Without a goal, Joe Di could only keep moving forward. If he stopped, he had no idea what to do. If he kept walking, there was still a glimmer of hope.
Ten years, then another ten years—Joe Di had no idea how many decades he had walked. When he could walk no further, he was forced to stop once again.
With no direction left, Joe Di could only sit amidst the chaos and focus on circulating his energy.
Within the chaos, there was no Dao resonance, no cosmic rules. For the first time, Joe Di's energy circulation was blocked. Unable to cultivate, all he could do was meditate in silence.
As time faded away, Joe Di's entire body gradually merged with the chaos. At first, he was still within it, but eventually, the chaos enveloped him completely, and his form slowly disappeared.
......
Dominic Du stood atop the peak with his hands behind his back, his expression far from pleasant. Because he had sought information about the Creation Universe from the Immeasura Palace Lord, he had lost track of Gavin Strider's whereabouts.
"Thank you, Senior Dominic Du." The Immeasura Palace Lord rose from afar, walked behind Dominic Du, and bowed respectfully.
It was only because of Dominic Du's intervention that she was able to reconstruct her physical body and restore her Dao foundation.
Dominic Du nodded. "Although you have rebuilt your body and Dao foundation, it may take several eras to fully restore your cultivation. I will be leaving here soon, and I do not know when I will return. If you wish to cultivate here, you may do so."
"I plan to return to the place where I once attained enlightenment to restore my cultivation, so I won't stay in Senior's abode to train. I was just about to bid you farewell." The Immeasura Palace Lord knew her place—without Dominic Du here, she dared not cultivate recklessly in his domain.
Dominic Du nodded. "Very well. In that case, I won't keep you."
The Immeasura Palace Lord bowed once more, then thanked the portly cultivator named Sawyer Walker before swiftly departing.
After the Immeasura Palace Lord left, Dominic Du finally spoke slowly, "Sawyer, I need your help to leave the Five Elements Universe."
"Are you going after Joe Di?" The portly Sawyer Walker immediately understood Dominic Du's intention.
Dominic Du nodded. "If my guess is correct, Gavin Strider has already set out to pursue Joe Di. For someone like Gavin, to take the Reminiscent Bodhi Seed from Joe Di and not leave a mark to hunt him down—I'd have to be blind to believe it."
Sawyer Walker chuckled. "It's true Gavin Strider might do that, but Joe Di is no pushover. He may look as fresh as a sprouting bean, but I don't believe Gavin could easily hunt him down. And unless Gavin steps into the Third Stage, I'm not even sure he's a match for Joe Di. That guy is anything but simple."
Dominic Du nodded. "Ever since my Reminiscent Bodhi Seed failed to trap him, I knew he wasn't ordinary. Gavin may not be able to handle him, but Gavin is no ordinary opponent either. I suspect neither will be able to best the other. If I were Gavin, I'd immediately negotiate with Joe Di and take him away to escape my pursuit. The only way to escape me is to leave the Five Elements Universe. Now I can't sense the aura of Gavin's Reminiscent Bodhi Seed, so I suspect they've really done it—they've left the Five Elements Universe."
Sawyer Walker pondered for a moment before replying, "You're right—those two definitely left the Five Elements Universe. Gavin Strider obtained the Genesis Nest, so he must have left through the Stellar Stairway."
"I intend to enter the Stellar Stairway as well, but I don't have a better way. If I go in, it may take me ten times longer than Gavin. That's why I need your help." Dominic Du looked at Sawyer Walker.
Sawyer Walker fell silent, not speaking for a long while.
After remaining silent for half a stick of incense, Sawyer Walker finally spoke slowly, "Alright, I'll show you the way to the Stellar Stairway. But I can't go with you—I must find that thing. If I don't, returning will only bring me shame."
......
No one knew how long Joe Di had been meditating in the chaos. The suffocating pressure of that vast chaos made him feel the weight of death—he couldn't open his eyes. Joe Di vaguely sensed that if he didn't open them soon, he would dissolve into a mere wisp of chaos.
No matter how hard Joe Di tried, his eyes refused to open. He couldn't move, couldn't extend any part of himself. He stopped meditating; the only thing he could move was his consciousness—perhaps because he'd been focused on it all along.
Joe Di's consciousness began to seep into the Ninth World. Now, his spiritual sense and divine essence had been assimilated by the chaos. Luckily, his cultivation followed the Path of Rules, so his mind could still connect with his own laws.
As his consciousness surged into the Ninth World, Joe Di couldn't sense anything within it. It was as if, during all his years of meditation in the chaos, the Ninth World had also become chaos.
With sheer force of will, Joe Di frantically controlled his mind, wandering through the Ninth World. He hoped to find a point of contact—something to help him break free from this chaos. At that moment, he was like a drowning infant, struggling in endless depths, desperate to grasp anything that could give him leverage.
No one knew how much time had passed. Even the World Tome seemed to be assimilating, and Joe Di's consciousness grew weaker. No matter how strong his will, he couldn't hold out forever.
When Joe Di's soul and consciousness had nearly faded into oblivion, he suddenly sensed a hint of verdant green. That touch of color was like a spring of clear water flowing into the depths of his being, granting him the power to live.
With the help of that spring of clear water, Joe Di suddenly opened his eyes and stood up.
"Thank you, World Tree," Joe Di murmured. Without the World Tree, he would have been assimilated by the boundless chaos. He was also deeply grateful to the World Tome—without its protection, he would have succumbed long ago.
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Upon waking, Dao resonance once again flowed through Joe Di's body. He drew the Azure Veil Blade from his back.
Chaos surrounded him—he couldn't find footing, couldn't breathe, and couldn't escape. If he didn't break through this chaos, he would soon fall into endless oblivion once again.
Before he sank into oblivion last time, he encountered the World Tree, which saved his life. If he fell again, he would never wake. The chaos treated him as nothing more than a speck of nourishment, unconcerned whether Joe Di lived or died.
Since chaos is merciless, treating all things as mere fodder, what reason did Joe Di have to hesitate?
Joe Di let out a long howl, his cry echoing through the chaos. Within that howl, the Azure Veil Blade unleashed a flash of blade light, tearing through the void.
Chaos was merciless, treating Joe Di as mere fodder. So he would shatter this chaos and seek his own chance at life.
The Azure Veil Blade's light formed several blade curtains, crashing against the chaos with thunderous booms. Yet the chaos remained unmoved—Joe Di felt as if he were trapped inside an iron sphere.
Joe Di howled again, unleashing a second wave of blade force that crashed atop the first.
Wave after wave of blade curtains surged together, forming a torrent that crashed against the edge of chaos. The thunderous booms were endless—in this chaos, only the radiant blade curtains torn by Joe Di's Dao resonance shone. Beyond their light, everything remained chaotic.
The third slash, the fourth slash...
The relentless blade curtains formed small waves, each surge rising nearly a hundred zhang, one wave following another! Yet aside from the booming sounds, Joe Di felt no sign of the chaos being torn apart.
Joe Di spat out a mouthful of blood. With the fifth slash, an even more continuous blade curtain swept down, covering the sky.
In an instant, waves crashed against the shore, raising tens of thousands of blade surges!
"Crack!" Even after unleashing the fifth slash and stirring up endless waves of blade force, Joe Di only heard a faint cracking sound. The chaotic void around him seemed to show a tiny fissure, but it was still far from being broken open.
He could not break the chaos—boundless, edgeless. He could not see the Dao—formless, shapeless. If he failed to break through this infinite chaos, his Dao would be reduced to dust along with him.
The Dao is formless, blending with dust and light!
If he was destined to turn to dust, he might as well risk everything for one more strike.
Before the fifth slash had even ended, Joe Di began burning his own essence blood and lifespan to unleash a sixth strike. For him, the fifth slash was already pushing his limits—launching a sixth went far beyond that.
With the sixth slash, the blade waves finally took shape, wild and furious, like a raging cosmic sea, raising curtain after curtain of blades to crash against the edge of chaos.
Triple Loom—windswept sands, the sea below, waves rolling, innocence adrift. Blade light stretches ninety thousand miles, not a speck of dust in sight.
The waves of this slash had already surpassed ninety thousand miles. Joe Di refused to believe that he couldn't break through this endless chaos.
(Regarding the meaning of 'blending with dust and light,' it may differ here from other places, so don't worry about it.)
(Only one chapter today—it took a long time to write. I'll try to make the later chapters more epic. Good night, friends!)