Chapter 44: Late Stage of Leaving the Body

Click!
A spatial rift suddenly appeared beside him. Li Zhen quickly flew away, but was still injured in his waist. Only by allowing his vital energy to flow could he recover.
Spatial rifts could not be defended against by any spells; one could only rely on luck. Over the past month, Li Zhen had tried several times. Even when using his strongest defensive spells, he was still completely consumed by the tiniest spatial rifts.
The only option against spatial rifts was to escape.
The twelve people from Cangyang Valley, after entering the area filled with spatial rifts, grew increasingly separated as they were forced apart by these rifts. Gradually, none of them could sense the presence of the others anymore.
Inside this area of spatial rifts, Li Heng quickly immersed himself in the cultivation of “Following the Current.” He no longer had to worry about being spied on or doubted by the others in his sect.
At this moment, Li Heng’s body was like a part of the energy chaos, sensing the Earth element energy within it and accumulating it around himself, fully integrating it with the energy within his body.
During this process of exchanging energy between inside and outside his body, Li Heng’s consciousness continuously sensed the attributes of the Earth element energy, gaining insights into them.
Solidity, endurance, inclusiveness, nurturing…
Li Heng gradually understood the various characteristics of the Earth element energy, and his spiritual realm continued to rise.
Click!
A super-large spatial rift over a hundred meters long appeared beside him.
With premonition, Li Heng managed to reach a distance of a hundred meters the moment the rift appeared, thus escaping its destructive range.
It turned out that since his body was integrated into the energy chaos, he naturally had a strong ability to predict its movements. As long as two incompatible energy currents did not collide, no spatial rift would form. When such collisions occurred, spatial rifts would instantly appear, with larger energies creating larger rifts. It was thanks to this pattern that Li Heng could predict the emergence of spatial rifts in advance, ensuring he wouldn’t be harmed by them.
Cultivating while moving forward safely, among the twelve people from Cangyang Valley, Li Heng had the easiest time.
…
Inside the Inch Realm Sphere, Qu Yi, who was fully focused on scanning the formation, suddenly opened his eyes.
“Late stage of leaving the body—my spiritual realm has finally broken through,” Qu Yi said to himself with a smile.
Quickly, Qi Shen, Bai Man, Wu Yuan, Golden Qilin, Illusory Dancing Butterfly, and Rong Huo all gathered around Qu Yi, looking at him with joy.
“Qu Yi, you’re truly amazing,” Bai Man said, gazing at him with a happy expression.

“Ugh, Qu Yi, you’re finally about to reach the later stage of the Out-of-Body Realm,” Wu Yuan said while shaking Long Xiang.
“Master, congratulations!” Jin Qi Lin, Huan Wu Die, and Rong Huo all spoke at the same time.
Only Qi Shen stood with his hands behind his back, watching Qu Yi calmly, as if his soul’s advancement wasn’t something worth celebrating.
“Qi Shen, can’t you even say congratulations?” Bai Man, annoyed by Qi Shen’s pretentious attitude, immediately called out.
Every time she saw him like this, Bai Man felt a tightness in her chest, wishing she could grab him and smash his little butt.
“The Out-of-Body Realm? In my eyes as Qi Shen, it’s just fleeting clouds, flowing water, or sand—nothing worth paying attention to. Well, Qu Yi, since your wife cares so much about you, I’ll congratulate you. Keep working hard.” The infant-like body of Qi Shen spoke in a condescending tone.
Hearing this, Bai Man lost her temper instantly, her face turning red as she buried her head in Qu Yi’s arms.
Qu Yi chuckled in response before saying, “Alright, everyone, go back to your tasks. I need to stabilize my soul realm before I can advance my cultivation.”
The group quickly left.
A month later, by the lake inside the Cun Jie Ball, Qu Yi sat down and smiled at the five Yuan Ying on the jade platform ahead.
These five Yuan Ying were obtained by Qu Yi after killing the elders of over a dozen major sects on the ten islands in the northern hemisphere of Bai Yin Star. Each had a different elemental attribute—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
“My soul realm is stable, my body is in optimal condition, and I have enough Yuan Ying energy. It’s time to begin,” Qu Yi muttered to himself.
Soon, he activated the five cultivation techniques within him—“Golden Splendor,” “Revival of All Plants,” “Unity of Water and Sky,” “Spreading Starfire,” and “Majestic Imperial Earth”—speeding up their operation rapidly. The five elemental energies swiftly circulated throughout his body.
The speed of energy circulation reached its limit!
“Let the Yuan Ying enter my body, transform into the five elements, and spread throughout my body!”
Qu Yi shouted loudly, opened his mouth, and sucked the five Yuan Ying from the jade platform into his body, sending them straight to his dantian.
The combined Yuan Ying in his dantian immediately broke down and melted the five original Yuan Ying. The five elemental energies surged like collapsing mountains, flooding Qu Yi’s entire body. At that moment, the five cultivation techniques, taking advantage of this surge in energy, accelerated even further, channeling immense amounts of energy into his internal organs.

The energy of metal flowed into the lungs, the energy of wood into the liver, the energy of water into the kidneys, the energy of fire into the heart, and the energy of earth into the spleen. The primordial embryos within these five organs rapidly absorbed the energy that entered them. The energy surged, shifted, was refined, and absorbed… causing the primordial embryos in the five organs to become further solidified and stronger. After a long while, the primordial embryos in the five organs suddenly left their bodies and appeared in five locations outside, corresponding one by one with the organs. At this moment, the countless energies still circulating within the body, along with the external energies, formed a wonderful cycle through the five primordial embryos near the body surface. The Instrument God watched from the side; seeing that there was very little energy floating within the dimension sphere at this point, it immediately handed over all the primordial embryos at the Sublimation stage that Qu Yi had killed to Rong Huo, allowing this powerful warrior in the early stage of Fusion to place these primordial embryos in the five locations to coordinate with the circulation of energy inside and outside Qu Yi’s body. Five streams of energy—gold, green, blue, red, and yellow—merged into five colored bands, flowing in and out of Qu Yi’s body. Seeing this, the Instrument God smiled and finally relaxed. Qu Yi remained in this mysterious state, calm and serene under the watchful eyes of everyone. … In the area of spatial rifts—Cangyang Valley, Taiyuan Gate, Xianyue Cliff, Jinjiang Sect, and Jiugong Island—members of these five sects were moving about there. Crack! A long, narrow spatial rift suddenly appeared. An elder from Cangyang Valley in the early stage of Fusion didn’t have time to react and was sucked into the rift, disappearing instantly. Inside the spatial rift was a destructive energy that no one could resist. Li Zhen’s communication token would contact the other eleven people from time to time, and this time he found that Elder Li Xin hadn’t replied, realizing that the elder had already perished in the spatial rift. Crack! Another ten-meter-long spatial rift appeared, and another elder from Cangyang Valley in the early stage of Fusion failed to escape and was immediately devoured by the rift. In this area of spatial rifts, constantly concentrating to deal with their appearance led to rapid fatigue. Moreover, the chaotic energy currents greatly hindered their flight, causing their vital energy to deplete quickly, while their He’e Dan and He’huan Dan were also being used up rapidly. Of the remaining ten people from Cangyang Valley, aside from Li Heng who moved effortlessly, the other nine struggled to move forward. Not only those from Cangyang Valley but also members of the other four sects were going through extremely difficult times. Crack! A spatial rift appeared. Crack!

Another spatial rift appeared.
With willpower exhausted and the relentless emergence of spatial rifts pressing down on him, he felt immense distress, yet he had no choice but to persevere—otherwise, he would fall into those rifts.
The further south they flew in the area of spatial rifts, the more violent the energy turbulence became, and the frequency of rifts increased accordingly. In the blink of an eye, several rifts could appear, leaving no place to hide.
What was even more terrifying was that in some areas, there were spatial collapses—entire regions filled with destructive energy. Anyone who entered a ten-mile radius of such a collapse had no chance of escaping; they would be drawn in and destroyed outright.
It was this horror that made people cautious.
After losing several members each, the people from the five factions became extremely cautious.
…
A month later, inside the Cunjie Ball, Qu Yi opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and bright.
“Not bad. My cultivation has reached the later stage of exiting the body, and my physical strength has reached the early stage of dividing the mind,” the Artifact God suddenly appeared and spoke calmly.
As the Artifact God disappeared, Bai Man, Wu Yuan, the Golden Qilin, the Illusory Dancing Butterfly, and Rong Huo came over, all looking at Qu Yi with joy.
Qu Yi smiled helplessly, jumped up, and said, “How did you know my situation just by taking a glance? What’s your cultivation level exactly?”
Everyone present was interested in this question and stared at the Artifact God.
“Hehe, it can’t be said, it can’t be said,” the Artifact God said mysteriously, hands behind his back and shaking his head slightly.
The crowd was stunned for a moment, then all looked down on the Artifact God and ignored him, letting him keep acting mysterious.
Qu Yi quickly examined his own body and found that his cultivation level was indeed as the Artifact God had said. He was once again surprised—this Artifact God was truly mysterious. He must have surpassed the Mahayana stage.
“Artifact God, what’s the situation outside now? Have the people from the five factions suffered any injuries in the area of spatial rifts?” Qu Yi asked concerningly.
“Injuries? Of course. In these three months, two people from Cangyang Valley have died, and one or two from each of the other four factions as well. With nine months left, it’s likely that several more from these five factions will die before they reach the South Pole,” the Artifact God replied indifferently.
From the tone of the Artifact God’s voice, it seemed he took these deaths very lightly, as if these cultivators at the merged stage were just piles of energy in the universe—whether they gathered or dispersed, it didn’t matter to him at all.

“The Space Rift Area is truly dangerous. By the way, Instrument God, have Li Heng, Liang Qu, Silver-Faced Howling Dog, Shuo Bai, and Blue Dragon—these five—reached the middle stage of the Convergence Realm while training in the Space Rift Area?” Qu Yi asked curiously.
If there were five subordinates at the middle stage of the Convergence Realm to launch a surprise attack at the last moment in the battle for the Eight Directions Sword, they should be able to seize it.
“It’s not that quick. But the spiritual realms of all five of them are improving rapidly. I believe they will be able to reach the next cultivation level after leaving the Space Rift Area,” Instrument God replied after hesitating for a while.
Qu Yi smiled, seemingly lost in thought, with a mysterious expression on his face.