Foremost Power of the Four Immortal Continents
Crack! A faint sound echoed from within Joe Di's array flags, followed by the sudden appearance of a Void Array Gate before the group. The gate was initially clear and distinct, but within a single breath, it began to blur and fade.
"Ah, the array gate really appeared..." Aaron Jace exclaimed, beginning to suspect that Joe Di had surpassed the level of an Immortal Array Master.
Without hesitation, Joe Di controlled the Skyshuttle and charged into the array gate. As soon as the Skyshuttle entered, the Void Array Gate quickly vanished, and the void returned to its original state.
Once inside the array gate, the Skyshuttle came to a stop.
"Such dense immortal energy! Huh, this is a grand hall." Aaron Jace had already noticed that Joe Di's Skyshuttle had stopped right at the entrance to the hall.
The hall was truly enormous; with the Skyshuttle parked at its entrance, it looked like a mere speck.
"Aaron Jace, put away the Skyshuttle. Everyone, follow me." Joe Di was the first to leap off the Skyshuttle, arriving at the entrance of the hall, where the massive doors offered no resistance at all.
Indeed, the immortal energy was incredibly dense. Even though they hadn't entered the hall yet, Joe Di and the others could already feel its richness.
Joe Di sent out his divine sense, but the hall seemed to be built in a location he couldn't fathom; even with his fifth-level Immortal Sense, he couldn't penetrate its boundaries.
After confirming there were no issues with the hall, Joe Di stepped inside, with Aaron Jace and the others hurrying after him.
What a vast hall—this was Joe Di's first impression. The grand hall spanned tens of thousands of square meters, and the immortal energy inside was even denser. To Joe Di, it felt as if he were standing atop an Immortal Spirit Vein.
This was an ideal place for cultivation; that was Joe Di's only thought.
Seated in the center of the hall was a man who seemed to have already died. Beside him lay a fragment resembling part of a tortoiseshell.
With just a glance, Joe Di recognized that the tortoiseshell beside the man matched the Ancient Tortoiseshell Map he possessed. It appeared that the map Joe Di had obtained was originally left behind by this man.
"Big brother, my father once said that ancient powerhouses rarely perish as long as they have a physical body—they're fond of soul possession." Aaron Jace had also noticed the man and spoke cautiously.
Joe Di unhesitatingly focused his divine sense on the man, then said, "He does still have a trace of vitality, but he can no longer possess anyone."
Previously, Joe Di might not have dared to make such a claim. But now, with the Ninth Prime Law in his sea of consciousness, he could immediately sense that this remnant of vitality was completely incapable of supporting soul possession. Rather than a lingering soul, it was more like an obsession unwilling to fully die.
Joe Di swept his divine sense, and the tortoiseshell fragment by the dead man's side landed in his hand. He immediately scanned it with his divine sense.
"I am Emperor Drew Chu. If you wish to inherit my legacy, you must avenge me. My enemy is Nightshade of the Color Mirage Immortal Continent, and Nightshade's Dao companion, Chu Yuzhi. Bow thirty-six times, and you may inherit all that is mine..."
Joe Di sneered and casually tossed the tortoiseshell fragment to Aaron Jace.
Aaron Jace took the tortoiseshell fragment, scanned its contents with his divine sense, and exclaimed in shock, "The enemy is actually Nightshade?"
"What, you know this person?" Joe Di asked in surprise.
Aaron Jace nodded. "Of course I know Nightshade. I haven't met him, but I think everyone knows of him... Huh, big brother, how could you not know Nightshade?"
Joe Di looked at Aaron Jace speechlessly. "Why should I know this person?"
Aaron Jace explained, "Nightshade is the strongest cultivator among the Four Immortal Continents and a native of the Color Mirage Immortal Continent. My father said Nightshade may have surpassed the Immortal Emperor realm—though that realm is mysterious, and even my father doesn't fully understand it. Let alone me."
After saying this, Aaron Jace sounded a bit dejected. "When my mother got this broken fragment, she thought she'd found the sanctuary of an ancient cosmic powerhouse. Turns out it belonged to someone from Color Mirage Immortal Continent. So much for ancient secrets."
"That's not entirely true. The immortal energy here is enough for us to cultivate. If I'm not mistaken, the hall is surrounded by a top-tier immortal array. Such an array couldn't be set up without dozens of prime Immortal Spirit Veins, or perhaps even supreme-grade veins. Otherwise, how could the immortal energy be so dense?" Joe Di gestured around as he spoke.
Aaron Jace clapped his hands. "That's right, big brother! In that case, we don't need to bow to that guy at all—we just need to cultivate here. With your array mastery, even if there's a trap array, we have nothing to fear."
Joe Di sneered, "Just look at the ground around us and you'll see—Drew Chu wasn't such a good person either."
Aaron Jace quickly swept his divine sense outward. At first, he saw nothing, but his expression soon changed. Scattered around the hall were white particles. As soon as his divine sense touched them, he realized they were fragments of human bone.
"So many fragments of human bone—what happened here?" Aaron Jace asked in astonishment.
Blackfire snorted. "That old scoundrel used countless Ancient Tortoiseshell Maps to lure people here, then trapped them with arrays and killed everyone who entered."
Sprout shivered, then said, "I'm a tree spirit, so I should be fine."
Blackfire sneered, not bothering to respond to Sprout. Only then did Sprout realize—he was Joe Di's beast companion. If something happened to Joe Di, how could he be fine?
Joe Di said calmly, "Any living being that appears here will be affected, regardless of what they are."
"Then Sprout, you should bow. If you bow, the trap array will open." Aaron Jace said mischievously, his gaze landing on Sprout—he could only tease Sprout at a time like this.
Joe Di waved his hand. "This isn't a trap array, but a deadly poison. Anyone who enters this hall is already poisoned. Judging by the number of Ancient Tortoiseshell Maps out there, that old turtle must have thrown out countless copies."
"So what do we do, big brother?" Aaron Jace could only look to Joe Di; in this situation, his only instinct was to run.
He knew perfectly well that if escaping were so simple, there wouldn't be so many broken bones left behind.
"I can neutralize this poison," Joe Di said with a slight smile. Without the Ninth Prime Law, he would truly have no solution. But now, with the Ninth Prime Law, he had no fear of the poison—no matter how potent, it was still a type of law.
If it weren't for Mo Yuxuan losing her vitality after being burned by the Spirit of Heavenly Fire, and now barely surviving thanks to the Seven-Colored Immortal Peach, he could have used his comprehension of the Ninth Prime Law to save her.
Since all things are composed of laws, vitality is naturally a law as well. But vitality involves the law of time. No matter how powerful Joe Di was, he could not yet use the Ninth Prime Law to comprehend the law of time and extend Mo Yuxuan's life. Maybe one day he could, but certainly not now.
After speaking, Joe Di placed his hand on Aaron Jace, and the toxins that had spread throughout Aaron's body instantly dissipated, transforming into immortal energy and vanishing into the void.
The poison in Joe Di's own body was also converted into immortal energy, which he absorbed.
Sensing that the deadly poison he had left behind had no effect on the newcomers, the man sitting on the ground let out a sigh, and then his body completely disintegrated, leaving no trace.
"He's gone?" Aaron Jace stared in astonishment at the spot where the male cultivator had vanished.
"This time he's truly dead, without even a trace of vitality left. First, he realized his poison was useless against me; second, he simply couldn't hold on any longer." Joe Di paid no mind to Drew Chu's fate and continued helping Mo Yuxuan, Blackfire, and Sprout to neutralize all the poison.
"What a pity about that ring. Drew Chu was an Immortal Emperor, and to have a grudge with Nightshade, he must have been a top expert. His ring surely held a treasure trove of good things," Aaron Jace said regretfully.
He had seen Drew Chu's ring just now, but as Drew Chu vanished into nothingness, the ring exploded as well, its contents lost to the crushing force of this space.
"This is a top-tier place to cultivate. Whether or not we can take the immortal spirit veins around the hall, let's train here for a while first," Joe Di said without hesitation.