Joe Di stepped into Chaos once more, feeling at ease as his spiritual sense spread out, covering a hundred miles in every direction.
To be able to extend his spiritual sense within the vast Chaos—there was nothing more exhilarating. Perhaps, throughout history, he was the only cultivator capable of such a feat in the vast Chaos. Cultivation, after all, must follow one's own Dao.
Thinking of this, Joe Di began to activate his Mindforge technique. When he first acquired the Mindforge, he was but a low-level cultivator, barely even an apprentice. Now, both his Mindforge and Spirit Shift techniques were fundamentally different—each had been refined and modified by his own Path of Rules. Yet, he had always persisted in cultivating them.
Clearly, no cultivation technique is inherently superior or inferior; it is the depth of understanding that makes the difference.
Joe Di activated his Mindforge to see whether, in this vast Chaos, he could temper his spiritual sense and expand its reach even further.
After only half a day, Joe Di was delighted. He had not misunderstood—any place that suppressed spiritual sense, the Mindforge would prove effective. In just half a day, his spiritual sense extended by another kilometer.
With spiritual sense, and the ability to temper it further through Mindforge, the vast Chaos no longer seemed as dull as he once imagined.
Time slipped by in such days. Since Joe Di merged the realms, another dozen years passed in the blink of an eye, and his spiritual sense now stretched across ten thousand miles.
At this stage, Joe Di's progress with his spiritual sense began to slow, but he was unconcerned.
To extend spiritual sense over ten thousand miles in vast Chaos—or even a single meter—who else could possibly achieve such a thing?
The strength of his spiritual sense brought Joe Di an immediate benefit—his Chronoweave Blade Art. Now that he had entered the Realm of Merging, Joe Di believed he could unleash the eighth strike.
However, Joe Di did not attempt the Chronoweave Blade Art just yet. From experience, unleashing a new strike during battle would make it even more powerful. The greater the suppression, the greater the potential.
Not only had his Chronoweave Blade Art improved, but his Azure Veil Blade had also grown significantly. Behind Joe Di, the Azure Veil Blade seemed to be evolving even faster. Now, it had shrunk to just over five feet in length.
With his mindset changed, Joe Di, while searching for the Ninth Prime Law in the vast Chaos, also began seeking a way out.
If the Ninth Prime Law truly attained the Grand Way and established the Ninth Rule, that would be fate. However, Joe Di believed that without fusing the vanished Dao Principle, even if the Ninth Prime Law achieved the Rule within vast Chaos, its accomplishments would still fall short of his own.
Some things were beyond his control. No matter who was lost, the universe would continue to exist. If Joe Di were gone, would the universe perish with him? So his decision to enter the vast Chaos in search of the Ninth Prime Law might have been a mistake. Without Joe Di, the universe would not be destroyed; someone else would always emerge.
Even his own universe—if one day Joe Di were to fall, as long as his universe was truly complete, it would likely continue to exist. The world would not vanish just because he did, unless he deliberately chose to erase it.
Fortunately, his second journey into the vast Chaos was not fruitless. He had merged the realms, recovered the Azure Veil Blade, and his strength and spiritual sense had surged.
One day, as Joe Di wandered through the vast Chaos, he sensed a faint ripple of rules at the edge of his spiritual sense.
In vast Chaos, aside from cultivators, there should be no fluctuations. The presence of rule ripples meant something from beyond vast Chaos. Without hesitation, Joe Di shifted directly toward it.
Wherever his spiritual sense could reach in the vast Chaos, Joe Di could shift just as far.
Before he even arrived near the ripple of rules, Joe Di realized where he was—this was undoubtedly the place where Quinn Moten severed the realm.
Back then, Quinn Moten had the courage to sever his realm, then condensed a Primordial Realm within vast Chaos, hoping to break through and create another realm.
Clearly, after all these years, Quinn Moten had not succeeded.
Quinn Moten was clearly wrapped up by vast Chaos, forming a new Primordial Realm. Unfortunately, he had not been able to break free from it.
Just as Joe Di arrived, he sensed another faint fluctuation from Quinn Moten's domain. Yet, it was so subtle that it might take several epochs to unravel. Unless Quinn Moten could break free, he would never create another realm or make any progress.
Upon realizing he had arrived at the Primordial Realm condensed by Quinn Moten, Joe Di immediately wanted to help.
He could not help Quinn Moten break free from the Primordial Realm he himself had condensed—even if he could, he would not do so. If he did, even if Quinn Moten escaped, his Grand Way would suffer irreparable harm, and he might lose the chance to compete for cosmic supremacy.
Joe Di had another solution. He placed a pile of Starshards around the Primordial Realm and began cultivating.
Previously, he could not cultivate within vast Chaos because his spiritual sense could not exist there. But now, his spiritual sense could extend ten thousand miles in vast Chaos. Cultivating here was no longer difficult.
Perhaps this was the true strength of one's own Path of Rules. Without cosmic laws, what did it matter? His universe was the law.
As Joe Di activated his Heavenly Principle, the chaos surrounding Quinn Moten's Primordial Realm rapidly weakened. This was exactly the effect Joe Di wanted—once the chaos outside the Primordial Realm thinned, Quinn Moten's realm genesis would become much easier, no longer subject to the whims of vast Chaos.
The Primordial Realm was condensed within vast Chaos, fusing the two together. To break it open, one had to sever the link between the Primordial Realm and vast Chaos. Not everyone was as powerful as Joe Di, able to tear open the Primordial Realm within vast Chaos.
...
Quinn Moten sighed. He looked much the same as when Joe Di first saw him, except the aura of decay was gone, replaced by boundless vitality thanks to Joe Di's Cosmic Essence.
But Quinn Moten knew this was only temporary. He feared he would never break open this Primordial Realm. When he asked Joe Di for help, he believed that if Joe Di found the Chrono-Nail, he would have a chance to leave vast Chaos. Looking back, Quinn Moten felt naive—even if Joe Di found the Chrono-Nail, unless he could break open his own Primordial Realm, he would never escape.
Although he was considered a realm genesis expert, he was still far inferior to those with truly peerless talent.
He had found the methods for condensing and opening the Primordial Realm in the jade slip Joe Di gave him. Otherwise, he might never have fully condensed this realm.
After another sigh, Quinn Moten gathered his black-and-white Dao resonance once again.
He was a cultivator. Even knowing he could never break open the Primordial Realm, he would keep trying until he could try no more. This was the determination every cultivator seeking to control their own destiny must possess.
Boom! The black-and-white Dao resonance crashed against the edge of the Primordial Realm. A faint crack sounded, making Quinn Moten's whole body tremble.
Was this the opening of the Primordial Realm, the creation of a new domain?
With just a single crack, Quinn Moten felt his cultivation surge, and the outline of a new domain began to take shape.
Quinn Moten was so excited he began to tremble. He knew this was real. Though he didn't understand why it happened so suddenly, this was his only chance.
(Today, seeing the subscription numbers rise filled me with joy. Fellow Daoists are still voting, recommending, and even tipping the novel. Seeing Daoist A continuously send red envelopes, I am deeply grateful and moved. I haven’t asked for monthly votes in nearly a year, as updates have been few. But now, seeing these results, I suddenly remembered a saying: 'Does Kong Beihai know that Liu Bei exists in this world?' My mood today is just like that—do the myriad Daoists of the vast universe know that I, Lao Wu, exist? So, no goodnight for now—here comes another chapter.)