Chapter 25: Infiltration

By controlling Xiao Jiling, Qu Yi also gained access to the Xiao family’s pill repository. After drinking a bottle of Morning Pearl Bamboo Wine, Qu Yi’s face turned blood-red, seemingly unable to tolerate the alcohol, and he began to stagger.
“Xiao Jiling, this wine is truly amazing—it makes me feel utterly relaxed. How did you get it?” Qu Yi said happily.
Earlier, Qu Yi had noticed that once Morning Pearl Bamboo Wine entered his body, in addition to being broken down into various energies, a portion also entered his spiritual core, strengthening it and bringing him complete comfort.
Xiao Jiling watched helplessly as Qu Yi drank the wine, tears streaming down her face with each drop hitting the ground—she was heartbroken.
These Morning Pearl Bamboo Wines were discovered by Xiao Jiling during her travels in the Destruction Mountains. In a valley filled with green bamboo, she found a dark cave containing a natural spiritual spring. The spring emitted the essence of bamboo sap from the roots of various bamboo plants, which, after years of natural transformation in a pool within the cave, became Morning Pearl Bamboo Wine. Such wine was not available all the time; it likely took tens of thousands of years to produce a single bottle. Xiao Jiling couldn’t bear to drink it herself, so she gave them all to Qu Yi.
“Even if you kill me, I won’t tell!” Xiao Jiling snapped, driven by anger and ready to go to extremes.
Qu Yi chuckled and stopped pressing her. Though this wine was beneficial to him, its quality wasn’t high enough, and drinking another bottle wouldn’t help.
“Enough. I won’t ask about the Morning Pearl Bamboo Wine anymore. Now take me to every cave—I want to collect these pills,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
Xiao Jiling’s worst fear finally came true. Upon hearing Qu Yi’s words, she collapsed onto the ground, too terrified to move.
Qu Yi laughed heartily at her, treating her like a joke.
Suddenly, Xiao Jiling, lying on the ground, writhed in pain and let out eerie cries—clearly, her spirit deity was tormenting her soul once again.
Qu Yi then placed a spiritual confinement spell in the cave to prevent Xiao Jiling from sending out any sounds. He did this on purpose to torment her further, forcing her to submit completely to him.
“Okay… I won’t resist anymore… I’ll do whatever you say. I’ll take you to collect the pills right now,” Xiao Jiling cried out, unable to bear it any longer.
Only then did Qu Yi smile and lift the spiritual confinement spell. Xiao Jiling regained her calm, her headache gone.

Soon, Qu Yi was taken by Xiao Jiling into various caves. Just like in the spiritual mineral repository, the Artifact God controlled the Dimensional Sphere to collect all the pills from those caves. The Xiao family’s thousands of years of pill collection now fell into Qu Yi’s hands.

……

In the Destruction Mountains, Zhao Shi and Zhao Yun, along with the disciples of the Celestial Divination Sect, swept through all of the Xiao family’s secret bases there, killing all the assassins who were training. After completing the cleanup, the two teams led by Zhao Shi and Zhao Yun reunited.

“Elder Brother Instructor, Li Mu still hasn’t given us any news. What should we do now?” Zhao Yun asked anxiously, looking at the thousands of disciples around him.

Zhao Yun was also worried. After all, the Destruction Mountains were Xiao family territory. Since their sect had destroyed all of Xiao family’s secret bases, it was inevitable that news would leak. If the Xiao family sent powerful fighters to pursue them, the Celestial Divination Sect wouldn’t be able to resist.

Zhao Shi smiled and said directly, “Younger brother, don’t worry. Before leaving us, Li Mu gave me a formation that can conceal our presence. We can set up this formation in the Destruction Mountains, and all of us will stay inside it, waiting for his return.”

Indeed, Qu Yi had already anticipated that once the Xiao family learned their secret bases had been attacked, they would surely send powerful fighters. So he asked the Artifact God to teach him the “Return to Dust Formation,” a formation that could deceive the spiritual senses of anyone below the late Tribulation stage, allowing them to avoid being pursued by the Xiao family.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yun’s worried expression immediately turned into joy. He had been worried that Qu Yi would abandon the Celestial Divination Sect after using them, but it seemed he had been overly suspicious.

Soon, Zhao Shi successfully set up the “Return to Dust Formation” in a canyon. All the disciples of the Celestial Divination Sect entered the formation and focused on cultivating there, waiting for Qu Yi’s arrival.

As for the disciples remaining at Fengtian Peak, Zhao Shi sent them a message token, instructing the lower-ranked disciples to leave Fengtian Peak immediately and head to various places on the Dark Fragrance Continent. They could be recalled once Qu Yi had destroyed the Xiao family.

Sure enough, while the members of the Celestial Divination Sect were cleaning out the Destruction Mountains, Xiao Han Tian, the head of the Xiao family, received the news and promptly sent powerful fighters from his clan to the Destruction Mountains.

At this time, Xiao Hanlin and Xiao Hansen, two powerful members of the Xiao family in their later stages of fusion, along with a thousand of the Xiao family’s guards, arrived over the Destruction Mountains. Flying from west to east, they kept their spiritual senses alert at all times. Filled with rage, the Xiao family members continued searching, but found not a trace of the enemy—it seemed as though the people from the Tianxi Sect had already left the Destruction Mountains. In no time, after searching the entire area, they turned back to Fengtian Peak to massacre all the disciples of the Tianxi Sect. Similarly, the disciples of the Tianxi Sect vanished without a trace the moment they were seen. In the end, the enraged Xiao family members destroyed entire Fengtian Peak before returning to the Xiao family’s headquarters in a gloomy mood. After receiving the report, Xiao Han Tian, the head of the Xiao family, realized that the Tianxi Sect must have been deliberately targeting the Xiao family, with someone behind the scenes manipulating things. After all, both the Xiao family and the Tianxi Sect were supported by the Yingtian Sect, so they shouldn’t have been at odds. The only possibility was that someone had taken control of the Tianxi Sect to use it against the Xiao family. Xiao Han Tian had no choice but to spread a message across the Dark Fragrance Continent: anyone who provided information about the Tianxi Sect’s whereabouts could demand any reward from the Xiao family. The entire Dark Fragrance Continent became agitated due to this message, but no one could locate the Tianxi Sect—it seemed they had suddenly disappeared. … Meanwhile, Shan Meng, a powerful member of the Taiyuan Sect in the early stages of his tribulation phase, hiding in the Destruction Mountains, was extremely frustrated. Half a year had passed, yet he still hadn’t seen Qu Yi leave the Xiao family’s headquarters. “Is this kid alive or dead? Why didn’t he come out after entering? This protective array of the Xiao family blocks my spiritual senses, so I can’t sense his whereabouts. It’s really frustrating.” “I really regret it. Why didn’t I control Li Mu and keep him on Feiyun Star? I could have just waited for those three guys from Shuoshang to arrive. Now, with Li Mu at the Xiao family’s headquarters, I can only wait outside, not knowing how long it will take.” “No, I think I should enter the Xiao family’s headquarters myself, capture Li Mu, take control of him, and then find a way to leave.” Shan Meng had many thoughts in an instant and finally decided that he too should disguise himself as a member of the Xiao family and enter their headquarters. Luckily, just as he thought of disguising himself, a group of Xiao family disciples was passing by, returning from other planets to Dark Fragrance Star and heading to the Xiao family’s headquarters.

Shan Meng simply raised his hand slightly, and suddenly a golden light shone over the group of Xiao family disciples, like the warmth of the sun, yet it carried immense pressure that knocked them unconscious. Then, Shan Meng seized one of the seven men, used soul-searching to learn everything about him, and killed him before disguising himself as that Xiao family man. Before long, the seven unconscious Xiao family members woke up one by one. After checking themselves and finding nothing amiss, they were still dazed. After discussing briefly without figuring out why they had suddenly fainted, they stopped talking and continued on their way back to the Xiao family headquarters. Shan Meng, disguised as Xiao Tianchu, was also among them and returned to the Xiao family headquarters together.

……

Shan Meng entered the Xiao family headquarters smoothly and followed the group back to the medicine repository. It turned out that this group was actually Xiao family members who had gone abroad to collect medicinal materials. Meanwhile, Qu Yi was inside the Dimensional Sphere. By the lake within the sphere, Qu Yi was meditating in solitude. With the major competition within the Xiao family still a year away, and after controlling Xiao Jiling and Xiao Jicang, Qu Yi didn’t want to waste time and had been practicing inside this Dimensional Sphere ever since. At that moment, the Artifact God, hiding on a soft chair, spoke up with a smile, “Qu Yi, things are getting increasingly interesting. That early-stage Tribulation Realm expert from the Taiyuan Sect has also disguised himself as a Xiao family disciple and entered the medicine repository, just like you.” Qu Yi opened his eyes and smiled, “Artifact God, how did you know? Isn’t that early-stage Tribulation Realm expert afraid of being discovered by the Xiao family’s Tribulation Realm experts, with his aura so strong?” The Artifact God shook his head and explained with interest, “When one reaches the Tribulation Realm, their body merges with nature, allowing them to control their aura at will. Naturally, as long as that Taiyuan Sect expert doesn’t deliberately reveal his aura, the Xiao family’s Tribulation Realm experts won’t be able to detect him. However, that expert can’t escape my detection. One can hide their physical aura, but they can’t change their soul aura.” Hearing this, Qu Yi showed a surprised expression, realizing just how powerful the Artifact God was—even a Tribulation Realm expert had no secrets before him.

“That strongman from the Taiyuan Sect in the early stage of the Tribulation Phase entered the Xiao family, probably to look for me. Heh, let him search for me here then. I’m going to stay for a year anyway. I hope he doesn’t reveal any weaknesses. If a strongman from the Xiao family in the Tribulation Phase gets trapped in this mountain protection formation, that would be interesting.” Qu Yi laughed heartily.
Ji Shen smiled and seemed to fall back into slumber.
As expected, as soon as Shan Meng from the Taiyuan Sect entered Xiao Zusu Mountain, he began searching relentlessly for Qu Yi but couldn’t detect any trace of him, leaving him frustrated.
And with that frustration, a year passed, and the Xiao family’s internal competition was about to begin.