Chapter 18: The Three Tripod Gate

Qu Yi killed Jia Ping, Gu Tian, and Gu Di in one go, seizing the Bone Staff, Tiger Tooth Sword, and Sky Striking Claws, before approaching Wei Yan.
“These three are low-grade treasures; they’re yours,” Qu Yi said as he tossed the three artifacts to Wei Yan.
Wei Yan accepted them without hesitation, smiling, before quickly passing them to the three who had arrived.
“Xue Can, Bai Sen, Bing Yi—take these three treasures,” Wei Yan said calmly.
It turned out that the three who had suddenly arrived were Xue Can, who practiced the Blood Path; Bai Sen, who focused on physical cultivation; and Bing Yi, a female cultivator who mastered ice-based techniques.
“Yes, master,” the three replied in unison, showing no sign of dissatisfaction.
With their strength at the late Yuan Ying stage, they were once formidable figures in the Hundred Demons Mountain Region. Yet they were captured by Wei Yan and forced to wear soul shackles, becoming his slaves—yet they showed no resentment, proving Wei Yan’s skill.
“Alright, you three go ahead and search for more late Yuan Ying cultivators,” Wei Yan said indifferently.
Xue Can, Bai Sen, and Bing Yi immediately teleported away.
Seeing them go, Qu Yi smiled and said, “Wei Yan, it seems you’ve really captured over twenty late Yuan Ying cultivators. Now, can we start establishing the Three Tripod Gate?”
Wei Yan nodded and then looked at Qing Wu Gui, who was still in meditation, asking, “Brother, when did you meet him?”
Obviously, Wei Yan hadn’t seen Qing Wu Gui on the Wind-Facing Ship, so he assumed Qu Yi had met him in the Hundred Demons Mountain Region.
“Oh, when I first arrived here, I was harassed by people from the Black Bone Sect. It was this brother who helped me. By the way, his name is Wu Qing—quite a match for mine, right?” Qu Yi joked.
Of course, Qu Yi had already used a communication token to inform Qing Wu Gui about Wei Yan’s situation and asked him to cooperate in acting out the role.
Wei Yan fell silent for a moment, assessing Qing Wu Gui’s strength. After all, since Qing Wu Gui could hold his ground against three late Yuan Ying experts for so long, he must have some secrets.
However, Wei Yan soon regained confidence, certain he could subdue both Qing Wu Gui and Qu Yi.
“Boring. Let’s head to Nan Yun City. We’ll establish the Three Tripod Gate there and then take control of Nan Yun City,” Wei Yan said with a smile.
Qu Yi nodded.
……
The Hundred Demons Mountain Region had a total of ten cities.

In the north were North Blood City and North Bone City; in the east, East Black City and East Bone City; in the west, West Blood City and West Valley City; in the center, Middle Distance City, Middle Fire City, and Middle Sun City. In the south, there was only one city: South Cloud City.

At this time, Wei Yan, Qu Yi, and Qing Wu Gui arrived at a valley a thousand li outside South Cloud City.

Along the edge of the valley stood three towering mountains, shaped like three legs that encircled the entire valley. Inside the valley, exotic flowers exuded wonderful scents, with a refreshing spiritual energy lingering in the air.

Wei Yan took a liking to this valley at first sight and decided to establish the Three Tripod Gate here.

“Boring, heartless—what do you think? How about establishing the Three Tripod Gate here?” Wei Yan asked with a smile, admiring the scenery of the valley.

Qu Yi merely smiled, knowing that since Wei Yan had made the decision, there was no need for him to argue. After all, being with Wei Yan, Qu Yi only wanted to use Wei Yan’s strength to secretly carry out his own plans.

“The surroundings are beautiful, and the three mountains are majestic. I think this place is ideal for establishing a sect,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Qing Wu Gui remained silent, as he would follow Qu Yi’s lead anyway.

“Great! Since you agree too, then our Three Tripod Gate will be established here!” Wei Yan declared passionately.

Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui also immediately smiled broadly.

Then, Wei Yan took out various colored flags from his storage bracelet—flags of the Thousand Demons Illusion Array.

“These are the flags of the Thousand Demons Illusion Array. Once I finish setting them up, the entire thousand-li area around here will belong to our Three Tripod Gate. From now on, anyone who enters the array will immediately find themselves in a fictional world, where the thousand-headed demons inside will attack them. So, our Three Tripod Gate will be completely safe,” Wei Yan said happily.

Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui were shocked—how many secrets did Wei Yan have hidden? He even possessed such a powerful array.

However, they weren’t afraid of Wei Yan’s plans. They would first play along with him and then take everything from him later.

After saying that, Wei Yan flew into the air and kept throwing the flags onto the ground. Soon, flags were planted throughout the thousand-li area, and the Thousand Demons Illusion Array was successfully set up.

Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui remained in the valley. At this moment, they clearly sensed that the scenery had completely changed. The three towering mountains that had been right in front of them suddenly disappeared, leaving only a garden filled with blooming flowers. Moreover, there was a faint aura of cultivators in the air; it seemed that whenever hostility arose, those auras would coalesce into demonic entities to launch attacks.

“Haha, boring, heartless. How about this? The Thousand Demons Illusion Array is quite powerful, right? I’ll teach you how to control it now. From now on, only the three of us will be able to use this grand array,” Wei Yan exclaimed happily as he returned.

Then, Wei Yan took out two jade slips and threw them to Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui. Qu Yi sent his spiritual consciousness into the jade slips and immediately understood how to control the Thousand Demons Illusion Array.

……

In ten days, Wei Yan’s twenty late-stage Yuan Ying disciples all arrived at San Ding Gate. Immediately, they worked together to rapidly build various buildings, libraries, halls, and martial training grounds at San Ding Gate. There were three main halls, which served as the residences for Wei Yan, Qu Yi, and Qing Wu Gui. There were also twenty secondary halls for the twenty late-stage Yuan Ying experts. Additionally, there were a thousand buildings constructed for the future development of San Ding Gate.

At this time, the twenty-three people of San Ding Gate gathered in the San Ding Hall, the place where decisions were made.

Inside the hall, there was a half-human-high stone staircase facing due north. On top of the staircase were three jade beds—the middle one belonged to Wei Yan, while the ones on the left and right belonged to Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui. On the broad ground below the staircase, the twenty late-stage Yuan Ying experts stood at attention.

“Today, San Ding Gate is officially established. Our goal is to unify the entire Bai Mo Mountain Region. Let’s work together to achieve this great feat,” Wei Yan said loudly as he got up from his jade bed.

“Yes, Master,” the twenty late-stage Yuan Ying disciples replied in unison.

Qu Yi listened with a smile, but his heart was stirred. He roughly understood Wei Yan’s plan to unify the entire Bai Mo Mountain Region. Then he thought that there might be other demon cultivators operating in various places across the South Demon Continent, and even a large number of them were secretly active in the North Immortal Continent as well.

It seemed that a severe storm was approaching Tian Feng Star.

“Very good. Starting tomorrow, San Ding Gate will divide into three groups. Led by Blood Remnant, Master Boring, and Master Heartless, these three groups will carry out a sweeping operation near Nan Yun City, capturing all the cultivators who enter or leave the city alive,” Wei Yan said viciously.

“Yes, Master,” the twenty people replied loudly once again.

Undoubtedly, this move was aimed at controlling all the cultivators in Nanyun City, effectively sidelining the city lord and then forcing him to abdicate. Qu Yi watched with a smile, understanding that Wei Yan had chosen him as the vice head precisely so that he and Qing Wu Gui could take the blame at critical moments. After all, on the Nanmo Continent, the five major cultivation sects also had hidden experts; if those old monsters were provoked to target Sanding Gate, he and Qing Wu Gui would be mercilessly abandoned. Yet Qu Yi wasn’t afraid—he would let Wei Yan use him first, only to reveal later that he was actually using Wei Yan himself, which should be quite interesting.

Wei Yan then divided the twenty cultivators in the later Yuan Ying stage into three teams. One team of seven, led by Qu Yi; another of seven, led by Qing Wu Gui; and the third of eight, led by Xue Can. As for Wei Yan himself, he remained inside Sanding Gate, directing operations while waiting for the three teams to bring back the captured individuals. Qu Yi happily accepted the assignment. He clearly understood that Wei Yan was sending him and Qing Wu Gui to take the brunt of the work, representing Sanding Gate’s image. If anything went wrong, others would surely blame him and Qing Wu Gui, allowing Wei Yan to stay out of it. “Hehe, Wei Yan, no matter how many schemes you devise, you’ll never uncover the secrets hidden within me. You’ll cry soon enough,” Qu Yi thought with satisfaction.

With the teams assigned, they set out from Sanding Gate to carry out their missions. Soon, all three teams left, leaving only Wei Yan inside. Sitting quietly on the jade bed, Wei Yan murmured, “Boring. Useless— one in the early Yuan Ying stage, the other in the middle. I made you vice heads so you could live a life of dignity. Once I unify the Bai Mo Mountain Region, I’ll make you disappear entirely.” Clearly, Wei Yan’s intention was indeed to exploit Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui, exactly as Qu Yi had guessed. After speaking, Wei Yan stood up, gazed into the distance, and frowned, whispering, “I wonder how well the other cultivators are progressing with their plans. If they succeed, this Tianfeng Star will become our domain as cultivators. All those notions of cultivation and magic will vanish.” It turned out that the entire group of cultivators was working on a grand plan to rule Tianfeng Star. Of course, Qu Yi couldn’t hear any of this—he was leading his team toward the outskirts of Nanyun City.

In this group, aside from Qu Yi himself, there were six others, including that Bai Sen. Among the other six, two practiced blood-based cultivation techniques, two practiced physical cultivation, and two practiced wind-based cultivation techniques.
Now, Qu Yi’s group had arrived at the top of a stone mountain.
“Everyone, it’s time for our performance. Stay focused and capture all the demon cultivators from Nanyun City,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
“Yes, Master,” the seven replied calmly.