Chapter 7: Choice

The Shanghuo Palace had only two experts at the Divine Soul stage—its master, Mi Huo Zhenren, and Huo Baozi, who were also brothers-in-teacher. To seize all of Yinyun Gate’s territories, Qianhuo Palace often sent people from Shanghuo Palace to provoke Yinyun Gate, looking for opportunities to extort them. Huo Baozi had been tasked with this job.
Unexpectedly, today Huo Baozi finally encountered a tough opponent, forcing Mi Huo Zhenren to step in.
“Han Jin, daring to bully my junior brother? Give me your life!” Mi Huo Zhenren flew over and shouted angrily.
Immediately, he wielded a fire-type magical weapon—a star-shaped fire spear. As his true fire energy flowed into it, thousands of brilliant True Fire flames emerged from the spear, each seeming to possess a life of its own, all shooting toward Han Jin Zhenren.
It turned out that this star-shaped fire spear was a lower-grade spiritual artifact capable of unleashing True Fire flames at the early Consolidation stage.
Han Jin Zhenren instantly teleported away to avoid the onslaught of flames, landing beside Qu Yi, his face filled with anger.
“Mi Huo, don’t think you can do as you please just because Qianhuo Palace backs you. Today, your Shanghuo Palace will surely face disaster,” Han Jin Zhenren snapped angrily.
It had been many years—so many that he could no longer remember—since he had been suppressed by Mi Huo Zhenren. Now, with Qu Yi’s support behind him, he no longer hid his anger and let it burst forth.
Mi Huo Zhenren glanced at the three people on the mountain top, especially Qu Yi, before smiling and saying, “Han Jin, what you just said is an insult to me, do you know that? Since you cursed that my Shanghuo Palace will suffer disaster today, I’ll make sure your Yinyun Gate disappears today.”
As he spoke, hundreds of figures appeared in the distance—hundreds of disciples from Shanghuo Palace at the Yuan Ying stage, all coming over. It seemed Mi Huo Zhenren had planned this for a long time, and today he finally got his chance.
Fu Yun Zhenren on the mountain top was furious. This Mi Huo not only ignored him, a person at the early Consolidation stage, but also openly aimed to destroy entire Yinyun Gate—this was outright defiance.
“Mi Huo, if you want to destroy Yinyun Gate, I’ll destroy you first,” Fu Yun Zhenren shouted angrily as he flew into the air.
At that moment, a middle-aged man with a red face suddenly appeared above the crowd from Shanghuo Palace. Holding a bright red iron spear, he smiled broadly at Fu Yun Zhenren.
“Fu Yun, it’s me your opponent,” the man said with a smile.

“Fighting Fire, isn’t your Qianhuo Palace too domineering? You’re only at the mid-stage of the Convergence Realm, yet instead of challenging those at the later stage, you keep bullying us who are still in the early stage,” Real Master Floating Cloud said, immediately becoming dispirited upon seeing the visitor and shouting angrily.

It turned out that this Real Master Fighting Fire came from Qianhuo Palace and was quite famous in Feiyun Star. He never fought monks at the same or higher realm levels; instead, he liked to bully those with lower cultivation levels.

Qu Yi smirked upon seeing this Real Master Fighting Fire at the mid-stage of Convergence Realm, filled with joy. Qu Yi’s soul realm had already reached the early stage of Convergence, and what he lacked now was a Yuan Ying at the mid-stage. His first goal upon arriving at Feiyun Star wasn’t to revive Yinyin Sect but to find five Yuan Yings at the mid-stage so that he could advance in cultivation.

Now that this Real Master Fighting Fire, who practiced fire-based cultivation techniques, had arrived, he definitely had to obtain this fire Yuan Ying. As for the other four Yuan Yings of metal, wood, water, and earth attributes, he would wait for another opportunity.

Real Master Fighting Fire smiled smugly at Real Master Floating Cloud and said arrogantly, “Real Master Floating Cloud, why so much nonsense? We’re both at the Convergence Realm, so of course it should be a fight between us. Let those at the Divided Attention Realm handle their own problems.”

Real Master Floating Cloud’s expression froze, and he turned to look at Qu Yi.

Qu Yi laughed loudly, flew into the air, and stood beside Real Master Floating Cloud. He shouted, “Hey, you brute named Fighting Fire, right? Do you drink alcohol every day? Why is your face always red, even uglier than a monkey’s butt?”

Whoa!

All the monks of Yinyin Sect and those from Huogong present gasped in shock. They never expected that this new leader of Yinyin Sect, with only a Divided Attention Realm cultivation level, would dare to insult Real Master Fighting Fire like this. Did he really think Yinyin Sect wasn’t miserable enough?

Indeed, Real Master Fighting Fire was known for his fiery temper. Hearing Qu Yi’s words, his hair stood on end like steel needles.

“Brat, you have guts! If that’s the case, I’ll cut open your stomach to see just how big your guts are!” Real Master Fighting Fire roared in anger.

At the same time, wielding a fire spear, he rushed forward like a streak of flame, drawing a circle with the spear. A sea of fire surged upward, enveloping both Qu Yi and Real Master Floating Cloud.

The disciples of Yinyin Sect watching below felt their hearts turn to ice. They thought the new leader was about to die, and Yinyin Sect would be completely wiped out.

The disciples of Huogong all laughed, waiting for the two charred corpses in the air to fall.

Suddenly, the entire scene was filled with deep breathing sounds! In the air, Qu Yi suddenly took out the Golden Spear. With a surge of his vital energy, ten gold threads as thick as fingers pierced into the sea of fire at once. It was unclear what those gold threads did inside the fire sea, but soon the entire sea of fire turned into a cloud of flames that dispersed with the wind. The next moment, Qu Yi seemed to have disappeared entirely before suddenly reappearing behind the Fire-Fighting Immortal, the Golden Spear already plunged into his back. This Golden Spear was a mid-grade spiritual weapon, crafted by experts at the Tribulation stage—how could the Fire-Fighting Immortal’s body possibly resist it? It pierced in effortlessly. Before the Fire-Fighting Immortal could react, Qu Yi’s right fist punched into his body, swiftly extracting his Yuan Ying. “You…” The Fire-Fighting Immortal could hardly believe it and, filled with resentment, fell from the sky, already dead. At that moment, the disciples of the Hidden Cloud Sect burst into cheers, repeatedly calling out, “Elder Master, Elder Master!” Meanwhile, the disciples of the Shanghuo Palace kept blinking, still unable to believe what they had just seen—a cultivator in the late Divination stage killing a master in the mid-Combination stage so easily. Was there any justice in this world? Mi Huo Zhenren and Huo Baozi, those two brothers-in-arts, began to feel uneasy, a chill creeping into their hearts, and they even lost the courage to fly away. Qu Yi smiled as he looked at the people of the Shanghuo Palace, then called out, “Floating Cloud Immortal, Han Jin Immortal, what are you waiting for? Do these people from the Shanghuo Palace also need me to go and kill them?” “Haha, such a trivial matter—there’s no need for you to take action personally,” Floating Cloud Immortal and Han Jin Immortal replied joyfully before flying off. Floating Cloud Immortal headed straight for Mi Huo Zhenren, while Han Jin Immortal went after Huo Baozi. As for the disciples of the Hidden Cloud Sect, they did not move; their strength was still not enough to match the hundred Yuan Ying-stage disciples of the Shanghuo Palace. Qu Yi continued to smile as he walked slowly in the air, watching the battle below. Floating Cloud Immortal wielded the low-grade spiritual weapon, Cloud Flower, and with a surge of his vital energy, sent several golden sword auras flying at high speed. Although Mi Huo Zhenren also had the low-grade spiritual weapon, Starfire Battle Axe, his cultivation level being only in the late Divination stage, he couldn’t fully unleash its power. As soon as the two clashed, Floating Cloud Immortal completely dominated Mi Huo Zhenren. After attacking over a dozen times, Floating Cloud Immortal finally slew him.

On the other hand, Hanjin Zhenren learned from the previous lesson. When he approached the Fire Leopard, he immediately utilized his speed advantage, circling around it constantly. Finally, taking advantage of the Fire Leopard’s momentary lapse in concentration, he used his golden-threaded sword to sever its head and kill it. With the two strongest forces of the Shanghuo Palace killed at the same time, the Yuan Ying stage disciples of Shanghuo Palace were all filled with anxiety. These disciples didn’t dare to flee, knowing that no matter how fast they ran, they couldn’t escape the pursuit of those in the San Shen stage and early He Ti stage. Thus, the hundred Yuan Ying stage disciples of Shanghuo Palace stood there anxiously, waiting to see what Yin Yun Men would do. Qu Yi looked at the hundred people of Shanghuo Palace and said with a smile, “It’s okay, you all don’t need to worry. I give you two choices now: either join us at Yin Yun Men or leave immediately.” Huh!? Not only were the hundred people of Shanghuo Palace surprised, but all the disciples of Yin Yun Men were also utterly confused, staring at Qu Yi with wide eyes. “There’s no need to doubt. Decide for yourselves which choice to take,” Qu Yi said affirmatively with a smile. Their fate now depended on their own choices, and Qu Yi didn’t want to force them. At that moment, the hundred Yuan Ying stage disciples of Shanghuo Palace turned to look at each other, thinking rapidly. “I’m willing to join Yin Yun Men!” Some, having seen Qu Yi’s earlier actions, felt a glimmer of hope and decided to follow him. “I choose to leave!” Others, considering the vastness of Qianhuo Palace, didn’t dare entrust their fate to Qu Yi. The disciples of Shanghuo Palace quickly split into two groups: twenty chose to join Yin Yun Men, while the other eighty decided to leave. Qu Yi smiled and then announced, “You eighty can leave now. I’ll give you a kind warning—there’s nothing wrong with not joining Yin Yun Men, but definitely don’t enter Qianhuo Palace, because next time you won’t have a choice; the only outcome will be death.” After hearing Qu Yi’s words, the eighty disciples who chose to leave flew away silently, departing at a distance. Fuyun Zhenren and Hanjin Zhenren watched the departing people of Shanghuo Palace, shaking their heads and sighing. They felt they shouldn’t let these people go, but they didn’t dare question Qu Yi’s orders, now fully convinced of his leadership. Qu Yi smiled and looked at the twenty who chose to follow him, saying, “Congratulations. You will be the backbone of Yin Yun Men’s revival. Your future will surely be bright.”

The twenty disciples in the Yuan Ying stage who had just joined were inexplicably inspired upon hearing this, and a powerful force surged within them.
“We swear to follow the sect leader to the death!” the twenty cried excitedly.
Qu Yi smiled, then waved at Zhenren Fuyun and Zhenren Hanjin to summon them over to discuss matters regarding the upcoming situation.