Shawn Montague possessed strength roughly at the third layer of the Grand Immortal stage. If Joe Di didn’t use any special techniques, once Shawn Montague decided to act against him, Joe Di wouldn’t last long before him.
However, Joe Di wasn’t afraid of him now, since he was aboard his spaceship. His ship was protected by an array, and if Shawn Montague broke through his defenses, Joe Di could deploy his blade array to trap him. Although his current blade array likely couldn’t defeat Shawn Montague, it would at least give him a chance to fight back.
Shawn Montague’s gaze fell upon Tree Brother and Blackfire. Tree Brother was nothing special—just an ordinary tree spirit, whose cultivation relied on the accumulation of years and a bit of luck. Such a useless creature didn’t even warrant his attention.
But Blackfire was different. Shawn Montague sensed an unusual aura from this small-looking creature—a formidable and fluctuating energy...
Joe Di noticed Shawn Montague’s distracted gaze, his divine sense constantly shifting between him and Blackfire. As for Moria Lane, although she was stunningly beautiful, she had only just regained her features and now looked no different from an ordinary female cultivator—in fact, she even appeared a bit plain. With her low cultivation, she didn’t attract Shawn Montague’s attention at all.
Unless Shawn Montague knew Moria Lane was a disciple of Puregate Sect, he wouldn’t spare her a second glance.
“Fellow Daoist Shawn...” Joe Di interrupted Shawn Montague’s thoughts. He knew Shawn Montague couldn’t discern his true strength. If Shawn Montague realized he was only at the second layer of Gold Immortal, he might have already attacked.
With Shawn Montague being a wandering cultivator, he was bound to be extremely ruthless and cunning. Otherwise, he couldn’t have survived in the void until now.
Shawn Montague was drawn in by Joe Di’s words and withdrew his gaze from Blackfire, chuckling, “Fellow Joe, you look young, yet you’ve cultivated to this level. Your talent far surpasses mine.”
Joe Di sneered inwardly. Shawn Montague was putting on airs—he clearly couldn’t see through Joe Di’s cultivation, yet spoke as if he had. Joe Di found him somewhat contemptible, so he responded blandly, “Fellow Shawn, your talent isn’t bad either. To cultivate to the third layer of Grand Immortal in the void, even top disciples of the greatest immortal sects would be hard-pressed to match that.”
Shawn Montague’s heart sank at Joe Di’s words. How could Joe Di so clearly see through his cultivation level?
Whether in the cultivation world or the Immortal Realm, the basic rule for discerning another’s strength was that your cultivation had to be at least a level higher than theirs—never lower. This was an ironclad law.
If Joe Di could see his strength, it meant Joe Di’s cultivation was at least equal to, if not greater than, his own.
After taking a deep breath, Shawn Montague straightened his posture and forced a laugh. “Fellow Joe, you jest. May I ask, have you always wandered the void, or are you headed somewhere specific?”
Joe Di deactivated the spaceship’s defensive array and stood openly on the deck, cupping his fists. “Fellow Shawn, I originally planned to go to Outer Crucible City, but I’ve had a sudden insight and need to advance in the land domain. Unfortunately, Outer Crucible City is too far away. Do you know of any nearby void continents?”
Joe Di lied without hesitation—Outer Crucible City was his fabrication. He knew that some void cities existed, as he’d seen notes about them in sect master rings. These cities floated on drifting continents in the void, mainly serving wandering cultivators.
Clearly, Shawn Montague had never heard of Outer Crucible City. Hearing that Joe Di had gained new insights, and still unable to discern his cultivation, Shawn simply produced a jade slip and let it float before him. "Fellow Joe, this is a location jade slip for Cauldron's Edge City. I hope it’s of some help to you."
Joe Di didn’t seem particularly wealthy—his only notable companion was a mysterious giant bug beast.
Shawn Montague saw no need to risk himself for such paltry gain. Still, he wanted to gauge Joe Di’s true strength, so he kept the jade slip floating before him instead of handing it over.
If Joe Di could retrieve the jade slip with his divine sense, it would mean his spiritual power was at least at the third-level Immortal Sense. Shawn himself was only at third-level Immortal Sense; if Joe Di surpassed that, his cultivation was certainly higher.
Joe Di understood Shawn Montague’s intention. He reached out and, with a casual gesture, swept the jade slip floating before Shawn Montague directly into his hand.
Shawn Montague tensed, instinctively backing his spaceship away several meters. He was certain Joe Di’s strength surpassed his own; otherwise, he couldn’t have taken the jade slip so easily.
Joe Di acted as if he hadn’t noticed Shawn Montague’s retreat, focusing his divine sense on the jade slip.
It was a location jade slip, clearly marked with the words ‘Outer Crucible City,’ and its coordinates were precise.
Joe Di breathed a sigh of relief. He wondered what connection Outer Crucible had to Cauldron Haven. But since there was a void city, he was determined to go.
He wouldn’t ask Shawn Montague about Cauldron Haven; he’d wait until reaching Outer Crucible to inquire within the city.
“Thank you, Fellow Shawn. I’ll head to Outer Crucible now. Would you care to join me?” Joe Di put away the location jade slip, smiling.
Shawn Montague quickly replied, “I still need to train in the void for a while longer, so I won’t be joining you.”
“By the way, Fellow Shawn, which Immortal Domain are you from?” Joe Di suddenly wondered if Shawn Montague might be from the same place as him.
“I’m from Renwick Domain. I must take my leave now, Fellow Joe—perhaps we’ll meet again.” Sensing Joe Di was just making conversation, Shawn Montague hurriedly answered and piloted his spaceship away.
Wandering the void wasn’t new to him; Shawn Montague had seen too many cases where someone smiled and chatted one moment, only to attack the next. Surviving and cultivating to this day in the void was no stroke of luck.
“Renwick Domain?” Joe Di stared at the departing spaceship, murmuring in confusion. He’d never heard of that domain before.
Joe Di quickly set aside his doubts. When he came from the cultivation world to the Immortal Realm, he only knew of the Twilight Domain and Sanctuary Domain. He wasn’t sure if Twilight Domain used to be called Renwick Domain.
In any case, he finally had a direction now.
Joe Di handed the void location jade slip to Blackfire. “Blackfire, steer the ship to Outer Crucible City. I need to cultivate for a while.”
Joe Di decided to stop refining pills and artifacts for now—his artifact refinement skills wouldn’t improve much in the short term. He might as well focus on cultivation.
...
Blackfire continued to pilot the spaceship. The cabin was too cramped for Joe Di to bring out the half-broken mid-grade immortal spirit vein, so he could only pile up immortal crystals for cultivation.
Previously, Joe Di would rather spend more time than take pills. But now, to speed up his progress, he was ready to use both gold and pills for cultivation.
These were second-grade immortal pills, specifically for Gold Immortal cultivators. Joe Di had some looted gold and pills in his ring, but he didn’t want to use those. The pills he used were all personally refined—premium nine-striped immortal pills.
Premium immortal pills have minimal toxicity. As long as one doesn’t develop a dependency, they have almost no negative impact on cultivators.
Joe Di rarely cultivated with pills, but now, using gold and pills along with a pile of high-grade immortal crystals, he broke through the lingering bottleneck at Gold Immortal second layer and advanced to the third.
Three months later, Joe Di broke through the third layer and entered the fourth layer of Gold Immortal.
After finishing a bottle of gold-and-pill, his cultivation speed slowed considerably upon reaching mid-stage Gold Immortal, though the pills’ effects persisted.
Just as Joe Di was preparing to break through to the fifth layer, Tree Brother’s voice sounded: “Big Brother, we’ve reached the outskirts of Cauldron’s Edge.”
Joe Di stopped cultivating and stepped onto the deck. Moria Lane was already waiting there, and Blackfire had also halted the ship, standing with Tree Brother to await his arrival.
Joe Di swept out his divine sense and indeed saw traces of cultivators and flying treasures coming and going. Within his divine sense, he could see the outlines of a massive defensive array, but nothing inside was visible. He guessed it must be a void-floating continent concealed by the array.
It looked like Outer Crucible City was hidden within that concealed void continent.
“Tree Brother and Blackfire, enter the True Spirit World...” Joe Di began, then his gaze fell on Moria Lane.
Moria Lane quickly said, “Let me enter the city with you, Senior Brother. I want to see what a void cultivation city is like.”
Joe Di had originally planned to let Moria Lane enter the True Spirit World too, but then recalled he might not be able to find Agan Trueglass Water. If he couldn’t find it, Moria Lane’s days were numbered. Since that was the case, he decided to let her enter the city with him.
(That’s all for today’s update. Goodnight, friends!)