Ninth In the World

Time flew past.

100 years had passed since the last time the Void City’s Dao Fruit Pagoda had opened.

For the cultivators in this universe, a century passed in the blink of an eye. The Void City had long since regained its tranquility. Every once in a while, some cultivators who frequented the Void City would mention the Human Clan expert who had appeared the last time the Dao Fruit Pagoda had opened.

At one of the tables on the first story of the Divine Phoenix Inn, three cultivators were discussing among themselves what had happened that year.

The speaker was a petite Dao Birth cultivator. As he spoke, he gestured wildly with an excited look.

“You’re surely exaggerating, Fan Xin. He couldn’t have helped more than 100 people refine pills in two hours. I admit that Di Jiu is a Primordial Dao Sacred Emperor, but please calculate based on what you just said. Making one cauldron of Dao Transformation Dao pills would take at least two hours. No matter how fast Alchemy Emperor Di is, he could at most refine four cauldrons of Dao pills in two hours. It would be absolutely impossible for him to refine more than 100 cauldrons of elixir pills in merely two hours. How did you come up with that figure? Besides, some Primordial Dao pills were refined as well.”

A cultivator seated beside the speaker could not help retorting. Fan Xin’s claim was really farfetched. He had accepted it when he had said that Di Jiu had killed a Primordial Chaos expert of the Demon Clan, seized the Demon Clan’s territory on the Dao Fruit Pagoda Square, and chased the Demon Clan’s Void Booth Elixir Dispensary away. However, this new claim was a bit too exaggerated.

Fan Xin’s face turned red as he replied unhappily, “I might be wrong about the timing. It must have been more than four hours, but he did help more than 70 people refine pills.”

“This makes what you said even more unbelievable. The duration should be doubled, but the number of people Alchemy Saint Di helped refine pills should be reduced by a few dozens.” The same cultivator, who had previously rebutted, chuckled now, confident that his words were right.

“It doesn’t matter that you guys don’t believe what I said. You will doubt me even more when I say that Di Jiu can also refine Heaven Essence Dao Pills. Plus, he is the one who killed Primordial Chaos Sacred Emperor Xiang Mu of the Heavenly Purification Clan. Do you believe this?” Fan Xin knew that he could not prove what he’d said, so he gave up trying to make the others believe his words.

The fact that Xing Hong had not been present in the city and had not managed to befriend such an expert made him feel immense regret.

That day, Xing Hong was in his cave abode, which was located in the Void City’s Commercial Building, steeping tea. A deacon suddenly hurried to the entrance and reported urgently, “Landlord, Di Jiu is here. He’s asking to meet you.”

Di Jiu? Xing Hong was momentarily stunned. Who was Di Jiu? Why would this person dare to request a meeting? After all, even the Void City Lord might not hold a higher position than Xing Hong. This lowly Di Jiu wanted to meet him…

Wait…

Xing Hong suddenly stood up when he recalled something. He did not even notice that the tea cup in front of him had toppled over as he asked agitatedly, “Do you think that Di Jiu is Alchemy Saint Di, who was at the Dao Fruit Pagoda Square that year?”

The deacon hastily replied, “Yes, it is Alchemy Saint Di.” He silently added, “Would I dare report this to you if it was not Di Jiu? Why would I report to you about a nobody?” This was something he dared not say out loud, however.

“Invite him in quickly!” Xing Hong anxiously called out. Then, he added, “Hold on. I will head over myself.”

Di Jiu was indeed the person standing outside the Void City’s Commercial Building. He had come to meet Xing Hong, mainly to investigate Dao Chuanxun’s whereabouts. The Void City’s Commercial Building was considered the largest commercial building in the entire city. Therefore, he felt certain that the Void City’s Commercial Building would know if Dao Chuanxun had been in the Void City before.

“Ha ha… Brother Di, I missed the opportunity to meet you that year because I was not in the Void City. I was just regretting that when you decided to honor me with your presence. I’m truly fortunate,” said a very enthusiastic voice. Then, Di Jiu saw Xing Hong, who was wearing a gray robe.

This might be due to the cultivation technique he was cultivating, but besides the fact that his robe was gray, the skin of Xing Hong’s face was light gray as well.

Di Jiu did not need to use his Spiritual Force to determine that Xing Hong was at the mid-stage Primordial Chaos Realm.

“You’re being too courteous, Landlord Xing. I dare not accept this high praise. Actually, I came by because I have something I need your help with…” Di Jiu felt some discomfort being on the receiving end of such enthusiasm.

Xing Hong patted his chest. “I will definitely do my best to do whatever you need.”

Xing Hong knew very well that his aptitude was only average, yet he had been able to attain the Primordial Chaos Realm. On the other hand, many people with better aptitude and higher positions were still stuck at the Primordial Dao Realm. This was mainly because he had befriended an impressive expert like Dao Monarch Ye.

When he’d first gotten to know Dao Monarch Ye, the latter had still been a mere Dao Transformation cultivator. However, he’d recognized Dao Monarch Ye’s extraordinary nature, so he had intentionally approached him. As a result, he had obtained the opportunity to break through to the Primordial Chaos Realm.

Now that he had encountered Di Jiu, who was not inferior to Dao Monarch Ye, he knew exactly what to do.