Chapter 24: You Really Spoil Everything
Inside the Tiny Realm Sphere, Qu Yi and Wu Yuan watched Ji Lu from the Guangyuan Gate with laughter. Since the Illusion Dance Butterfly had already understood and stolen all of Ji Lu’s energy, he was now being guarded by the Golden Qilin and sitting quietly in one place, preparing to enter the early stage of fusion. Naturally, Ji Lu was no longer useful.
In the past, Qu Yi might have had the Artifact God plant a soul shackle on Ji Lu, but now he no longer lacked subordinates at the fusion stage. Moreover, since Ji Lu had tried to ambush him, he deserved to die.
“Li Mu, no, my master, please! Don’t let me die. I’ll do whatever you ask…” Ji Lu, seeing Qu Yi’s gaze, knew full well that his life was in danger. He immediately knelt down and pleaded bitterly.
Inside the Tiny Realm Sphere, Ji Lu couldn’t exert any strength and could only let Qu Yi deal with him as he wished.
Wu Yuan let out a hum and spread his right wing to strike Qu Yi’s back, reminding him not to show mercy. All this was because Wu Yuan feared that if Qu Yi regretted it, he would have nothing left to devour from the mid-stage fusion phase.
Qu Yi chuckled, shook his flowing hair, then turned to Wu Yuan, winking and saying, “Wu Yuan, what are you waiting for? Eat him.”
Hearing this, Wu Yuan roared loudly and lowered his dragon head, swallowing Ji Lu whole.
“Li Mu, I curse you…” Ji Lu was already in Wu Yuan’s mouth. He tried to curse, but couldn’t finish a single word.
Qu Yi smiled faintly and left the Tiny Realm Sphere. It was time for him to search the Demon Poison Star Region in person.
Since Wu Yuan had searched the entire planet and only found one Poison Lion at the end, Qu Yi didn’t want to stay on this peripheral planet any longer. He decided to fly toward planets deeper in the inner regions.
Between the planets in the Demon Poison Star Region, the starry skies were filled with poisonous gas, floating like dark clouds. Thus, the entire starry sky resembled a giant cloud mass, making it impossible to see nearby planets or determine direction.
Qu Yi took out the Golden Spear, stepped on it, and then made the spear fly at high speed in a certain direction. In the starry sky, he used one of his spiritual senses to control the Golden Spear’s rapid flight, while the other five senses continued scanning the Binary Dao.
…
When Qu Yi left the peripheral planet, three more groups arrived and landed in three different places.
One of these groups consisted of five people, all at the fusion stage, including some who were even at the late fusion stage. All five wore black robes with poison-repelling properties—any poisonous gas that touched the robes immediately dispersed.
“Everyone, we were sent here by the Elders of the Yingtian Sect because we received news from your Xiao family that you’ve spotted traces of the Poison Soul Beast in the Inner Eight Stars. This Poison Soul Beast is also of great significance to our Yingtian Sect and can become a powerful asset for us in the future. We’ve already entered the Demon Poison Star Region, so everyone must be careful and support one another,” said an elderly man with sharp eyes among the five of them.
It turned out that among the cultivators who ventured into the Demon Poison Star Region, the 100 planets there had been numbered. The core area was numbered Core Star 1 to Core Star 5; the inner zone was numbered Inner Star 1 to Inner Star 20; and the outer zone was numbered Outer Star 1 to Outer Star 80.
The five of them—those from the Yingtian Sect, led by Tan Xiu who was at an advanced stage of cultivation through merging—along with the other four from the Xiao family, a major assassin clan in the cultivation world backed by the Yingtian Sect.
“Yes, Elder Tan Xiu,” the four from the Xiao family said in unison.
After that, the five of them arrived at a canyon where there was a spatial teleportation array set up by the Xiao family. As an assassin clan, the Xiao family had a keen interest in using poisons, and since they had been active in this Demon Poison Star Region for a long time, they had invested heavily to set up spatial teleportation arrays on key planets.
Tan Xiu and the four from the Xiao family used the spatial teleportation array to head to the Inner Eight Stars.
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Another group of four people, all dressed in red robes that seemed to emit a constant red glow, with the poisonous gases in the air instantly burning upon contact with their robes.
“Yan Zhen, Yan Chen, Yan Hong, we’ve now arrived in the Demon Poison Star Region. We must be extremely careful. Our agents within the Xiao family have passed on the news that they’ve already contacted the Yingtian Sect. It’s likely that the Yingtian Sect will also send elders to assist us. The reason why our Biyan Peak has sent four elders this time is to ensure that we capture the Poison Soul Beast,” said the tallest of the four.
It turned out that all four of them were from the Elders’ Hall of the Biyan Peak, a sect dedicated to cultivating magic, with the leader being Elder Yan Guan, who had spoken just now.
“We understand, Senior Yan Guan,” the three others replied calmly.
In an instant, the four of them flew into the starry sky, heading in a very precise direction even though they couldn’t see the landscape ahead—directly toward the Inner Eight Stars.
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The third group consisted of four people, each exuding an eerie aura. One had a greenish complexion with golden horns protruding from his head; another had only a sliver of an eye, its gaze so piercing that it was unbearable to look directly at; a third had short fur all over his body and resembled a monkey; the fourth had triangular eyes with golden pupils. It was obvious at a glance that these four were humans transformed by demon cultivators.
Each of them wore a dark, round fruit, which absorbed all the poisonous gas that drifted near them.
It was none other than the famous Poison Devouring Fruit in the cultivation world—a highly rare fruit capable of consuming any poison. As the amount of poison absorbed increased, the Fruit would mature further, turning into an even more powerful All-Poison Fruit. Anyone below the Great Vehicle stage who came into contact with it would die.
“Ao Tian Sun, Tree-Scaled Ape, Golden Stone Rat, this time, Bai Shou Peak received news that the Xiao family, that assassin clan, discovered a Poison Soul Beast in the Demon Poison Star Region. That’s why they sent us four here to steal the Poison Soul Beast from the Xiao family,” said the man with the golden horns.
“Yes, Golden Horn Azure Dragon,” the other three demon cultivators replied immediately.
It turned out that the four demon cultivators sent by Bai Shou Peak were indeed Golden Horn Azure Dragon, Ao Tian Sun, Tree-Scaled Ape, and Golden Stone Rat.
“Ao Tian Sun, which direction should we fly? It now depends on you,” said Golden Horn Azure Dragon calmly.
It turned out that Ao Tian Sun possessed a miraculous ability. His eyes emitted an invisible light that silently implanted a soul mark within someone’s body, allowing him to pinpoint that person’s direction no matter how far away they were.
On Planet Poison Purification, Ao Tian Sun had already taken the form of a cultivator at the Yuan Ying stage. He waited for a Xiao family expert at the Convergence stage and secretly implanted the soul mark in them. That expert was one of the four members of the Xiao family, who had now traveled to the Inner Eight Stars using a space teleportation array.
“Good, I know the Xiao family members have been teleported to the inner area. I know their direction. Follow me; let’s head there right away,” Ao Tian Sun said with a cold smile, proud of his innate skill.
Soon, the four members of Bai Shou Peak, with Ao Tian Sun leading the way, flew into the starry sky, heading toward the Inner Eight Stars.
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Qu Yi was flying through the starry sky, standing on his Golden Spear, flying in one constant direction.
Suddenly, the God of Weapons transmitted a message: “Qu Yi, something strange—there are also four people in this area of the starry sky chasing after you.”
The spiritual perception range of the Artifact God is now at the middle stage of tribulation, which is far greater than that of those in the later stages of fusion—by millions of times. Naturally, it can detect those following behind earlier, while those people fail to sense Qu Yi’s presence.
After hearing this, Qu Yi continued to control the Golden Spear in flight, while his spiritual consciousness sent a message back: “Artifact God, since that’s the case, I’ll enter the Tiny Realm Sphere. Anyway, I don’t know where I’ll end up in the inner area, so it’s better to follow them and reach the inner area first.”
The Artifact God remained silent for a moment before replying, “Good, do that. Who knows? Those four might even give us a surprise.”
Immediately, under the guidance of the Artifact God, Qu Yi adjusted his position in the starry sky to ensure that once he entered the Tiny Realm Sphere, the sphere floating in the stars would be positioned just right to cover those four people. Since those four were also flying straight, as long as the sphere was in their flight path, it would easily land on them.
Soon, Qu Yi entered the Tiny Realm Sphere, which then turned into a speck of stardust floating in the air.
The four elders of Biyan Peak—Yan Guan, Yan Zhen, Yan Chen, and Yan Hong—flew swiftly through the starry sky, their spiritual senses constantly scanning ahead. Finding no starbeasts, they flew with confidence.
At that moment, as the four elders passed through a certain area of the starry sky, a speck of dust landed on Yan Guan, but he didn’t notice it at all.
The Tiny Realm Sphere successfully adhered to Yan Guan’s body.
Inside the sphere, Qu Yi cried out to the sky, “Artifact God, heaven helps me! Heaven helps me! Heaven helps me…”
The Artifact God, lying on the soft chair, cast a disdainful look at Qu Yi and sighed, “You kid are really lucky. If you had to fly on your own, it would take you a year—wasting time and exhausting you to death. Now, there are four unlucky souls carrying you without even realizing it.”
Qu Yi didn’t argue with the Artifact God. After shouting for a while, he sat down by the lake and continued scanning the Dual Path.
In another area of the Tiny Realm Sphere, the Illusory Dancing Butterfly, guarded by the Golden Qilin, suddenly opened its bright eyes, shimmering with brilliance.
“Golden Qilin, thank you. My original spirit, original embryo, and physical body have merged into one. Now I’m at the early stage of fusion cultivation,” the Illusory Dancing Butterfly said excitedly.
The Golden Qilin was also very happy and excitedly hugged the butterfly.
Her heart was already pledged!
In another area of the Dimensional Ball, after having consumed Ji Lu’s Five Yuan, its body suddenly swelled to 500 meters in size—utterly terrifying. Soon, this massive body shrank back to its original 5-meter size.
“Woo woo, I’ve also become a master at the early stage of fusion! Yeah, I need to tell Qu Yi right away,” Five Yuan exclaimed joyfully before flying toward the lake.
“Woo woo, Qu Yi! I’m now a master at the early stage of fusion!” Five Yuan cried out happily as soon as it landed by the lake.
Qu Yi remained seated in silence. The Divine Instrument on the soft chair didn’t even bother to lift its eyelids; it was still asleep.
“Woo woo, you two are such downers! I’ve become a master at the early stage of fusion, and none of you even congratulates me,” Five Yuan’s dragon head drooped immediately.