Ninth In the World
chapter-19

Chapter 19: Secrets of a Martial King

The Rising River Building had a total of 21 floors, yet it was not eye-catching, because there were many other office buildings belonging to other industries in Luo Jin City.

However, the Rising River Building had a small reputation amid the boxing world.

On the surface, the Rising River Building looked like a fitness center, but in reality, it was a world-renowned underground boxing ring. China’s most famous boxing ring, the Morgue Ring, was located there.

Not all underground boxing fights took place underground, but the fights at the Rising River Building really did.

The ring there was very spacious, and the building’s facilities were state-of-the-art. One could watch the most exciting boxing matches there and have the time of their life.

A burly black man was currently fighting against a relatively skinny guy in the boxing arena.

There were at least 200-300 people around the boxing ring, shouting at the top of their voices in support of the boxer they wanted to win. Everyone was waving their hands as the fighters fought on the stage. The shouts below the ring were getting louder and louder as the fight got more intense.

In a cubicle above the fighting ring, a man in a short-sleeved golden shirt was watching the intense match unfolding below. The man was frowning in consternation. Everyone else found the match extremely exciting, but the man thought that the quality of the matches had been deteriorating lately.

A young man with long hair walked to the cubicle’s entrance and knocked on the door lightly. When he was given permission, he entered the cubicle quietly, bent his waist and said softly, “Master Sheng, He Shan has been missing for seven hours.”

The man in the short-sleeved shirt turned to stare at the man with the long hair. “Didn’t he go out to get some things?” he asked in a deep voice.

“Yes, Shi Jinshan had been carrying Fei Qi, who was gravely injured at the time, so I ordered him to finish the job by 6 o’clock and then bring everything over. However, I have been unable to reach He Shan since 6 o’clock. We have been looking for him in the direction that he headed, but there has not been any news until now,” the long-haired young man replied respectfully.

“Issue an arrest warrant for He Shan right now. Meanwhile, find where Shi Jinshan has escaped to. I want her found dead or alive. I also want all the goods He Shan took brought to me without exception,” the man said slowly as he put down the glass of mulled rice wine he had been drinking.

“Yes, Master Sheng.” The long-haired young man bowed before he rushed off. He was aware that the calmer Master Sheng’s voice was, the angrier he was feeling inside.

He Shan had always been Master Sheng’s right-hand man, but now that he had disappeared with the goods Shi Jinshan had been carrying, Master Sheng was rightfully infuriated.

He Shan could not have been killed. That was simply impossible. He was the best assassin working for Master Sheng. Perhaps it might have been possible if Fei Qi had not gotten injured, but after he had been shot, Shi Jinshan had been the only one left to deal with He Shan. It would have been ridiculous if He Shan had been killed.

…

When Shi Jinshan heard movement behind her in the darkness, she immediately said in pleasant surprise, “Brother Qi, are you awake?”

“Where are we?” a raspy voice next to her asked.

“This is one of the sewers under Luo Jin City. Bi Zhengsheng’s men are watching us too closely, so I dared not leave Luo Jin,” Shi Jinshan replied quickly.

“My bullet wounds…” The man unconsciously touched where he remembered getting shot.

“We were lucky. We met an outstanding surgeon at the Apricot Lake Hall who managed to pull out the bullets for you,” Shi Jinshan reassured him.

“Oh… This is not good!” the man, who seemed to have recalled something, shouted loudly.

“What’s wrong, Brother Qi?” Shi Jinshan rushed over to help support the man.

“The doctor that saved my life must have been executed by Bi Zhengsheng.” The man seemed to know that the situation could no longer be salvaged, because his guilty voice slowly became calmer.

When he finished saying his piece, the man frowned in confusion. Why did that man wait until Jinshan had found a place to treat him? Logically speaking, they should have been killed even before Jinshan had found such a place.

Even if the man had been a step behind and allowed Jinshan to find a place for him to get treated, he would still have followed them there, killed the doctor who had saved him, and then killed them off right afterwards. How could he have let them escape and hide in this sewer?

“No way. Nobody saw us go in or leave the place, so Bi Zhengsheng couldn’t have known,” Shi Jinshan explained hurriedly.

However, even though the man had been unconscious, he knew that someone had been watching them ever since Shi Jinshan had carried him out of the Rising River Building.

The man shook his head and sighed before saying, “You don’t know Bi Zhengsheng. He was looking for the Major Conduit Internal Records. Honestly, I expected to die from the moment I stepped into that ring. I just didn’t want to implicate you as well. I even implicated that doctor, but the weird thing is that, they did not come after you, nor did they snatch the Major Conduit Internal Records from me…”

The man paused as he came to a realization. “I know what happened. That guy must have decided to betray Bi Zhengsheng and take what I had stolen for himself.”

…

When You Huli left, Di Jiu took out the book ‘Secrets Of A Martial King.’ This book was the only one written by the sole Martial King of the Di Clan, Di Yue. Di Jiu had originally planned on reading the book only after he had mastered the sixth saber move, yet after he heard what You Huli had shared with him, he decided to read the book early.

When he flipped it open, he paused. The first page asked the reader to put down the book if they were not a descendant of the Di Clan. Anyone who was not a descendant had to shed a few drops of blood to open it.

Only after he flipped the book open did Di Jiu realize that the pages at the back were stuck together, making it impossible for him to open it.

Di Jiu used the surgical knife to make a cut on his finger and let a drop of blood drip onto the first page. Di Jiu thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him. He suddenly saw a faint yellow glow on the first page. Then, the book opened easily.

“I thought that the seventh saber move was the strongest move in the Yalun Continent, but when I mastered the seventh saber move and reached the Martial King Realm, I obtained a Dao cultivation manual at Mt. Great Nirvana. Then, I realized that I had been living under a rock all those years…”

Di Jiu was shocked to his very core. He knew all about Mt. Great Nirvana. That mountain, which was dozens of miles away from the Ji Nation, was the most treacherous mountain in the Yalun Continent. Even if a Martial King were to enter the mountain, there was a high chance that they would lose their life there. Rumors had been circulating that the Di family ancestor Di Yue had suffered grave injuries upon entering the mountain. Even after he returned, there had been no news of him for a long time, until he eventually disappeared.

Now that he was reading the man’s records in the book, Di Jiu found out that the rumors were actually true. Di Yue had suffered serious injuries on Mt. Great Nirvana.

“The strongest Dao cultivators can fly, bore through the earth with their bodies, tear the world apart with a flip of their hand, and possess unending vitality…”

Di Jiu exhaled a breath of cold air. Did this mean that one could become immortal or be able to fly without the help of an aircraft? Di Jiu’s heart started to heat up quickly. If this had happened in the past, he would definitely have questioned these words. However, now that he was living in a past life, he totally believed it. What was there not to believe?

“The cultivation skill I obtained, which is known as the Swirling Flaming Art, requires a fire-element foundation in order to be cultivated. Testing one’s fire-element foundation is simple. Anyone who has mastered the Di Clan’s first saber move would have True Qi pool within them. After one circulation, anyone who can release it through their hand’s Greater Yang Meridian should have a fire-element foundation. Otherwise, cultivating it would not be beneficial…”

Di Jiu stopped reading and released his True Qi from within. However, he was unable to release it through his hand’s Greater Yang Meridian after one circulation.

His heart sank. He now knew that he did not have a fire-element foundation, so according to Di Yue’s instructions, it would be meaningless for him to cultivate this technique.

“The Di Clan’s Seven Sabers’ power is incomparable. If I am able to cultivate the Swirling Flaming Art, I could use the first saber move to supplement my power. After I cultivated the Swirling Flaming Art’s Foundation, I left this manual behind and abandoned the Di Clan…”

Di Jiu was in no mood to continue reading or look at the pictures at the back of the book. He only wanted to know what his foundation was. Now that he knew that successful cultivation would allow him to fly and bore through the earth with his body, or even become immortal, how could he possibly suppress the desire and ambition hidden in his heart?

This had to be the immortal cultivation techniques that Fox had been talking about. The manual to immortality was on the Fairy Planet, so in order to obtain that manual, Di Jiu would have to visit the Fairy Planet.