Joe Di moved at incredible speed. He even used Lawstride within the Rift of Annihilation, and in just a few days, he arrived once again at the Genesis Cradle. Thinking back to how many years it had taken him before to cross the Rift, he could now truly appreciate how much he had progressed.
The moment he landed at the Genesis Cradle, Joe Di sensed something was amiss.
A dense wave of Creation Aura swept over him—no, it was even richer than mere Creation Aura. Cultivating here would rapidly advance even a Third Step cultivator. With Joe Di's current strength, training in this place could quickly raise his power.
Joe Di immediately understood. This was the aura of the Cosmic Dao Vein. A large amount must have leaked out, leaving behind vast Cosmic Energy as the many powerful cultivators fought over the Dao Vein.
As a latecomer, Joe Di did not hesitate to use Lawstride, charging deeper into the Genesis Cradle.
Just as Joe Di expected, the deeper he ventured, the denser the Cosmic Energy became.
Boom! The sound of Dao Rhythms clashing echoed—Joe Di saw that it was the result of several powerful cultivators battling.
A Cosmic Dao Vein slanted down from the void, half-suspended in midair, exactly as Duomo had once described.
But Joe Di did not join the fray. At least six powerful cultivators were fighting for this Cosmic Dao Vein, each one far stronger than Zhao. It seemed Zhao was right—there were no top experts left in Genesis Saint City; they had all come to the Genesis Cradle.
His divine sense swept out, but all he saw was a hazy mist. Aside from the thick Cosmic Energy left by the Dao Vein, powerful cultivators everywhere were searching for more. Clearly, divine sense was useless for locating the Cosmic Dao Vein now.
Joe Di opened his Eye of the Way; now, his vision could pierce all illusions.
To Joe Di's delight, under the Eye of the Way, he spotted a Dao Vein hanging a hundred miles away. Several cultivators passed nearby, but none of them noticed it.
With a single stride, Joe Di reached the Dao Vein and reached out to seize it.
A violent force swept over him, blasting Joe Di several miles away. He instantly understood—a Natural Seal surrounded the Dao Vein.
But as long as he had found the Dao Vein, the Natural Seal was only a matter of spending a little more time to break.
Just as Joe Di landed beneath the Cosmic Dao Vein again, two figures rushed toward him.
The two figures approached—one in front, short and stocky, bald, with black ripples flowing across his scalp, looking from afar like a pool of dark water stirred by the wind.
The other, with fair skin, did not rush forward like the first. He stopped a hundred feet away, clearly wanting to observe Joe Di before speaking.
"Ha! Fellow Daoist, you have good fortune to find a Cosmic Dao Vein. I'll be taking this one—I'm Charles Shao. Name your price." As he spoke, the short cultivator's formidable aura surged, distorting the surrounding space with a terrifying killing intent.
Joe Di ignored him, his gaze landing on the fair-skinned cultivator in the distance. That cultivator met Joe Di's eyes and chuckled, "No matter what, I only want a third."
Joe Di sneered. These two—Charles Shao and the fair-skinned cultivator—were not allies. The fair-skinned one was blunt, clearly intending to play the fisherman; whether Joe Di or Charles Shao won, he would claim a third.
"Show me your world—maybe you have something I want..." Joe Di hadn't finished speaking before his Azure Veil Blade swept up a curtain of blades and slashed forward.
This opponent was nothing like those in Genesis Saint City who could be killed with a single punch. Charles Shao's strength was truly among the top in the cosmos.
"You've got guts!" Charles Shao was both amused and angry to see Joe Di attack so directly. With a twist of his hand, a staff twelve feet long appeared in his palm.
The staff did not change at all; Charles Shao swung it directly at Joe Di's Blade Curtain, showing no sign of hesitation.
The Blade Curtain surged, transforming into fierce tidal waves that crashed down, one after another, sweeping up to ten thousand feet in an instant.
Under the aura of deathly Dao Rhythms, even the terrifying blade waves rolled wildly, filling the space with utter stillness—a stillness that buried all hope of survival.
Crack! Joe Di's Time's Third Loom tore through Charles Shao's protective domain.
Charles Shao's mocking gaze changed the moment he felt the deathly blade waves sweep over him.
Boom, boom, boom! One staff shadow after another struck the overwhelming blade waves. With each collision, the rules of heaven and earth in this region were torn into countless fragments.
But Joe Di's blade waves seemed endless, one sweeping after another. If Charles Shao's staff shadows weakened even slightly, he would be completely engulfed by Joe Di's terrifying onslaught.
Even the fair-skinned cultivator watching from afar turned pale. He didn't know Joe Di's background, but he knew Charles Shao all too well.
Charles Shao was the Second Supreme Sage of the Tanyuan Universe, nearly equal in power to Hao Zuo, its greatest expert. Now, under Joe Di's blade waves, Charles Shao could barely hold his ground. Just how strong was this newcomer?
For the first time, the fair-skinned cultivator abandoned his plan. He had intended to strike regardless of who gained the upper hand—help the loser, defeat or kill the winner, then split the Dao Vein with the survivor.
This method had brought him success several times before.
But this time, he held back—Joe Di's strength was simply too overwhelming. Even if he helped Charles Shao defeat Joe Di, the consequences could be dire. Besides, Joe Di's blade waves kept building, seemingly without end. Could joining the fight really guarantee victory over Joe Di?
(This chapter isn't over yet ^.^, please click next page to continue reading!)
At this moment, Charles Shao was chilled to the core. He had blocked six of Joe Di's wild blade waves, but the next ones were even more terrifying, as if they carried all the killing intent of the Genesis Cradle. He knew better than anyone—Joe Di was not weak; it was he himself who might not be Joe Di's match.
Telling Joe Di to stop now would be pointless. Dao Rhythms whirled wildly around Charles Shao, and his face turned red, as if a thin mist of blood had spread across it.
As the blood mist spread, Charles Shao's entire body swelled to twice its size, and his Dao Rhythms grew sharper. The aura fused with his staff, and in an instant, a void planet formed with the staff at its center.
The void planet, filled with a desperate, do-or-die aura, crashed toward the seventh wave of Joe Di's Time's Third Loom.
Joe Di let out a long roar, and the seventh blade wave surged even more violently. As his blade wave collided with Charles Shao's planet, Joe Di's hands swept up endless Dao Rhythms.
Boom! The blade wave and Charles Shao's planet collided, shattering the void and revealing a faint black hole. The planet exploded, and the blade wave broke apart.
Joe Di shouted, "Explode for me!"
At the same moment, the countless fragments of the shattered blade wave exploded again, transforming into innumerable blade rays that pierced through Charles Shao's body, sending sprays of blood everywhere.
Charles Shao spat out a jet of blood, grabbed his staff, and was blown backward. "Impressive techniques, Daoist. I don't want the Cosmic Dao Vein anymore."
Joe Di snorted coldly. "You think you can come and go as you please?"
With that, Joe Di summoned the Creation Brush, instantly sketching out the Time Bow.
Charles Shao acted as if he hadn't heard Joe Di, continuing his rapid retreat, his figure growing fainter.
Just as Charles Shao's form was about to vanish into the void, his body shuddered, and he reappeared.
In the void, a massive Dao Resonance Bow was fully drawn, and a long arrow forged from the essence of time was nocked—locking onto all traces of Charles Shao's vitality.
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)