Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Di Jiu started to condense his Spiritual Force every day. Unfortunately, after Spiritual Force was condensed to a certain point, the subsequent condensation of Spiritual Force through the starry sky meridian became increasingly slower.

Although his Spiritual Force was more condensed than other people’s, the degree of condensation was still insufficient to cultivate such an escape technique. He could only escape for about 10 meters when he was in danger, which was no different than when he had not learned this technique.

He needed a new cultivation technique that could make the Spiritual Force more powerful or more condensed.

Actually, this was not right. Di Jiu suddenly thought of a problem. Although he had managed to cultivate this technique after a lot of effort, this was only made possible because he had used the method he had obtained from the mysterious gray stone. He had opened the starry sky meridian to cultivate the Galaxy Art, as the starry sky meridian was very powerful when it came to Spiritual Force condensation.

Di Jiu was certain that extremely few people, or maybe even none, had achieved this level of Spiritual Force at his cultivation level. In that case, what use would this escape technique be?

The fact that a cultivator had given him this technique had already illustrated this problem.

Why would this escape technique exist if it was useless, though? Was this technique meant only for humans?

Di Jiu was holding the escape technique jade slip in his hand in a trance. Cultivation techniques existed so they could be cultivated. If they could not be, then they would be meaningless.

The question was whether someone could cultivate this technique without a gray stone and golden lighting.

There surely were some aspects that he had not analyzed thoroughly. As he thought of this, Di Jiu started to look at the escape technique jade slip repeatedly.

He read it multiple times, until he started to suspect that the person who had replicated this jade slip had missed something during the process.

He read the jade slip at least 1,000 times, yet every time he did, he read it carefully without omitting any details. Even the strokes of the characters were carefully compared and analyzed.

When he viewed the jade slip once again, he finally discovered that something was amiss. The problem did not lie in the words themselves. The jade slip actually seemed to contain a hidden frequency. He would not have been able to capture this frequency if he had not looked at this jade slip at least 1,000 times.

Di Jiu was a level-five Array Grandmaster, so he instantly determined that this was a Spiritual Force Imprint.

Although he could be considered a Spiritual Force Imprint Expert by now, he could only subtly capture this hidden Spiritual Force Imprint. At times, he was not able to sense it at all. It was practically impossible for him to remove this imprint right now.

Di Jiu was terrified. He remembered that a ninth-stage Qi Refinement Realm cultivator had given him this Spiritual Force jade slip. Had this cultivator intended to harm him through this imprint?

Di Jiu rejected this thought. It was absolutely impossible. He would not be able to remove this imprint even if he reached level-seven array formation.

Only array kings could set up a level-seven Dharma Array. However, even level-seven Array Kings could not set up such a Spiritual Force Imprint. The only possibility was that the Spiritual Force Imprint had been created by an array king who had attained at least Level Nine.

This Spiritual Force Imprint must have existed way before that Qi Refinement Realm cultivator had obtained the jade slip.

Were there level-nine Array Kings in the Polar Night Continent? Why would an array king replicate this escape technique jade slip and set up a Spiritual Force Imprint afterwards?

Based on Di Jiu’s array formation experience, this Spiritual Force jade slip had been replicated less than 200 years ago.

Di Jiu would still have been repeatedly condensing his Spiritual Force and practising the Spiritual Force escape technique if he had not sensed the presence of this Spiritual Force Imprint.

However, now that he had discovered it, he was no longer in the mood to continue.

His only thought was: Why?

Who would be so bored as to replicate such a formidable escape technique jade slip and then just discard it casually?

The reason Di Jiu thought that this jade slip had been discarded casually was because he had obtained it from a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator. One might have thought that a jade slip from a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator would not be very valuable, but this was not true in this case.

Di Jiu failed to understand why despite thinking about it for two hours. Instead, he tried to put himself in the shoes of the level-nine Array King.

He imagined having an original escape technique jade slip, replicating this valuable jade slip multiple times out of boredom and discarding them casually.

He must have done this for a reason.

What reason, though? Was it because he could not cultivate this technique? Even so, why would a respectable level-nine Array King like him do such a silly thing?

Even though he was not selfish, he would still not replicate a valuable cultivation technique and give it out without a reason. If someone happened to be unable to cultivate this technique, they might not be grateful. Just like he would probably not thank the fella who had replicated this jade slip. Plus, even if he was grateful, he would still not know who that person was.

As he thought about this, an indistinct answer started formulating in his head.

At first, this answer was very vague. However, the more Di Jiu deduced and hypothesized, the clearer the answer became.

Di Jiu quickly reached a scary conclusion. Suddenly, he stood up, his face completely pale.

No expert or level-nine Array King would have done this out of boredom. The only possible explanation was that this array king had not been able to cultivate this technique himself, most likely because his Spiritual Force had not been condensed enough.

Evidently, cultivating this Spiritual Force escape technique had nothing to do with one’s cultivation, but with one’s Spiritual Force condensation.

Although the person in question had not been able to cultivate this technique, they had known that it was extremely formidable. Therefore, they had made multiple copies of it and distributed them across the entire continent. 99.9% of the population would most likely not be able to cultivate this technique either. However, if they found someone who could, then…

Di Jiu dared not finish that thought. They had obviously been trying to find someone who could cultivate this technique through the Spiritual Force Imprint. If someone really found a ninth-stage Foundation Establishment weakling like him, he would certainly die.

He could still escape and hide away while he dealt with the Qi Family. However, if he faced a level-nine Array King, he would most likely not even get the opportunity to hide.

It was impossible for a level-nine Array King to have a low cultivation level. The entire Qi Family would most likely not even be able to beat such an individual.

Di Jiu believed that an array king would definitely have a way of determining whether the person holding onto the jade slip could cultivate the escape technique. It would most likely be based on the fact that he had moved once earlier. Although he had only moved several meters, it had still happened in an instant. If he moved several meters in an instant while carrying the Spiritual Force jade slip, its creator would determine that he could learn the Spiritual Force escape technique.

The accuracy of his guess was not important. Di Jiu desperately wanted to throw this jade slip away right now. It suddenly felt like a hot potato in his hands.

As the flying boat started to vibrate lightly, Zheng Feisheng’s voice traveled over from outside. “Brother Zimo, the flying boat has reached the outer section of the Sky Screen Square. We can disembark now.”

The sound of the vibration let all the passengers know that they had arrived at the Sky Screen Square.

By the time Di Jiu put the restriction away and walked out, Zheng Feisheng, Qi Qian and Jing Mobing were already waiting outside.

They were on the same team, so the four of them left the flying boat together.

“You are so hardworking, Senior Brother Zimo. I did the same and went into seclusion for a month, so I can sense that my cultivation has improved a lot,” Jing Mobing said with a gentle expression after they disembarked from the flying boat.

Di Jiu laughed and waved his hand. “The Dao cultivators of our generation should keep improving lest we regress. I reached this conclusion after a long time, but I’m sharing it with you freely.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother Zimo,” Jing Mobing thanked him, looking very pleased.

Then, her face suddenly turned a little red. She was about to invite him to rest at her sect’s garrison, when a voice interrupted her. “He he… A mere Foundation Establishment Realm weakling that dares talk about the Dao cultivators of our generation.”

A handsome male cultivator with an average body walked over, carrying a long sword on his back.

“Senior Brother Wan!” Jing Mobing greeted the man happily when she saw who was approaching. She immediately introduced Senior Brother Wan. “Senior Brother Wan, this is Senior Brother Di Zimo. Senior Brother Zimo is very straightforward, but he is certainly not weak.”

When he heard Jing Mobing say that Di Jiu was not weak, Senior Brother Wan’s facial expression became less ugly. He nodded his head and asked Di Jiu, “Which sect are you from?”

Di Jiu ignored Senior Brother Wan and stared at a second-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator walking out of the Qi Family’s Commercial Building instead.

There was a time bomb on his body that he needed to get rid of right now. Di Jiu immediately followed the Qi Family’s Cultivator.

As he walked behind him, he seemed to accidentally trip. His arms flailed before he lost his balance and caught the cultivator’s storage bag with his hands.

“I’m really sorry. I was lost in thought and I got absent-minded,” Di Jiu apologized by bowing his head after he let go.

Although the status of a Qi Family Cultivator was quite high, Di Jiu apologized repeatedly after accidentally slamming into him. Thus, the Qi Family’s Foundation Establishment cultivator snorted and walked away swiftly without taking heed of Di Jiu, who he thought was a cultivator below the mid-stage Qi Refinement Realm.

Di Jiu let out a sigh of relief. He had put that time bomb into the storage bag of the second-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. He suddenly felt glad that he had spent so many years studying array formation.

“Senior Brother Zimo, there is only one day left before the fighting match of the Sky Screen ends. Let’s head over and watch.” Jing Mobing was not enthusiastic with Zheng Feisheng, who had brought her along, but she was extremely warm with Di Jiu. She had chased after him, even though Di Jiu had walked off quite a distance away.