Chapter 45: Witnessing a Miracle
On the peak, Qu Yi looked triumphant, while Xu Ming appeared depressed.
“Xu Ming, being too greedy is not good. It’s too late to regret now—I’ve already stamped a soul mark on your Soul Pearl,” Qu Yi said with a faint smile.
The Soul Pearl is the foundation of a cultivator. Once marked by another cultivator, one can no longer resist.
Xu Ming remained silent, filled with remorse.
“Accept your loss. Since you chose to confront me, accept the reality of becoming my slave. Now, tell me—why did you leave the distribution team and come to Beast Village to fight me?” Qu Yi asked gently as he sat down, smiling.
Xu Ming bit his lip, pondering for a while before finally accepting his fate.
“My cultivation has reached the Divine Weapon stage, allowing me to leave the distribution team. You stayed on the Pearl-Bearing Tree in the Ascension Manor for ten days—that’s when I began suspecting you had secrets. Everything that happened afterward only strengthened my belief,” Xu Ming said gloomily.
Since Qu Yi had taken control of Xu Ming, he already knew about Xu Ming’s suspicions. By asking this question, he merely wanted to confirm whether Xu Ming truly submitted to him.
When ascending to the Divine Realm, ordinary cultivators usually stayed on the Pearl-Bearing Tree for just one day to transform their Soul Flowers into Soul Pearls. But Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wugui stayed for ten days—a truly astonishing feat.
Qu Yi now understood that it was because the three of them had already grasped the Five Elements laws while in the lower world, which naturally prolonged the transformation process of their Soul Flowers.
“Alright, stop being depressed. Follow me from now on,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
Xu Ming could only nod helplessly before asking, “I have to follow you all the time?”
Qu Yi’s expression turned cold, and he shook his head immediately, smiling, “I’m not asking you to stay by my side. Stay in this mountain area and wait for my orders. I’ll call you when I need you.”
Hearing this, Xu Ming’s expression grew even darker.
Qu Yi ignored Xu Ming’s thoughts and left, returning to his San Ding Gate stone fortress.
Of course, Qu Yi continued to cultivate, accelerating the integration of his Golden Element Spirit Body with the other four spirit bodies.
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Beast Village Mountain Area.
Inside Tianfeng Fort, the base of Tianfeng Village.
At that moment, Zhu Chen, Zhao Jing, Zhen Lan, Zhuo Rui, Qing Yiyi, Yu Deming, Yu Chongxiu, Yu Zhuting, Meng Yan, and Fei Changxia sat together.
It had taken ten years for Tianfeng Village to eliminate the other clans. Now, these ten clan leaders had all returned to Tianfeng Village.
“Everyone, from now on, our Tianfeng Fort truly rules over the Hundred Forts Mountain Area. Our next task is to gather cultivation resources. We all started as bandits, so there’s no need for restraint—speak openly if you have anything to say,” Zhu Chen stood up and said cheerfully.
The people in the Hundred Forts Mountain Area gathered together to escape the planting tasks assigned by the Divine Realm and to accelerate their cultivation. While robbing, they also practiced cultivation.
“Elder Fort Master, the number of members in our Tianfeng Fort has now reached 20,000. We must manage these vast cultivation resources carefully. I suggest strengthening patrols in the surrounding areas—any cultivators passing through the Hundred Forts Mountain Area must pay divine crystals,” said Second Fort Master Zhao Jing, who usually wore a smile but now spoke fiercely.
Cultivators traveling from Huoxin Town to the Savage Beast Mountains all had to pass through the area around the Hundred Forts Mountain Area, making it an important source of resources for various fortresses.
“This toll is necessary, but I have an idea—let’s reduce it slightly. We need to attract more cultivators to the Savage Beast Mountains. Although the per-toll amount seems lower, with more cultivators, the amount of divine crystals we’ll obtain will still increase,” Zhu Chen said with a smile.
The fort masters’ eyes lit up, and they immediately agreed.
“Elder Fort Master, we can cultivate a large number of divine crystals using the Five Elements Spirit Spring we obtained from Qingfeng Fort,” Third Fort Master Zhen Lan suddenly exclaimed, remembering something.
Many knew that the Five Elements Spirit Spring could accelerate the growth of divine crystal trees, but these ten fort masters lacked patience. After all, it took too long to get divine crystal fruits after planting the trees, which was slower than robbing.
Zhu Chen didn’t respond—he also didn’t want to plant divine crystal trees himself.
Suddenly, Qing Yiyi, who had remained silent, stood up and said with a smile, “Elder Fort Master, I remember now. Qu Yi once told me he had a way to rapidly mature divine crystal trees. How about I contact Qu Yi now to see if he can help our Tianfeng Fort gather divine crystals quickly?”
At the mention of Qu Yi, the ten people felt inexplicably inspired.
“Good, Fifth Sister, go contact Qu Yi,” Zhu Chen replied quickly.
Qing Yiyi smiled brightly, her tempting figure trembling slightly, making it impossible for the male cultivators in the fort to look away. Soon, she sent a message to Qu Yi using her identity card.
After a while, she received a reply.
“Great Chief, Qu Yi has sent a reply. He said that the people of Tianfeng Camp can search for Divine Crystal Trees on a large scale. He has a way to make the planted Divine Crystal Trees mature quickly,” Qing Yiyi said excitedly.
Zhu Chen, Zhao Jing, Zhen Lan, Zhuo Rui, Yu Deming, Yu Chongxiu, Yu Zhuting, Meng Yan, and Fei Changxia—all nine of them looked astonished, not understanding how Qu Yi could make Divine Crystal Trees grow rapidly.
No one in the Divine Realm had heard of anyone having the ability to accelerate the maturation of Divine Crystal Trees, except for special treasures like the Five Elements Spirit Spring. Thus, upon hearing Qing Yiyi’s words, they all doubted Qu Yi’s claim.
“Since Qu Yi says so, we should follow his advice. From now on, send all our brothers to the Beast Mountain Range and the surrounding villages to collect every Divine Crystal Tree,” Zhu Chen declared firmly.
“Great Chief, the surrounding villages are under the protection of Huoxin Town. If we steal their Divine Crystal Trees, we’ll face an attack from Huoxin Town,” Zhuo Rui, the fourth chief, said urgently.
A portion of the income from the villages had to be handed over to Huoxin Town as its expenses.
Zhu Chen touched his forehead and said awkwardly, “Oh, I forgot one thing. From the villages nearby, we should only take the Divine Crystal Trees belonging to those monks who have completed their planting tasks. We shouldn’t take those of the other villagers.”
Villagers who had completed their planting tasks had become full members of the Divine Realm, and their Divine Crystal Trees were usually entrusted to the management of various villages. The harvest from these trees was generally divided between the villages and the Huoli Merchant Alliance, with no benefit going to Huoxin Town at all.
Upon hearing this, the chiefs all smiled in understanding.
Immediately afterward, the members of Tianfeng Camp assigned tasks to certain areas and left the Hundred Camps Mountain Range to carry out their duties.
※※※
Twenty years later, Qu Yi returned to the Hundred Camps Mountain Range.
By then, in Qu Yi’s internal world, the Golden Planet had shrunk slightly, and tens of thousands of Golden Element spirits had merged with the other four types of spirits. Knowing that the fusion of spirits within him couldn’t be rushed, Qu Yi stopped trying to accelerate it and instead went to Tianfeng Camp.
Over the past ten years, Tianfeng Camp had gathered ten million Divine Crystal Trees.
At that time, the peaks surrounding Tianfeng Camp were covered with lush Divine Crystal Trees. However, their size was rather poor—although mature, most of them were only five or six meters tall.
Qu Yi arrived at Tianfeng Fort and met with the ten chiefs.
Zhu Chen and the other nine people showed a hint of confusion in their eyes when they saw Qu Yi approaching. They had already noticed that the aura emanating from Qu Yi had changed again, making his true strength even more elusive. Currently, four types of spiritual entities were merging within Qu Yi’s body, along with the Metal-type spiritual entity, resulting in an aura that was completely reined in. If Qu Yi hadn’t been standing in front of these ten people, it would have been impossible for them to realize that there was someone else nearby.
“Qu Yi, have you reached the Divine Weapon stage now?” Zhu Chen asked, puzzled. The other nine clan leaders watched Qu Yi with great interest, awaiting an answer. Qu Yi smiled and said directly, “No, but it won’t be long.” Such a confident reply sparked even more thoughts in the minds of the ten clan leaders. They had interacted with Qu Yi before and knew he wouldn’t make unfounded claims. Since he spoke so firmly, it must be true.
“Qu Yi, it’s fortunate we’re your friends. If we were your enemies, this would be terrifying,” Yu Zhuting said, clearly speaking earnestly. The other clan leaders nodded in agreement. Qu Yi smiled, waved his hand, and said, “Enough about my cultivation level. Next, let’s go check out those Divine Crystal Trees. If Tianfeng Clan wants to improve its strength, Divine Crystals are essential.” With that, Qu Yi left Tianfeng Fort immediately. The ten clan leaders followed him out of Tianfeng Fort and arrived at a nearby forest of Divine Crystal Trees. These trees had slightly better quality, and the clan leaders had deliberately chosen the healthier ones for aesthetic reasons and planted them here.
“Watch closely. I’ll make these trees grow to ten meters tall right now,” Qu Yi said cheerfully, looking at the ten clan leaders. Hearing this, they all showed expressions of disbelief. It takes tens of millions of years for Divine Crystal Trees to mature, yet Qu Yi claimed he could make them mature in just a short time—something even the most vivid imagination couldn’t conceive. Seeing their reactions, Qu Yi didn’t say much more. Instead, he took out ten Chaos Crystals.
“Everyone, watch closely. This is the moment to witness a miracle,” Qu Yi said with a faint smile before throwing the Chaos Crystals into ten different spots in the forest. Immediately afterward, he took out the divine artifact, Ruisi Wood, which emitted ten strands of green light that shattered the ten Chaos Crystals.
In a short while, the Chaos Crystal disappeared, seemingly transforming into the Primordial Energy of the Five Elements and seeping directly into the ground. The ten people—Zhu Chen, Zhao Jing, Zhen Lan, Zhuo Rui, Qing Yiyi, Yu Deming, Yu Chongxiu, Yu Zhuting, Meng Yan, and Fei Changxia—kept their eyes fixed on Qu Yi. When they saw the Chaos Crystal, doubt appeared in their eyes, as it resembled a Divine Crystal, and they couldn’t understand Qu Yi’s purpose for bringing it out. When the Chaos Crystal shattered and turned into the Primordial Energy of the Five Elements, the ten chieftains were astonished, because only Divine Kings in the Divine Realm could produce such energy at once, yet Qu Yi had produced ten Chaos Crystals in one go. What surprised them even more was that the Divine Crystal Trees seemed to grow taller immediately after absorbing the energy that seeped into the ground, reaching a height of ten meters before stopping growing. “Qu Yi, these Divine Crystal Trees have really grown taller! You… you actually succeeded.” The ten chieftains exclaimed in shock, staring at Qu Yi as if he were a monster. Qu Yi smiled and took out another ten Chaos Crystals, saying, “Well, if you don’t believe it, take the Chaos Crystals and try it yourselves.” Each of the ten chieftains took a Chaos Crystal and went to a grove of Divine Crystal Trees, where they shattered them. In a short time, the ten trees grew to ten meters in height. “We’re rich! We now have ten million Divine Crystal Trees. If they all mature, the amount of Divine Crystals we’ll get in a year will be billions!” “Yes, our Tianfeng Camp no longer has to worry about running out of Divine Crystals for cultivation.” “It’s impossible for Tianfeng Camp not to rise now.” … The ten chieftains couldn’t hold back and started shouting wildly. Qu Yi smiled.