Chapter 19: The Will of the Divine King

“You people of the Yan Clan are really too overbearing.”
Wu Yuan shouted from afar, his face filled with displeasure. Though eager to fight, he was also somewhat worried.
The nine Divine Marshal-level figures of the Yan Clan, each wielding a Divine King-grade artifact, exuded immense power that filled the entire world. This power directly suppressed Wu Yuan, Qing Wu Gui, and the four beasts, making it impossible to continue the battle.
Even someone like Qing Wu Gui, who possessed extreme killing intent, found his soul unstable and his movements slowed under the pressure of these nine Divine King-grade artifacts. As a result, he could no longer effectively use his combat skills, leaving him without any means of self-protection.
“Haha, you bunch of clowns! If you want to confront our Yan Clan, then be prepared to die.”
“Weren’t you all having fun fighting just now? Thinking you could kill all of us from the Yan Clan? Now why are you trying to escape?”
“The might of the Yan Clan cannot be shaken by you outsiders who show up out of nowhere. You brought death upon yourselves—no one is to blame.”
“Stop running! Use your greatest strength and fight us bravely before dying.”
The nine Divine Marshal-level disciples of the Yan Clan shed their earlier frustration and began to shout loudly, their faces filled with mockery.
Yan Tian Kuo watched their behavior and laughed heartily, his eyes filled with scorn. He looked at Qu Yi with pity, clearly imagining how the nine disciples could kill Wu Yuan and the others before turning their attention to Qu Yi.
Qu Yi smiled faintly and said, “Since your Yan Clan has so many Divine King-grade artifacts, lend me a few. I happen to need them.”
Yan Tian Kuo was shocked. Unconsciously, he waved his Sky-Piercing Fire Wheel, creating ten fire dragons of dark flames that swept toward Qu Yi to stop him.
But it was too late.
As soon as Qu Yi spoke, he had already reached one of the Yan Clan disciples. With a push of his palm, seventy million golden, wooden, water, fire, and spiritual entities formed a blade that struck straight at the disciple’s head.
“Hmph! Trying to ambush me? No way.”
The Yan Clan disciple roared. At that moment, a crimson defensive armor appeared on his body—another Divine King-grade artifact. He moved slightly, turning his back to meet Qu Yi’s palm strike.
Pop!

That palm strike against the defensive armor produced a deafening noise, but it failed to break the armor; instead, it sent the Yan clan disciple flying into the ocean, creating a huge pool a kilometer in diameter. Waves surged around it, creating a magnificent sight.

“Bastard, Qu Yi, you attacked from behind!”

The eight Yan clan disciples around him finally realized what had happened and immediately grabbed their god-king level divine artifacts to attack Qu Yi.

Qu Yi had already vanished and descended to the seabed. He rushed to the Yan clan disciple he had struck earlier and delivered another palm strike, this time directly on the defensive armor.

The Yan clan disciple was utterly frustrated—his speed was no match for Qu Yi’s, and despite having a god-king level divine artifact, he couldn’t use it in time as Qu Yi struck first. He could only rely on his defensive armor to resist.

Another palm strike!

Pop! Boom!

The sounds of energy collision and internal fractures echoed simultaneously. Undoubtedly, the Yan clan disciple’s divine essence was being drained rapidly, and his body suffered severe damage, his life hanging by a thread.

Even with a god-king level defensive armor, it didn’t mean everything was fine or that one could avoid death. Facing someone like Qu Yi, who had endless divine essence and numerous spiritual bodies, could still lead to death through exhaustion.

“Qu Yi, it’s me your opponent. Stop acting recklessly.”

At that moment, Yan Tiankuo, who had followed Qu Yi closely, also arrived at the seabed. He unleashed his towering fire wheel and charged at Qu Yi to stop his attacks.

Ten fire dragons spiraled out and flew toward Qu Yi. The entire seabed was filled with steam, creating a terrifying void.

Qu Yi laughed. Before the fire dragons could reach him, he grabbed the Yan clan disciple and flew away. Before the dragons could get close, he delivered another fierce palm strike, knocking the disciple unconscious.

“Haha, Yan Tiankuo, your Yan clan disciples still aren’t strong enough. Just three of my strikes and they’re already unconscious.” Qu Yi laughed loudly before flying away from the seabed and into the air.

Yan Tiankuo was furious and immediately followed him into the air, glaring at Qu Yi with a red face.

This time, Qu Yi had taken a Yan clan disciple right in front of him—this was an outright challenge. But Yan Tiankuo couldn’t stop Qu Yi from continuing his attacks. His speed wasn’t as fast as Qu Yi’s, so no matter how hard he tried to chase, it was useless.

“Qu Yi, let Yan Yande go, and I’ll consider allowing you to roam the outer seas for another ten years,” Yan Tiankuo suddenly shouted, his expression calm.

After this battle, Yan Tiankuo realized one thing: although his strength was enough to suppress Qu Yi, killing him was far too difficult. Therefore, he wanted to take this opportunity to ease tensions with Qu Yi so that he could join forces with the other seven royal families to surround and kill Qu Yi together.

Qu Yi chuckled but responded to Yan Tiankuo with his actions. A palm strike! Another palm strike—Qu Yi actually struck that unconscious disciple of the Yan clan right in front of Yan Tiankuo, killing him on the spot.

“You’re truly naive. The Yan clan and I, Qu Yi, are like fire and water—there’s no room for reconciliation. I’ll kill this man first to let your Yan clan taste suffering once again,” Qu Yi said calmly even after killing him.

Yan Tiankuo and the other eight disciples of the Yan clan stared at Qu Yi in shock. They never expected him to have such courage and ruthlessness to kill a member of their clan so decisively.

In the Eight Realms of the Divine World, among the eight great royal families, no disciple could act without some power respecting them. Naturally, those from the eight royal families were proud and complacent, never believing their lives could be lost so easily.

Qu Yi’s actions terrified Yan Tiankuo and the eight disciples, leaving a lasting fear in their hearts—that Qu Yi was too cruel. If Qu Yi didn’t die, these nine people would be unable to continue their cultivation.

“A divine spear of the Divine King level and a divine armor of the Divine King level—both are mine now,” Qu Yi said proudly, holding one artifact in each hand as he floated in the air.

After saying that, he tried to claim ownership of these two artifacts through blood sacrifice.

Unintentionally, a faint smile appeared on Yan Tiankuo’s lips, as if his earlier worries had vanished. He seemed glad that Qu Yi claimed those two Divine King-level artifacts.

But Qu Yi stopped the process. Chaos energy surged from his hands as he explored the two artifacts, suddenly showing surprise and anger on his face.

“So that’s how it is! My intuition was right. I knew you Yan clan wouldn’t give away an artifact so easily. It seems each of you has a trace of a Divine King’s will in your Divine King-level artifacts. Once I claim them, my mind will be destroyed by that will, and all my cultivation will be lost,” Qu Yi shouted coldly, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

Qu Yi had just used chaotic energy to explore the two divine artifacts, only to discover that they bore the will of a divine king. Once he claimed them as his own, that will would immediately enter his soul space, causing it to collapse. Although Qu Yi’s consciousness was on par with that of a divine king, his soul space had not yet reached that level and could not withstand the destructive force of such a will.

Upon hearing this, Yan Tiankuo’s body trembled as hatred in his heart exploded like a volcano. “Qu Yi, return our Yan clan’s divine artifacts!” Filled with rage, he flew at Qu Yi, trying to snatch the artifacts from his hands. As the leader of the Yan clan’s pursuit of Qu Yi, it was his responsibility to protect every divine artifact of the divine king level. If Qu Yi took their clan’s artifacts now, he would face severe punishment upon returning—his status and position within the clan would surely be taken away.

Qu Yi smiled faintly and immediately stored the two artifacts in the Star Luo Ding. He couldn’t claim ownership of these divine king-level artifacts now, but he could use them to advance his cultivation to the divine king level, at which point he could refine them. Of course, he had no intention of returning them—he would keep them for himself.

“If you’re capable, defeat me first,” Qu Yi said with a smile, then flew forward to engage Yan Tiankuo in another battle.

Seeing Qu Yi go back into battle, Wu Yuan immediately turned to Qing Wu Gui and said with a laugh, “Qing Wu, let’s not stay idle either. Take out our divine king-level artifacts as well.” Qing Wu Gui nodded promptly.

Soon, a red defensive armor appeared on Wu Yuan’s body—it was the Fire Suppressing Armor. Qing Wu Gui took out an artifact: the Heaven-Asking Sword. These two artifacts had been taken from Yin Boqing by Qu Yi and given to Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui long ago, ensuring they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in terms of artifacts.

“Let’s fight again!”
“Another battle!”

Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui immediately flew forward. One, clad in defensive armor and wielding the Nine Heavens Staff, fought fiercely with imposing might. The other, holding the Heaven-Asking Sword, radiated murderous intent that filled the world as he charged forward.

The eight disciples of the Yan clan, filled with anger, nodded at each other and quickly divided into two teams—three surrounding Wu Yuan and five surrounding Qing Wu Gui. They wielded their divine king-level artifacts with earth-shattering force.

“Perfect,” Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui both exclaimed in satisfaction.

As for the Thundereye Ice Crocodile, the Four-Armed Water Ape, the Nine-Headed Imperial Snake, and the Earth-Shaking Crab, they dare not get involved in battles of this scale now. They have received Qu Yi’s orders to dive deep into the sea and wait until the great battle is over before emerging. Qu Yi and Yan Tiankuo are in the midst of a fierce battle. Suddenly, the Sky-Piercing Fire Wheel in Yan Tiankuo’s hand emitted not the black, dark flames of the Divine Flame, but rather a faint, ethereal fire. This is the Void Heaven Flame.