Ninth In the World

No one would link the death of a genius like Mei Bashan to the demon beasts within the Evil Beast Valley. Thanks to Mei Bashan’s faction, he would not send Mei Zhiyun into the valley and let him get killed by the demon beasts residing within.

This statement stood true for other geniuses that belonged to major powers, including Mei Zhiyun. In the entire history of the battles that had taken place in the Evil Beast Valley, rarely had this group of geniuses been killed by the demon beasts, for they possessed techniques that allowed them to defend themselves and escape.

Since there was a 90 percent possibility that Mei Zhiyun had not been killed by a demon beast, he must naturally have been killed by a cultivator stronger than him. The points one obtained in the Evil Beast Valley were based purely on one’s abilities, so they could not be faked.

Only Di Jiu’s abilities were stronger than Mei Zhiyun’s. Hu Burang might have two more points than Mei Zhiyun, but this difference could be attributed to chance, so it had nothing to do with one’s strength.

The people on the building could imagine that, and so could the spectators on the square. Xian Ze, who was also on the square, had guessed that Di Jiu was the culprit.

Xian Ze broke out into a cold sweat the instant he thought that Di Jiu was the culprit. He suddenly had a bad feeling, so he decided to leave the square first. However, Mei Bashan’s speed was simply too fast. He rushed out of the building almost immediately when he realized that Mei Zhiyun had been killed by Di Jiu. He lifted his hand and grabbed hold of Xian Ze before throwing Xian Ze out and using four array flags to pin Xian Ze’s four limbs. Xian Ze was pinned onto the massive scoring array formation screen.

The square was completely silent. Mei Bashan had not done anything extreme, yet everyone in the True Dominion had heard that he had eradicated the First Kun Protectorate and massacred the people there. Back then, the entire First Kun Protectorate had been covered in blood and corpses had lain everywhere on the streets.

People expected that Mei Bashan would kill Di Jiu’s friends after Di Jiu killed Mei Zhiyun. It would be abnormal indeed if Mei Bashan did nothing. However, Mei Bashan’s attack on the square was unexpected and outrageous.

“I won’t kill you now. I will kill you after that punk Di Jiu comes out,” said Mei Bashan sinisterly as he stared at Xian Ze, whom he had pinned to the massive array formation screen.

“Protectorate Lord Mei, you have overstepped your boundaries. I was simply watching the competition on the square. We are not even certain if Mei Zhiyun was killed by him. Even if he was really the killer, that murder happened during the competition. Letting your anger out on an unrelated individual would be extreme.” No one had expected that someone would step forward and reason with Mei Bashan right now.

Mei Bashan slowly turned his head as his killing intent almost solidified. He stared coldly at the person who had spoken up and said, “Do you think that I cannot kill you, An Lingzhou?”

An Lingzhou, who had delicate features and looked like a scholar, looked at Mei Bashan fearlessly and said, “Protectorate Lord Mei, even if you killed me today, I would still maintain my stance on this. The reason the True Dominion exists to this date is because everyone works together, not because an individual or a fraction wields absolute power. The way you handled things today will endanger the justice that exists in the True Dominion. What will be the meaning of the True Dominion Genius Tournament then? Why don’t we all just rely on our strength to occupy all the slots?”

“Ha ha...” Mei Bashan laughed. “What would you do if I wanted to kill you today, An Lingzhou?”

An Lingzhou’s face turned ugly. He would have first saved Xian Ze if he had not been weaker than Mei Bashan. However, he had yet to save Xian Ze, and Mei Bashan had already threatened to kill him. Regardless of what was happening, he was still one of the Protectorate Lords of the True Dominion.

Mei Bashan seemed to be getting ready to take out his Dharma treasure. No one understood why, but the Villa Lord of the Falling Ice Mountain, Han Wushui, suddenly stood up. He cupped his fists before Mei Bashan and said, “Protectorate Lord Mei, Protectorate Lord An did not take into consideration your pain over losing a son. Hence, his words might have been offensive. We are still currently in the midst of the True Dominion Genius Tournament. Given the fact that we are all a part of the True Dominion, please don’t take Protectorate Lord An’s rash behavior to heart. Wouldn’t it be better to wait for the True Dominion Genius Tournament to end before settling any of this?”

Everyone looked at Han Wushui in astonishment, for his words were evidently meant to help An Lingzhou. Otherwise, given Mei Bashan’s temperament, it was highly possible that he would have killed An Lingzhou immediately.

No one else could understand why Han Wushui had dared step forward at this time to save An Lingzhou with his words. After all, he would still offend Mei Bashan, no matter how polite his words were.

Mei Bashan became increasingly gloomy. An Lingzhou claimed to be at the sixth-stage Domain Realm, but he was in fact halfway to the late-stage Domain Realm. Furthermore, Han Wushui was a fifth-stage Domain Realm expert. The truth was that the Protectorate Lord he was most wary of in the entire True Dominion was An Lingzhou. Although An Lingzhou was currently weaker than him, he would be able to kill him sooner or later.

He would definitely not be able to instantly kill An Lingzhou. If he was to attack An Lingzhou, he would be on the losing side if Han Wushui also joined the fight.

More importantly, he wanted to know why a sly fella like Han Wushui would help An Lingzhou, even when Han Wushui risked offending him.

Just as Mei Bashan was pondering Han Wushui’s motive, another person stood up and laughed. “Protectorate Lord Mei, Protectorate Lord An, we are all Protectorate Lords of the True Dominion here. We are also in the midst of the True Dominion Genius Tournament. We need to talk before we do anything. Please return to the building and take a seat, Protectorate Lords.”

The atmosphere in the building became even stranger, for the person who had spoken up was Skygold Protectorate Lord Huan Changzhu. Huan Changzhu was not a simple fella, which made everyone even more confused as to why he had spoken up for An Lingzhou.

Mei Bashan’s heart skipped a beat. He laughed before returning to the building and sitting back down again. “Alright, alright, In that case, I will wait for the tournament to end first. However, anyone who dares release that person will have to suffer my wrath.”

The reason he had discarded the notion of attacking was because An Lingzhou was nearly at the seventh-stage Domain Realm, Huan Changzhu was a veteran seventh-stage Domain Realm expert, and Han Wushui was a fifth-stage Domain Realm cultivator. Under the circumstances, he had no chance of winning the battle. Even if he did, he would be severely injured and put himself in real danger, for none of the experts of the True Dominion were malevolent.

Although Mei Bashan did not attack, his killing intent increased. He would kill off An Lingzhou, Han Wushui or Huan Changzhu when the tournament ended. It seemed that many members of the True Dominion had forgotten about him, as he had not killed anyone in a long time.

...

Di Jiu did not feel psychologically burdened about killing Mei Zhiyun. This was not because he was not worried about Xian Ze, but because even if Mei Bashan wanted to kill Xian Ze, the former would have to wait for the competition to end to confirm that Di Jiu had killed Mei Zhiyun. Moreover, this was the True Dominion Genius Tournament, so hundreds of thousands of cultivators were gathered on the Immortal Ascension Square. Mei Bashan was a Protectorate Lord. Thus, he should possess some moral integrity. He could not kill innocent people when he had no proof.

Di Jiu had not expected how shameless Mei Bashan could be. He had attacked Xian Ze before concrete evidence had been found and ignored the spectating cultivators present on the Immortal Ascension Square.

The demon beasts within the Evil Beast Valley were currently increasingly harder to find. Di Jiu could only increase his moving speed. On the seventh day, he killed another seven to eight demon beasts.

At the moment, only Di Jiu was killing demon beasts openly in the Evil Beast Valley. The other cultivators were hiding and attacking the beasts sneakily.

On the ninth day, Di Jiu had just killed a leopard when a figure who was flying backwards appeared in his Spiritual Force range. That cultivator had evidently sneaked up on the outside of his Spiritual Force and landed on the ground within his Spiritual Force range.

Di Jiu, who was not concerned about this, put away the leopard’s demon core. He was about to head over to ask some questions, when a person rushed over and landed in front of the cultivator on the ground.

The fallen female cultivator got back on her feet, even though her body was covered in blood and her injuries seemed severe. The newcomer was a young male cultivator with a cultivation level at the second-stage True Form Realm. The female cultivator was only at the eighth-stage Life Tribulation Realm.

Di Jiu felt contempt. A second-stage True Form Realm fella was chasing and trying to kill an eighth-stage Life Tribulation Realm female cultivator. Most importantly, the former had failed to successfully kill the latter.

“Bai Shaoxiang, you are the son of a Protectorate Lord, and my father is one of the Five Major Protectorates Lords. Aren’t you afraid of inciting a battle between the two Major Protectorates of the True Dominion if you kill me in the Evil Beast Valley?” said the female cultivator weakly as she wiped the blood off her face.

Bai Shaoxiang? The son of a Protectorate Lord? Di Jiu immediately thought of Bai Wufang, whom Geng Ji had killed. So this fella was the son of the Interstellar Protectorate’s Protectorate Lord. Back then, the Interstellar Protectorate’s Protectorate Lord had actually sent a True Form Realm cultivator to kill Geng Ji, but the cultivator had been eradicated by Di Jiu in the end.

Enemies truly crossed paths often. Although he had not found this Bai guy, the latter had come knocking on his door.

“Ha ha! You are really naive, An Xiaoqi. I promise that after I kill you, your father will be told that Di Jiu killed you.” Bai Shaoxiang laughed.

The female cultivator called An Xiaoqi was stunned for a moment before she said subconsciously, “What does this have to do with Di Jiu?”

In the past, she would not have known who Di Jiu was. However, Di Jiu had obtained a full score during the first round, a feat that even her father most likely could not have achieved.

“Because...”

Bai Shaoxiang had just said this, when he suddenly heard someone say, “Because of what?”

Bai Shaoxiang hastily retreated a few steps in alarm. He subconsciously lifted his head and looked at Di Jiu, who had suddenly appeared before him. “How did you get here?”

“I walked here. You have yet to answer my question,” said Di Jiu with a smile.

Bai Shaoxiang knew very well that he was no match for Di Jiu. No one knew Di Jiu’s strength, but he did. This was because a mid-stage True Form Realm Elder from the Interstellar Protectorate had been defeated by Di Jiu. Bai Shaoxiang himself was only at the early-stage True Form Realm. Besides, his cultivation level had increased forcefully.

“Di Jiu, since you are here, this matter is over. Farewell.” Bai Shaoxiang quickly retreated.

“Do you think you can just leave?” Although Bai Shaoxiang had just taken a dozen steps back, Di Jiu was standing before him once again.

Bai Shaoxiang broke out into a cold sweat. “Di Jiu, you can’t do anything to me. My father is the Protectorate Lord of the Interstellar Protectorate. If you do anything to me, you will surely die when you walk out of this place.”

Di Jiu sneered. “I even killed Mei Zhiyun, Mei Bashan’s son. Why would I be afraid of Bai Hong from the Interstellar Protectorate? You are overthinking things.”