Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Di Jiu was disappointed that Captain Mou had not come.

His plan would have been perfect if he had been able to kill Captain Mou during this Beast Tide. However, Captain Mou had not appeared, so there was nothing Di Jiu could do. He did not have the guts to rush into the human crowd and kill Captain Mou.

Several Essence Soul Realm cultivators could not coordinate a real attack. Everyone was just fighting their own battle without any form of cooperation. Many of the cultivators who participated in the battle actually died.

At first, Di Jiu thought that these Essence Soul cultivators were brainless. However, he started to question his perspective later. These Essence Soul cultivators were mostly likely intentionally or unintentionally trying to increase the death rate.

When he realized this, Di Jiu sighed silently. The Cultivation World was indeed very cruel. The storage bags of the cultivators who died would definitely be taken away. Perhaps there was some reason for this, but Di Jiu did not wish to get to the bottom of it, as he was also one of these pawns.

From then on, the number of demon beasts Di Jiu killed decreased. Although materials from level-two demon beasts were still useful, he would not collect them right now, even though he wanted to.

There were even some level-four demon beasts around, so if he drew attention to himself, these demon beasts would kill him instantaneously. No Essence Soul cultivator would help him detain those demon beasts after all.

Di Jiu might not have killed many demon beasts, but his powerful aura was still present.

When he left the midst of the demon beast crowd and swung the two hammers, no demon beast was close to him.

Even level-one demon beasts possessed some intelligence. Di Jiu’s hammer would kill any beast it landed on, so very few demon beasts rushed up to Di Jiu to fight with him when he left the crowd.

“Sir, my strength is too weak, I can’t take it anymore. Could I seek protection by your side?” a late-stage Qi Refinement Realm cultivator who was covered in blood asked fearfully as he retreated to Di Jiu’s side.

Before he could finish his sentence, a level-one peak Black Bear lunged over with a roar. Di Jiu swung the hammer in his hand, killing the demon beast instantly.

“Thank you, sir. I still have an ore here,” said the cultivator as he took out a Carved Ebony Silk Gold and gave it to Di Jiu.

Di Jiu had not thought much about this, as he had just conveniently helped the man out. Thus, he hesitated a little before keeping the ore the blacksmithing cultivator gave him. “Alright. In that case, you can stay by my side.”

It was only natural to receive an item for helping the cultivator. This was the law of the Cultivation World. It would not be wise of him to refuse accepting any items in return.

“Sir, I have a level-three Phoenix Brink Vine.” Another Qi Refinement Realm cultivator retreated to Di Jiu’s side hurriedly when he saw a Foundation Establishment Expert like Di Jiu protect a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator and getting a level-three ore in return.

Level-three spirit herbs and ores were very valuable for a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator. However, they had both taken them out without hesitation, as their lives were more important than any materials.

More than 70 percent of the casualties of this Beast Tide were Qi Refinement Realm cultivators. What purpose would they have for ores or materials if they died?

The crowd around Di Jiu grew quickly. Di Jiu rejected no one. He had gone there to waste some time after all.

Later on, even some Foundation Establishment cultivators joined him, mainly because his two octagonal hammers looked very powerful.

Di Jiu rejected no one, regardless of whether they offered him materials, ores, jade slips or Dharma weapons.

As the cultivators joining him increased, Di Jiu started to let the masses form a defensive alliance. He was the leader of this alliance, so everyone else simply had to follow his instructions and defend themselves.

Actually, Di Jiu could make everyone form an offensive alliance and kill an exponential amount of demon beasts. However, he did not choose to do such a moronic thing. An offensive alliance would have to move according to an array formation, so if this happened, his status as an array formation expert would be exposed.

Most importantly, if the strength of their attacks was too great, it would attract the attention of high-level demon beasts.

This chaotic battle went on for nearly half a day, when the few Essence Soul cultivators started to increase their attacking strength. The beasts seemed to realize that they would not be able to escape if this went on, so they started to retreat.

Di Jiu and everyone else also retreated slowly and went back to their respective flying boats.

“I knew that you would be alright, Brother Zimo,” said Zheng Feisheng in pleasant surprise when he saw Di Jiu come back. He had already gone back to his room.

“Is Junior Sister Qi Qian injured?” Di Jiu asked in surprise when he saw that Qi Qian had only one arm left.

“Thank you for your concern, Brother Zimo. I’m just happy that I’m still alive,” said Qi Qian sadly before going silent.

Zheng Feisheng sighed and said, “Junior Sister Qi Qian encountered a level-two peak Two-Tailed Fox and lost an arm. She was still lucky compared to Junior Brother Wang Zheng, who encountered a level-three Tiger Demon. He was not able to come back.”

Di Jiu instinctively looked at the main cultivation room. “Junior Sister Jing Mobing’s luck was better,” Zheng Feisheng said hurriedly. “She was not injured, so when the battle ended, she went immediately into seclusion.”

Di Jiu nodded. “Rest. I’m about to go into seclusion too.”

Cultivators always had to fight for their lives along their cultivation path, so getting injured was unavoidable. If he had not obtained the gray stone and that golden lightning, he would have already died.

Di Jiu went back to his room, organized his harvest and set up a restriction.

At least 60 people had sought protection from him during the Beast Tide. These cultivators would definitely not have offered him any poor-quality items, as a Foundation Establishment Expert like Di Jiu could kick them off the team.

Most of the items he had obtained were level-three materials that Di Jiu could use for blacksmithing.

Other than the level-three materials, there were also some magic technique jade slips. However, there were no cultivation technique jade slips, for the cultivators seeking protection from him had been no fools. They knew that a Foundation Establishment cultivator would not change his cultivation technique.

The magic techniques were average. They were actually worse than the magic techniques he had obtained from the Qi Family’s Commercial Building.

Di Jiu was not bothered by this, though. His original intention had been to help out, not get wealthy. He had just helped others because it had been convenient for him to do so.

After organizing all the jade slips, Di Jiu was pleasantly surprised to find an escape technique jade slip among them.

He had wanted an escape technique for a long time. Unfortunately, although he had robbed quite a few of the Qi Family’s branches and even the main branch of the northern province, he had not managed to find any escape technique jade slips.

However, he had just obtained one now by unknowingly benefiting from an unexpected turn of events.

Di Jiu immediately started to analyze the escape technique jade slip. An escape technique could save one’s life at any time, so it was not surprising that it was very hard to find even at a commercial building.

This escape technique jade slip did not look ancient, so it had to be a replica.

A replicated escape technique jade slip was still a very valuable jade slip, so Di Jiu wondered who had given him this item to save their life.

“There are many kinds of escape techniques in the world. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, weapons, blood, and bodies can be used as mediums. However, this escape technique does not rely on external objects, but upon Spiritual Force. Hence, it is a Spiritual Force escape technique. Force is void, empty, vast, and infinite…”

According to this Spiritual Force escape technique, the distance of one’s escape increased based on the strength of their Spiritual Force. Theoretically, one could escape as far as their Spiritual Force could reach.

Di Jiu was pleasantly surprised as he read the jade slip. Now he understood why that cultivator would give him this escape technique. This technique relied heavily on one’s Spiritual Force.

His Spiritual Force and Quintessential Essence were products of the condensation of his starry sky meridian, so they were much more powerful than the average cultivator’s. His current level of Spiritual Force was probably on par with a fourth-stage Golden Core cultivator. However, when he attempted to practise this technique, he discovered that his Spiritual Force was still insufficient, mainly because it was not sufficiently condensed or powerful.

Who could cultivate this escape technique even if their Spiritual Force was insufficient? Most likely, only an Essence Soul cultivator. However, an Essence Soul cultivator might as well use their Quintessential Essence to escape instead of cultivating this technique. Perhaps even Essence Soul cultivators were unable to cultivate this technique considering that it demanded a certain degree of condensation of one’s Spiritual Force.

However, Di Jiu would not give up on this jade slip, regardless of whether he was able to learn this technique.

Someone else might not have been able to condense their Spiritual Force, but Di Jiu could do so through his starry sky meridian.

He attempted this multiple times by using the method stated on the jade slip. Then, he tried to think of ways to condense his Spiritual Force through his starry sky meridian.

Time passed as Di Jiu kept trying this technique and condensing his Spiritual Force. During this period of time, no one disturbed his cultivation.

Half a month passed. When Di Jiu eventually cast the Spiritual Force escape technique, he was pleasantly surprised to realize that he had moved from the innermost part of the house to the restriction at the entrance.

He was extremely pleased, even though he had only managed to move several meters away. This meant that he had gained a rudimentary mastery of this escape technique. Now, there were only two things he needed to do. One, he needed to repeatedly analyze this escape technique. Two, he needed to repeatedly strengthen and condense his Spiritual Force.