Henry Ren broke the seal on Joe Di's ring. When he saw just a few high-grade and mid-grade spirit stones inside, his fury surged—he almost smashed the ring in frustration.
Fortunately, the ring still held a Void Nexus Pill. Though Henry Ren had no need for it, this was a rare pill that could help a cultivator step into the Void Spirit Stage—a treasure beyond measure.
Henry Ren was convinced Joe Di had another ring, the real treasures hidden away. To think Joe Di dared cheat him in a wager—this ant must die.
Howard Lane was just as frustrated. He’d turned every stone around Nightlake, yet found nothing related to the Fivefold Dao Tower. Worse, his own cultivation was too low to approach Nightlake itself.
Not long ago, he’d lost the World Tome; now he’d missed out on the Fivefold Dao Disk as well. In cultivation, luck is paramount—Howard Lane felt his fortune had utterly abandoned him.
Once back in Fivefold City, Howard Lane sensed that his Void Nexus Pill was no longer with Joe Di, but had somehow ended up with Henry Ren.
He knew Henry Ren—ranked one hundred and six on the Sea List, a cultivator at the Seabreaker Stage. Why would a Seabreaker Stage cultivator need a Void Nexus Pill?
Could it be that Joe Di suspected something wrong with the Void Nexus Pill, and so deliberately gave it to Henry Ren?
Howard Lane had already crossed Joe Di off his suspect list. After all, Joe Di was only at the Soul Ancestor Stage, and he really had visited Nightlake.
As for Joe Di’s background, Howard Lane had investigated: his first appearance was at the teleportation array outside Skypath City.
If Joe Di had willingly given the Void Nexus Pill to Henry Ren, and Henry Ren refused to take it, then something was very wrong with Joe Di.
Howard Lane didn’t need to investigate further; listening to the cultivators talking in Fivefold Plaza was enough to understand everything between Joe Di and Henry Ren.
Joe Di had killed Henry Ren’s own brother, Rafael Ren. Henry Ren went to settle the score, and the two agreed to duel at the Dueling Platform in Fivefold Pavilion. The terms: if Joe Di could withstand one move, Henry Ren would lose; if not, Joe Di would lose.
The wager was both their rings, and it was Henry Ren who proposed it, not Joe Di. The result was obvious—Joe Di couldn’t withstand Henry Ren’s attack. After losing, he left Fivefold City immediately.
Howard Lane sighed, no longer interested in chasing Joe Di. Since Henry Ren had made the wager, it meant Joe Di was truly innocent.
With the Fivefold Dao Gathering finished, Howard Lane needed to return and enter seclusion for a while. He’d been stuck at the sixth level of the Transforming True Stage for many years. Though he found nothing related to the Fivefold Dao Tower at Nightlake, the lake’s suppression and tempering of his divine sense gave him new insights. With these, maybe he could break through to the late Transforming True Stage.
“Brother Haolan.” A deep voice called out, stopping Howard Lane.
Howard Lane had been lost in thought and hadn’t noticed anyone approach. Seeing the newcomer, he quickly cupped his fists and said, “It’s you, Brother Redriver. Congratulations to your Violet Thunder Sect! Mason Keys made it to the ninety-sixth floor of the Fivefold Dao Tower and took first place. If Mason weren’t a bit older, he might rank among the top prodigies in the next True Domain Prodigy Trials.”
It was Jamie Redriver, Sect Master of Violet Thunder Sect. He laughed, “Mason Keys did well in the Central Realm, but compared to the prodigies from the True Domain, he’s far behind. This time, Cynthia Winters and Jamie Redriver were here—either of them is leagues ahead of Mason. Cynthia reached the third layer of the Seabreaker Stage and is still under a hundred years old. Jamie’s talent is even greater; if I’m right, she’s not yet one hundred eighty, but she’s already at the first layer of the Cauldron Lord Stage.”
Howard Lane sighed, “True Domain’s cultivation resources are in a different league from the Central Realm. It’s said that the top families in the True Domain have immortal crystals. With treasures like True Spirit Silk that can transform a cultivator’s spiritual roots, how can we compare? If our Dao-ranked cultivators from the Central Realm entered the True Domain, I believe they wouldn’t be inferior to those prodigies at all.”
Jamie Redriver shook his head. “Not exactly. Talent is partly innate—there’s only so much you can change after birth. Take Joe Di, for example; his aptitude is extraordinary. I suspect he’s under a hundred years old, yet he’s reached the Void Spirit Stage… that’s unheard of.”
“Void Spirit Stage? Are you sure? I remember he was at the ninth layer of the Soul Ancestor Stage,” Howard Lane said quickly, surprise in his voice.
Jamie Redriver smiled. “I may never reach the Domain Stage, but I know a Void Spirit Stage cultivator when I see one.”
He didn’t know that when Joe Di first entered Fivefold City, Joe Di hadn’t sensed Howard Lane’s threat, so he let his cultivation fluctuations show as Void Spirit Stage. If Joe Di had masked himself as Soul Ancestor Stage from the start, even Jamie Redriver at Domain Stage might not have noticed—unless his meridian was stronger than Joe Di’s Stellar Meridian, and his divine sense far surpassed Joe Di’s.
“Joe Di is really at the Void Spirit Stage?” Howard Lane’s heart skipped—he felt he’d missed something critical.
“No doubt about it—Joe Di is Void Spirit Stage. He even took a move from Cynthia Winters; I saw it myself. Joe Di’s talent is impressive, but it’s a pity he missed the best chance for foundation establishment. In the future, his achievements may not surpass those on the Sea List.” Jamie Redriver sighed, regret in his tone.
Foundation establishment is crucial for cultivators. Disciples of major sects use top-tier foundation techniques and supreme spirit items, forging powerful roots and a clear path to the Dao.
Joe Di, as a rogue cultivator, could never get advanced foundation techniques or top-tier spirit items. Most rogue cultivators don’t even know they need supreme treasures for foundation establishment, and their roots suffer. That’s why so few ever reach the Dao rankings or achieve greatness.
[Irrelevant meta prompt omitted per translation guidelines.]
“Brother Redriver, I just remembered something urgent—I need to leave at once.” Howard Lane had no intention of staying in Fivefold City chatting; he was eager to seize Joe Di.
He needed to know why Joe Di hadn’t used the Void Nexus Pill to reach the Void Spirit Stage, and he intended to soulsearch Joe Di to uncover the origin of the Fivefold Dao Disk. Whether Joe Di was wronged or killed was of no consequence to Howard Lane.
To Howard Lane, Joe Di was nothing but an ant.
As he left Fivefold City, Howard Lane sent out a message. He couldn’t believe he’d fail to catch a Void Spirit Stage ant. As Kun Sect’s master, if Joe Di used a teleportation array, Howard Lane would know at once. He was sure Joe Di would teleport—after all, Joe Di gave his ring to Henry Ren on purpose; it’d be odd if he didn’t try to escape far away.
“Wait, Brother Haolan, I need you for something urgent. We agreed to go to the Desolate River Forbidden Zone…”
Jamie Redriver didn’t finish—Howard Lane was already gone, leaving only, “I’ll be back soon.”
Seeing Howard Lane leave so abruptly, Jamie Redriver could only sigh. He too was stuck at the sixth level of the Transforming True Stage, just one step from the seventh.
After the Fivefold Dao Gathering, everyone had planned to go to the Desolate River Forbidden Zone, hoping for a breakthrough to late Transforming True Stage. But now, Howard Lane seemed suddenly agitated and rushed off.
……
Before leaving Fivefold City, Joe Di planned every step, still wary of Howard Lane, that old fox, catching up. These old cultivators would rather kill the wrong person than let the right one go.
Joe Di didn’t know Howard Lane suspected him. With his mastery of Divine Sense Escape, he never considered using the teleportation array. He was fleeing, not sightseeing. Each time his divine sense ran out, he regenerated it, refining his spiritual power further.
He sped onward with Divine Sense Escape. After his divine sense reached the eighth level and his cultivation rose to the second layer of the Void Spirit Stage, Joe Di had been fleeing for over ten days—he had no idea where he was.
Joe Di only stopped because his Dao Fire pulsed again.
The last time this happened was at the auction, when he encountered Heavenfire and his Dao Fire pulsed. Now, with it pulsing again, maybe another celestial flame was nearby.
Joe Di was thrilled—he couldn’t afford Heavenfire at auction, but if he found it in the wild, his luck would be incredible.
The spiritual energy here was thin, and his divine sense detected no one. Joe Di placed the Dao Fire in his palm and soon felt its pulsing intensify.
After half an incense stick’s time, Joe Di locked onto a direction and sped away.
If it was a celestial flame, Joe Di thought, it should get hotter the closer he got—like when he found Flamecrest in the Skyveil region.
But this time, the farther Joe Di went, the colder it got. He entered a range of snow-capped mountains, and after half a day, he arrived at the base of a snow peak so tall its summit was invisible.
This snow peak stood among a chain of mountains, like a king among lesser peaks.
Standing at the foot of this towering, unreachable snow mountain, Joe Di felt his Dao Fire pulsing even more fiercely. He was certain something his Dao Fire needed lay deep within.