Chapter 29: Successive Breakthroughs

After taking control of Chen Feng, Qu Yi remained in place, sitting on the peak and waiting for the people from the Chen Bo faction.
Chen Feng, on the other hand, stood beside Qu Yi, motionless, acting as a guard.
Suddenly, Qu Yi opened his eyes, filled with a smile. It turned out that the Golden Qilin had finally refined the Golden Infant Stone and officially reached the mid-stage of the Divided Mind realm.
A moment later, the Golden Qilin emerged from the Miniature Realm Sphere, gripping its own hair tightly, seemingly ecstatic to the point of madness.
“Enough, Golden Qilin. It’s just a breakthrough—do you really need to torture yourself like this?” Qu Yi said with a laugh.
Hearing this, the Golden Qilin realized it had been released by Qu Yi from the Miniature Realm Sphere. It immediately smoothed its hair and looked at Qu Yi with a joyful expression.
“Master, I owe this to Chen Feng. If I hadn’t hit him, I wouldn’t have refined the Golden Infant Stone so quickly and gained more energy from the metal element,” the Golden Qilin laughed heartily.
Hearing this, Chen Feng staggered slightly, looking at the Golden Qilin with fear.
Qu Yi chuckled and said, “Alright, Golden Qilin. Don’t scare this innocent guy. Now that you’re also a beast in the mid-stage of the Divided Mind realm, work hard—you can win the heart of the Phantom Dance Butterfly. Don’t give up.”
After hearing this, the Golden Qilin grinned even wider, even happier.
Suddenly, Qu Yi fell silent before shouting, “Chen Feng, suppress your aura and fall into a deep sleep on the ground. Golden Qilin, lower your aura to the early stage of the Divided Mind realm. There’s a major battle coming up.”
With that, Qu Yi used his spiritual awareness to summon the Phantom Dance Butterfly from within the Miniature Realm Sphere.
It turned out that Qu Yi had just received a message from the God of Instruments—three people were on their way here: one in the early stage of the Combined Body realm, one in the late stage of the Divided Mind realm, and one in the late stage of the Soul Departure realm.
After giving these instructions, Qu Yi’s face was filled with joy. The one in the late stage of Soul Departure realm was precisely the person he had released earlier. It seemed his plan was working—he had finally lured a strong warrior from the Chen Bo faction to this place.
“Golden Qilin, hold this jade sword for now. During the battle ahead, that warrior in the early stage of the Combined Body realm will be your opponent,” Qu Yi said suddenly, taking out the Eight Directions Sword and handing it to the Golden Qilin.
Qu Yi could rely on the Eight Directions Sword to kill with great efficiency, but at his current level in the mid-stage of Soul Departure, he could only slay cultivators in the early stage of the Divided Mind realm with a single strike. Since the newcomers were warriors in the early stage of the Combined Body realm, Qu Yi had no choice but to let the Golden Qilin hold the sword.

Originally, Qu Yi planned to have Phantom Butterfly use the Eight Directions Sword to fight the enemy, but since the Golden Qilin suddenly made a breakthrough, it was better to hand the Eight Directions Sword to the Golden Qilin instead. As for Phantom Butterfly, it was Qu Yi who suddenly came up with the idea of having her confront that late-stage Diversion expert in order to break through to that stage at once. Phantom Butterfly had long been at the peak of mid-stage Diversion and needed an opportunity. Soon, three figures appeared in the air: Chen Ji, Li Feng, and Li Heng, an elder from Cangyang Valley brought by Li Zhen. Li Heng appeared to be middle-aged, extremely handsome, with his green robe fluttering in the wind, exuding an extraordinary aura. “You three, from which planet are you?” Li Heng asked as soon as he arrived near the mountain peak. Qu Yi stood up, looking at Li Heng casually before sizing him up before saying, “No need for more talk. Let’s just start fighting.” A declaration of war! Hearing this, Li Heng’s face turned purple with anger. A strong warrior in the early stage of Union was being looked down upon by someone in the mid-stage of Departure—what a humiliation! Those who offend my dignity must die! “I’ll kill you!” Li Heng roared in fury. A golden axe appeared in his hand, its blade radiating a chilling light and an terrifying killing intent. This axe was a low-grade spiritual weapon called the Heaven-Splitting Axe. Then, Li Heng flew at Qu Yi. “Your opponent is me,” suddenly, the Golden Qilin moved, taking the Mountain-Beating Staff and swinging it at Li Heng. As the staff struck, the atmosphere of heaven and earth changed instantly; even the clouds around the mountain gathered, forming a pressure wave that aimed at Li Heng. Li Heng easily retreated, avoiding that space-tearing gust of wind. Coldness flashed in his eyes, and killing intent filled his entire being. At the same time, Qu Yi already had the Dragon Subduing Sword in hand and flew at Li Feng. Phantom Butterfly, with a coquettish smile, flew in front of Chen Ji and immediately reverted to her butterfly form, dancing gracefully. Qu Yi’s speed was too fast. By the time Li Feng could draw his sword, it was already too late. In desperation, he transformed his vital energy into armor to block Qu Yi’s direct strike with the Dragon Subduing Sword. But this left Qu Yi in complete control, allowing him to fully showcase his speed. Fast! Fast! Fast! The most tragic moment of Li Feng’s life had arrived. He couldn’t sense Qu Yi’s presence at all, let alone see him. And Qu Yi didn’t want to rush to kill him with a single strike. As he moved, he would stab repeatedly, creating ten blood holes in Li Feng’s body in just one breath. “I feel like I’m going crazy!” was Li Feng’s first thought.

“I feel like I’m about to suffocate!” That was Li Feng’s thought when he was extremely angry.
“I feel life is truly desolate!” Li Feng no longer had any thoughts left.
Perhaps sensing Li Feng’s tragic mood, Qu Yi drove the entire Fulong Sword deep into Li Feng’s dantian in one final strike, killing him.
The Illusion Dance Butterfly, with its beautiful body spanning a hundred meters wide, had wings that moved in a mesmerizing, dreamlike manner. The atmosphere around it changed drastically, as if all the spiritual energy had been drawn to it.
Chen Ji, one of the twenty leaders of the Chenbo Sect, also possessed great strength. But when he took out a yellow iron spear to fight, he found that the surrounding spiritual energy had thickly enveloped him. What worried him even more was that some strange spiritual consciousness was infiltrating his soul, affecting it.
“What kind of monster is this, capable of affecting my soul?” Chen Ji cried out in fear and shock.
After hesitating for a while, Chen Ji gave the Illusion Dance Butterfly a chance. Its wings immediately sped up their movement, and the spiritual energy gathered around it, as if possessed of consciousness, transformed into various attack spells—sometimes a barrage of swords, sometimes a forest of blades, sometimes a storm of stones…
Chen Ji shook his iron spear to ward off the sword formations, creating a circular barrier to block them all. When blades came at him, he shook his spear rapidly, generating countless spear tips to scatter them. When stones rained down, he raised his spear and spun it to create a circle that shattered the stones…
Unbeknownst to him, these sword formations, blades, and stone storms were all attack spells created by the Illusion Dance Butterfly by controlling spiritual energy. With such defenses, Chen Ji’s soul was gradually influenced by the butterfly, and his magical skills and understanding of energy were immediately stolen by it.
The body of the Illusion Dance Butterfly was slowly growing larger.
On the other side, the Golden Qilin was at a severe disadvantage. Li Heng, a strong warrior in the early stage of fusion, along with his inferior-grade spiritual weapon, the Peaceful Sky Axe, made it extremely difficult for the Golden Qilin to defend itself with every move.
If not for the Golden Qilin’s abnormal physical defense, it would have already been split in two by the Peaceful Sky Axe.
Yet, even as it kept dodging, the Golden Qilin was still covered in blood from the axe’s attacks, in a pitiful state.
After killing Li Feng, Qu Yi saw the Golden Qilin being relentlessly pursued, but he didn’t let it immediately draw out the Eight Directions Sword to fight back. Instead, he waited for an opportunity.
Only after depleting Li Heng’s vital energy would Qu Yi allow the Golden Qilin to use the sword to kill. Otherwise, if Li Heng escaped, the secret of his possession of the Eight Directions Sword would be revealed.

Now, seeing that the Golden Qilin was almost unable to hold on, Qu Yi suddenly acted, releasing the six people inside the Tiny Realm Sphere, and Wu Yuan also came out. These six were Dong Qing, Dong De, Yan Ren, Qing Chuan, Shi Jue, and Leng Yu. They had failed to ambush Qu Yi in the Mountain Range of Heavenly Punishment and were instead captured by him, being imprisoned inside the Tiny Realm Sphere all this time. Now, they could finally be put to use. As soon as they emerged, they immediately took out their magical treasures and flew toward Li Heng, each unleashing their most powerful moves with all their might. “Leng Yu!” Li Heng suddenly spotted Leng Yu and was surprised to see how this man from Cangyang Valley could be attacking him. Yet, despite his surprise, Li Heng was still very strong. He effortlessly created a Earthly True Energy shield in front of himself, blocking the six spells of mid-Diversion stage power. The Golden Qilin finally got a chance to catch its breath. Wu Yuan emerged, flapped its massive wings, and arrived in front of the shield. Suddenly, a spark from its phoenix tail burned through the shield. Li Heng was shocked and immediately retreated, staring in astonishment at Wu Yuan. A beast at mid-Diversion stage could actually burn through a defense shield of early Union stage with true fire—this was truly amazing; it was no ordinary beast. While Li Heng was distracted, a hint of barely noticeable joy appeared in the Golden Qilin’s bloodshot eyes. The Eight Directions Sword appeared, with streams of light flashing. All of the Golden Qilin’s True Energy was poured into the sword, instantly raising its energy level to mid-Union stage. The streams of light penetrated Li Heng’s body, causing him immediate agony. He dropped his Peaceful Sky Axe and immediately activated all his True Energy to resist the destructive force of the light within his body. Without a doubt, the seven of them—Wu Yuan, Dong Qing, Dong De, Yan Ren, Qing Chuan, Shi Jue, and Leng Yu—immediately flew over and attacked Li Heng at the same time, preventing him from calmly eliminating the destructive energy inside him. “Ah!” Li Heng suddenly cried out in pain before collapsing into unconsciousness. Qu Yi also flew over immediately, using his spiritual awareness to penetrate Li Heng’s primordial spirit and locate his soul. Meanwhile, the Artifact God also took action, planting a soul shackle within Li Heng’s soul. On the other side, Chen Ji was completely bewitched by the Illusion Dancing Butterfly, lost in the fictional battle scene it created, with all his cultivation skills being stolen by it. Suddenly, the Illusion Dancing Butterfly abandoned Chen Ji and soared into the sky, its entire body now 150 meters in size, covered in a dazzling rainbow camouflage. The Illusion Dancing Butterfly had finally reached late Diversion stage.

Wuyuan didn’t even bother to watch the Ascension Scene of the Illusion Butterfly. He quickly flew to Chenji’s side and bit through him, swallowing him whole. Wuyuan was also about to break through to the later stage of Split Mind.