The female cultivator quickly crushed the jade slip in her hand into powder. She then swept her divine sense around for a long while, only relaxing and withdrawing her sense after confirming it was safe.
She couldn't understand why that beautiful senior sister had given her the fragments of the small jade slip. If the people from Celestial Beyond found out about this, she feared even her bones would be turned to ash. Go and tell the blade-carrying Joe Di? Unless she, Yi Shuhuo, was tired of living.
...
Joe Di ended his secluded cultivation and stepped out onto the skyshuttle deck. After more than ten years in seclusion, he hadn't sensed even a trace of Genesis Realm Dao resonance, let alone broken through to Genesis Realm.
With his understanding of cultivation, Joe Di knew clearly that continuing in seclusion would not help him break through to Genesis Realm. To reach Genesis Realm, he needed a catalyst—one that could not be gained through mere isolation. Even if it were possible, it would take hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.
Joe Di could not afford to spend so much time in seclusion just to break through to Genesis Realm.
"Any progress?" Charlotte Ling stood up when she saw Joe Di emerge.
Joe Di shook his head. "Almost no progress. I'll take over piloting the skyshuttle. You should go cultivate."
Charlotte Ling smiled. "This skyshuttle you refined is excellent. I estimate we'll reach the edge of Celestial Beyond in two or three years. Whether we spend those years in seclusion or not doesn't really matter."
Charlotte Ling's cultivation had fully stabilized at the early Dao Fusion Realm. Although she spent thousands of years in Winterhold Valley, which seemed like a drain, it was actually a quiet form of sublimation—beneficial to her cultivation.
Although she said that, Charlotte Ling still handed over control of the skyshuttle to Joe Di.
As soon as Joe Di's divine sense connected with the skyshuttle, its speed instantly increased by a whole level. Charlotte Ling stared at Joe Di in astonishment for a long while before saying, "Brother Joe, your divine sense is much stronger than mine."
For a Prime Realm cultivator's divine sense to be stronger than hers, a Dao Fusion cultivator, even Charlotte Ling was stunned. She had originally thought that although Joe Di's divine sense was good, it was still just slightly inferior to hers. Now, she realized she was completely mistaken.
Now that Joe Di was controlling the skyshuttle, its speed was more than twice as fast as when she controlled it.
Joe Di smiled. "Xiaoshuang, in terms of raw power, my divine sense isn't stronger than yours. But mine is more refined. More importantly, I personally refined this skyshuttle, so its resonance with my divine sense is nearly perfect. If you ever want to forge a flying artifact, you can come to me—when I craft it, you can infuse it with your blood essence. That way, the artifact will obey your commands and its speed will be fully under your control."
"Alright." Charlotte Ling knew that reaching Joe Di's level of artifact refinement was probably impossible for her. Meeting a cultivator as talented as Joe Di was already a stroke of luck.
Yet she had encountered three such prodigies. The first always felt somewhat distant—she never even had the chance to become his friend. The reason, she realized, was her own immaturity back then; she only saw things on the surface and made many foolish mistakes.
Her master was right—sometimes, what you see and hear isn't always the truth. Only what you feel with your heart is real. She hadn't understood this before; if she could see it clearly, why wasn't it real? Only after her Dao advanced and she experienced more did she begin to comprehend. Even so, if Joe Di hadn't saved her, she would have still believed that Elder Yale was her benefactor.
The second prodigy, she never even had the chance to befriend—she could only watch from afar as his decline shook the entire universe. Even in his weakened state, his aura kept other Third Step powerhouses at bay.
In the end, it was a stroke of fate—thanks to his Dao companion, Yan Ji, she exchanged a few words with him and even received a spear talisman as a gift. That talisman allowed her to kill a half-step Third Step powerhouse who tried to attack her.
The Joe Di before her was the third—he had not only saved her, but had become her true friend.
...
After Joe Di took control of the skyshuttle, its speed kept increasing. In just eight short months, a vague, enormous outline began to appear under Joe Di's divine sense.
Joe Di slowed the skyshuttle. "Xiaoshuang, it looks like we've reached the edge of Celestial Beyond."
Charlotte Ling stood up, her eyes full of excitement. After so many years, she had finally returned—she was back in Celestial Beyond.
Now that she was in Celestial Beyond, she might be able to return to the Void Market, and then to the Sacred Dao Domain. She wondered how her master was, and how her senior and junior sisters were doing.
The skyshuttle came to a stop. Charlotte Ling gazed at the now-desolate plaza of Celestial Beyond and sighed, "When I first came here, the place was bustling—cultivators from all over the vast universe filled every corner. Now there are only five scattered people."
"Those few must be the sentinels—they're coming over." Joe Di put away the skyshuttle as he spoke.
"It must be a Supreme Artifact. I'm sure of it," a medium-built man whispered, certain that what Joe Di had just put away was a Supreme Artifact.
"Yes, I saw it clearly too," agreed another cultivator beside him.
As guardians of Celestial Beyond, these cultivators knew exactly what kind of people could arrive piloting a Supreme flying artifact. Even if such a person left their artifact in the plaza, they wouldn't dare steal it.
Joe Di and Charlotte Ling remained where they were, since the group was already heading toward them. He could even hear their conversation clearly.
Five Transformation Realm cultivators—he truly didn't consider them a threat.
"Greetings, fellow Daoists. I haven't seen you before—are you visiting Celestial Beyond for the first time?" The leader was a tall, thin male cultivator at the peak of Transformation Realm.
"That's right, this is our first time here," Joe Di replied.
The tall, thin cultivator couldn't discern Joe Di's cultivation, nor Charlotte Ling's strength. Recognizing the Supreme flying artifact Joe Di controlled, he could only speak respectfully: "Fellow Daoists, if this is your first time in Celestial Beyond, you need to present your realm's identification jade token."
"Identification jade token?" Joe Di frowned and glanced at Charlotte Ling. He had never been to Celestial Beyond, but Charlotte Ling had. She should be familiar with the rules here.
Charlotte Ling shook her head. "I don't know about this rule. It wasn't here back then."
Seeing Joe Di frown, the tall, thin man quickly explained, "Celestial Beyond used to be plagued by powerful cultivators seizing territories, making the place chaotic. Later, Ancestor Xun and several seniors came and put things in order, so now Celestial Beyond is safe. To prevent trouble, cultivators from every realm need a sect's recommendation, or pay a certain amount of divine crystals to obtain a jade token here."
Joe Di sneered, "So only a few fixed sects from each realm can recommend people to Celestial Beyond?"
"We... aren't sure about that," the tall, thin cultivator hesitated, knowing he couldn't afford to offend Joe Di or Charlotte Ling.
"Forget it, I won't make things difficult for you. Tell me, how many divine crystals do we need to enter Celestial Beyond?" Joe Di was unwilling to keep wasting words with these sentinels.
The tall, thin man said, "It's one million top-grade divine crystals per person. After entering, you can go to the Celestial Beyond Lord's Hall for assessment."
"What do you mean?" Joe Di asked.
The tall, thin man explained, "The one million top-grade divine crystals is just the entry fee for Celestial Beyond. If you want to stay long-term, you must be assessed to determine the annual amount of divine crystals you need to pay. If you can't pay, you'll have to leave."
Joe Di chuckled coldly, "So Celestial Beyond is just Ancestor Xun's private garden? He gets to make all the rules? I'm not paying any divine crystals."
If it were just tens of thousands of divine crystals, he would pay. But paying a million at once, and then being assessed after entering, made him very displeased.
From what he'd heard, Celestial Beyond was the junction for all realms—anyone could come here as long as they didn't make trouble.
Hearing Joe Di's displeasure, the tall, thin cultivator said respectfully, "We're just guardians here. We don't know anything else."
As a guardian, he'd been here for many years. In all that time, what kind of cultivator hadn't he seen? For him, the best approach now was to stay calm and avoid conflict. No matter how powerful a cultivator was here, they could only flaunt for a moment in the plaza—once inside Celestial Beyond, they usually disappeared without a trace.
"Sorry, I don't have a single divine crystal to spare right now. You're just a guardian, so I won't bother with you. You have two choices: be killed by me, and then I'll enter Celestial Beyond; or pretend you know nothing, and I'll still enter Celestial Beyond." With that, Joe Di strode unhesitatingly toward the array gate of Celestial Beyond.
Seeing Joe Di walk forward, Charlotte Ling naturally didn't hesitate for a moment.