Chapter 5: Departure

For three consecutive days, Qu Yi had been sneaking attacks on the Golden Core stage cultivators of the Fire Moon Sect. Now, after killing another mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, he returned to the Tiny Realm Sphere.
“Qu Yi, not bad! Your speed and proficiency in using true energy are both quite strong,” the Artifact God immediately praised him.
Over these three days, Qu Yi not only launched sneak attacks on the Fire Moon Sect members but also used them to train his own attacking skills. The speed techniques recorded in the “Five Energies and Three Flowers” divine formula included Ten Thousand Miles in an Instant, Silent as the Wind, Flowing Like Clouds, Lightning-Fast, and Condensing Space. After comparison, Qu Yi found that these five techniques were not very different from each other. To conceal his true strength, he always used Ten Thousand Miles in an Instant, resulting in his true energy always being of the metal element.
In addition to speed, Qu Yi also adjusted the amount of true energy used depending on his target, ensuring a one-hit kill while wasting no true energy.
“There’s still room for improvement,” Qu Yi replied humbly.
“How many Golden Cores do you have now?” the Artifact God asked casually.
Over the past three days, Qu Yi had never stopped killing, amassing quite a number of them.
“Ten early-stage Golden Cores—five of the metal type, two of the fire type, and one each of the earth, water, and wood types. Five mid-stage Golden Cores—two of the metal type, two of the fire type, and one of the earth type,” Qu Yi replied promptly, remembering them clearly.
A total of fifteen Golden Cores meant that half of the Golden Core stage cultivators of the Fire Moon Sect remaining in the Immortal Cloud Sect had died at once—a loss the sect could hardly bear.
“Qu Yi, stop killing for now. You’ve already killed so many, and the other fifteen must have noticed. They’ll likely gather together rather than stay separate. Stay in the Tiny Realm Sphere and devour five Golden Cores to see the effects,” the Artifact God advised.
In fact, the Artifact God was more worried about revealing the existence of such an extraordinary treasure as the Tiny Realm Sphere, which was even more precious than a jade sword. If someone else discovered it, Qu Yi would face even more troubles.
“I understand what you mean. Alright, let the people of the Fire Moon Sect breathe easy for now,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
Bai Man had just finished practicing “Glorious Gold and Brightness.” Upon opening her eyes and hearing Qu Yi’s words, she immediately asked, “Qu Yi, how many people from the Fire Moon Sect have you killed?”
Since Qu Yi had taught her “Glorious Gold and Brightness,” she had been practicing peacefully inside the Tiny Realm Sphere for three days straight.
Qu Yi immediately stretched out his two hands and formed the number fifteen, then said with a smile, “Sister, fifteen.”

After saying that, Qu Yi looked very pleased and proud.
“Only fifteen?” Bai Man pouted.
Qu Yi immediately became dispirited, sitting down on the lawn with an aggrieved look.
…
In front of him were five golden pills at the initial stage of the Golden Pill phase, one for each of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Qu Yi followed the advice of the Artifact God and decided to swallow the five golden pills first to test their effects and see if they matched what was described in the “Five Qi and Three Flowers” divine formula. After all, the “Five Qi and Three Flowers” was merely the result of Xia Hou Si’s years of speculation, with no proven success stories—so Qu Yi had to try it himself.
Inside his body, the five cultivation methods—glorious gold, revived vegetation, merged water and sky, spreading flames, and vast imperial land—operated simultaneously, each governing one of the five internal organs, while the dantian served as a medium to balance the energy within them.
“Five golden pills—swallow them!”
Feeling the energy flow smoothly within his body, Qu Yi shouted immediately, then threw all five golden pills in front of him into his mouth.
As soon as the five golden pills entered Qu Yi’s body, they were strongly drawn to the mixed golden pills in the dantian and quickly dissolved and dispersed. The energy of metal flowed into the lungs, wood into the liver, water into the kidneys, fire into the heart, and earth into the spleen.
In just a few breaths, the five golden pills were completely absorbed, and the energy in each of the five internal organs increased slightly. As the five cultivation methods continued to operate, they fed the excess energy back into the mixed golden pills in the dantian, gradually restoring balance to the energy of the five golden pills.
Only after the energy in his body was balanced did Qu Yi open his eyes and smile.
“Qu Yi, how’s the effect after swallowing the golden pills?” the Artifact God asked anxiously.
The Artifact God greatly admired the concept of the “Five Qi and Three Flowers” divine formula and naturally wanted to know what achievements Qu Yi would reach after successful cultivation. At this moment, what concerned the Artifact God most was whether Qu Yi’s results matched those predicted in the divine formula after swallowing the golden pills.
“The energy of all six golden pills has increased. I can’t describe exactly how much, but I have a feeling that I might need to swallow a hundred golden pills of each of the five elements before advancing to the intermediate stage of the Golden Pill phase,” Qu Yi said thoughtfully.
If what Qu Yi said was true, he would have to obtain a hundred golden pills at the initial stage of each of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—for a total of five hundred. Only by swallowing them all could he advance to the intermediate stage of the Golden Pill phase, which was indeed terrifying.

“It seems that this Xia Hou Si’s calculations, after countless years of refinement, are still quite accurate. If you only devour Golden Core Stage 1 cores, you’ll need a total of 500 Golden Core cores; if they’re from Golden Core Stage 2, you still need 50 in total,” said the God of Tools in surprise.
It appears that even by taking this shortcut of advancing through core consumption, Qu Yi still has a long way to go. There are only a little over a hundred people at the Golden Core stage on Cui Mu Planet—how could there be enough cores for Qu Yi to devour?
“Take your time,” Qu Yi could only sigh.
……
At this moment, on Zui Yun Peak, Wan Chang was in extreme anger.
In front of him were only fifteen Golden Core stage members from the Fire Moon Sect, all in a state of panic.
“Gan Lin is missing!”
“Gan Xin is missing!”
“…All of them are missing!”
After realizing that the nearby Golden Core stage members had disappeared, the fifteen immediately sensed danger and fled back to Zui Yun Peak like frightened birds, reporting the situation to Wan Chang.
Wan Chang was furious. Ling Huo Shangren had assigned him to lead the search for the Immortal Cloud Sect, but instead of finding a single member of that sect, fifteen people from the Fire Moon Sect had died. How could he bear this responsibility?
Although Ling Huo Shangren wouldn’t execute Wan Chang, to comfort the Fire Moon Sect, he would still punish the person in charge.
“Did you not notice any clues at all about those fifteen people disappearing?” Wan Chang asked loudly, his anger evident.
The fifteen before him trembled silently, confirming that they had indeed found no traces.
Wan Chang tried to calm down and thought carefully before suddenly asking, “Among the fifteen missing people, how many are at Golden Core Stage 1? How many at Golden Core Stage 2?”
Yong Quan, a powerful figure among the Fire Moon Sect’s Golden Core stage members, stepped forward and replied, “Ten at Golden Core Stage 1, five at Golden Core Stage 2.”
“It’s certain that the attacker’s strength is around Golden Core Stage 2. Think carefully—among the Immortal Cloud Sect’s Golden Core stage members, whose strength matches that of Golden Core Stage 2?” Wan Chang pressed urgently.
Yong Quan hesitated for a moment before cautiously saying, “Elder, I understand what you’re thinking, but this is just an assumption. It could be anyone at the Golden Core stage. A person at Golden Core Stage 1 or 2, if they possess powerful magical artifacts, could also launch a silent attack. It could also be someone at Golden Core Stage 3, who deliberately attacked us at the earlier stages to avoid revealing their own strength.”

Wan Chang realized that it was indeed someone from the Xianyun Sect at the Golden Core stage who had launched a surprise attack. In his haste, he had overlooked some details.
“You’re right. It seems we can now be certain that there is at least one more Golden Core practitioner alive in the Xianyun Sect, hiding in this area,” Wan Chang said firmly.
“Elder, what should we do next?” Yong Quan asked bravely.
Wan Chang glanced at Yong Quan, then at the other fourteen terrified people, and said coldly, “Form pairs and continue to destroy the entire Xianyun Sect. I’ll hide nearby.”
Wan Chang had to carry out Linghuo Shangren’s orders, but with such fierce enemies lurking around, he had no choice but to do this to ensure the completion of the mission and the safety of the fifteen people from Huoyue Gate.
The fifteen people were divided into seven groups, with Yong Quan, who was in the later stage of Golden Core, alone.
Just as they decided on their groups, none of them noticed a speck of dust drifting on the wind from the peak and landing on Yong Quan.
“Everyone, go ahead!” Wan Chang shouted.
“Yes!” The fifteen people immediately flew away in their groups.
…
Yong Quan flew alone to a mountainous area. For a whole day, he diligently cast fire-based spells, destroying one mountain after another. Only when his spiritual energy grew weak did he stop to rest on a mountain peak.
Soon, he entered a meditative state. A speck of dust fell from his robes to the ground.
Suddenly, across from Yong Quan, Qu Yi appeared with a smile, holding two array discs— the Wild Fire Array and the Storm Sand Array.
“Who…?” Yong Quan cried out in shock.
At the same time, the Wild Fire Array and the Storm Sand Array were activated. Intensely hot flames scorched Yong Quan, while tornado-like sand swirled around him, trapping him. He was forced to constantly use his vital energy to resist the Wild Fire Array.
Qu Yi had unleashed both arrays at full strength, pouring thousands of spirit stones into them—equivalent to two Golden Core practitioners attacking Yong Quan simultaneously.
Yong Quan, already exhausted from using his vital energy, was now overwhelmed by these two powerful arrays. He was desperately trying to defend himself, hoping only that Wan Chang would arrive soon.
“Eight Clouds Converging into a Dragon!”
Qu Yi suddenly shouted. He drew out the Red Nan Sword and executed a sword technique he had long mastered—“Eight Clouds Converging into a Dragon.” Eight streams of vital energy shot out from the air, converging into a colorful dragon that rushed toward Yong Quan.
“Ah!”

When Yongquan tried to resist the two formations, he exhausted all his remaining vital energy. Faced with the power of “Baryun He Long,” which was equivalent to that of the late Jin Dan stage, he was immediately struck by a sword. Qu Yi rushed forward immediately, grabbed Yongquan’s body, and took out his Jin Dan. In an instant, Qu Yi dealt with Yongquan’s corpse, retrieved the formation disc, and then returned to the Inch Realm Sphere. In the air, a red cloud quickly arrived at the mountain top—Wan Chang had arrived. With furrowed brows and a fierce expression, Wan Chang was furious! “Scum of the Xianyun Sect, come out! I’ll burn you to ashes!” At that moment, right in front of Wan Chang, a speck of dust drifted away in the wind. “Qu Yi, our operations here are over. We can move to another place—Fanglao Mountain sounds good,” said the Artifact God while controlling the Inch Realm Sphere, smiling. “Good. Once my strength reaches the middle stage of Jin Dan, we’ll cause a ruckus at the Fire Moon Gate,” Qu Yi said coldly, holding Yongquan’s Jin Dan.