Chapter 48: The Golden Cauldron Sect

The Zhuhuo Sect truly deserves to be called a sect of artifact cultivation, with extremely profound research in battle formations.
The entire Zhuhuo Peak was protected by a powerful defensive formation called the “Heaven-Piercing Blazing Fire Formation.” Once activated, it could unleash the Qianlan True Fire from the Divination stage, which no one could withstand.
Even those with the strongest physical cultivation would not dare risk their lives against the Qianlan True Fire.
Qu Yi arrived at Zhuhuo Peak and, after discussing things with everyone, understood the difficulties of launching an attack. After some contemplation, he came up with a plan.
“Southern Envoy and Northern Envoy, order all the cultivators to retreat far away—ten thousand miles from Zhuhuo Peak—and wait for my orders,” Qu Yi immediately transmitted the command using his spiritual sense.
Since a frontal attack was impossible, cunning tactics were necessary. With a plan in mind, Qu Yi set about executing it right away.
The Southern Envoy and Northern Envoy hesitated not for a moment and immediately carried out the order.
“The warriors of the Southern Demon Continent and the five major cultivation sects of the Northern Immortal Continent are all cowards who fear death. Since the people of the Zhuhuo Sect want to act like timid turtles, let’s just go along with it. Warriors, after sweeping through the Zhuhuo Sect, let’s move on to the next sect—the Qingyi Sect.”
The Northern Envoy amplified his voice using his vital energy, spreading it throughout Zhuhuo Peak, so that both the cultivators and the members of the Zhuhuo Sect could hear it.
Then, the four thousand cultivators immediately took off and left Zhuhuo Peak.
Qu Yi, mixed among them, suddenly disappeared and entered the Tiny Realm Sphere.
The Tiny Realm Sphere turned into a tiny particle, which, under the control of the Artifact God, drifted above Zhuhuo Peak before hovering there.
The four thousand cultivators truly left Zhuhuo Peak and went to a very distant place. Even with their spiritual senses stretched out, the people of the Zhuhuo Sect could no longer sense their presence.
At this moment, all the disciples on Zhuhuo Peak breathed a huge sigh of relief, feeling as if they had survived a great calamity.
The ones controlling the “Heaven-Piercing Blazing Fire Formation” were nine Zhuhuo Sect disciples at the late Yuan Ying stage, while the core of the formation was controlled by an elder at the mid-Qiuqiao stage. After sensing that the cultivators had indeed left, these ten people discussed the situation. Then, the elder at the mid-Qiuqiao stage suspended the formation and flew away from Zhuhuo Peak to investigate the cultivators’ movements in the distance.
Meanwhile, the Tiny Realm Sphere floating in the air descended onto Zhuhuo Peak.
The elder at the mid-Qiuqiao stage hadn’t flown even a thousand miles when he sensed the four thousand cultivators again. He immediately flew back toward Zhuhuo Peak and returned in just a few instant transfers.

“The Demon Cultivators are cunning. They deliberately left to make us stop the formation, and now they’ve returned,” the elder shouted angrily.
Immediately, the elder and nine disciples in the late Yuan Ying stage stood once again at the ten core positions of the ‘Heaven-Punishing Fiery Formation’ and activated it again.
Of course, the return of the Demon Cultivators was secretly controlled by Qu Yi. With a communication token in hand, Qu Yi sent a message to Wei Yan as soon as he arrived at Zhu Huo Peak, ordering him to bring the Demon Cultivators back.
Seeing the elder fly back to Zhu Huo Peak, the Dimensional Sphere floated over him, now also at the core of the formation.
Four thousand Demon Cultivators, with cries of battle, flew above Zhu Huo Peak once more.
Zhu Huo Peak activated the ‘Heaven-Punishing Fiery Formation’ once again, with the entire mountain surrounded by a giant flame, warning the Demon Cultivators not to take another step forward.
“Zhu Huo Sect, I didn’t expect you not to fall for it. But do you really think by hiding on Zhu Huo Peak, you can avoid this disaster?” the envoy from the north shouted loudly in the air.
Qu Yi had already informed Wei Yan, who promptly told all the demon cultivators. Naturally, everyone knew that Qu Yi was already on Zhu Huo Peak, and breaking the formation was just around the corner, so they grew even more arrogant.
“Demon Cultivators, if you have the courage, come and attack,” the two thousand disciples on Zhu Huo Peak replied proudly.
These disciples were quite confident about their sect’s final line of defense. After all, among the Demon Cultivators, there were no strong ones at the Divine Soul stage—who could break through their protective formation?
The elder at the core of the ‘Heaven-Punishing Fiery Formation’ looked down at them disdainfully, filled with rage toward these Demon Cultivators. He hoped they would attack the formation, so that he could unleash the Qian Lan True Fire upon each of them and burn them to ashes.
“Hmph! Demon Cultivators are all simple-minded fools. What’s the use of strength if you lack intelligence?” the elder said disdainfully while controlling the formation.
Suddenly, as soon as he finished speaking, Qu Yi appeared out of thin air and immediately swung his jade sword. Before anyone could notice, a beam of light pierced into the elder’s body.
With his cultivation having reached the late Yuan Ying stage, Qu Yi could easily use his jade sword to kill those in the early and middle stages of leaving the body. Even those in the late stage could be killed if he was careful enough.
Qu Yi appeared and disappeared in an instant—no one knew how.
“Ah!”
At the core of the formation, the elder let out a shrill scream before turning into ashes, his Yuan Ying and soul completely vanishing.

As soon as the elder died, the ‘Supreme Heavenly Flame Formation’ lost its core controller, and the formation’s operation became disorganized. The other nine individuals could only control one area each, defending their respective zones on Zhuhuo Peak.

On Zhuhuo Peak, all the disciples were stunned, terrified, and panicked. In an instant, they realized the danger and fell into chaos.

“Kill! Kill them all!”

Driven by the demon cultivators, four thousand cultivators began to slaughter, descending upon Zhuhuo Peak and launching a brutal massacre.

The disciples of the Zhuhuo Sect usually focused on refining artifacts, using that process to harness energy and improve their cultivation levels. However, they had extremely poor combat experience. Moreover, all of their cultivation levels were below the Yuan Ying stage, leaving them completely defenseless against these cultivators who were all at or above the late Yuan Ying stage. Especially when the cultivators emitted a fierce killing aura during attacks, it completely broke the disciples’ will to resist.

All two thousand disciples of the Zhuhuo Sect perished!

As for the nine people who were holding up the nine formation nodes alone, the true fire they used to defend their areas was only at the Qiue stage intensity of the Qianlan True Fire. Even for the many demon cultivators at the Qiue stage, this posed no significant threat.

Under the combined attacks of the cultivators and demon cultivators, those at the nine formation nodes were also killed one after another.

By this point, apart from the sect leader, the Zhuhuo Sect was essentially destroyed.

…

On Zhuhuo Peak, the Southern Envoy and the Northern Envoy accompanied Qu Yi. The rest had gone to search for resources in the Zhuhuo Mountain Range—spirit stones, minerals, medicinal herbs, formation talismans, and more—trying to gather everything possible.

“Master, is Qingyi Sect our next target?” the Northern Envoy asked cautiously.

Qu Yi smiled and shook his head. He remembered his master Huai Qing’s words—that Xianyun Sect was actually a branch that developed from Qingyi Sect, and he himself had some connections to Qingyi Sect. Although Qingyi Sect did not send anyone to intervene when Xianyun Sect perished, it was because no one sought their help.

Xianyun Sect originated from Qingyi Sect, and Xianyun Sect had given him opportunities to cultivate. Qu Yi was well aware of this, so he did not want to interfere with Qingyi Sect.

“There’s no need to go to Qingyi Sect. Let’s head straight to the Jinding Sect. Once we eliminate them, Qingyi Sect will leave Tianfeng Star on its own,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

For now, this was all Qu Yi could do. If Qingyi Sect still refused to leave Tianfeng Star after seeing four cultivation sects destroyed, then its doom would still come.

The southern envoy and the northern envoy exchanged glances; neither understood why Qu Yi allowed them to pass through Qingyi Gate, but they dared not ask questions.
“Yes, master,” the southern envoy and the northern envoy replied immediately.
Ten days later, all the cultivators returned from various parts of the Zhuhuo Volcanic Range and gathered at Zhuhuo Peak.
Out of the four thousand cultivators, thirty had reached the early stage of exiting the body during the massacre of the Zhuhuo Sect. Thus, among the four thousand cultivators, a total of fifty had now reached this early stage.
Including the fourteen sect leaders of Ziyang Palace, the five sect leaders of Jiuhan Sect, and the four sect leaders of the Zhuhuo Sect, Qu Yi now had an additional twenty-three experts at the exiting-the-body stage.
Of course, during the attack on the three sects, some sect leaders resisted tenaciously, and Qu Yi, without hesitation, took their lives. The Yuan Ying at the exiting-the-body stage were naturally stored in the Cunjie Ball.
After eliminating the three sects, Qu Yi already had over ten Yuan Ying at the middle stage of exiting the body, covering all five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Now, once his soul reached the early stage of exiting the body, he could directly devour these Yuan Ying to make progress.
The cultivators returned to Zhuhuo Peak and immediately handed over the resources they had gathered to Qu Yi. Qu Yi only took the various ores and arrays; as for the other spiritual stones, pills, magical treasures, etc., he left them for the cultivators.
Of course, the most important furnace vessel of the Zhuhuo Sect—a low-grade spiritual artifact called the Dohuo Cauldron—was taken by Qu Yi.
Although the lives of these cultivators were under Qu Yi’s control, and even if he had taken everything, they wouldn’t have dared to complain. But Qu Yi wouldn’t do that; he only took what he needed, leaving the rest as rewards for the cultivators.
When the four thousand cultivators saw that Qu Yi had only taken the ores and arrays—things that were mostly useless to them—while leaving behind the spiritual stones, pills, and magical treasures, which were highly useful to them, they were deeply moved.
After seeing all the cultivators return, Qu Yi immediately flew into the air and shouted at the cultivators on Zhuhuo Peak, “Everyone, listen up! Head to Jinding Sect right away and destroy the most powerful cultivation sect!”
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
The four thousand cultivators, filled with enthusiasm, shouted loudly.
Then, Qu Yi, along with the demon cultivators and the sect leaders who had submitted from the three sects, entered the Cunjie Ball, leaving only the southern envoy outside. The southern envoy took out his flying magical artifact, the Golden Shuttle, and crossed the Qingyi Mountains to head straight for the Jinding Mountains.
Wei Yan, leading the cultivators, followed closely behind and also headed for the Jinding Mountains.

The Golden Cauldron Sect is facing a devastating calamity.