Ninth In the World
chapter-150

Chapter 150: Tarsus

Di Jiu had been sixth months in seclusion when he attained the seventh-stage Golden Core Realm. He immediately stopped cultivating. He did not know when the Sky Screen would close and he was unwilling to waste all his time in reclusive cultivation.

Thanks to the blue spirit meridian, he could cultivate anytime he wanted outside, so he did not need to be within the Sky Screen.

“Congratulations for your greatly-improved cultivation, Big Brother. Thanks to you, I have also attained level-three,” said Little Tree proudly.

For demon plants, breakthroughs were a slow process. The Tiny Tree Root was not a demon plant with an exceptional origin. However, it had lived longer, so attaining level-three was the best thing that could happen to it.

Di Jiu felt his heart ache when he saw that the blue spirit meridian had become much smaller. He immediately lifted his hand and put away the spirit meridian and the frosty pearl hurriedly.

He vaguely sensed that the value of this pearl was much higher than that of the blue spirit meridian.

As he stored the spirit meridian into the spirit herb garden ring, Di Jiu was surprised to sense a restriction that had not been refined yet inside the ring.

“I suspect that the dung beetle is still in that lake, Big Brother…” said Little Tree that missed the beetle.

“Wait a minute. There is something wrong with my ring,” Di Jiu said hurriedly.

His Spiritual Force quickly permeated the spirit herb garden ring. As expected, he sensed a new restriction within it.

When he had first refined this ring, he had still been on the Fairy Planet and his cultivation had only been at the Qi Refinement Realm.

It seemed like his cultivation had been too low back then, as this ring was not an ordinary spirit herb garden. Now that he had attained the late-stage Golden Core Realm, his Spiritual Force had increased multifold. Hence, when he used the ring again, he quickly discovered that something was amiss.

Di Jiu took out all the items within the ring hurriedly and refined it once again.

…

Within the Sky Screen, at a distance of nearly one million miles from Di Jiu, a beautiful lady suddenly looked up in Di Jiu’s direction.

Standing beside her was a very handsome man in a golden shirt who was carrying a spear on his back. They looked like a perfect couple when they stood together.

“Bijun, what’s the matter?” the man asked when he noticed that the beautiful lady was paying close attention to something and looking in a particular direction. There was an indescribable look in his eyes as he spoke.

“I sensed the aura of a Dharma treasure from my family, Senior Brother Min…” The lady clenched her fist as she stared at a place far away.

“Is it in the Sky Screen?” asked the man wearing the golden shirt doubtfully.

The lady took a deep breath and said, “That’s right. It was a Dharma treasure that belonged to my elder brother. I must head over there immediately.”

“Hold on a minute, Junior Sister Bijun. Although we fear no one in the Sky Screen, we still have to be cautious. If you sensed a Dharma treasure aura, this Dharma treasure must have been here for a long time. Plus, the Sky Screen is not closing anytime soon.” Senior Brother Min stopped the beautiful lady.

The lady calmed down. Her father had told her multiple times that one must remain clear-headed in such a situation. A true expert would form a plan before taking action.

When the lady calmed down, Senior Brother Min said gently, “Bijun, didn’t your elder brother go missing many years ago?”

The beautiful lady nodded her head and said, “That’s right. That year, he represented our sect at the test trial on the Big Dipper Planet. Who would have expected that the Big Dipper Planet, which had existed in the galaxy for so many years, would suddenly disappear? All the cultivators participating in that test trial, including my elder brother, went missing and never came back. When my brother went missing, I had not even been born yet. However, the Dharma treasure aura of the Cheng Family was one-of-a-kind. I am certain that my senses are correct; someone must be refining my family’s Dharma treasure restrictions.”

“Other than the Dharma treasures my elder brother took with him, none of the Cheng Family’s top-notch Dharma treasures were lost. This means that the Dharma treasure being refined belonged to my elder brother. Even if that person did not personally seize my brother’s treasure, they must be related to him. Anyone who dared attack my elder brother must die, no matter who they are.”

By the time she finished her speech, the beautiful lady exuded killing intent.

“I have heard of this before, Bijun,” Senior Brother Min suddenly said. “Could this be the Small World of the Cheng Family?”

The beautiful lady nodded her head. “That’s right. It is that Small World.”

Senior Brother Min took a deep breath. The value of a Small World completely trumped that of a Cultivation World. Even the Sect Master of the Enduring Immortal Sect had one. However, no one had expected that this Small World, which had gone missing many years ago, would suddenly reappear in the Sky Screen.

“In that case, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” said Senior Brother Min decisively.

…

Crack! As Di Jiu refined the first restriction, he joined the ranks of the level-six Array Great-Masters.

This was only because he had not touched an array formation ever since he had escaped from the blue cave abode. Otherwise, he would have become a level-six Array Great-Master a long time ago.

The Space Defense Array that protected the pearl above the blue lake had helped his array formation understanding greatly. Once he had digested all this knowledge and combined it with the Book of the World, his array formation would improve again.

When he refined the first restriction and became a level-six Array Great-Master, a small ball of light landed on Di Jiu’s arm.

Was this a Spiritual Force imprint? Di Jiu stared at the slightly clear imprint on his arm speechlessly.

Spiritual force imprints were usually invisible so that they would not be discovered by anyone, so this was the first time he was seeing such a conspicuous Spiritual Force imprint.

Was the creator of this imprint a fool? Surely the person who had received this imprint must have known how to remove it?

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force swept across, intending to remove this imprint as soon as possible. However, his expression suddenly changed. He was completely unable to remove the imprint.

This kind of imprint was even more formidable than the one made by that level-nine Array King. An open imprint on one’s arm could not be removed by the target.

Di Jiu took a deep breath. It looked like the origin of this ring was not simple. He suddenly remembered that a Spiritual Force imprint jade slip he had obtained from the Qi Family’s Commercial Building had mentioned a type of Spiritual Force imprint known as Tarsus.

The embryonic form of the tarsus was placed on one’s skin, so it was impossible to remove this kind of imprint by breaking off the limb from one’s body. There were actually three ways to remove it. One, by surpassing the opponent’s Spiritual Force; two, by surpassing the opponent’s cultivation; three, by possessing a powerful flame that could burn this kind of Spiritual Force imprint off.

This was the embryonic form of a tarsus Spiritual Force imprint. The most formidable kind of tarsus was not detectable, nor would it be placed on one’s skin. As long as one had any bones on their body, that Spiritual Force would remain there and prove impossible to remove.

Unfortunately, Di Jiu had only read a little about this kind of Spiritual Force imprint, so he did not know how to place one.

After discovering that he had probably obtained a tarsus imprint, Di Jiu stopped thinking of ways to remove it. He had gotten this ring on the Fairy Planet, so no one should be able to find him very quickly.

He could remove the tarsus Spiritual Force imprint once he refined this ring and found a flame.

As soon as he made a decision, Di Jiu started refining the restrictions on the ring faster.

After refining the first restriction, the refinement of the remaining restrictions posed no challenge for Di Jiu. The only problem remained the tarsus Spiritual Force imprint.

Several days later, Di Jiu had refined all the restrictions on the ring. He was truly shocked when he saw the ring after refining it for the second time.

This was not right. This was no longer a ring, but a planet. A slightly small planet.

Di Jiu, who possessed both knowledge and experience, immediately knew that this was a Small World.

At a corner of the Small World was a pile of at least 10 million high-grade Spirit Stones. Di Jiu had simply refined the surface restriction of this ring previously, so he had failed to notice this Spirit Stone pile. Now that he had completely refined this Small World, he was able to see it. Other than this Spirit Stone pile, there was also a huge pile of ores and spirit herbs, as well as some average Dharma treasures.

Unfortunately, there was no one to take care of these spirit herbs, nor had they been refined so they could become elixirs. These herbs had long since withered.

“This is good stuff.” Di Jiu was extremely pleased. His harvest during his trip in the Sky Screen was very good.

After carefully checking the Small World for other restrictions, he put all the items back inside. “We can go find that beetle now, Little Tree.”

The enmity between Di Jiu and the Qi Family had long since been made public. However, now that Little Tree had become a level-three Demon Tree and he had attained the seventh-stage Golden Core Realm, he was afraid of no one.

…

“Eh!” gasped the beautiful woman who had been traveling hurriedly for the past few days. She suddenly stopped.

Before Senior Brother Min could say anything, she said, “That’s strange. This person actually moved to another place.”

“If he moved, he must have refined that Small World. We should follow him, Junior Sister Bijun,” said Senior Brother Min immediately.

The beautiful lady shook her head, “No, the restrictions of that Small World are very complicated. My father said that those restrictions are split into two layers. The first layer is just beginners’ restrictions, so they are slightly simpler. I would definitely not be able to sense if these simple restrictions were refined.”

“The second layer is more complicated, so it would even take an Essence Soul cultivator a long time to refine them. It would be impossible to refine them in a few days. The Cheng Family’s Spiritual Force imprint would be activated only if the second layer of restrictions was refined… If he refined those restrictions in a few days, he must be at least a peak level-five Array Restriction Great-Master.”

“Can you sense the Spiritual Force?” asked Senior Brother Min anxiously.

The beautiful lady nodded her head. “Yes, I can. No matter how powerful he is, he will definitely not be able to remove my family’s Spiritual Force restriction in the next 100 years.”