Chapter Thirteen: Encounter with Demons and Monsters

Qu Yi remained inside the Dimensional Sphere, scanning the One-Element Dao while using the Panfire Cauldron to familiarize himself with basic cultivation materials. Meanwhile, Qing Wugui, Wu Yuan, Bai Man, Mu Han, and Jin Qilin were constantly searching for demons and monsters in the Punishment Mountains, attacking them to improve their spells.

Qing Wugui’s cultivation method was unique—he had to fight constantly, learning from others’ understanding of energy through battles and transforming it into his own understanding to elevate his soul realm. Naturally, in the Punishment Mountains, he longed to encounter powerful demons and monsters every day for intense battles.

Wu Yuan, another demon, was even more peculiar; it seemed untied by any soul realm constraints. By drinking the essence blood of cultivators or demons, it could keep breaking through. Thus, in the Punishment Mountains, Wu Yuan also had to constantly seek out demons with higher cultivation levels, defeat them, and absorb their essence blood.

Bai Man and Mu Han joined the group to hunt for Yuan Ying-stage demons, practicing their spells to enhance their combat experience.

Jin Qilin’s role in the Punishment Mountains was to help disguise their identities. With this late-stage out-of-body demon, it was easy to spot other demons, who also lacked vigilance. This allowed the group to attack directly without worrying about the demons fleeing upon detection.

Since Qu Yi and his group arrived on the southern side of the Punishment Mountains and moved northward, Qing Wugui and his companions now faced over ten demons per day, greatly improving their strength. After several months, they were still in the southern region of the mountains and had yet to encounter any Shen Shen-stage demons, indicating just how vast the Punishment Mountains truly were.

…

Leng Yu, Xia Han, and Shi Jue each brought three early Shen Shen-stage companions and headed for the Punishment Mountains.

This group first reached the edge of the Punishment Mountains and found Mie Tian. Shi Jue used the Wood of the Heavens to restore Mie Tian’s body. Then, Mie Tian recounted everything that had happened in the Punishment Mountains, allowing Shi Jue, Xia Han, and Leng Yu to learn that Qu Yi and his group were in the southern area.

Soon, the three groups of Shi Jue, Xia Han, and Leng Yu split up and sneaked into the Punishment Mountains to search for Qu Yi.

On the other side, the four leaders of the demons in the Punishment Mountains met to discuss attacking the three cultivation sects before flying back to their territories. There, they gathered powerful demons to launch an attack on those sects.

Tianyin Bug quickly returned to its lair, a huge cave. But before it could settle down, one of its subordinates in the early stage of Divination entered the cave—it was a Flying Shadow Black Panther. The Flying Shadow Black Panther transformed into a cold-faced young man with a perfectly streamlined figure that was quite pleasing to the eye.

“Bug King, I have important news to report,” the Flying Shadow Black Panther called urgently.

Tianyin Bug was usually very strict; it would punish severely any demon beast that dared to disturb it for trivial matters. Now, it stared at the Flying Shadow Black Panther sternly, waiting for its report.

“Bug King, I don’t know what’s going on lately, but nearly five hundred demon beasts in our territory have been injured, and over twenty in the Outbreak stage have died. After investigating, I found that a group of people is training in our Heavenly Punishment Mountains, deliberately using us as targets to practice their skills,” the Flying Shadow Black Panther said anxiously.

Upon hearing this, Tianyin Bug’s eyes gleamed with fury as it roared, “Human cultivators dare to come to our Heavenly Punishment Mountains and so arrogantly challenge us, demon beasts? They truly despise us. Leopard, go call Tiger, and bring all our subordinates in the Outbreak stage. We’ll go and slaughter those human cultivators right away!”

The fact that human cultivators were using its territory as a training ground filled Tianyin Bug with rage. It had to put aside its plans to attack the cultivation sects and focus on resolving this issue first.

Under Tianyin Bug’s command were two demon beasts in the early stage of Divination: the Flying Shadow Black Panther and the Heavenly Wing White Tiger. Soon, the Flying Shadow Black Panther and the Heavenly Wing White Tiger flew into the cave and joined Tianyin Bug, while the fifty-plus demon beasts in the Outbreak stage stood at the cave entrance.

“Leopard, Tiger, let’s go and kill all those human cultivators,” Tianyin Bug shouted coldly.

Immediately afterward, Tianyin Bug disappeared, having teleported away. The Flying Shadow Black Panther and the Heavenly Wing White Tiger followed right after, leaving the cave in a flash. The fifty-plus demon beasts at the entrance also took off and followed behind.

…

At that moment, Bai Man was fighting fiercely against a Whip-Tail Wolf in the early stage of Yuan Ying.

Lately, the demon beasts in the Outbreak stage from the Heavenly Punishment Mountains had disappeared, so Qingwu Gui and Wuyuan had no opponents to fight against. They could only accompany Bai Man and Mu Han, helping to hold back the enemy while those two fought against the Yuan Ying stage demon beasts.

The Whip-Tail Wolf was not only agile but also possessed a five-meter-long iron whip tail on its back, which was extremely deadly.

Bai Man held the Swift Blade, moving swiftly as she reached behind the Whip-Tailed Wolf. With a single strike, three white sword auras shot toward the wolf’s tail, aiming to sever that annoying tail. After dozens of rounds of combat, Bai Man had already suffered greatly from the iron whip tail—either having her limbs cut off, being entangled by it, or having her face slapped by it. She was filled with rage. The Whip-Tailed Wolf was even more frustrated. As soon as Wu Yuan found it, he told the wolf that he wouldn’t kill it, but it had to fight Bai Man thoroughly until she cut off its iron whip tail. How could it give up on that tail? Of course not! The Whip-Tailed Wolf didn’t want to exist in name only. It could only slowly wear down Bai Man, hoping to exhaust her vital energy so that Wu Yuan would let it go. Before the three sword auras from Bai Man could reach the tail, the Whip-Tailed Wolf quickly coiled its tail and then stretched it out violently, scattering the incoming auras. “Whip-Tailed Wolf, I must cut off your tail!” Bai Man’s anger reached its peak. Immediately afterward, she took out a medicine bottle and swallowed the Infant Soul Pill inside, restoring her vital energy. Howl! Howl! Howl! The Whip-Tailed Wolf was stunned. It had been thinking about draining Bai Man’s energy, only to discover that she had pills to replenish it. Now it was certain that its own energy would be exhausted by Bai Man, and then its tail would truly be cut off. “No! Please, my tail can’t be cut!” The ten-meter-long Whip-Tailed Wolf cried bitterly, tears streaming from its eyes. The four onlookers—Qing Wu Gui, Wu Yuan, Mu Han, and Jin Qilin—felt deep sympathy for it. In the end, Wu Yuan couldn’t bear to see it suffer any longer and felt pity. “Ugh, Whip-Tailed Wolf, here’s the deal: if you can dodge Bai Man’s next ten attacks, I’ll let you go,” Wu Yuan said readily. Bai Man glanced at Wu Yuan, raised her pink fist, but said nothing, then launched a full-force attack at the Whip-Tailed Wolf. “Annihilation!” Suddenly, Bai Man used the ultimate technique taught to her by Qu Yi. It was a metal-type attack spell recorded in the “Five Energies and Three Flowers” divine formula, combined with the “Ten Thousand Miles in an Instant” speed secret technique. With a single strike, it could destroy everything. With Bai Man’s early-stage Yuan Ying cultivation level, using this technique instantly exhausted all of her metal-type vital energy.

The Whip-Tailed Wolf hadn’t reacted yet when it suddenly felt a pain on its rear, realizing that its iron whip tail had broken.
Auw! Auw! Auw!
The Whip-Tailed Wolf was furious—its proudest feature had been lost like that. Seeing Bai Man beside it, who had lost all her spiritual energy, the enraged wolf could no longer hold back its anger. It suddenly leaped up, aiming to bite Bai Man.
Qing Wu Gui let out a hum and lightly waved his black sword. An invisible stream of spiritual energy was sent out, splitting the Whip-Tailed Wolf in two.
At that moment, Qu Yi suddenly emerged from the Dimensional Sphere.
“Everyone, enter the Dimensional Sphere—two groups of enemies are coming,” Qu Yi said as soon as he appeared.
Instantly, Qing Wu Gui, Wu Yuan, Bai Man, Mu Han, and Jin Qilin followed Qu Yi into the Dimensional Sphere.
It turned out that after Qu Yi reached the early stage of exiting his body, his spiritual perception, similar to that of the Instrumental God in the early stage of fusion, now covered a range of 50,000 li. Earlier, the Instrumental God had detected two groups approaching Qing Wu Gui and the others, so it immediately alerted Qu Yi, who was cultivating. Thus, Qu Yi came out and led everyone into the Dimensional Sphere.
Sure enough, as soon as Qu Yi and the others entered the Dimensional Sphere, two groups arrived.
One group was led by Tian Yin Chong, consisting of various monsters. They had detected the presence of the Whip-Tailed Wolf and, upon sensing its sudden death, rushed over.
The other group was led by Xia Han, along with three others in the early stage of separating their consciousness. They had sneaked into the Heavenly Punishment Mountains, searching for Qu Yi.
Neither group could avoid the other’s spiritual perception, so they inevitably clashed.
Among the monsters, Tian Yin Chong was in the middle stage of separating his consciousness, while Fei Ying Hei Bao and Tian Yi Bai Hu were in the early stage. The other fifty monsters were in the stage of exiting their bodies, ten of them in the later stage.
Faced with so many monsters, Xia Han and his three companions in the early stage of separating their consciousness grew uneasy.
“Lords of the monsters, I am Xia Han from Cang Yang Valley in Liu Pan Star. One of our disciples who went out on a training mission disappeared in the Heavenly Punishment Mountains, and we’ve determined that the culprit is here. That’s why we’ve come to search. I ask you to give us some leniency. Once we find the culprit, we will surely offer you generous gifts as an apology,” Xia Han said politely with a smile.
At this point, being at a disadvantage, Xia Han had no choice but to invoke the reputation of Cang Yang Valley.

Upon hearing this, Tianyin Bug sneered. A few days ago, it had learned from the Three-Tailed Dragon that the demon cultivators from Liupan Star had come to ask the demon beasts of the Heavenly Punishment Mountains for help. Now that it also had the support of the demon cultivator sects from Liupan Star behind it, it no longer needed to fear Cangyang Valley.
“You demons, thinking that with Cangyang Valley’s backing, you can just enter our Heavenly Punishment Mountains at will? Today, you’ll leave your lives here,” Tianyin Bug declared outright.
Immediately, all the demon beasts took to the air and launched an attack.