Chapter 15: Arrogance?

“Everyone, this is the new leader of Hidden Cloud Sect—Li Mu!”
As soon as True Man Gouhuo saw Qu Yi floating in the air, he shouted out, his eyes filled with murderous rage.
The Qianhuo Palace now had only one cultivator at the Consolidation stage; there wasn’t even a single elder at the Divination stage. Among these three sects, it appeared utterly weakened and declining. At the thought of this, True Man Gouhuo wanted to tear Qu Yi to pieces.
The experts from Thousand Demons Forest and Azure Cloud Tower immediately looked up at Qu Yi in the sky, examining him carefully.
His appearance was unremarkable, but there was an air of superiority in him, along with a calm and composed demeanor that exuded confidence in having everything under control. His true energy fluctuations indicated he was only at the late Divination stage, yet he gave off an aura of unfathomable mystery.
However, seeing that Hidden Cloud Sect had only Qu Yi coming, and that his cultivation was indeed only at the late Divination stage, the people from these three sects were confident that they could kill Qu Yi with a single attack.
“Li Mu, your deeds have already spread throughout the cultivation world. I never expected that with just a late Divination stage cultivation, you could single-handedly kill all the enforcers of Golden Central Sect. Truly impressive. It’s a shame, but today, you genius will perish on Feiyun Star,” said Yuan Feng, the master of Azure Cloud Tower, with a faint smile.
Qu Yi sized up Yuan Feng and smiled, “If I’m not mistaken, you must be Yuan Feng, the master of Azure Cloud Tower. Let me tell you—no one on Feiyun Star can take my life yet. Today, your three sects will be destroyed, and from now on, Feiyun Star will belong to Hidden Cloud Sect.”
“Arrogant!”
“Ignorant!”
“Such a braggart!”…
In an instant, the people in the valley began cursing angrily.
Qu Yi smirked and said, “I’m arrogant? Ignorant? A braggart? Very well, I’ll show you whether I am indeed arrogant, ignorant, or just boasting.”
As soon as he spoke, Qu Yi suddenly moved, appearing beside the two-headed snake in Thousand Demons Forest in the blink of an eye. He swung his Golden Spear, delivering a devastating strike.
“Be careful!”
True Man Gouhuo had fought against Qu Yi before and knew how fast he was. He kept his spiritual sense outstretched to sense any movements around. When Qu Yi approached the two-headed snake, True Man Gouhuo immediately drew his sword and swung it swiftly, sending a blade-shaped flame at Qu Yi.
Qu Yi was too fast. By the time True Man Gouhuo’s flame blade was launched, it had only weakened most of the magical energy emitted by Qu Yi, failing to hit him. Yet, some of the golden threads from the Golden Spear still struck the two-headed snake, piercing three holes in its body.

And in the next moment, Qu Yi’s figure was back in the air, as if he hadn’t moved at all. The two-headed snake quickly stopped the bleeding and restored its body, but its gaze toward Qu Yi was clearly filled with fear. The members of the three factions in the valley, looking at Qu Yi, also felt worried. With his cultivation at the late Divination stage, his speed was comparable to that of cultivators in the late Fusion stage. Killing him all at once would be quite difficult. “Everyone, don’t worry. He’s only at the late Divination stage; his vital energy is limited after all. Moreover, the speed he showed just now was due to some special techniques, which he surely can’t maintain forever. As long as we deplete his vital energy, it will be easy to kill him,” Guo Huo Zhen Ren said immediately upon seeing the change in everyone’s mindset. Hearing this, their eyes lit up. “Guo Huo is right. In that case, let’s attack Li Mu together, just as we agreed before,” said Si Er Lie Tu Shu. “Good!” Everyone responded in unison. Whoosh! Guo Huo Zhen Ren from Qian Huo Gong, six people from Bi Yun Lou, and five people from Qian Yao Lin stood together, flew into the air, and surrounded Qu Yi. Qu Yi remained motionless, allowing himself to be surrounded by the members of the three factions, his face calm. “Are you going to attack? Hurry up, I still need to go back and practice,” Qu Yi said with a smile. This smile instead made the members of the three factions hesitate to attack. They all thought to themselves that since Qu Yi was so cunning, he must have some powerful magic weapons. Since he was only at the late Divination stage but kept looking down on the three factions, and he seemed like a normal person who wasn’t talking nonsense, there was only one possibility: Qu Yi had powerful magic weapons. Thus, although the members of the three factions had agreed not to attack each other, none of them wanted to be the first to suffer from Qu Yi’s magic weapons. In the air, twelve people surrounded one person, yet they all remained still. “Everyone, don’t worry. If we attack together, no secret he has can harm us, who are already at the Fusion stage,” Guo Huo Zhen Ren shouted again. Guo Huo Zhen Ren was anxious. He feared the other two factions would hesitate, giving Qu Yi the chance to launch surprise attacks and kill everyone there one by one. He couldn’t bear to see the members of Qian Huo Gong suffer the same fate again. Unexpectedly, after Guo Huo Zhen Ren’s shout, the people from Bi Yun Lou and Qian Yao Lin didn’t move, but Qu Yi moved first. “So talkative!” Qu Yi suddenly shouted, then disappeared. In the next moment, he was already behind Guo Huo Zhen Ren. A fatal strike!

This time, Qu Yi once again used his special attack technique, revealing his true cultivation level as well. The moment Qu Yi appeared behind Guo Huo Zhenren, he didn’t give him any chance to react—his Golden Spear slashed down, splitting Guo Huo Zhenren’s body in two, with only his Yuan Ying managing to escape. “Hmph!” Qu Yi snorted coldly. In a flash, he grabbed the escaping Yuan Ying of Guo Huo Zhenren. “Ah, don’t kill me!” Guo Huo Zhenren begged immediately. But how could Qu Yi give him a chance? He unleashed the Blazing True Fire from his hand, burning out the soul within Guo Huo Zhenren’s Yuan Ying before storing it in his space ring. Qu Yi had now obtained the Fire Yuan Ying at the early stage of the Convergence phase. “You… your cultivation… you’re only at the early stage of Convergence!” At this moment, everyone from Bi Yun Lou and Qian Yao Lin stared at Qu Yi in terror. He had hidden his strength earlier and suddenly killed Guo Huo Zhenren with an attack—now, anyone could be killed by his surprise assault. Indeed, after reaching the early stage of Convergence, Qu Yi used the “Silent Art” to suppress the fluctuations of his true energy, still appearing to be at the late stage of the Divided Mind phase. That single strike proved highly effective, killing Guo Huo Zhenren. Now, there was no one above the Divided Mind phase in Qian Huo Gong, leaving them destined to be absorbed by other sects. Yuan Feng and the Four-Eared Earth Rat exchanged glances before nodding together. “Everyone in Bi Yun Lou, form a formation and attack!” “Qian Yao Lin, strike now!” The leaders of these two factions understood clearly that since Qu Yi had reached the early stage of Convergence and could kill those at the later stage, they absolutely couldn’t let him survive. Otherwise, Qian Yao Lin and Bi Yun Lou would surely perish on the Fei Yun Continent. Thus, the two factions decided to strike while Qu Yi was still weak, willing to suffer heavy losses to eliminate him. The six members of Bi Yun Lou suddenly formed a hexagon in the air, each holding a wooden sword. With their true energy channeled, the six wooden swords transformed into six wooden dragons, hovering in front of them and glaring at Qu Yi. The five beasts—Four-Eared Earth Rat, Sky-Eye Ice Dragon, Two-Headed Snake, Underground Cold Silkworm, and Wind Roaring Ox—returned to their beast forms and hovered in the air, rushing toward Qu Yi at the same time. The six members of Bi Yun Lou used their Wood True Energy to summon the wooden dragons, quickly surrounding Qu Yi’s space and blocking all spiritual energy from entering. Meanwhile, the five beasts arrived in front of Qu Yi, attacking him ferociously.

To use his secret technique ‘Final Blow’ once, Qu Yi would need to consume all the vital energy in one of his Yuan Ying. This meant he could still use ‘Final Blow’ four more times. However, if Qu Yi could devour a Yuan Ying in the early stage of fusion, he could immediately replenish its vital energy; if he devoured one in the middle stage of fusion, all five Yuan Ying’s vital energy could be restored at once since they had all been exhausted.

The two-headed snake, having been struck by Qu Yi once, displayed cold and vicious expressions from its four snake eyes. It suddenly rose into the air, attempting to attack Qu Yi from above.

“Die!” Qu Yi roared angrily.

The next moment, Qu Yi was already above the two-headed snake. With a fierce swing of his Golden Spear, he severed both of its heads. Undoubtedly, he also extracted the Wood-type Yuan Ying from the snake and quickly swallowed it.

Earlier, Qu Yi had transformed all the Wood-type vital energy in that Yuan Ying into Gold-type energy to use ‘Final Blow’ again. Now that the Wood-type Yuan Ying from the early stage of fusion had entered his dantian, the Wood-type vital energy was restored immediately.

In other words, after killing the two-headed snake, Qu Yi’s vital energy hadn’t decreased at all, allowing him to use ‘Final Blow’ four more times.

The Earth-Dwelling Frost Silkworm was pure white, five meters long, and its presence filled the surrounding space with cold air as it flew. It approached Qu Yi, opened its mouth, and spat out an ice layer that could seal off space.

How could Qu Yi allow this Earth-Dwelling Frost Silkworm to succeed? He transformed all the Water-type vital energy in his Water-type Yuan Ying into Gold-type energy, used ‘Final Blow’ once again, and rushed at the silkworm. His Golden Spear was thrust mercilessly into its body, and the combined vital energy flowed through the spear, destroying all signs of life within it.

Undoubtedly, Qu Yi quickly extracted the silkworm’s Yuan Ying and swallowed it, restoring the Water-type vital energy once more.

By killing two monsters in the early stage of fusion twice in a row, Qu Yi used ‘Final Blow’ twice without any reduction in his vital energy.

The Wind Roaring Ox, which had been following the Earth-Dwelling Frost Silkworm and intended to attack Qu Yi with a storm, was terrified after seeing him kill two monsters so easily in succession. It turned around immediately and went to the side of the Sky-Eye Ice Dragon, trembling fearfully.

The Four-Eared Mole Rat and the Sky-Eye Ice Dragon were in trouble. Although this space had its spiritual energy supply blocked by the “Six Dragon Spirit Locking Sword Formation,” preventing Qu Yi from teleporting away, Qu Yi could still instantly kill monsters and devour Yuan Ying, so his own vital energy wouldn’t be depleted, while these three monsters of his were in danger instead.
Qu Yi smiled as he looked at the remaining three monsters, waving at them repeatedly.