Chapter Twelve: The Demonic Cultivators of the Mountain of Heavenly Punishment

Three months passed. Qu Yi remained inside the Miniature Realm Sphere, using five spiritual awareness arrays for scanning, with one spiritual awareness dedicated to familiarizing himself with the materials used in crafting. By the lake, the Panfire Cauldron had already been set up. Inside the cauldron, Qu Yi infused his vital energy to summon the Samadhi True Fire, then placed pieces of material into it one by one. The Artifact God had already taught Qu Yi the properties of most cultivation materials, so he could say he had a good grasp of them. However, the Artifact God knew that merely passing on this knowledge did not mean Qu Yi truly understood it, so it made him compare these properties with the knowledge stored in his soul and then melt the materials using the true fire to become more familiar with them, thereby enabling him to fully master their properties. The Artifact God supervised from the side; whenever Qu Yi finished melting a piece of material, it immediately handed over the next type from the storage space within the Miniature Realm Sphere, allowing him to continue melting and understanding the materials’ properties. As a result, Qu Yi was now advancing rapidly in both the cultivation of the array core and the artifact core simultaneously.

In the Mountain of Heavenly Punishment, Qing Wu Gui, Wu Yuan, Bai Man, Mu Han, and Jin Qilin were all undergoing trials together, searching for advanced demonic beasts to fight against. Thanks to Jin Qilin, who was familiar with the area, the five of them quickly found demonic beasts and engaged in battles. Demonic beasts in the early Yuan Ying stage were dealt with by Bai Man, those in the later Yuan Ying stage by Mu Han, while those in the middle stage of exiting the body were fought against by Qing Wu Gui and Wu Yuan. Fortunately, with Jin Qilin interceding, Bai Man, Mu Han, Qing Wu Gui, and Wu Yuan did not kill the demonic beasts after defeating them but only inflicted serious injuries on them.

……

The Valley of Immortal Slaying. Leng Yu had arrived along with Xia Han and nine other strong cultivators in the early stage of dividing their consciousness. Shi Jue and Shi Jin met Leng Yu and the other eleven people inside the Palace of Immortal Slaying, then watched Leng Yu anxiously, fearing he might blame them for Yang Tianqi’s death. “Brother Leng Yu, I heard that Brother Tianqi died on an island, so Shi Jin and I rushed back to the Valley of Immortal Slaying. We strictly prohibited anyone from leaving the valley and inspected all its disciples, finding no spies,” Shi Jue said cautiously. Xia Han sat on a chair, quietly sipping tea without saying a word. Leng Yu looked at Shi Jue, remained silent for a while, and then said indifferently, “Shi Jue, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but Tianqi is the elder’s own son. This is a serious matter, and I need to investigate personally. Therefore, I want you to gather everyone from the Valley of Immortal Slaying so we can question them one by one.”

Upon hearing this, Shi Jue was angry inside, but he still wore a smile on his face. “Yes, Brother Leng Yu.”
Among the top ten ultimate sects in the cultivation world, Shi Xian Valley, a sect dedicated to dark cultivation, would inevitably end up among the three such sects. However, most of the people in Shi Xian Valley practiced earth-based cultivation techniques, so their best fate was to join Cang Yang Valley, which also practiced earth-based techniques.
Therefore, despite being at the mid-stage of the Divided Mind cultivation level and being the sect leader, Shi Jue didn’t dare refuse Leng Yu’s demands when faced with his condescending tone.
Soon, Shi Jin went to gather all the disciples of Shi Xian Valley and bring them to a vast underground square.
Leng Yu, along with Xia Han and the other ten, went to the square and began searching each of the tens of thousands of disciples’ souls carefully.
Ten days later, Leng Yu and the eleven returned to Shi Xian Palace.
At this point, Leng Yu and the others were completely silent and deeply confused. After checking tens of thousands of disciples, they hadn’t found any clues at all.
Shi Jue and Shi Jin, the two sect leaders, sat quietly on their chairs, waiting for Leng Yu and the others to announce their findings.
Suddenly, a yellow light dot appeared in the air, and Shi Jue grabbed a talisman paper from it, which contained a message.
“Sect leader, it’s Mi Tian. In the Heavenly Punishment Mountains, the four of us didn’t wait for the Golden Qilin but were ambushed by three people. Only I survived, though I’m now in a Yuan Ying state. Please send someone to rescue me. Also, I’ve sent you the images of those three who ambushed us. Please make a decision for us.”
Then, an image appeared on the talisman paper—clearly the images of Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, and Wu Yuan.
Leng Yu had noticed the light dot in Shi Jue’s hand earlier and felt a hint of coldness, but upon seeing the images, he immediately stared at Shi Jue in shock.
“Isn’t this the person who stole the Sea Soul Electric Eel’s soul crystal?” Leng Yu exclaimed in surprise.
Shi Jue nodded. Of course, he also remembered how Qu Yi had escaped using a teleportation talisman and remembered Qu Yi’s appearance.
Leng Yu remained silent for a while before suddenly sneering. “I see. The ones who stole the soul crystals and attacked Tian Qi were part of the same group. Good, we’ve finally found the culprits.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Han immediately focused on the images of Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, and Wu Yuan.

Shi Jue quickly replied, “In our Shi Xian Valley, there are four brothers. They went to the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains a year ago in search of the Golden Qilin. Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by these three men. The survivor, Mié Tian, sent me a video message. Those three are still in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains now.”
Upon hearing this, Leng Yu was shocked again, but he immediately said firmly, “It seems this could be the work of those beasts in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains. Those two humans are likely also transformed from beasts. I’ve heard that recently, on all cultivation planets in the cultivation world, there have been beast uprisings. I think those beasts in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains also want to cause havoc on Tianhua Star.”
Leng Yu had also learned about the unrest among the beast cultivators in the cultivation world from Yang Di. However, by mistaking Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui as beast cultivators, he was actually wronging the beast cultivators in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains.
“Then there’s no need to hesitate. We should head to the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains right away and capture those three,” Xia Han said with a cold laugh.
In Cangyang Valley, Xia Han was a small team leader in the valley’s defense force. He always went straight for capture once a target was identified.
After hearing this, Shi Jue mustered up the courage to remind him, “Captain Xia Han, there are four beast cultivators at the mid-stage of Divine Transformation in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, plus eight at the early stage. If we want to enter there, we need to plan carefully.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Han, who had just stood up, staggered slightly. He hadn’t expected the beast cultivators in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains to have such a powerful force. Right now, his side consisted only of himself, Leng Yu, and Shi Jue, who were at the mid-stage of Divine Transformation, along with ten others at the early stage. Compared to the strength of the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, they were still weaker.
Moreover, the combat power of beast cultivators at the same level was beyond that of magic cultivators.
Naturally, upon hearing Shi Jue’s reminder, Xia Han understood the key issue. Entering the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains loudly would undoubtedly be a provocation to the beast cultivators. If they got angry, a major battle would break out, and his team might suffer heavy losses.
After thinking for a while, Leng Yu said, “How about this? We divide into three teams. The three at the mid-stage of Divine Transformation each lead three at the early stage, and we infiltrate the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains separately to search for those three.”
Xia Han and Shi Jue nodded upon hearing this.
Before long, in Shi Xian Valley, three groups took off separately, heading toward the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains.
…
In the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, there were four beast cultivators at the mid-stage of Divine Transformation.
The first was the Heavenly Sound Worm, the second the Ice Blood Ant, the third the Illusion Dance Butterfly, and the fourth the Three-Tailed Dragon. These four beasts followed the path of the Three-Tailed Dragon.

And now, these four mid-stage distracted demon beasts had arrived at the center of the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains and gathered together.
The human form of the Sky Sound Worm was that of a burly man, whose eyes gave off an immediately sinister vibe. The human form of the Ice Blood Mosquito was that of a very thin child, whose slightest movement sent a chilling sensation through one’s body. The human form of the Illusion Dancing Butterfly was that of a beautiful and alluring woman, dressed in revealing clothes with an extremely tempting figure. The human form of the Three-Tailed Dragon had a strong build, and its resolute expression made people feel compelled to submit.
“Worm, Bingbing, Butterfly, a few days ago I met a demon cultivator from the Six Plateau Stars. He told us to take over the entire Tianhua Star, making it part of our Heaven’s Punishment Mountains’ territory, with all resources belonging to us four,” said the Three-Tailed Dragon with a smile.
It turned out that these four had become siblings, getting along very well, and each had a nickname for the others.
“Brother Dragon, is that true? If so, then the four of us siblings should leave the mountains and join forces with the ocean demon beasts to wipe out those Three Immortals and Three Demons sects. After that, it will be our world,” exclaimed the Sky Sound Worm cheerfully.
The Ice Blood Mosquito remained silent before saying briefly, “I’ll follow Brother Dragon’s lead.”
The Illusion Dancing Butterfly flicked her silky hair and then said in a sweet voice, “Brother Dragon, the four of us siblings haven’t been outside for a long time. Since there’s such a great opportunity, let’s go out. I wonder if there are any handsome men out there; I really want to dance with them.”
After hearing this, the Three-Tailed Dragon, the Sky Sound Worm, and the Ice Blood Mosquito all fearfully stepped back from her, as if dancing with her seemed like a terrifying thing.
Seeing that all three siblings agreed, the Three-Tailed Dragon immediately smiled and said, “Good. Worm, Bingbing, Butterfly, since you all agree, let’s get ready. We’ll take those eight useless guys with us and first deal with those three demon cultivation sects.”
The three demon cultivation sects were the Immortal Slaying Valley, the Netherfire Cave, and the Soul Separation Sect. However, at that time, the Four of the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains still didn’t know that the four top experts of the Netherfire Cave had already been eliminated, meaning the Netherfire Cave was essentially destroyed.
Then, these four strongest demon cultivators of the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains immediately separated and returned to their respective territories to gather their subordinates, preparing to attack the demon cultivation sects.
Meanwhile, Qing Wu Gui, Wu Yuan, Bai Man, Mu Han, and Jin Qilin were still inside the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, searching for demon beasts to train with.