Chapter 36: Vital Essence

“Brothers, go! There are only three guys on this star.”
Suddenly, a shrill scream came from the starry sky.
Immediately afterward, 500 people appeared in the sky, rushing down like meteors and quickly reaching Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui. With wild laughter and cruel gazes, these 500 people looked at Qu Yi and the others as wolves eyeing three lambs.
Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui, unlike other cultivators from the Fire Departure Divine Realm, did not go to Yan Tan. Instead, they stayed on the star, waiting for the battle between the eight cultivators from different divine realms before attacking the remaining seven. But just because Qu Yi didn’t want to kill others didn’t mean others didn’t want to kill him.
At that moment, these 500 cultivators from the Fire Departure Divine Realm, who also refused to follow Yan Tan’s orders, wandered through the sky when they spotted Qu Yi and the others.
With 500 against three, it seemed like an easy win. So, they immediately descended to the star, intent on surrounding and killing Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui.
“Sorry, the three of you. This area is full of cultivators from the Fire Departure Divine Realm. We originally didn’t want to kill fellow cultivators from our own realm, but this battlefield is too dangerous. We have no choice but to kill you and take your vital essence to boost our own strength,” said a man in his fifties among the 500 calmly.
The fierce battles among cultivators at the Divine Weapon stage were both a crisis and an opportunity. Those who survived would see their strength soar, and the abundant vital essence could help them maximize the number of spiritual entities in their bodies.
Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui stood up with smiles, looking down on the 500 people with disdain.
Seeing their expressions, the 500 felt an inexplicable fear. Qu Yi and the others’ reactions were too calm—they showed no signs of fear at all. This must be due to some secret technique.
Yet, the 500 couldn’t just leave. They still believed they could surround and kill Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui.
“You wretched cultivators! How dare you attack fellow cultivators from the same realm? Letting you live would be a desecration of the natural order. Fine, since you rely on your numbers to surround us, I’ll show you who has more people.”
Qu Yi gave the 500 a cold glance before speaking with a smile.
As soon as he finished speaking, all 19,000 people in Tianfeng Fort inside the Dimensional Sphere stepped out, each holding a divine weapon at the Divine Weapon stage, staring coldly at the 500 people.

“Ah…”
All five hundred people screamed in terror, stunned by the sudden change in circumstances and too frightened even to try to escape.
“Brothers, don’t hold back. Use the Sky Wind Goose Net Formation to kill these five hundred,” Qu Yi said calmly.
“Yes, Chief of the Fortress,” all the people of Sky Wind Fortress replied loudly at once.
The nineteen thousand members of Sky Wind Fortress instantly formed goose-shaped arrays, which in turn created a massive Goose Net Formation, radiating an aggressive intensity.
This had been practiced by everyone in Sky Wind Fortress under Qu Yi’s guidance, based on the advice of the Artifact God, even before they arrived at the Star River Battlefield. Since everyone there was under Qu Yi’s command, they coordinated easily and had mastered it thoroughly.
“Three heroes, we were blind for not recognizing your greatness. Please don’t kill us!”
Suddenly, the five hundred people panicked and begged for mercy, with some even fainting from fear.
The shift in power was too terrifying. Moreover, these five hundred people knew Qu Yi possessed a spatial artifact, and those who owned such artifacts were of high status. They understood they had provoked someone they absolutely shouldn’t have.
Qu Yi simply shook his head.
“Brothers, kill them.”
Seeing Qu Yi’s action, Zhu Chen immediately understood and shouted loudly, his voice filled with excitement. All the people of Sky Wind Fortress were originally bandits, and plundering was their mission. How could they pass up the chance to have someone come to their deaths?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The nineteen thousand members of Sky Wind Fortress unleashed a collective spell, creating light blades, sword glows, waves, and gusts of wind formed from their spiritual bodies, enveloping the five hundred people. Those five hundred had no chance to resist. They tried to form a defensive barrier symbolically, but it shattered instantly, turning their flesh into blood.
Before they could self-destruct, their bodies vanished, and as they disappeared, drops of their vital blood floated into the air.
There were a total of two thousand drops of vital blood.
Qu Yi immediately flew over, and those drops vanished, all collected by the Dimensional Sphere.
These two thousand drops represented different attributes of fused spiritual bodies. After refinement, they formed ten different types of fused spiritual bodies: Metal-Wood, Metal-Water, Metal-Fire, Metal-Earth, Wood-Water, Wood-Fire, Wood-Earth, Water-Fire, Water-Earth, and Fire-Earth.

In Qu Yi’s internal world, he could absorb the Golden Wood Spirit Body, Golden Water Spirit Body, Golden Fire Spirit Body, and Golden Earth Spirit Body simultaneously. Undoubtedly, he would take most of the essence and blood collected now.
Inside Wuyuan’s body, only the Golden Wood Spirit Body could be absorbed, and some of that had to be shared as well.
As for the remaining essence and blood, Qu Yi planned to give it first to the ten clan leaders, and then distribute it among the members of Tianfeng Clan. The ten clan leaders, including Zhu Chen, had already reached the Divine Weapon stage. Although they had already refined one Soul Sphere, they all followed Qu Yi’s advice not to fully refine it. Instead, they intended to expand the number of spirit bodies in their bodies to the limit at the Divine Weapon stage before refining the Soul Sphere and advancing to the Divine General stage.
The better the foundation, the greater the potential after reaching the Divine General stage.
“Brothers, that’s it. We’ve taken care of these five hundred people now, and I’ve collected their essence and blood. Let’s enter the Inch Realm Ball. After the fierce battle among the cultivators from the eight divine realms, we’ll step in to take control of the situation.”
Qu Yi flew back to the ground and immediately shouted happily.
Soon after, Qu Yi, Wuyuan, Qingwugui, and everyone from Tianfeng Clan entered the Inch Realm Ball.
※※※
In the Shuikang Divine Realm, the commander was Wu Qin.
The Wu clan was the royal family of the Shuikang Divine Realm, and Wu Qin came from this clan. She was also ranked ninth on the human rankings.
Wu Qin gathered the 9 billion people of the Shuikang Divine Realm on a star and sent thousands of reconnaissance teams to the surrounding stars to keep an eye out. Whenever they spotted people from other divine realms approaching, they would report back.
At that moment, Wu Qin, dressed in cold attire, sat alone on a peak, holding her identity card in her hand.
“What? People from the Shan Gen Divine Realm, Di Kun Divine Realm, Lei Zhen Divine Realm, Feng Xun Divine Realm, Ze Dui Divine Realm, and Tian Qian Divine Realm are all coming at the same time.”
After reading the message, Wu Qin was shocked, her face turning pale.
With the 9 billion people of the Shuikang Divine Realm facing off against 60 billion people from six divine realms, it was a battle they could never win no matter how hard they fought.
“Those six divine realms have conspired together. I can’t afford to confront them, but I can hide. Hmph, I’ll go find Yan Tan right now. Our Shuikang Divine Realm needs to ally with the Huoli Divine Realm to deal with these six divine realms.” Wu Qin stood up abruptly and shouted coldly.
Then, from the peak, she shouted loudly, “All people of the Shuikang Divine Realm, follow me to the Huoli Divine Realm!”
Soon, Wu Qin led the way into the starry sky, with the 9 billion people of the Shuikang Divine Realm following closely behind, crossing the stars together toward the Huoli Divine Realm.

At the same time, Wu Qin, holding her identity card, was also communicating with Yan Tan.
……
Yan Tan, leading the 9 billion people from the Fire-Light Divine Realm, still held their ground above the stars. At this moment, Yan Tan took out his own identity card.
“What? The Mountain-Gen Divine Realm, Earth-Kun Divine Realm, Thunder-Zhen Divine Realm, Wind-Xun Divine Realm, Water-Dui Divine Realm, and Sky-Qian Divine Realm have united! As expected, these people from the six realms want to massacre those from the Fire-Light Divine Realm and Water-Dam Divine Realm first, and then fight among themselves—how despicable!” Yan Tan shouted angrily after reading the contents.
The people from the Water-Dam Divine Realm, being closer to those six realms, would be the first to suffer from their joint attack. Fortunately, Wu Qin had been alert and sent scouts, giving them time to react. Thus, all the people from the Water-Dam Divine Realm came to the Fire-Light Divine Realm.
“Good. With 9 billion people from the Water-Dam Divine Realm joining us, we’ll have 18 billion in total, enough to intimidate the alliance of the six realms,” Wu Qin said coldly.
Five years later, the 9 billion people from the Water-Dam Divine Realm finally arrived on the star where the cultivators of the Fire-Light Divine Realm gathered.
Yan Tan and Wu Qin went to the top of a peak and sat facing each other.
“Wu Qin, right now, the number of cultivators from our two realms is much smaller compared to theirs. It seems they already reached an agreement to eliminate us first before fighting among themselves. What do you think we should do now?” Yan Tan asked calmly.
It was obvious that the Water-Dam Divine Realm and Fire-Light Divine Realm were at a disadvantage, but Yan Tan wasn’t worried about it.
“Hide,” Wu Qin replied simply.
Over these five years, as she traveled through the stars, Wu Qin had thought hard and come up with only this one solution.
Yan Tan looked at her and burst into laughter, saying happily, “Wu Qin, we’ve thought of the same thing. If we fight them head-on now, we’ll suffer a humiliating defeat. But if we keep fleeing, I doubt the cultivators from the six realms can stay united—they must have internal conflicts.”
Wu Qin also laughed and said, “Exactly. Once they fall apart, it’ll be time for our two realms to unite and take revenge.”
Of course, both Yan Tan and Wu Qin wisely avoided mentioning what would happen next—after defeating the six realms, the two realms would still have to fight each other. For now, the most important thing was to survive; discussing future battles wasn’t urgent.
“Wish us a successful partnership,” Yan Tan said, standing up immediately with a smile.
“A successful partnership,” Wu Qin replied with a smile.