The World Tome was vast and boundless. As soon as Joe Di's spiritual sense entered, he was once again overwhelmed by its endless contents. Fortunately, this time he remembered his purpose. Now was not the time to study the World Tome—he would have plenty of opportunities once he left Skyveil.
Joe Di focused his spiritual sense directly on the flame, wanting to understand how to claim it. But with Flamecrest Mountain, he couldn't even get close—how could he possibly take the flame?
Fortunately, luck was on Joe Di's side. He quickly found the section introducing the flames.
When Joe Di read the introduction to the flames, he was startled. There were so many names—just the sheer variety made his scalp tingle. There must be billions of different flames.
Joe Di couldn't understand why, with so many flames in the universe, they were still so rare and precious.
As Joe Di continued reading, he finally understood. Although cosmic flames were numerous, only a few were truly valuable—at most, there were no more than a thousand.
Among them, the most representative were the 108 Cosmic Flames: thirty-six Celestial Flames and seventy-two Terrestrial Flames.
At this point, Joe Di was eager to know what kind of flame was floating atop the peak. There were several azure flames among the 108, but to truly identify it, he would need to obtain it himself.
What caught Joe Di's attention most was that any flame capable of evolving could become the most powerful flame. Among these was one known as Dao Fire.
Dao Fire was merely a general term and did not belong to the 108 Cosmic Flames. This type of flame was condensed by cultivators themselves. Its strength depended on the cultivator's body, talent, and Dao intent. Thus, the higher the talent and the stronger the Dao, the more powerful the Dao Fire.
Within Joe Di’s Stellar Meridian, there was a faint, indistinct star river. Nine shining stars had already formed within it, and his Golden Core True Flame was condensed right in this star river with nine stars.
A faint red flame floated within Joe Di’s Stellar Meridian, appearing gentle. Joe Di began to slowly circulate the Starstream Technique, attempting to use the true essence produced by the rotation to touch the Golden Core True Flame.
He had no idea how to condense Dao Fire—this was merely his first attempt.
Several cycles passed, but the Golden Core True Flame within the Stellar Meridian showed no reaction. Joe Di frowned, realizing it was surely too soon for him to condense Dao Fire.
The reason it’s called Dao Fire is because it naturally fuses with one’s Dao. Yet, at this point, he hadn’t even touched upon his own Dao, so condensing Dao Fire was bound to be difficult.
After more than ten cycles with no response, Joe Di tried infusing his understanding of vague Dao principles into his Golden Core Flame.
His understanding of Dao principles mainly came from the graystone. His Cracked Blade, Skyveil Blade, Peak Gathering, and Raging Wave techniques were all developed thanks to the graystone, allowing him to sense fragments of rules and thus create techniques far superior to ordinary cultivators.
Joe Di suspected that these four moves might have surpassed the level of mere techniques and touched upon the realm of divine abilities.
As for divine abilities, Joe Di had only read about them in a few jade slips.
After Joe Di’s understanding of vague Dao principles permeated the flame, it clearly grew stronger. Joe Di felt a surge of joy, but soon realized that when he withdrew his understanding, the Golden Core Flame remained unchanged.
After several fruitless attempts, Joe Di began separating his blade intent and fist intent. Again and again, he infused his insights into blade and fist intent into the Golden Core True Flame. After many tries, Joe Di despondently realized that no matter what method he used, he could not condense Dao Fire from his Golden Core Flame.
It looked simple but was hard in practice, leaving Joe Di dispirited. He had never even heard of condensing Dao Fire, let alone hoped to find any instructional jade slips—meaning he had nothing to reference.
After all this, he had no choice but to return to his old path—first seeking a body-refining technique, then heading to Flamecrest Mountain to refine the azure flame.
Maybe his understanding of Dao principles was too vague. Unwilling to give up, Joe Di used his spiritual sense to communicate with the graystone, which contained a golden Dao principle. He had not yet understood its origin, but he felt that if he could fuse this golden Dao principle with his Golden Core True Flame, perhaps it could become Dao Fire.
The Dao principle aura from the graystone was forcibly infused into the Stellar Meridian by Joe Di, and a clearer Dao principle emerged. As the Starstream Technique completed a single cycle, the Dao aura it produced collided with the Dao principle from the graystone within the Stellar Meridian.
In that instant, Joe Di saw the boundless, vast starry sky. He touched the Nascent Soul realm he had never reached before. The Nascent Soul realm was simple—it just meant forming a complete star river within his Stellar Meridian...
He sensed a hint of the true essence of the starry sky, and even felt that soon, his own starry sky would gradually take shape.
A surge of heroic passion welled up from deep within, and Joe Di suddenly stood up, sending his true essence and spiritual sense crashing against the barrier of the Nascent Soul realm. He felt that if he could break through, he would gain an even clearer understanding of the vast, surging starry sky.
In his excitement, he forgot that his Golden Core True Flame was still within the Stellar Meridian.
At that moment, Dao intent formed, and as he struck at the barrier of the Nascent Soul realm, his Golden Core True Flame collided with the emerging Dao intent.
It was as if a barrel of oil had been poured onto Flamecrest Mountain—boom! The flames surged.
Joe Di let out a shrill scream as the flames exploded within his Stellar Meridian. Even though these flames were originally his Golden Core True Flame, he could not withstand them. At that moment, he finally understood what Dao Tribulation meant—it must refer to Dao Fire Nirvana, which was essentially a death sentence.
In desperation, Joe Di quickly used his spiritual sense to activate the graystone, hoping it would heal him. Otherwise, the flames would soon tear apart his Stellar Meridian, and once that happened, his life would be forfeit.
To Joe Di’s shock, the graystone didn’t come to his aid at all—it remained motionless, letting the flames within him rage unchecked.
Joe Di grew anxious, and in the shortest possible time made a firm decision. He didn’t stop circulating the Starstream Technique, but instead sped it up and charged at the Nascent Soul realm barrier.
At the same time, he sent the icy Azure Pearl into his Stellar Meridian.
As soon as the Azure Pearl entered his Stellar Meridian, Joe Di felt waves of icy coldness, which finally lessened the terrible burning.
Boom! With the Starstream Technique circulating, Joe Di’s true essence and spiritual sense crashed against the Nascent Soul realm barrier.
The Nascent Soul realm barrier seemed completely unmoved. Although Joe Di could touch it now, breaking through was still far from easy.
Joe Di grew increasingly anxious. Even with the Azure Pearl in his Stellar Meridian, it couldn’t extinguish the flames, and his Golden Core True Flame kept growing stronger.
The next moment, wild, boundless flames enveloped Joe Di. Treebro, watching from afar, was stunned—it had never seen anyone cultivate to the point of being surrounded by their own flames. This wasn’t what “Qi deviation” meant.
Boom boom boom! Almost simultaneously, over a dozen thick arcs of lightning crashed down. Even though Joe Di had set up various defensive arrays in the cave, they were as fragile as paper under this lightning.
Treebro, terrified, rushed out of the cave. Whether it was flames or lightning tribulation, staying here would be courting death.