Chapter 21: Subduing Beasts

After laughing, Qu Yi immediately flew to the ground and approached one by one the monstrous beasts.
Although the Three-Tailed Dragon was weak now, it was still conscious. Qu Yi snapped his fingers, and the Golden Qilin flew over, picked up a large iron rod, and knocked the Three-Tailed Dragon unconscious in one swing.
“Sorry, Three-Tailed Dragon. The Golden Qilin now obeys my commands,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
Then, Qu Yi used his spiritual awareness to enter the Three-Tailed Dragon’s essence and locate its soul. The Artifact God immediately took advantage of Qu Yi’s spiritual awareness to plant a soul shackle in the dragon’s soul.
Qu Yi felt exhilarated—this most powerful beast in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains was now a slave of the Artifact God, essentially one of his subordinates.
A moment later, Qu Yi went to the Illusion Dancer Butterfly and repeated the process, having the Artifact God plant a soul shackle in its soul as well.
“Golden Qilin, listen carefully. Just keep an eye on these beasts here. Whenever any of them regain consciousness, knock them out immediately,” Qu Yi said, flying over the Ice-Blood Ants and shouting with laughter.
“Oh,” the Golden Qilin replied gloomily. It now had to wield a deadly weapon to deal with these former companions.
Qu Yi didn’t bother soothing the Golden Qilin’s feelings. Instead, he immediately attacked the Ice-Blood Ants with his spiritual awareness, and the Artifact God planted another soul shackle in their souls.
Thus, out of the four top-tier beasts in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, the Heavenly Sound Worm had been gone chasing Soul Annihilation, while the other three were now under Qu Yi’s control.
Deciding to go all out, Qu Yi scanned all the beasts on the ground.
Undoubtedly, the six beasts in the early Divination stage—the Blizzard Ice Silkworm, Dark Fragrance Cold Fox, Four-Winged Flying Dragon, Thunder-Eye Dragon Sculpture, Phantom Dragonfly, and Golden Spotted Bee Queen—would be given priority by Qu Yi. One after another, they were quickly subjected to soul shackles by the Artifact God.
The Flying Shadow Black Panther and Heavenly Wing White Tiger, both in the early Divination stage, were already under the control of the Artifact God, so no further effort was needed.
Next, Qu Yi was overjoyed. Laughing heartily, he flew to one beast after another, having the Artifact God plant soul shackles in them one by one.
Of course, several dozen beasts regained consciousness during this time, but before they could even lift their heads, the fierce and swift Golden Qilin would fly over and knock them out with a single swing of its rod.
In the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, the three beasts in the mid-Divination stage, the eight in the early Divination stage, and over two hundred beasts at the Outward Emergence stage were now all under the control of the Artifact God.
Only the Golden Qilin was directly controlled by Qu Yi.

Of course, now only Tianyin Bug remains free, but it still doesn’t know the situation here at Skull Mountain; otherwise, it would have fled in fear long ago.
To wait for Tianyin Bug’s return, Qu Yi flew back into the Dimensional Sphere, while the Golden Qilin entered Skull Mountain to continue searching for the remaining disciples of the Soul Departure Sect.
…
The Golden Qilin entered Skull Mountain and began searching through each passage for those hidden disciples of the Soul Departure Sect. The Spirit Consciousness of the Artifact God, equivalent to the early stage of fusion, instantly sensed everything inside Skull Mountain and informed Qu Yi. Naturally, Qu Yi immediately relayed this information to the Golden Qilin.
Bang!
Guided by Qu Yi, the Golden Qilin used its giant iron rod to smash through a massive stone wall—behind which were three disciples of the Soul Departure Sect. Without hesitation, it flew in and smashed the three into pulp with a single swing.
Hmph!…
During the subsequent search, the Golden Qilin almost forgot itself, fully immersed in the process of searching and killing, eliminating one by one those disciples who thought they had hidden well enough.
After killing over seven hundred remaining disciples of the Soul Departure Sect, the Golden Qilin suddenly stopped and listened intently to Qu Yi’s message.
“Golden Qilin, you said you could break through by devouring metals. Good. Behind the large stone door 100 meters ahead of you is the storage room of the Soul Departure Sect. Go break that door and look for ores that you can use.”
Upon hearing this, the Golden Qilin immediately forgot about killing the remaining disciples. It swung its giant iron rod and headed to the stone door, swinging it down with force.
Bang!
The stone door shattered, revealing a huge storage room filled with ores and some storage bracelets.
Just as the Golden Qilin tried to grab the ores, the Dimensional Sphere appeared. A whirlwind swept through, taking away everything in the storage room.
The Golden Qilin, with its hands raised as if trying to grab the ores, stood there awkwardly, motionless, its face turning red from frustration.
“Master, didn’t you say I could pick the ores? Why did you take them all? Why lie to me?” the Golden Qilin cried in frustration.
Qu Yi didn’t reply, but quickly, a human-height stone glowing with golden light appeared before the Golden Qilin.
“Golden Qilin, I let you pick them yourself, but who knows how long it would take? So I picked them out for you. If you swallow this Bodhi Gold Stone, it will definitely allow you to break through to the early stage of Spirit Division,” Qu Yi transmitted through spirit.
“Haha!”

The Golden Qilin stared at the Bodhi Golden Stone before it, sensing its energy, and its face instantly lit up with an unusual glow as it began to dance around like a monkey. Soon, it swallowed the Bodhi Golden Stone and focused all its strength on refining it. By absorbing it, it sought to comprehend the energy of the metal element, aiming to break through to the early stage of Divine Split in one go. …

Three days later, the Sky Sound Insect, which had gone after Soul Annihilation, finally returned to Skull Mountain. By then, the three-tailed dragon, the Illusory Dance Butterfly, the Ice-Blood Ant, and other monstrous beasts had all awakened, with most having regained their strength. “Brother Dragon, Butterfly, Bingbing, I’ve killed Soul Annihilation. I’m back now!” The Sky Sound Insect shouted loudly from the air, filled with excitement. In the blink of an eye, it landed among the three-tailed dragon, the Illusory Dance Butterfly, and the Ice-Blood Ant, its face beaming with joy. The Sky Sound Insect quickly sensed all the monstrous beasts around it, each wearing a puzzling expression—seemingly wanting to welcome it yet also not wanting to. However, too excited from killing Soul Annihilation, it didn’t bother to ponder the reasons behind their expressions. Suddenly, the moment it glanced at the three of them, the three-tailed dragon, the Illusory Dance Butterfly, and the Ice-Blood Ant attacked simultaneously, leaving the Sky Sound Insect dizzy. Especially the three-tailed dragon’s punch carried such force that even those at the later stage of Divine Split couldn’t withstand it. It struck the Sky Sound Insect’s head, nearly knocking its soul out. Before it could understand what was happening, it was knocked unconscious. Qu Yi immediately jumped out of the Dimensional Sphere, gave a thumbs-up to the three-tailed dragon, the Illusory Dance Butterfly, and the Ice-Blood Ant with a smile, then went over to the Sky Sound Insect. Without a doubt, Qu Yi immediately sent his spiritual consciousness into the Sky Sound Insect’s soul and activated his Artifact God to implant a soul shackle on it. By now, Qu Yi had taken control of all the monstrous beasts in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains who were above the Outward Journey stage. After a while, the Sky Sound Insect regained consciousness, jumped up abruptly, and wanted to fight the three-tailed dragon. “Brother Dragon, I’m going to maim you…” it shouted angrily. Suddenly, it froze—its Artifact God had ordered it to stay quiet. Now, it realized it had become someone else’s slave, and likely the same was true for the other monstrous beasts. The three-tailed dragon, the Illusory Dance Butterfly, and the Ice-Blood Ant looked at the Sky Sound Insect, patted its shoulder in apology, then fell silent, clearly all feeling extremely depressed. Tap tap!

Qu Yi applauded on his own, drawing all the monsters’ attention, then said with a smile, “Friends, now you’re all under my command. Um… don’t get angry, don’t glare, don’t clench your fists, and certainly don’t seek death. By becoming my subordinates, you won’t suffer any loss—instead, you’ll surely gain more benefits in the future. Well, that’s enough for now. You’ll still be the rulers of Tianhua Continent; I won’t interfere with you. Now, you can return to the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains and continue with your plan to attack those three cultivation sects.”

After saying that, Qu Yi disappeared instantly, while the Dimensional Ball took possession of the Golden Qilin. The Golden Qilin had now reached the early stage of Spirit Division. The Three-Tailed Dragon, Phantom Dance Butterfly, Heavenly Sound Insect, and Ice-Blood Ant exchanged glances before raising their wings and flying back to the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains together.

…

Inside the Dimensional Ball, Qu Yi and the Artifact God sat by the lake. “Artifact God, you said the Soul Gathering Stone would be beneficial to me—can you tell me now?” Qu Yi asked, holding the black Soul Gathering Stone in his hand with a smile.

“Hehe, you’re really impatient. The Soul Crystal of the Sea Soul Electric Eel can help enhance the strength of your soul. This Soul Gathering Stone can double the speed of your spiritual perception,” the Artifact God replied with a calm smile.

Qu Yi immediately clenched the Soul Gathering Stone tightly, staring at the Artifact God in surprise. Seeing that he wasn’t joking, Qu Yi burst into laughter. “Haha, it’s indeed a precious treasure! With this Soul Gathering Stone, scanning a formation will cut the time in half. It originally took 15 years to fully scan the First Principle Dao, but now it should only take seven years. After that, I can start learning the Second Principle Dao!” Qu Yi exclaimed loudly.

The Artifact God nodded smilingly. Soon, he explained to Qu Yi how to refine the Soul Gathering Stone, and Quyi immediately began the process.

One month passed. The Four Monsters—Three-Tailed Dragon, Phantom Dance Butterfly, Heavenly Sound Insect, and Ice-Blood Ant—returned to the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains with the rest of the monsters, heading straight for the Three-Tailed Dragon’s lair. When they reached a certain mountain peak, the Three-Tailed Dragon suddenly stopped, and all the monsters also halted, floating in midair.

It turned out that the Artifact God had already discovered a group of people lurking 100 miles ahead, hidden within an invisibility array, ready to ambush the monsters in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains.

Qu Yi emerged from the Dimensional Ball and said with a smile, “Haha, it seems we’re about to engage in a fierce battle this time.”