Chapter 57: The Second Layer

Qu Yi trusted the Wordsmith God greatly. As soon as he heard its reminder, he immediately flew and sat down on a stone chair.
Suddenly, a circular light appeared on the ground around the chair, seemingly sensing that someone had sat on it. A white light also emerged from the blade groove in front of the chair, as if it could test the items placed in the groove.
“Wordsmith God, what’s going on?” Qu Yi asked immediately upon seeing these changes.
“Hehe, this is a touch-sensitive array. As long as someone sits on the chair, the array activates. Wait a while longer. Let the strong warriors from the eight sects fight over the magical treasures on the first layer. Once they reach the second layer, then make a deal with them,” the Wordsmith God replied indifferently.
It turned out that when the Wordsmith God was on the first layer, it advised Qu Yi to fly directly to the second layer to avoid facing the attacks of the strong warriors from the eight major sects alone. If those warriors fought to the death, Qu Yi wouldn’t be able to withstand them. Therefore, the Wordsmith God had Qu Yi enter the second layer to wait patiently and take the opportunity to make a deal with them.
Qu Yi had two Liuhe Blades in his hands—these would be his bargaining chips.
After hearing the Wordsmith God’s words, Qu Yi thought carefully and understood its intention. Instead of struggling to fight for the treasures from those warriors, it was better to make them hand over the treasures willingly.
Soon, Qu Yi sat quietly on the stone chair, waiting for the strong warriors from the eight sects to arrive.
……
On the first layer, there were three cultivation sects: the Taiyuan Sect, the Qingyun Sect, and the Yingtian Sect, totaling ten people. There were two demon cultivation sects: the Jinyang Church and the Cangyang Valley, totaling six people. There were also three beast cultivation sects: the Bai Shou Peak, the Xian Yue Ya, and the Jiugong Island, with seven beast cultivators in total.
Since none of them wanted members of other sects to enter the room and steal the treasures, the three factions gathered together, keeping each other in watch.
“Everyone, are we really going to die all for a few inferior immortal artifacts?” Tai Ming, the leader of the Taiyuan Sect, spoke up at that moment.
Due to the mutual hostility among them, time was wasted. None of the three factions was confident enough to wipe out the other two, so they had to compromise. Thus, Tai Ming spoke up with a proposal.
“Tai Ming, what’s your suggestion?” Jin Xiong from the Jinyang Church asked with a faint smile.
“Tai Ming, share your thoughts. I’ll consider them,” Qing Long, the leader of the Bai Shou Peak, replied with a calm smile as well.
Clearly, the leaders of these three factions were willing to compromise.
“What if we all take out our magical treasures and divide them equally?” Tai Ming suggested with a smile.

The other three members of the Taiyuan Sect smiled knowingly upon hearing this, while the strong warriors from other sects immediately shook their heads. Among the eight sects, only the Taiyuan Sect had four members, while the others had three each; the Xianyue Cliff had only its sect leader, Zhaojiao Yizhu Tulong. Clearly, dividing everything equally favored the Taiyuan Sect.

“This proposal isn’t good. I think it’s better if everyone enters one room together and competes for the treasures by luck,” Jin Xiong said with a faint smile.

The two demon cultivation sects, with the fewest members, could only rely on chaos to snatch some magical artifacts, hoping to gain more benefits—this was the usual approach of those who practiced demon cultivation.

“That’s not good. It’s better if each sect gets its own room, and everyone enters the last room at the same time to compete for the treasures by luck,” Qinglong said casually.

There were three fiend cultivation sects, not falling behind the three cultivation sects. Moreover, in the chaos of seizing treasures, the fiend cultivators also had their advantages, which was why Qinglong put forward his opinion.

It was clear that all three leaders were suggesting options that benefited them, unwilling to suffer any loss.

Soon, the strong warriors from the eight sects started arguing loudly again, each pushing their own ideas for dividing the treasures, showing no trace of the composure expected from powerful cultivators at the later stages of tribulation—creating a tremendous uproar.

The arguing lasted for an hour.

Suddenly, in all nine rooms, the aura of the magical artifacts weakened slightly, as if some spiritual weapons had disappeared. However, the top-grade spiritual weapons remained.

“Ah, could there be arrays in the rooms too? After some time passes, some spiritual weapons will disappear.”

“If we keep arguing, we’ll end up losing more than we gain.”

“It can’t go on like this. Let’s compromise again. If all the treasures in the rooms disappear, we’ll get nothing at all.”

……

The strong warriors from the eight sects all started shouting anxiously. They had understood what the disappearance of the spiritual weapons meant—the Liuli Tower didn’t allow people to stay for long. If they didn’t leave after a certain period, they would all die.

At that moment, Tai Ming, Jin Xiong, and Qinglong immediately exchanged spiritual connections and quickly reached an agreement.

Each sect would get one room, and for the last room, the treasures inside would be divided equally among everyone based on their numbers.

In an instant, the strong warriors from the eight sects attacked the iron doors of their respective rooms, breaking through the defensive arrays and rushing inside. They plundered all the top-grade spiritual weapons, along with other spiritual weapons, items, and materials, into their space rings.

After a while, the warriors from the eight sects came out of the rooms, their faces glowing with excitement—clearly, they had made some surprising discoveries.

The powerful warriors once again focused their gaze on the iron door of the last room. The leaders of the eight sects joined forces to break through the defensive formation, entered the room together, and immediately took out the top-quality spiritual weapons and other treasures inside, distributing them evenly among them. All eight sects plundered the treasures from the nine rooms. At this moment, with excitement on their faces, the warriors of the eight sects turned their eyes toward the stairs leading to the second floor. “That Qu Yi—he was the first to enter the Liuli Tower but didn’t go into the nine rooms to steal treasures. Instead, he flew straight to the second floor. We must be careful; he might have received special favor from Emperor Hao.” “Right. I had planned to team up with everyone here to kill Qu Yi inside the Liuli Tower, but unexpectedly, he cunningly went straight to the second floor.” “Now that we eight sects have these top-quality spiritual weapons, at least each of us has one. We now have the strength to surround and kill Qu Yi.” “Since everyone is determined to kill Qu Yi, let’s unite and work together to finish him off.” … The ten major sects of the cultivation world, though often at odds with each other, had long maintained control over the entire cultivation realm. However, Qu Yi’s appearance kept breaking the rules and challenging the authority of these sects, prompting them to resolve to kill him. Even the three sects—Bai Shou Peak, Xian Yue Cliff, and Jiu Gong Island—which had once dealt with Qu Yi could not tolerate anyone threatening their dominance and would have to eliminate him to feel at ease. Soon, the powerful warriors of the eight sects actually reached an alliance agreement, took oaths, and then all flew up to the second floor of the Liuli Tower. The twenty-three advanced cultivators arrived on the second floor and saw Qu Yi sitting quietly with his eyes closed on a stone chair, seemingly in meditation. The fact that Qu Yi still had the leisure to cultivate greatly surprised the warriors of the eight sects, but it also delighted them even more—wasn’t this the perfect example of waiting to be killed? So, each of the warriors of the eight sects, wielding a top-quality spiritual weapon, flew up and attacked Qu Yi together. Boom… Just as the twenty-three weapons were about to reach Qu Yi, a light pillar suddenly rose around the stone chair, blocking their attacks. Moreover, the pillar somehow repelled the twenty-three warriors back, causing each of them to spit out a mouthful of blood. The warriors of the eight sects stared in shock at the light pillar and also glared angrily at Qu Yi sitting on the stone chair.

The light column that had protected Qu Yi disappeared immediately. At that moment, Qu Yi opened his eyes and looked at the powerful warriors from the eight sects spitting blood on the ground. Smiling, he said, “Guys, you’re really generous. If you wanted to surprise me, there’s no need for all of you to spit blood in front of me.”

All the powerful warriors were enraged but pointed at Qu Yi without saying another word. If they had failed, they could accept it. Qu Yi continued smiling and said, “Who among you has a Six Harmonies Blade? Come and sit on this stone chair quickly. The Six Harmonies Hall is waiting for us.”

It turned out that the six stone chairs represented the six Six Harmonies Blades, which granted the right to enter the Six Harmonies Hall. As soon as these words were spoken, the powerful warriors from the eight sects became panicked. Immediately, Tai Ming, Jin Xiong, and Qing Long flew to one of the stone chairs and sat down, securing their places.

It turned out that the six Six Harmonies Blades were now in the hands of four people: Qu Yi had two, Tai Ming had two, Jin Xiong had one, and Qing Long had one. The powerful warriors from the other sects looked at the four people on the stone chairs, their expressions showing a mix of anxiety and hope.

It turned out that one Six Harmonies Blade could take three people into the Six Harmonies Hall, so these four people still had the ability to bring more people in. Thus, the warriors still on the ground still had a chance to enter the hall.

“Shan Zhen and Shan Ren, come near my stone chair, and I’ll bring you in. Shan Zhen, take this Six Harmonies Blade and go to the other stone chair to bring Master Qing Xu and Master Ying Hua in,” Tai Ming said as soon as he sat down on the stone chair, already knowing the secret of the Six Harmonies Blades.

It turned out that back then, the Tai Yuan Sect didn’t have the Eight Directions Swords. To enter the Haotian Immortal Mansion, they made a deal with the Qing Yun Sect and the Ying Tian Sect, giving one spot to each of them.

Soon, Shan Zhen and Shan Ren arrived near Tai Ming’s stone chair. Tai Ming sat on the chair and emitted two balls of golden energy, pulling the two of them to the side of the chair without using a light column. Shan Zhen took the Six Harmonies Blade and went to the other stone chair, bringing in Qing Xu and Ying Hua as well.

Jin Xiong brought in two people: Feng Han from his own Jin Yang Sect and Cang Huang, the master of Cang Yang Valley. Just like the Tai Yuan Sect, the Jin Yang Sect also didn’t have the Eight Directions Swords. Jin Xiong made a deal with Cang Huang, agreeing to give one spot to Cang Yang Valley in exchange for one spot with the Eight Directions Swords.

Qing Long was straightforward—he directly brought in One-Claw Earth Dragon from Xian Yue Ya and One-Claw Water Dragon from Jiu Gong Dao. The three of them entered the Six Harmonies Hall together.

At this moment, the other powerful figures who had not yet entered the stone chair all turned their gazes toward Qu Yi, while the masters sitting on the stone chairs also fixed their eyes on him. Qu Yi glanced around and said with a faint smile, “Do you all want to enter the Liuhe Hall? I have two Liuhe knives, and I can take five people in as well.” After saying that, the corners of Qu Yi’s mouth lifted slightly, though it was unclear what he had in mind.