Chapter 28: Morning Wind

Above Chenbo Island, Qu Yi controlled the Cloud-Stepping Ship as it sped through the air. As for spiritual sensing, it was surely left to the Artifact God—after all, since Qu Yi had reached the middle stage of exiting the body, the Artifact God’s spiritual perception had also reached the middle stage of unity, allowing it to sense over 80,000 li.
“Qu Yi, 70,000 li to the southwest, there’s a group from the Chenbo faction—one at the early stage of separating the spirit, and ten at the late stage of exiting the body,” the Artifact God suddenly transmitted.
Of course, upon hearing this, Qu Yi immediately controlled the Cloud-Stepping Ship and flew toward the southwest.
On the summit of a high mountain, there were eleven people—this was a team sent by the Chenbo faction to eliminate alien cultivators. Among them was one at the early stage of separating the spirit, named Morning Wind.
At that moment, Morning Wind stood on the summit and said to the ten others at the late stage of exiting the body, “Everyone, search the surroundings to see if there are any cultivators from other planets. Report immediately if anything is found.”
“Yes, Elder,” the ten replied promptly before flying away quickly.
After seeing them leave, Morning Wind glanced around before sitting down on the summit and beginning to meditate in seiza position.
Suddenly, a bright red flying ship descended from the sky, aiming straight for the mountain where Morning Wind was.
Hmph!
Morning Wind snarled and immediately opened his eyes, flying up into the air.
That flying ship was, of course, the Cloud-Stepping Ship. Inside, there was only Qu Yi—Bai Man, the Golden Qilin, and the Illusory Dancing Butterfly had all entered the Dimensional Sphere.
“Who are you? Which sect on Baiyin Star are you from?” Morning Wind demanded from the air.
Qu Yi stopped the Cloud-Stepping Ship, stored his storage bracelet, and also flew up into the air. Smiling, he said, “I’m not a cultivator from Baiyin Star.”
Morning Wind’s expression immediately turned cold. Calmly, he said, “Then fine. Since you’re not from Baiyin Star, killing you won’t cause any trouble.”
If Qu Yi had been from one of the other nine sects on Baiyin Star, Morning Wind wouldn’t have attacked—because revealing such a thing could lead to disputes. The same rule applied on the other nine islands: the disciples of those nine sects would not target people from other sects on Baiyin Star but only foreign cultivators.
After hearing this, Qu Yi’s expression also turned cold. He said outright, “So that’s how it is. You people from Baiyin Star are truly domineering. Since you want to kill me, come ahead. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Morning Wind flew into a rage. How dare this cultivator at the middle stage of exiting the body look down on him, who was only at the early stage of separating the spirit? It was an insult.

“Fine, you’re quite bold in your words. I wonder if your strength is just as sharp. Take this move of mine—‘Thousand Mountains of Stone’.” Chen Feng drew a yellow long sword and, with a fierce shout, soared into the air. His sword raised, and a hundred streams of vital energy surged through it, rapidly forming a thousand stone mountains. Suddenly, the stone mountains exploded, sending endless rocks plummeting from the sky with tremendous force. Each rock contained abundant vital energy; once it pierced an enemy’s body, more rocks would follow, rendering them either dead or disabled. Qu Yi smiled calmly, already holding his Earth Dragon Sword. With the activation of his vital energy, a yellow earth dragon emerged and coiled around his head, blocking the countless rocks falling from above. When the rocks struck the earth dragon, they couldn’t break through its defense and instantly turned into sand, drifting away before disappearing as part of the natural energy of the world. Chen Feng stared at Qu Yi in surprise before smiling. “So, you, a mid-stage Out-of-Body practitioner, actually possess a low-grade spiritual weapon. That’s why you dare to challenge me so recklessly. Very well, I’ll kill you and take your treasure.” Chen Feng thought Qu Yi dared to challenge him because of his spiritual weapon. Hearing this, Qu Yi merely smiled before his expression turned cold. “You, in the early stage of Divided Mind, already think you’re so great? Who says I can’t attack you first if you only allow me to attack you?” With that, Qu Yi suddenly rushed forward at incredible speed, his figure turning into a blur as he headed straight for Chen Feng. “Crack!” Qu Yi used the earth-based attack technique “Crack,” which combined with the speed technique “Contracting the Land,” allowed him to leap like a phantom before attacking from an unexpected direction with his Earth Dragon Sword. “Snap!” Seeing Qu Yi suddenly attack, Chen Feng’s spiritual sense couldn’t detect his presence for a moment. He immediately circulated earth vital energy around his body to form an “earth wall” for defense. Yet, the earth wall shattered instantly, and his body had already been pierced by the Earth Dragon Sword. As soon as Qu Yi pierced Chen Feng, the fire vital energy in his body immediately transformed into earth vital energy. Then, Qu Yi channeled all that earth vital energy into his Earth Dragon Sword, allowing it to penetrate Chen Feng’s body. In this critical moment, Chen Feng quickly retreated and began circulating his earth vital energy to expel Qu Yi’s invading energy, preventing his body from being damaged. With a sigh of relief, Chen Feng finally managed to drive out the earth vital energy from his body after much effort. Meanwhile, Qu Yi did not attack him, allowing Chen Feng to expel the invading energy on his own.

“How do you feel? You, a strong warrior in the early stage of Divination, were defeated by me, someone in the middle stage of Departure. What are your thoughts?” Qu Yi floated in the air, asking with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Chen Feng felt like vomiting blood. He thought carefully—Qu Yi’s speed was too fast, even faster than his own, and he had used some strange spell that his spiritual sense couldn’t detect, allowing his defenses to be broken. The more he thought about it, the more shocked he became; Qu Yi was truly mysterious.

Of course, Chen Feng also understood that Qu Yi didn’t want to kill him. Otherwise, he could have struck while Chen Feng was expelling his vital energy from his body.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” Chen Feng asked, looking at Qu Yi with confusion in his eyes.

Unable to fight or escape, Chen Feng quickly realized he needed to find out Qu Yi’s true purpose.

“Hehe, you’re smart. I’ll tell you then—you must become my slave,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

“What!” Chen Feng was furious. This was even worse than being killed.

A slave meant having a soul shackle imposed upon him, forcing him to obey Qu Yi’s commands for life. Of course, Chen Feng refused to do that.

Qu Yi smiled at Chen Feng, shook his head, and said, “You have no choice!”

Chen Feng suddenly calmed down and released his spiritual sense to search for the ten warriors in the late stage of Departure who had just left, hoping to use them to find a chance to escape.

Seeing Chen Feng’s expression, Qu Yi knew he wanted to run away, but he still smiled calmly.

Soon, Chen Feng noticed one of the warriors in the late stage of Departure returning, flying toward the mountain peak.

At that moment, Qu Yi laughed and suddenly shouted, “Golden Qilin, it’s time for you to appear.”

To Chen Feng’s astonished eyes, the mighty Golden Qilin emerged from the Dimensional Sphere and appeared right in front of him, swinging its mountain-smashing staff down.

Before Chen Feng could react, his entire body was thrown to the foot of the mountain, creating a hundred-meter-wide pit.

Immediately afterward, Qu Yi flew into the newly formed pit and implanted a soul shackle within Chen Feng’s unconscious soul.

The warrior returning also sensed what was happening at the mountain peak through his spiritual sense and realized that Chen Feng had been knocked out by a strong warrior in the Divination stage. Not daring to approach further, he immediately fled.

The Golden Qilin didn’t chase after that warrior. It rested its mountain-smashing staff on its shoulder and landed beside the new pit, still smiling.

Qu Yi deliberately prevented the late-stage Out-of-Body cultivator from chasing that person, having other intentions. If he had allowed the Golden Qilin to pursue them, there’s no doubt it could have easily caught up and killed them with a single strike.

Chen Feng quickly regained consciousness and then sadly realized he had been controlled by Qu Yi.

“What do you want to do to me?” Chen Feng shouted angrily.

“Kneel!” Qu Yi ordered coldly.

Strangely, Chen Feng had no ability to resist and obediently knelt before Qu Yi. When one’s soul is controlled, freedom vanishes like that.

“Your soul is already under my control, yet you still dare to be arrogant toward me. This is your punishment,” Qu Yi said.

Chen Feng burst into tears out of sorrow and replied plaintively, “Yes, master.”

Qu Yi no longer paid attention to Chen Feng and murmured to himself, “That late-stage Out-of-Body cultivator must have gone to look for the strong cultivators at the Chen Bo Sect’s fusion stage.”

It turned out that Qu Yi had let that late-stage Out-of-Body cultivator go in order to lure out the strong cultivators from the Chen Bo Sect’s fusion stage.

……

The Chen Bo Sect’s headquarters, Panhu Mountain, was located in the center of Chen Bo Island. Surrounding Panhu Mountain were twenty other peaks, which served as the sect’s branches.

At that moment, in the northwest part of Chen Bo Island, at one of the sect’s branches, Canyun Peak, a late-stage Out-of-Body cultivator arrived by flying. If Qu Yi were here, he would surely recognize that person’s aura as belonging to the late-stage Out-of-Body cultivator he had released.

Upon arriving at Canyun Peak, the cultivator immediately saw the branch leader, Chen Ji, who was in the mid-stage Divination state.

“Li Feng, what did you just say? Chen Feng, who is in the early stage of Divination, was knocked out by a stranger?” Chen Ji, usually calm, was surprised after hearing the report.

Chen Feng was the youngest among the Chen generation of the Chen Bo Sect, and his cultivation had been taught to him by the sect leader, Chen Han. Naturally, upon hearing that Chen Feng had been captured, Chen Ji could no longer stay calm.

The escaped late-stage Out-of-Body cultivator was none other than Li Feng. Hearing Chen Ji’s shocked cry, he immediately swore that he wasn’t lying.

Chen Ji thought carefully about Li Feng’s account and formed some conclusions.

“I see. It seems that cultivator from another planet is at least at the mid-stage of Divination. I might not be able to defeat him even if I go there. It seems I can only ask Elder Li Heng for help to rescue my junior brother Chen Feng,” Chen Ji said after thinking.

Li Heng was one of the ten early-stage fusion elders brought by Li Zhen. He was assigned to Canyun Peak to deal with powerful cultivators from other planets.