Joe Di and Lynn Booker's Deathtrap Array was shattered with a single step from Lyle Yew, who didn't even need to use his hands. Yet Lyle Yew harbored no suspicion—he knew Lynn Booker's array skills well, and this was likely her highest level of mastery.
Joe Di's cultivation was only at the Convergence Realm. For a cultivator of that level to set up such a deadly array was already impressive. With Lyle Yew's strength, it was only natural for him to break it—there was nothing to doubt.
Facing Joe Di's countless blade lights, Lyle Yew shattered the Deathtrap Array without even bothering to summon his artifact—he simply threw a punch.
Lyle Yew hadn't let Lynn Booker go out of fear for her strength, but simply because she was too adept at escaping. Not even Genesis City's Lord could easily capture her.
As for Lynn Booker's strength, in Lyle Yew's eyes, it was nothing but a joke. Joe Di had just arrived here, and thought that teaming up with Lynn Booker could deal with Lyle Yew. That was the ignorance of the fearless.
Lyle Yew didn't care that Joe Di had survived a strike from Nie Pingjian. In his view, at least five or six of Genesis City's deputy lords were mere bystanders, and apart from his skills in artifact refinement, Nie Pingjian was just one of them.
Lyle Yew's punch tore open endless spatial rifts and collided with Joe Di's blade lights, causing a surge of violent force to erupt in the void. Suddenly, Lyle Yew felt his punch's Dao Rhyme bound by the power of the void, the wild Dao Rhyme instantly subdued.
"A Law Array constructed from personal rules..." Lyle Yew immediately understood what had happened. This was a grand array set up by Joe Di with Law Array Banners, built upon his own cosmic rules. Only such an array could catch him off guard.
Lyle Yew's expression turned grave. Seasoned in countless battles, he knew that even if Joe Di's array couldn't truly harm him, he must retreat swiftly.
As a cosmic powerhouse, Lyle Yew avoided anything uncontrollable. When he stepped into Joe Di's Law Array, he hadn't sensed its existence at all—that unpredictability was precisely what he refused to face.
Just as he trapped Lyle Yew, Joe Di refused to let him escape so easily. The Law Array Banners blazed to life, unleashing thunderous detonations throughout the void.
Explosive divine arrays, surpassing even ninth-rank, suddenly enveloped Lyle Yew and self-destructed—the force was so overwhelming that even he could not withstand it.
A chorus of cracking sounds echoed as the explosive arrays tore open Lyle Yew's domain.
Without hesitation, Lyle Yew retreated furiously, summoning his artifact—a colossal altar. As the altar appeared, a Dao aura so vast it threatened to crush the cosmos surged forth.
Lyle Yew breathed a little easier. He would never again underestimate Joe Di. With the Dao Altar summoned, he resolved that even if he suffered minor wounds today, he would use its power to suppress Joe Di and capture this anomaly from the Five Elements Universe.
Lyle Yew called Joe Di an anomaly because, in the Genesis Universe, he had never seen anyone who didn't use the Five Elements Universe's rules to craft their divine abilities. Joe Di's blade lights, though countless, bore no trace of those rules. Still, Joe Di's blades might be enough for someone like Nie Pingjian, but to challenge Lyle Yew, he was far from qualified.
"Pfft!" Several sprays of blood mist erupted—Joe Di's explosive arrays finally broke through Lyle Yew's domain, tearing his flesh.
Lyle Yew grunted, his Dao Rhyme surging wildly. The altar expanded into boundless immensity, as if the entire void gathered atop it, sweeping toward Joe Di's blade lights.
Except for injuries sustained against Ye Ning and another ant, Lyle Yew had never been wounded in single combat against the Five Elements Universe's elite. Yet today, he had been ambushed and hurt. If he didn't make this ant named Joe Di regret ever stepping into this world, he would be unworthy of his title as a cosmic Dao Lord.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The altar, vast as the endless void, crashed into Joe Di's countless blade lights. Yet, contrary to Lyle Yew's expectations, the altar did not suppress Joe Di's Dao Rhyme or spatial power. Instead, even more blade lights surged forth, merging into a tide of void blade force.
The tide of blade force rose a million zhang high, tearing a rift through the void-crushing aura of Lyle Yew's altar. Instantly, Lyle Yew felt the mounting pressure.
Lyle Yew, who had once dismissed Joe Di, now narrowed his eyes in understanding. Joe Di and Lynn Booker's Deathtrap Array was merely a ruse—the true attack was a chain of explosive divine arrays built from Law Array Banners and personal rules. These arrays weren't meant to kill or even seriously injure Lyle Yew, but to seize a tactical advantage.
Indeed, although Joe Di's explosive arrays tore Lyle Yew's domain and even his flesh, the wounds were superficial. What mattered was that Joe Di had seized the initiative.
With the initiative in hand, Joe Di suppressed Lyle Yew's Dao Altar with only five blade strikes.
Lyle Yew roared, both hands summoning endless Dao Rhyme. His surroundings churned with surging Dao Rhyme and shifting cosmic rules. The Dao Altar, once submerged by the blade tide, burst forth again, sweeping up the vast essence of the universe and crushing downward with renewed force.
A stifling sense of oppression swept over Joe Di. Though Lyle Yew was suppressing the blade tide, Joe Di felt as if everything about him was being crushed. His waist bent, bones cracked, and his Dao Rhyme began to unravel.
In that moment, Joe Di realized he could not unleash his sixth blade strike.
Since comprehending the Three Looms of Time, Joe Di had only ever been limited by his own strength in unleashing higher-level blade tides. Never before had another's Dao Rhyme suppressed him so completely, preventing him from wielding a blade tide he had already mastered.
Time seemed to freeze in place; Joe Di's tide of blades could no longer advance even a fraction.
No—it was Lyle Yew's altar crushing the blade tide, forcing it to fall back.
Joe Di knew his blade tide was no ordinary divine ability, but a spacetime technique. Lyle Yew's suppression reversed time and compressed space—another spacetime divine ability.
Amid the sound of tearing bones, Joe Di spat a jet of blood, his essence blood ignited, the cycle of the Dao swirling around him.
Rules and Dao Rhyme exploded around Joe Di. For the second time, his power tore a rift in the Dao Rhyme of Lyle Yew's Dao Altar. Without hesitation, Joe Di brandished the Celestial Sable Blade, intoning, "Wind and sand, the murky sea below; blade tides surge, innocence floats above. Blade lights stretch for millions of miles... Sixth strike—kill!"
Boom! A blade tide millions of zhang high erupted forth, the previously exhausted blade tides reigniting like wildfire, exploding once more.
In that instant, spacetime vanished, leaving only the raging tide of blade force between the cosmos.
"Dao Altar—suppress!" Lyle Yew roared, not waiting for Joe Di's millions-zhang blade tide to crush the altar. He unleashed boundless Dao Rhyme, golden Dao lights exploding around the altar, once again restraining Joe Di's blade tide.
Spacetime returned to the void once more.
Joe Di understood his disadvantage. Had he not gained a slight tactical edge with the Law Array Banners, he wouldn't have managed even the fifth blade strike of the Three Looms. Now, burning essence blood and Dao Rhyme, he had unleashed the sixth strike—and he refused to let this advantage slip away.
Once more, Joe Di spat blood, his Celestial Sable Blade unleashing boundless spacetime Dao Rhyme. In that moment, his blade transcended the limits of this realm—time itself ceased to bind him.
"Three Looms of Time—seventh strike! Kill!"
A blade tide tens of millions of zhang high erupted, its force unbroken, Dao Rhyme solidifying once more. Under this endless tide, even the Genesis Universe seemed poised for rebirth, the momentum vast and boundless.
Boom! The raging blade tide collided with Lyle Yew's surging Dao Altar once again.
Crack! Endless rules exploded, transforming into blade fragments that filled the void like shattered ice. Yet Lyle Yew's Dao Altar, like a crimson sun, melted away the fragments of Joe Di's blade laws.
Joe Di's face turned pale as paper. In that instant, he understood—his Three Looms of Time technique had no eighth strike.
The seventh strike was the pinnacle of the Three Looms of Time, yet it was shattered into fragments by Lyle Yew's Dao Altar.