Joe Di opened his eyes and leapt up in excitement.
The Dao Rhyme swirling around the pearl in his Spiritual Sea had completely vanished. This meant that the world within the pearl had fully completed its initial gestation and would become his sole world.
This world was condensed under his Dao by the fusion of the Ninth Prime Law and the shattered Sacred Yin Pearl. From now on, it would be called...
Joe Di considered naming this world the Ninth Sacred Yin Realm, but felt it was too long. It would be better to simply call it the Ninth World.
Yet the Ninth World was not his only surprise. What delighted him even more was that his Spiritual Sea had fully recovered—or perhaps, more accurately, it had transformed into the Starspace Spiritual Sea, surely due to his cultivation technique.
His cultivation method was now entirely separate from the Ninth Prime Law, having fused with the Starspace Technique to form a cosmic cycle of starspace rules.
Within the Starspace Spiritual Sea, aside from his Ninth World, there were also the Dao Fire Light Starspace and the World Book. The only regret was that the Primordial Thunderstone was missing—he had no idea which void it was left in.
Nina Di was not at home; Joe Di’s divine sense had already detected her shopping in the market.
Joe Di did not retract his divine sense. He extended it even farther, quickly enveloping the entire Grand Abyss Star.
What left Joe Di feeling rather disappointed was that he did not see Nora Xiu.
Given the extent of his divine sense, the only possibility for not seeing Nora Xiu was that she was no longer on Grand Abyss Star.
After tidying himself up, Joe Di sensed that Nina Di had returned. He saw that she had actually bought a curved blade.
"Grandfather, you're awake?" Nina Di looked at Joe Di excitedly. If it weren't for his repeated instructions, and her understanding that some cultivators could be in seclusion for a long time, she would have disturbed him much earlier.
"You've worked hard these days. I'm planning to leave here. Come with me." Joe Di was preparing to depart Grand Abyss Star, but before leaving, he still wanted to visit the Ning Clan.
"Grandfather, I want to visit Torrent Springs Forest to check on my two friends. They've been inside for several days and there's still no news of them," Nina Di said quickly.
"Is it Axel and Yana Rain?" Joe Di asked. Nina had told him before—if not for their help, Axel and Yana Rain would have died in the gutter.
"Yes. If Axel and Sister Yana Rain hadn't saved me, I would have died long ago," Nina Di said anxiously. She truly was worried—if not for needing to care for her grandfather, she would have gone to Torrent Springs Forest already.
Joe Di nodded. "Anyone who doesn't repay kindness doesn't deserve to live in this world. You're right. Go ahead, I'll wait for you here. Just remember—if anyone tries to kill you, don't be afraid. Strike back."
"Yes, Grandfather." Nina Di never considered asking Joe Di to accompany her. In her heart, if he could go, he would have offered.
Since Grandfather didn't mention it, it meant he wasn't able to go with her at the moment.
Joe Di did not choose to accompany Nina Di. She had survived in the wild with friends for ten years and was already capable of looking after herself. Besides, he wouldn't always be by her side in the future—whatever happened, she needed to handle it on her own.
Still, there were some high-level fiend beasts in the Torrent Springs Mountains. Joe Di would never let Nina Di be in mortal danger—he left a rule mark on her and kept his divine sense following her as she entered the mountains.
...
Nina Di was burning with anxiety, racing all the way. Two hours later, she had reached the depths of the Torrent Springs Mountains.
At this moment, by the shore of a massive natural lake deep within the Torrent Springs Mountains, a crowd of all sorts had gathered—at a glance, there were at least five or six hundred people.
The waters of the lake churned constantly, with occasional bursts of blood and floating corpses.
A cultivator in a brown robe stood atop a giant boulder, gripping a longsword and announcing in a booming voice, "This round is almost over. The next group, get ready."
As soon as the brown-robed cultivator finished speaking, nearly a hundred people lined up at the lakeshore.
Soon, thirty-four figures burst out of the lake, and the hundred waiting at the shore leapt into the water.
Yana Rain dragged Axel out of the water with great difficulty, then led him to the back of the crowd.
"Thank you, Yana Rain." Axel spat out two mouthfuls of blood, his voice weak.
Yana Rain pulled out a porcelain vial from her waist, sprinkled some medicinal powder onto Axel's chest wound, and whispered, "Axel, we can't stay here any longer. Just now, out of a hundred people, I counted and saw that fewer than forty made it out. We've been lucky to survive this many rounds—if we go again, we won't just lose the chance at treasure, we'll lose our lives."
Axel nodded. "Let's go. Even if we break open the gate at the lake bottom, with so many people, we won't get much."
"Mm." Yana Rain replied, then hoisted Axel onto her back and turned to leave.
"Stop right there." A burly, fierce-looking man blocked Yana Rain's path.
Yana Rain hurriedly said, "My senior brother is injured. We're giving up on the treasure this time."
The man replied coolly, "Once you've joined, there's no way out. If everyone did what you did, the whole Grand Abyss Star would soon know that there's treasure here."
"But we truly can't go into the lake again." Yana Rain felt a chill in her heart, sensing something was wrong.
The man laughed heartily. "Don't worry, there are still several hundred people ahead of you. It'll be a long time before your turn comes again. You'll have plenty of time to rest."
Seeing that Yana Rain wanted to argue, Axel quickly said, "Yana Rain, let's just rest on the side."
He could already see at least dozens of corpses piled up in the distance. The wounds on their bodies were obvious—they definitely hadn't died in the lake. Clearly, like them, they tried to force their way out and were killed.
Yana Rain saw those slain people as well. Her heart trembled and she dared not speak further, only carefully carrying Axel to a spot not far from the lakeshore.
"Axel, what should we do?" Yana Rain regretted coming here with him.
"I'll heal first and recover my strength as quickly as possible," Axel sighed. He knew that even if he weren't seriously injured, their fate would likely be the same—death.
Would they really be given treasure when the gate was broken? Dream on. More likely, that would be the time for a massacre.
"Why is Nina here?" Yana Rain jumped up in alarm, wanting to stop her from entering.
But in that brief moment, Nina Di had already rushed in.
This place didn't allow anyone to leave, but lone martial artists or low-level cultivators wanting to enter faced no obstacles at all.
"Brother Axel, Sister Yana Rain, you really are here! I asked so many people—they said this was where the most people came... Brother Axel, what's wrong?" Nina Di raced up and immediately saw Axel was gravely injured.
Yana Rain said anxiously, "Nina, why did you come? Hurry—"
The word 'leave' was on Yana Rain's lips, but she swallowed it. Now that they were here, could they really get away?
"What's going on?" Nina Di asked in confusion.
"They're forcing people to dive into the lake to attack some ruin, claiming they'll distribute treasures. I think they're just sending people to die—look how many have already died..." Yana Rain secretly pointed to the pile of corpses by the lake.
"Ah..." Nina Di gasped, then cried out, "Brother Axel, is your injury from the lake bottom too?"
Axel sighed. "Yes..."
He realized Nina Di would soon have to go into the lake, but felt powerless—he couldn't save her. In fact, he couldn't even save himself.
Nina Di quickly said, "Then let's hurry and leave!"
Before Yana Rain could reply, a cold voice called from afar, "You just arrived—you're up in the next round."
It was the brown-robed man who had been organizing people to go into the lake from atop the boulder.
Nina Di immediately responded, "I'm not going down, and I don't want any of those treasures."
"You dare talk back to Elder Fu? Courting death..." sneered a hawk-eyed man standing beside the brown-robed cultivator. He swung his broadsword at Nina Di's arm.
Nina Di quickly dodged. The blade swept up a cold wind, lifting the hair at her temples.
"You dare dodge!" The hawk-eyed man's murderous aura surged, and his broadsword whipped up multiple blade shadows, enveloping Nina Di. This time, he wasn't aiming for her arm—he meant to kill her.
A sense of death closed in. Without hesitation, Nina Di grabbed her curved blade and slashed seven or eight times in quick succession.
Her grandfather had said, if someone tried to kill her, she shouldn't hesitate—just strike back.
All her skill came from accumulated combat experience. She believed she could block the hawk-eyed man's flurry of blade shadows.
Before Nina Di's seven or eight strikes could fully take shape, her blade aura split the hawk-eyed man in two.
The crowd fell silent. Even Axel and Yana Rain stared in shock at Nina Di—when had she become so formidable?
Nina Di herself stared blankly at her curved blade, wondering when she had become so powerful.
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)