Chapter 41: Submit or Die

The eleven elders of the Jin Yang Sect flew through the starry sky to a planet near the Outer 93 Stars. According to the numbering system of the cultivation world, this planet should be Outer 318.
Shuo Shang, the leader of the group, was certain that the “Li Mu” he was searching for was here, so as soon as they arrived, they began searching the planet immediately.
After more than ten days, the eleven elders had searched the entire planet yet still hadn’t found Qu Yi, causing them to grow anxious. But just as they were filled with doubt and disappointment, Qu Yi’s presence was finally detected.
Soon, the eleven elders of the Jin Yang Sect arrived before Qu Yi.
“Haha, Li Mu! You made us search for you for so long, but finally we’ve found you,” Shuo Shang said with a cold laugh, sighing in relief.
Qu Yi observed the eleven men. Through the spiritual perception of his Instrument God, he already knew that among them, three were in the later stage of the Convergence Phase, five were in the middle stage, and three were in the early stage. Moreover, these three elders in the early stage practiced cultivation methods related to wood, water, and fire—meaning they possessed elemental embryos of wood, water, and fire. These were precisely the three early-stage elemental embryos Qu Yi needed at the moment.
The ten major sects all practiced cultivation methods related to the five elements, though their approaches varied slightly. Cultivators relied on absorbing spiritual energy to practice their techniques and refine pills and magical artifacts, while demon cultivators often killed others to obtain elemental embryos and trained through violence, a process that was bloody and brutal. Monster cultivators referred to those who were actually beasts. As these three cultivation methods progressed to higher levels, especially beyond the Convergence Phase, their approaches became similar—all involved directly comprehending the energy of the five elements.
“Are you the elders of the Jin Yang Sect?” Qu Yi asked calmly, hiding his joy.
Shuo Shang, realizing that Qu Yi was only at the middle stage of the Distraction Phase, wasn’t worried that he would escape. He spoke patiently, “Yes, we are the elders sent by the Jin Yang Sect to seize the treasure this time. Li Mu, you’ve done well—actually capturing our entire enforcement team. You’re ruthless. But those who are arrogant are the easiest to kill. Now is the time for you to pay the price.”
Qu Yi smiled at Shuo Shang and said, “The Jin Yang Sect, you demon cultivators—everyone deserves to be punished. I never expected that the Jin Yang Sect would only be this pathetic. For a conflict among our enforcement teams, you have to send these elders to retaliate. It’s a shame even to mention.”

After hearing this, Shuo Shang didn’t feel anything negative at all. He smiled and said, “Kid, in the hearts of us cultivators of evil magic, everything is up to our will. Since you killed people from our Jin Yang Sect, you must pay the price. Now that you’ve encountered us, we must eliminate you.”

Qu Yi shrugged and laughed, “I see. It seems that all eleven of you think that I, who am only at the Mid-Diversion stage, can be easily slaughtered by you.”

The eleven elders of the Jin Yang Sect thought Qu Yi was completely insane after hearing his words. How could eleven cultivators at the Combined stage not be able to handle someone at the Mid-Diversion stage?

“Hey, Li Mu, I’m doing this for your own good. You’d better end it yourself. If any of us really had to act, not even a trace of you would remain,” said Shuo, one of the elders, laughing mockingly.

Qu Yi wasn’t angry either. He simply sighed heavily.

“Wuyuan, Golden Qilin, and Illusory Dancing Butterfly, I have to trouble you to come out,” Qu Yi said suddenly in a low voice.

Immediately, Wuyuan, Golden Qilin, and Illusory Dancing Butterfly appeared beside Qu Yi, their eyes filled with anger as they glared at the eleven elders of the Jin Yang Sect.

“How… how did you come out? There was no sign of teleportation at all!” Shuo Shang was stunned and asked urgently.

At that moment, Qu Yi wrapped a cluster of black fruits in his vital energy. These were the Poison Soul Fruits he had obtained from the Demon Poison Star Region.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Taking advantage of the moment when the three monstrous beasts appeared, causing the eleven elders to be distracted, Qu Yi immediately fired these Poison Soul Fruits—thirty-three in total. Three fruits were used to attack each elder of the Jin Yang Sect.

The Poison Soul Fruits contained a special kind of soul. If consumed by a poisonous beast or swallowed by a poisonous gas cloud, it could give birth to more poisonous beasts. But for human cultivators, these fruits were highly toxic, capable of attacking their souls and completely eroding them.

The thirty-three Poison Soul Fruits flew toward the eleven elders of the Jin Yang Sect and suddenly exploded. From them emerged black gas clusters the size of fingers, which shot straight at the elders and penetrated into their heads.

The Poison Soul Fruits were attacking the elders’ vital spirits!

Since the soul resides at the core of the vital spirit, these Poison Soul Fruits had to attack the vital spirit first to break through its defenses anderode the soul -> erode the soul.

However, these Poison Soul Fruits only possess the power of the later stage of distraction. When they reached near the original spirit and launched fierce attacks, the eleven elders of the Golden Central Sect immediately sensed this and promptly sent their original spirits out, while their true essence went to attack these “Poison Souls.” It wouldn’t take long before these “Poison Souls” were killed by the true essence. But Qu Yi used these Poison Soul Fruits precisely to buy some time. After all, it would be extremely difficult for just the three mid-stage fused beasts—Wuyuan, Golden Qilin, and Illusory Dancing Butterfly—to keep all eleven elders alive at once, even if they had two Eight-Directions Swords each. So Qu Yi relied on the Poison Soul Fruits to force the eleven elders to focus on dealing with the “Poison Souls” temporarily, allowing the three fused beasts to attack. As expected, Wuyuan immediately spread its wings and flew to the side of the five mid-stage fused elders. With its dragon head shaking, it spat out nine golden swords made of true essence, slaughtering everything in its path. Soon, Wuyuan injured all five mid-stage fused elders. Qu Yi himself then used the golden-element attack technique “Final Kill,” suddenly flying to the side of the three early-stage fused elders. He drew his Golden Spear and struck each one, while also extracting their original spirits and quickly putting them into his space ring. Golden Qilin and Illusory Dancing Butterfly, each wielding an Eight-Directions Sword, sent three streams of light at the three late-stage fused elders—Shuoshang and the others—landing two streams on each elder, knocking them unconscious. The eleven elders of the Golden Central Sect never expected such a scenario, which overturned many of their beliefs about cultivation. First, Wuyuan, Golden Qilin, and Illusory Dancing Butterfly appeared suddenly, without any fluctuations in true essence or space, as if the three beasts had always been there. Then, thirty-three fruits flew out when the three beasts appeared, and these fruits contained a kind of “Poison Soul” that could devour souls on the spot, forcing the eleven elders to send their original spirits out to protect their souls. What happened next left them even more desperate—they saw that Golden Qilin and Illusory Dancing Butterfly each possessed an Eight-Directions Sword.

The eleven elders realized they had encountered a calamity, but it was already too late to regret anything. The three elders in the later stages of fusion were knocked unconscious by the Eight-Directions Sword, while the five elders in the middle stages of fusion, just as their vital spirits returned to their bodies after being injured, were spat out by Wu Yuan. As for the other three elders in the early stages of fusion, they were killed by Qu Yi, and their Yuan Ying was taken away as well.

Tragic! Tragic! Tragic!

These eleven elders, anywhere in the cultivation world, would cause a tremendous stir, forcing cultivators, cultivation families, and major sects on nearby planets to bow down before them. Yet now, they were all captured by Qu Yi in one fell swoop.

Seeing the three elders in the later stages of fusion, including Shuo Shang, fall unconscious, Qu Yi immediately flew up, took them into the Dimensional Sphere, and then pulled Wu Yuan, Jin Qilin, and Huan Wu Die inside as well.

“Wu Yuan, you must have enjoyed this battle a lot, right?” Jin Qilin said to Wu Yuan with some envy, holding the Eight-Directions Sword.

Indeed, as Wu Yuan entered the Dimensional Sphere, it let out several loud burps, drawing the attention of Qu Yi, Jin Qilin, and Huan Wu Die.

“Ugh, I’m very full this time. It’s a shame I couldn’t eat those three experts in the later stages of fusion; otherwise, I’d be even more satisfied,” Wu Yuan said, staring at the three unconscious elders lying on the grass.

Hearing this, Qu Yi immediately took out the Golden Spear and struck Wu Yuan on the head, scolding, “You wretch, Wu Yuan! Now you even use double entendres. Are you trying to hint at me? Are you dissatisfied with me? Do you think your life is too long?”

Wu Yuan was completely stunned. It never expected that its casual words would be misinterpreted by Qu Yi in such a way, and it immediately fainted from fear on the grass.

Jin Qilin laughed heartily, no longer feeling envious of Wu Yuan.

Qu Yi smiled slightly, ignoring Wu Yuan for now, and then used his spiritual awareness to enter the vital spirits of the three elders, having the Artifact Gods plant soul shackles on them. The reason Qu Yi still wanted to keep their lives was, of course, to control them—this way, he would have at least an insider for the upcoming treasure-hunting mission.

After a while, Shuo Shang woke up, followed by the other two elders.

“Ah… my soul… I have soul shackles planted on me!” As soon as Shuo Shang woke up, he saw Qu Yi and the others looking at him joyfully. Sensing something was wrong, he inwardly examined his own vital spirit and discovered the reason.

The other two elders also quickly confirmed that they too had soul shackles planted on them.

Qu Yi looked at the desperate expressions on the three of them and couldn’t help but laugh. “Enough, you three. I didn’t kill you—you should be happy. Don’t worry; follow me, and I won’t let you suffer anymore.”

Shuo Shang and the two other elders in the later stages of merging remained silent for a long time. With their thousands of years of cultivation experience, they also realized that since they had already been controlled, any attempt to resist was futile.

“If you want me to submit to you, that’s fine, but you must promise me that when I ascend to the immortal realm, you will release the shackles on my soul,” Shuo Shang suddenly said.

Qu Yi stared at Shuo Shang, burst into loud laughter, then picked up his Golden Spear, pointed it at Shuo Shang’s nose, and said firmly, “Submit or die. You have no right to make demands of me.”

Shuo Shang and the two other elders were stunned speechless.