Chapter 55: It’s You Again

After killing Cheng Xian and the others on the island, Qu Yi pondered for a while before deciding to return to the sea area near the ice pillars. If he stayed on the island, the five Golden Core cultivators from the Fire Moon Sect might give up chasing Huai Jin and Huai You and come to the island to kill Qu Yi and the rest—there would be no way to resist them. Qu Yi had his own life-saving method, the Dimensional Ball, but he couldn’t risk Li Ji, Wang Mo, and the other four Foundation Establishment cultivators. So he wanted to return to Huai Qing’s side; that way, even if the Fire Moon Sect cultivators came back to hunt them, they wouldn’t dare do anything to them. More importantly, Qu Yi knew Huai Qing possessed a jade sword—virtually, Huai Qing was the strongest in the Emerald Wood Planet. Thus, the seven of them boarded the Cloud-Piercing Ship again and headed back to the sea area near the ice pillars.

On the other side, Huai Jin and Huai You took turns controlling the Cloud-Piercing Ship to escape. After communicating, they also decided to return to that sea area. Only by joining forces with Huai Qing could they stop the Fire Moon Sect from killing them.

Over a certain sea area, the Cloud-Piercing Ship piloted by Qu Yi and the others encountered the one piloted by Huai Jin and Huai You. Both ships headed toward the ice pillars area simultaneously, still pursued by the Cloud-Piercing Ships of the Fire Moon Sect.

“Come over!” With his vital energy restored, Huai Qing saw the three Cloud-Piercing Ships in the sky and immediately called out.

Sure enough, upon hearing Huai Qing’s voice, Huai Jin, Huai You, Qu Yi, and the others were overjoyed. They sped their Cloud-Piercing Ships to Huai Qing’s side. The five Golden Core cultivators from the Fire Moon Sect stopped their ships and watched Huai Qing from afar, not daring to get closer.

“Master!” Huai Jin, Huai You, and the Foundation Establishment cultivators like Qu Yi called out happily at the same time.

“It’s okay now,” Huai Qing said gently with a smile.

The people who had just been pursued felt their gloom vanish upon seeing Huai Qing’s calm expression. They then looked down on the Cloud-Piercing Ships of the Fire Moon Sect with disdain.

“Xianyun Sect, what did you do to Cheng Xian, Qiu Jun, and the four of our Fire Moon Sect disciples?” Yong Nan shouted from his Cloud-Piercing Ship. By now, Yong Nan also knew that Cheng Xian and Qiu Jun’s identities had been exposed, so there was no need to hide any longer.

“What else could we have done? They’re all dead,” Qu Yi replied bluntly.

Upon hearing this, Yongnan’s body trembled violently—clearly, the news dealt a severe blow to him. Chengxian and Qiu Jun had been undercover at Xuanyang Temple and Yusu Sect for many years. Who would have thought they would die on their first day of deployment? If Huoyue Sect pursued accountability, Yongnan would also bear great responsibility.

It would have been better if at least one late-stage Golden Core cultivator had stayed behind. Yongnan regretted it deeply.

“Who died?” Suddenly, a voice came from behind Chuanyun Zhou of Huoyue Sect.

Master Han Shang had come!

Yongnan and the other five Golden Core cultivators were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately turned to look at Master Han Shang as he rushed over.

Master Han Shang had escaped the attack of the Ten-Thousand-Year Tortoise by self-destructing with his True Fire Gun. After arriving at sea, he found that the disciples from the four sects were gone, so he searched the area before returning to the sea near the ice pillar.

“Grandmaster, Chengxian, Qiu Jun, and the four of us late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were all killed by the people of Xianyun Sect,” Yongnan shouted immediately.

Upon hearing this, Master Han Shang’s eyebrows shot up in fury. He knew that Chengxian and Qiu Jun were spies for Huoyue Sect, and now they had been killed by Xianyun Sect—all his years of effort had been in vain.

“Huaqing, good. You dare to underestimate me. Very well, I will execute you now,” Master Han Shang said coldly.

At this point, he had no interest in investigating the details and declared war outright.

Huaqing was stunned, then looked at Master Han Shang with displeasure, realizing that he was deliberately avoiding asking for specifics to shift the blame onto him and provoke a conflict.

“Han Yue, the facts aren’t even clear yet. Is it too much of you to declare war on me so arbitrarily?” Huaqing shouted unhappily.

Inside, Huaqing was frantically thinking—how could he resist Master Han Shang’s attacks without the Jade Sword? He didn’t want to reveal the secret of the Jade Sword.

“Stop talking nonsense. I’ll take your life today,” Master Han Shang said before pulling out a golden snake-shaped sword and flying toward Huaqing.

With his True Fire Gun destroyed, this was Master Han Shang’s other magical weapon—a lower-grade treasure sword, the Locust Snake Sword, which was actually his true life sword.

Seeing that Master Han Shang had started fighting without hesitation, Huaqing also became angry and immediately drew out his own life sword, the Red Nan Sword.

The two immediately clashed in midair.

“Han Yue, where’s your True Fire Gun? Why don’t you bring it out?” Huaqing struggled to defend against Master Han Shang while also provoking him with words.

At this moment, Huai Qing must have also realized that Han Yue Shangren’s True Fire Gun had surely been destroyed by the Ten-Thousand-Year Tortoise.
“No need for the True Fire Gun; I can still kill you,” Han Yue Shangren shouted angrily, his attacks becoming even more fierce.
Huai Qing felt even greater pressure, having to exert all his strength each time just to barely fend off Han Yue Shangren’s blows.
Yet, Huai Qing still refused to draw out his Jade Sword.
On the other side, the five Golden Core cultivators from the Fire Moon Sect immediately activated their Cloud-Piercing Boats and charged at the seven members of the Immortal Cloud Sect.
Huai Jin and Huai You, upon seeing this, no longer wanted to flee and immediately confronted the five Fire Moon Sect cultivators, engaging in battle. The seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, including Qu Yi, also quickly took out their magical treasures, ready to join the fight.
Qu Yi handed the Wild Fire Formation to Li Ji and the Storm Sand Formation to Wang Mo, naturally not forgetting to provide lower-grade spirit stones as well.
Working together, the three of them managed to hold off two mid-stage Golden Core cultivators from the Fire Moon Sect in the air, greatly reducing the pressure on Huai Jin and Huai You.
The battles between the two sides reached a stalemate.
“Ah!”
Huai Qing suddenly let out a cry of pain as blood seeped from his left hand—his arm had been cut.
“Huai Qing, you’re only in the early Yuan Ying stage, and your Wood-type cultivation method is suppressed by my Metal-type technique. Yet you still dare to fight me to the death? You really overestimate yourself,” Han Yue Shangren said coldly.
Although he no longer had the True Fire Gun, a mid-grade treasure, he still held a significant advantage with his Locust Snake Sword, another mid-grade treasure.
Huai Qing was well aware of this, but he was extremely reluctant to draw out his Jade Sword. Moreover, considering the safety of the Immortal Cloud Sect’s disciples like Huai Jin, he couldn’t simply flee on his own.
“Han Yue, I advise you not to push me too far—it won’t benefit anyone,” Huai Qing suddenly said.
By now, Huai Qing had made up his mind: if all else failed, he would have to use his Jade Sword. He phrased his words subtly—using the Jade Sword would mean Han Yue’s death, the death of the Fire Moon Sect’s disciples, and the exposure of Huai Qing’s secret regarding the Jade Sword, which indeed wouldn’t benefit either side.
“Huai Qing, are you joking? Do you really think you can explode your Yuan Ying? Fine, I’ll just go back and rest for a hundred years—I can still regain my current strength,” Han Yue Shangren laughed.
Han Yue Shangren didn’t understand why Huai Qing suddenly said that, still believing that the only threat Huai Qing posed was through self-explosion of his Yuan Ying.
“Ah!”
At that moment, Qu Yi seized an opportunity and used his Metal-type speed technique, Ten Thousand Miles in an Instant, to kill one of the mid-stage Golden Core cultivators from the Fire Moon Sect.

“It’s you again!” Han Shangren immediately spotted Qu Yi and was furious. At the same time, while pressing down on Huai Qing with his sword, he formed a finger seal and sent a blast of true energy at Qu Yi. Whoosh! A golden beam shot straight at Qu Yi. He quickly activated the Wind Binding Formation at full strength, but it still couldn’t stop Han Shangren’s true energy strike. As the true energy was about to hit him, the spirit deity within his soul ordered the “Five Qi Three Flowers” divine talisman to appear in front of Qu Yi. Just as the true energy struck, the talisman appeared to block it. Boom! Qu Yi’s body plummeted into the sea, spewing blood violently. To everyone watching, it was clear that Qu Yi was dead. Once in the sea, Qu Yi entered the Tiny Realm Sphere and began checking his condition. “Fortunately, the divine talisman saved me again. The true energy didn’t hurt me; it was just the impact force that injured me,” Qu Yi said with relief. “Well, our task now is to search for treasures at the bottom of the sea,” the spirit deity’s voice suddenly rang out. Indeed, Qu Yi’s figure disappeared in the sea, leaving only a soybean-sized Tiny Realm Sphere falling rapidly. It was then that Qu Yi remembered the purpose of his journey—searching for treasures in this sea area. This was the perfect opportunity; while everyone else was busy fighting above, he could take advantage of falling into the sea to search for treasures on his own. Normally, with his strength at the later stage of the Foundation Establishment phase, Qu Yi wouldn’t dare enter the sea, not to mention the fierce sea monsters or the immense water pressure, which his current body couldn’t withstand. But the Tiny Realm Sphere could! As a treasure beyond top-tier spiritual artifacts, it wasn’t afraid of the water pressure, and Qu Yi, being inside the sphere, didn’t have to worry about it at all. The spirit deity controlled the Tiny Realm Sphere, causing it to fall at a speed equivalent to that of the Yuan Ying stage. Soon, the sphere reached the seabed and arrived at the location of the Sea Eye Mystic Crystal. “Haha, it’s the Sea Eye Mystic Crystal! No wonder it could cause such extraordinary phenomena—triggering waves and forming towering ice pillars. Qu Yi, this time we’ve made a fortune,” the spirit deity exclaimed as its consciousness scanned the seabed. Hearing this, Qu Yi, whose body still ached, felt less pain and immediately laughed, “The Sea Eye Mystic Crystal? What is it? Is it valuable?”

“Haha, let me tell you this: in the future, if you want to craft top-tier spiritual artifacts, this Sea Eye Dark Crystal will enable you to create one.” The God of Tools said confidently, in high spirits.
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi was instantly shocked—this Sea Eye Dark Crystal was actually a top-tier material.