Ninth In the World

Di Jiu suppressed his urge to continue asking and followed the other participating cultivators onto the platform in the center of the square.

There were 1,000 to 2,000 tables and chairs on the platform. They were not numbered, so everyone just sat down randomly. Di Jiu didn’t understand why there was a need for tables and chairs at the True Dominion Genius Tournament. Did they have to take any written exams? Were the competitions in the Cultivation World not direct battles based on one’s skills?

After all the participants had sat down, the middle-aged man said, “I am the City Lord of the Immortal Ascension City, Xigu Boyang. I will be hosting this True Dominion Genius Tournament. This time, there are 1,200 participants. Before the first round of the competition starts, please admit if you are more than 200 years old and leave the competition. You have 10 seconds to do so.”

Di Jiu, who noticed Gu Jue among the crowd, believed that his Spiritual Force wouldn’t be wrong. Gu Jue should possess two Principal Spirits, including one that was older than 200 years old. Di Jiu wanted to see if Gu Jue would be caught.

“Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven...”

Xigu Boyang, who counted very quickly, finished counting in no time.

Nobody had left. Just as Di Jiu thought that there wouldn’t be anybody older than 200 years old, as everybody knew the rules of the tournament, two shadows leaped into the sky.

Di Jiu had been checking the surroundings with his Spiritual Force. The two shadows belonged to two genius participants who had been sitting in chairs. They suddenly exploded a few hundred feet in the air and their bloody mists soon disappeared.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force immediately landed on the chair underneath him. However, he didn’t notice anything wrong. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that the Dharma Array wasn’t engraved on the chair, but on the protruding floor underneath him.

Di Jiu was surprised that Gu Jue hadn’t been exposed. He was sure that Gu Jue had two Principal Spirits in him.

Meanwhile, Di Jiu saw the bearded young man. God knew where he had gotten the qualification card, yet he had also passed the age check.

“Good. The two fake geniuses who didn’t qualify to enter the tournament have been punished. Now, let me go through the rules and prizes of this tournament.” Xigu Boyang seemed happy that only two participants hadn’t met the tournament’s requirements.

Although Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force couldn’t scan the entire Immortal Ascension Square, he could feel that there were at least 20 peak experts around. Based on their aura, they all should be at the Domain Realm. Although he was a little weaker than the other experts, Xigu Boyang seemed to be a Domain Realm Cultivator as well. He had to be around the first-stage Domain Realm.

Now, both the spectating cultivators and the participants were silent. Everybody had already heard that there had been changes in the rules of the True Dominion Genius Tournament this time and that the number of spots available to enter the Immortal Ascension Array had been reduced to four.

As the square quietened down, Xigu Boyang’s voice sounded clearer. “In the past, the True Dominion Genius Tournament used to have 17 spots for entering the Immortal World. However, because the passageway to the Immortal Ascension Array is unstable, only four cultivators who win the True Dominion Genius Tournament will be able to go to the Immortal World. These four people will also be tasked to bring the news that the Immortal Ascension Array is about to close to the Immortal World. The fours spots will be divided into two Firsts, one Second and one Third.”

“The tournament will include three rounds. The scores of the first two rounds will be added. The first round, which will test one’s knowledge, is worth 100 marks. The second round, which will involve fighting against each other, will also be worth 100 marks. The top three will then be ranked. The third round is the challenge round. Based on the scores of the first two rounds, the geniuses with the 20 highest scores will challenge the top three. The rules of the challenge round will be explained before the third round starts. Now, before the tournament begins, all the genius participants will open up the Spiritual Force concealment restriction in your seats.”

Before Xigu Boyang could ask, the genius participants on the square had already opened the concealment restriction.

Xigu Boyang then added, “There are 10 questions in the first round. Please write down your name and answers on the Array Formation Screen before you.”

After Di Jiu opened the restriction, a Void Array Formation Screen appeared on his table. There were 10 questions on it. In his subconscious, he saw a huge Array Formation Display Screen in the middle of the square. He guessed that once he finished answering the 10 questions, his score and ranking would be shown on the screen.

There was no possibility of cheating in such a test.

The first question showed the picture of a blue spirit meridian. The participants had to identify the spirit meridian and state where it came from.

Normally, the first question was always a giveaway. However, Di Jiu knew that he wouldn’t have been able to answer it if he hadn’t possessed the Book of the World. He had gotten such a blue spirit meridian before and given the balance to Geng Ji after he had used up a large portion of it to cultivate. He had only later found out from the Book of the World that this had been a Thunder Spirit Meridian.

There would surely be clear Laws of the Thunder faculty where the Thunder Spirit Meridian came from. Unfortunately, Di Jiu’s strength had been too weak in the past, so he hadn’t been able to make use of the Thunder Law in that blue cave abode.

...

There was a suspended level on the leftmost side of the Immortal Ascension Square. The more than 10 peak experts who were seated on it had a clear view of the entire competition process on the square.

A rough-skinned man sat at the leftmost seat on the suspended level. Besides his strange complexion, he also had a prominent horse-like face and droopy eyebrows.

This obnoxious-looking man was the top expert in the True Dominion, Mei Bashan. His cultivation was unrivaled and he was a vicious man. He showed no mercy and exterminated anyone who opposed him.

Mei Bashan came from the Mei Family and was the Protectorate Lord of the First Plum Protectorate, which was the top protectorate among the Five Major Protectorates of the True Dominion. Although he possessed the fewest resources amongst the five Protectorate Lords, he had single-handedly brought down the First Kun Protectorate, which had originally been the top Protectorate, and renamed it to First Plum Protectorate.

It had been rumored that, during the massacre in the First Kun Protectorate, Mei Bashan had indiscriminately killed countless people, both male and female, young and old.

Nobody in the True Dominion had dared provoke Mei Bashan ever since he had renamed the First Kun Protectorate to First Plum Protectorate. If the possession of the Immortal Ascension Array had not been agreed upon earlier on, he might have declared it as his.

“The winner of this True Dominion Genius Tournament will surely be Mei Zhiyun from the First Plum Protectorate, Protectorate Lord Mei,” said Bai Hong, who was from the Interstellar Protectorate, which was one of the Five Major Protectorates as well.

“Ha ha ha!” Mei Bashan laughed loudly as his horse-like face vibrated. Then, he said, “You are too humble, Protectorate Lord Bai. Bai Shaoxiang from the Interstellar Protectorate possesses heaven-defying potential and even came across an awesome opportunity in the Small Central Planet not too long ago. He has the ability to compete for the top spot too!”

Although he said so, everyone could clearly tell that he hadn’t denied Bai Hong’s prediction. Actually, he had already had his eyes set on the top spot. His son, Mei Zhiyun, was a seventh-stage True Form Realm expert. Anyone who participated in such genius tournaments would already be considered a top-notch genius if they were at the Life Tribulation Realm. There would have been three or less True Form Realm experts at the tournament if the Small Central Planet had not opened up prior to the tournament.

In Mei Zhiyun’s opinion, Bai Shaoxiang was nobody he had to be wary of, as he was only at the second-stage True Form Realm.

Mei Bashan felt very proud that everyone had thought that Mei Zhiyun would emerge as the winner. He was already at the ninth-stage Domain Realm and no longer had any room for improvement in the True Dominion. Therefore, he had been planning on going to the Immortal World after this tournament.

“Do you hold a different view, Skygold Protectorate Lord?” Bai Hong had long harbored some buried grudges against Skygold Protectorate Lord Huan Changzhu. Therefore, when he saw that Huan Changzhu didn’t speak while everybody else was praising Mei Zhiyun, he took the chance to implicate him.

Even Mei Bashan, who had been basking in pride, turned to look at Huan Changzhu. He didn’t respect the Skygold Protectorate Lord, as the Skygold Protectorate only ranked at Number Four among the Five Major Protectorates of the True Dominion. If Huan Changzhu had anything against the First Plum Protectorate, then Mei Bashan would definitely kill him after he went to the Immortal World.

Huan Changzhu laughed as he said, “I also think that Zhiyun stands an excellent chance of emerging as the winner. However, I urge everybody to pay some attention to one person participating in this tournament. Although this person is not as good as Zhiyun, he also stands a small chance of becoming Number One.”

“Who?” asked Mei Bashan immediately. He didn’t think that Huan Changzhu would lie to him about such a matter.

“Di Jiu, who is also known as Young Master Red Embellishment in the Small Central World. His Dharma treasure is a long saber that he carries on him all the time,” said Huan Changzhu solemnly.

Huan Changzhu, who had thought that Di Jiu wouldn’t qualify to take part in the True Dominion Genius Tournament, had realized that he had been wrong when he had seen Di Jiu sitting on the competition platform. Di Jiu wasn’t even 200 years old. This was indeed a shocking revelation for him.

“Di Jiu?” Mei Bashan frowned. He didn’t seem to have even heard of this name before.

The Skygold Protectorate Lord pointed at Bai Hong and said, “I believe that nobody here knows Di Jiu better than the Interstellar Protectorate Lord. Di Jiu’s friend killed his son on the Small Central Planet. I wouldn’t have been as magnanimous as him. He actually allowed Di Jiu to take part in the tournament.”