Chapter 40: The Northern Envoy

Hearing about a mysterious cave nearby, the Northern Envoy immediately became curious and wanted to retrieve the treasures inside. Soon, the Northern Envoy, the Southern Envoy, and Bai Yan flew ahead to a sea area not far from the coastline, while Qu Yi, Wei Yan, Xiong Guan, Lang Qiang, and Long Zhan followed behind as a guard force to prevent others from approaching.

The Northern Envoy, the Southern Envoy, and Bai Yan quickly entered the sea and reached the seabed. There, in a trench, there was a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy—caused by a missing part of some kind of formation, which was leaking its spiritual energy. As soon as the Northern Envoy reached the seabed, he sensed this and dismissed his doubts, flying even more eagerly toward the trench.

At that moment, the Southern Envoy and Bai Yan exchanged glances, both with smiles in their eyes. Indeed, inside the trench was a damaged formation. It seemed that over time, external forces had damaged part of it, releasing a subtle spiritual energy. The entire formation covered the deepest part of the trench, as if a mysterious cave was buried there, which was truly astonishing.

“Bai Yan, this is the formation you were talking about, right? It really seems like an ancient cave. Alright, the three of us will now use our strongest spells to break through this formation from the outside,” the Northern Envoy exclaimed happily.

But Bai Yan didn’t respond. Instead, he went to the damaged part of the formation and suddenly sent in a stream of blood-red spiritual energy. Immediately, the entire trench was enveloped by a powerful formation.

This was a very ingenious formation technique obtained by Qu Yi from the Artifact God. It involved deliberately creating a damaged formation, which, once activated, could unleash an even more powerful formation. In other words, the damaged formation served as a trigger, similar to the core of another formation.

This more powerful formation was called the “One-Seed Sea Lock Formation.” Once activated, it could lock down a thousand-mile area, creating its own realm.

In an instant, the entire trench was covered by a strange force. All the seawater seemed to turn into water knives and water swords, attacking together to chop everyone into pieces.

“You… you dare betray the leader?” The Northern Envoy quickly realized he had been deceived.

Though angry, he still had to strive to release his wind-based spiritual energy. Streams of blue spiritual energy surrounded him, shielding him from the endless waves of water knives and swords.

At this moment, Qu Yi, who had just been on the sea surface, suddenly entered the “One Stone Locks the Sea Formation” and summoned Xuan Gu Shangren out of the Dimensional Sphere. “South Envoy, Bai Yan, Xuan Gu—you three, attack together and subdue the North Envoy as quickly as possible,” Qu Yi ordered immediately. “Yes, master,” the three replied at once, then each took their magical treasures and charged forward. The South Envoy immediately drew out his magical treasure, the Wind-Stabilizing Sword—a mid-grade treasure. When his vital energy was channeled into it, it generated a “Thousand Blades Wind Spin,” with a thousand spinning wind blades all rushing toward the North Envoy, creating loud crashing sounds. Bai Yan took out his magical treasure, the Blood-Stabilizing Pearl—a red sphere the size of an egg, also a mid-grade treasure. When his vital energy was activated, it emitted a massive blood-red net. The aura emitted by the net seemed capable of trapping everything and suppressing all directions, causing great fear. As soon as the blood-red net appeared, it floated toward the North Envoy and contracted, enveloping him completely. Xuan Gu Shangren then brought out his magical treasure, the Jade Turtle Relic, which summoned a giant turtle that pressed down with immense force, aiming to crush the North Envoy outright. Under such pressure, the North Envoy had to desperately defend against the attacks of the formation while also bearing the assaults from three mid-stage transcendent warriors—his situation was extremely difficult. “Unleash the Wind-Sword! Shatter the void with the wind!” The North Envoy went all out, drawing out his top-grade treasure and channeling all his vital energy to activate the strongest technique within the Wind-Sword: “True Wind Pierces the Void.” A huge tornado emerged, with a black hole seemingly forming at its center, possessing the power to devour everything. Its edge blades could cut through any material, destroying countless water blades and swords on contact, turning them into mist. The “Thousand Blades Wind Spin,” the blood-red net, and the giant turtle were all utterly powerless and shattered in one strike. At this moment, Qu Yi immediately sent Bai Yan, the South Envoy, and Xuan Gu Shangren back into the Dimensional Sphere, while he activated his Divine Formula Card to protect himself. Naturally, the tornado capable of destroying everything failed to cause any damage to the Divine Formula Card. Although the tornado unleashed by the North Envoy killed thousands of water blades and swords, it still failed to destroy the “One Stone Locks the Sea Formation,” leaving him trapped inside it. By now, the North Envoy’s vital energy had been completely exhausted. Qu Yi walked over to the North Envoy with a smile, looking at his furious expression, and said, “North Envoy, there’s no need to be angry. Just submit to me like the South Envoy did.”

The Northern Envoy held the Wind-Swinging Sword, his eyes darting as he considered whether to launch another desperate attack, but he ultimately concluded that he couldn’t kill Qu Yi.
“What schemes do you have?” The Northern Envoy gave in and simply retracted the Wind-Swinging Sword into his body.
“Hehe, you don’t need to know what my schemes are. Don’t worry—following me won’t harm you. You’ll understand in time,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
The Northern Envoy stared at Qu Yi, his expression suddenly changing to one of fury as his spiritual consciousness penetrated Qu Yi’s primordial spirit. At that moment, he tried to use his spiritual consciousness to break through Qu Yi’s primordial spirit and rescue the Southern Envoy and Bai Yan, those two demon cultivators.
Qu Yi smiled but remained motionless. Then he saw the Northern Envoy’s face twist in terror as he stared at Qu Yi in disbelief. Indeed, like the Southern Envoy, the Northern Envoy had also been attacked by the spirit of the Artifact God and had a spiritual shackle implanted in him.
“Ah, Northern Envoy, I told you to submit to me willingly, yet you still go through all this trouble,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
The Northern Envoy’s expression sank, and he took deep breaths. Though resentful, he gradually adapted.
Soon after, Qu Yi lifted the “One-Seed Sea Lock Formation” and released the Southern Envoy and Bai Yan from the Dimension Ball, allowing them to fly together to the sea surface. By now, Qu Yi had taken control of both the Southern Envoy and the Northern Envoy—both right-hand men of the demon cultivator leader had become his allies, making his plans even easier.
“If the demon cultivator leader discovers that the hard-earned achievements he’s built have been secretly taken by me, Qu Yi, will he die of rage?” Qu Yi thought to himself, delighted as he flew in the air.
In the air, the Southern Envoy looked at the resentful Northern Envoy and began to comfort him: “Northern Envoy, forget it. We’re both cultivators seeking the path to immortality. What’s the difference between following the leader and following me? Besides, I have a feeling that by following me, we might achieve even greater things in the future—maybe that’s a good thing after all.”
The Northern Envoy glared at the Southern Envoy with resentment, then his face filled with regret, but he took the Southern Envoy’s words to heart and began to ponder them secretly.
Soon, Qu Yi and the others returned to Red Cloud Peak. Once they landed, Qu Yi asked, “Northern Envoy, who are the demon cultivators lurking in Zi Yang Palace? What’s their strength? Why haven’t they stirred up internal strife there?”
The demon cultivators’ plans on the Southern Demon Continent were perfect, but they hadn’t caused any upheaval on the Northern Immortal Continent, which naturally piqued Qu Yi’s curiosity.

The Northern Envoy glanced at Qu Yi, bit his lip, and after pondering for a long time, finally spoke, “The demon cultivator we have lurking in Ziyang Palace is named Gui Hai Xin. He comes from the ocean and is only at the middle stage of the Outward Departure cultivation level. In Ziyang Palace, aside from the sect leader who is at the late stage of Outward Departure, there is also an elder at the same level. Although we deceived the sect leader, this elder remains in the palace, so Gui Hai Xin dares not be too active.”

Qu Yi finally understood—so Ziyang Palace had such a powerful figure. No wonder the demon cultivators didn’t dare act recklessly.

“Northern Envoy, your demon cultivator leader must be very strong. Why doesn’t he go to Ziyang Palace and assassinate that elder?” Qu Yi asked again.

Qu Yi had learned from the Southern Envoy that this demon cultivator leader was only at the early stage of Divided Mind cultivation. If he took action, that elder of Ziyang Palace would surely be killed.

“Master, you still don’t know. Our leader has already reached the early stage of Divided Mind cultivation. But on the Northern Immortal Continent, there is also a powerful figure at that stage—namely, the True Golden Immortal of the Golden Cauldron Sect. Our leader doesn’t want to act now to avoid letting that True Golden Immortal discover his cultivation level,” the Northern Envoy said slowly.

Hearing this, Qu Yi finally understood. The demon cultivator leader wanted his subordinates to eliminate one by one the five major cultivation sects, and when that True Golden Immortal appeared, launch a surprise attack and assassinate him.

“Alright, I finally understand your demon cultivator leader’s plan. Then let’s follow his plan and eliminate those cultivation sects first,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Now, Qu Yi was growing more and more eager. Once he caused chaos among the five major cultivation sects and secretly took control of countless forces, when that demon cultivator leader came to check his gains and found that all his people had been enslaved by him, would the leader go mad?

“Good. Since your demon cultivator leader has given us a month, let’s speed up our journey. We’ll head to the Ziyang Mountains right now. Wei Yan, Xiong Guan, Lang Qiang, Long Zhan—order your subordinates to set off immediately,” Qu Yi said with joy on his face.

Naturally, the seven demon cultivators—the Southern Envoy, the Northern Envoy, Bai Yan, Wei Yan, Xiong Guan, Lang Qiang, and Long Zhan—seeing Qu Yi’s triumphant expression, silently prayed for Ziyang Palace.

Soon, Wei Yan, Xiong Guan, Lang Qiang, and Long Zhan went to give orders to the four thousand demon cultivators to set off.

A month later, Qu Yi, along with the demon cultivators, finally arrived at Yangyun Peak.