Chapter 3: Hundreds of Millions of Years

At the later stages of the group battle among cultivators at the Divine General stage, after entering the core of the Central Island, Qu Yi fully traversed the Qingyun Path. Each step on the Qingyun Path corresponded to a spatial rule, and by completing the entire path, Qu Yi recorded all these spatial rules. However, with his current cultivation level as a Divine General, he was unable to comprehend these rules and could only store them in his soul.

Now, as Qu Yi sensed the spatial changes within the Miniature Universe sphere, he discovered that a new universe was emerging within it, with various spatial rules appearing alternately. Though chaotic, as the master of the Miniature Universe sphere, Qu Yi could clearly sense the operation of each of these rules.

This allowed him to gain a more intuitive understanding of the spatial rules stored in his soul, making it much easier for him to comprehend them in the future.

Qu Yi remained seated inside the Miniature Universe sphere, using his divine sense to monitor its changes, while his body was simultaneously refining his vital essence. In his internal world, the numbers of the Golden-Wood-Water Spirit Bodies, Golden-Wood-Fire Spirit Bodies, and Golden-Wood-Earth Spirit Bodies had all reached seventy million—still far from the limit his body could handle. Therefore, while sensing the spatial changes, Qu Yi also let his internal world operate on its own, refining and absorbing vital essence to expand these three types of spirit bodies to their limit. After that, he would apply the art of integration to advance his cultivation to the Divine Marshal stage.

Qu Yi quickly entered a state of emptiness and meditation. Meanwhile, the chaotic planet within his body, while refining vital essence, was also connected to the oscillation frequency within the Miniature Universe sphere, rapidly refining the vital essence and sending it to the Water Planet, Fire Planet, and Earth Planet, thereby expanding the numbers of the Golden-Wood-Water Spirit Bodies, Golden-Wood-Fire Spirit Bodies, and Golden-Wood-Earth Spirit Bodies.

Time flew by, and the numbers of these three types of spirit bodies in Qu Yi’s body continued to rise rapidly—eighty million, ninety million, and finally a hundred million. Only at this point did the number of these combined spirit bodies reach the limit his body could tolerate; no more vital essence could be refined or absorbed.

When the Artifact God observed the changes within the Miniature Universe sphere, he naturally seized this opportunity. He had not yet fully comprehended all the spatial rules, but now, in his soul state, he could clearly and intuitively sense the changes in these rules.

This is the direct manifestation of spatial rules during the evolution of the universe. It is far more convenient and faster than cultivating in the divine realm to comprehend these spatial rules. Within the Tiny Realm Sphere, the spatial rules are as if laid out for everyone to see, whereas in the divine realm, the rules are already established, and one must painstakingly unravel them—making it extremely difficult to grasp even one rule. The speed at which these spatial rules can be understood is incomparable; it can be said that even the Instrumental Gods have reaped a great benefit.

These two continued to cultivate in this manner within the Tiny Realm Sphere.

Ten thousand years!

One hundred thousand years!

One million years!

Ten million years!

A full hundred million years passed. Suddenly, Qu Yi opened his eyes, and several sharp glints flashed. The planet before him actually split into two.

Qu Yi stood up, looked at the now-stable starry sky, and smiled faintly. Then he sensed his internal world and found that the number of the three types of aggregated spiritual entities within it had all reached one hundred million.

“The number of aggregated spiritual entities has finally reached its limit. It’s time to break through to the Divine Marshal stage,” Qu Yi said with a faint smile before sitting down again.

In his internal world, three planets orbited an invisible chaotic planet in an orderly manner. At this moment, the metal, wood, and water spiritual entities on the water planet were enveloped one by one by chaotic energy and then sent to the fire planet and the earth planet.

The metal, wood, and water spiritual entities were then merged with the metal, wood, fire spiritual entities and the metal, wood, earth spiritual entities. Naturally, on the fire planet, the metal, wood, fire spiritual entities were evolving into metal, wood, water, fire spiritual entities, while on the earth planet, the metal, wood, earth spiritual entities were evolving into metal, wood, water, earth, fire spiritual entities.

When all the aggregated spiritual entities evolved into unified spiritual entities, Qu Yi’s cultivation would break through to the Divine Marshal stage.

Meanwhile, in Qu Yi’s soul space, the transparent soul sphere was merging with the soul blue sphere, while the soul red sphere and the soul yellow sphere still floated quietly, showing no signs of merging.

There are two ways of merging: one is the merging of spiritual entities within the internal world, and the other is the merging of the soul spheres in the soul space. Currently, both processes were taking place simultaneously within Qu Yi’s body.

After applying the art of merging, Qu Yi quickly regained consciousness, stood up, and then spread his divine sense again to continue sensing the various changes within the Tiny Realm Sphere, especially the abundance of spatial rules at the beginning of the universe.

※※※

The bottom of the Inner Sea.

Since Qu Yi entered the Tiny Realm Sphere, Qing Wu Gui and Wu Yuan immediately went into the Inner Sea to fight against various sea beasts.

At this moment, Qing Wu Gui was alone on the seabed, surrounded by nearly ten thousand sea beasts at the Divine General stage—none other than the Ivory Fish Beasts.

The Ivory Fish Beasts, each fifty meters long with gray scales, had only their enormous heads adorned with dazzlingly white, ivory-shaped tusks that truly caught the eye.
In order to rapidly advance in his cultivation, Qing Wu Gui constantly challenged sea beasts beneath the sea. Starting with just one beast, he gradually increased the number to hundreds at once. Realizing this approach was ineffective, he then resolutely decided to confront a swarm of Ivory Fish Beasts, ready to fight to the death.
Hiss… hiss…
The Ivory Fish Beasts let out a collective cry, instantly altering the ocean currents. Nearly ten thousand funnel-shaped whirlpools formed on the seabed and rushed toward Qing Wu Gui all at once. Undoubtedly, if caught in them, his body would be torn to pieces.
“The Ivory Fish Beasts have mastered the three elements of metal, earth, and water—elements that happen to be my weaknesses,” Qing Wu Gui said with a faint smile.
As the ten thousand whirlpools approached, he swung his long sword, casting a fierce killing intent around him. The whirlpools, containing the elements of metal and water, were immediately affected. Their power dropped from the level of a Divine General to that of a Divine Being. When they reached Qing Wu Gui, they carried no harm at all, as if merely washing his body.
Like a swift horse, Qing Wu Gui dodged the attacks while quickly rushing toward the nearby Ivory Fish Beasts. With a single swing of his sword, the heads of the beasts rolled to the ground—killing one after another with ease.
The scent of blood spread rapidly.
Upon smelling it, the Ivory Fish Beasts went berserk. They trembled and rushed toward Qing Wu Gui, aiming to pierce him to death with their tusks.
“Perfect timing,” Qing Wu Gui exclaimed happily.
In an instant, he concentrated all his energy, entering a state of clarity and focus. His mind was filled solely with fighting spirit, killing intent, and the desire to attack.
His sword moved with unparalleled skill. With a single strike, countless illusions appeared, as if the strike contained countless sword techniques.
The Ivory Fish Beasts rushed up to Qing Wu Gui and immediately noticed that the elemental energy of water in their surroundings was flowing along with his sword intent, transforming into sharp water blades that sliced and tore through their bodies. Thousands of blood wounds appeared across their bodies.
As they swam, their bodies were continuously cut apart, leading to their death.
The Ivory Fish Beasts charged forward, only to end up with their bodies rapidly turning into piles of flesh, before being completely erased by his sword intent. All that remained on the ocean floor was thick pools of blood.

The blood smell grew stronger, only to further ignite the madness of the Ivory Fish Beasts. In their hearts, there was nothing but combat, brutality, and a thirst for slaughter. Qing Wu Gui’s fighting spirit also swelled and burned; all his focus was on battle. He merged completely with the ocean, moving with ease and control, in a state of complete freedom. His long sword was unadorned, yet each strike was icy cold. With every blow, hundreds of Ivory Fish Beasts died, as if a single strike could invoke the laws of heaven and earth, creating a chasm of rules that allowed him to kill vast numbers at once. Kill after kill. The Ivory Fish Beasts died rapidly; their blood stuck together and couldn’t spread. The remaining beasts, in their extreme madness, suddenly woke up and realized Qing Wu Gui’s terrifying power, immediately trying to turn and flee. Suddenly, Qing Wu Gui shouted, “There is no fire in heaven or earth—rule of fire, strike!” Instantly, thousands of fire veins burst forth across the seabed, rising like kelp and covering the entire area in a sea of flames. Earlier, his unity of mind had caused changes in the soul orbs in his soul space. Originally, there were red and yellow soul orbs; the red one faded, leaving only yellow. The disappearance of red meant that the rule of fire had been completely destroyed by Qing Wu Gui. By destroying the rule of fire, he gained control over it, thereby activating the fire veins beneath the sea and turning the entire seabed into a land of flames that burned all the Ivory Fish Beasts. Their viscous blood evaporated, and the fleeing beasts could not escape—their scales were destroyed, their muscles ignited, and their divine essences exhausted, leading to their deaths one after another. When the flames died down, Qing Wu Gui stood alone on the seabed. Wu Yuan suddenly descended from the sea and landed beside him, laughing loudly, “Qing Wu, you truly defeated the rule of fire through battle! You’ve finally reached the Divine Marshal realm!” Qing Wu Gui came back to his senses, sensing the changes in his soul space, and realized he had indeed advanced. He smiled faintly. “We’ve both reached the Divine Marshal realm. I wonder if Qu Yi has advanced by now. It’s strange that we’ve tried to contact him all these years without any response from him.” Qing Wu Gui’s expression tightened as he spoke softly. The two had been fighting in the inner sea for a hundred thousand years, constantly in contact with Qu Yi, yet never receiving a reply from him, leaving them puzzled.

“Qu Yi won’t run into any trouble anyway, so we might as well just wait for him. There are still many divine general-stage sea beasts in this inner sea. During this time, the two of us can keep fighting against them and unify all the sea beasts in the inner sea,” Wu Yuan said cheerfully with a smile.
Qing Wu Gui nodded and decided to continue fighting while waiting for Qu Yi’s return.
What they didn’t know was that this wait would last for hundreds of millions of years.