Chapter Seventeen: Return to the Village

After hearing Qing Wu Gui’s words, Qu Yi was actually surprised that he had grasped his own cultivation path so quickly.

“Qing Wu, then how do you cultivate your path of slaughter?” Qu Yi asked immediately.

Just now, Qing Wu Gui had simply given up on fighting the Mountain Burrowing Rats and flown back to the Five-Claw Bridge, which puzzled Qu Yi greatly.

“It’s simple. To slaughter, one must first commit suicide. These Mountain Burrowing Rats are Earth-type beasts; they are of no help in my cultivation of the path of slaughter, so I have no interest in continuing to kill them,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly, looking at the dense crowd of Mountain Burrowing Rats.

His words were quite mysterious. Qu Yi bit his lip, eager to push Qing Wu Gui straight into the large pit below.

“Qing Wu, can you explain it in a way that’s easier to understand?” Qu Yi asked calmly and slowly.

Qing Wu Gui chuckled and began to explain again: “My cultivation path for the Metal-type laws of slaughter requires me to fight against Metal-type beasts and cultivators, letting them unleash Metal-type spells at me. My Five Elements Heart absorbs, analyzes, and destroys these Metal-type laws. I cultivate through this almost self-destructive process, akin to suicide. If my Five Elements Heart can’t withstand it one day, I will die. This is the true meaning of ‘to slaughter, one must first commit suicide.’”

Qu Yi finally understood. The Metal-type laws were filled with countless mysteries. To defeat them, one had to first endure their attacks.

It was like a human head—initially unable to break through stones. But by persistently enduring various impacts, eventually, the head could break through any stone.

“You’re impressive. You’ve grasped these principles during this battle,” Qu Yi said happily.

At that moment, Wu Yuan, who was among the Mountain Burrowing Rats, shouted angrily, “Ugh! You two still have the mood to joke around, not realizing that my Divine Essence is about to run out and I’m about to be killed by these rats!”

After Qing Wu Gui flew away alone, Wu Yuan didn’t lose his enthusiasm for fighting the Mountain Burrowing Rats. After killing another 10,000 of them, the 5,000 Divine Crystals that replenished his Divine Essence were used up again.

Qu Yi laughed and stood up, calling out, “Qing Wu, I’ll go assist Wu Yuan first.”

Immediately, Qu Yi flew over the large pit and returned to the surface. He took out the divine weapon, Razorwood, and charged at the Mountain Burrowing Rats surrounding Wu Yuan.

Razorwood wildly fired strands of green threads, splitting the Mountain Burrowing Rats in half before they could even react.

The appearance of Qu Yi calmed down those enraged Mountain Burrowing Rats, restoring their sense of reason. They then frantically started running around and fleeing.
“Ugh… You’re the best, Qu Yi. You can’t bear to see me die. That heartless guy was also fighting the Mountain Burrowing Rats on the field, yet he left me to fight them alone. He’s really heartless. Huh… Qu Yi, look at him—he’s even smiling.” Wu Yuan rushed to Qu Yi’s side, staring at Qing Wugui with foam at his mouth.
Qu Yi chuckled, patted Wu Yuan on the shoulder, and said, “It’s fine. Heartless has figured out his own path of cultivation. He should be happy.”
Ugh…
Wu Yuan stared at Qing Wugui in disbelief, his gaze fixed on him for a long time.
Seeing Wu Yuan’s astonishment, Qu Yi didn’t wake him up. Instead, he chuckled and flew to the edge of the large pit, then shouted, “I’ll dig up all the beast cores of the Mountain Burrowing Rats below. You two, go find all the beast cores on the ground now.”
After saying that, Qu Yi entered the Dimensional Sphere, descended to the bottom of the large pit, collected all the corpses of the Mountain Burrowing Rats inside the sphere, and then controlled the sphere to return to the surface.
Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui also dug up all the beast cores of the Mountain Burrowing Rats on the ground.
Qu Yi came out of the Dimensional Sphere and laughed, “There were over twenty thousand Mountain Burrowing Rats down there. I got twenty thousand beast cores.”
“Ugh… There are over forty thousand corpses of Mountain Burrowing Rats on the ground, and all their beast cores have been dug up,” Wu Yuan exclaimed happily.
Qing Wugui merely smiled faintly and pointed at the pile of Mountain Burrowing Rat beast cores spread across the ground.
Qu Yi immediately put those beast cores into the Dimensional Sphere, laughing happily.
Since these were Earth-type beast cores, Qu Yi now had sixty thousand of them. Moreover, Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui couldn’t use these Earth-type beast cores for now—they could only use Metal-type beast cores. So, these Earth-type beast cores now belonged entirely to Qu Yi.
Soon after, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wugui turned their attention to the Divine Crystal Trees covering the entire valley.
Fifty thousand of them!
“Let’s start. We need to dig up all fifty thousand of these Divine Crystal Trees,” Qu Yi announced happily.
“Ugh… We’ve completed the task of planting the Divine Crystal Trees,” Wu Yuan shouted excitedly.
“The task will be finished soon,” Qing Wugui said calmly.
Then, the three of them started from one end of the valley, frantically collecting the Divine Crystal Trees as they ran. Those trees quickly disappeared, all ending up inside the Dimensional Sphere.

In the canyon, the mountain-dwelling ferocious rats saw Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui gathering all the Divine Crystal Trees along the way, but not a single one of them dared to confront the three. They had been terrified by their attacks and no longer had the courage even to glance at them, let alone risk their lives.

It took three full days for Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui to collect all 50,000 Divine Crystal Trees in the canyon.

Above the canyon,

“We’ve now gathered nearly 70,000 Divine Crystal Trees, far exceeding the 30,000 target. Let’s head back to Beast Village,” Qu Yi said with a smile, looking at the two beside him.

“Ugh, if we go back, it won’t be fun anymore. There are only those who focus on cultivation there—no ferocious beasts for me to fight,” Wu Yuan said, looking disappointed and complaining.

“I don’t want to go back. I want to continue cultivating in the Ferocious Beast Mountains,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly.

Qu Yi and Wu Yuan immediately turned to look at Qing Wu Gui.

“I want to cultivate the art of killing. Only by searching for Golden-Class Ferocious Beasts in the Ferocious Beast Mountains can I have a goal for my cultivation,” Qing Wu Gui explained with a smile.

The art of killing involves identifying the laws behind countless spells under repeated attacks, cutting those laws out, thereby becoming immune to them—making any spells based on those laws ineffective.

Qu Yi understood Qing Wu Gui’s path of cultivation and grasped his explanation.

“Qing Wu Gui, you can stay in the Ferocious Beast Mountains, but not deep inside. There are swarms of ferocious beasts there, and your divine essence won’t be able to withstand their endless attacks,” Qu Yi said firmly.

Qing Wu Gui nodded and smiled. “I know. I’ll start cultivating from the outskirts of the Ferocious Beast Mountains.”

At that moment, Wu Yuan became anxious and immediately shouted, “Qing Wu Gui, I’m worried if you cultivate alone here. I want to help you.”

Wu Yuan was originally a beast, naturally fond of freedom, and certainly wouldn’t stay in Beast Village to plant Divine Crystal Trees. Now, under the pretext of accompanying Qing Wu Gui, he also wanted to stay in the Ferocious Beast Mountains.

Qu Yi understood Wu Yuan’s intentions and burst into laughter. “Alright, if you want to stay in the Ferocious Beast Mountains, I won’t stop you.”

Wu Yuan chuckled.

Then, Qu Yi put Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui inside the Dimensional Sphere, took out the Boundless Star Map, and activated it to head to the outskirts of the Ferocious Beast Mountains.

Along the way in the mountains, Qu Yi left a Soul Compass at regular intervals. Naturally, he had already placed one at the outskirts, so he returned directly.

Upon landing, Qu Yi released Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui using the Dimensional Ball.
“You two, in this Beast Mountain Range, if you encounter danger, be sure to contact me using your identity cards. I’ll come right over immediately,” Qu Yi said seriously.
The Divine Realm identity cards had many functions, one of which was communication.
“Ugh, so annoying. Of course we know that,” Wu Yuan said unhappily, looking at Qu Yi.
“I understand,” Qing Wu Gui smiled.
Qu Yi touched his forehead, speechless at Wu Yuan thinking his kind reminders were annoying.
“Alright, I’ll go back to Beast Village alone,” Qu Yi said calmly before immediately taking out the Boundless Star Compass.
Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui nodded in unison.
※※※
Qu Yi returned to the mountainous area near Beast Village and walked for ten days before finally reaching it. With Village Chief Xu Qiang and Head Farmer Tian Duo’s divine senses keeping watch, Qu Yi didn’t want to use the Boundless Star Compass to return directly, as that would reveal his secret possession of a spatial artifact. Of course, if Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui encountered danger in the Beast Mountain Range, even if it meant revealing the Boundless Star Compass, Qu Yi would still rush there immediately.
After returning to the wooden house he had built, Qu Yi dramatically flew onto the wooden bed and started shouting loudly.
“What luck! I found a storage ring in the mountains!” Qu Yi exclaimed happily as he lay on the bed.
A storage ring was a treasure collected by the Divine Realm from living beings. It was the only treasure left after the second leader of Qingfeng Fort detonated himself inside the Star Luo Ding.
Of course, Qu Yi shouted so loudly on purpose to let Xu Qiang and Tian Duo know he had returned. At the same time, revealing the existence of the storage ring prevented them from suspecting he possessed a spatial artifact when he took out the Divine Crystal Trees.
Then, Qu Yi jumped up from the bed and left the wooden house, starting to dig pits right behind it.
These pits were, of course, for planting Divine Crystal Trees.
As expected, as soon as Qu Yi returned to Beast Village, Head Farmer Tian Duo noticed him right away, as he had been keeping an eye on Qu Yi’s movements. Of course, when Qu Yi mentioned the storage ring, Tian Duo became so shocked that he accidentally fell off his wooden bed.
“That Qu Yi really has good luck—getting a storage ring! I must find a way to steal it,” Tian Duo resolved in his heart.