Seeing Joe's expressionless face, Felix Yu took a deep breath and looked at him, saying, "Joe, do you know what happened after Celestia? Fiend beasts have entered Earth. The first two years were manageable, but later, the fiend beasts began to ravage human cities. Ever since fiend beasts massacred the city of Yali in Australia, they have swept across the entire planet."
At this point, Felix Yu stood up and pointed outside the conference room. "North of Dai City lies an endless snowfield, but there are countless powerful fiend beasts there. Sooner or later, those fiend beasts will come here and devour all of us. Yes, I killed Keith Fei and took his Di Family Seven Blades. I know Keith Fei was your friend, and you even saved his life, but I had no choice. In this era, if I don't become stronger, I will die."
Keith Fei refused to hand over the Di Family Seven Blades, saying it wasn't his to give. To survive, I had to kill him. As for Echo Young and Jade Xun—they once saved my life. Years ago, when I was hunted, it was Jade Xun who helped and rescued me. Echo Young imprisoned Lena Teng’s brother, so I had to stand up for her. Joe, I’m telling you all this not to explain myself, but because we were once friends. I hope you understand my reasons and come here to help me. In this era, without strength, you’re nothing but a skeleton."
Joe calmly waited for Felix Yu to finish, feeling no expectation from this former friend anymore. In fact, Felix Yu wasn’t truly his friend—at best, a friend from his past life. He looked at Felix Yu and asked in a detached tone, "If that’s so, then what did Lena Teng do to deserve it? As far as I know, Lena Teng’s family was much better off than yours. Her family didn’t want her to be with you, but she still left home to be with you. Even if you didn’t love her anymore, you could have let her go. Why did you have to kill her?"
Felix Yu lowered his head; only regarding the matter of killing Lena Teng did he feel some guilt. After years of living on the edge, he had long forgotten Joe’s kindness. But if he didn’t kill Lena Teng, he couldn’t be with Jade Xun.
Joe reached into his ring and pulled out an ancient book, tossing it onto the table. "Felix Yu, the Di Family Seven Blades you wanted was what I gave to Big Brother Keith. Actually, the Di Family has Seven Blades, not Six. What I have here is the original Di Family Seven Blades..."
Joe’s words suddenly paused. Just now, his divine sense seemed to catch a flash of gray light from the Di Family Seven Blades, which quickly vanished. He focused his divine sense on the Seven Blades again, and everything appeared normal.
This Di Family Seven Blades was taken by the Inferno Sect after they destroyed the Di family in Pearl City, and later he snatched it back from Luke Lane. Could this really be related to some secret of the Di family?
Felix Yu’s eyes lit up—the Di Family Seven Blades was practically tailored for him. Now he had already mastered the sixth blade, and with each blade he learned, his strength soared to a new level. Now that all seven blades were here, then...
"Joe, thank you for retrieving the Seven Blades for me..." Felix Yu said, reaching for the book of the Di Family Seven Blades. Over all these years, he understood better than anyone that only by becoming strong himself could he truly survive; everything else was an illusion.
With a flick of Joe's hand, the Di Family Seven Blades vanished.
He looked coldly at Felix Yu and said, "I never intended to give you the Di Family Seven Blades, nor did I retrieve them for you. This isn’t my first time here. I remember the last time, this place was a boxing center. By the way, I killed The Unfalsifiable here last time. I didn’t expect that after so many years, I’d still have to kill someone..."
"Kill him..." Jade Xun’s eyes lit up when she saw Joe take out the Di Family Seven Blades. Hearing that Joe was the one who killed The Unfalsifiable, she immediately realized he was no ordinary person.
A series of gunshots rang out: "Ka-ka-ka."
Joe casually unleashed blade-like gusts of wind, blood mist exploded, and each wind blade claimed a life.
A wind blade also swept across Jade Xun’s neck, and her delicate head rolled to the ground just like her subordinates.
Felix Yu stared blankly as Joe killed twenty or thirty people with a mere gesture, his mind utterly blank.
Is this an Innate Stage expert? No, even those at the Innate Stage couldn’t be this strong. The only possibility is that Joe has started cultivating—and his cultivation is formidable.
"Joe..." Only after several breaths did Felix Yu finally react.
Joe looked at Felix Yu and said, "For the sake of knowing you in my past life, kill yourself. I won’t do it."
Felix Yu didn’t understand what Joe meant. His face turned pale—the more people he killed, the more he feared death.
Bang! A gunshot rang out, and a bullet hole appeared in the center of Felix Yu’s forehead.
Echo Young put away his pistol and said, "Joe, he would never commit suicide. If he had the resolve to do so, he wouldn’t have done such things."
Echo Young wasn’t surprised at all that Joe could easily kill dozens of people including Felix Yu. While Felix Yu might not know how formidable Joe was, Echo Young knew all too well.
Joe nodded, agreeing with Echo Young. "Echo Young, did you also form a gang like Felix Yu?"
Echo Young shook his head. "No. Fiend beasts are getting stronger, and most people on Earth have been forced into heavily fortified cities. If you want to leave the city, you need your own strength. International regulations now allow the formation of adventurer squads. My people are all members of the Ninth Adventurer Squad. But adventurer squads aren’t allowed into settled cities; they can only rest at supply stations or in places like Dai City, which have little defense and few residents. So Dai City is a place for the strong—there’s no legal protection here."
Joe immediately knew the name had something to do with himself. He patted Echo Young on the shoulder and said, "Have your squad wait outside. I have something to discuss with you."
Echo Young waved his hand. "Wipe out all of the Fox Adventurer Squad outside. Anyone willing to join us can follow, and from now on, Joe will be our captain."
After everyone left, Echo Young finally said, "Joe, I have something important to tell you. After you left, Master Redmond from Lethe Temple came looking for you. He said it was extremely urgent and concerned your life, but I thought you’d gone to Celestia."
"What about Master Redmond?" Joe asked urgently. One of his main reasons for returning was to find Master Redmond.
"I'm afraid Master Redmond really went to Celestia." Echo Young slapped his forehead in frustration. If he hadn’t assumed Joe went to Celestia, he wouldn’t have misled Master Redmond.
Echo Young knew of Master Redmond. It was said he never lied; if he said something, it must be true. Precisely because of this, Echo Young never dared ignore Master Redmond’s words.
Missing Master Redmond left Joe somewhat helpless. He decided to search for him in Aurora Continent later. Many cultivators who went to Celestia mysteriously ended up in Aurora Continent. Since Master Redmond also went to Celestia, he might appear there as well.
Echo Young, I’ll be leaving Earth soon...
"What...?" Echo Young was stunned by Joe’s words—leaving Earth?
Joe stopped Echo Young from asking further and briefly recounted his experiences over the years. Then he said, "Because I have to cross the Void Rift, I can’t take you with me. I’ll teach you cultivation techniques and leave you some resources. How far you go will depend on yourself. If you’re still alive when I return to Earth, I’ll take you with me then."
"Joe, I want to learn—I must learn. The fiend beasts on Earth are getting stronger. If no one powerful emerges, Earth will soon become a world ruled by fiend beasts," Echo Young said eagerly.
Joe smiled, "Don’t worry. Before I leave, I’ll wipe out all the fiend beasts above level two on Earth. Once you reach the Golden Core stage, even level three fiend beasts will be nothing to you."
Joe could open the Star River Meridian for Echo Young and leave him some cultivation resources. He believed Echo Young would have a chance to reach the Soul Ancestor Stage.
......
Luojin City.
Because it was close to the Lethe Mountains and had a martial academy, it had now become the largest defensive city in the country.
The rings of laser walls and laser cannons outside the city were even more tightly arranged than those on Celestia.
At this moment, in the huge conference room of Luojin City's fiend beast defense command center, at least seven or eight Innate Stage experts were gathered, and there was even a Foundation Establishment cultivator present.
But it was useless. At this moment, everyone in the conference room looked worried. The level-four Rouge Tiger from the depths of the Lethe Mountains had started moving toward the outskirts. It was certain that the level-four Rouge Tiger would eventually reach the outskirts of Luojin City.
An elderly man with graying hair sighed and said, "The disaster of Celestia may repeat itself. As far as I know, this Rouge Tiger is even more formidable than the Golden Fiend Ape from Celestia back then."
No one spoke. Everyone had seen the video of the incident on Celestia—the terrifying scene of the beast tide attacking Celestia Plaza left people uneasy even if they hadn’t witnessed it in person.
Just as everyone was frowning in distress, a middle-aged man rushed into the conference room with excitement and said, "The level-three Fox Fiend King of Infinite Thousand-Mile Peaks was killed in a single strike..."