"He's gone." Only after the spatial fluctuations caused by the Realm-Cracking Talisman faded did Long Nie finally speak, his voice tinged with unwillingness.
He truly was unwilling. Not only had his own son, Jack Nie, been killed by Joe Di, but Joe Di had also vanished right under his nose, taking the Lethe Bridge with him.
Long Nie's gaze shifted to Nora, a trace of inquiry in his eyes. The trapping array in Celestial Beyond had been set up by Nora and her team. Given Nora's strength, even if Joe Di used the Realm-Cracking Talisman, she should have had enough time to seal the array and trap him.
Nora was even more unwilling than Long Nie, her hands clenched so tightly that they drew blood. She had actually let an ant possessing the Lethe Bridge slip away right under her eyes. In her view, anyone who hadn't reached the Genesis Realm was nothing but an ant.
The gap between the Genesis Realm and the Dao Fusion Realm was as vast as a chasm.
Only after a long while did she exhale slowly and say, "This person's mastery of arrays must be extraordinary. Just now I activated the trapping array in Celestial Beyond, but it didn't respond at all. Otherwise, he would never have escaped today."
Long Nie understood Nora's implication: Joe Di must have tampered with Celestial Beyond before they returned, at the very least altering its defensive array. That was why Nora hadn't been able to trap him.
"Rowan, what's wrong with you?" Only now did Nora notice that Rowan Lou's expression seemed a bit odd.
Rowan Lou's face was somewhat pale, and her gaze looked unfocused.
But just now, when she and Rowan Lou fought that early Dao Fusion Realm woman, they hadn’t suffered any losses, had they?
"It's nothing, Sister Nora. It must be a problem with my cultivation technique," Rowan Lou quickly replied.
Nora knew Rowan Lou wasn't telling the truth. She walked up to her and said, "Sister Rowan, you were the first to help me when I arrived at Celestial Beyond, and you played a major role when I wiped out the remaining resistance here. In my heart, we're no different from real sisters. Why would you hide anything from me?"
Rowan Lou lowered her head. After several breaths, she finally looked up and said, "There's a woman I know named Charlotte Ling. She once came to Celestial Beyond, and she seemed quite familiar with that Order Master Ye."
This was Tang Beiwei's first time in Celestial Beyond, but Rowan Lou did know Charlotte Ling. Back in those days, Rowan had seen Charlotte Ling here more than once.
Nora frowned, "Order Master Ye? The one who destroyed your Lou family?"
Rowan Lou remained silent, but her silence confirmed it. She had a feeling that the Joe Di who escaped, Order Master Ye, and that Ning fellow were all the same kind of people. If such people survived and returned to Celestial Beyond, it would mean death for her and her allies.
Nora patted Rowan Lou's shoulder. "Sister Rowan, you don't need to worry. Those who joined the Creation War never came back. That Charlotte Ling may be decent, but in my eyes, that's all she is. She's only at the early Dao Fusion Realm, and who knows if she'll recover from her injuries today? Even if she does, it'll be years before she's a threat. By then, I might already have a foot in the Third Step. Why be afraid?"
Rowan Lou said nothing. She decided to take this opportunity to leave Celestial Beyond. She had a feeling that if she stayed, once Joe Di returned, she would have no place to die in peace. Despite his severe injuries and losing a leg, she was certain Joe Di would come back.
......
The first thing Joe Di did when he opened his eyes was let out a sigh of relief—he wasn't dead, though he had lost a leg.
It didn't matter. As long as he wasn't dead, even if he'd lost a leg, he could still recover. Though losing a leg couldn't be fixed with ordinary treasures, for him, the loss of a limb meant the loss of a part of his Dao.
But Joe Di trusted in his Path of Laws. Everything originated from the laws of heaven and earth—even a missing part of his Dao was just another form of law. As long as his Dao advanced further, there would be a solution. If not, he'd simply spend a million years cultivating again.
Wait, something was wrong. The first thing Joe Di realized after calming down was that Charlotte Ling was missing.
He quickly tried to extend his divine sense, but a wave of pain shot through his sea of consciousness, preventing him from doing so.
Joe Di's heart sank. He had been holding Charlotte Ling when they rushed into the realm torn open by the Realm-Cracking Talisman. Now she was gone—she must have been separated from him in the void.
His body was that of the Sacred Physique, so he could remain unharmed in the void. Charlotte Ling's cultivation was higher than his, but her injuries weren't lighter, and her physical body wasn't as strong. In the void, she was truly in danger.
No matter what, he had to recover his cultivation as quickly as possible. Only then could he return to search for Charlotte Ling.
After one cycle of his law, Joe Di immediately sensed how thin the ambient energy was here. Not only was it nearly nonexistent, but its quality was extremely low.
Such meager and low-level ambient energy—apart from Earth, Joe Di couldn't think of anywhere else like this.
Struggling to sit up, Joe Di saw rows of lush green trees. The sight of these trees immediately made him realize this wasn't Earth.
These were ancient rosewood trees. If there were this many old rosewoods on Earth—no matter if they grew on the summit of Everest—someone would dig them up and carry them away. This wasn't Earth, but it was definitely a mortal planet.
The energy here was thin and low-grade. After sitting for an hour, Joe Di still managed to stand up. He was different from others; most cultivators, injured to this extent, would be unable to cultivate. But as long as he was conscious and surrounded by the laws of heaven and earth, he could still cultivate.
No matter how slow his recovery, as long as he could heal, it was enough. Once he could enter the Ninth World and sit beneath the World Tree, he would be fully restored in just a few breaths.
To balance his body, Joe Di found a dry wooden stick. Unfortunately, his Azure Veil Blade had fallen into the void.
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Joe Di wasn't worried about losing his Azure Veil Blade. As long as he recovered his strength, even if the blade was separated by several realms, he could still sense it.
A tense voice called out from behind Joe Di. He turned to see a middle-aged man holding a broad-backed knife, with a bow and arrows on his back. Judging by his attire and the animal skin around his waist, Joe Di guessed he was a hunter.
Joe Di couldn't understand a single word the hunter said.
Joe Di made a few gestures to show he had been bitten by a wild beast.
This wasn't a cultivation world. Since that was the case, there were no language jade slips, so it was normal not to understand the local language.