"Senior Brother Joe Di..." A helpless cry echoed from the distance. Joe Di swept his divine sense outward and saw a wretched young woman rushing toward him.
The woman was covered in blood, her clothes hanging from her body like rags. Her skin was exposed, her hair disheveled, and she looked utterly miserable.
"Big Brother, congratulations on your cultivation breakthrough." Sprout didn’t pay attention to anyone else; seeing Joe Di stand up, he immediately approached with a relaxed smile to offer his congratulations.
"You are Senior Brother Joe Di..." When the miserable young woman reached him, she calmed down instead, as if she could hardly believe what she was seeing.
Joe Di cast a Purify Spell on himself, then casually put on a fresh robe before saying, "That's right, I am Joe Di. But I don’t recall ever meeting you?"
Although he said this, Joe Di couldn’t shake the feeling that the woman seemed familiar—as if he had met her once before.
The woman hurriedly bowed and said, "Disciple of Starstream School, Shannon Wei..."
When he heard the name Shannon Wei, Joe Di suddenly understood—he really had met this woman before. Shannon Wei had joined Starstream School along with him. Because her spiritual roots were quite good, she had been accepted early as a direct disciple by Peak Master Lily Waters of Lotuspeak.
"How did you end up like this? And how did you know I was here?" Joe Di looked at the disheveled Shannon Wei in surprise. Shannon Wei was already at the second level of Foundation Establishment—having a good master truly made a difference.
Because Wei Shanshan was from Starstream School, Joe Di felt a natural fondness for her. Although most of his fortune came from the Graystone, Starstream School was his first sect—it was where he learned the Starstream Technique and began his journey.
Starstream School had never wronged him; one should never forget their roots.
"Senior Brother Joe, please, you must save Senior Sister Sherry Jing..." At Joe Di's question, Shannon Wei remembered the reason she had come.
Sherry Jing? Joe Di hesitated for a moment, then quickly recalled, "You mean Jing Mo Shuang?"
Shannon Wei nodded repeatedly, "Yes, it's Senior Sister Sherry Jing. She and Senior Sister Melody Qin have been strung up by Soulbane Threads, suspended above the Soulbane Pool in Soulbane Gorge... Oh, and there's a Senior Brother named Tyler He, he said he knows you..."
When Shannon Wei mentioned Melody Qin, Joe Di understood—it must have been Melody Qin who told Shannon Wei where to find him. This place had originally been discovered by Melody Qin, so naturally, she knew the exact location.
"Alright, take me to Soulbane Gorge." Joe Di didn't hesitate for a moment.
He didn’t know where Soulbane Gorge was, but whether it was Melody Qin, Sherry Jing, or Tyler He, he had to rescue them.
When Joe Di summoned his flying artifact, Shannon Wei quickly said, "Senior Brother, flying is forbidden here..."
But halfway through her warning, Shannon Wei realized—Senior Brother Joe Di had seen far more than she ever had. Surely he knew whether flying was possible here.
"Don’t worry. Let’s go—you can guide the way." With a gesture, Joe Di brought Shannon Wei onto the flying vessel. Before she could speak, the ship shot off in the direction she had come from.
"How did you end up with Senior Sister Sherry Jing, and what exactly is Soulbane Gorge?" After Shannon Wei pointed out the direction, Joe Di piloted the ship while asking questions—and at the same time, tending to his own injuries.
When he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, his injuries had been severe. Even with the spiritual rain that followed, his wounds had not fully healed in such a short time.
"It was Master He’s arrangement. Master He values Senior Sister Sherry Jing greatly. When she returned to the sect, the sect master accepted her as a personal disciple and let her cultivate in the area with the densest spiritual energy. Of the two slots for entering Skyveil, one was given to Senior Sister Sherry Jing. Master He instructed me and Anton Fang to follow her lead." Shannon Wei replied.
She couldn’t help but marvel. Even though she was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, with just a gesture from Senior Brother Joe Di, she was on the flying ship. No wonder the Qi Trading House couldn’t do anything to him—his strength must be at least late Golden Core by now.
Joe Di asked in confusion, "Didn’t you just say the sect only had two slots for entering Skyveil?"
Wei Shanshan replied, "My qualification for entering Skyveil was obtained by my master from outside. With my aptitude, I wouldn’t have been eligible to come here otherwise."
Joe Di sighed inwardly—having a master truly made a difference.
Now that Joe Di had reached the Nascent Soul stage, his divine sense was even stronger, and the ship’s speed was astonishing. In less than an hour, Shannon Wei said, "We’re here—this is the place."
Sprout said, "Big Brother, this place feels strange."
Although its true form was a giant tree and it hadn’t traveled much, it had lived for a very long time.
Joe Di landed the ship. After an hour, his injuries had healed considerably.
Before him lay an abandoned spirit stone mine, its massive pit so deep he couldn't see the bottom. When Joe Di sent his divine sense down, all sorts of wards blocked him—some natural, some set up later by hand.
"Junior Sister Shannon, this place is just an abandoned spirit stone mine—is this really Soulbane Gorge?" Joe Di asked uncertainly. He wondered whether Sherry Jing and Melody Qin were in trouble, to have ended up in such a place.
"Yes, Senior Brother Joe, look here." Shannon Wei said, then took out two array banners and tossed them forward.
A white staircase, brimming with spiritual energy, appeared before Joe Di. He was startled—he almost thought Shannon Wei was a Grand Arraymaster, even more skilled than himself.
He quickly realized that was unlikely. Shannon Wei must have known that tossing down two activation array banners would cause a staircase of spiritual energy to appear here.
Even Joe Di, seeing such a staircase brimming with spiritual energy, wanted to go down and take a look. The staircase was absolutely real—even its spiritual energy was so intense, there might be even greater treasures below.
"Down there is Soulbane Gorge." Shannon Wei pointed to the white staircase.
Joe Di nodded and said to Sprout and Shannon Wei, "Stay close behind me. I’ll go first and check it out."
(This chapter is not finished yet~.~ Please click the next page to continue reading the exciting story!)
"Yes, Senior Brother Joe." Shannon Wei quickly responded.
After walking for more than half an hour, they finally left the white staircase. In front of them was a canyon, its sides bare and desolate.
The canyon was long and shadowy, leading to who knows where. Now that Joe Di had reached the Nascent Soul stage, his divine sense was many times stronger than when he was at Golden Core, yet he still couldn't penetrate the depths of this gloomy gorge.
"Senior Brother Joe, this is Soulbane Gorge. Many of us came down together, but few survived—most fell into the Soulbane Pool..." Shannon Wei said, still shaken.
It was an array master who guessed there might be a hidden formation here. He grabbed two activation banners and tossed them down—and a white staircase really did appear. We all rushed forward, and that's when the nightmare began..."
Joe Di's divine sense enveloped the space around himself, Shannon Wei, and Sprout. He could sense any disturbance, even fluctuations in the rules of space itself. He was confident a normal ambush wouldn't catch him off guard.
"It was Senior Sister Sherry Jing who gave me her escape talisman. That's how I was able to get out." Shannon Wei wasn't thinking too much about it—she still hadn't recovered from the sensation of something choking her neck moments ago.