Emily Ye had almost fully recovered within Joe Di's Ninth World. The reason her primordial soul had not awakened was due to her cultivation method. If she could awaken her primordial soul while her physical body was being restored, she would be able to reconstruct her Dao in the shortest time possible.
Just as she urgently needed a treasure to restore her physical body, Joe Di sent in a Soul Lotus. Instantly, Emily Ye's yet-unawakened primordial soul sensed it. In that fleeting moment, her primordial soul wrapped around the Soul Lotus, and the Dao resonance of the Trinity Life Codex became even more continuous and profound.
In just one hour, the Soul Lotus vanished, and Emily Ye's physical body was fully restored. When her body and primordial soul completely merged, Emily Ye opened her eyes.
Her first reaction was to leap to her feet, only to discover that she seemed to be inside a restriction. Beside her lay a ring.
However, she did not touch the ring. Instead, she casually reached into the void and grabbed a set of clothes. In the next instant, she was already dressed. Although her cultivation was currently at the Genesis stage, her world still existed. As long as her world remained, so did her belongings.
As for her cultivation, with her perfect recovery, she would soon be able to reach her former level again.
After changing into a new outfit, Emily Ye picked up the ring on the ground. Inside the ring were some basic cultivation resources and a few sets of clothes.
What's going on? Emily Ye frowned, but soon understood. Before she completely fell into unconsciousness, someone must have saved her, taken away her Thunder Pearl, and somehow strengthened her primordial soul—even restoring her body.
Just as Emily Ye was about to leave, a harsh, raucous laughter echoed nearby. She sent out her divine sense, and upon seeing who had arrived, she was instantly stunned.
......
"S-Sovereign Lord..." Leonard Brown's voice trembled as he spoke, struggling to keep his teeth from chattering. Despite being a Third Step powerhouse, he found himself unable to control his fear.
He had thought himself indifferent to life and death, yet now, faced with the Sovereign Lord once more, Leonard realized this was a hurdle he could never overcome. The same scene haunted his mind: one Third Step cultivator after another, torn apart with ease by this man, their flesh refined through the cruelest methods of the Divine Demon Canon, their Primordial Souls burned alive for forty-nine thousand years...
Those harrowing memories—the wails of Third Step experts—had long taken root deep within him. It was fear that drove him to flee, that made him desperate enough to risk everything. Yet before he could escape, the Sovereign Lord had returned. The Sovereign Lord had been away at Mountainview for tens of thousands of years; why had he come back so suddenly?
"Leonard Brown, you've got some nerve. Betraying me from within—did my mercy in Grandway Abyss make you forget all caution?" The newcomer fixed a cold, chilling gaze on Leonard, his tone icy and menacing.
Grandway Abyss was his domain. Any cultivator wishing to step into the Third Step here required his approval. Without Zefron Ye's recognition, no one could advance to the Third Step in this place. And those who did owed their allegiance to his will.
Joe Di studied the man who had arrived with such boisterous laughter, now standing before him. Whatever cultivation art this fellow practiced, his body radiated a sinister demonic aura. His complexion was so dark it seemed almost unnatural, like polished obsidian.
So this was the Sovereign Lord? Zefron Ye? Joe Di frowned; for the first time, he couldn't gauge the other's true strength—he only knew Zefron Ye was a Third Step cultivator, and he was certain he was no match for him. Not even close.
"Leonard, is this man truly the Sovereign Lord of Grandway Abyss?" Joe Di kept his eyes fixed on Zefron Ye, quietly arranging his array flags as he spoke.
Leonard Brown wanted to answer Joe Di, but all he could see were visions of his Primordial Soul being burned, his flesh demonized, and the agony of Third Step cultivators echoing in his mind.
Zefron Ye turned to Joe Di, sizing him up before speaking coldly, "You're even bolder—thinking a little fortune gives you license to court death in my Grandway Abyss."