Chapter 45: Later Stage of Convergence

Over ten years, Qu Yi had completed the full scanning of the Three Elements Dao, and his soul realm had reached the later stage of convergence.
Now, Qu Yi’s top priority was, of course, to elevate his own cultivation to the later stage as well. The soul realm was like a bucket, while cultivation was the water inside it; once the bucket expanded, it could hold more water.
Thus, as soon as his soul realm advanced, Qu Yi informed everyone and then sat by the lake, adjusting his physical condition.
Nearby, a jade platform had been prepared in advance, on which five Yuan Ying were placed.
These five Yuan Ying were all in the early stage of tribulation, one each representing metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Suddenly, Qu Yi, who had been in meditation for ten days, opened his eyes. A sharp beam of light shot out, indicating his excellent physical condition.
Undoubtedly, with his body now adjusted, Qu Yi immediately activated the five cultivation techniques to circulate energy throughout his body.
“Golden Splendor,” “Revival of All Trees,” “Unity of Water and Sky,” “Spreading Flames,” and “Vast Imperial Land”—these five techniques coordinated to rapidly increase their speed, sending waves of energy throughout his body to cleanse it repeatedly.
As the techniques reached their maximum speed, Qu Yi glanced at the five Yuan Ying on the jade platform, smiled, and suddenly shouted, “Five Yuan Ying into the body, transform energy into divinity, unite the Yuan Ying, and perfect the Dharma body!”
At that moment, a powerful vortex emerged from Qu Yi’s mouth, sucking the five Yuan Ying from the platform and immediately sending them to his dantian.
Inside the dantian, the combined true energy formed a liquid pentagram-shaped entity, with the five Yuan Ying of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth connected to each corner. When the five Yuan Ying in the early stage of tribulation entered, they were immediately broken down by the combined true energy into five streams of energy, which flowed back to the respective Yuan Ying, allowing them to become more concentrated.
Qu Yi’s spirit controlled these five streams of energy, rushing swiftly into the five Yuan Ying at the corners, further concentrating them and enabling his spirit to observe the energy more clearly.
If, in the early stage of convergence, his spirit’s observation of energy was like viewing snowflakes, in the middle stage it could see the ice crystals within the snowflakes, and by the later stage, it could clearly see the six sides of those ice crystals in three dimensions.
Only a strong spirit could observe the characteristics of energy with such precision.

And now, Qu Yi controls five types of energy, not only to further consolidate the Yuan Ying but also to elevate the Yuan Shen, so that when the Yuan Ying, Yuan Shen, and physical body are in harmony, they will fit together seamlessly. Once the Dharma body is formed, he can be even more immersed in the flow of energy in heaven and earth, constantly sensing the energy of the five elements. Although the energy in the early stage of tribulation is vast, it is now guided in an orderly manner into each Yuan Ying under the enveloping effect of the mixed true energy. Since this mixed true energy has been purified by chaotic energy, it is no longer mixed and is nearly in the form of chaotic energy; its innate high-level energy properties still allow it to be controlled. Therefore, Qu Yi only needs time to safely and smoothly reach the later stage of the Convergence phase.
……
In the grotto where they stayed on the Inch Realm Sphere, the Poison-Feeding Fruit Tree had grown much thicker. The entire tree seemed to be coated in a layer of black paint, emitting a dim glow. By now, having absorbed poison gas for ten years, the tree had produced tens of thousands of Poison-Feeding Fruits, all of which were nearly ripe. Each Poison-Feeding Fruit was equivalent to a strong warrior at the Convergence phase; depending on their level of maturity, some were even equivalent to those in the later stage of Convergence. In other words, if Qu Yi harvested all these fruits, he would possess the strength of over ten thousand Convergence-phase warriors. Besides these, ten Poison-Plague Fruits were also slowly growing. Indeed, over the past ten years, the Poison Soul Beast had fed one Poison-Feeding Fruit per year, pouring in the poison gas it had refined, eventually giving rise to ten Poison-Plague Fruits. Poison-Plague Fruits were irresistible to warriors below the Great Vehicle phase; even a slight contact with their venom would cause immediate death. However, the ten Poison-Plague Fruits at this stage were not yet fully mature, only having progressed from flowering to fruiting. After all, they had only received a year’s worth of special nourishment from the Poison Soul Beast, so the amount and quality of poison gas accumulated within them were not sufficient. Just as human cultivators must transform spiritual energy into true energy, these Poison-Plague Fruits also need to convert the absorbed poison gas into venom, and the amount of venom must reach a certain level. At present, the fruits contained only poison gas, not yet transformed into venom, so it would take a long time for them to fully mature. Yet, with the diligent efforts of the Poison Soul Beast, these fruits would ripen quite quickly. Outside this grotto, many Poison Demonic Beasts had already gathered on the planet.

The anomalies on this planet, especially the aura emitted by the Poison-Feeding Fruit Tree, have attracted the attention of the Poisonous Beasts in the Demon Poison Star Region. Many of these beasts have traversed vast starfields to reach this planet and surrounded the cave. The aura of the Poison-Feeding Fruit Tree is like a scent to humans or the smell of blood to wolves—it strongly attracts these Poisonous Beasts, as if consuming just one leaf would allow them to advance in strength. Thus, they all gathered here. At present, numerous Poisonous Beasts are attacking the huge rocks blocking the cave entrance, including a few in the Fusion Stage. Yet they never expected that no matter how powerful the spells or poisons, they had no effect on these rocks, which continued to block the entrance. Some smaller Poisonous Beasts tried to sneak into the cave alone, but any slight movement led to them being eaten by nearby stronger beasts. Clearly, these powerful beasts did not want the smaller ones to enter, fearing they might devour the tempting treasures inside and surge in strength, leaving the powerful beasts regretful too late. This huge rock was found by Qu Yi in the Xiao family’s spiritual mineral repository; it was likely the core of a planet that exploded, acquired by the Xiao family. The Artifact God later told Qu Yi that this rock was called the Boe Stone—it had an extremely strong gravitational pull and contained its own space, with a natural ability to absorb spells. Therefore, Qu Yi used this Boe Stone to block the cave entrance. Since countless Poisonous Beasts failed to break through the Boe Stone, the ones in the Fusion Stage realized it was necessary to summon the five early-stage Tribulation-crossing beasts from the Demon Poison Star Region. Although they would only get a small share of the benefits once those five beasts arrived, it was still better than getting nothing. So, the beasts in the Fusion Stage let out loud howls, sending the message to the core area of the Demon Poison Star Region. Soon after, five early-stage Tribulation-crossing beasts from the core area flew over joyfully and landed right by the cave entrance. Five tall figures entirely covered in black—men with golden eyes, thin men with cyan eyes, graceful women with blue eyes, strong men with red eyes, and bare-chested men with yellow eyes—these were the five strongest beings in the Demon Poison Star Region.

The Golden-Eyed Poison King, Cyan-Eyed Poison King, Blue-Eyed Poison King, Red-Eyed Poison King, and Yellow-Eyed Poison King all attacked the Boe Stone one after another as soon as they appeared, only to find that their attacks caused the stone to shake slightly but failed to break it completely.
“Heh, Cyan, Blue, Red, Yellow—it seems we need to combine our five powers. Let’s attack together to break this stone,” the Golden-Eyed Poison King called out, somewhat frustrated.
“Alright, let’s do it!” The other four Poison Kings understood as well.
Immediately, the five Poison Kings widened their eyes, and from their eyes, two beams of light each were emitted—gold, cyan, blue, red, and yellow—resulting in ten beams of light that struck the same spot on the Boe Stone.
These beams were the unique attack methods of the five Poison Kings, allowing them to release the vital energy from their eyes. Each beam contained energy equivalent to that of the early stage of transcending tribulations, extremely powerful.
Crack!
Under the anticipation of the five Poison Kings and countless poisonous beasts, the Boe Stone indeed shattered into five pieces, revealing a passage wide enough for two people to pass through.
Without hesitation, seeing that the Boe Stone was broken and no longer posed a barrier, the five Poison Kings rushed into the cave and, guided by the aura of the Poison-Feeding Fruit Tree, flew straight toward the deepest part of the cave.
Of course, the five Poison Kings were wary since someone had used the Boe Stone to block the cave entrance. So, as they flew, they kept scanning the entire cave with their spiritual senses and found nothing unusual, reducing their concerns as they headed straight for the Poison-Feeding Fruit Tree.
Soon, the five Poison Kings reached the bottom of the cave, beside the Poison-Feeding Fruit Tree.
“What? How is the Poison Soul Beast here?” The Golden-Eyed Poison King didn’t pay much attention to the tree but first noticed the Poison Soul Beast on it.
“Right, wasn’t this Poison Soul Beast taken away by humans?” the Cyan-Eyed Poison King asked in curiosity.
The Blue-Eyed Poison King, Red-Eyed Poison King, and Yellow-Eyed Poison King also stared at the Poison Soul Beast in surprise.
But the Poison Soul Beast ignored them all, instead breathing out its poisonous gas like a mother, feeding the ten Poison Fruit Seeds that had emerged.
The five Poison Kings found it strange that the Poison Soul Beast ignored them completely, as if its nature had changed—much like a girl turning into a mother—filling them with confusion.
“Yeah, what kind of tree is this? Those Poison Fruits might help beasts in the Diversion stage break through to the Fusion stage,” the Golden-Eyed Poison King suddenly exclaimed excitedly.
Indeed, the Golden-Eyed Poison King had noticed the Poison Fruits and sensed their vitality, which was undoubtedly beneficial for the cultivation of poisonous beasts.

“Yes, it seems this tree is absorbing the poisonous gases and producing these poisonous fruits. The energy contained in these fruits can definitely help Poison Demons in the Distracted Stage break through to the early Stage of Union, and it can also help those in the Stage of Union break through to the later Stage of Union,” cried the Red-Eyed Poison King excitedly.

The five Poison Kings immediately understood the value of this Poison-Consuming Fruit Tree. It was equivalent to the medicinal pills used by human cultivators, capable of helping Poison Demons advance in rank and greatly strengthening the power of the Magic Poison Star Region.

However, before they could fully rejoice, they all noticed ten More Poisonous Fruits at the same time.

“Impossible! I feel these ten poisonous fruits could help me break through to the middle stage of the Tribulation Phase.”

“Definitely. The energy in these fruits will surely help us advance.”

“What kind of tree is this? It has such powers! In the future, our Magic Poison Star Region will be able to produce many strong cultivators at the Tribulation Phase.”

“Could it be that heaven, seeing our Magic Poison Star Region being constantly bullied by human cultivators, has specially bestowed upon us this powerful poisonous tree, allowing us to compete with the major human sects?”

…
The faces of the five Poison Kings were almost deformed from excitement—they were utterly thrilled.

But just as they were excited, Qu Yi suddenly appeared before them, radiating the aura of a cultivator in the later Stage of Union.

“The five Poison Kings, this tree belongs to me. Don’t even think about it,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

In an instant, the Golden-Eyed Poison King, Green-Eyed Poison King, Blue-Eyed Poison King, Red-Eyed Poison King, and Yellow-Eyed Poison King all narrowed their eyes to slits, their gazes filled with malice.