Chapter 41: Creating a Cave Abode

Qu Yi led the demon cultivators to Yangyun Peak and immediately set up camp there.
The northern envoy left the group early and rushed to Ziyang Palace to inform Hai Guixin, the demon cultivator hiding there.
Three days later, the northern envoy brought Hai Guixin to Yangyun Peak.
Qu Yi took a look at Hai Guixin and then consulted the Artifact God, learning that his true form was that of a Jade Pearl Clam King. When cultivating in the sea, Hai Guixin could obtain thousands of transparent jade pearls just by opening his clamshell after sleeping, allowing him to amass astonishing wealth every day.
Of course, the quality of the jade pearls he produced improved as his cultivation level rose. Though these pearls were useless to Hai Guixin himself, they were extremely valuable to cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage, especially those practicing earth-based cultivation techniques.
The northern envoy introduced Hai Guixin to everyone, including Qu Yi.
Then, the northern envoy led Hai Guixin to the peak’s summit, with the southern envoy, Bai Yan, Wei Yan, and Qu Yi following.
“Hai Guixin, you’ve worked hard at Ziyang Palace. Now that we’re here, we can finally work together to destroy it. But…” The northern envoy spoke for a while before hesitating, reluctant to continue.
“Northern envoy, what ‘but’? Hurry up and tell me! I’m dying of worry!” Hai Guixin asked anxiously.
Suddenly, the northern envoy struck, delivering a palm strike filled with powerful wind energy directly at Hai Guixin. Almost at the same time, the southern envoy, Bai Yan, and Wei Yan also attacked, while Qu Yi had already set free Xuan Gu Shangren. Xuan Gu Shangren, who was well-prepared, also struck Hai Guixin with a palm.
True to his reputation as a Clam King, Hai Guixin had astonishing defense capabilities. Despite being attacked by four cultivators at the mid-stage Outward Emergence stage and one at the early stage, he managed to block their attacks with his body.
However, after blocking five strikes, Hai Guixin collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth.
Though his physical defense was strong, he couldn’t withstand the combined energy of those five powerful cultivators. His body was injured by the energy attacks.
“Northern envoy, southern envoy…”, Hai Guixin stared at them in disbelief. These were the right-hand men of the demon cultivator leader—how could they have betrayed him?
Qu Yi knelt down with a smile, stroking Hai Guixin’s head and saying, “Hai Guixin, what a pitiful man, attacked by five people. Well, I hereby declare that you are now my captive.”

Then, Qu Yi ignored the angry gaze Hai Gui Xin threw at him as his spiritual consciousness penetrated into his primordial spirit and found his soul. Immediately afterward, the Artifact God took action, implanting a soul shackle on Hai Gui Xin.
“I… Master!” Hai Gui Xin was about to curse angrily but quickly changed his tone.
The Artifact God’s control over souls seemed profound, seemingly beyond the comprehension of cultivators in the realm of cultivation. Naturally, a single order from the Artifact God made Hai Gui Xin submit immediately.
…
On Yangyun Peak, Qu Yi placed his right hand on Hai Gui Xin’s shoulder and said softly, “Old Hai, the five blows I gave you just now were a bit too harsh. Was it because I considered your body to be too strong? So, to be safe, I had to make you suffer a little. By the way, how about you tell us about the situation at Ziyang Palace now?”
The northern envoy had given Hai Gui Xin a bottle of An Yuan Dan to stabilize his internal injuries, so Qu Yi immediately comforted him.
Hai Gui Xin trembled. Right now, their relationship was that of slave and master. If Qu Yi had spoken in an authoritative tone, Hai Gui Xin might have felt somewhat at ease. But since Qu Yi was speaking to him so intimately, he grew worried.
“Master, Ziyang Palace consists of fifteen palaces, each located on one of the fifteen highest peaks in the Ziyang Mountain Range. I’ve already taken control of three palaces: Yueyang Palace, Huolan Palace, and Zhenxing Palace. The remaining twelve palaces are quite close to each other. I’m afraid that if I make a mistake, it might alert Huang Yuan, the elder of Ziyang Palace. He’s at an advanced stage of leaving his body and practices earth-based cultivation techniques. I can’t defeat him, so I haven’t attacked those twelve palaces yet,” Hai Gui Xin said cautiously, fearing that Qu Yi might get angry. If he received another five blows, he would truly feel too ashamed to even think of suicide.
Seeing Hai Gui Xin’s expression, Qu Yi felt secretly pleased. Having a strong cultivator at an intermediate stage of leaving his body fear him was also a kind of achievement.
“Old Hai, don’t be so nervous. I’ve already implanted a soul shackle on you. I won’t send you to die or abuse you. In the future, I’ll remove the soul shackle. Right now, my strength is too weak, so I have to ask you for help. Alright, Old Hai, tell me about the rulers of the other twelve palaces now,” Qu Yi said, patting Hai Gui Xin’s shoulder encouragingly.

Hai Gui Xin’s forehead actually drooped with tears—this was truly hard to believe. This Jade Pearl Clam King had sneaked into the highly skilled Zi Yang Palace without any fear, yet now, after being slapped a few times by Qu Yi, who was in the middle stage of Yuan Ying, he was suffering greatly. It was really strange.

“Master, the other twelve palace lords: six are in the early stage of exiting the body, five are in the middle stage, and one has just reached the late stage of exiting the body,” Hai Gui Xin said calmly, constantly worried that Qu Yi might slap his shoulder again.

Qu Yi lowered his hand, calmed down, and then said, “Lao Hai, do you have any way to get those palace lords to leave the Zi Yang Mountains? If so, I can capture them one by one. Then we can have the people of Zi Yang Palace surround that elder, Huang Yuan Shangren, together.”

Hearing this, Hai Gui Xin’s heart skipped a beat. Qu Yi’s intention was clear—he wanted to take care of those palace lords one by one. This plan was quite feasible. With four people around Qu Yi already in the middle stage of exiting the body and one in the early stage, it was possible to subdue those palace lords one by one.

“I think there is a way, Master. Do you have any top-grade treasures? You could create a cave dwelling somewhere on the edge of the Zi Yang Mountains and place those treasures there. I’ll have someone spread the news of this cave dwelling to those six palace lords in the early stage of exiting the body. Then it will depend on your strength, Master,” Hai Gui Xin immediately came up with a strategy.

It turned out that those six palace lords only had lower-grade treasures, and each of them longed for a top-grade treasure so they could suppress the other palace lords in Zi Yang Palace. Therefore, Hai Gui Xin was sure that as soon as the news of the top-grade treasure spread, those six palace lords would definitely come secretly.

After hearing this, Qu Yi’s eyes lit up. He nodded immediately and then gave Hai Gui Xin’s shoulder a firm slap.

“Lao Hai, that’s great! I never expected that you, who had been hiding underwater every day, could come up with such a clever plan,” Qu Yi exclaimed excitedly.

Hai Gui Xin swayed slightly, his heart trembling for a moment before he stabilized himself. He murmured, “What kind of clever plan is this? Everyone in the cultivation world knows this, right? People die for wealth, and birds die for food. I’ve seen too many such situations since I came to the land.”

Qu Yi ignored Hai Gui Xin’s nagging and went to consult the Weapon God about any good formations that could be used to set up this trap cave dwelling.

……

Hai Gui Xin returned to Zi Yang Palace, went to the Yue Yang Hall, and summoned the palace lord, Yue Yang Shangren.

Then, Hai Gui Xin asked Master Yue Yang to find six disciples. Hai Gui Xin already knew that these six disciples were actually spies sent by those six palace lords who were in the early stages of their cultivation. Hai Gui Xin instructed Master Yue Yang to arrange for these six people to search around the cave dwelling built by Qu Yi in search of spiritual herbs. All six of them possessed the strength of the early Yuan Ying stage. After hearing Master Yue Yang’s orders, they immediately set out to look for the herbs. Naturally, with Qu Yi’s covert guidance, the six of them almost simultaneously discovered the cave dwelling. However, despite their efforts, their cultivation at the Yuan Ying stage was not enough to break through the protective array surrounding the cave. So, they immediately flew in six different directions to report back to their respective palace lords. These six palaces were the North Heaven Palace, Zhong Yang Palace, Qiao Ming Palace, Yue Fa Palace, Jing Hou Palace, and Xuan Tai Palace. Undoubtedly, upon hearing their reports, the six palace lords immediately realized that there must be precious treasures inside that cave dwelling. The six palace lords rushed to the location of the cave dwelling at the fastest speed possible. … The cave dwelling was located at the foot of a lush mountain, where there happened to be a huge cave. Qu Yi made slight modifications to it and set up a powerful array. This array was named the “Returnless Lost Path Array,” containing five hidden levels. The first four levels could be easily broken through with the strength of those in the early stages of cultivation, but when attacking the fifth level, the entire array would suddenly change, causing the previously broken levels to revive and recombine with the fifth level, creating a world of wind and fire capable of defeating cultivators even in the middle stages of cultivation. Meanwhile, outside the cave dwelling, there was a seemingly insignificant speck of dust. Of course, this dust was actually the transformed Cun Jie Ball, with Qu Yi, Nan Shi, Bei Shi, Bai Yan, Wei Yan, and Master Xuan Gu all inside it. In the air, a skilled cultivator in the early stages of cultivation arrived—Master Bei Tian from the North Heaven Palace. Sensing the slight fluctuations in spiritual energy from the cave dwelling, Master Bei Tian was overjoyed and immediately teleported there. But before he could even laugh twice, another person arrived in the air—Master Zhong Yang from the Zhong Yang Palace. Before long, Masters Qiao Ming, Yue Fa, Jing Hou, and Xuan Tai also arrived one after another. Master Bei Tian was quite displeased. Having arrived first, he now had to wait rather than attack the array first, which undoubtedly gave the other five an advantage at his expense.

“Fifth, I didn’t expect you to have heard the news as well. Since that’s the case, we are all palace masters of Zi Yang Palace. To avoid discord, let’s attack this cave protection formation together,” said Bei Tian Shangren calmly.
The other five palace masters exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, inside the Dimensional Sphere, Qu Yi kept watching the six of them, his face filled with a mischievous smile as he looked forward to the exciting actions to come.