Chapter 23: Mid-Stage Diversion

Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, Jin Qilin, and Huan Wu Die together eliminated the five members of the Guangyuan Gate and immediately returned to the Inch Realm Ball.
“Ugh, Qu Yi, where is that expert in the mid-stage of fusion? Didn’t you say you’d let me devour him?” Wu Yuan shouted right away.
A Golden Spear appeared in Qu Yi’s hand, which he swiftly used to strike Wu Yuan’s dragon head. Smiling, he said, “You only think about eating, eating, eating. Don’t worry. If I said I’d let you devour him, would I lie to you? Wait a bit. Let Huan Wu Die torment him first and steal his understanding of the Five Elements energy. Then you can devour him—okay?”
Hearing this, Wu Yuan’s massive body immediately lay down on the grass, looking listless.
Huan Wu Die was naturally delighted. She had already learned a lot about energy comprehension from fighting the three members of the Guangyuan Gate earlier, and now she had another chance to steal the energy comprehension of someone in the mid-stage of fusion. She might be able to advance from the late stage of diversion to the early stage of fusion.
“Thank you, master!” Huan Wu Die said cheerfully, sending him a flirtatious glance.
Qu Yi quickly turned his head away. Although he was Huan Wu Die’s master, his cultivation level was two tiers lower than hers, so he couldn’t withstand her spiritual attacks.
“Oh, right. You three already took the three Haoyu Pills earlier. Do you feel anything strange?” Qu Yi suddenly remembered and asked right away.
At Lingbao Xuan, Li Huan heard that Qu Yi was coming to the Magic Poison Star Region and obtained three poison-eliminating pills, namely the Haoyu Pills. During the battle just now, Qu Yi had made Wu Yuan, Jin Qilin, and Huan Wu Die all take them.
“Master, all the poison gases that entered my body were neutralized by the Haoyu Pills. But the medicinal power in my body has basically disappeared,” Jin Qilin said quickly, trying to win back Qu Yi’s favor after being dismissed by him earlier.
“Master, the same here. The medicinal power has run out too,” Huan Wu Die said with a light laugh.
Wu Yuan, who was still lying on the grass with his legs spread apart, replied weakly, “Those poison gases had no effect on me. I wasted those Haoyu Pills.”
After hearing this, Qu Yi once again produced the Golden Spear and struck Wu Yuan’s dragon head, then exclaimed happily, “Wu Yuan, I knew it. Your body is special—you must be immune to poison gases. Great. In this Magic Poison Star Region, stay inside the Inch Realm Ball and roam around as you like. Only when you encounter a Poison Soul Beast will I come out to deal with it.”
It turned out that Qu Yi wanted Wu Yuan to do errands while he scanned the Binary Dao from inside the Inch Realm Ball.

After hearing those words, Wu Yuan instantly stood up, shouting loudly, “Ugh, Qu Yi! I guessed it! You said you wanted me to swallow that guy in the mid-stage fusion state—so there were conditions after all. Ugh, I was really too naive.” Qu Yi chuckled and stopped provoking Wu Yuan any further.
…
Wu Yuan flapped his roc wings, speeding through the skies above this planet on the edge of the Demon Poison Star Region. Though the planet was small, it would still take him a month to search it thoroughly. To obtain Ji Lu’s body, Wu Yuan had no choice but to submit to Qu Yi’s “tyranny” and search fearlessly in this planet filled with poisonous gases.
Inside the Tiny Realm Sphere, Jin Qilin was alone on the vast lawn, playing around with a club nonstop. It seemed that Qu Yi’s utter disdain had deeply wounded Jin Qilin, who now devoted himself to mastering spell attacks.
The Illusion Dance Butterfly was in the edge area of the Tiny Realm Sphere’s activity space, dancing continuously, prompting Ji Lu to move his limbs as well and dance along with it. Naturally, Ji Lu’s understanding of energy was gradually stolen by the Illusion Dance Butterfly.
Ji Lu originally had the cultivation level of mid-stage fusion, far beyond the Illusion Dance Butterfly’s influence. But since the Artifact God intervened and used mysterious methods, Ji Lu kept believing that dancing with the Illusion Dance Butterfly would bring him great benefits. So the two continued dancing.
Qu Yi sat quietly by the lake, with a jade platform in front of him. On the platform were five Yuan Ying—precisely the late-stage Divided Soul Yuan Ying he had obtained from the people of Guangyuan Gate.
“The time has come!” Qu Yi suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp. He felt his body had reached its optimal state.
Then, the five elemental cultivation methods within Qu Yi’s body began to operate frantically, their speed increasing rapidly.
The five methods—Glorious Gold, Revived Trees, Unity of Water and Sky, Spreading Flames, and Vast Imperial Land—advanced in perfect harmony, with the five elements’ energies swiftly circulating throughout his body.
Energy mobilization, flow, integration, harmony…
All of Qu Yi’s energy was involved in this extraordinary energy circulation, as if his entire body had turned into true elemental energy.
The speed of energy circulation reached its limit!
“Five Element Yuan Ying, into the dantian! Extreme energy flow—transform energy into spirit!”
Qu Yi roared again, and the five Yuan Ying on the jade platform immediately flew into his mouth and quickly entered his dantian.

The mixed Yuan Ying within the dantian acted like a ruler. As soon as the five Yuan Ying entered the dantian, they immediately dissipated, turning into a surging flow of energy that divided into the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—before flowing rapidly along with the existing energy streams in the body.

Qu Yi, having gained the energy from the five Yuan Ying, further accelerated the operation of the five cultivation techniques. He aimed to control this torrential flow of energy and use it to purify his entire body.

At that moment, Qu Yi’s six-headed spirit appeared above his head, making spiritual hand gestures as if directing the operation of the cultivation techniques within his body. The energy streams in his body also rapidly transformed into qi and concentrated, making the six-headed spirit appear even stronger and more powerful. If the spirit at the beginning of the spirit separation stage resembled a newborn infant, now it not only possessed strength but could also observe, think, and take initiative.

The spirit was evolving!

The spirit separation stage was meant to cultivate a spirit that could leave the body, wander through the void, observe the energies of the five elements, and understand their properties. Although there seemed to be countless energies in the universe, the most fundamental ones were still the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Cultivators gradually identified these fundamental energies while absorbing various other energies, purifying and refining the complex energies within their bodies until they obtained the five primal energies.

If the body were entirely composed of these primal energies, one could achieve immortality—this was the goal pursued by cultivators.

The stronger the spirit cultivated during the spirit separation stage, the greater its ability to comprehend the energies of the five elements, thus accelerating the cultivation process.

……

The Five Elements flapped their roc wings, flying swiftly around, unafraid of the various poisonous gases surrounding them.

“Ugh, time flies so fast. Over a month has passed already. We’ve searched the entire planet but haven’t found a single poisonous beast. How boring!”

“Ugh, it’s infuriating! Several groups mistook me for a poisonous beast and even tried to kill me with swords. If it weren’t for my kindness, I would have bitten them to death.”

“Ugh, I wonder what Qu Yi is doing. It’s been so long, and he still doesn’t come to see me. The Illusion Dance Butterfly should have taken care of that mid-stage fused being by now. Ugh, just thinking about devouring a mid-stage fused being makes me excited!”

……

The Five Elements were extremely bored, complaining after every short flight. If someone really had to endure their complaints, their head would probably explode from the noise.

Suddenly, as the Five Elements flew aimlessly, a dark shadow emerged ahead.

“Ugh, I’m so pitiful. Finally, I’ve encountered a Poison Demon Beast!” Wu Yuan hovered in the air, shouting in joy.
It turned out that the dark shadow was indeed a Poison Demon Beast, which soon revealed its true form—a dark giant lion, entirely black in color, over ten meters long, with a true energy fluctuation at the mid-Divination stage.
Generally, Poison Demon Beasts at the Divination stage wouldn’t come to the outer planets of the Demon Poison Star Region, which was why many cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage dared to visit these outer planets. Yet, the appearance of one here was truly rare.
Seeing that this Poison Lion only had the strength of mid-Divination stage, Wu Yuan was overjoyed and immediately charged at it, shaking its dragon head vigorously as nine golden swords were spat out from its mouth.
Roar!
The Poison Lion wasn’t afraid at all. Seeing the nine golden swords flying toward it, it opened its mouth wide and spat out a dark cloud of poisonous gas, instantly enveloping the swords. The nine swords, being mere spell attacks composed of metal energy, were essentially just energy. Once covered by the poisonous gas, the dense toxins completely eroded the metal energy, causing the swords to vanish swiftly.
Wu Yuan froze in mid-air—his most proud attack spell had been destroyed like this.
“Ugh, I can’t accept this!” Wu Yuan roared.
In an instant, he flew forward again, while the phoenix tail on his horse flared up, shooting streams of dry blue true fire at the Poison Lion.
The Poison Lion remained unafraid. It opened its mouth once more and spat out another cloud of poisonous gas, forming a massive net of toxins that blocked the true fire and swiftly devoured it.
Although the dry blue true fire included Wu Yuan’s mental energy, its core was still energy. It was much harder to resist the poisonous gas, but it still managed to consume the true fire completely.
“Ugh, I really can’t go on living. I, a master at the late Divination stage, can’t even deal with this lion at mid-Divination stage!” Wu Yuan quickly retreated, dodging the Poison Lion’s sudden attack, and cried in frustration.
At that moment, Qu Yi suddenly emerged from the Dimensional Sphere.
“Wu Yuan, it seems your strength isn’t enough yet. Well, after I kill this lion, I’ll let you devour that Ji Lu.”
Qu Yi said with a smile, already holding the Eight Directions Sword in his hand.
Seeing that its speed couldn’t keep up with Wu Yuan, the Poison Lion realized it couldn’t defeat him. Now that it saw a human appear, one at mid-Divination stage, it was overjoyed and flew toward Qu Yi.

Yes, Qu Yi has already reached the middle stage of Divided Mind!
Seeing the poisonous lion approaching, Qu Yi smiled faintly and swung his Eight Directions Sword, slicing a ten-meter-wide beam of light into the poisonous lion’s body.
Roar! The poisonous lion let out a pained cry, then its entire body turned into a black cloud, which immediately dispersed into poisonous gas, leaving nothing behind.
Qu Yi smiled and said cheerfully, “As the Sword God said, to kill these poisonous beasts, one must use energy that is one level higher than theirs. The Eight Directions Sword can precisely raise the energy by one level. Although I’m only at the middle stage of Divided Mind, it’s enough for me to raise the energy to the middle stage of Combined Body.”
Wuyuan heard this and landed beside Qu Yi unhappily, staring envyingly at the Eight Directions Sword.