Po Xu had also guessed that Yan Ji should have been reborn on the Mountain Gaze. He had actually planned to capture Yan Ji and force Ning Cheng to hand over his things.
After discovering that Ning Cheng was much stronger than him, he felt dejected and no longer took this matter to heart. When he’d realized that his things had not been taken by Ning Cheng, he’d no longer paid any attention to Yan Ji.
Although there were many cultivators on the square, nobody dared to covet Di Jiu’s things, even though they knew that Di Jiu had the Quintessential Essence of the Universe.
Di Jiu suddenly said with cupped fists, “Fellow Daoists, if anybody knows Yan Ji’s whereabouts, I will bring you along when I leave this place. Apart from that, I’ll also give you a supreme-grade divine spirit meridian and a nomological fragment.”
Although the cultivators there were all wealthy people, there were still a lot of supreme-grade divine spirit meridians. Besides, the most valuable thing around was not the supreme-grade divine spirit meridian that Di Jiu had taken out, but the Five-Element nomological fragment. As for leaving the place with Di Jiu, not many of them cared about that. Not everyone had realized that something was amiss like Yi Ji or was eager to leave this place.
Most importantly, Di Jiu’s request was too simple. They just had to tell him whether they knew where Yan Ji was.
After Di Jiu finished asking, Chu Manhe drew Yan Ji’s portrait in the void. However, nobody came forward to tell them anything about Yan Ji’s whereabouts in half a day.
Di Jiu looked at Chu Manhe and said, “Senior Sister Manhe, it looks like Yan Ji shouldn’t be here. Otherwise, someone would at least have known.”
“Could something have happened to her?” Chu Manhe asked, feeling a little worried.
Zuo Zhongren said, “No. I’ve always been in the Dao Abyss. If Yan Ji was here, I would definitely have heard of her name. In fact, I’ve never heard of Yan Ji.”
“Daoist Di, Yan Ji has never appeared in the Dao Abyss,” said a thin gray-robed cultivator who abruptly emerged from the crowd.
Di Jiu looked at this guy and felt that his Dao rune aura was extremely weird. It seemed to be incompatible with the Heaven Earth Law and inseparable from any laws. He looked very thin, and it was also hard to distinguish his gender. However, it seemed that there was nothing special about him when he stood in a crowd.
Even though this person’s cultivation level had yet to reach the third step, he gave Di Jiu a dangerous feeling.
Di Jiu immediately concluded that this was a very strange expert with a very special technique.
“How come I don’t seem to have any impression of you?” Zuo Zhongren frowned and looked at this gray-robed cultivator. The Dao Abyss was only so big. Although many cultivators did not come out all year long, once they came out, they would leave some kind of impression on him, even if he met them once. However, he seemed to have never seen this thin cultivator before.
Di Jiu said, “It’s because his cultivation technique is very strange. There is a self-concealing Dao rune aura and a kind of…”
Di Jiu couldn’t even describe such a strange aura. He turned to the thin gray-robed cultivator and said, “Given your cultivation technique and the circulation of your Dao runes, you shouldn’t have been the one to tell me that Yan Ji is not here.”
The thin cultivator cupped his fists before Di Jiu and answered sincerely, “Daoist Di, I also wish I could leave the Dao Abyss with you.”
“You believe that I can get out of this place?” Di Jiu asked.
The thin cultivator answered very seriously, “If there is anybody who can get out of the Dao Abyss, I believe that is only you.”
“And Mercury,” Di Jiu added.
The thin cultivator smiled disdainfully and did not answer.
Di Jiu, who didn’t mind that, faintly said, “Zuo Zhongren is leaving with me because he has helped me and is willing to oppose Ye Zifeng. Yi Ji is leaving with me because his cultivation technique is not bad and I’ve accepted his request. As for the others, they are all my friends. Tell me, why should I bring you along with them?”
The thin gray-robed cultivator smiled slightly and responded unhurriedly, “I can’t take out a Creation cultivation technique like Itinerant Yi Ji, nor can I help you like Daoist Zuo. However, if you’re willing to bring me along, you’ll win my friendship.”
Before Di Jiu could speak, Zuo Zhongren laughed and said, “Is your friendship really valuable? Even Du Zihen is Daoist Di’s friend. Do you think that your friendship is more valuable than Du Zihen’s?”
The thin cultivator, who didn’t mind Zuo Zhongren’s words, kept looking at Di Jiu with a faint smile.
Without hesitation, Di Jiu responded, “Alright, you’ll come with me. I might not necessarily be able to find the way out of the Dao Abyss anyway.”
“Thank you, Daoist Di. My name is Ci.” The thin cultivator cupped his fists and took the initiative to stand beside Di Jiu. Then, he did not utter another word. As for whether Di Jiu could find the way out, he ignored that question completely.
Di Jiu looked at Ye Yimo and Chu Manhe before he said, “Daoist Yimo, Daoist Manhe, the two of you are now at the early-stage Primordial Chaos, and your cultivation level is slightly low. Why don’t you both enter my Quintessential World first and come out when we leave the Dao Abyss?”
“Thank you, Big Brother Di,” Ye Yimo said without hesitation. She knew very well that even if she was at Dao Integration now, she probably wouldn’t be of much help in the Dao Abyss, let alone in the Primordial Chaos.
Chu Manhe was naturally fine with that, as she had always been in Di Jiu’s Quintessential World.
After Ye Yimo and Chu Manhe entered the Quintessential World, Di Jiu told Po Xu, Zuo Zhongren, Ye Yimo, and Ci, “We don’t know the way out of the Dao Abyss. I’ll walk first and the few of you will follow me. If anything happens, I will tell everyone.”
Yi Ji replied awkwardly, “I’ve yet to recuperate from my serious injuries. I’m afraid I will be a little slower.”
Di Jiu knew what Yi Ji was implying. He raised his hand to strike the area between Yi Ji’s eyebrows with a Dao rune.
He had injured the area between Yi Ji’s eyebrows with one saber move. If he didn’t help him, it would be very hard for Yi Ji to get rid of the corrosion of the saber intent Dao runes of his Heavenly Aqua Saber.
Upon seeing Di Jiu do that, Yi Ji was ecstatic. It was just like he had expected. After Di Jiu did that, the saber intent aura that was corroding his skin and Dao instantly vanished and the wound that could not heal itself very soon healed completely.
“Thank you, Daoist Di.” Itinerant Yi Ji bowed excitedly to thank him. Yi Ji had simply not imagined he would do such a thing. However, there was no psychological barrier for him now. Sometimes, when one was in dire straits, one would gradually get used to it.
Di Jiu gestured with his hand. Itinerant Yi Ji consciously followed Ci, knowing very well that he had the lowest status among them. Even though Ci had obtained Di Jiu’s friendship, nobody knew who Ci was.
At the moment, everyone on the square was looking at Di Jiu and the rest. They knew that Mercury was the only one who had managed to leave the Dao Abyss. Since Mercury was Ye Zifeng’s person, he didn’t want to work with Di Jiu and the rest. They couldn’t capture Mercury, no matter how powerful they were. All the cultivators on the square wanted to know how Di Jiu and the rest were going to get out of that place.
Di Jiu closed his eyes. He knew very well that he could choose any place as a starting point to leave the Dao Abyss. Therefore, he didn’t leave the square and he gained insight into the Dao Abyss’ void laws wholeheartedly. He was confident about leaving this place because he had climbed the Mountain Gaze. The Mountain Gaze was definitely out of the Dao Abyss, so that was akin to getting out once.
However, Di Jiu was somewhat afraid of the Mountain Gaze Peak. Thus, he chose to gain insight into the Dao runes on the Dao Abyss’ trading hall square. He believed that as long as he managed to gain insight, he could find a way out of a place like the Mountain Gaze and leave the Dao Abyss.
Di Jiu was not irrational enough to do this by force or escape out of that place on his own. He could not directly escape from this place at the moment. If he did, why would experts like Yi Ji and Ci choose to go out with him?
