It was as if a thin veil had been pierced; when Joe Di opened his eyes again, his understanding of arraycraft had undergone a fundamental transformation.
Joe Di stood up, fully aware that his mastery of arraycraft had finally reached the ranks of the Seventh-Level Divine Array Emperor.
Joe Di ceased his contemplation, and the surrounding Dao resonance instantly dissipated.
“Congratulations on your advancement, Brother Di.” Cyrus Flame quickly cupped his fists to congratulate Joe Di, sensing Joe Di’s breakthrough. However, because Joe Di cultivates the Grand Way of rules, his Dao resonance is closely tied to the surrounding cosmic laws. Thus, Cyrus could only perceive the distinct change in the cosmic Dao resonance, unaware that Joe Di’s breakthrough was in arraycraft.
“Let’s go. We can now open the Wheel Rift Nexus.” Joe Di patted Cyrus Flame.
Cyrus Flame had one virtue—he knew when to be tactful.
“Yes, I’ll take Brother Di and Sister Yu over.” Cyrus Flame’s spirits lifted; for him, leaving the Realm of Sevenfold Rebirth was more important than anything else.
He had been trapped in the Realm of Sevenfold Rebirth for countless years; today, he finally had a chance to leave.
The Realm of Sevenfold Rebirth consisted of seven domains; Joe Di had never visited the others, nor had he ever been to the Central City.
However, Joe Di had no desire to visit the other domains; the landscapes of the Realm of Sevenfold Rebirth were all much the same, suffused with a stifling, ashen gloom.
The three of them walked for three days before Cyrus Flame finally stopped.
To Joe Di’s surprise, he saw a starstream—a slanted river of stars.
Joe Di’s first cultivation method was the Starstream Technique, but he later switched to the Starspace Technique after opening cosmic meridians with the Ninth Prime Law. Eventually, he comprehended the Path of Laws and began cultivating that instead.
His cosmic meridians were formed by countless starstreams. The starstream before him was shaped by a broken mountain range, slanting into the earth and appearing to float in midair from a distance.
Yet Joe Di sensed that this starstream was not built from mountains, but was truly a cosmic vein condensed over eons.
“Brother Di, this is the Wheel Rift Nexus. This slanted valley marks its edge. To tear it open, you’ll need the Wheel Rift Key Disk and a Seventh-Level Divine Array to breach the boundary.” Cyrus Flame explained respectfully.
In his eyes, Joe Di’s strength was unfathomable. Moira Song had spent years scheming against him, even secretly arranging a Sevenfold Lock Formation.
If it were him, even without injuries, once trapped by the Sevenfold Lock Formation, escape would be nearly impossible.
But Joe Di had split the formation with a single stroke—shattering Moira Song’s years of work. As for the hundreds of cultivators who besieged them, Joe Di simply summoned the Lethe Bridge.
He hadn’t even seen what Joe Di’s trump card was—Joe Di had already dealt with Moira Song, while those cultivators who escaped the Lethe Bridge’s suppression fled in panic.
“Alright.” Joe Di produced the Wheel Rift Key Disk and cast out dozens of array flags.
As the Wheel Rift Key Disk was activated, the surrounding space grew unstable. Joe Di continued to cast array flags, beginning the setup of the Rift-Severing Grand Array.
Cyrus Flame stared intently at Joe Di’s movements, but found himself unable to comprehend the placement and method of Joe Di’s array flags.
Though Joe Di had only just attained the rank of Seventh-Level Divine Array Emperor, this was not his first time arranging such a formation.
Within just an hour, Joe Di’s hands performed a series of intricate incantation gestures. Space twisted violently, accompanied by a deep, thunderous rumble.
Without hesitation, Joe Di reached out and tore through the void. A massive black hole was ripped open, and Joe Di shouted, “Go, now!”
Without needing Joe Di’s reminder, Cyrus Flame and Yu Xiangbing had already darted through.
Joe Di swept up the Wheel Rift Key Disk and flashed through the rift as well. In the next moment, the spatial fissure he had torn vanished without a trace.
As the spatial ripples subsided, Joe Di’s divine sense immediately swept over Cyrus Flame and Yu Xiangbing, who waited in the distance.
Seeing Joe Di approach, Yu Xiangbing and Cyrus Flame hurried over. Cyrus Flame, his voice brimming with excitement, said, “Brother Di, thank you! I never imagined I would see the light of day again.”
Cyrus Flame bowed deeply to Joe Di, his heart surging with emotion. In the Realm of Sevenfold Rebirth, his cultivation and Dao had been suppressed, but now that he was free, he believed he could soon step into the Third Stage once more.
Joe Di waved his hand. “We owe our escape to you—you played a pivotal role. Without your array jade slip and the Wheel Rift Key Disk, we wouldn’t have made it out.”
Cyrus Flame knew he had a part to play, but he was also keenly aware that if he hadn’t entrusted those items to Joe Di, he’d never have escaped. Regardless of whether he reached the rank of Seventh-Level Divine Array Emperor, Moira Song would have schemed against him long ago.
“Brother Flame, what are your plans?” Joe Di’s first destination was Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens, but he had never been there and didn’t know its location. He didn’t bother asking Cyrus Flame, who had been imprisoned in the Realm of Sevenfold Rebirth for so long—he surely wouldn’t know the way.
Cyrus Flame, still overwhelmed with excitement, quickly replied, “My cultivation is still lacking. I plan to follow you for a while, then find a place to seclude myself for training.”
Joe Di found it amusing; he knew exactly what Cyrus Flame meant. Cyrus had witnessed Joe Di’s formidable strength and now felt a sense of trepidation toward the outside world. Though a mid-stage Integration cultivator was a top-tier expert, Cyrus didn’t realize it. He’d been imprisoned for so long, repeatedly injured and schemed against by Moira Song, that his confidence had waned.
It was this lack of confidence that made Cyrus Flame want to follow Joe Di and get a sense of the world outside.
Joe Di nodded. “In that case, let’s make a trip to the Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens. I just don’t know how to get there from here.”
Yu Xiangbing quickly spoke up, “Big Brother Di, I know this place. I’ve been here before—it’s called the Dividing Star Ridge...”
“How do you know this is Dividing Star Ridge?” Joe Di asked Yu Xiangbing, puzzled.
Yu Xiangbing pointed into the distance. “Big Brother Di, if you look over there, you’ll see two halves of the Weimang Star Domain. There’s only one place where you can see both, and that’s Dividing Star Ridge.”
Joe Di followed Yu Xiangbing’s direction and indeed saw two faintly glowing stars, each shaped as a half.
“How long does it take to get from here to the Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens?” Joe Di’s spirits lifted; his greatest worry had been searching for years without finding it. Now that he knew the direction, things would be much easier.
“If we have a supreme flight artifact, it’ll only take six days to reach the Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens,” Yu Xiangbing replied.
Joe Di was overjoyed—a supreme flight artifact was something he possessed.
It didn’t take six days; after only five, Joe Di’s flying treasure landed once more on the plaza outside the Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens.
The moment he arrived, Joe Di’s divine sense connected with his four Fivefold Flags, and his heart was instantly at ease.
When Joe Di first arrived, the place had been bustling with activity. Now, as he returned, he saw only a single Dao Origin cultivator guarding the array gate—there wasn’t another soul in sight.
“It’s you...” The Dao Origin cultivator’s eyes widened in fear upon seeing Joe Di, and he immediately tried to send out a message.
Joe Di’s name was known to all in the Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens—he had killed an Integration cultivator and escaped unscathed from an ambush led by Nora and several other Integration experts. To a Dao Origin cultivator, he was nothing but an ant before such power.
Joe Di didn’t hesitate for a moment. With a single punch, he struck the Dao Origin cultivator down before the man could send a message.
Joe Di was no longer in the mood for mercy. This Dao Origin cultivator was clearly one of Nora’s subordinates. Now that he had returned, he had no intention of letting Nora or her followers escape.
After dispatching the guardian with a single punch, Joe Di stepped into the array gate.
Seeing Joe Di enter, Cyrus Flame and Yu Xiangbing naturally followed without hesitation. Joe Di casually activated one of his Fourfold Array Flags, sealing the array gate of the Celestial Expanse Beyond the Heavens.