It only took a short while for Joe Di to calm down from his initial excitement. This was definitely not the starry sky where the New Universe was located. If it were, he would have sensed the New Universe as soon as he arrived—after all, he had participated in its creation.
In fact, after being here for so long without any sense of connection, it was clear that this was not the starry sky of the New Universe.
Although he hadn’t expected much in the first place, Joe Di still felt disappointed. He casually summoned the Heaven-Opening Brush, which transformed into a spaceship in the void. After marking the spot, the Heaven-Opening Brush carried Joe Di swiftly into the starry expanse.
After flying through the stars for half a day, Joe Di sensed something was off. Though life could exist in this region, and likely did, there was something exceedingly strange about it.
The peculiarity was that after spending some time in this starry sky, one could keenly sense that this space had a specific direction for survival.
In other words, you could only move forward according to the survival direction of the starry sky. Any deviation would bring a palpable suppression from the Grand Way. This oppression was imposed by the outer cosmic laws. Even if you were just circulating your own energy, as long as you were under these cosmic rules, you would sense your Dao becoming blocked. Over time, your cultivation would inevitably regress. If this suppression persisted, it could even crush your Dao until it collapsed.
Joe Di didn’t understand what was happening. In the vastness of the cosmos, anything was possible, and he had no mood to investigate the cause. Besides, there were countless strange phenomena in the cosmos, and he couldn’t possibly look into them all.
Since there was only one correct direction in this starry sky, he might as well proceed along that path. If he truly found no way forward, he still had a retreat; at the very least, he could return to the original medium universe.
In the blink of an eye, half a year passed. Joe Di could sense the existence of life in this starry sky, but after flying for half a year, he hadn’t seen a single person, nor had he encountered a life-bearing planet. Even those companions who had come with him—he hadn’t seen any of them.
Fortunately, Joe Di had anticipated this situation long ago; otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen the Heaven-Opening Brush as his means of travel. So Joe Di wasn’t worried. He believed that as long as he remained in this region, he would eventually encounter signs of life.
On this day, Joe Di was sitting at the prow of the Heaven-Opening Brush, sensing the unfamiliar aura of cosmic rules in the starry sky while refining the Dao resonance of his Dao Tree. Suddenly, a shadow brushed past the Heaven-Opening Brush from afar.
It was someone familiar. Just as Joe Di realized this, the shadow that had passed by abruptly turned and headed toward him.
Joe Di simply stopped the Heaven-Opening Brush. He could already see who it was—it was Zachary Yu, who had entered the Gate of Life and Death with him back then.
Zachary Yu had always looked rather disheveled, but now he was beyond messy. His hair was scorched black, and traces of fire Dao rules still lingered, as if his hair were still burning. His clothes were singed gray and white, making him look utterly miserable, with the fire Dao rules swirling around him yet to dissipate. These rampaging fire Dao rules were clearly left by someone else's divine power.
"It really is Brother Di! You're alright... that's wonderful..." Zachary Yu exclaimed with delight upon seeing Joe Di stop, and without any hesitation, rushed toward the Heaven-Opening Brush spaceship.
Joe Di lifted the restriction, allowing Zachary Yu to land on the deck of the Heaven-Opening Brush spaceship.
As soon as he landed on the deck, Zachary Yu bowed excitedly and cried out, "Brother Di, save me!"
Joe Di's gaze fell on the fire Dao resonance still rampaging in Zachary Yu's hair. Smiling slightly, he raised his hand and sent several rules down onto Zachary Yu. In the next instant, the burning fire Dao aura on Zachary Yu's head vanished, and even the damage from the fire Dao on his body disappeared.
After eliminating the hidden danger on Zachary Yu, Joe Di finally said, "Daoist Yu, even if I hadn’t intervened, the residual fire Dao resonance on you wouldn’t have harmed you much, would it?"
Zachary Yu breathed a sigh of relief, subconsciously looking back before exhaling deeply. "Brother Di, if I hadn’t met you, I would have surely died," he said.
"No one is chasing you?" Joe Di asked in confusion.
Sensing Zachary Yu's lingering anxiety, Joe Di waved his hand and produced two stone stools and a small stone table, then took out two wine cups. Pouring a cup for Zachary Yu, he said, "Whatever happened, Daoist Yu, sit down and tell me. I believe no one can break onto my ship."
Zachary Yu was, after all, a late Fifth Step powerhouse. Even if he’d encountered something dangerous, it shouldn’t have rattled him this much.
After taking a sip of wine, Zachary Yu finally calmed down a bit. "Thank you, Brother Di. We were deceived."
Joe Di raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean? Isn’t this place supposed to be where we break through to higher cultivation?"
Zachary Yu shook his head. "No, this place does allow for breakthroughs to higher realms, but coming here is nothing short of courting death."
He sighed, then continued without waiting for Joe Di to ask further, "This road is called the Grand Way Path. Legend has it that cultivators who reach the end of the Grand Way Path can basically step into the Ninth Layer of Divinity, that is, the Ninth Step..."
Is there truly a Ninth Step? Joe Di frowned slightly. After integrating the Dao of Life and Death and refining the fourth branch on his Dao Tree, he knew that stepping into the Ninth Step was nearly impossible.
If he ignored his Dao foundation and the refinement of Dao branches, he could probably reach the Seventh Step. But entering the Eighth Step was impossible, let alone the Ninth Step. If one could refine nine branches of the Grand Way, reaching the peak, it was only theoretically possible.
Take himself, for example—if he hadn’t met Ye Mo and Nick Ning, and obtained the Dao of All Things and the Unification Dao, then relying solely on his rule-based Dao, he would have been crushed by the Dao of Life and Death. By now, he would have become nourishment for someone else’s Dao, and as for himself, he’d have long vanished somewhere unknown.
As for Bai Junxiao, San Wu, and the others, they did not rely on refining the Dao Tree, but instead advanced through years of personal insight into their respective Daos, constantly leveraging new resources and rules. At best, they could only reach the Sixth Step. Moreover, their Sixth Step was a flawed Dao; cultivating a flawed Dao to the end not only made their divine powers unpleasant, but their very presence would emit a repulsive aura.
As for Bai Junxiao and the others dreaming of passing through the Gate of Providence to seek higher advancement, that was mere fantasy. Even with stronger resources and rules, they could not step into the Seventh Step, for their Dao foundation could not bear it.
"The Grand Way Path?" Joe Di was somewhat puzzled.
After another sip of wine, Zachary Yu calmed down completely. Pausing briefly, he continued, "Brother Di, after entering this starry sky, you should have sensed that there is only one direction to travel. If you try any other way, you’ll immediately feel your Dao being suppressed, and eventually, even collapse is possible."
"That's right, it’s exactly like that." Joe Di nodded. Although he didn’t quite believe such suppression would make him collapse, he hadn’t tried it, so he couldn’t refute it.
Zachary Yu said, "The Grand Way Path is a road everyone walks. By everyone, I mean not just cultivators like us, but also all ordinary people. However, whether cultivator or mortal, we are merely traveling the path."
Joe Di’s eyes lit up, as if he had grasped something.
Zachary Yu continued, "The true essence of the Grand Way Path isn’t the path itself, but the Dao. So once we step upon this path, it ceases to be a road—we are walking the Dao."
Our universe is just one medium universe among countless others in the vastness. Besides ours, there are innumerable medium and lower universes. The cultivators from those places are just like us—when they reach a bottleneck, they all come here in search of higher realms..."
Joe Di smiled and said, "Our previous cultivation, or the lives of ordinary people, were merely the paths we had to walk. When we reach the end of the road, we must step onto the Dao. This Grand Way Path is the future we pursue. It could be said that the end of the road is the Dao. It’s a simple truth that has always been beside us, even on our lips, but only upon reaching this realm and this place do we understand its meaning."
After saying this, Joe Di felt a sudden clarity in his heart. The Dao resonance of his Dao Tree grew ever clearer with his newfound understanding, and his Dao branch ascended to a new level. At this moment, he had achieved perfection in the Fourth Step. Who could truly comprehend the essence of the ordinary word 'road'—that it is not a road, but the Dao itself?
"Exactly—that’s it," Zachary Yu said, slapping the stone table.
He sighed again, "Unfortunately, we have no chance to truly walk the Dao of the Grand Way Path."
(That’s all for today’s update. Good night, friends!)