Boom! A surge of powerful divine energy shot through her main meridian. Charlotte Ling felt as if the missing part of her Dao had been abruptly restored, her Dao resonance growing smoother and more complete. She casually released a wind blade; unlike before, when her wind blades were formed only by Dao resonance and laws, this one was substantial, its Dao laws distinctly clear. With just a single wind blade, she sensed that the surrounding space was entirely under her control.
Charlotte Ling's heart surged with excitement. In less than three years, she had not only advanced from the early stage of Integration to the late stage, but her Dao resonance was now more condensed than ever.
Brother Quentin was right—her Dao had indeed been far too scattered. She used to only know this in theory, but now, having reached the late Integration stage, she could truly feel it. Given time, she would never again be a mediocre cultivator; she would stand equal to any Integration expert in the Lost Dao City.
Now that three years had passed, she needed to hurry and reunite with Joe Di and Quentin Wood.
When Charlotte Ling rushed to the agreed meeting spot, Quentin Wood and Joe Di were already waiting for her. Quentin hadn't made much progress—at his level, simply not regressing was considered an achievement.
Joe Di likewise hadn't progressed much. He had spent two years comprehending the Heaven-Opening True Word technique. Lacking the Heaven-Opening Brush, even though he had crafted a new one, he couldn't inscribe the true Dao resonance of the Heaven-Opening True Word. In the final year, he stopped cultivating and instead searched everywhere, hoping to find a weak spot in the domain and tear it open.
To his disappointment, after a whole year, not only did he fail to find a weak spot to tear open the domain, he couldn't even locate a void vortex that might lead out of the Lost Dao Domain.
This made Joe Di realize that if he wanted any chance of leaving the Lost Dao Domain, he would have to seek cooperation with Samuel Shang. Without Samuel Shang's help, escape was impossible.
"Congratulations, Charlotte, on reaching the late Integration stage." The moment Charlotte Ling arrived, Joe Di and Quentin Wood could see her cultivation had advanced.
Charlotte Ling was overjoyed. In the Lost Dao Domain, while others' cultivation was declining, she had managed to break through to the late Integration stage. Although she knew that if she stayed here longer, her cultivation would eventually start to fall as well, she trusted Joe Di to find a way out.
"Brother Quentin, if we want to get out of here, I’m afraid our only option is to seek out Samuel Shang in Lost Dao City." Joe Di felt uneasy; truthfully, he didn't want to look for Samuel Shang at all.
There were several reasons. Once someone as powerful as Samuel Shang left the Lost Dao Domain, his strength would surely skyrocket.
Ever since Joe Di obtained the Ninth Dao Principle and comprehended his own Rule Dao, he’d never worried about anyone he’d surpassed turning around and surpassing him.
But Samuel Shang was different. Right now, Joe Di could suppress him, but once Samuel Shang escaped, he would absolutely surpass Joe Di.
Samuel Shang was no decent person. If his strength soared after leaving, Joe Di would probably be the first one he’d try to kill. That’s why working with Samuel Shang was like negotiating with a tiger for its skin.
Furthermore, Samuel Shang wasn’t the only Dao Integration cultivator here—there were thousands, even tens of thousands. If they all broke free, their combined power could overturn the universe countless times. In Joe Di’s universe, no one could suppress such a force.
If not for Joe Di, back then even someone like Nora could have run rampant through the Celestial Beyond, let alone Samuel Shang, whose power was countless times greater than Nora’s.
Besides Samuel Shang, there were also Fa and Huangpeng...
And then there was that pack of Third Step experts, as fierce as tigers and wolves—in other words, there wasn’t a single good soul here.
But not seeking out Samuel Shang wasn’t an option either. Joe Di had to leave, whether it was to save Nora Xiu or to achieve his own Dao Integration—he couldn’t just stay here and wait for death.
The Ninth World was also an incomplete world. As Joe Di’s cultivation advanced, it continued to improve and eventually would be perfected. But if he remained in the Lost Dao Domain, his cultivation would ultimately stagnate at the peak of Hunyuan. At first, it wouldn’t matter much, but as time went by, his Ninth World might eventually become a second Lost Dao Domain.
Quentin Wood said, "Joe, I actually advise you not to seek out Samuel Shang or negotiate with him. I know all too well how ruthless Samuel Shang is. Back then, in order to escape and reduce the number of cultivators in the Lost Dao Domain, he secretly plotted against a million experts. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be just a few thousand people left here."
Joe Di nodded. "I know he’s no good, but unfortunately, if I don’t go after Samuel Shang, there’s simply no way to leave this place."
Quentin Wood hesitated for a moment, then suddenly said, "Joe, I actually have an idea you can try first. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll talk about seeking out Samuel Shang."
"What idea?" Joe Di blurted out.
Quentin Wood raised his hand to cast a restriction, but Joe Di had already casually set up a soundproof barrier before him. Even Quentin Wood was secretly amazed—Joe Di was the most gifted cultivator he had ever seen, bar none.
Even with the barrier in place, Quentin Wood still lowered his voice and said, "The Lost Dao Domain was originally a world of sentient spirit plants. Though it’s completely isolated from the outside, whenever a spirit plant with a humanoid form perishes, it can still communicate with the Cycle of Rebirth. If you can sense the space where the Dao Aura of Rebirth appears at the moment a spirit plant dies and act with all your strength, you have a ten percent chance of tearing open the domain’s boundary. Once you break through, you’ll enter the Yin Nether Realm—and escaping from there will be much easier than from here."
Joe Di asked, puzzled, "Brother Quentin, if there’s such a method, wouldn’t Samuel Shang have thought of it?"
Quentin Wood chuckled, "Of course Samuel Shang thought of it. Back then, to communicate with the Cycle of Rebirth or find a way to tear open a path to it, he created a secret realm filled with treasures. Once countless cultivators rushed inside, he secretly locked the space with the Starshroud Umbrella and released the deadliest poison mist—Wuzeluo Dao. When those million cultivators realized the mist was Wuzeluo Dao, they tried to escape, but the space had already been sealed by Samuel Shang. The poison acted so fast that, in a short time, all those experts perished."
Unfortunately, for all his cunning, Samuel Shang still failed to find the Dao Aura passage to rebirth. He simply didn’t know that the Lost Dao Domain was actually a chaotic world of sentient spirit plants, different from ordinary worlds of living beings. No matter how many cultivators died, it couldn’t communicate with the Dao Aura of Rebirth. Without finding the passage, he had no way to tear open the boundary into the Yin Nether Realm."
Charlotte Ling asked in surprise, "Brother Quentin, how do you know all this so clearly?"
Logically, Samuel Shang wouldn’t let anyone else know about these things.
Quentin Wood sighed, "Because I was one of them. You’re probably wondering why I survived, right? It’s not that I didn’t die, but because I once received a drop of Genesis Lotus nectar. Back then, the Genesis Lotus was shattered before my eyes, and a single drop landed on my true body—a Primordial Spiritwood. Very few things can counter Wuzeluo Dao, but Genesis Lotus nectar is one of them. That’s how I learned Samuel Shang had the Starshroud Umbrella."
Quentin Wood gave a self-deprecating smile. "You should know why Samuel Shang failed—he was powerful and smart, but he didn’t realize that in a world of spirit plants, only the death of a humanoid spirit plant can communicate with the Dao Aura of Rebirth and open the boundary to the Cycle of Rebirth. I might be the only humanoid spirit plant left in the Lost Dao Domain, and I just happened to survive the poison and escape disaster."
Charlotte Ling finally understood and exclaimed in shock, "Brother Quentin, you mean—"
Quentin Wood nodded before Charlotte Ling could finish. "Yes. After I fall, Joe, you must take my body back to the Five Elements World. In the future, I can still reincarnate."