Joe Di smiled, "Cassie Cao, do you think I'm the kind of man who needs a woman to stand in front for me?"
Even if it meant certain death, Joe Di would never let Cassie Cao go to the Shaman River for the ritual. He was not the type to rely on a woman to bear everything for him. Unfortunately, he was only a few days away—if he had just a few more days, once he developed his first strand of Spiritual Sense, all these problems would be solved.
Cassie Cao smiled calmly, "It's precisely because I know you well that I say such things. You know what kind of place this is. If I were here alone, I wouldn't just be humiliated—I would end up dead. Since that's the case, I might as well make my decision early."
Joe Di was stunned. Just as Cassie Cao said, if she were alone here, her fate would be worse than death. Cassie Cao was a pure Dao cultivator, and without her cultivation, she didn't have his kind of formidable combat power.
Cassie Cao walked up to Joe Di and gently embraced him. She spoke softly, "I never planned to live a peaceful life. Since the heavens still want me to go to the Shaman River for the ritual, I'm actually quite at ease with it. But you must quickly develop your first strand of Spiritual Sense. Otherwise, the second blood sacrifice will come soon."
After speaking, Cassie Cao untied a jade pendant from her waist, placed it in Joe Di's hand, and then turned to join the crowd volunteering for the blood sacrifice.
Holding the warm jade in his hand, Joe Di's mind went blank. For the first time, he realized that even after cultivating to the peak, sometimes you could still feel utterly helpless.
At that moment, he suddenly understood what Du Bu had felt.
If he were the master of this universe, how could such things ever happen?
No, even if he wasn't the master of this universe, he would never allow such things to happen. Joe Di snapped back to awareness and was about to rush out, but in front of him, apart from the ranks of strong soldiers, there was no sign of Cassie Cao at all.
Joe Di sighed. He knew that Cassie Cao had already been sacrificed in the blood ritual.
Joe Di clenched his fists. He swore to comprehend the Way Intent and laws of the Shaman Realm in the shortest possible time.
No matter how many people were around him, Joe Di closed his eyes, letting his consciousness once again immerse itself in sensing the laws of this world.
The heaviness of the blood ritual silenced everyone working to repair the Shaman River. Coupled with the countless prisoners and Great Wing Tribe soldiers swept away by the flood, an unprecedented quiet descended upon this place.
Crack! No one knew how much time had passed when Joe Di felt a shackle within him suddenly break open. His vision brightened, and his whole body felt lighter. It was as if a lantern had been lit deep within his soul, making everything clear.
Joe Di suddenly stood up, staring in shock at a long river before him. It seemed to sweep in from the edge of the sky, hanging above everyone's heads, and yet also winding past them all.
The faint glow of the river water reflected in the sky, sparkling like starlight.
So this is the Shaman River? Before seeing it, it always felt somewhat unreal. Now that he truly saw it, that sense of unreality only grew stronger.
"The blood ritual is over. Everyone, continue repairing the Shaman River. Next time, anyone who slacks off will be chosen for the blood sacrifice." The Great Wing Chieftain roared again.
Joe Di let out a long breath, suppressing the urge to act.
Even if he acted now, he would not be able to save Cassie Cao. Besides, he had only just developed a trace of Spiritual Sense, and fighting the immensely strong soldiers here would likely end in mutual destruction—he might even suffer defeat.
As if nothing had happened, the remaining prisoners continued to carry massive stones, dig earth, and repair the Shaman River under the lash of whips and stone arrows.
Compared to before, after the Shaman River breach and the blood ritual, all the prisoners seemed even more numb. Perhaps it was because there were fewer prisoners now, even the Great Wing Tribe soldiers had lost their habit of killing prisoners at the slightest provocation.
Now that he had seen the Shaman River, Joe Di finally understood how these people repaired it. Stones were carried to the riverbank, then earth was piled around the stones, followed by more stones on top of the earth.
Joe Di shook his head speechlessly, unable to understand the point of this method. If the Shaman River were to breach, piling up stones to build a wall would be completely useless.
Still, Joe Di trusted Cassie Cao's judgment—the Shaman River was the Vanished One's law. So every moment, he continued to comprehend the cosmic laws of the Shaman Realm, and his Spiritual Sense grew steadily.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and what Cassie Cao had feared happened again. To prevent another breach of the Shaman River, the Great Wing Tribe decided to drive another group of prisoners to the blood ritual.
Joe Di no longer carried stones. He felt that his strength was now sufficient. At this moment, his Spiritual Sense could even sweep across the distant edge of Stonefort City, and the Great Wing Tribe soldiers were nothing more than brutes. As long as there were no special experts, Joe Di believed he could now sweep through the entire Great Wing Tribe.
One prisoner after another was taken away by the Great Wing Tribe soldiers, but Joe Di did not move. He felt no sympathy for these prisoners either. When they went mad, they were capable of anything.
"You're all alone now. Why don't you go over there?" A burly Great Wing Tribe soldier came over and pointed at Joe Di's nose.
Joe Di did not answer, his gaze fixed on the Shaman River stretching into the sky. He decided that after destroying the Great Wing Tribe, he would begin refining the Shaman River. Whether or not the Shaman River was the Vanished One, he had to refine it first.
No matter what, he could not allow the Vanished One to be found by Du Bu.
"You must have a death wish. Drag him over—cut him into forty-nine pieces for the blood ritual!" Seeing Joe Di ignore him, the soldier flew into a rage, shouted to his companions, and reached out to grab Joe Di's arm.
Joe Di stretched out his hand; the Azure Veil Blade fell into his palm and instantly transformed into a blade ray. Under its edge, the soldier was sliced into forty-nine pieces, blood splattering everywhere.
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The two soldiers who had rushed up to attack Joe Di froze in their tracks at the bloody scene.
Joe Di didn't even move; the Azure Veil Blade swept out again, and two more corpses fell.
At that moment, whether it was the prisoners being sacrificed or the Great Wing Tribe soldiers guarding them, everyone was completely stunned.
None of them had ever seen such a deadly weapon as the Azure Veil Blade. But that wasn't the point—the real shock was that someone actually dared to kill the soldiers of the Great Wing Tribe. It was sheer madness.
The Great Wing Chieftain finally reacted, roaring in fury as he grabbed an iron spear and led over a thousand soldiers charging toward Joe Di.
Joe Di didn't move at all; the Azure Veil Blade swept out, casting a curtain of blades across the sky.
Even though the thousand soldiers were all immensely strong, they were as fragile as paper before Joe Di's Skyveil Blade. Except for the chieftain with the iron spear, not a single one survived.
The chieftain who charged up to Joe Di gripped his iron spear, staring blankly as all his soldiers fell around him. His mouth hung open, his face and eyes filled with terror. Who was this man? How could he be so powerful? Was he the god of the Shaman River?
"Do you know why I'm going to kill you last?" Joe Di walked up to the chieftain.
The Great Wing Tribe chieftain shook his head instinctively.
"Because you sent my friend to the blood ritual. So, before I kill you, let me tell you—your death will be even more miserable..."
With those words, Joe Di hurled a ball of flame. The chieftain's agonized screams echoed as countless prisoners, terrified by Joe Di's power, fled frantically.
But the prisoners had barely escaped a few miles before more Great Wing Tribe soldiers drove them back.
Under Joe Di's Spiritual Sense, at least tens of thousands of Great Wing Tribe soldiers swept toward him.