Chapter 10: The Beast Mountain Range

A thousand Divine Crystal Trees had already formed a forest.
Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui, after killing the five members of the Qingfeng Camp, obtained this forest of Divine Crystal Trees.
“Let’s start,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
In an instant, Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui took out their divine artifacts and charged at the forest, beginning to dig up the Divine Crystal Trees.
Qu Yi, naturally unwilling to fall behind, quickly sent out a thousand strands of his divine artifact, Rui Si Wood, which pierced into the ground, lifting entire clusters of Divine Crystal Trees out of the soil. Soon, all the trees were dug up.
In just a few breaths, the three of them had gathered all a thousand Divine Crystal Trees into the Dimensional Sphere.
“Good. Now we’ve collected over two thousand Divine Crystal Trees—progress is fast,” Qu Yi said happily after gathering them all.
Although they were still far from their goal of thirty thousand trees, compared to other Divine Crystal cultivators who might not collect even ten thousand in a million years, the three of them had found over two thousand in just over a decade—a speed that was truly terrifying.
“Ugh, in this Beast Mountain Range, there are so many Divine Crystal Trees!” Wu Yuan exclaimed excitedly.
“Let’s keep going deeper,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly.
Though the deeper they went into the Beast Mountain Range, the more likely they were to encounter even stronger beasts, Qu Yi, with his Dimensional Sphere, needn’t worry about such threats.
“Alright, let’s go deeper,” Qu Yi said cheerfully.
To quickly obtain thirty thousand Divine Crystal Trees, they needed to venture deeper into the mountain range, where they could gather them in larger quantities. Now, Qu Yi was dissatisfied with the slow pace of collecting trees one hundred at a time on the outskirts.
Soon, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui set off again, heading rapidly deeper into the Beast Mountain Range.
※※※
Less than a month after the three of them had dug up all a thousand Divine Crystal Trees and left, ten people arrived in the Beast Mountain Range.
They quickly reached the bodies of the five deceased members of the Qingfeng Camp. Each of them showed anger, their killing intent intense as they scanned the surroundings with their mental senses.
“Second Camp Leader, we’ve searched everywhere but found no traces of the enemy,” said a thin-looking man to the man who seemed to be their leader.
It turned out these ten were from the Qingfeng Camp, including the second camp leader himself.

The second chief was quite tall, with bulging muscles. His short, straight hair stood on end, and his sharp eyes scanned the surroundings.
“Hmph. Someone killed our people from Qingfeng Camp and stole the Divine Crystal Forest we found. We must avenge this at all costs. What do you think—where could this enemy come from?” the second chief said coldly.
As a chief, he had to establish his authority among his subordinates. Naturally, after seeing the bodies of the five members, he already had a plan, which led to his earlier words.
The nine subordinates stood beside the second chief. After thinking for a moment, they each voiced their suspicions.
“Second chief, the five brothers who died were all at the Divine Being level. To kill them all at once, I think that enemy must be at least at the Divine Weapon level.”
“The enemy dug up all the Divine Crystal Trees. This suggests he’s likely a cultivator who has just ascended.”
“Impossible. How could a newly ascended cultivator defeat our five brothers? I think it must be a group of cultivators who haven’t completed their cultivation tasks. They came to this Beast Mountain Range, discovered this Divine Crystal Forest, and joined forces to kill our five brothers.”
“Everyone, think about it—this is the Beast Mountain Range. Would those at only the Divine Being level dare to enter here? I’m sure only forces at the Divine Weapon level would dare to enter here, without caring about Qingfeng Camp’s reputation, and would go so far as to kill our five brothers.”
…
After a long debate, the nine members of Qingfeng Camp settled on two possible explanations: either some external forces entered the Beast Mountain Range and killed the five members, or a large group of villagers from nearby villages entered the range to search for Divine Crystal Trees and killed them.
The second chief had listened quietly the whole time. Seeing that his subordinates couldn’t reach an agreement, he snorted to silence them.
“Alright, now you’ve identified two possible directions. Go back and report the situation to the chief. Ask him to send people to investigate the nearby villages. I’ll stay here in the Beast Mountain Range to track down the enemy,” the second chief said calmly.
He was already at the Divine Weapon level. Though he had just reached this stage, he had mastered the complete laws of metal and wood, giving him the ability to protect himself in this Beast Mountain Range.

At the Divine Weapon stage, there are two spiritual entities within the body, allowing one to fly. One also gains the ability to escape when facing fierce beasts.
Hearing the second camp leader’s orders, those nine subordinates at the Divine Human stage immediately responded and quickly set off toward the outskirts of the Fierce Beast Mountains to return to Qingfeng Camp.
The second camp leader took off and flew straight into the depths of the Fierce Beast Mountains.
※※※
Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui continued to move deeper into the Fierce Beast Mountains.
After a month, the three found several more clusters of Divine Crystal Trees, obtaining another 5,000 trees, which pushed their enthusiasm to its peak.
“At this rate, we’ll have gathered 30,000 Divine Crystal Trees even before encountering any fierce beasts,” Qu Yi exclaimed happily as he led the way.
With over 7,000 trees already collected, they were much closer to their goal of 30,000. If they continued at this pace, they could easily find another 20,000 trees soon.
“Ugh, it’s strange. We haven’t encountered any fierce beasts in this area at all,” Wu Yuan said, holding his divine artifact, Xuan Guang Yin, with little interest.
Having fought against Long-Armed Savage Apes and understanding the use of beast cores, Wu Yuan’s focus was now not on the Divine Crystal Trees but on the fierce beasts.
“Don’t worry. We’ll definitely encounter them again,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly.
Qu Yi chuckled and didn’t argue further, continuing to lead the way while using his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings.
Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui were all very familiar with the aura of Divine Crystal Trees.
A few days passed.
“I can faintly sense the aura of Divine Crystal Trees. Hmm, quite a few,” Qu Yi said as his spiritual sense detected their presence ahead.
Soon, Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui also noticed it.
“Great! Walking around all day is so boring. Now that there are Divine Crystal Trees to harvest, we can finally be happy,” Wu Yuan, who had been listless all along, finally grew excited.
“Let’s speed up,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly.
So, the three quickened their pace and ran toward the direction where the aura of Divine Crystal Trees came from.
“Wait, besides the Divine Crystal Trees, I sense the aura of fierce beasts—and quite a large group of them,” Qu Yi suddenly stopped ahead, calling out in surprise.
The fierce aura unique to fierce beasts was easy to recognize. Since Qu Yi had encountered Long-Armed Savage Apes, he knew what their aura felt like.
At that moment, the voice of the Divine Weapon also sounded.

“Interesting. There are two groups of ferocious beasts fighting over control of that Divine Crystal Forest. It seems they’re about to start fighting.” The Voice of the Artifact God sounded elusive, with a hint of amusement.
Hearing the Artifact God’s words, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui were all surprised. They soon realized why they hadn’t encountered any ferocious beasts for so long—this area was the territory of two such groups, and now those two groups were engaged in a fierce battle.
“There’s even such a good opportunity! Then we can just watch from the sidelines. After the two groups finish fighting, we can collect their beast cores.” Qu Yi immediately thought of this and spoke excitedly.
If two groups of ferocious beasts could live in this area, it meant their strengths were roughly equal. If they really fought, both sides would suffer heavy losses, leaving behind many corpses with beast cores.
Qu Yi had no restrictions on using beast cores—he could utilize those of all five attributes. Thus, he really hoped to witness a battle between such groups, as it would be a great chance for him to make a fortune.
“Woohoo! If that’s the case, let’s go there together!” Wu Yuan exclaimed excitedly, his eyes shining.
“Let’s wait here instead. We’ll go once the two groups start fighting,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly.
Qing Wu Gui was also afraid that if the three of them went there and the two groups didn’t fight, they might be discovered and chased. Although Qu Yi had the Dimensional Ball to escape safely, it would be pointless if he couldn’t get the beast cores.
Hearing this, Qu Yi understood Qing Wu Gui’s thoughts and smiled. “How about this? We all enter the Dimensional Ball and control it to fly over there.”
Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui nodded happily.
Soon, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui all entered the Dimensional Ball, which, under Qu Yi’s control, flew toward the Divine Crystal Forest.
In the valley ahead, Divine Crystal Trees were everywhere—there wasn’t even an empty spot. There were no fewer than ten thousand of these trees, many of which already bore Divine Crystal fruits that shone like diamonds.
Inside this Divine Crystal Forest, two groups of ferocious beasts were facing off, their terrifying aura filling the entire forest.
One group was the Stormy Wolves, numbering an astonishing ten thousand. Each wolf was two meters tall, and when they stood together, their ferocity was awe-inspiring. The elemental energies around them naturally formed storms.

On one side was the herd of Golden-Horned Wild Sheep, numbering a terrifying 50,000. Each sheep stood two meters tall, with golden horns on their heads that glowed brightly and were extremely sharp. When these sheep gathered together, they formed a furious storm.

A pack of wolves and a herd of sheep.

These fierce storm wolves and Golden-Horned Wild Sheep had lived in this region of the Beast Mountains for generations. Traditionally, it was the storm wolves who constantly raided the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep. However, since the storm wolves took control of the Divine Crystal Forest in this valley, the number of Golden-Horned Wild Sheep kept increasing, and their strength also rose rapidly.

In recent decades, the storm wolves found that their success rate in raiding the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep had become very low, often returning disappointed.

Naturally, these changes in the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep herd caught the attention of the storm wolves. As a result, they noticed the Divine Crystal Forest in this valley and realized that the changes in the strength of the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep were related to this forest.

To prevent the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep herd from growing stronger and to avoid being driven away by them, the storm wolves could no longer sit idly by. They gathered all their wolves and decided to engage in a decisive battle with the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep herd.

Now, the two groups of beasts stood face to face.

“Uuuu…”
The alpha wolf at the front of the storm wolf pack raised its head and let out a long howl, issuing an attack order.

“Mmmmm…”
The alpha sheep, ten miles away, immediately lowered its head and emitted a sound, giving the order to fight back.

Both groups of beasts charged forward right away, and a fierce battle was about to unfold.