Joe Di didn't move at all. He had already noticed the man in yellow. This yellow-clad man was at the late stage of Dao Nurturing, likely the strongest among them here. Since he was the strongest, it was very possible that the competition in the Body Refining Pool was his idea.
The cultivator who could propose a contest in the Body Refining Pool was likely the one who pinned down the Thunderbird.
“Was it you who pinned down my Thunderbird?” Joe Di asked. The powerful aura rolling toward him felt like a gentle breeze, not even ruffling the edge of his robe.
“That's right, your elder pinned it down. What will you do about it?” The yellow-robed cultivator finished, sweeping his long blade and sending a wave of spatial blade light slashing toward Joe Di.
As the long blade slashed toward Joe Di, the entire space transformed into his domain. The raging blade light surged like waves in a wild sea, with Joe Di adrift among them like a lone boat.
Serena Yu sighed. She was certain that Joe Di was a peak Dao Forging powerhouse, but his strength was still far below Harvey Park’s. Harvey Park was late-stage Dao Nurturing, and quite formidable at that.
“When you reach the Gates of Hell, remember—it was Harvey Park of the Mystic Smoke Artifact Sect who killed you...
Before Harvey Park could finish his words, Joe Di, who was trapped in his spatial domain, suddenly moved. Harvey Park’s domain crumbled like paper; with a casual step, Joe Di tore it apart completely.
Harvey Park stared in terror at Joe Di, who moved as if nothing had happened. He realized he might not have seen Joe Di’s true cultivation. Before he could change his technique, Joe Di’s blade light had already descended.
Both wielded blades as their weapon of choice, yet Harvey Park felt that when Joe Di’s blade light descended, it seemed to possess a life of its own. In the space Harvey Park created, he suddenly sensed that the only unnecessary presence was himself.
No longer caring about harming Joe Di, Harvey Park frantically burned his own vital blood and tried to escape to the side as fast as he could.
The blade light grazed past his side, and Harvey Park breathed a slight sigh of relief. He was now completely certain he was no match for Joe Di. No matter how good this Body Refining Pool was, he had to escape first.
But before Harvey Park could reach the Black Jade Stone Gate, Joe Di’s large footprint appeared before him and stomped down.
Even though he saw Joe Di’s footprint coming, Harvey Park found himself utterly unable to dodge. Only now did Harvey Park realize the true gap between him and Joe Di—they weren’t even on the same level.
Bang! The footprint struck Harvey Park’s chest, sending him flying from one side of the pool to the other.
Following after Harvey Park was the same blade light. Harvey Park stared in horror at the blade light that bound the space around him, panicked and shouted, “I’m a disciple of the Mystic Smoke Artifact Sect—stop!”
Splurt! The blade light tore through Harvey Park’s brow, and as he fell, the iron spike that had pinned down the Thunderbird earlier shot from his torn brow and pinned Harvey Park to the ground.
Harvey Park’s primordial spirit spilled out, only for a bolt of lightning to strike it. Joe Di’s voice echoed, “Too bad you won’t get the chance to reach the Gates of Hell.”
His primordial spirit exploded, turning into countless motes of light and vanishing without a trace.
Joe Di was rather disappointed. He had deliberately let Harvey Park strike first, hoping to gauge the difference between a late-stage Dao Nurturing cultivator and himself. Yet Harvey Park was so weak that Joe Di hadn’t even used half his strength before finishing him off.
If things continued like this, perhaps when he reached Dao Transformation, he wouldn’t need to fear the Second Step.
So strong...
Every cultivator in the pool watched Joe Di with fear. He was simply too powerful. Even a Dao Transformation expert might not have dealt with Harvey Park as effortlessly as Joe Di just had.
Seeing Joe Di kill Harvey Park, the Thunderbird let out a sharp cry, clearly thrilled.
Joe Di’s gaze swept over the pool once more. Now, none of the cultivators inside dared to meet his eyes.
“Bolt, go cultivate in the pool,” Joe Di said without hesitation to the Thunderbird. From now on, he would simply call the bird Bolt.
Whether it understood Joe Di or not, Lightning dove straight into the pool, instantly forming a swirling vortex of water around itself.
A single bird entered the Body Refining Pool to cultivate, yet not one person dared utter a word of protest. In fact, everyone moved further away.
Joe Di ignored the other cultivators and walked straight to the Nirvana Blackstone Gate, unleashing the Azure Veil Blade in a series of slashing arcs. In just a short time, the two stone gates were split open and collected by Joe Di.
“I understand now—that’s Nirvana Blackstone...” A cultivator saw Joe Di put away the two stone gates and blurted out in shock, then immediately regretted speaking and quickly fell silent.
But everyone had already heard him. Several cultivators nearly leapt up to snatch the stone gates Joe Di had collected. Thankfully, they remembered who Joe Di was—if even Dao Nurturing experts couldn’t withstand three strikes from him, trying to steal Nirvana Blackstone would be suicide.
Many cultivators were so regretful they nearly beat their chests. There had once been an opportunity right before them, but they had missed it.
What is Nirvana Blackstone? It’s the Dao Domain’s top-tier refining material. Not only that, cultivating while seated on Nirvana Blackstone can purify your meridians and expand your spiritual sea. Such a treasure had slipped through their fingers and was taken by a newcomer—who wouldn’t feel regret?
Joe Di was just as excited inside. When he first entered the gate, he truly hadn’t recognized the Nirvana Blackstone. Only when he approached the Nirvana Blackstone Gate again as Harvey Park tried to escape did he realize the gates were made of Nirvana Blackstone.
To other cultivators, Nirvana Blackstone might be a supreme refining material, or even a way to expand the spiritual sea. But for Joe Di, Nirvana Blackstone had only one purpose—to be fused into the Azure Veil Blade, further enhancing its quality.
The Azure Veil Blade could indeed absorb the essence of heaven and earth and killing intent to upgrade itself automatically. But now that he was in the Dao Domain, without fusing additional materials, its advancement would be extremely slow.
And the best material to fuse into the Azure Veil Blade was none other than Nirvana Blackstone. Joe Di had never even considered searching for Nirvana Blackstone—how could such a precious item wait for him to seek it out? Yet today, it had fallen into his lap without effort. He could only credit the World Book for his good fortune.
Serena Yu looked at Joe Di with equal envy. She hadn’t expected Joe Di to be not only so powerful, but also so discerning. So many people failed to recognize Nirvana Blackstone, yet he saw it at first glance. Mo Yejiao hadn’t lied—Joe Di truly was the greatest genius of the Origin Dao Sect. The only thing different from what Mo Yejiao had said was that Joe Di clearly wasn’t at Dao Forging; if she was right, he was already a Dao Nurturing cultivator.
After putting away the Nirvana Blackstone, Joe Di didn’t hesitate at all and stepped into the Body Refining Pool.
He was now at the peak of Divine Body, just one step away from advancing to the next stage. Yet after all this time, his physical body had barely improved.
He wondered how effective the Body Refining Pool of the Titan Saint Sect would be.
The moment he stepped into the Body Refining Pool, Joe Di felt as if countless steel needles were stabbing into him, a pain so intense it was nearly unbearable.
As soon as he activated the Titan Body Technique, the needle-like pain instantly vanished, transforming into countless streams of spiritual energy that began to nourish his flesh and bones.
Joe Di was both shocked and delighted; he hadn’t expected the Body Refining Pool to bring such a surprise. Clearly, the pool wasn’t meant to simply enhance a cultivator’s body, but to lay the foundation for future breakthroughs in body refinement. The great sects truly had grand vision—this fundamentally changed the basis of body cultivation. Joe Di was now certain that anyone who could enter this pool must possess a body-refining technique. Without such a technique, entering the pool would be courting death.
Now that he was at the peak of Divine Body, Joe Di strode without hesitation toward the deeper part of the pool.
The other cultivators watched Joe Di in utter shock. Although they were also refining their bodies here, those who could move three feet away from the pool’s edge were already considered the elite among them.
Yet Joe Di was already a full ten feet from the pool’s edge, still heading toward the center. Just how powerful was his physical body?