Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

An ordinary writing brush appeared within Di Jiu’s Spiritual Sea. It also contained a vast amount of information on the Dao runes of the universe’s civilization.

Di Jiu was ecstatic, for he had finally refined the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush. From now on, no one could steal it from him, including Shang Huijue. That was unless Shang Huijue possessed a treasure on par with the Ninth World, which could isolate his Spiritual Force.

Di Jiu opened his palm and the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush appeared on it. Then, the brush drew several Dao runes in the air, forming the word “life” with huge letters.

He had tried his best to mute the Dao rune aura of this word, but its aura was simply too powerful, as though it could pulverize everything that Di Jiu wanted. The life of everything seemed to be determined by this word, thus allowing Di Jiu to gain control of the entire universe and void.

As expected, the Heaven-Opening Mantra needed to be written using the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush. The tip of the brush changed direction and the Dao runes of the word “life” suddenly dimmed. Then, a faint deathly aura circulated in the air, domineering everything, including the void and its laws.

The word “death” hung in the air in huge lettering. Everything had transformed from alive to dead, as the second word’s Dao runes controlled all the laws.

A fine line separated life and death and was determined by the change in direction of the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush. The death of everything seemed to be determined by this word.

Dao runes condensed around the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush once again. Only one stroke of the word “ten” was made before the brush stopped and the Dao runes dissipated.

Pa! With a twist of his wrist, the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush returned to him and all the “death” Dao runes disappeared. He was very satisfied that he had been able to write the words “life” and “death” when he had just refined the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush. His delight was not dampened by the knowledge that his success was largely attributed to the Reincarnation Bridge.

It was a pity that he had failed to attain the third step. He was much more confident about conquering it now that he possessed the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush.

Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force entered the Ninth World. To his surprise and joy, Nong Xiuqi’s soul had become stronger. It was clear that, at this rate, her consciousness would return after a few more years.

Di Jiu was excited about it. He had succeeded in learning the supernormal ability, and there was hope for Xiuqi. Now, in his opinion, what was missing was succeeding in attaining Dao Integration…

At that thought, Di Jiu frowned and saw that the place he was living in was occupied by many cultivators. In addition, this place had become a market filled with a number of stores. With a brief scan of his Spiritual Force, he calculated that at least 10,000 people were gathered there.

When had all these people come to the desolate Mountain Gaze Forbidden Zone? It looked really lively there.

Then, he spotted Lightning strutting on the streets of the modest market. Everyone seemed to know it and would greet it courteously.

As for his restaurant, the shop assistant had been replaced by a cultivator who had just attained the Dao Modeling.

Di Jiu rubbed his forehead. Lighting was indeed similar to Little Tree, as it was rotting under a little bit of glory.

…

In truth, even Lightning had not expected that the Mountain Gaze Forbidden Zone would transform so much. At first, what had attracted Itinerant Cultivators there was the Starry Sky Tea. Later on, there had not been enough Starry Sky Tea to go around, so Lightning had added a Dao fruit and made a huge amount of tea. The effect had weakened, but the tea was still popular because there was Dao fruit inside.

However, due to the ever-growing number of people, Lightning could no longer provide Starry Sky Tea, not even the fake version of it. It could only use some ordinary tea as a replacement. Unexpectedly, the number of cultivators who came to drink tea had continued increasing.

Many cultivators no longer came for the Starry Sky Tea but to trade interesting stories about the universe with everyone else.

No good market or void city existed in this void. The Mountain Gaze Restaurant located outside the Mountain Gaze Forbidden Zone had caused people from everywhere to gather in the same area. Then, they’d started to do business and trade with one another. Some people came to evade their enemies or seek information on things they desired.

Over time, a market had been formed when a great number of people had gathered. Now, other than the Mountain Gaze Restaurant, even Elixir Dispensaries, Weapon Dispensaries, and inns had started to appear.

Due to the several supreme-grade divine spirit meridians Di Jiu had planted underneath the Mountain Gaze Restaurant, these cultivators all built their cave abodes and stores around the restaurant.

Di Jiu did not care about the reason these stores and restaurants had appeared in the outer region of the Mountain Gaze Forbidden Zone. He was more concerned about whether he could enter the forbidden zone.

Just as he was about to head out and ask Lightning how the information-gathering was going, a giant foot suddenly slammed the Mountain Gaze Restaurant’s signboard.

Di Jiu had picked this signboard up from elsewhere. The fact that it was still intact after so many years showed that it was extraordinary. However, this kick managed to splinter it into pieces.

“Which bastard dared to destroy the Mountain Gaze Restaurant’s signboard?” Lightning had already sprinted back, angling a claw toward the culprit.

Lightning’s background was extraordinary, and its claw was different from an ordinary bird’s, as it contained seven appendages. Di Jiu remained stationary, for he was interested to know how Lightning would handle this matter.

Following the appearance of this claw, the entire space was immediately filled with a violent aura. This claw seemed to swallow everything. Even Di Jiu was shocked, as he had not known that Lightning possessed such powerful capabilities. At the same time, he finally understood why Lightning’s claw had seven appendages: to control all Dao rune laws of the surrounding space.

This was definitely an innate supernormal ability.

The culprit had a burly built and was surrounded by bloodlust and some form of ancient Dao rune aura. Di Jiu had seen this aura many times before in the Lost Dao World.

However, compared to the cultivators from the Lost Dao World, whose life-force was very weak, this cultivator possessed a flourishing life-force. He seemed to exude an invisible power that could rip apart everything in this universe.

This man was definitely an apex expert, and Lightning was certainly not his match. This would pose a challenge even for Di Jiu himself.

When had such an expert appeared in this universe? Di Jiu took a deep breath before his Spiritual Force locked onto the Heavenly Aqua Saber. He would slash down without hesitation once Lightning showed any sign of being in danger.

Boom! Di Jiu was surprised when this burly man did not take out a Dharma treasure and punched Lightning’s claw instead.

Bam! Crack! Lightning shrieked and was sent flying backward. Evidently, its claw was shattered by the force of that punch.

Meanwhile, the restrictions imposed on the Heaven Earth Laws of this space disappeared. That man looked at Lightning in surprise. “Eh? A Kun Peng descendant…”

At that moment, he dared not make a wrong move. He was not concerned about Lightning but was worried about the person who had reared Lightning as their beast companion.

“Old man, you are dead. The Head will come out and kill you, I swear!” Lightning, which was embarrassed and enraged, took out a jade talisman and activated it.

Di Jiu knew that Lightning had suffered a great loss despite activating the jade talisman.

This time, before Di Jiu could head out, a calm voice spoke. “I am the person you are looking for. Why are you taking your anger out on people’s stores?”

“Not bad, Jing Xihua. You were able to escape for many years. Unfortunately, I still managed to find you. Let me see where else you will escape to now.” Upon seeing Jing Xihua walk over, the man blocked his escape route without hesitation.