Chapter 23: Controlling Wei Yan

In the area near Nanyun City in the Bai Mo Mountain Region, a silent operation to capture people was underway.
Members of San Ding Gate started with twenty cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage, captured a group, then conquered another, and like a snowball effect, the number of cultivators at this stage grew increasingly larger.
Now, all of them had returned to San Ding Gate.
Inside San Ding Hall, on the stone steps, there were three jade beds—Wei Yan, Qu Yi, and Qing Wu Gui each sat on one.
Below the steps, inside the hall, there were only a hundred cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage, while many more were outside.
Wei Yan looked pleased at the hundred cultivators inside, his sharp eyes flashing from time to time, clearly planning something in his mind.
“Gentlemen, over the past year, the power of our San Ding Gate has expanded rapidly. Besides the three sect leaders, we also have you, one thousand one hundred experts at the late Yuan Ying stage. I think from now on, we can completely take control of Nanyun City,” Wei Yan said happily.
Over the past year, San Ding Gate’s people had swept through almost the entire southern part of the Bai Mo Mountain Region. Those at the late Yuan Ying stage were either captured or killed. As for those at the middle and early Yuan Ying stages, San Ding Gate had no interest in capturing them.
It’s better to have elite troops than a large number of them.
After hearing this, Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui were shocked, realizing that Wei Yan was about to officially launch the plan. Soon, San Ding Gate would emerge, and they would be pushed to the forefront by Wei Yan.
“San Ding Gate is brave and mighty—it will surely unify the Bai Mo Mountain Region!” The hundred cultivators inside the hall shouted in unison.
Wei Yan smiled, then suddenly stood up, his expression solemn. He declared loudly, “Everyone in San Ding Gate, immediately form a hundred teams and head to Nanyun City. Surround it from all directions, then wipe out the city lord Bai Yu Han and take complete control of Nanyun City.”
“Yes, Sect Leader,” the hundred cultivators replied in unison.
In an instant, these hundred people left San Ding Hall, each taking ten more outside, and left San Ding Gate together.
After watching them go, Wei Yan turned to Qu Yi and said with a smile, “It’s boring. Come with me; I have something to discuss with you.”
Qu Yi looked at Wei Yan, seeing the firm determination in his eyes—there was no room for refusal. So he smiled and said, “Sure.”
A moment later, Wei Yan arrived at the top of a mountain, with Qu Yi following. Of course, this mountain was still within the “Thousand Demons Illusion Array,” not outside San Ding Gate’s territory.
The two sat quietly facing each other for a while.

“Boring. Do you think our San Ding Gate can unify the Hundred Demons Mountain Range?” Suddenly, Wei Yan spoke up.
“Of course it can,” Qu Yi replied with a faint smile.
Wei Yan fell silent again, studying Qu Yi carefully before sighing and saying slowly, “Boring… You give me a very mysterious feeling. I sense that your strength improves every day, making it seem like I can’t control you. What do you think we should do?”
Over the past year, Qu Yi had devoted almost all of his spiritual awareness to scanning arrays, greatly enhancing his understanding of energy, and his soul realm continued to grow steadily.
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi’s expression turned panicked as he rushed to say, “Wei Yan, what do you mean by this?”
Of course, Qu Yi’s expression at that moment was purely fake.
Wei Yan’s face twitched, his eyes gleaming with mockery as he laughed loudly, “I had decided that I would plant a soul shackle on you only after you reached the later stage of Yuan Ying, so that I could truly feel a sense of conquest. But with you, I feel I can’t control you at all. So, I’m making an exception and planting the shackle now.”
Qu Yi let out a cry, his face turning pale as he froze in shock.
Seeing this, Wei Yan’s face lit up with joy. He hadn’t expected Qu Yi to be so easily frightened, even to the point of fainting.
Yet Qu Yi continued to act, secretly hoping for something.
Quickly, Wei Yan sent his spiritual awareness into Qu Yi’s Yuan Shen, searching for the dwelling place of Qu Yi’s soul, aiming to imprint his own soul mark within it to fully control Qu Yi.
But Wei Yan was extremely unlucky!
Inside Qu Yi’s soul was the Inch Realm Ball, and within it resided the Device God—a freak of unknown cultivation level.
As soon as Wei Yan’s spiritual awareness touched Qu Yi’s soul, a golden thread suddenly entered his own spiritual awareness, causing it to halt instantly. The golden thread then followed through Wei Yan’s spiritual awareness into his own soul, where it implanted a soul shackle right inside.
Huh!
On the mountaintop, Qu Yi and Wei Yan remained motionless for a while before slowly regaining their senses.
“Oh, no… It’s not like this…” Wei Yan stared at Qu Yi in terror, his face deathly pale.
It turned out that Wei Yan realized with shock that he was the one who should have had the soul shackle planted on Qu Yi, but instead, it was his own soul that had been shackled.
Naturally, Wei Yan knew he was now under Qu Yi’s control.

Qu Yi sat calmly on the mountaintop, ignoring Wei Yan’s expression as he gazed into the distance. He said indifferently, “Wei Yan, I originally planned to wait until you had control over the entire Bai Mo Mountain Range before dealing with you. Unfortunately, you’re in such a hurry.”
After falling into panic, Wei Yan sat down on the mountaintop pitifully, looking at Qu Yi with a pleading gaze.
“Qu Yi, I beg you—remove the mark from my soul. I don’t want to become a slave. I can swear right now that I’ll never deal with you again. If I ever have the slightest intention to harm you, my soul will be instantly burned by heavenly fire,” Wei Yan pleaded through tears.
Qu Yi still didn’t even glance at Wei Yan, thinking to himself, “What’s the use of swearing? Since you deliberately plotted against me, you must suffer my punishment. Most importantly, I don’t even know how the Artifact God controls you—how can I help you get rid of it?”
Of course, Qu Yi certainly wouldn’t tell Wei Yan what he was thinking.
In fact, Wei Yan wasn’t under Qu Yi’s control now but under that of the Artifact God, as the mark in his soul actually belonged to the Artifact God. Of course, since the Artifact God controlled Wei Yan, it was equivalent to Qu Yi controlling him as well.
Qu Yi slowly turned his head to look at Wei Yan and said calmly, “Wei Yan, I can tell you now: your fate is in your own hands. It depends on whether you cooperate or not. What exactly do you, the demon cultivators, plan to do on Tian Feng Star?”
Upon hearing this, Wei Yan’s weak body trembled in shock as he jumped up high before shouting down, “Qu Yi, how do you know I’m a demon cultivator? That’s impossible! I haven’t returned to my true form in years—there’s no way you can know!”
Qu Yi chuckled but didn’t reply. He had also learned this from the Artifact God; he didn’t have any spells to identify demon cultivators.
“Hehe, Wei Yan, I not only know you’re a demon cultivator but also that your true form is a four-winged swift eagle,” Qu Yi pretended again and revealed the information given to him by the Artifact God.
“Ah!” Wei Yan grabbed his hair in horror, staring at Qu Yi.
Qu Yi continued to laugh, enjoying Wei Yan’s reaction.
“So you’ve known everything about me all along. You deliberately approached me to exploit me, right?” Wei Yan finally understood, his face showing regret and resentment.
Qu Yi nodded and smiled. “Wei Yan, tell me. Reveal all your demon cultivators’ plans to me.”
In fact, given the current situation, Qu Yi could have forced Wei Yan to speak through orders, but he didn’t want to do that.

Wei Yan watched Qu Yi quietly and suddenly understood many things. Realizing that he already had a soul shackle imposed upon him, resisting was useless; it was better to cooperate properly and seek a way out. After a while, Wei Yan calmed himself down and shared his plans for the Bai Mo Mountain region. It turned out that many demon cultivators had arrived in the entire Bai Mo Mountain area. Demon cultivators in the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase were sent to various mixed areas of the South Demon Continent to gradually build strength and take control of those regions. Meanwhile, demon cultivators at the Qi Chuo phase infiltrated the five major demon cultivation sects to establish their own influence within them. Then, stronger demon cultivators would emerge to coordinate all the others in taking control of the South Demon Continent. Not only on the South Demon Continent but also on the North Immortal Continent, demon cultivators were secretly carrying out similar plans. After hearing this, Qu Yi was deeply shaken—these demon cultivators’ plans were truly grand; they even aimed to rule the entire Tian Feng Star. This made Qu Yi realize why Wei Yan dared to capture demon cultivators in the Bai Mo Mountain region—there were stronger demon cultivators backing him, and those within the five major sects were also cooperating, so they weren’t afraid of being attacked by them. “Wei Yan, don’t you know the identity of the demon cultivator above you?” Qu Yi asked curiously. “I don’t. I’ve only seen him once. He’s extremely powerful; I think he’s at the Fen Shen phase,” Wei Yan replied calmly. Qu Yi was shocked again—he hadn’t expected the demon cultivator leading this plan to be at the Fen Shen phase. With his own current cultivation at the early Yuan Ying stage, even a hundred Qu Yis wouldn’t be enough to withstand a single breath from him. Yet Qu Yi wasn’t afraid. His Spirit Sense, enhanced by the Artifact God, was also at the early Fen Shen stage. If danger arose, he could simply hide inside the Inch Realm Ball—no one could do anything to him. “It seems a storm is coming to Tian Feng Star. Good. Wei Yan, I’ll continue to pretend to be the vice sect leader, while you remain the sect leader of San Ding Sect. Continue with your original plan to take control of the Bai Mo Mountain region. I’m eager to see if your demon cultivators’ plans will succeed,” Qu Yi said with a smile. Wei Yan’s expression darkened slightly as he nodded. Of course, Qu Yi wanted to use Wei Yan’s identity to avoid being noticed by the demon cultivators and seize advantages during this storm. Three days later, Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, and Wei Yan flew outside Nan Yun City. The more than a thousand demon cultivators had already arrived outside Nan Yun City, hiding in a hundred different locations, waiting for the order to act.

Qu Yi stood on the mountaintop, looking at Nanyun City with its city walls rising hundreds of meters into the air, and smiled faintly before nodding at Wei Yan.