In this brief span, Joe Di had already made up his mind. After leaving this place, he would return what he had taken to this universe.
Once all the chaotic Dao energy was returned to this universe, the cosmic laws here would gradually change. Many years later, there would no longer be domains like the Tianwu Realm.
Joe Di used four Five-Element Flags to seal the entrance to this world, then set up two grand spirit-gathering arrays—one to benefit Nora Xiu, who was still cultivating in the Ninth World, and one for himself.
For Nora Xiu, cultivating within the Ninth World was more suitable than secluded cultivation here. The Ninth World housed the World Tree, which made it the ideal place to train.
The World Tree was still young, and Joe Di had no intention of using it for himself yet. As for the chaotic energy and pure cosmic rule energy here, once sent into the Ninth World by Joe Di, they would not only benefit Nora Xiu's cultivation but also aid the World Tree's growth.
When Joe Di began circulating the cosmic laws, boundless divine spirit energy and endless primordial energy quickly gathered around him. As Joe Di absorbed these, the rules surrounding him became increasingly distinct.
His withered body gradually regained vitality, and his snow-white hair faded to gray, then from gray to black...
At this moment, for Joe Di, advancement in cultivation was secondary. The most important thing was that his Dao was rapidly being perfected. As the cosmic laws around him grew clearer and more harmonious, the flaws in his Dao resonance diminished.
......
For a Dao Integration cultivator in closed-door training, hundreds of years felt no different than a single night. Joe Di's cultivation had barely improved; he was still at the peak of early Dao Integration.
In the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed. For Jade Vaughn, who had lingered here for hundreds of thousands of years, a mere millennium was nothing at all.
Yet in those thousand years, not only had he failed to find even a shadow of Joe Di, he didn’t even know which direction Joe Di might be in.
Jade Vaughn sighed, knowing there was no point in staying here any longer. He had to leave this universe and return to the Five Elements Universe, where he needed to make preparations for entering the Creation Realm.
Before leaving this universe, Jade Vaughn decided to take the world of primordial chaos energy with him.
He knew there must be more than one world of primordial chaos energy in this universe, but taking even just one would be enough for him.
He had entered this world before, and its resources were enough to give his own world substance. When he reached the Creation Realm, this world could serve as his foundation.
Jade Vaughn was a man of decisive action. Once he decided to stop searching for Joe Di, he immediately set out for the hidden chaos world.
Compared to Joe Di, who would need to travel for months, Jade Vaughn arrived at the edge of the chaos world with a single teleportation talisman. To keep the world hidden from others, Jade Vaughn deliberately set his teleportation array some distance away from the chaos world.
Something’s wrong…
The moment Jade Vaughn entered the chaotic universe, a chill swept over him—he sensed something amiss. As the first to arrive, he was familiar with this place. The concealing array he’d set up had been tampered with, and there were clear traces of outsiders.
How long had Jade Vaughn been here? He’d long known that cultivation in this universe was impossible, as all the vital energy and resources were locked away in one or more chaos worlds—the one before him was merely one among many.
It couldn’t have been anyone from this universe. The only possibility was Joe Di.
Jade Vaughn’s heart surged with shock and urgency. He’d long considered this chaos world to be his for the taking—how could he simply let Joe Di profit for no reason? But how had Joe Di discovered this place? That jade slip was sealed by his Dao restriction; how could Joe Di break it in such a short time without alerting him?
Yet Jade Vaughn’s anxiety quickly faded, replaced by elation. Joe Di had come to this chaos world; as long as he sealed the exit, how could Joe Di escape?
Compared to what Joe Di carried, this chaos world was insignificant. Besides, even if he wanted to take it, refining the world would require tens of thousands of years.
Jade Vaughn produced a series of array flags and began setting up a trapping and killing formation. He knew Joe Di’s capabilities well—if he couldn’t trap Joe Di immediately, he’d never catch him.
……
When Jade Vaughn threw out the first array flag, Joe Di immediately sensed it. Joe Di sneered inwardly, his hand gathering divine spirit herbs without the slightest hesitation.
A century ago, he had already stepped into the late stage of the Prime Realm. Advancing from late Prime Realm to perfection would require an even longer stretch of time.
Though for Joe Di, cultivating to perfection in the Prime Realm here would be ideal, he no longer wished to waste more time in this place. Besides, he kept sensing lingering traces in his Dao—after reaching the late stage of the Prime Realm, these traces became even more pronounced, as if something was always weighing on his heart.
Sometimes, when a problem arises in cultivation, the best solution isn’t to keep spending time in seclusion, but to stop and pursue other matters for a while.
Thus, Joe Di stopped cultivating after reaching late Prime Realm. He gathered a mountain of divine spirit herbs and various Dao fruits here. Besides those, he also collected a pile of supreme divine spirit veins. For the rest of his time, he focused on refining Dao pills.
Joe Di didn’t plan to refine this chaos world. Before leaving, he would take only one millionth of its resources—which was more than fair, since what he’d acquired here wasn’t even a fraction of that.
By now, Joe Di could easily refine Prime Realm Dao pills; in terms of pill mastery, he was already a true Prime Realm Pill Saint.
So when Jade Vaughn came looking for him, Joe Di felt not a trace of panic.
Far from being alarmed, Joe Di was actually curious—now that he had advanced, what would happen if he fought Jade Vaughn head-on?
A batch of Prime Realm Dao pills soon took shape under Joe Di’s pill formula, and he easily swept up twelve pills.
Outside, Jade Vaughn was frantically setting up array flags. Joe Di put away his Grand Cosmos Cauldron, deciding it was time to face Jade Vaughn. If he wanted to leave, he would need Jade Vaughn’s help.