Chapter 30: Wu Yuan and Xuan Gu

On the mountain peak, Qu Yi stood facing the wind, with a person dressed in pale yellow standing beside him.
“Xuan Gu, you said you need to absorb enough bone marrow essence to restore your full strength,” Qu Yi suddenly spoke up.
It turned out that the pale-yellow figure was none other than Xuan Gu Shangren. After his body was destroyed by Qu Yi, he absorbed the energy of Yuan Ying, regaining only an energy-based body rather than a true physical form.
“Yes, master,” Xuan Gu Shangren replied gloomily.
Qu Yi glanced at him and chuckled, “In that case, I won’t return to Nan Yun City for now. Let’s go to the surrounding nine cities to help you solidify your body.”
Xuan Gu Shangren was slightly surprised, not expecting Qu Yi to take things so seriously as to personally help him kill people and extract bone marrow essence.
Soon, Qu Yi disappeared, entering the Cun Jie Ball, and brought out Bai Man and Wu Yuan.
Now that Xuan Gu Shangren had become his slave, Qu Yi no longer had to worry about the secrets of the Cun Jie Ball being revealed, as Xuan Gu Shangren would die instantly if he tried to do so.
“Senior sister, Wu Yuan, you’re free to roam in the Bai Mo Mountain Range now. From now on, we’ll hunt thoroughly here and spread our reputation as ruthless killers,” Qu Yi laughed heartily.
Of course, Qu Yi intended to help Xuan Gu Shangren solidify his physical form while also allowing Wu Yuan and Bai Man to improve their cultivation.
“Qu Yi, you’re so kind,” Bai Man said, smiling happily at him.
“Ugh, Qu Yi! I can finally drink blood!” Wu Yuan exclaimed in ecstasy.
Seeing Bai Man’s infatuated expression toward him, Qu Yi felt extremely satisfied, feeling as though his own body had grown much larger.
Meanwhile, Xuan Gu Shangren, watching Qu Yi’s actions, was filled with astonishment. Qu Yi possessed a magic artifact that could trap living people, a jade sword, and likely other secrets—truly enviable.
At that moment, an idea struck Xuan Gu Shangren: although he had been captured, it might still be a stroke of luck and opportunity.
……
“Wu Yuan, you damned beast! Leave one for me!” Qu Yi’s voice roared angrily in the air.
On the ground, Wu Yuan had transformed his body into a hundred-meter-sized creature with four hooves, trampling violently on ten cultivators at the mid-Yuan Ying stage. Undoubtedly, those cultivators died a miserable death.
Xuan Gu Shangren immediately descended to the side of those dead cultivators and placed his hands on their bodies. One by one, the corpses disappeared.

Then, the body of Master Xuan Gu, with its pale yellow skin, also began to become more solid. Qu Yi landed and congratulated Master Xuan Gu before immediately flying to Wu Yuan’s head. Slapping it hard, he cursed, “Wu Yuan, you’ve already killed hundreds of cultivators of the demonic path. I’ll take over for the next act.” Now, Qu Yi and the others had reached the area of Zhonghuo City. Along the way, Wu Yuan had killed all the cultivators first. This monstrous beast had been trapped inside the Dimensional Sphere for too long; as soon as it emerged, it went berserk, killing every cultivator it encountered. Even when slapped on the head, Wu Yuan didn’t dare to get angry and immediately pretended to be gloomy and dejected. “Alright, let’s kill the cultivators together,” Qu Yi said, relieved that he couldn’t resist this hundred-meter-tall beast’s act of pretending to be pitiful. “Ugh, Qu Yi, you said that!” Wu Yuan immediately raised its head happily and flew off. Qu Yi, Bai Man, and Master Xuan Gu had no choice but to follow. In a valley, a cultivator in the later stage of the Blood Cultivation Method was refining the corpse of a cultivator of the demonic path. The man looked quite young, with red hair that caught everyone’s attention. Suddenly, the red-haired youth sensed an intermediate-stage Yuan Ying beast approaching, with clear murderous intent. “Hmph, a beast daring to act aggressively,” the red-haired youth accelerated the refinement of the corpse and stood up immediately. With a growling sound, Wu Yuan landed in front of the red-haired youth. As soon as it landed, Wu Yuan pounced, its dragon head spitting out a gold sword as wide as a palm, which shot forward like lightning. The red-haired youth suddenly transformed into a red dragon, not only dodging the gold sword but also wrapping itself around Wu Yuan. Soon, Wu Yuan’s entire body was covered in red blood, a terrifying sight. Suddenly, the red blood emitted blue smoke and reverted back to the red-haired youth’s form, who looked at Wu Yuan in fear. It turned out that earlier, Wu Yuan had used its phoenix tail, which emitted pure blue true fire, vaporizing the red blood. Wu Yuan’s body—its dragon head, horse body, roc wings, phoenix tail, and turtle patterns—represented the five elements: metal, earth, wood, fire, and water respectively. After devouring the life force, the energy of each element entered its corresponding part. The fire element energy was absorbed by the phoenix tail, which possessed extremely strong fire energy. Although it was only at the intermediate stage of Yuan Ying, its pure blue true fire was equivalent to that of a cultivator in the intermediate stage of leaving the body. Naturally, the blood of this red-haired youth couldn’t withstand Wu Yuan’s true fire.

Wuyuan dodged the red-haired youth’s attacks, furious, and immediately charged forward again, unleashing his golden sword with a dragon’s head and a massive wind blade with his eagle wings. The red-haired youth waved his hands, creating two blood apes—one to confront the golden sword and the other to face the wind blade. Boom! Boom! The two blood apes were destroyed, and the golden sword along with the wind blade vanished as well. At that moment, Qu Yi, Xuan Gu Shangren, and Bai Man arrived. “Ugh, Qu Yi, help me! This red-haired kid is too strong; I can’t beat him,” Wuyuan cried out immediately. Qu Yi stared at the red-haired youth and smiled, saying, “Fellow cultivator, I’m sorry.” The red-haired youth sensed something and laughed loudly, “You four—three in the middle stage of Yuan Ying and one in the middle stage of Jin Dan—how can you still harm me? Let me kill you all thoroughly and then refine your bodies.” Hearing this, Xuan Gu Shangren, Bai Man, and Wuyuan all sighed and shook their heads. Qu Yi smiled faintly, immediately drew out the Fulong Sword, and flew straight at the red-haired youth. In an instant, he activated the ‘True Dragon Devouring Spirit’ formation within the Fulong Sword, summoning a golden dragon. The golden dragon lunged at the red-haired youth with terrifying force, making it impossible for him to resist. The red-haired youth was indeed shocked and quickly retreated to get out of the dragon’s reach. But the golden dragon was even faster; it instantly wrapped around him and then opened its mouth, swallowing him whole. After a while, the golden dragon exploded violently, and the red-haired youth reappeared, though extremely weak. Clearly, he had used his ultimate move, consuming a great deal of his vital energy to escape the dragon’s devouring power. Qu Yi immediately flew to the red-haired youth’s side, piercing his body with the Fulong Sword, and his combined vital energy flowed into the youth’s body. The red-haired youth’s eyes widened in terror as he realized his vital energy was completely disrupted, unable to counteract the strange energy Qu Yi had injected into him. At that moment, Wuyuan leaped forward on his horse and rushed to the struggling red-haired youth, then bit him and swallowed him up. In an instant, Wuyuan’s entire body swelled, reaching a height of 150 meters, becoming incredibly massive. By devouring the red-haired youth, Wuyuan also reached the later stage of Yuan Ying. …… Another valley. A man with a black face sat in the center of the valley, holding a dark-colored ore—actually Black Flame Stone. Clearly, this cultivator at the later stage of Yuan Ying was absorbing Black Flame Stone to strengthen his body.

Suddenly, the man with the dark face raised his head abruptly and looked toward the distant sky. A gigantic monster ten meters tall, carrying three humans, was rushing swiftly toward the valley. Indeed, it was Wu Yuan approaching. The man with the dark face put away the Black Flame Stone and stared intently at Wu Yuan, then called out calmly, “Do you want to challenge me?” Qu Yi, Bai Man, and Xuan Gu Shangren jumped off Wu Yuan’s horse, while Wu Yuan immediately dashed forward, his dragon head spitting out a golden sword that aimed at the man with the dark face. “Hmph, seeking death!” The man with the dark face snarled in anger and quickly drew a thick black spear engraved with flame patterns. With a slight shake, a black spear tip shot out, shattering the golden sword. Immediately afterward, he also took to the air and lunged at Wu Yuan. Wu Yuan roared in fury, his dragon head swallowing another golden sword—one that was ten times stronger and twice as fast as the previous one. The man with the dark face was stunned and quickly dodged Wu Yuan’s fierce strike. At that moment, he realized that Wu Yuan, who was in the later stage of the Yuan Ying phase, was extremely powerful and not easy to deal with. “Hmph, just wait for my assassination,” said the man with the dark face. Being decisive, he knew it would be difficult to defeat Wu Yuan now, so he immediately thought of a strategy to ambush him later. Seeing that the man with the dark face wanted to leave, Qu Yi laughed lightly, “Have I given you permission to go?” By then, Qu Yi had already drawn his Jade Sword. With a swing, a half-moon-shaped blade two palms wide of golden light flashed out, leaving no time for the man with the dark face to resist before it pierced into his body. “Ah! No!” The man with the dark face cried out in pain and collapsed on the ground. Xuan Gu Shangren chuckled happily, walked over to the man with the dark face, placed his hands on his body, and used his vital energy to absorb and refine his entire body. “Master, I have now regained my strength from the later stage of the Yuan Ying phase. I think that by refining a few more people at this stage, I can reach the ultimate level of that phase. However, to return to the early stage of the Chu Que phase, I believe I need to refine someone at that stage,” Xuan Gu Shangren said carefully. Qu Yi looked at him and smiled casually, saying, “Xuan Gu, we’re almost at Zhonghuo City. Since you need a body from the early stage of Chu Que, I’ll kill the city lord of Zhonghuo City and give it to you.” Hearing this, Xuan Gu Shangren was extremely excited.