After returning to his cave abode, Joe Di began to rearrange the various protective arrays.
The outermost layer was the Fivefold Pavilion's cave-protective array. Beyond this, Joe Di set up a trigger array—anyone who approached, even with a sweep of divine sense, would be detected instantly.
Behind the trigger array, Joe Di arranged a fourth-tier protective array. Inside his own secluded chamber, he added two more arrays: one to conceal his breath and another for defense. These two were truly effective, both at the ninth level.
Now, Joe Di adhered to the philosophy that caution prevents disaster. Had he not been careful a few days ago, he might have ended up drinking Uncle Hao Lan of Kun Sect's foot-washing water.
There were still five or six months left before the Fivefold Dao Tower event ended, and time was running short for Joe Di. He needed to study the World Tome, master the Blade Formation technique, and ideally modify it into a Saber Formation. Besides that, he had to begin learning alchemy.
Initially, Joe Di thought the alchemy path wasn't worth his attention, so he let Tree Brother study it instead. Now, with Tree Brother still trapped under the sky curtain, obtaining pills had become difficult. This made Joe Di realize that only skills he mastered himself could truly be relied upon—even if Tree Brother was his companion, what Tree Brother knew did not mean he himself knew.
Fortunately, the alchemy knowledge Tree Brother had learned, along with some of his pill-refining insights, were all stored in the Pocket World. Joe Di possessed a huge stockpile of spirit herbs, and with this knowledge, his learning would be twice as effective with half the effort.
Once he confirmed the absolute security of his cave abode, Joe Di immediately immersed his entire mind into the World Tome.
The World Tome had only entered his spiritual sea because of that gray stone in his consciousness—it had not yet been refined by him. Now that Joe Di finally had some free time, he intended to attempt refining the World Tome further.
Joe Di knew that refining the World Tome was not about breaking its restrictions, but about comprehending its endless rules.
Even without grade-five materials, it didn’t matter—he still had a pile of spiritual herbs. With the time remaining before the end of the Fivefold Dao Gathering, he could use it to study alchemy.
Joe Di had studied alchemy before, but at most he could only refine first-grade spiritual pills.
Now, after several months of studying the World Tome, when he picked up the spiritual herbs for refining Qi-Gathering Pills, he felt something entirely different. Holding a single herb in his hand, he could clearly sense its most valuable essence and how best to maximize its medicinal properties.
It was a feeling he couldn’t describe, yet he could sense it distinctly. Joe Di guessed this must be the law of the spirit herb itself.
According to the World Tome, everything in the universe possesses its own law. Spirit herbs are just another species in the cosmos, and naturally, they have their own laws as well.
His cultivation level was too low, so he could only vaguely sense these laws without fully grasping them. Even so, this intuition was already remarkable, allowing him to easily increase his success rate in alchemy and improve the quality of his pills.
It was easy to imagine: once he could refine higher-grade, high-quality pills, he would never lack spirit stones again. There’s a saying in the cultivation world—if you want wealth, choose the path of pills over artifacts.
In other words, both alchemists and artifact refiners were extremely wealthy. Unfortunately, after so many years, he was still only a fourth-grade Artifact Refiner, far from the riches he desired.
His array skills, on the other hand, had reached grade nine. If his artifact refining could catch up, he could easily craft a few top-tier array disks for the auction. Regrettably, his refining skills lagged behind, and for now he could only make grade-four array disks.
A mere grade-four array disk was hardly worth bringing to auction—Joe Di simply wasn’t interested.
...
Three or four months passed in a flash. Now, the crowds in Fivefold Plaza grew larger than ever. Today, it was packed to the brim—because today was the day the Fivefold Dao Tower would close.
Every cultivator who entered the Fivefold Dao Tower would be transmitted out today. So, although Fivefold Plaza was crowded, the area within a mile of the Fivefold Dao Tablet remained almost empty.
All those transmitted out of the Fivefold Dao Tower would appear around the Fivefold Dao Tablet.
When the crimson sun rose directly above the Fivefold Dao Tablet, beams of light appeared on each floor of the Fivefold Dao Tower. Accompanied by those rays, cultivators were transmitted out, landing in Fivefold Plaza.
The rankings on the Fivefold Dao Tablet were now set. First place was Mu Qisha of the Violet Thunder Sect, who reached the ninety-sixth tier of the Fivefold Dao Tower. Second was Yan Tashan of the Void Sword Sect, who reached the ninety-fifth tier. Third was Gun Yantao of the Sea King Palace, who reached the ninety-third tier. Fourth was Faye Dee of the Di Family, who reached the ninety-first tier.
Joe Di reached the ninetieth tier, ranking tenth.
“The Fivefold Dao Gathering is over, and Young Master Redcable is still among the top ten!” Some cultivators familiar with Joe Di saw the rankings on the Dao Tablet and shouted excitedly.
“Check the Potential List! On the Potential List published by the Celestial Pavilion, Young Master Redcable is also in the top ten, ranked ninth.”
Upon hearing this, everyone nearby turned their gaze to the Potential List standing not far away. Sure enough, Joe Di was listed ninth on the Potential List.
Both the top ten of the Fivefold Dao Rankings and the Potential List bore Joe Di’s name. Even though he’d only spent a few months in the Fivefold Dao Tower, his fame had grown even greater.
Han Qingyi, with a blue sword on her back, glanced at the rankings and said coolly, “You didn’t even make the top ten.”
Standing beside her was Ji Hongchuan, whom Joe Di had kicked out earlier. He frowned at the names on the Fivefold Dao Tablet and slowly said, “Senior Sister, I suspect that kick involved spatial laws…”
Han Qingyi sneered, “Do you even know what spatial laws are? Even in the True Domain, where geniuses gather, no one has been known to comprehend spatial laws. You claim a mere early Void Spirit cultivator has grasped spatial laws and integrated them into his techniques? You were born for the blade—after your defeat, don’t look for excuses, but seek to perfect your own blade path.”
Han Qingyi wasn’t sure how Joe Di had climbed to the ninetieth tier of the Fivefold Dao Tower, but she was certain he couldn’t have touched spatial laws. Before entering the Immortal Realm, any cultivator who could grasp spatial laws was a legend from ancient times.
...
What Faye Dee hadn’t expected was that as soon as she landed near the Fivefold Dao Tablet, the city lord of Fivefold City, Pang Bufan, appeared before her, smiling and saying, “Congratulations, niece, for reaching fourth place in the Fivefold Dao Tower.”
“City Lord Pang, what’s this about?” Faye Dee looked at Pang Bufan, puzzled.
She had indeed reached the ninety-first tier of the Fivefold Dao Tower, but last time she’d already reached the ninetieth tier and ranked third. This time, though she climbed one more tier, her ranking dropped to fourth. What was there to congratulate?
“Niece Faye, Sect Master Xiao, Palace Master Ao, Sect Master Yan, and Sect Master Shu are all waiting for you.” Pang Bufan said with a smile.
Faye Dee asked in surprise, “The four sect masters? What do they want with me?”
The Central Realm had five Nine-Star sects in total, yet now four sect masters were waiting for her—a mere Seabreaker cultivator. What could this mean? If she were first place, it might make sense, but she was only fourth.
“City Lord Pang, what’s the meaning of this?” A middle-aged man walked over, frowning.
Pang Bufan recognized the newcomer—the Di Family’s strongest cultivator, Eric Dee, at the peak of the Tribulation King Stage. If not for the difficulty of advancing, Eric Dee might have broken through to True Transformation long ago.
Pang Bufan quickly replied, “It’s just that Niece Faye needs to answer a few questions. It’s nothing serious.”
In truth, Pang Bufan knew the reason. After Joe Di and the others were transmitted out from the ninetieth tier, the next to reach it was not the top three, but this fourth-ranked Faye Dee.
According to Joe Di and the others, there was a Fivefold Dao Disk on the ninetieth tier, and they had brought Faye Dee over to check if she possessed the Fivefold Dao Disk.
She had indeed reached the ninety-first tier of the Fivefold Dao Tower, but last time she’d already reached the ninetieth tier and ranked third. This time, though she climbed one more tier, her ranking dropped to fourth. What was there to congratulate?
“Niece Faye, Sect Master Xiao, Palace Master Ao, Sect Master Yan, and Sect Master Shu are all waiting for you.” Pang Bufan said with a smile.
Faye Dee asked in surprise, “The four sect masters? What do they want with me?”
The Central Realm had five Nine-Star sects in total, yet now four sect masters were waiting for her—a mere Seabreaker cultivator. What could this mean? If she were first place, it might make sense, but she was only fourth.
“City Lord Pang, what’s the meaning of this?” A middle-aged man walked over, frowning.
Pang Bufan recognized the newcomer—the Di Family’s strongest cultivator, Eric Dee, at the peak of the Tribulation King Stage. If not for the difficulty of advancing, Eric Dee might have broken through to True Transformation long ago.
Pang Bufan quickly replied, “It’s just that Niece Faye needs to answer a few questions. It’s nothing serious.”
In truth, Pang Bufan knew the reason. After Joe Di and the others were transmitted out from the ninetieth tier, the next to reach it was not the top three, but this fourth-ranked Faye Dee.
According to Joe Di and the others, there was a Fivefold Dao Disk on the ninetieth tier, and they had brought Faye Dee over to check if she possessed the Fivefold Dao Disk.