Xavier White stared at Joe Di in astonishment for a long moment before finally asking, "Jaden Dai didn't go to the Void Market? How do you know?"
Of course, Joe Di wouldn't mention that Jaden Dai had triggered his array formation. He simply replied, "My intuition has always been accurate. I sense that Jaden Dai hasn't left, and I believe that, within a month at most, he'll arrive at Crimson Sanctuary."
Joe Di estimated that it had taken him about a month to travel from the Dao Domain's protective array near Lake Xun to Crimson Sanctuary, so he guessed it would take Jaden Dai roughly the same amount of time to arrive.
Xavier White took a deep breath. He trusted Joe Di's words. If Joe Di wasn't somewhat confident, he wouldn't have survived until now. Not only did he evade Jaden Dai's pursuit, but he had even destroyed Jaden Dai's lair. If Xavier White underestimated such a person, he'd be no smarter than a pig.
The reason he chose to cooperate with Joe Di was not only because Joe Di's strength rivaled his own, but also because Joe Di had intimidated him. Joe Di had the guts to destroy Jaden Dai's lair—who would believe he wouldn't dare to attack Voidmount? Ha, probably only he himself would believe that.
"Brother Di, if you're willing to take my advice, don't even think about taking down Jaden Dai. Even if we both reach Dao Origin Perfection, joining forces against him won't be enough." Xavier White said gravely, looking at Joe Di.
He knew Jaden Dai was hunting Joe Di and yet still dared to come here alone—he truly had no other choice. After all, he wanted Voidmount for himself.
He hadn't come here to confront Jaden Dai head-on. His plan was that if Jaden Dai killed Joe Di, he would offer what Jaden Dai wanted in exchange for Voidmount.
Now, it was clear Jaden Dai hadn't eliminated Joe Di. If he handed his treasures to Joe Di, it was obvious he wouldn't be able to trade for Voidmount either, so his only option was to cooperate with Joe Di.
Don't be fooled by his earlier talk of teaming up with Joe Di against Jaden Dai—that was just a proposal for cooperation. If it really came down to fighting Jaden Dai, Xavier White wasn't that naive. Joe Di dared to make such claims only because he hadn't encountered a truly powerful Hunyuan Saint Emperor. If he did, he probably wouldn't be so confident.
Joe Di frowned at Xavier White's words. He truly wanted to use the Deathtrap Array here and team up with Xavier White to take down Jaden Dai. Now that Xavier White was backing out, even with all his skill, Joe Di wouldn't dare confront Jaden Dai inside Crimson Sanctuary alone.
Even if he wanted to test Jaden Dai's strength, he'd do it outside Crimson Sanctuary. Not only that, he needed to set up a few more trap arrays. That way, after witnessing Jaden Dai's power, he could escape.
Seeing Joe Di remain silent, Xavier White continued, "Brother Di, I'm being honest—Jaden Dai truly isn't someone we can defeat even if we join forces. If things go wrong, I could be seriously injured, and you might fall at Jaden Dai's hands."
If he didn't team up with Joe Di and Jaden Dai obtained Voidmount, Xavier White would still have a slim chance to trade for it. But if he joined forces with Joe Di against Jaden Dai, and Voidmount ended up with Joe Di only to be snatched by Jaden Dai, he'd have no hope of getting it back.
Sensing Xavier White's sincerity, Joe Di sighed and said, "In that case, I'll arrange a Deathtrap Array and a Blast Array here. When Jaden Dai arrives, I'll try to ambush him. If I succeed, we'll chase him down. If Jaden Dai survives the ambush with his strength intact, we'll let him go for now. How about that?"
Xavier White nodded without hesitation. "Alright, let's do that."
Joe Di was his chosen partner, and more importantly, he still hadn't figured out whether Joe Di truly possessed Voidmount.
......
Three days later, Joe Di and Xavier White secretly left Crimson Sanctuary.
With their skills, leaving Crimson Sanctuary without anyone noticing was no challenge at all.
At his secluded cultivation site, Joe Di had already set up three Deathtrap Divine Arrays and a Blast Array. All these grand formations were under the watchful eye of his Surveillance Array.
Joe Di worried that Jaden Dai might get suspicious, so he even left a small section of Supreme Dao Vein here. After all, those Supreme Dao Veins belonged to Jaden Dai—if he could seriously injure Jaden Dai, this little piece would be well worth the price.
Another half a month passed. By now, Joe Di and Xavier White had traveled billions of miles beyond the Void Sea before finally stopping.
Joe Di had even set up a Surveillance Screen specifically to keep tabs on Jaden Dai's movements.
Xavier White was shaken by the power of Joe Di's arraycraft. He was glad he hadn't tried to attack Joe Di; if he'd made a move in Crimson Sanctuary, he'd surely have suffered. He didn't believe Joe Di would dare seclude himself in Crimson Sanctuary without leaving any backup plans.
Jaden Dai arrived faster than Joe Di had expected—four days before the end of the month, he appeared outside Crimson Sanctuary.
As soon as Jaden Dai saw his warrant notice was gone, he knew Joe Di had come. Joe Di had even dared to destroy his Daihe Hall—tearing down a warrant notice was nothing in comparison.
Joe Di's seclusion in Crimson Sanctuary was no secret. Jaden Dai easily caught a random cultivator and asked about it, quickly learning all about Joe Di's activities there.
When Jaden Dai heard Joe Di had arrived in Crimson Sanctuary and dared to remain in seclusion, a cold smile crept onto his lips. In just a few strides, he reached the entrance of Joe Di's Pill & Artifact Pavilion.
The divine spiritual energy leaking from the Supreme Dao Vein was so strong that Jaden Dai could sense it clearly just by standing there.
At this moment, Jaden Dai was certain—Joe Di was in seclusion here. The protective array was well-constructed, even reaching the level of a third-rank Divine Array. Right now, that ant probably thought he was still in the Void Market...
Seeing that he was about to capture Joe Di, Jaden Dai could hardly remain calm. He suspected the secrets Joe Di carried were even greater than his own—otherwise, how could Joe Di have made such rapid progress in so short a time?
For a cultivator who had just arrived in the Dao Domain to become a third-rank Divine Array Master—even with outstanding talent, it would normally take thousands or even tens of thousands of years. But Joe Di had done it in just a few hundred years. And that wasn't all—he'd also made tremendous strides in his cultivation. No matter how many secrets he had, once he was dead, they wouldn't matter anymore.
(Irrelevant web novel prompt skipped)
Jaden Dai snorted coldly, raised his hand, and tore apart Joe Di's third-rank Divine Array without hesitation before stepping inside.
A mere third-rank Divine Array—did it really think it could stop Jaden Dai?
Something was off. As soon as Jaden Dai entered the third-rank Divine Protective Array, he sensed something amiss. Even a newly advanced third-rank Divine Array Master shouldn't allow the divine spiritual energy from a Supreme Dao Vein to leak out during seclusion. And even if it did, there should be Dao rhythm fluctuations from cultivation—yet he sensed none, only the leaking spiritual energy.
Jaden Dai immediately realized this was likely a trap. But with absolute strength, what did a trap matter to him?
Even if this Divine Array self-destructed, it wouldn't harm him in the slightest.
Jaden Dai immediately took a step back, deciding to retreat first. The trap couldn't harm him, but he didn't want to be ambushed for no reason. Since Joe Di had set the trap here, it meant Joe Di himself had already left—that was the most disappointing part for him.
Jaden Dai had just stepped back when he suddenly felt the surrounding space shift. In an instant, the world around him seemed to change, and a terrifying wave of spatial energy swept through.
This really was the Divine Array self-destructing...
Jaden Dai was furious—not because he feared the self-destruction, but because that little ant Joe Di had schemed against him yet again.
After his initial rage, Jaden Dai was shocked. What kind of technique could transfer a spatial Deathtrap Array? He'd just stepped back, leaving the center of the array, but as he retreated, the array shifted with him. Such a method...
Boom! Boom! Boom! The terrifying sound of space being torn apart echoed. At that moment, the area where Joe Di had secluded himself in Crimson Sanctuary erupted, forming small spatial cracks.
The oppressive energy of raging space enveloped Jaden Dai. He felt as if the entire universe was crushing down on him, making even breathing difficult.
This wasn't a third-rank Divine Array—it was a fifth-rank chained Divine Array, and it was self-destructing. Jaden Dai was so furious at Joe Di that even the waters of three rivers and five seas couldn't wash away his anger.