Chapter 30: You Wretched Poor Man

The entire battlefield returned to calm.
In this battle, Huanwu Die and Wuyuan both reached the later stage of the Divided Mind realm, while Jin Qilin also reached the middle stage of the same realm on the same day. It could be said that Qu Yi’s power had increased significantly all at once.
Now, Li Heng, who was in the early stage of merging realms, had become a slave to the Artifact God, which in turn meant he was a slave to Qu Yi as well. Qu Yi’s power had become unprecedentedly strong.
A day passed before Li Heng finally regained consciousness.
“Ah!” Li Heng was nearly driven mad. As soon as he woke up, he felt something was wrong with his soul and realized he had become someone else’s slave.
Hearing Li Heng’s cries, Qu Yi opened his eyes from his meditative state and said with a smile, “Li Heng, stop shouting. It’s better for you to focus on recovering your health.”
The light emitted by the Eight-Direction Sword had still caused great damage to Li Heng, forcing him to use his own vital energy to restore his body.
Having practiced cultivation for thousands of years, Li Heng understood right away that he was under control. No matter how much he resisted, it would be futile. It was better to comply. So, he immediately focused inward, circulating his vital energy to heal his body.
Ten more days passed, and Li Heng finally recovered.
At that moment, Qu Yi asked with a smile, “Li Heng, who is the leader of the Chenbo Sect? What level of cultivation has he reached?”
Instinctively, Li Heng didn’t want to answer Qu Yi, but the Artifact God immediately gave an order, so he replied seriously, “Chen Han, middle stage of merging realms, practices earth-based cultivation techniques.”
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi burst into laughter and quickly asked further, “Li Heng, can you get in touch with Chen Han? Is there any way to trick him out?”
Now, Qu Yi had another scheme in mind—controling this sect leader would give him a good insider to assist him in searching for the Eight-Direction Sword on the Ice Continent.
As soon as Li Heng heard this, he understood Qu Yi’s intentions, but he still dared not disobey. He immediately replied, “All my actions are carried out according to Senior Li Heng’s arrangements. I’ve never communicated alone with Chen Han.”
Hearing this, Qu Yi looked displeased and fell silent for a while.
“Li Heng, introduce everyone from Cangyang Valley who came this time,” Qu Yi asked after some thought.
The struggle for the Eight-Direction Sword would ultimately take place among the ten major forces. Qu Yi wanted to understand the situation of each faction before deciding on his next move.

Li Heng replied immediately, “Our Cangyang Valley has sent eleven people this time, led by Senior Brother Li Zhen, who is at the later stage of the Convergence Realm. There are also ten of our elders, all at the early stage of the Convergence Realm. However, our elder Yang Di from Cangyang Valley, due to the death of his son Yang Tianqi, took twelve people at the Split Soul Realm to Tianhua Star, but was ordered to stay on Baiyin Star. They are now on the Ice Continent, exploring a path to the South Pole. The other nine factions are unaware of this secret.”

After hearing this, Qu Yi was shocked. He hadn’t expected the emergence of the Eight Directions Sword to spare him a great trouble. Otherwise, if he had stayed on Tianhua Star while Yang Di, who was at the Convergence Realm, went there, his controlled factions would have vanished.

He still had one question and couldn’t help but ask, “Li Heng, the Eight Directions Sword is the key to opening the Vast Heavenly Immortal Mansion. It must be very important to your ten major factions. Why has Cangyang Valley only sent disciples at the Convergence Realm? Why haven’t those at the Tribulation Realm or Great Vehicle Realm come in person?”

Li Heng gave Qu Yi a frustrated look, rolled his eyes, and said unhappily, “Our ten factions have long had an agreement: the competition for the Eight Directions Sword can only be fought by disciples below the Convergence Realm. Think about it—if those at the Tribulation Realm or Great Vehicle Realm came and something happened to them, it would cause great conflict among the factions, which would be bad for everyone. That’s why this agreement exists.”

Disciples at the Convergence Realm can’t determine the survival of a faction, and their deaths or injuries won’t provoke major conflicts either, so no big strife arises.

After asking more questions, Qu Yi understood the strength sent by Cangyang Valley and had a clearer idea. His original plan to knock Chen Han out and enslave him didn’t seem as urgent anymore.

“Alright, Li Heng. Since you know my identity, getting me an identity token from the Chenbo Sect shouldn’t be a problem, right? I want to use the spatial teleportation array on Chenbo Island to visit the other nine islands,” Qu Yi said with a sudden smile after asking.

Since he already had one person under his control here in Cangyang Valley—Li Heng—he naturally needed to get someone from the other nine factions as an insider as well, so he could take control of the whole situation.

“I can do that. Let’s go to Canyun Peak together. I’ll get you an identity token as a disciple of the Chenbo Sect. The spatial teleportation array on Chenbo Island is near the Chenbo Sect’s headquarters, Panhu Mountain. There’s a large cultivation market there, and people from the ten islands usually use the spatial teleportation array to go there for trade,” Li Heng said calmly.

Qu Yi nodded, then sent Jin Qilin, Huan Wu Die, Wu Yuan, and others into the Cunjie Ball. After that, he flew back to Canyun Peak together with Li Heng.
…
At the foot of Panhu Mountain in the center of Chenbo Island, thousands of miles away, there was a cultivation market covering an area of a thousand miles, called Haiyun City.
In the market, numerous cultivators traded items such as crafting materials, pills, cultivation techniques, and magical artifacts.
At that moment, a blue figure descended from the sky—it was Qu Yi.
Having obtained an identity token from the Chenbo Sect, Qu Yi rushed to Haiyun City and intended to use the space teleportation array there to go to another island on Baiyin Star.
Originally planning to land directly in the hall where the teleportation array was located, Qu Yi suddenly heard a message from the God of Tools, saying that there was a precious ore in a certain place in the market. So, he immediately changed direction and landed in front of a crafting materials shop.
Although it was called a shop, it was actually a courtyard. This was a facility built by the Chenbo Sect in Haiyun City, intended first to provide cultivators with a place to display and sell their goods, and second to allow them to cultivate in peace.
Of course, the Chenbo Sect charged a fee for these courtyards.
The courtyard in front of Qu Yi was called “Yingfeng Ju,” a round wooden pavilion courtyard. At the front of the courtyard was the area where the owner displayed and sold goods, and Qu Yi had already entered.
Inside the room, there were three long wooden tables, each with three piles of ores—red, purple, and green in color.
The ore that the God of Tools wanted Qu Yi to buy was the purple ore on the middle table. It was Dragon Flame Stone, an ore formed when the blood of a divine dragon fell into the heart of a volcano—extremely rare.
The owner of the courtyard, knowing a guest had arrived, stopped cultivating in his own practice room and immediately flew over to Qu Yi, his round face filled with a smile.
“Fellow cultivator, these are ores I painstakingly found in a group of volcanoes. Although I don’t know their names, I’m sure they’re all of low-grade spiritual artifact quality. If you know their uses, please give me a fair price, and I’ll sell them to you,” said the round-faced seller with a smile.
Hearing this, Qu Yi became interested in the seller—such honesty was rare.
“Fellow cultivator, if you don’t even know what these ores are, how can you be sure they’re of low-grade spiritual artifact quality? And aren’t you worried I might give you a low price?” Qu Yi asked with a smile.

The seller immediately smiled and said, “Fellow cultivator, I can be certain of the quality of these materials. Earlier, a buyer came and tried using his lower-grade spiritual artifact, but it failed to cut through these ores, so I’m confident about their quality. As for the price, I don’t really care much. I obtained these materials by chance, and I’m not expecting to make a fortune from them.”

After hearing this, Qu Yi truly admired the seller’s mindset—without greedy thoughts, there were fewer troubles. However, Qu Yi himself wouldn’t act like that. In this cruel cultivation world, where one was constantly at risk of being killed by stronger opponents, one had to keep striving to become stronger, no matter how formidable the enemies might be.

“Fellow cultivator, since you say so, I believe you. I don’t know the uses of these three ores, but since you say they’re all of lower-grade spiritual artifact quality, I’ll pay you at that price.” Although Qu Yi wanted to buy the Dragon Flame Stone, to conceal his true intentions, he bought all three ores.

The round-faced seller immediately smiled and said, “Then, fellow cultivator, give me your offer.”

Generally, a lower-grade spiritual artifact cost 100 high-grade spirit stones, while the material for such an artifact was only about 5 high-grade spirit stones. After calculating, Qu Yi immediately took out 20 high-grade spirit stones.

“Fellow cultivator, the price of one unit of material for a lower-grade spiritual artifact is 5 high-grade spirit stones. I’m giving you 20—sell me all three ores,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Just as the seller was about to respond, a young man flew in from outside and shouted coldly, “I want these three ores. Fifty high-grade spirit stones.”

Hearing this, Qu Yi immediately stared at the young man. He was handsome and carried himself with ease, seemingly from a prominent background.

“What are you staring at? You wretched poor man, thinking you can take the Fire Yang Stone away for just 20 high-grade spirit stones? I’m the son of the vice leader of the Xin Guang Sect. Do you dare compare your wealth to mine? Do you dare compete with me?” the young man declared arrogantly.

The Fire Yang Stone was the red-colored ore among the three, a material of middle-grade spiritual artifact quality, whose price was definitely over 50 high-grade spirit stones. This young man had come to compete with Qu Yi precisely because of the Fire Yang Stone.

Qu Yi’s expression turned cold, and he immediately shouted, “I’ll offer 100 high-grade spirit stones.”

Upon hearing this, the young man, who had been smiling moments ago, was instantly stunned. He only had 80 high-grade spirit stones on him. He had just called Qu Yi a poor man, only to embarrass himself right away.

“Hmph, you think you’re tough because you have spirit stones? What can you do with them? For these three types of ore, I’ll give fifty top-quality spirit stones. These ores will be mine—do you dare fight me over them?” The young man shouted angrily.

After speaking, he threw out fifty top-quality spirit stones and immediately stored the three types of ore in his storage bracelet. The round-faced seller awkwardly caught the spirit stones, then looked at Qu Yi with an apologetic expression and a hint of concern, hoping Qu Yi wouldn’t provoke this young man.

Qu Yi wasn’t angry either. He smiled as he watched the young man take the ores and then flew away.

Seeing Qu Yi leave, the young man said disdainfully, “Thinking you’re something special just because you have a few spirit stones? Someone like you in the Initial Soul Departure stage could be crushed a hundred times by the tip of my little finger.”

This young man was at the Early Divination stage.

After leaving the shop, Qu Yi went to a mountain peak and calmly transmitted a message to the Artifact God, “Artifact God, keep an eye on that guy. As soon as he leaves Haiyun City, I’ll deal with him.”

There should be no conflicts in Haiyun City—this was the rule of the Chenbo Sect. Qu Yi didn’t want to cause trouble here and expose his identity.