After leaving Spiritstone Mountain, Joe Di looked back but could no longer see any trace of the Concealment Array. Although he had split the array open before, it had automatically restored itself.
It had been over two years since Joe Di entered Little Central Star and began his secluded cultivation. As expected, much can change in two years.
The days when high-grade spirit herbs were everywhere were long gone. Even fourth- and fifth-grade spirit herbs were now rare, let alone spirit herbs above the eighth grade.
If you want to find treasures, you have to act early. After two years in seclusion, even the leftovers had become scarce.
He took out his communication pearl, but had not received any messages from Garrett or the others.
Choosing a direction, Joe Di hurried on for three or four days, but still found no high-grade spirit herbs. Everywhere showed signs of digging, as if every time Little Central Star opened, it was like bandits raiding a village.
On the fifth day, Joe Di finally saw another living person. The man was moving at great speed, clearly fleeing from something.
Joe Di landed directly in front of the man. "Friend, wait up..."
Startled, the fleeing cultivator quickly summoned his magical weapon. But when he saw it was Joe Di, he relaxed, put away his weapon, and cupped his fists. "Ulysses Qi greets Red Tassel Joe."
Joe Di didn't know Ulysses Qi, but he wasn't surprised the other recognized him. After all, he was a figure on the Fivefold Dao Tower Score ranking, and had once been in the top hundred on the Sea List. Plus, he was wanted by the Kun Sect—if Ulysses Qi hadn't recognized him, that would be odd indeed.
He also clasped his fists and asked, "Wu Juan, may I see my friends?"
Since Wu Juan recognized him, it meant that she must have seen him together with Qian Xin and the others.
Wu Juan hesitated for a moment, then suddenly bit her lip and said, "Red Tassel Joe, your two friends are currently being held by Yue Henghe. They said to wait for you to come and exchange for them."
Joe Di's expression darkened. He knew of Yue Henghe—ranked second on the Cauldron List, an inner elder of Kun Sect, said to possess the strength of a ninth-level Cauldron Lord. The reason Yue Henghe could enter the Kun Sect as an inner elder with Cauldron Lord cultivation was because he also held another identity: second place on the Cauldron List.
"May I ask, where are my two friends being held?" Joe Di asked again.
"On Seed Cultivation Mountain," Wu Juan replied quickly. "It's utter chaos there right now—I only just escaped from that place."
After saying this, Wu Juan didn't wait for Joe Di to ask further. She immediately produced a jade slip and handed it to him, saying, "Red Tassel Joe, this jade slip contains the route I just carved out from Seed Cultivation Mountain. Please, Red Tassel Joe, don't tell Yue Henghe that I leaked this. Yue Henghe is vindictive—I'm worried he won't let me go if he finds out."
"Thank you," Joe Di said as he accepted the jade slip. After scanning it with his divine sense, he added, "Don't worry, Yue Henghe won't have a chance to go after you."
Bidding farewell to Wu Juan, Joe Di didn't hesitate for a moment and headed straight for Seed Cultivation Mountain. Now that he and Kun Sect were openly at odds, there was no need to hide his actions.
With the route map in hand, it took Joe Di only a few minutes to arrive at the outskirts of Seed Cultivation Mountain. Before him rose a towering peak that pierced the clouds, its summit lost from view. To his surprise, cultivators could be seen everywhere on the mountain...
The thought flashed through Joe Di's mind, sending a chill down his spine. There were cultivators everywhere here, but aside from a rare few who were still moving, most appeared utterly lifeless. It was as if the name 'Seed Cultivation Mountain' was literal—these people had been planted into the mountainside, motionless and devoid of vitality.
Joe Di shifted his gaze away from the cultivators scattered across the mountainside and focused on a smooth, massive boulder at the foot of the mountain. Upon the boulder stood a pillar, and bound to the pillar were two cultivators.
What baffled Joe Di was that he did not recognize either of these two cultivators.
Aside from the two who were bound, nearly a hundred others were gathered atop the boulder. Contrary to what Ulysses Qi had described, the scene was not chaotic. Joe Di did not doubt Ulysses Qi's account, however, as bloodstains and even shattered limbs littered the boulder—evidence that a fierce struggle had just ended.
Some of the cultivators atop the boulder were still watching Seed Cultivation Mountain, their faces filled with anticipation, as if eager to ascend.
This left Joe Di puzzled. So many people had died on Seed Cultivation Mountain—clearly something was wrong here. Why would anyone still want to climb it?
"Master Hong Ying has arrived!" someone shouted before Joe Di even landed atop the boulder.
With Joe Di's arrival, even those cultivators who had been eager to ascend the mountain halted in their tracks. They were all curious to see how Joe Di would respond now that Yue Henghe of Kun Sect had captured his friends.
Previously, Joe Di had challenged Jin Xun of the Sea Ranking, but now he was facing Yue Henghe of the Cauldron Ranking.
"I haven't seen you for two years. You must have some real skill to evade me for so long," said a young man in white as he strode toward Joe Di, who had just stepped onto the boulder platform.
"You are Yue Henghe?" Joe Di asked. He knew Yue Henghe was ranked second on the Cauldron Ranking, but this was his first time meeting him.
"That's right, I am Yue Henghe. These two—are they your friends?" Yue Henghe gestured toward the two cultivators tied to the pillar.
The two cultivators, a man and a woman, were complete strangers to Joe Di.
Seeing that Joe Di remained silent, Yue Henghe smiled. "No wonder you could leave Ju Shidi speechless with just a few words, even making him hand over his cultivation technique to someone else. With composure like yours, you are worth waiting for."
Joe Di understood Yue Henghe's meaning. The two cultivators tied to the pillar were locked down by a level-seven restriction. If someone tried to rescue them without knowing how to break the restriction, the captives would be instantly destroyed—perhaps even their souls would not remain intact.
But Yue Henghe didn't realize that the reason Joe Di hadn't acted was not caution—it was simply that he didn't know these two cultivators at all.
"Do I know you?" Joe Di looked up at the man and woman bound to the pillar and asked.
Before the man could speak, the woman hurriedly replied, "Master Hong Ying, we're sorry. We borrowed your name and pretended to be your friends to get tied up here."
Joe Di was speechless. Were these two idiots? Pretending to be his friends and getting themselves captured? His conflict with Kun Sect had already reached the point of no return—such a stunt could easily get them killed. Did they not realize the danger?
Yue Henghe sneered at Joe Di, clearly not believing the story told by the man and woman.
Joe Di suddenly sent a telepathic message, "Were you two chased here, with nowhere left to run, so you pretended to be my friends and got captured by Yue Henghe?"
The two captives were shocked. Despite being locked down by powerful restrictions, Joe Di could send a telepathic message through them without Yue Henghe noticing. What kind of spiritual sense was this?
But the two quickly nodded and replied, "Yes, yes!"
Yue Henghe frowned. The two had clearly heard something, but as strong as Joe Di was, he shouldn't have reached the Cauldron Realm yet. Without that cultivation level, his spiritual sense shouldn't be able to penetrate Yue Henghe's restrictions undetected.
Joe Di didn't mind. The fact that these two had managed to use his name to their advantage showed they had some wit. He wouldn't hold it against them, but he certainly wasn't going to risk himself to save them either.
Yue Henghe stared at Joe Di. "Master Hong Ying, I want to know how you were so certain that Ju Qi Shidi possessed a technique for refining spiritual sense?"
Joe Di had claimed that someone from Kun Sect was his friend and had witnessed Ju Qi consuming the Blazing Spirit Grass, but Yue Henghe absolutely did not believe it. Others might not know Kun Sect, but he certainly did.
After emerging from the Five Continents Dao Tower, Ju Qi had entered the Cauldron Realm—and not just any Cauldron Realm, but an exceptional one. For someone to secretly observe Ju Qi refining the Blazing Spirit Grass during his closed-door cultivation, that cultivator would have to be at least Cauldron Realm or higher.
When Yue Henghe questioned Ju Qi, he learned that Ju Qi had only twice consumed Blazing Spirit Grass outside, both times at Kun Sect's sacred training ground, Azure Jun Mountain. Ju Qi had just entered the Cauldron Realm and was only an outer elder, so he was unaware that any elder above Cauldron Realm entering Azure Jun Mountain would have to record their presence with a surveillance image.
After Joe Di confronted Ju Qi, Yue Henghe immediately checked the records for Ju Qi's two entries into Azure Jun Mountain, reviewing the surveillance footage. In fact, neither time had any other Cauldron Realm or higher cultivator entered the mountain.
Given all this, either Ju Qi was lying, or Joe Di was.
Either way, the technique for tempering spiritual sense had been leaked. Ju Qi had no reason to lie, so the only possibility was that Joe Di had lied.
If Joe Di was lying, what puzzled Yue Henghe was how Joe Di knew Ju Qi possessed such a technique?
Yue Henghe speculated that Joe Di might also possess this technique, which was why he could guess Ju Qi's reason for collecting Blazing Spirit Grass.
Joe Di sensed Yue Henghe's suspicion, but he was no longer concerned. He spread his hand, and the Heavenly Sable Blade appeared in his grip. Coldly, he stared at Yue Henghe and said, "Your Kun Sect once accused me of killing Shu Haolan, then Ju Qi tried to deal with me on Little Central Star, and now you’ve captured my two friends. It seems your sect thinks I'm just a wandering cultivator. If that's the case, let's see if you can kill me and my friends."
(Two chapters updated—I'm feeling a bit tired. But pressure gives me motivation, so I won't say goodnight yet. I must finish the third chapter; remember, if I don't write it, I'll get scolded tomorrow for breaking my word...)