Not here?
William Sha discovered that Joe Di was not in his cave residence and hesitated for a moment. He was only puzzled as to how a Dao Origin cultivator like Joe Di could possess so many divine crystals—in truth, he did not suspect Joe Di's identity.
Now that Joe Di wasn't in the room, William Sha simply opened Joe Di's protective array and entered his quarters. If there were no doubts, so be it—but since suspicion had arisen, he was compelled to investigate.
There was nothing in Joe Di's room except for a few simple array flags, which formed an eighth-level immortal array.
William Sha picked up one of the array flags and probed it with his divine sense. The crafting technique seemed a bit different from that of ordinary array flags.
No, this array flag feels familiar...
William Sha quickly realized where this sense of familiarity came from. He raised his hand and produced an array disk, and his expression turned grim.
Joe Di's residence in Origin Dao Sect was at Novice's Ridge, a place almost entirely inhabited by Outer Disciples. Few Outer Disciples managed to get a cave residence as decent as Joe Di’s.
Joe Di didn't return to his residence; instead, he took his Outer Disciple identity token and went straight to the Portal Hall for the Grand Ruins.
The cultivator in the Portal Hall paid no attention to Joe Di’s status. After Joe Di presented his portal token, he easily entered the portal array.
No, the other party will definitely return. This room hasn't been vacated; if it had, these array flags wouldn't still be here.
Suppressing his inner anxiety, William Sha simply waited for Joe Di in Joe Di's room.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed. William Sha guessed that Joe Di might not come back, so he immediately went to the first floor of the Northway Resthaven Inn.
"Senior..." The attendant had only spoken two words when William Sha grabbed him by the neck, his tone icy: "Where did that cultivator named Joe Di go? You have three breaths to answer. If you can't, I'll kill you."
"Impressive, aren't you? Do you think that just because you've stepped into the second stage, you can do whatever you want? If you dare, kill an attendant of my Northway Resthaven Inn and see what happens." A colder voice sounded behind William Sha, and at the same time, a terrifying killing intent enveloped him.
William Sha felt a chill in his heart. He slowly released the attendant and turned around, facing the source of the killing intent.
Standing before him was a middle-aged man of similar height, appearing entirely ordinary. Yet the aura he exuded was clearly a whole level stronger than William Sha's, lending an unmistakable pressure to the air.
William Sha instantly realized this man was at least mid-stage Dao Origin. He took a deep breath, regretting his reckless behavior.
"Friend, I was out of line just now. I apologize." William Sha completely calmed down. This was Origin Saint City, not the remote corner where his Daxing Dock was located. In Daxing Dock, a single Dao Origin Saint Emperor was unrivaled, but here, not to mention Dao Origin, even Hunyuan experts were nothing out of the ordinary.
Clearly, if William Sha dared say another word, the man wouldn’t hesitate to strike.
In addition, at the rear of the hall was a window, above which were the words: Resource Counter.
He glanced at the middle-aged man, then quickly left Northway Resthaven Inn—without even bothering to ask for a refund.
"Excuse me, do you have a Grand Ruins Info Chip?" Joe Di asked politely.
......
Joe Di was quite satisfied—his jade token for attending Grandmaster Hunyuan's Dao Symposium had smoothed his way everywhere. The steward not only helped him quickly register as an Outer Disciple, but also arranged a simple cave residence for him.
The woman tossed a jade slip to Joe Di. "Ten top-grade divine crystals."
Not cheap, Joe Di thought to himself. He promptly handed over ten top-grade divine crystals and took the jade slip.
Joe Di didn’t return to his residence; instead, he took his Outer Disciple identity token and went straight to the teleportation hall for the Grand Ruins.
The cultivator in the teleportation hall paid no attention to Joe Di’s status. After Joe Di presented his teleportation token, he easily entered the teleportation array.
This was clearly a long-distance teleportation. Even with Joe Di’s exceptionally strong divine sense, he felt dizzy and his mind was clouded during the transfer; he couldn’t extend his sense at all, let alone perceive the state of the teleportation void.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but the shock of his feet hitting solid ground brought Joe Di back to his senses.
"The Grand Ruins is a region where the laws of the Dao Realm never fully coalesced. The rules here are chaotic; except for Elemental Beasts, no other life can cultivate. The Elemental Beasts survive by devouring fragments of elemental laws..."
Seeing the Elemental Beasts devouring law fragments reminded Joe Di of his own cultivation method—he cultivated the Rule Cycle technique, also sensing the aura of heaven and earth’s laws. The cultivation method of these beasts was somewhat similar to his own.
"Most Elemental Beasts have form and substance, with sharp attack methods, and are quite helpful for studying elemental divine arts. However, some are formless and invisible—if you’re not careful, you’ll be devoured by them."
In the Grand Ruins, the most terrifying thing isn’t being devoured by Elemental Beasts, but falling victim to the poison of elemental laws and turning into a new Elemental Beast yourself. That’s right—many Elemental Beasts aren’t native to the Grand Ruins, but are cultivators who came here to train and were transformed..."
Within his divine sense, several cultivators hurried to and fro, each radiating a fierce killing intent.
Joe Di followed the direction those cultivators were heading and spotted a grayish-yellow great hall with his divine sense.
Joe Di entered the great hall along with several other cultivators. The hall was enormous—by his rough estimate, it covered dozens of acres.
Inside the great hall, dozens of cultivators sat in the corners, each seemingly focused on their own meditation.
In addition, at the rear of the hall was a window, above which were the words: Resource Counter.
Joe Di walked up to the Resource Counter. Inside the window sat a woman with no expression whatsoever—she didn’t even look up, just asked coldly, "What do you need?"
"Excuse me, do you have a Grand Ruins Info Chip?" Joe Di asked politely.
The woman finally looked up, her gaze falling on Joe Di. "New here?" she asked.
Joe Di nodded. "Yes."
The woman tossed a jade slip to Joe Di. "Ten top-grade spirit crystals."
Not cheap, Joe Di thought to himself. He promptly handed over ten top-grade spirit crystals and took the jade slip.
Seeing Joe Di turn to leave, the woman inside the window suddenly called out, "Don’t go to the second level—you’ll die."
When Joe Di paused, the woman added, "There used to be ten or twenty thousand people here—now there are only a few dozen. And don’t enter the Grand Ruins alone."
Joe Di smiled. "Thank you."
He then walked to a corner, sat down like the other cultivators, and took out the introductory jade slip he had just purchased.
"The Grand Ruins is a region where the laws of the Dao Realm never fully coalesced. The rules here are chaotic; except for Elemental Beasts, no other life can cultivate. The Elemental Beasts survive by devouring fragments of elemental laws..."
Seeing the Elemental Beasts devouring law fragments reminded Joe Di of his own cultivation method—he cultivated the Rule Cycle technique, also sensing the aura of heaven and earth’s laws. The cultivation method of these beasts was somewhat similar to his own.
"Most Elemental Beasts have form and substance, with sharp attack methods, and are quite helpful for studying elemental divine arts. However, some are formless and invisible—if you’re not careful, you’ll be devoured by them.
In the Grand Ruins, the most terrifying thing isn’t being devoured by Elemental Beasts, but falling victim to the poison of elemental laws and turning into a new Elemental Beast yourself. That’s right—many Elemental Beasts aren’t native to the Grand Ruins, but are cultivators who came here to train and were transformed..."