Once Hugo Bai had the thought of killing Joe Di in Savage Beast Gorge, he could no longer suppress it.
His first idea was to set up an instant-kill grand array in Savage Beast Gorge to eliminate Joe Di. But Hugo Bai quickly dismissed this thought—it was impossible.
Not to mention, Hugo Bai didn’t even dare approach the Genesis Annihilation Array to set up an instant-kill formation. Even if he did dare, and somehow succeeded, could such a formation really escape Joe Di’s notice?
Joe Di’s mastery of arrays was clearly far superior to Hugo Bai’s. No matter how well he concealed his formation, it would be hard to escape Joe Di’s eyes.
He also considered ambushing Joe Di during the siege of the Genesis Annihilation Array’s defender, but quickly abandoned that idea for the same reason. Joe Di looked young, but was actually extremely cunning. From his secret contact with Julian Jue, and the final fatal blow he delivered to Barton May, it was obvious.
It was certain that, by then, Joe Di would never give him a chance to strike. Even if, by some miracle, he did manage to ambush Joe Di during the battle against the Genesis Annihilation Array’s defender—what then? If he attacked Joe Di while everyone was fighting, even if he succeeded, the other domain lords would join forces to kill him.
After thinking it over, Hugo Bai sadly realized that even though he’d found the best place to kill Joe Di, he had no way to actually do it.
Maybe...
Hugo Bai brooded alone for three whole days before finally making a decision. If he wanted to kill Joe Di, his only option was to ally with the defender of the Genesis Annihilation Array.
Once he joined forces with the defender inside the Genesis Annihilation Array, it wouldn’t just be Joe Di they’d target—it would be all the powerhouses of the True Domain.
The path of cultivation is littered with thorns; at any moment, one could perish. So why be timid or hesitant? What’s so impossible about killing all the experts in the True Domain? In the cultivation world, it has always been the strong who make the rules. If, in the end, only Bai Hong remains among the True Domain’s experts, who would dare utter a word before him?
...
Joe Di was elated. In just over a month, his cultivation had risen from the early stage of True Transformation Seventh Layer to the late stage of True Transformation Seventh Layer. The main reason for this wasn’t the dense spiritual energy of Savage Beast Gorge, nor his supreme spirit vein, but that superior Medicine King spirit vein.
Joe Di believed that if he kept progressing at this rate, in eight months, he would surely reach the late stage of True Transformation Ninth Layer, and there was even a slim chance of stepping into the Domain Realm.
A few more days passed. Just as Joe Di’s cultivation was about to reach the peak of True Transformation Seventh Layer, he sensed a tremor from his surveillance array through his divine sense.
Joe Di was startled and immediately stopped cultivating. His protective array was meant to keep the savage beasts of the gorge from disturbing him, while the surveillance array was set up to monitor the presence within the Genesis Annihilation Array.
Only when a cultivator’s primordial spirit or aura was detected by his surveillance array would it tremble. If it was just a regular beast, the protective array would block it, and the surveillance array wouldn’t react at all.
Now that his surveillance array was trembling, it could only mean one thing: a cultivator or a cultivator’s primordial spirit had entered its range.
This was Savage Beast Gorge. Under normal circumstances, no cultivator below the Domain Realm would dare enter. After Joe Di revealed the Genesis Annihilation Array’s existence here, even Domain Realm cultivators would think twice before risking their lives.
Now that his Genesis Annihilation Array had detected a cultivator’s aura, it was most likely the powerful expert within the array.
Joe Di extended his divine sense, and soon he caught sight of a figure within its range.
Bai Hong? Joe Di was surprised to see Bai Hong enter Savage Beast Gorge. Bai Hong was at Domain Realm Seventh Layer and knew about the Genesis Annihilation Array here. Why would he come at this time?
Had it been anyone else, Joe Di might have stopped them to ask about the situation. But Bai Hong was an enemy—he hadn’t attacked Joe Di out of propriety, but out of fear.
Joe Di left his cultivation array and cautiously followed behind Bai Hong. Although his cultivation was much weaker, when it came to divine sense, even two Bai Hongs couldn’t compare to him. The gap in divine sense was so great that Bai Hong had no idea Joe Di was tailing him.
Compared to Joe Di, whose divine sense now spanned over a hundred and ten zhang, Bai Hong’s was almost completely suppressed. He could only inch forward, each step taken with utmost caution.
Perhaps because Joe Di was following behind, not a single phantom beast dared show itself. The few savage beasts that appeared were no match for Bai Hong.
After tracking Bai Hong for several days, Joe Di decided to stop. Judging by Bai Hong’s direction, he was clearly heading toward the Genesis Annihilation Array.
Bai Hong wouldn’t go to the Genesis Annihilation Array out of righteousness, nor would he go alone to eliminate the expert inside. Since he wasn’t there to kill the expert, Bai Hong’s only goal must be to pledge allegiance to the expert in the array. And the only reason for that was to kill Joe Di.
It had to be that Bai Hong knew he couldn’t kill Joe Di by himself, so he wanted to borrow the power of the expert within the Genesis Annihilation Array to deal with him.
Since Joe Di had already guessed Bai Hong’s intentions, he saw no need to keep following him.
Joe Di knew that with his current strength, he could easily defeat Bai Hong in a direct confrontation. But he had no intention of facing Bai Hong head-on; people like Bai Hong always had tricks up their sleeves. If Bai Hong managed to send a message before dying, saying Joe Di had killed him, it would bring trouble.
No matter how he tried to explain, few would believe him. So it was better to deal with Bai Hong quietly.
Bai Hong’s cultivation was formidable, but his divine sense only hovered between peak level nine and level ten. Even so, within Savage Beast Gorge, his divine sense was restricted to just one zhang around him. He had to rely on his powerful cultivation and utmost caution to make his way through the gorge.
Once again, a ninth-level savage beast lunged from the side to ambush Bai Hong. Bai Hong was unfazed—this was the thirtieth beast he’d encountered since entering the gorge. His long halberd swept out in a half arc, its killing intent enveloping the beast. The beast froze in midair for a split second, and the halberd pierced through its skull.
Just as Bai Hong was about to extract the beast’s demon core, a wave of terror made his hair stand on end.
Not good! Bai Hong was about to flee in panic when a streak of azure light appeared out of nowhere, shooting straight into the top of his head.
"Joe Di, you despicable scoundrel..." Bai Hong had been plotting against Joe Di, and he was all too familiar with the azure light of Joe Di’s Tiansuo Blade. As he cursed Joe Di’s underhandedness, he completely forgot his own purpose for coming here.
Bai Hong hadn’t finished his sentence when—"Pfft!"—a cloud of blood exploded, and his primordial spirit was forced out.
At this moment, Bai Hong felt utterly aggrieved. If he had fought Joe Di head-on, even if he was no match, he wouldn’t have felt so humiliated. Even if he lost, he would have been defeated in a fair fight.
The entire process was tinged with irony, as if he had come to Savage Beast Gorge just to give Joe Di the chance to ambush him. As for why Joe Di was here, Bai Hong no longer had time to ponder.
"Joe Di..."
Joe Di gave Bai Hong no chance at all. The Ancient Thunder Mark blasted forth, and Bai Hong’s primordial spirit didn’t last even a breath before being annihilated.
At last, peace returned. Joe Di didn’t want Bai Hong lurking behind him when he confronted the expert within the Genesis Annihilation Array, nor did he want Bai Hong to warn that person in advance of their plan.
Killing Bai Hong was a trivial matter for Joe Di. He returned to his cultivation spot and resumed his arduous training.
After another ten days or so, Joe Di broke through to True Transformation Eighth Layer. Five months later, he reached True Transformation Ninth Layer.
When the eight-month deadline arrived, Joe Di’s cultivation reached the late stage of True Transformation Ninth Layer. He sighed and stopped cultivating.
Half of the Medicine King spirit vein had been consumed, and he was still just short of reaching the Domain Realm. If he had another year, he should be able to break through.
Joe Di stopped cultivating. By his calculations, it was almost time for everyone to regroup. He simply put away the two spirit veins, leaving the arrays he had set up untouched.
Joe Di didn’t have to wait long after leaving Savage Beast Gorge before he saw An Lingzhou rushing over.
"Sect Master Di, I didn’t expect you to arrive before me." An Lingzhou was delighted to see Joe Di already there. He had witnessed Joe Di’s strength before; without Joe Di, the group’s overall strength for this battle would be much weaker.
"Haha, looks like I’m a bit late." The voice of Huan Changzhu, Lord of the Heavenly Gold Domain, rang out from afar, and a golden figure landed beside them.
"Not late, not late. We just arrived ourselves," Bai Cangxing’s voice echoed over.
Following Bai Cangxing, more figures descended one after another. In a short time, over ten people had gathered outside Savage Beast Gorge.
Each of these people was a top expert in the True Domain. Now, they were all assembled outside Savage Beast Gorge.
"Where’s Lord Bai?" Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, An Lingzhou frowned. Bai Hong’s strength was second only to Bai Cangxing. If Bai Hong didn’t come, their overall strength would suffer.