Chapter 75: The Punishment Hall

Fire Lord had collected a thousand jade slips, each containing difficult array formulas, and now returned to his cultivation cave. As soon as he entered, he went straight into the Tiny World Sphere. By the lake in the Tiny World Sphere, Qu Yi stood beside the Star Luo Cauldron, which already contained various materials needed for crafting immortal artifacts at the Two-Star Soul Immortal level—materials required by the Tongzhou Hall for this task. Qu Yi took a sample of each type of material. Inside the Star Luo Cauldron, Qu Yi could control three thousand parallel spaces simultaneously, so he could craft all the immortal artifacts at once. He began to familiarize himself with the array formulas of the Two-Star Soul Immortal level, which involved using two types of primordial forces. When Fire Lord arrived, he saw Qu Yi continuously activating the Star Luo Cauldron, rapidly mobilizing its stored primordial energy to unleash flames of varying intensities across the parallel spaces. The interior of the cauldron was filled with intense flames. Instead of interfering with Qu Yi’s crafting, Fire Lord sat down on the ground and continued to delve into the mysteries of his fire cultivation techniques. Cultivation demanded constant effort. Ten days later, Qu Yi suddenly let out a loud shout, and the flames inside the Star Luo Cauldron vanished. The last immortal artifact in the final parallel space was also completed. Qu Yi relaxed and, with a thought, the three thousand crafted immortal artifacts flew out of the cauldron and dropped into the nearby lake, which was rich in primordial energy and ideal for tempering. All three thousand immortal artifacts at the Two-Star Soul Immortal level had been successfully crafted! Seeing Fire Lord sitting on the ground nearby, Qu Yi smiled and said, “Fire Lord, why didn’t you go to your own cave to cultivate? How did you end up cultivating inside the Tiny World Sphere?” Fire Lord opened his eyes and stood up. “Those array masters from the Tongzhou Hall still lack sufficient knowledge of arrays; they can’t even handle many of the Two-Star Soul Immortal level arrays. There’s no other choice but for me to step in and finish this task,” Fire Lord said with a smile. It wasn’t surprising—before, the Tongzhou Hall was only on the small planet of Zhu Yan Star, so their exposure to arrays was limited. Now, they were handling crafting tasks from various planets in the Earthly Abyss Star Cluster, whose difficulties were far greater, and those array masters truly couldn’t solve such problems in a short time. Qu Yi had already crafted one type of each kind of immortal artifact required by the Tongzhou Hall this time, so naturally, he had long solved all the associated array formulas.

“That fat guy Zhen Nantian, after obtaining the array inheritance from Emperor Hao, has been focusing on seclusion and can’t be mobilized at the moment. Well, I’ll have to work harder and finish these tasks for you. Fire Venerable, go back to your cave to cultivate,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
Fire Venerable nodded, tossed out a space ring, and disappeared immediately.
Qu Yi took the space ring and found a thousand jade slips inside, knowing full well that they contained various array problems.
In just one day, Qu Yi solved all the array problems in the jade slips and inscribed brand-new arrays into them one by one.
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Qu Yi left the Tiny World Sphere, placed the space ring containing the jade slips beside Fire Venerable, and then returned to the Tiny World Sphere right away.
At that moment, the Artifact God, hiding on the soft chair, turned over.
“Qu Yi, those five guys from the Sky Curtain Organization plan to leave Yuxuan Pavilion now,” the Artifact God said with a smile.
It turned out that Xiang Qing, Xiang Xing, Xiang Zhong, Xiang Zheng, and Xiang Chun, after learning that Jing Yihong had successfully refined the Ghost Emperor Earth Pill and had already completed the alchemy task, realized there was no point in staying at Yuxuan Pavilion any longer.
The five of them could only resent themselves for not knowing exactly when Jing Yihong would succeed in refining the pill, thus failing this mission, and then they quietly left Yuxuan Pavilion.
Upon hearing the Artifact God’s words, Qu Yi sat down on the soft chair and said with a smile, “Artifact God, since those five guys failed this mission, they must still be traveling around Earthly Ghost Star to complete another task, right?”
Xiang Qing, Xiang Xing, Xiang Zhong, Xiang Zheng, and Xiang Chun were sent to Earthly Ghost Star by the Sky Curtain Organization specifically to carry out various tasks within theChilling Cold Sect.
The Artifact God nodded slightly and said with a smile, “Those five guys plan to go to thethe Yufa Continent Continent, which is under the jurisdiction of the Punishment Institute. Their plan is to enter the forbidden area of the Punishment Institute, where there is a primordial spirit vein. They intend to infiltrate and destroy the entire vein.”
Primordial spirit veins are extremely rare in the Immortal Realm. An entire vein continuously emits primordial energy without any trace of other energies.
TheChilling Cold Sect was able to become the ruler of the Earthly Ghost Star Cluster because it possessed the only primordial spirit vein in the entire cluster, allowing it to continuously train disciples, teach cultivation techniques, and grow stronger.
However, theChilling Cold Sect had not discovered the Soul Devouring Bloodline; otherwise, its growth would have been even faster.
Qu Yi showed a shocked expression, thinking to himself that the Sky Curtain Organization’s methods of training its members were truly ruthless—forcing them to destroy the foundation of a sect was an extremely serious task.

The foundation of the Youhan Sect is its Origin Spirit Vein, which is surely protected by numerous safeguards. It’s certainly not a place where these five upper-ranked Soul Immortals can act recklessly.
“I’m somewhat impressed by that Golden Mysterious Star Lord Chang Xin now. He actually established such a crazy organization. His methods and determination are truly terrifying,” Qu Yi said with some admiration.
The Artifact God merely smiled faintly and replied, “Qu Yi, this Chang Xin is no ordinary person. He is not only the Star Lord of Golden Mysterious Star but also the leader of the Golden Mysterious Alliance. Moreover, among the various Immortal Emperors in the Immortal Realm, he is the one with the fastest progress in strength. Oh, right, one of the five who went to the Cultivation Realm to hunt down Emperor Hao back then was Chang Xin. It was also he who gave the Star Luo Ding to the Tai Yuan Sect. This man has immense ambitions.”
Qu Yi nodded, his eyes gleaming, clearly eager to confront this Chang Xin.
“Artifact God, keep me informed at all times about the movements of these five. I want to closely track them to see what they really plan to do,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
At that moment, the Artifact God replied calmly, “Qu Yi, once these five reach the rank of lower-ranked Soul Immortals, they can use the Boundless Star Map to travel freely across various star regions in the Immortal Realm. Once they reach the rank of First-Star Earth Soul Immortals, they can use the Boundless Star Map to move freely between the Immortal Realm, the Demon Realm, and the Monster Realm. Don’t worry; these five won’t be able to escape your tracking.”
Qu Yi smiled easily and then lay back on his soft chair.
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Xiang Qing, Xiang Xing, Xiang Zhong, Xiang Zheng, and Xiang Chun had already left the Spirit Pill Academy and arrived on the Youfa Continent, where the Punishment Academy was located.
On a peak covered with strange rocks, the five of them sat together.
All of them looked somewhat worried.
“Xiang Xing, Xiang Zhong, Xiang Zheng, Xiang Chun, since our mission to steal the Ghost Emperor Earth Pill failed this time, we don’t need to dwell on it anymore. The organization has given us another task: to infiltrate the Skill Transmission Academy and then find an opportunity to enter the Origin Spirit Vein of the Youhan Sect, taking advantage of it to destroy the array that seals the spirit vein, thereby causing the Youhan Sect to lose its Origin Spirit Vein,” Xiang Qing said calmly.
The Origin Spirit Vein is filled with immense energy. Without control from an array, all the spiritual energy of the entire Youyou Star would be absorbed by it, leading to a massive energy surge. The disciples of the Youhan Sect would then no longer be able to absorb spiritual energy and refine their immortal essence at ease.
“We can’t fail again. If we do, the five of us might be sent to the Demon Realm and the Monster Realm, which would be extremely dangerous,” Xiang Xing said anxiously.

The Sky Canopy Organization assigns one task after completing another. Each task comes with points, and those who rank low in points will naturally face punishment. The harshest punishment is being sent from the realm of immortals to the realm of demons or monsters, where they must face life-and-death trials every day.

“The five of us have always completed our tasks quickly in the past. This defeat doesn’t negate our strength. Let’s rally together and finish this task of destroying the spiritual veins,” Xiang Zhong said firmly.

All five of them nodded in agreement.

Soon, they discussed earnestly and devised a covert plan. They signed up to enter the Punishment Institute, then went to complete the task assigned by thethe Cold Sect. After receiving the rewards, they requested access to the original spiritual veins, using that opportunity to gather and carry out the destruction.

Quickly, the five left the mountain and headed to the headquarters of the Punishment Institute.

The headquarters of the Punishment Institute was also a city. In addition to the recruitment areas for the institute, there were various appraisal halls, mercenary inns, combat arenas, and martial fight venues.

Xiang Qing, Xiang Xing, Xiang Zhong, Xiang Zheng, and Xiang Chun arrived at the headquarters and separated, each going to a different recruitment site of the Punishment Institute.

Since the Punishment Institute consisted of ten thousand enforcement branches, each branch had a recruitment site at the headquarters to recruit new members. Of course, disciples from the Skill Transmission Institute could enter the various enforcement branches first. However, the branches still allowed external cultivators to join thethe Cold Sect and also recruited a certain number of new members.

At that moment, Xiang Qing arrived at a recruitment site for one of the Punishment Institute’s branches. It was a spacious courtyard-style building with registration areas, cultivation appraisal areas, and assessment areas.

At the entrance of the courtyard stood a tall stone tablet inscribed with “Recruitment Site for the Tenth Enforcement Team of the Tenth Branch.”

Xiang Qing stood in front of the tablet, a slight smile on his lips, and murmured, “I’ll join this Tenth Enforcement Team.”

His tone was full of confidence.

This confidence stemmed from his strength. Indeed, after entering the courtyard, Xiang Qing showed his identity card to register and quickly had his strength appraised—all requirements were met.

At the assessment area, Xiang Qing had to challenge a higher-ranked Soul Immortal to pass. With his strength and the rigorous training he had received in the Sky Canopy Organization, he fought against the assessor for a short while before stabbing him with his sword and finally passing the assessment.

Naturally, Xiang Qing easily joined the Tenth Enforcement Team.

In four other places, Xiang Xing, Xiang Zhong, Xiang Zheng, and Xiang Chun also entered a law enforcement team each through their own strength.