Chapter 19: I Know You’re Waiting for Me

The Purple Volcano Range, where Tongzhou Hall is located, is in the center of the True Flame Continent. The Blue Mountain Range, where the Mo Yun Crystal deposits are found, is in the eastern region of the True Flame Continent.
The two mountain ranges are fifty thousand miles apart.
As soon as Huozun left the territory of the Purple Volcano Range, he took out the Starship and set off on it.
“Instrument God, that Yun Zhouzi isn’t following me,” Huozun said with a smile inside the Starship.
It turned out that Yun Zhouzi had been monitoring all of Huozun’s actions in the Extreme Fire Peak. Naturally, Huozun’s “Pre-set Formation Method” was also detected by Yun Zhouzi, which earned him strong support from Yun Zhouzi.
Yun Zhouzi already possessed the cultivation level of Earth Soul Immortal. His immortal perception could naturally go unnoticed by Huozun, but it couldn’t escape the Instrument God’s perception.
“The immortal perception has been following you ever since you left the Purple Volcano Range,” the Instrument God replied with a smile.
Huozun narrowed his eyes and smirked coldly, saying indifferently, “Yun Zhouzi has also realized the value of the Pre-set Formation Method. He wants to use this method of refining artifacts to boost Tongzhou Hall’s reputation, so as to catch the attention of powerful figures and gain abundant resources to advance his own cultivation.”
Although Yun Zhouzi was the head of Tongzhou Hall, it was only because Tongzhou Hall brought him benefits—after all, the amount of Origin Stones provided by Tongzhou Hall each year was enormous. If Tongzhou Hall were in trouble, Yun Zhouzi would still abandon it and run away on his own.
Huozun understood very well the nature of these powerful beings in the immortal realm. This was why he dared to act freely within Tongzhou Hall—knowing that he could bring them great benefits. That’s why Zhen Nantian could accept being called “fat guy,” and why Yun Zhouzi was willing to secretly support Huozun’s actions.
“Hehe, Huozun, I never expected that you too wanted to use Tongzhou Hall to carry out your own plans,” the Instrument God replied happily.
Huozun nodded and then controlled the Starship, rushing quickly toward the Blue Mountain Range.
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In just five days, Huozun easily arrived at the Blue Mountain Range.
The Blue Mountain Range stretched for a hundred thousand miles, with towering peaks and numerous ancient trees. Most of the trees here had blue leaves, creating a vast expanse of blue that was truly spectacular. The peaks themselves were made of golden, glowing stones, making them resemble countless pieces of gold scattered across this blue ocean.
Huozun landed on one of the peaks at the southern end of the Blue Mountain Range.

“The Artifact God, I feel that this Blue Mountain Range seems to contain a lot of rare mineral energies. I should be able to obtain some valuable ores,” said the Fire Venerable with a smile after scanning with his divine consciousness.

Using the Star Luo Ding, the Fire Venerable had become familiar with most of the materials used in alchemy in the cultivation world. His soul consciousness had an innate reaction to the energies of minerals. Thus, when his divine consciousness scanned, he could sense them.

There were also some spiritual stones in the immortal realm, such as the Warmness Stone and the Sprouting Stone, which could help cultivators of fire energy quickly grasp the powers of warmth and growth. The Fire Venerable was pleased upon sensing the energy fluctuations of these spiritual stones.

After a while, the Artifact God said with a smile, “Indeed. I’ve already found it. Fly another hundred miles north, where there’s a mountain peak. There’s a passage opening up from a crack in the rock. You can obtain a Gathering Stone, which the Gold Venerable can use to quickly master the power of gathering.”

Hearing this, the Fire Venerable became extremely excited. Arriving at the Blue Mountain Range and already gaining something beneficial was naturally thrilling.

Although the Gathering Stone was only useful to the Gold Venerable, any improvement in the strength of Qu Yi’s five avatars would benefit everyone. The Fire Venerable wouldn’t be disappointed and would surely make every effort to find the Gathering Stone.

Soon, the Fire Venerable flew to a triangular rock peak and quickly descended to the base of the mountain.

The entire peak was made up of stacked rocks, and the base was also a rocky surface. However, there were many cracks as thin as fingers on the ground, emitting the energy of the Gathering Stone.

As soon as the Fire Venerable landed, he took out his lower-grade immortal weapon, the Fire Soaring Sword, and swung it swiftly. A straight tunnel downward formed in the ground.

As the Sword was swung, the tunnel continued to extend downward.

The Fire Venerable soon reached a depth of a hundred miles underground and entered an underground cave. There, besides a pool of clear water, there were three round stones glowing with a dark golden light—none other than the Gathering Stones.

Without hesitation, the Fire Venerable flew over, grabbed the Gathering Stones with both hands, and then entered the Inch Realm Sphere.

Qu Yi’s other four avatars—Gold Venerable, Wood Venerable, Water Venerable, and Earth Venerable—were continuously mastering their respective primal energies. The “Five Energies and Three Flowers” divine formula card was used in rotation by the four of them.

With the Enlightenment Stele, the four of them could quickly comprehend their primal energies. Yet, it was still not as fast as practicing in the cultivation space, where the pure primal energies in the primal energy pool, combined with the Enlightenment Stele, allowed them to grasp those energies almost instantly.

At this moment, Fire Venerable arrived at the valley where the four were practicing, landing on the mountain where Gold Venerable was seated.
“Gold Venerable, these are the Gathering Stones. Take them,” said Fire Venerable with a smile.
Gold Venerable opened his eyes, nodded, and took three Gathering Stones at once, saying with a smile, “Fire Venerable, thank you for your hard work.”
Meanwhile, Earth Venerable, who was using his Divine Formula Card, also opened his eyes and immediately flew the card to Gold Venerable.
“Gold Venerable, here’s the Divine Formula Card. With the Gathering Stones and the Enlightenment Stele, you should be able to grasp the power of gathering quite quickly and then advance to the rank of Five-Star Human Soul Immortal,” said Earth Venerable with a smile.
An ordinary immortal, if they had the Gathering Stones, could also grasp this power within a year. But Gold Venerable had always been guided by the God of Tools, and now, with the Gathering Stones and the Enlightenment Stele, it would naturally take him just a few days to master it.
Gold Venerable had already grasped the four primal forces of the metal element: the force of sharpness, the force of hardness, the force of solemnity, and the force of pressure. If he could also grasp the power of gathering, he would have mastered all five primal forces of the metal element, thus reaching the rank of Five-Star Human Soul Immortal.
“Earth Venerable, thank you,” said Gold Venerable, receiving the Divine Formula Card and smiling in understanding.
Qu Yi’s five avatars were united in purpose. Earth Venerable knew that Gold Venerable needed the help of the Enlightenment Stele the most, so he immediately stopped using his own Divine Formula Card and handed it over to Gold Venerable.
Earth Venerable simply nodded, then closed his eyes and continued to rely on his own strength to master the power of transformation.
Seeing that everything was taken care of, Fire Venerable left the Dimensional Sphere right away and returned to the cave.
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Another ten days passed as Fire Venerable flew through the Blue Gold Mountain Range, investigating any unusual mineral scents he encountered.
By now, he had arrived in a mountainous area—the region where the Ink Cloud Crystal deposits were located.
“That Zhu Bao really deceived me. These Ink Cloud Crystal deposits were already completely mined out,” said Fire Venerable coldly from atop a mountain.
In fact, Fire Venerable had expected this. Zhu Bao hated him deeply; how could he possibly kindly tell him about the auction of such minerals? Still, Fire Venerable wanted to travel around Zhu Yan Star for a while, so he used this as an excuse to leave Tongzhou Hall and head to the Blue Gold Mountain Range.
Throughout the mountainous area, there were hundreds of huge caves, clearly remnants of past mining activities.
After a while, the God of Tools replied, “Fire Venerable, the Ink Cloud Crystal deposits have been completely mined out. But there’s still some gain—there might be spiritual stones in the layers below these caves. Water Venerable might find them useful.”

Upon hearing this, Fire Lord’s angry expression immediately turned into a smile. “Very well, then I’ll dive back underground to help Water Lord find the spirit stones,” he said with a smile, promptly drawing out the Flame Soaring Sword. Last time, after Golden Lord obtained the Spiral Gathering Stone, he used the Enlightenment Stele to master the power of gathering. This time, Fire Lord wanted to help Water Lord obtain the spirit stones as well, so that Water Lord could quickly master a fundamental power of water. With the strength of the other Qu Yi avatars increasing, it was equivalent to Fire Lord having an additional powerful ally, so naturally, he spared no effort. Before Fire Lord could land on the ground, the Artifact God suddenly laughed, “Fire Lord, wait a moment—it seems that Zhu Bao is right at the deepest part of one of the caves.” It turned out that the Artifact God’s divine perception had already detected Zhu Bao. Although Zhu Bao had hidden well, he still couldn’t escape the Artifact God’s search. Hearing this, Fire Lord landed on the ground with a smile. After thinking for a moment, he understood why Zhu Bao had told him about the location of the Mo Yun Crystal deposits. “This Zhu Bao truly harbors resentment and wants to get rid of me. He deliberately told me about the Mo Yun Crystal deposits, knowing I would come to investigate. He must have waited here in advance—once I appeared, he would attack me,” Fire Lord thought to himself. With Zhu Bao’s cultivation as a lower-tier Human Soul Immortal, he was surely confident enough to attack Fire Lord, a four-star Human Soul Immortal. After some thought, Fire Lord sent a message to the Artifact God, “Artifact God, where exactly is Zhu Bao at the bottom of that cave?” The Artifact God replied immediately, “In the cave with the red boulder on the right.” Fire Lord immediately spotted the red boulder and headed straight to the cave entrance beside it. With a smile, he plunged into the cave, descending straight to the bottom. The cave was ten thousand meters deep, with a vast space at the bottom—a wide rocky cavern. At that moment, Zhu Bao was hiding alone within a stealth array, which was set up in a corner of the bottom cavern. “Hmph, this Fire Lord has indeed come. Today is the day you die,” Zhu Bao said coldly, his divine perception having already detected Fire Lord. By then, Fire Lord had arrived at the bottom cavern just as Zhu Bao had wished, and even reached where Zhu Bao was hiding. After stopping, Fire Lord shook his flowing hair and said calmly, “Zhu Bao, come out. I know you’re waiting for me.” With that, he drew out the Flame Soaring Sword and swung it downward, sending a burst of intense fire that flew straight toward the corner.

Zhu Bao suddenly flew out of the formation, raised his blue long sword, and extinguished the fire. In astonishment, he exclaimed, “Fire Lord, how did you know where I was hiding?”