In just three days, Joe Di progressed from being able to traverse four meters at a time to nearly a hundred meters in a single leap.
Though his spiritual sense was refining slower, Joe Di kept practicing his escape technique. Even if he advanced by only a centimeter each day, he would persist without hesitation—after all, this was a matter of life and death.
During his three days inside the Skyveil, Joe Di came across several rare spirit herbs and minerals. Apart from spending time to collect a piece of fourth-grade Black Gold Jade, he ignored everything else, devoting all his time to mastering the spiritual sense escape technique.
On the seventh day, Joe Di finally stopped. His spiritual sense escape technique could now cover a distance of one hundred and fifty meters.
The reason he stopped was because he saw a colossal book.
Joe Di had never seen such a massive tome before. Half-open and standing upright on the ground, it radiated an overwhelming and majestic aura.
At first, Joe Di thought it was a giant stone shaped like a book. But when he sensed its aura, he immediately realized it was a real book.
Joe Di raised his hand and summoned Sprout. As soon as Sprout appeared, he exclaimed, “What a huge book... Big Brother, have we reached Skyveil?”
Joe Di nodded, “That's right, this is Skyveil. Do you see that book? It's definitely a supreme treasure. I plan to refine it. Once I begin, I won't have time to search for other treasures. You should go treasure hunting for now. If you hear from Garrett, tell him I'm here refining this book.”
“Yes, Big Brother!” Sprout rubbed his hands in delight. He had long wanted to explore on his own, but the outside world was so dangerous—one careless move and he could end up as a tool for refining or even as soup.
There shouldn't be anyone too powerful inside Skyveil. At his current speed, he should be able to keep himself safe.
“Skyveil is full of dangers. If you get killed out there, it's just bad luck. Also, take the dung beetle with you—maybe it'll find its own opportunity.” Joe Di said bluntly.
A sharp-beaked beetle perched on Sprout's head let out a few dissatisfied chirps at Joe Di's words, but Joe Di ignored it completely.
Once Sprout left with the dung beetle, Joe Di approached the book, wanting to get close and touch it. When he was about three meters away, a force suddenly blasted him several meters back.
“Friend, that's not how you approach the World Tome. If you want to read it, you need to stay at least thirty meters away and use your spiritual sense to slowly sense it. If you're lucky, you might gain something truly valuable.” Just as Joe Di got up, another cultivator arrived and pointed out his mistake.
“You know this book?” Joe Di asked in surprise. He thought he was the first to discover it, but apparently everyone knew about the World Tome.
The cultivator looked quite young, at the sixth level of Foundation Establishment. He wore a gray robe and had a storage pouch at his waist.
He was just as surprised by Joe Di's question. “This is the Skyveil World Tome. It's been here for countless years—of course I know about it! I came here hoping to see it and maybe get lucky.”
Joe Di awkwardly scratched his head and rubbed his chin. He'd thought he'd found a hidden treasure, only to realize that everyone knew about the Skyveil World Tome.
He could only blame himself for knowing too little about Skyveil. Even though he'd bought two Skyveil jade slips, they only explained how to get here, how to obtain the Skyveil Token, and the basics about the Outer Veil.
As for the World Tome inside Skyveil, this was the first time he'd ever heard of it.
“Fellow cultivator, this World Tome must be extraordinary, right? Why hasn't anyone refined it or taken it away?” Joe Di asked in confusion.
He was sure he wasn't the only one who could tell that the World Tome was unusual.
The gray-robed cultivator stared at Joe Di for a long moment before finally understanding—Joe Di was clearly clueless. He wondered how someone like this had even made it into Skyveil.
“Uh... you might not know, but the World Tome can't be refined or taken away. They say it comes from a higher realm. Maybe one day, someone will ascend and bring word of it up there, and someone from that realm will come for it. In the cultivation world, no one has ever managed to refine the World Tome.” The gray-robed cultivator finally answered after a long pause.
After explaining, he seemed to realize Joe Di must be a cultivation novice, so he continued, “Once, a Seafaring Realm expert under a hundred years old tried to refine the World Tome here for a whole year, but was instead injured by its backlash and had to retreat. I heard his foundation was damaged. Since then, no one has dared to try refining the World Tome again—it’s simply impossible.”
Joe Di drew a sharp breath. A Seafaring Realm expert under a hundred years old? He was nearly thirty himself, and even with his starry meridians and gray stone, he couldn't be sure he'd reach the Seafaring Realm before a hundred.
This world was truly full of powerful cultivators—there was always someone stronger.
Even more terrifying, a Seafaring Realm expert had spent a whole year trying to refine the World Tome and failed, yet here he was, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, thinking he could do it.
“Then, may I ask, what are the benefits of staying here to comprehend the World Tome?” Joe Di cupped his fists, asking sincerely.
The gray-robed cultivator pointed to the World Tome and said, “This book contains the names of all treasures in the universe and profound truths of the Dao. Once, a Qi Refining cultivator happened to comprehend a hint of alchemy from it, and now he’s a seventh-grade Alchemy King. I’ve been stuck at Foundation Establishment level six for years, so I came to Skyveil hoping to grasp some insight from the World Tome and break through to level seven.”
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“Do many people come here to comprehend the World Tome?” Now that he understood its nature, Joe Di no longer hoped to refine it.
It wasn't that he lacked ambition—wasting time on something impossible wasn't persistence, it was foolishness.
“Of course. Now that Skyveil has just opened, many cultivators will soon gather here. Some give up searching for treasures in Skyveil and come specifically to comprehend the World Tome.” After answering, the gray-robed cultivator found a spot, set up defensive wards, and began to meditate on the World Tome.
Seeing that the other had nothing more to say, Joe Di let the matter drop.
He also sat down about thirty meters from the World Tome, imitating the gray-robed cultivator as he began to meditate on it.
Joe Di slowly reached out with his spiritual sense to touch the World Tome, then tried to penetrate it.
A vast and overwhelming aura surged toward him. Even though Joe Di had tried to be gentle, he realized he was still too impatient.
“Pfft!” Under the impact of that immense aura, Joe Di spat out a mouthful of blood. Before the aura could invade his sea of consciousness, the gray stone within his mind released ripples of Dao patterns, blocking the World Tome's terrifying energy.
Joe Di’s spiritual sense was unusually refined. After the World Tome’s overwhelming aura was blocked and he spat out another mouthful of blood, he managed to leave his spiritual sense within the World Tome.
From a distance, the gray-robed cultivator opened his eyes to glance at the bleeding Joe Di, shook his head, and closed his eyes to continue meditating.
To comprehend the World Tome, your spiritual sense must never come within a meter of it; otherwise, the vast Dao aura will severely injure you. That’s why the World Tome can’t be refined—if your spiritual sense can’t touch it, how could you possibly refine it?
A sea-like, boundless aura surged toward Joe Di as he gazed in awe at the rows of large characters in the World Tome: "The world is vast, whether starry skies, universe, or unity. All forms of existence—be it worlds, universes—are composed of matter, and wherever there is matter, there is form. Whether gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, ice, darkness, light, whether time, space..."
Joe Di was stunned—he’d never heard such a concept before. In his understanding, time and space were always formless. Even light and darkness, those too should be formless...
The opening of the World Tome had already delivered a tremendous shock: everything was tangible.
(That’s all for today’s update. Good night, friends!)