Chapter 31: The Battle for the Leader Position

Qu Yu had been inside the Dimensional Sphere, using the crafting materials obtained from purging pirate groups in the Inner Sea and those acquired from the three Divine Kings of Nan Yin Island to embark on a frantic crafting process. At the same time, he planned to refine his vital essence over these 100,000 years to expand the number of his three types of elemental spirits—metal-wood-water, metal-wood-fire, and metal-wood-earth—further.

Inside Qu Yu’s body, the number of these combined elemental spirits had already reached 30 million. He believed that as long as his physical strength could withstand it, it would be no problem to increase their number to 50 million within those 100,000 years.

Inside the Dimensional Sphere, Qu Yu stood on a lawn, taking out the Star Luo Ding to begin crafting. “This time, I’ll challenge myself to create 100 divine artifacts in 10 days,” he said confidently, gazing at the Star Luo Ding.

He had already achieved creating a divine artifact at the Divine General level in just 10 days; now he aimed to push his limits even further.

“Ignite the fire!”

Qu Yu placed his hands on the Star Luo Ding, and chaotic energy flowed into it. Soon, the Dark Azure Divine Fire emerged—a divine fire unique to cultivators at the Divine General level. Within its calm black flames, there seemed to be a current of profound depth.

Under Qu Yu’s mental control, the Dark Azure Divine Fire changed from a boiling state to one that was easily manageable. It would tilt to one side, bulge as a whole, or split evenly to both sides, all under Qu Yu’s skilled control.

No one could surpass Qu Yu in controlling flames. Even if the God of Craftsmanship regained his physical form in the future, he would not dare compete with Qu Yu in terms of precise flame control.

Once the Dark Azure Divine Fire stabilized, Qu Yu sent another thought. The crafting materials placed inside the Dimensional Sphere obeyed his will, falling into the Star Luo Ding and evenly dispersing into its 100 parallel spaces.

A satisfied smile appeared on Qu Yu’s face, radiating confidence. The energy in the surrounding space fluctuated strangely with his breath, leaving people in awe.

Within those 100 parallel spaces, the crafting materials melted, decomposed, dispersed, and mixed under the burning of the Dark Azure Divine Fire. Qu Yu meticulously controlled the intensity of the flames, achieving perfect precision with every type of material.

This process lasted for nine days.

“The artifact core is complete!”

Suddenly, Qu Yi gave a soft command, and soon the Dark Cang Divine Fire inside the Xing Luo Ding began to weaken gradually. As the Dark Cang Divine Fire went out, a hundred exquisitely designed sword-shaped artifacts immediately flew out of the Xing Luo Ding. These hundred artifacts were neatly arranged on the platform. Qu Yi moved his hands, and the chaotic energy began to simulate the “Three-Dimensional Dao” formation, ready to cast it over these hundred artifacts. From his palms, the chaotic energy surged forth, carrying with it a certain law; space fluctuations suddenly changed. With Qu Yi’s perfect technique, another law was added, followed by yet another. These three laws constituted the “Three-Dimensional Dao” formation, and only artifacts formed in this way could reach the level of divine weapons. “Form the formation!” Qu Yi effortlessly simulated the formation and immediately infused it into the first artifact. Instantly, a burst of white light flashed from the artifact, its aura changing completely as vitality emerged, turning it into a true divine weapon. Then, Qu Yi skillfully repeated the process, successfully casting the formation over all hundred artifacts. He had now perfectly refined a hundred divine weapons at the divine general level. “This refining process has been very effective. Good, keep refining,” Qu Yi said with a bright smile as he looked at the hundred divine weapons on the platform. After that, he continued refining artifacts inside the inch-world sphere while also processing his own essence blood. ※※※ The 19,000 divine general-level warriors from Tianfeng Fort, after arriving at the various islands in the inner sea, followed Qu Yi’s orders to go to the waters near those islands and fight against sea beasts at the sea floor. These divine general-level warriors had already reaped great benefits while eliminating various pirate groups in the inner sea, especially by obtaining large amounts of essence blood. Qu Yi sent them to fight against sea beasts so that they could engage in numerous battles, thereby significantly enhancing their strength and increasing their chances of survival in group battles among divine general-level cultivators. According to Qu Yi’s plan, over a period of 100,000 years, the number of spiritual entities gathered within each of these warriors from Tianfeng Fort could reach five million. As for the ten leaders of Tianfeng Fort—Zhu Chen, Zhao Jing, Zhen Lan, Zhuo Rui, Qing Yiyi, Yu Deming, Yu Chongxiu, Yu Zhuting, Meng Yan, and Fei Changxia—their strength was naturally greater than that of the other divine general-level cultivators in Tianfeng Fort, with the number of spiritual entities in their bodies reaching at least seven million.

Wuyuan and Qingwugui would both spend a hundred thousand years on Nan Yin Island, where there were numerous cultivators at the Divine General stage, allowing them to fight daily to rapidly improve their strength. Just as before on Nan Yin Island, Wuyuan once again earned the title of “Madman” among the Divine General cultivators there. As for Qingwugui, he continued to uphold his reputation as a “masochist,” constantly using his agility to dodge attacks while striving to refine his combat skills.

A hundred thousand years passed in no time. By then, Qu Yi had brought 19,000 Divine General cultivators from Tianfeng Fort into the Cunjie Ball, arriving at Nanqian City on Nan Yin Island—the very place where Wuyuan and Qingwugui had been fighting.

Qu Yi descended from the sky and suddenly appeared beside Wuyuan. “Ah… Qu Yi, you’re here,” said Wuyuan, who was watching the combat arena where Qingwugui was fighting against a Divine General cultivator. He wasn’t expecting Qu Yi to show up suddenly.

Qu Yi chuckled and also glanced toward the arena. Qingwugui was battling a short man in blue. He kept moving swiftly to avoid the short man’s fierce magic attacks, while simultaneously using his spiritual sense to sense the fire element within the opponent’s spells. Having already defeated the metal, wood, and water elements, Qingwugui was now trying to eliminate the fire element as well.

“Qingwugui, can’t you act like a man and fight me head-on?” the short man shouted angrily, growing frustrated. It would be strange if anyone, after being subjected to relentless magic attacks without even a scratch on their clothes and facing an opponent who seemed to enjoy it, didn’t get angry. But since no one on the arena admitted defeat, the fight had to continue, forcing the short man to provoke Qingwugui further.

Qingwugui merely smiled faintly before focusing intently on dodging the short man’s magic attacks. The short man snorted loudly, picked up a red stick, and started swinging it vigorously again, filling the arena with red light and flames. Yet, Qingwugui’s agility always allowed him to find gaps in the short man’s spellcasting and dodge to areas where the spells’ power was weakest. Of course, if a spell’s power became too strong, Qingwugui would use the Heart of the Five Elements to directly affect a specific element within the spell, weakening its power.

“I’m so angry! So angry!” The short man launched another attack but still couldn’t do anything to Qing Wu Gui. While casting spells, he shouted in fury, completely in a state of chaos. Qing Wu Gui didn’t take advantage of the short man’s weaknesses to attack either; instead, he patiently continued to outmaneuver him. Like Wu Yuan and Qu Yi, there were also many cultivators at the Divine General stage watching around the fighting platform. Somewhere else, three imposing men were talking. “This Zhou Bing on our Nan Yin Island is also a highly powerful figure. He has as many as eight million golden, water, and fire spiritual bodies in his body, yet he still can’t defeat this Qing Wu Gui. How interesting,” said the man in a loose robe with a smile. Zhou Bing was that short man. “Qing Wu Gui’s movement style is indeed strange. It seems he doesn’t have any spiritual bodies of his own, yet he can control the primal energy of the surrounding space to create them. It also seems he can influence the metal and water elements in Zhou Bing’s spells. Truly, among those who have ascended, extraordinary talents keep emerging,” said the man in a golden robe with a flowing cape, smiling. Another man in a yellow robe embroidered with coiling dragons, wearing dark golden shoulder guards on each shoulder, had broad brows and a gaze that, though restrained, carried an air of pressure. “This Qing Wu Gui is very strong. I’m eager to fight him,” said the man in the yellow robe with a faint smile. Hearing this, the other two were shocked. They knew that Xin Wu Hen was extremely terrifying, ranking quite high on the global list—fifteenth place. Neither of them expected Qing Wu Gui to arouse Xin Wu Hen’s interest. “Boss, is Qing Wu Gui really that strong?” they asked immediately. Xin Wu Hen nodded slightly, continuing to watch Qing Wu Gui on the fighting platform, his eyes gleaming. Seeing that Xin Wu Hen didn’t respond, they asked again, “Boss, the group battle among Divine General cultivators is about to start. This time, the three Divine Kings didn’t let us Divine General cultivators return to our respective divine realms. It seems they intend for the Divine General cultivators on Nan Yin Island to form their own teams. With Qing Wu Gui being so strong, could he possibly compete with you for the position of team leader?” Xin Wu Hen merely smiled faintly, still staring at the two on the fighting platform. “If Xin Wu Hen wants to be the team leader, it won’t be that easy. He’ll first have to pass through my boss’s challenge,” suddenly, three more people appeared in the distance. One tall man with a small face shouted proudly. Among the three, the young man with perfect physique, flowing hair, and steady steps fixed his gaze on Xin Wu Hen as he walked over.

“Heavenly Arrogance, you’ve arrived,” Xin Wuhen turned around and called out with a smile.
The man in the middle, Heavenly Arrogance, nodded and immediately flew to Xin Wuhen’s side, saying with a laugh, “Xin Wuhen, I’m really looking forward to competing with you.”
Wu Yuan also witnessed everything and sighed, shaking his head continuously. He wanted to speak up in protest, but Qu Yi pulled him back.
Qu Yi simply shook his head without saying a word, still watching what was happening on the fighting platform.