Boom! The thunderous roar jolted Joe Di out of his surging cultivation. In the distance, he saw Quinn Windflower undergoing the Immortal Emperor tribulation.
Joe Di let out a sigh of relief. His cultivation had stabilized at the seventh level of Immortal Emperor, but he sensed that his true strength was far beyond that. The only reason it hadn’t continued to soar was because of something within this world—not incomplete rules, but a force he couldn’t describe, suppressing his cultivation from advancing further.
"Joe Di, thank you. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know when I would have broken through to Immortal Emperor." Quinn Windflower, having just finished his tribulation, walked over excitedly.
Trapped beneath the ruins of Nightfall Starland, he had long lost the will to live. He never imagined that, after being rescued by Joe Di, he would immediately ascend to Immortal Emperor. Life’s fortunes are truly unpredictable.
Just as Joe Di was about to speak, he sensed Blackfire’s urgent distress. Blackfire was his beast companion, bound by a soul contract—if ever faced with mortal danger, Joe Di would immediately sense it. Given his reputation across the Four Immortal Continents, for someone to dare attack Blackfire, the perpetrator was certainly no ordinary foe.
Joe Di quickly tossed a locator orb to Quinn Windflower, speaking urgently, "I have a Peace Restaurant in Da Ding Free Immortal City. Master, you can go there. I have an emergency to attend to…"
Before he finished speaking, Joe Di had already vanished from Quinn Windflower’s divine sense.
......
Summit of Magic Garment Mountain.
Blackfire was pinned in midair by a pitch-black spike. Apart from the blood still dripping down, the summit of Magic Garment Mountain was eerily silent.
Longsun Arlo wasn’t faring much better—he was simply pinned to the ground instead.
Empress Rona Snow of Yaohua Snow Mountain and Master Bowie Zhou of Swordshift Immortal Sect stood off to the side, blood trickling from their lips.
As for the Immortal Emperors who came to judge, only Fang Feilou had escaped injury; the rest lay on the ground, gravely wounded.
A man dressed in black, expressionless, picked up the ring from Longsun Arlo’s hand and said coolly, "Marlon Jace, I heard Longsun Arlo is your son?"
Standing to the side, Marlon Jace replied respectfully, "This unfilial son was expelled long ago. If not for the Di family backing him, I would have killed him myself."
The man in black’s gaze fell on Blackfire. He said calmly, "Not bad. You must have quite a background—even I can’t discern your origins."
Blackfire cursed, "If you dare kill me, Blackfire, my big brother will skin you alive! If you know what’s good for you, let me go now, Black Grandpa..."
The man in black ignored Blackfire completely. His divine sense swept over Longsun Arlo’s ring, and a look of delighted surprise appeared on his face.
Not only had he found the Abyssal Dao Fruit, but there were three of them—all exactly what he needed.
"Senior..." Marlon Jace, seeing the joy in the man in black’s eyes, bowed even more respectfully. The reason he’d summoned this man was precisely for the Abyssal Dao Fruit.
The man in black nodded in satisfaction to Marlon Jace. "Not bad. This time, I obtained an Abyssal Dao Fruit. It’s not of much use to me now, so I’ll reward you with it when the time comes."
"Thank you, Senior." Marlon Jace was so excited he nearly knelt in gratitude.
Longsun Arlo, pinned to the ground by a black spike, managed to lift his head and sneered loudly, "I got three Abyssal Dao Fruits, and you dare say you only got one… When my big brother arrives, he’ll never let scum like you off!"
"Pfft!" Longsun Arlo didn’t even finish his sentence before another black spike nailed his throat—this time, he couldn’t utter a single word.
The man in black snorted coldly. If he didn’t still have questions for Longsun Arlo, he would have killed him outright.
"Where is Joe Di?" After pinning Longsun Arlo, the man in black turned his gaze to Blackfire.
Blackfire laughed boisterously, "Go ahead and kill me if you dare! When my big brother arrives, do you really think you’ll get away? He’ll crush you with a single slap, you piece of trash!"
A profound aura of a top-tier divine beast emanated from Blackfire. No matter how insolent his words, the man in black still refrained from killing him. Instead, he turned his gaze to Master Bowie Zhou and Empress Rona Snow. "Does anyone know where Joe Di is? I might be willing to spare your life if you answer."
A cold voice rang out, "Why bother asking others? You can just ask me directly."
The man in black suddenly turned around, only to find a young man in pale blue standing before him. He frowned—he hadn’t sensed any spatial fluctuations when this youth arrived.
"Big brother..." Blackfire shouted excitedly the moment he saw who had arrived.
Longsun Arlo trembled with emotion. He wanted to look up at his big brother, but with two black iron spikes pinning him down, he couldn’t move at all.
Fang Feilou had once suffered at Joe Di’s hands, but he also knew how formidable Joe Di was.
Now, as Joe Di approached, Fang Feilou quickly lowered his head. Just moments ago, he’d used his silver tongue and a pile of treasures to earn the man in black’s mercy—or at least keep him from attacking. Whether that mercy would last, Fang Feilou remained anxious.
He certainly wouldn’t act familiar with Joe Di now and risk offending the man in black. The pressure from this man was overwhelming; no matter how strong Joe Di was, he still wasn’t quite a match for him.
"You’re Joe Di?" The man in black’s gaze landed on Joe Di, his tone cold. His powerful domain instantly locked down the entire space—no matter how skilled Joe Di was at escape techniques, he wouldn’t be able to leave.
As soon as Joe Di saw the man in black, he knew this person was definitely not from the Immortal Realm. The aura he exuded was much like Zhong Ao’s.
Compared to Zhong Ao when he was injured and without a physical body, this man in black was countless times stronger. If Joe Di hadn’t reached Immortal Emperor, he’d have been no match at all. But now, he felt no fear—he sensed a forceful cosmic rule about the man, meaning he likely possessed a Rule Talisman.
"That’s right, I’m your Grandpa Joe." Joe Di didn’t try to suppress the man’s domain with his own. Instead, his Law Array Banners spread out, sketching patterns all around. With a flick of his hand, the black spikes pinning Blackfire and Longsun Arlo were swept up and collected.
"Huh…" The man in black exclaimed in surprise as he watched Joe Di effortlessly remove the spikes from the void. What did this mean? It meant Joe Di also controlled the laws that touched the void...
For an ant who hadn’t even formed his Dao to grasp the laws of touching the Immortal Realm’s void—this was simply shocking. If anyone claimed Joe Di had no secrets, not even a pig would believe it.
"Not bad, not bad..." The man in black said, then suddenly reached out to grab Joe Di.
In an instant, the space around them vanished, replaced by the man in black’s own domain. Even those outside the grasp could sense the emptiness and void of his attack. Everyone believed that if they were in Joe Di’s place, there was nothing they could do but wait for death.
Fang Feilou wiped his brow. His survival wasn’t due to strength, but sharp judgment. In the past, Joe Di; now, the man in black—he knew he wasn’t mistaken. The man in black was absurdly powerful. Joe Di surely couldn’t escape his grasp.
If Joe Di had a few more years, maybe he could catch up to the man in black. But now, it seemed impossible.
Joe Di snorted. With just a subtle sidestep, he summoned his Azure Veil Blade, which transformed into a colossal blue blade light, hundreds of thousands of feet long, tearing downward.
To everyone else, it looked like Joe Di had just shifted his stance slightly, yet the man in black’s isolated domain vanished, and the surroundings returned to normal.
(That’s all for today’s update, friends. Good night!)