Chapter 1: Risk Your Life

In the Tianhuo Star Region, the Liuhe Blade was born, and the elders from the ten major sects gathered there. In the end, Qu Yi seized the Liuhe Blade! Even more unbelievably, while obtaining it, he accidentally got an Eight Directions Sword as well. Now, Qu Yi had three Eight Directions Swords and one Liuhe Blade—more than any single sect in the cultivation world.

After putting away the Liuhe Blade, Qu Yi looked at Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, Shuo Xu, Wu Yuan, Jin Qilin, and Huan Wu Die, a sense of pride evident on his face. “Everyone, collect all the space rings and magical treasures from everyone else and follow me into the Cunjie Ball,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Quickly, the six of them gathered on the ground all the magical treasures and space rings left by the elders of the nine sects, then followed Qu Yi into the Cunjie Ball. All the treasures and space rings were placed on the lawn inside the ball, and everyone stared at them with gleaming eyes.

The Eight Directions Seal, Virtual Sky Needle, Four Swords to Break Boundaries, Fire-Attracting Flag, Flaming Cauldron, Jade Wood Ruler, Earth Ball, Sky-Reaching Water Ball, Sky-Supporting Umbrella, and Green Bodhi—these were the ultimate treasures brought by the nine sects, all top-grade spiritual artifacts, now belonging entirely to Qu Yi.

In addition to these top-grade spiritual artifacts, there were also the personal treasures of each elder, all of which were at the spiritual artifact level, numbering over ninety in total. If these treasures were auctioned off at the Immortal Path Alliance or the Demon Path Alliance, they would surely fetch exorbitant prices.

Qu Yi didn’t bother with these treasures first. Instead, he scanned all the space rings and storage bracelets, taking out everything inside and placing it on the lawn. “I knew there would be such powerful Starfire Thunder,” Qu Yi said joyfully, holding five black balls in his hand.

These were offensive treasures brought by the LanYang Palace. For cultivators below the mid-stage of the Tribulation Phase, a single explosion was certain to be fatal.

Of course, there were also numerous pills in these space rings—pills used by the elders of the nine sects to replenish their vital energy—now available at a low cost to Qu Yi.

Next, Qu Yi personally selected five treasures: the Sky-Supporting Umbrella, Jade Wood Ruler, Sky-Reaching Water Ball, Flaming Cauldron, and Four Swords to Break Boundaries—one from each of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Now, he would have decent treasures with him from then on.

“Everyone, pick the treasures and pills on the ground as you wish. Take whatever suits you,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Shuoshang, Shuorui, and Shuoxu all practiced gold-element spells, with only gold essence in their bodies. They glanced at the various magical artifacts on the ground; only the artifacts used by the elders of Taiyuan Gate were of the gold element, but none of them were as convenient as the ones they already possessed, so they didn’t choose any. Wuyuan, the Golden Qilin, and the Illusory Dancing Butterfly also took a look at the artifacts but showed no interest. These three beasts had unique cultivation methods and already had their own preferred artifacts, so they weren’t interested in these either. Qu Yi rubbed his forehead—he had been so kind, yet not a single one showed gratitude. But then Qu Yi smiled and said, “Pills—you must need them, right?” At that moment, Shuoshang, Shuorui, and Shuoxu chuckled and immediately began selecting from the over 300 bottles of pills, taking some gold-element pills with them. Wuyuan, the Golden Qilin, and the Illusory Dancing Butterfly remained motionless. Seeing that he couldn’t distribute them any further, Qu Yi waved his hand and swept all the artifacts and pills into his space ring. “By the way, Shuoshang, Shuorui, Shuoxu—the competition for the Six-Directions Blade is now over. To conceal my identity, the blame for taking the Six-Directions Blade and stealing the Eight-Directions Sword of Taiyuan Gate will fall on you three,” Qu Yi said with a smile. It turned out that Qu Yi still wanted to return to Taiyuan Gate to continue serving as the leader of the enforcement team. Shuoshang, Shuorui, and Shuoxu also understood that since their Golden Central Sect hadn’t appeared during the Battle of the Nine Sects, the elders of those nine sects must have reported this situation back to their sects via message tokens, making their identities highly suspicious. If they returned while the other elders didn’t, and they couldn’t produce the Six-Directions Blade, they would surely be imprisoned and interrogated until tortured to death. “Alright, then the three of us will venture around the cultivation world from now on,” Shuoshang replied directly. Qu Yi smiled, nodded, and then said, “You three are also in the later stages of merging. When you reach the Tribulation Phase and the Mahayana Phase, you’ll need cultivation techniques. Don’t worry—I’ll get them for you at Taiyuan Gate.” Hearing this, Shuoshang, Shuorui, and Shuoxu were overjoyed. This was the only thing they had been worried about. With cultivation techniques available and no restrictions from the sect, their strength would allow them to enjoy a very pleasant and comfortable life in this vast cultivation world. “Li Mu, thank you!” Shuoshang, Shuorui, and Shuoxu said gratefully at the same time. Qu Yi nodded and then smiled, “Our journey to the Tianhuo Star Region can end now. Let’s start returning.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Yuan carried the Tiny Realm Ball and flew toward the Inner Thirteen Stars with it. The Inner Thirteen Stars were the planet assigned to Qu Yi by Liang Kui to guard. It was from there that Qu Yi set off for the Inner Hundred Stars, then followed the elders of the Ten Sects to Tianyi Star to participate in the Six-Union Blade mission. Therefore, to avoid arousing suspicion among the Taiyuan Gate’s enforcement officers, Qu Yi naturally had to return to the Inner Thirteen Stars first before using the space teleportation array he had set up to leave the Tianhuo Star region.

…

Two months later, with Wu Yuan and Jin Qilin taking turns carrying the Tiny Realm Ball, they finally arrived at the Inner Thirteen Stars. Naturally, Qu Yi emerged from the ball and went alone to the cave where the space teleportation array was located, where he met the ten enforcement officers still guarding there.

“Everyone, are you all well?” Qu Yi asked as soon as he entered the cave, his voice filled with laughter.

“Oh, Captain, you’re back!” the ten enforcement officers exclaimed happily.

Qu Yi nodded and said, “I think the chief commander and the others, who are competing for the Six-Union Blade, should be returning soon. Let’s wait a bit more. Once the chief commander returns, we can leave the Tianhuo Star region and claim our rewards.”

“Haha, thank you, Captain, for taking us on this mission!” the enforcement officers shouted excitedly.

Indeed, since arriving in the Tianhuo Star region, these enforcement officers hadn’t participated in many battles, yet they had obtained many spoils. They didn’t have to traverse the stars or face the threat of celestial fire, making life quite easy for them. Once this mission was completed, they would surely receive generous rewards and be able to establish their own power in other planets.

Just then, the space teleportation array in the cave suddenly lit up. A flash of white light appeared and vanished in an instant. Inside the array were not the elders of the Taiyuan Gate, but Li Zhong, the chief commander of Cangyang Valley, along with an enforcement officer from the Taiyuan Gate stationed in the Inner Hundred Stars. It was obvious at a glance that the enforcement officer was under Li Zhong’s control.

It turned out that when Li Zhong was on Tianyi Star, he was attacked by four cultivation sects. Realizing it was hopeless to seize the treasure, he decided to flee immediately. While in space, he realized that among the Ten Sects, only the Taiyuan Gate’s enforcement officers had set up space teleportation arrays on various planets. Therefore, to leave the Tianhuo Star region quickly, he could only use the Taiyuan Gate’s teleportation array.

So, Li Zhong searched among the hundred inner stars and finally discovered the spatial teleportation array set up by the Taiyuan Gate here. Naturally, with his cultivation at the late stage of fusion, Li Zhong easily killed the Taiyuan Gate enforcers guarding the spatial teleportation array and also took control of one of them, forcing him to use the array to transport him onward.

Since Li Zhong had spent two months recovering from injuries while in space, Qu Yi had arrived in the inner area first and returned to the Thirteen Inner Stars. Now, Li Zhong had arrived via teleportation and happened to meet Qu Yi. As soon as he stepped out of the spatial teleportation array, Li Zhong took out his yellow gourd and channeled his vital energy, causing waves of yellow sand to quickly fill the entire cave, enveloping all the Taiyuan Gate enforcers.

“Ah! Ah!” Ten screams echoed as all ten enforcers guarding the spatial teleportation array were killed. Meanwhile, Qu Yi quickly took out the Frozen Soul Ice Crystal and used his Water Element Vital Energy to form an ice layer around himself, protecting himself firmly. The yellow sand took on various shapes, resembling knives and swords, constantly striking at the ice layer. Qu Yi continued to devour Yuan Ying from the Diversion Stage, converting all his vital energy into Water Element Vital Energy and channeling it into the Frozen Soul Ice Crystal. The ice layer remained intact, and the yellow sand could do nothing to it.

“I never expected that one of your Taiyuan Gate enforcers would possess a top-grade spiritual weapon. It seems you must be the son of a high-ranking official in the Taiyuan Gate, with such a top-grade spiritual weapon for protection. But after all, your cultivation is only at the late stage of Diversion. Let’s see how long you can hold out,” Li Zhong laughed arrogantly, mocking Qu Yi inside the ice layer.

“Let’s see how long I can last. You can give it a try,” Qu Yi replied with a smile, grabbing another Yuan Ying and putting it in his mouth. Qu Yi had already captured enforcers from three demon cultivation sects, obtaining over 270 Yuan Ying from the Diversion Stage, so his vital energy was more than sufficient.

After an hour, Li Zhong realized his vital energy was exhausted, yet he still hadn’t managed to melt the ice layer, filling him with suspicion. “What kind of monster are you? How is it possible for someone at the late stage of Diversion to activate a top-grade spiritual weapon for so long?” Li Zhong shouted angrily, mostly out of confusion. By this point, Qu Yi had devoured over a hundred Yuan Ying from the Diversion Stage and, seeing that Li Zhong’s vital energy was completely depleted, he laughed heartily, retracted the Frozen Soul Ice Crystal, stood tall, and stared at Li Zhong.

“There are wonders in the world that you can never know everything about. Now, I’ll just say this to you—give me your life!” Qu Yi shouted crisply.
Li Zhong seemed to hear the funniest joke in the world. He staggered forward but then calmed down and said, “Kid, do you think you can kill me by going beyond my level just because my vital energy is almost exhausted? How ignorant! Don’t you know there are also pills in this world?”
As he spoke, Li Zhong already took out a pill and was about to put it in his mouth to restore his vital energy.
Final strike!
Suddenly, Qu Yi pulled out the Golden Spear and vanished. The next moment, he appeared behind Li Zhong, thrusting the Golden Spear fiercely into Li Zhong’s back.
Hmph!
Furious, Li Zhong instantly formed a wall of Earthly Vital Energy on his back to block the spear. In his desperation, he released all the Earthly Vital Energy in his body to create a shield.
Seeing that the Golden Spear couldn’t break through the wall of Vital Energy, Qu Yi wasn’t discouraged. He stuffed five Yuan Ying into his mouth, which immediately transformed into Golden Vital Energy in his body.
Since Qu Yi had been soaked in chaotic energy underground on Tianyi Star, the transformation of the five elements in his body no longer suffered any delay. It seemed that the five elements of Vital Energy could be transformed instantly at will.
Five times the amount of advanced Golden Vital Energy was poured into the Golden Spear, instantly releasing tens of thousands of needle-like golden threads that all pierced into Li Zhong’s back.
Li Zhong tried again to form a wall of Earthly Vital Energy to block this vicious attack, only to find that the tens of thousands of golden threads had already penetrated his shield. Although it hadn’t completely broken through, it proved that Qu Yi indeed had the ability to cut through his own body.
“Kid, how do you still have Golden Vital Energy in your body?” Li Zhong asked in panic.
Earlier, Qu Yi had protected himself with Frozen Soul Ice Crystals, which was the effect of Water Vital Energy. Now, the attack from the Golden Spear was the effect of Golden Vital Energy. The fact that someone in the cultivation world could practice two different techniques simultaneously and possess two types of Vital Energy in his body without his body exploding greatly surprised Li Zhong.
“Why should I tell you? After you die, you’ll have plenty of time to think about it,” Qu Yi said with a smile, thrusting the Golden Spear again fiercely.
At this moment, the pill Li Zhong had just swallowed finally transformed into Vital Energy, restoring his own Vital Energy.
“Kid, I’ll defeat you first, then implant a soul shackle on you. I want to see what secrets you hide,” Li Zhong shouted viciously.

Immediately, Li Zhong activated the Yellow Gourd once again, and waves of yellow sand that could erode anything appeared, rushing straight toward Qu Yi.
“Can you be any more shameless? Using this trick again?” Qu Yi shouted in frustration.
In fact, Qu Yi had many ways to kill Li Zhong right away—there were three beings in the late stage of fusion and three in the middle stage of fusion inside the Realm Ball, plus three Eight-Directions Swords and one Six-Directions Knife. He could simply summon any of them and use the Eight-Directions Sword to cut down Li Zhong. But Qu Yi was enraged and decided to confront Li Zhong head-on, using his own strength to defeat him.
“Frost Soul Ice Crystal!”
Qu Yi called out crisply, then took out the Frost Soul Ice Crystal, forming another layer of ice around himself to block the yellow sand’s attacks.
Now, in Qu Yi’s space ring, there were still over 240 Yuan Ying in the Diversion Stage. He decided to fight Li Zhong to the death with these Yuan Ying, exhausting all of Li Zhong’s vital energy and pills, then torturing him to death.
Sure enough, after his vital energy was restored, Li Zhong, refusing to give up, kept activating the Yellow Gourd. The yellow sand poured endlessly like stars in the sky, constantly hitting the ice layer.
Yet the ice layer didn’t thin by even a fraction!
An hour later, Li Zhong took another pill, restoring his depleted vital energy, and continued to activate the Yellow Gourd, with the yellow sand still flowing endlessly.
Inside the ice layer, Qu Yi kept fighting until he had consumed all the Yuan Ying in the Diversion Stage. Realizing that Li Zhong still had pills left, he couldn’t help but smile helplessly.
“Li Zhong, you’re really ruthless!”
Qu Yi smiled.
At that moment, Qu Yi suddenly retracted the Frost Soul Ice Crystal, and the ice layer was quickly worn away by the yellow sand. Suddenly, four people appeared in the cave—Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, Shuo Xu, and the Golden Qilin.
Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, and Shuo Xu each held an Eight-Directions Sword, while the Golden Qilin held a Six-Directions Knife.
“Give us your life!”
As soon as these four appeared, they roared, and then three streams of light and a flash of blades struck Li Zhong at the same time.
The moment the four appeared, Li Zhong was stunned, constantly wondering, “Three Eight-Directions Swords? One Six-Directions Knife?”
Unfortunately, Li Zhong would never understand why three Eight-Directions Swords and one Six-Directions Knife appeared at once—he was already destroyed and turned into natural energy of the world.