Hundreds of thousands of high-grade spirit stones were piled beside Joe Di, their swirling spiritual energy rapidly absorbed by him. The Stellar Nexus within him grew ever clearer, as the spiritual energy was transformed into dense true essence, causing Joe Di's cultivation and aura to surge rapidly.
When the first hazy star river formed within his Stellar Nexus, the tens of thousands of spirit stones around Joe Di were crushed to dust, their rich spiritual energy swept away and filling every vein of the Stellar Nexus.
The vast true essence broke through the final barrier, and Joe Di's strength soared once again.
Although the star river within the Stellar Nexus was still just an outline, it grew increasingly distinct, and a golden star appeared within its contours. Joe Di abruptly stood up and threw a punch.
An endless torrent of violent true essence erupted with his punch, exploding with a roar and carving a trench dozens of meters long from the solid cave all the way outside.
Joe Di gazed passionately at the trench he had blasted out with a casual punch, as if all his pent-up frustration had been released.
He had finally stepped into the Golden Core stage. Though he did not possess a true golden core, a new star river outline had formed within the illusory Stellar Nexus, with a golden star shining inside.
Joe Di casually performed Mindshift. Now that he had reached the Golden Core stage, he had yet to refine his spiritual sense, but with a single attempt, he traversed a kilometer in an instant.
With this level of strength, at least on the Polar Night Continent, he no longer needed to flee at the sight of anyone.
Satisfied, Joe Di took out his Communication Pearl from his storage ring, intending to send a message to Sprout and inquire about his whereabouts.
As soon as he retrieved the Communication Pearl, Joe Di saw seven or eight messages—all sent by Sprout. The first few were sent with excitement, saying he'd found a great treasure and urging Joe Di to come quickly.
But the last two messages were pleas for help, with Sprout desperately crying that someone was trying to kill him and begging Joe Di to save his life.
Upon seeing these messages, Joe Di was furious. Without hesitation, he summoned his skyship and sped toward the location Sprout had given.
Flying artifacts could not be used inside the Skyveil, as its unstable space was filled with countless spatial vortices and distortions—entering one meant certain death. It was the same situation as in the Swamp Sea Forest, where he had relied entirely on Sprout.
Now that Sprout wasn't here, Joe Di couldn't afford to care. He not only summoned his skyship, but pushed its speed to the maximum. Still, while flying in the Skyveil, Joe Di kept his spiritual sense tightly focused on the surrounding space.
After less than half a stick of incense's time in flight, Joe Di sensed a fluctuation in the cosmic rules.
Though he didn't understand these rules, nor their nature, the golden lightning from the Graystone in his spiritual sea had influenced him for so long, and he had spent months comprehending the World Tome. He immediately noticed the fluctuation.
No matter what the rules were, Joe Di steered his skyship to avoid the aura of cosmic law without hesitation.
As expected, after his skyship bypassed it, nothing happened.
Knowing that avoiding the rule fluctuation was safe, Joe Di accelerated the skyship even further.
After a day's travel, Joe Di's skyship landed outside a mountain valley. The valley was packed with people, but Joe Di did not see Sprout.
However, he did spot a familiar face—Melody Qin.
At that moment, Melody Qin was following behind a cultivator at the third layer of Golden Core, her face filled with despair. With a sweep of his spiritual sense, Joe Di immediately saw that she was under a restriction, placed only a few hours ago.
Joe Di ignored Melody Qin and scanned the crowd at the valley entrance, his voice carrying a hint of dominance: "My pet, Little Root, disappeared here. Who touched my pet?"
No one answered Joe Di. He was clearly no ordinary cultivator—anyone who could pilot a skyship here was far from simple.
Besides, no one here knew Joe Di, much less dared to reveal Little Root's whereabouts.
"Big brother, I know where Little Root is..." Melody Qin, like a drowning person grabbing at driftwood, suddenly rushed out.
"You're courting death!" The Golden Core cultivator who had restricted Melody Qin slapped at her.
Joe Di didn't wait for him to strike Melody Qin; with a single kick, he sent a surge of violent true essence that enveloped the Golden Core cultivator's attack. The cultivator instantly felt the space around him slow down.
In just an instant, the Golden Core cultivator realized something was wrong—Joe Di was far stronger than him. He had no time to ponder why someone in the Skyveil could be so powerful, and wildly burned his true essence in desperation.
Bang! Crack! As Joe Di's kick landed, the cultivator finally broke free from the force of Joe Di's true essence.
But he was still a bit too slow—one of his arms was shattered by Joe Di's kick.
"Fellow Daoist, what is the meaning of this?" The Golden Core cultivator swallowed a pill and glared at Joe Di, his bravado masking his inner fear.
"Meaning? Don't you know she's my friend? I'd like to ask you what your meaning is." As Joe Di spoke, a Broadback Sword appeared in his hand.
Joe Di had always had a good impression of Melody Qin and would have helped her anyway, but her situation naturally came after Sprout's. Now, with no one else willing to speak up about Sprout, and only Melody Qin offering information, he had to save her first.
The Golden Core cultivator shuddered instinctively. Earlier, Joe Di hadn't even used a magic weapon—just a kick had nearly killed him. Now that Joe Di had drawn the Broadback Sword, if he attacked again, the cultivator couldn't imagine his fate.
"So that's how it is. In that case, forget it." The Golden Core cultivator lost his nerve, and his tone weakened considerably.
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Joe Di sneered, "Forget it? Your face is thicker than a pig's rump!" As he swept his Broadback Sword, even without activating it, streams of blade aura seeped out.
The Golden Core cultivator shivered and hastily said, "Fellow Daoist, I'm from Void Rift Isle. If you dare touch me, Void Rift Isle will never let this go."
Joe Di laughed heartily. "Void Rift Isle? Never heard of it."
Melody Qin cautiously spoke from behind Joe Di, "Void Rift Isle isn't a sect from the Polar Night Continent—they're from another continent."
No sect from the Polar Night Continent, no matter how bold, would dare to openly control her like this.
"So that's how it is..." Joe Di nodded in understanding.
The Golden Core cultivator from Void Rift Isle sensed Joe Di's killing intent fading and breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to find an excuse to leave, a curtain of blade light swept down.
Already injured, the Golden Core cultivator was caught off guard by Joe Di's sudden strike and forgot to dodge. By the time he reacted, the curtain of blade force had locked him in place.
"You can't kill me..." the Golden Core cultivator screamed, twisting his body in a desperate attempt to break free from Joe Di's blade.
As Joe Di unleashed the strike, he sensed a completely new realm of intent. After months of studying cosmic laws, he hadn't grasped a single rule, but he had witnessed countless ones. This strike faintly resonated with one such law, as if...
Yes, Joe Di realized, this strike was like the Skyveil itself. Endless ripples fell from the void, forming an entrance to the Skyveil.
As his blade descended, an endless curtain of blade light formed a blade waterfall.
The blade waterfall poured down like countless white ribbons, creating a domain of blade curtains.
"Since ancient times, white ribbons have flown long and true—a single domain shatters the green of the mountains!" That was the essence of this strike.
With a splatter, under the blade curtain, the Golden Core cultivator from Void Rift Isle was cleaved in two by Joe Di.
Joe Di gripped his Broadback Sword and closed his eyes in contemplation. The whole area fell silent—everyone knew Joe Di had entered a state of enlightenment.
To gain enlightenment from a fight, to slay a third-layer Golden Core cultivator with a single strike—no one dared provoke such a formidable cultivator, at least not within the Skyveil.
Melody Qin stared at Joe Di in shock. If not for her desperation, she would never have asked for help from the man who'd once teased her. Besides, Joe Di's reputation was poor—he'd even snatched the ranking jade token from rogue cultivators. She'd thought he was strong before, but now she realized she hadn't truly understood Joe Di's abilities.
No wonder he dared to oppose the Qi Trading House—he really was qualified.
After more than ten breaths, Joe Di opened his eyes and laughed. He'd made up his mind—this strike would be called the Skyveil Blade, his Sixth Blade.
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)