to tell anyone about the medicinal liquid Di Jiu had given him.

Fortunately, Pang Fan was no fool. He remembered that Di Jiu had pulled him aside earlier to give him that medicine and asked him not to talk about it again, so he knew that Di Jiu wanted him to keep it a secret.

“Now you are my Big Brother and class monitor, Di Jiu. You are so wise and heroic. You even saved He Tai! If we used my talent in martial arts and your talent in medicine, we could conquer the Fairy Planet!” After attaining the late-stage Yellow Tier, Pang Fan’s lofty ambitions had risen even quicker than his cultivation level.

In his opinion, being the class monitor of the elite class was the coolest job. Unfortunately, the original class monitor had not paid any attention to him because his cultivation level had been at the bottom of the class.

“I want to join you. Why don’t the three of us form a group?” He Tai asked, looking at Di Jiu anxiously.

He was not as careless or simple-minded as Pang Fan. Why would Pang Fan break through to the late-stage Yellow Tier after following Di Jiu for a few days, when he had been stuck at the mid-stage Yellow Tier for so long? Plus, Di Jiu had been able to save him from a poison Director Wu Cheng had been unable to do anything about.

All this proved that Di Jiu was no ordinary person.

The sound of a howl was heard from afar. Pang Fan was certain that it had come from the demon beast that had howled earlier and forced them to speedily escape from a distant direction.

“The demon beast is coming. Let’s run away!” said Pang Fan anxiously.

Even though they had also run away earlier, he had felt safe when connate expert Wu Cheng had been around. Now that he was not anymore, he did not feel very confident.

“I will follow the class monitor.” He Tai took Pang Fan’s lead and started to call Di Jiu class monitor as well. They definitely had to escape, but the question was in which direction.

Di Jiu hesitated for a while before saying, “I actually want to take a look. If you guys want to run, why don’t you head to the garrison and keep cultivating?”

“You want to go find that demon beast that’s fighting over territory?” Pang Fan and He Tai exclaimed almost simultaneously.

Di Jiu nodded and said seriously, “You heard Wu Cheng’s philosophy. It’s the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. His philosophy may seem a little heartless, considering that it caused us to end up abandoned here, but there is actually nothing wrong with it when it comes to a place like this.”

“What does that have to do with us running away from demon beasts?” Pang Fan did not quite understand Di Jiu’s line of thought.

Di Jiu took out his locator and said, “Look at the circled area on the locator. The relatively safe zone should be within this red line. This is the area that most people have searched before. I don’t think we’ll be any luckier than everybody else. We won’t find anything they couldn’t. On the other hand, if two demon beasts are fighting over a territory, then that territory must be rich. As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold. The more dangerous a place is, the more treasure it will hide. I will be going regardless of whether you two come along.”

Di Jiu had intended to head over and take a look right from the start. However, his actions would have been too obvious if he’d headed over alone while connate expert Wu Cheng had still been around. Now that the opportunity had arisen, he would stop hiding and grab it.