The little girl stood up, her figure looking even more frail and weak. She shrank back and glanced at Charlotte Ling, as if wanting to say something but too afraid to speak.
Charlotte Ling noticed immediately and asked, "Do you have something you want to tell me?"
The little girl nodded. "I've heard of the Nie Clan. They are very powerful, and their patriarch is called Long Nie..."
"Ah..." Charlotte Ling exclaimed with delight, urgently stepping forward to ask again, "Where is the Nie Clan?"
The little girl spoke a few more words, her courage growing and her speech becoming more fluent. "They are in a place called Nie Haven. The Nie Clan's patriarch Long Nie has two sons and a daughter. The sons are Jack Nie and Miles Nie, and the daughter is Joy Nie..."
Joy lit up in Charlotte Ling's eyes; she hadn't expected to get news of the Nie Clan so easily. In her excitement, she was about to reach out and grab the little girl's shoulders. But before Charlotte Ling could move, Joe Di's Tian Sa Blade had already slashed down.
"Brother Joe..." Charlotte Ling cried out in horror. With Joe Di's slash, how could the little girl, only at the Immortal King realm, possibly survive?
At this moment, the best way for her to save the little girl would be to launch a surprise attack on Joe Di. As long as she made a move, Joe Di would surely turn to defend himself.
However, after Charlotte Ling called out, she did not act. From her time knowing Joe Di, she understood very well what kind of person he was.
If Joe Di drew his blade, there must be a reason.
Just as Joe Di's blade was about to slice the little girl in two, a red palm print suddenly appeared in front of his blade.
Bang! A mist of blood exploded, and the red palm print shattered instantly. Amidst the dispersing red blood mist, a sinister voice rang out, "Kid, you ambushed me today. I'll remember this..."
By the time the last word echoed, the figure had already vanished without a trace.
Charlotte Ling stared in astonishment at the spot where the little girl had disappeared, suddenly understanding something. She looked at Joe Di and said, "Brother Joe, did I ruin your plan?"
Joe Di waved his hand. "Actually, even if you hadn't intervened, I might not have been able to keep her here."
"You already knew she wasn't just an Immortal King?" Charlotte Ling asked again.
Joe Di nodded. "Yes, the moment I saw her, I knew her cultivation was even higher than yours. She wasn't here to hide but to digest what she'd absorbed."
"Was it the vital essence of the cultivators aboard this Void Fortress?" Charlotte Ling naturally understood what Joe Di meant.
"That's right. In fact, she's already recovered to the Dao Fusion Realm. The reason she didn't attack was because she realized you were also at the early Dao Fusion stage. If you had reached out to her, she would have ambushed you, so I had to act first." Joe Di sighed inwardly.
If Charlotte Ling had been ambushed, he would have been at a severe disadvantage and could only resort to a preemptive strike.
The reason he took out the Lunar Heart and rambled on was simply to find the right moment to ambush her. He sensed that the woman possessed something he desperately needed. His only goal in the ambush was to sever her arm and take her ring.
If it came to a direct fight, Joe Di believed that he and Charlotte Ling wouldn't fear this woman, but they definitely wouldn't be able to keep her here. As it turned out, he was right—even after being ambushed, she still left with composure.
"I understand now." Charlotte Ling sighed inwardly, realizing she may have ruined Joe Di's plan. With Joe Di's caution and personality, he would never take out the Lunar Heart just to talk.
Unfortunately, she hadn't thought much at the time and overlooked this small detail. If she'd been more careful, she would have been wary the moment she saw Joe Di take out the Lunar Heart.
"Let's go." Joe Di tore open the protective array at the top level of the Void Fortress and stepped out.
"Are we still heading to Celestial Beyond?" Charlotte Ling followed, though they knew Miles Nie was on Nie Haven, they had no clue where Nie Haven was located.
"We can't go to Celestial Beyond yet. We need to track that woman," Joe Di said.
Charlotte Ling looked at Joe Di in astonishment. Even she couldn't match that woman's escape technique—how could they possibly track her?
Joe Di chuckled. "Her escape technique is impressive, but she was struck by my blade. Anyone hit by my blade won't escape my senses for a while."
Joe Di cultivated the Dao of Laws, and every strike of his blade carried unique blade law principles. As long as his target remained in the same void domain, they couldn't escape his perception.
Charlotte Ling drew a sharp breath. Joe Di truly cultivated the highest-level techniques—otherwise, he could never say such a thing.
"Brother Joe, you go ahead, I'll follow behind. Let's go now." Charlotte Ling said urgently. The whereabouts of Cai Ji were unknown, but the woman who escaped just now knew the Nie Clan's location, so there was hope of finding Cai Ji.
Joe Di hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I'll go first."
With that, he vanished in a flash. His hesitation was because he worried Charlotte Ling wouldn't be able to keep up.
Charlotte Ling had thought she only needed to follow Joe Di, but after he left, she realized it would be difficult to keep up with him.
Joe Di's speed couldn't even be called an escape technique—it was practically teleportation.
Fortunately, Joe Di only used his divine sense escape twice before stopping. He waited for Charlotte Ling to catch up and said, "Xiaoshuang, you're a bit slow. At your pace, we won't be able to catch up to her. Once she reacts, I'll lose track of her."
Charlotte Ling's face flushed slightly with embarrassment. She was, after all, a Dao Fusion cultivator, yet in a hurry, she needed someone not even at the Hunyuan Realm to wait for her.
"Brother Joe, I'll enter my True Spirit World, then you can take it with you." Charlotte Ling trusted Joe Di completely.
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"Alright." Joe Di didn't hesitate.
...
After rushing through the void for more than half a month, even Joe Di was impressed by the woman's escape technique. If Charlotte Ling hadn't entered the True Spirit World, with her speed, they would have lost the target long ago. But now, even if the woman's speed doubled, he could still keep track of her.
The woman who appeared as a little girl was incredibly cautious. Even after fleeing for over ten days, she kept moving at full speed and never stopped to heal her wounds.
Joe Di began to suspect she might have a sixth sense and knew he was following her.
Considering this possibility, Joe Di stopped using his divine sense escape and switched to law-based escape technique. Law-based escape was much faster; if he'd used it from the start, he would've caught up long ago.
He didn't want to catch up too quickly—he wanted to find out where her base was.
Sure enough, once Joe Di used his law-based escape, it only took half a day for him to sense her speed slowing. Another day passed, and the woman finally stopped, summoned a flying ship, and began healing while traveling.
Joe Di mused to himself—she could sense his divine sense escape. But as long as she appeared within his divine sense, unless she used a Realm-Splitting Talisman, she couldn't escape his pursuit.
Another half a month passed. Once the woman's wounds fully healed, her flying ship sped up.
Joe Di followed at a steady pace. After three months, the edge of his divine sense detected a massive floating continent, wrapped in protective arrays that blocked any further probing.
The woman still hadn't noticed Joe Di and directly piloted her ship toward the floating continent.
Joe Di summoned Charlotte Ling. Now that he knew where she'd gone, things would be much easier.
"Did we lose her?" Charlotte Ling asked instinctively when she emerged and didn't see the woman.
"No." Joe Di pointed to the distant void. "That woman entered the continent ahead. Once we reach the entrance to the protective array, I'll block it off and catch her like a turtle in a jar."
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)