Chapter 1: Reactions of the Ten Major Sects

Blue Snow Star is a small planet, named so because the snowflakes that fall on it are blue. On small planets, the strongest beings usually reach only the late Yuan Ying stage at most. Yet, due to its proximity to Liupan Star, the core planet of the cultivation realm, the strongest being on Blue Snow Star has reached the late Qi Chu stage, nearly reaching the level of a medium-sized planet.

At that moment, in a snow-capped mountain range on Blue Snow Star, a transparent light sphere suddenly dropped down. Inside the sphere were Xingluo Ding and Qu Yi. With the appearance of the light sphere, blue snowflakes began to flutter down all over the mountain range, creating a beautiful and colorful scene.

Qu Yi stopped supplying chaotic energy, and Xingluo Ding immediately ceased emitting light, both falling evenly onto the snow.

“Taiyuan Sect, now that you’ve lost Xingluo Ding, I wonder how you’ll subdue the other nine sects,” Qu Yi said with a laugh as soon as he landed.

Xingluo Ding had already entered the Cunjie Ball. Glancing at the blue snowflakes swirling in the air, Qu Yi chuckled lightly before entering the Cunjie Ball. There, he quietly watched the excited Artifact God.

The Artifact God was walking around Xingluo Ding, his lips moving rapidly. Having lost his treasure for so many years and seeing it again, he could hardly hide his excitement. Qu Yi did not disturb the Artifact God but kept observing him, eager to hear what he had to say about his treasure. Qu Yi was very curious about the mystery surrounding the Artifact God and hoped to find some information about him within Xingluo Ding.

Suddenly, the Artifact God flew onto a soft chair and said with a faint smile, “Qu Yi, from now on, Xingluo Ding will be under your use. I can’t use it now.”

Hearing this, Qu Yi was shocked. “Artifact God, why can’t you use your magic weapon?”

The Artifact God waved his hand and said with a smile, “You don’t need to know for now. You’ll understand why I can’t use Xingluo Ding later. I’ve already engraved your soul imprint into it, so you can use it fully.”

Hearing these familiar words—“You don’t need to know now. You’ll understand later”—Qu Yi’s repeated questions were once again dismissed.

“Artifact God, I’mcertainly happy that you’re allowing me to use Xingluo Ding. But the incantation to activate it needs to be changed,” Qu Yi said with a smile, his eyes holding a strange expression.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—my Artifact God is here!

The moment Qu Yi thought of this mantra, no matter how good his mood was, he would immediately feel extremely embarrassed. It could only be said that the Craft God’s skill in crafting was indeed high at that time, giving him the right to show off like this. But every time Qu Yi used it, he had to call out to the Craft God, which made him feel a bit chilled.

The Craft God gave Qu Yi an annoyed look but still followed his suggestion, closing his eyes for a moment. His soul had already connected with the Star Luo Ding, and he had modified the mantra needed to activate it.

“Alright, I’ve modified the mantra. Listen carefully,” said the Craft God with a smile, then transmitted the mantra to Qu Yi.

Qu Yi scanned the additional parts within his soul with his spiritual awareness and immediately turned pale with shock, staring at the Craft God in disbelief.

“A big watermelon, cut in half with one knife—half for you, half for me!”

The Craft God had actually replaced the mantra for activating the Star Luo Ding with this phrase, leaving Qu Yi speechless.

“Craft God, can you be serious? Give me something nice, like ‘The Dao is boundless; my heart endures forever!’ or ‘Follow the natural way; man can conquer fate. If humans stand in the way, kill them; if gods appear, destroy them!’” Qu Yi said with a flattering smile.

The Craft God waved his hand, comfortably lying back in the soft chair, and said with a closed-eye smile, “Use either this one or mine—choose for yourself.”

Qu Yi lowered his head, muttering under his breath to vent his frustration.

……

The dozen or so Great Perfection-stage cultivators from the Tai Yuan Sect chased after the Star Luo Ding but failed to catch up.

The sect leader, Tai Ming, arrived in the starry sky and, seeing those cultivators, felt angry but dared not show it. He flew back to Tai Yuan Mountain in a gloomy mood.

On the Qian Hua Continent, aside from the people from the Tai Yuan Sect, many cultivators from other sects also operated here.

The powerful auras of the dozen Great Perfection-stage cultivators from the Tai Yuan Sect naturally attracted the attention of many cultivators from other sects, who also heard Qu Yi’s words, “The Star Luo Ding is mine now!”

Soon, the news of the Tai Yuan Sect losing the Star Luo Ding spread throughout the entire Liu Pan Star System.

The Tai Yuan Sect was known as the foremost among the top ten sects in the cultivation world precisely because of the Star Luo Ding, which allowed them to elevate the quality of crafting materials by one level, enabling most cultivators in the tribulation stage to possess top-grade spiritual weapons. Even the ordinary disciples’ magical artifacts were generally superior to those of cultivators of the same level from other sects.

Now that the Tai Yuan Sect had lost the Star Luo Ding, although its strength wasn’t weakened immediately, in the long run, it would no longer be able to suppress the development of other sects. The other nine sects would gradually begin to challenge it.

Sure enough, when the news of the Taiyuan Gate losing the Xingluo Ding spread, the leaders and powerful figures of the other nine sects were filled with laughter. The high-ranking members of the Nine Sects—Qingyun Sect, Lanyang Palace, Yingtian Sect, Jinyang Sect, Biyan Peak, Cangyang Valley, Baishou Peak, Xianyue Cliff, and Jiugong Island—immediately held a meeting to discuss how to deal with the Taiyuan Gate going forward. Inside the Taiyuan Gate, the sect leader Tai Ming gathered all the powerful beings at the Tribulation Stage and those at the Mahayana Stage in Jinyuan Palace. There were as many as 20,000 beings at the Tribulation Stage, and 16 at the Mahayana Stage. Tai Ming and the Mahayana beings sat in a row, with Tai Ming naturally seated in the center to emphasize his status. The 20,000 Tribulation Stage beings sat across from them, waiting quietly. “Everyone, the Xingluo Ding has been lost,” Tai Ming began, stating the purpose of the meeting right away. Buzz… Although everyone already knew, hearing it from Tai Ming sparked further anger, and the atmosphere grew intense so much that a storm formed outside Jinyuan Palace, spreading thousands of miles away. “Sect Leader, that Liang Wu is only at the mid-Stage of Fusion. Let’s immediately inform all our branches to search for him thoroughly—where else could he escape to?” “Sect Leader, to activate the Xingluo Ding, a great deal of primordial energy is needed. Though we don’t know where Liang Wu obtained his primordial energy, it’s certainly not enough. If we keep chasing him, we’ll surely deplete his energy.” “To prevent the other nine sects from interfering, let’s declare in the cultivation world that anyone who dares to contact Liang Wu will have their entire sect destroyed—this applies equally to those from the other nine major sects.” … In an instant, many elders spoke up, offering their strategies. Tai Ming listened calmly until all the elders ran out of things to say. Then he let out a hum, silencing the entire atmosphere in Jinyuan Palace. “Elders, do you think this was done by Liang Wu? Let me tell you—Liang Wu isn’t capable of this. I’m certain it was Qu Yi who subdued Liang Wu, took his appearance, infiltrated our Taiyuan Gate, took the opportunity to get close to the Xingluo Ding, and then attacked Ancestor Luo Zhong to steal it,” Tai Ming explained clearly as if seeing everything unfold. Although he still didn’t know how Qu Yi could activate the Xingluo Ding, based on recent events, he was sure only Qu Yi had both the ability and motive to do this. Huh…

Tai Ming’s words immediately caused a stir in the Jin Yuan Palace. Everyone quickly understood that all of this acting had been done by Qu Yi alone.
“Elder Master, I suggest sending elders immediately to pursue Qu Yi throughout the cultivation world.”
“Elder Master, Qu Yi has repeatedly challenged the dignity of our Tai Yuan Gate. This time, he even went so far as to steal the Xing Luo Ding. We must kill him no matter what.”
“Elder Master, since Qu Yi was able to enter our Tai Yuan Gate so easily, there must be traitors inside. I suggest conducting a thorough investigation right away to eliminate all traitors.”
“Elder Master, the dignity of Tai Yuan Gate must not be violated. I suggest capturing everyone Qu Yi has been in contact with and forcing him to reveal himself.”
…
These elders all chattered loudly, offering their strategies.
Hmph!
Tai Ming let out another angry snort, his eyes blazing as he glared at the elders, immediately silencing them.
“Elders, you’ve been in seclusion for too long and know too little. I won’t blame you. Qu Yi’s current strength means that even those in the middle stage of the Tribulation Phase are no match for him. Only those in the later stage might be able to suppress him. There are only about five hundred such strong cultivators in our Tai Yuan Gate. With such a vast cultivation world, can our five hundred elders keep track of everything? Moreover, Qu Yi’s whereabouts are always unpredictable and untraceable. If we can’t find him, how can we deal with him?” Tai Ming shouted angrily.
With that, none of the elders in the Jin Yuan Palace dared speak up again.
Seeing that the situation had calmed down, Tai Ming continued, “We can’t track Qu Yi’s whereabouts, but since he wants to steal the Xing Luo Ding, he must be planning to create some powerful magical artifacts. So, he’ll likely go to buy materials or search for them in dangerous areas of the cultivation world. Therefore, we need to focus on these two aspects—monitoring the Immortal Path Alliance and the Demon Path Alliance, tracking those cultivators who purchase high-quality materials, and keeping an eye on all the dangerous places in the cultivation world. As soon as we spot any suspicious signs, we must act immediately, hoping to capture Qu Yi and get rid of this persistent threat.”
Upon hearing this, all the elders nodded immediately.

Meanwhile, on Liupan Star, the Qingyun Sect, Lanyang Palace, Yingtian School, Jinyang Religion, Biyan Peak, and Cangyang Valley also held high-level meetings and formulated similar plans. They would keep a close eye on all dangerous areas in the cultivation world, as well as monitor the Immortal Path Alliance and the Demon Path Alliance—two organizations widespread across the cultivation world. Once Qu Yi was found, they would immediately send their strongest members to capture him and seize the Xingluo Ding.

But the three demon cultivation sects also held similar high-level meetings, though their decisions differed from those of the cultivation and demon cultivation sects. It seemed the three sects had reached an agreement to adopt a friendly attitude toward Qu Yi, eager to become friends with him.

…

On Lanxue Star, regardless of how the ten sects in the cultivation world were discussing him, Qu Yi was currently fiddling with the Xingluo Ding, getting to know it better. Just earlier, the Artifact God had told Qu Yi an astonishing piece of news: by using the Xingluo Ding, he could learn the properties of a thousand materials at once. At that moment, Qu Yi was still in shock, staring at the Xingluo Ding in awe.

The five corners of the Xingluo Ding were named the Golden Corner, Wooden Corner, Water Corner, Fire Corner, and Earth Corner, corresponding to the energy regions of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Up to two hundred materials could be placed in these five angular regions, totaling a thousand materials. With the help of the Samadhi True Fire, he could learn the properties of all these thousand materials at once.

Qu Yi had previously spent some time getting to know materials for crafting, but the speed was too slow—only a hundred materials per day. Although he had already become familiar with most of the basic crafting materials, starting to learn about precious-grade materials made it seem too slow to use the Qianlan True Fire one by one. So he focused entirely on scanning the Three Elements Dao and stopped further exploring crafting materials.

Now, hearing that he could use the Xingluo Ding to learn about a thousand materials at once, how could he not be astonished? He could start working on getting to know crafting materials again.

“Artifact God, I understand now. You told me to focus on scanning the Three Elements Dao because you had already thought of me. As long as I get the Xingluo Ding, I can speed up the process of learning about materials,” Qu Yi said, calming down from his shock and smiling immediately.

The Artifact God, lying on a soft chair, simply smiled and suddenly said, “Qu Yi, we can head to the Soul Star Region now.”