Where is this place? Di Jiu looked around in confusion. This wasn't outside the Mountainview Forbidden Zone, but rather a strange void. None of the companions who had come out with him were here.
Joe Di quickly understood. Although they had exited from the same place, the void realms were countless, and the places where they landed were not necessarily the same.
But since he was safe, Po Xu and the others probably had no issues either.
Except for Ye Yimo and Chu Manhe, whose cultivation was a bit lower, Po Xu and the rest were all formidable experts. They definitely wouldn't have any problems. Even Ye Yimo and Chu Manhe, as Hunyuan Realm cultivators, could still protect themselves.
Di Jiu extended his divine sense, and the rules of everything around him quickly became clear. In just a few breaths, Di Jiu grew excited. Although it was only a vague feeling, he could still sense the location of his Five Element Array Banner. As long as he could sense the banners, he could return to the Taiji Realm.
Joe Di hadn't even started to use his Rule Evasion technique when a blurry figure appeared within his divine sense. Soon, that figure landed in front of him.
"It's you." The figure exclaimed in surprise upon seeing Joe Di, and then a violent domain aura locked down the entire space.
Di Jiu couldn't even be bothered to move. He just looked at the beautiful woman before him and said calmly, "Xing Xi, do you think that now you've reached mid-stage Dao Integration, it's easy to crush me?"
The woman before him was indeed Xing Xi. Back at Xianhai, she had tried to deal with Di Jiu, but ended up being taught a lesson by him instead. Now, she had likely succeeded in Dao Integration and wanted to settle old scores after seeing Di Jiu. What's more, Xing Xi was well aware that Di Jiu possessed great secrets.
Xing Xi looked at Di Jiu with mockery. "Even if you had three heads and six arms today, don't think you can escape from me. What happened back then will never happen again." (Note: 'three heads and six arms' is a Chinese idiom meaning to have superhuman abilities or be exceptionally formidable.)
Di Jiu didn't understand what Xing Xi meant by 'what happened back then,' but even if he did, he didn't care. In fact, Xing Xi was referring to the time she hunted Ning Cheng. Back then, Ning Cheng was just a Hunyuan Realm nobody, while she had already succeeded in Dao Integration. Yet, despite being a Dao Integration powerhouse, she spent years trying to kill Ning Cheng, chasing him across countless places, and in the end, Ning Cheng grew even stronger than her and turned the tables, hunting Xing Xi instead.
With such a past, Cynthia Xing naturally didn't want history to repeat itself.
Di Jiu raised his hand, and the Azure Veil Blade hovered before him. According to what he'd heard, Xing Xi had once been an equal to Eugene Yi the Wanderer. Yet Eugene Yi couldn't even show off before Di Jiu; what did Xing Xi amount to?
"You actually dare to draw your blade in front of me?" Cynthia Xing looked at Joe Di in surprise.
In Cynthia Xing's eyes, Joe Di was at most late-stage Prime Essence. As for Dao Integration, that was absolutely impossible. There were only a handful of Creation Treasures, and although she didn't possess one, she did have a Creation cultivation method. Plus, she wasn't a reborn remnant soul, but someone who had truly reincarnated. That was why she was able to achieve Dao Integration so quickly.
Compared to remnant soul rebirth, reincarnation brought much deeper insights into the cosmic Dao after Dao Integration. The only thing she lacked now was a Creation Treasure.
If she could get back her Genesis Lotus, Cynthia Xing believed that even when facing Nick Ning of the same level, she wouldn't fear him at all.
It was precisely because she lacked the Genesis Lotus that Cynthia Xing had spent these years frantically cultivating and collecting all kinds of top-tier treasures.
Joe Di cultivated the Rule Dao, which was inherently superior to her broken Lotus Dao. Now, Joe Di was constructing and merging his own Rule Dao, so it was no wonder Cynthia Xing couldn't see through his true strength.
Di Jiu cultivated the Rule Dao, which was inherently superior to her broken Lotus Dao. Now, Di Jiu was constructing and merging his own Rule Dao, so it was no wonder Xing Xi couldn't see through his true strength.
Cynthia Xing gave a mocking smile, not taking Joe Di's words to heart at all.
Joe Di opened his palm, revealing a wisp of Genesis Lotus Essence. He sneered, "Now you know who's going to kill you, don't you?"
Cynthia Xing didn't care about Joe Di's words at all. Instead, she stared wide-eyed at the Genesis Lotus Essence in his hand, muttering, "Genesis Lotus Essence... You actually have Genesis Lotus Essence..."
Only she understood the true value of Genesis Lotus Essence. If she found any innate lotus, she could use the Genesis Lotus Essence to upgrade that lotus to the same level as the Genesis Lotus.
Even with an ordinary lotus, a wisp of Genesis Lotus Essence could transform it into something no less than an innate treasure. In other words, if she possessed Genesis Lotus Essence—even without using it to upgrade any lotus treasure—just merging it into her body would let her easily step into the Third Step, and a powerful Third Step at that.
Joe Di casually put away the Genesis Lotus Essence and sneered, "Still coveting my Genesis Lotus Essence? For someone as greedy as you, being able to reincarnate is already a stroke of luck."
"Where did you get the Genesis Lotus Essence?" Cynthia Xing suppressed her nearly mad excitement, trying to keep her voice calm.
Joe Di said indifferently, "Greed really has clouded your intelligence. This essence was a gift from a friend. I'm not killing you because my friend needs to kill you to perfect her Dao heart."
Hearing Joe Di's words, Cynthia Xing frowned. Suddenly, a clear voice rang out, "Fellow Daoist Di is right. I'm the one who will kill you, because only after killing you can I perfect my Dao heart."
As the voice sounded, a woman in a green dress landed not far from Joe Di and Cynthia Xing. Joe Di's divine sense had already noticed her arrival; he knew a good show was about to begin. This green-dressed woman was none other than the original master of the Genesis Lotus, the Lotus Sage.
The Lotus Sage bowed to Joe Di. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Di, for saving me. If not for you, Lotus would still be lost in despair."
More precisely, she had gambled correctly. If she hadn't risked being crushed and called out to Joe Di for help, she might never have escaped that despair in her lifetime.
"Sage..." Cynthia Xing's face turned deathly pale upon seeing the woman in the green dress, then she muttered, "Impossible, impossible... She has completely perished, I..."
"How did I treat you back then? If not for me, you would have died countless times. You were my attendant, but I never treated you as an outsider. Your cultivation method, your Dao, even your talent—I helped you refine all of them again and again. Yet you, the ungrateful wolf (meaning someone who bites the hand that feeds them), schemed against me when I needed help most, even burning my soul for ten thousand years. Only when my soul was completely dissipated did you feel at ease."
"But why..."
"Why am I still alive, right?" The Lotus Sage let out a long sigh before continuing, "I have lived my life with a clear conscience. Being betrayed by an ungrateful wolf like you was a tribulation for Lotus. Because I have no guilt in my heart, I was able to survive."
Lotus didn't say more. Her survival was a secret, and she naturally wouldn't tell Cynthia Xing.
Suddenly, Cynthia Xing realized something. Her pale face turned vicious. "So what if you've been reborn? You haven't reached Dao Integration yet. Today, I, Cynthia Xing, will make you die once more..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Cynthia Xing's Dao resonance surged. Twelve lotus blade rays swept out, and an ancient zither floated above her head. With a single 'ding,' it unleashed endless killing intent.
Lotus Sage was about to ask Di Jiu for help in holding the formation when Di Jiu's eyes blazed with fury. His Dao resonance surged violently, and the Azure Veil Blade transformed into countless void-tearing blade rays, locking Xing Xi in place. His killing intent was overwhelming, as if his anger had reached its peak.
"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!" In that instant, Xing Xi's domain and the space she'd locked shattered like an eggshell, splintering into fragments beneath Di Jiu's ferocious killing intent and burning rage.