Joe Di rarely carried healing pills. Sprout could only refine ordinary Grade Three spiritual pills for now, and the highest grade healing pill he could produce was Grade Two, which meant little to Joe Di.
At this moment, Joe Di was seriously wounded and could only rely on spirit stones and the Starstream Technique.
A day later, Joe Di was pleasantly surprised to find that his spiritual sense had become much more refined. This wasn't achieved through the Starstream Technique, but rather his spiritual sense had regenerated after depletion, becoming more concentrated than before.
Although this method was torturous, for Joe Di, it was another way to temper his spiritual sense.
Now, Joe Di was even more eager to improve his Mindshift technique than to advance his cultivation.
If it hadn’t been for Mindshift, he would have died in the siege.
Half a month later, Joe Di’s injuries were completely healed. While others would need top-grade healing pills and several years to recover from such wounds, Joe Di only took half a month.
His body already possessed rapid recovery abilities, and as his cultivation improved, this ability grew stronger. If not for the severity of this injury, he wouldn’t have needed even half a month.
Once recovered, Joe Di re-established the protective array for his cave residence. Although the cave was spacious, it still wasn’t large enough for Joe Di.
After two days of work, Joe Di had more than doubled the size of the cave. Even though it contained only one cultivation chamber, he had expanded it to over twenty zhang.
Joe Di replaced all the protective arrays at the cave entrance with fifth-level formations, including a defensive array, Deathtrap Array, concealment array, and binding array.
After finishing these tasks, Joe Di took out the Azure Ley Line from his Herb Garden Ring.
As soon as the Azure Ley Line appeared, its incredibly dense spiritual energy instantly filled the entire cave. Just like the spiritual source in the blue pool, this energy was not only rich but could also cleanse impurities from the meridians.
Sprout leapt onto the ley line in delight. "Big Brother, you really got the Azure Ley Line? I thought that bastard was lying."
"That guy was indeed lying. I only got a section of Azure Ley Line about ten zhang long, but that bastard claimed he had over a hundred zhang. Also, you should go cultivate beneath the ley line. I need to break through here." Joe Di gave Sprout a pat and sent him down.
He needed to advance quickly, and the Azure Ley Line was perfect for cultivation and breaking through bottlenecks. Joe Di sensed a kind of law within the ley line, and if Sprout cultivated on top, it might affect his own insights.
Sprout was about to step into the third stage, and cultivating beneath the ley line would work just as well.
"Yes, Big Brother!" Sprout replied, still overjoyed. Cultivating beside the Azure Ley Line was no worse than cultivating in the blue pool. At his current pace, he would reach the third stage in at most a month.
Joe Di sat atop the Azure Ley Line, letting the Starstream Technique sweep up as much of its energy as possible. The ley line’s dense spiritual energy was drawn out by the Starstream Technique and merged into his Stellar Nexus.
The pure and chilling energy gave Joe Di a sense of exhilaration. He could clearly feel the impurities in his body being continuously washed away by the icy spiritual energy.
With the Graystone, the impurities in his body were already few, and the remaining ones continued to be washed away, making his cultivation progress even faster.
In just a few cycles, Joe Di’s cultivation advanced by another level.
If only that chilling aura were a bit stronger, the energy would purify his body even more thoroughly...
A bit colder? Joe Di remembered the Azure Pearl he had obtained. Without hesitation, he took it out and placed it atop the Azure Ley Line.
The atmosphere in the cave turned frigid, far surpassing the coldness of the Azure Pool before. Joe Di circulated his energy once, and the icy spiritual energy was swept into his Stellar Nexus, immediately bringing him incredible benefits.
This energy not only washed away the impurities in his body faster and more thoroughly, cleansing his physique, but also accelerated his cultivation.
Faced with this rapid cultivation, Joe Di soon ignored the cold brought by the pearl.
Cultivating in this environment was sheer bliss. Joe Di rarely used pills, and since acquiring the Graystone, his body was already nearly free of impurities. Under the constant cleansing of this dense, pure energy, in just five days, his Stellar Nexus was filled with true essence. After another cycle, Joe Di’s body trembled as a new channel burst open, his true essence surged, his spiritual sea expanded, and a third major star appeared in his Stellar Nexus.
It took only a single cycle for the third star to become clear.
He had reached the third level of Golden Core—just in a matter of days.
The cave grew colder and colder, while Joe Di was completely absorbed in cultivation. The dense spiritual energy formed a blue cocoon around his body.
Thanks to the binding array, the excess spiritual energy Joe Di couldn't absorb simply circulated within the cave and didn't dissipate outside.
After the first month, Joe Di broke through the third level of Golden Core and stepped into the fourth, with four stars now shining in his Stellar Nexus.
Almost at the same time Joe Di reached the fourth level of Golden Core, Sprout advanced to the third stage of tree demon. Ecstatic, Sprout paced back and forth, but with Joe Di deep in cultivation and Garrett and the Shadow Scarab absent, there was no one to share its joy with.
After strutting around for a while, Sprout found no one to show off to and could only resume cultivating by absorbing the frigid blue spiritual energy.
......
Outside the Skyveil, a blue-haired, demonic-looking youth stared grimly at the Skyveil curtain.
The cultivators remaining outside the Skyveil instinctively avoided the blue-haired, demonic youth. He had slapped a Qi Family Soul Ancestor to death and then captured a Qi Family Foundation Stage Two cultivator.
No matter why this blue-haired, demonic youth had returned, nobody dared approach or utter a word.
Murderous intent swirled around the blue-haired youth, his eyes radiating a fierce killing intent.
He hadn’t expected to be deceived by a mere ant. After capturing the Qi Family Foundation Stage Two cultivator, he repeatedly questioned him, but the man had no knowledge of Mindforge.
(Irrelevant system message: Skip this line as it is not part of the novel's narrative.)
After soul-searching him, he realized the man truly didn’t know anything about Mindforge, nor was there any trace of it in his memories.
He continued to probe the Foundation Stage Two cultivator's memories, and finally, through a chance recollection, found the answer.
Before the Skyveil opened, a Qi Refinement ant had bumped into the Foundation Stage Two cultivator, who kept apologizing. The incident was so trivial that the cultivator didn’t even remember it afterward.
Since the Foundation Stage Two cultivator was innocent, the extra Mindshift in his storage pouch was likely placed there by the Qi Refinement ant during the collision.
For a Qi Refinement cultivator to slip something into a Foundation Stage Two’s storage pouch during a bump without alerting him, he must be at least a fifth-level array master. As for his cultivation, he must have been concealing it.
Blake Azure was confident in his mastery of arraycraft. He believed that even if the person who placed the Memory Stone in the Foundation Stage Two’s pouch was a fifth- or sixth-level array master, he wouldn’t be able to detect the Spirit Mark Blake had left. Since the mark couldn’t be found, why put Mindshift in someone else’s pouch?
Did he choose the Foundation Stage Two cultivator at random, or was it intentional? Unfortunately, the Foundation Stage ant hadn’t paid any attention to the person who bumped into him, not even remembering his face.
At this thought, Blake Azure suddenly looked at a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator in the distance and said, "Come here for a moment."
The Golden Core cultivator was greatly startled, but did not dare refuse.
"Junior Jian, greetings to Senior." The Golden Core cultivator approached, bowing respectfully, his heart pounding with fear.
"Earlier, I killed a Soul Ancestor and captured a Foundation Stage cultivator here. Do you know where they’re from? Are they from a sect?" Blake Azure’s voice was tinged with coldness.
"Senior, they are all from the Qi Trading House." The Golden Core cultivator did not dare utter a single lie.
"Does the Qi Trading House have any enemies? Which of their enemies have come to the Skyveil?" Blake Azure nodded; he had heard of the Qi Trading House before.
The Golden Core cultivator quickly replied, "There’s a cultivator named Joe Di who has a deep grudge against the Qi Trading House. Before entering the Skyveil, he even killed a Sea Gang Foundation Stage Nine cultivator."
Joe Di? Blake Azure was both surprised and delighted. He hadn’t been asking for a specific name, just inquiring about the Qi Trading House’s enemies. Now he had a lead. He then asked if anyone had seen, before the Skyveil opened, who bumped into the Qi Trading House’s Foundation Stage Two cultivator.
To his surprise, the answer was simple—there was a cultivator named Joe Di...
(Irrelevant system message: Skip this line as it is not part of the novel's narrative.)