Chapter 34: Mid-Stage Convergence

After killing three early-stage Tribulation-crossers, Qu Yi immediately returned to the core of the Desert Planet to re-enter the Miniature Realm. This time, it was because Qu Yi knew the sand layer was about to stop moving, so he rushed to kill the three early-stage Tribulation-crossers trapped at the bottom of the fissure before it stopped. Otherwise, letting those three go would pose a nuisance to Qu Yi in the future. More importantly, how could he miss such a good opportunity to seize three Yuan Ying?

After killing the three, Qu Yi’s top priority was, of course, to advance to the mid-stage Convergence realm. In terms of spiritual realm, he had already reached mid-stage Convergence. Moreover, he had gathered all five late-stage Convergence Yuan Ying before entering the fissure’s bottom—now was the perfect time to advance to mid-stage Convergence.

By the lake inside the Miniature Realm, Qu Yi sat in meditation for five days until his physical condition was at its best. Opening his eyes, he looked at the five Yuan Ying on the jade platform ahead. These five Yuan Ying belonged to Xiao Hantian, Yuan Feng, the Four-Eared Earth Rat, Tianyan Ice Dragon, and Gouhuo Zhenren—all of whom had died under Qu Yi’s golden-element attack technique, “Final Kill.”

Glancing at the five Yuan Ying, Qu Yi immediately activated the five-element cultivation methods within his body, circulating his vital energy throughout his frame. At the Convergence stage, the Yuan Ying and the physical body were tightly integrated, merging with nature to become part of its energy. This allowed direct interaction with the five elements, enabling the spiritual essence to perceive the characteristics of various energies. As the five types of vital energy flowed within Qu Yi, they triggered the movement of all spiritual energy in the Miniature Realm, creating a massive energy vortex.

The five cultivation methods—“Golden Splendor,” “Revival of All Plants,” “Unity of Water and Sky,” “Spreading Starfire,” and “Vast Imperial Land”—guided the flow of the five elements, finally reaching the maximum speed of the early-stage Convergence realm. The spiritual energy vortex around Qu Yi even generated a storm.

At that moment, Qu Yi opened his eyes wide and shouted, “Five Yuan Ying into the body, transform and solidify them; let the Dharma body blend naturally with heaven and earth.”

As soon as he spoke, the five Yuan Ying on the jade platform flew into his mouth, quickly entering his dantian. There, they were instantly broken down by his combined vital energy, turning into the five elements, which were then absorbed by the five Yuan Ying.

The energy of these five Yuan Ying served mainly to strengthen their cohesion, further integrating them with the physical body. This allowed the Dharma body, when merged with nature, to observe energy points more clearly and better understand the characteristics of the five elements.

For example, if in the early stage of merging, Qu Yi’s primordial spirit could only sense the energy of the five elements, akin to seeing just a snowflake, then once he reached the middle stage of merging, he could see the ice crystals within the snowflake—meaning he could observe things more precisely and clearly. This is the advantage of having the primordial embryo condensed. Qu Yi was striving to control the five primordial embryos, absorbing the energy of the five elements quickly and orderly, continuously condensing them…

Sixty years ago, the four early-stage transcendence cultivators who surrounded Qu Yi at the edge of the fissure on Desert Star only had Shan Meng, Xiao Du Han, and Wei Ming reach the bottom of the fissure; another mysterious early-stage transcendence cultivator did not enter. This man had been meditating quietly at the edge of the fissure for sixty years. After sixty years, he discovered that the layer of yellow sand in the middle of the fissure had stopped moving. However, he did not break through the yellow sand layer to reach the bottom of the fissure and continued to sit at the edge, waiting for the three early-stage transcendence cultivators who had already entered to come out. Yet, half a year passed without any sign, and the yellow sand layer started moving again. “It seems that although there are earth-type treasures at the bottom of this fissure on Desert Star, they are beyond our reach as transcendence cultivators. Shan Meng and the others are dead; I can’t stay any longer. I must go and complete my mission. The Poison Devouring Fruit Tree requires a batch of powerful cultivators to feed it once every hundred years. Now, it even needs to devour cultivators in the later stage of merging, and a hundred of them are required to produce a single Poison Fruit Flower. If it’s to bear fruit in the future, transcendence cultivators will also be needed. This is truly troublesome,” the man murmured to himself.

It turned out that this early-stage transcendence cultivator came from Beast Peak and was responsible for capturing cultivators for the Poison Devouring Fruit Tree. The tree grew by absorbing poisonous gases, thereby producing Poison Fruits and even more advanced Poison Fruit Flowers. However, the Poison Devouring Fruit Tree found by Beast Peak, due to the lack of sufficient poisonous gases around it, had mutated and could now devour cultivators’ primordial energy as well as produce Poison Fruits. After muttering to himself, the man immediately teleported away. At the time he left, many other cultivators were still staying on Desert Star. After all, sixty years ago, Li Mu, who was famous in the cultivation world, had jumped into the fissure on Desert Star and disappeared there forever.

Due to the disappearance of ‘Li Mu’, all traces leading to Shuo Shang, Shuo Rui, and Shuo Xu in the cultivation world were also severed. The efforts of the ten major sects to track down the Six-Directions Sword, especially the Taiyuan Sect’s pursuit of the Eight-Directions Sword, were almost completely halted.

Thus, the thousands of cultivators still on Desert Star were mainly waiting for Qu Yi to emerge from the fissure, so that their mission could be completed. However, Qu Yi showed no sign of movement. Even when the yellow sand layer turned into fertile land, he still didn’t appear, and most cultivators believed he was dead.

…

Inside the Tiny World Sphere, Qu Yi had been striving to reach the mid-stage of the Fusion Realm for a month. Now, he finally opened his eyes, a smile on his lips. Nearby, the seven—Instrument God, Bai Man, Wu Yuan, Qing Wu Gui, Mu Han, Golden Qilin, and Illusion Butterfly—were playing a gambling game from the secular world, their shouts echoing loudly. They showed no reaction to Qu Yi’s awakening and continued to shout excitedly.

Qu Yi gritted his teeth, stood up helplessly, and called out, “Everyone, I’ve reached the mid-stage of the Fusion Realm.”

Silence!

Only then did the seven realize Qu Yi’s presence. They quickly put away their gambling tools and looked at him happily. Bai Man, like a magpie, rushed into Qu Yi’s arms.

“Qu Yi, you’re amazing!” Bai Man said excitedly.

“Amazing? What’s mid-stage of the Fusion Realm? I can make him die ten thousand times with just a breath,” Instrument God suddenly interjected.

Bai Man immediately left Qu Yi’s arms, glared at Instrument God angrily, and screamed, “Go ahead and blow! You’re good at boasting only.”

Qu Yi patted Bai Man’s shoulder and smiled, “Sister, there’s no need to argue with Instrument God. He’s just a child—why argue with him? Oh, right, I’ve now advanced in cultivation. It’s time to leave the bottom of this fissure.”

Instrument God glared at Qu Yi unhappily, flew to a soft chair, and lay down. Bai Man giggled happily—this time, she had finally made Instrument God frustrated.

Meanwhile, Qu Yi suddenly disappeared in front of everyone and appeared outside the Tiny World Sphere. Holding a Divine Formula card, he channeled his vital energy, causing the card to emit a white light sphere. This white light sphere protected Qu Yi from the attacks of the nine Earth Energy dragons and also covered the Earth Restoring Stone. The Earth Energy emitted by the stone didn’t reach the dragons, so they dispersed after a short while.

Qu Yi immediately took out a Chaos Crystal and activated it to generate a mass of chaotic energy that enveloped the Earthstone. Then he brought the Earthstone inside the Miniature Realm Sphere. Once inside, the Earthstone’s Earth element energy could no longer affect Qu Yi. By controlling the Miniature Realm Sphere with his consciousness, he gathered all the Earth element energy emitted by the Earthstone into one mass, preventing it from scattering randomly. With the Earthstone gone from the bottom of the fissure, all sources of Earth element energy disappeared, and the Earth element energy throughout the fissure quickly dissipated. Moreover, the layer of yellow sand in the middle of the Rift of the Meridians, lacking the support of the Earth element energy at the bottom, began to fall, aiming to fill the entire fissure. At this point, Qu Yi could also sense everything outside using his spiritual awareness and noticed the changes in the Rift of the Meridians, realizing they were all due to his taking away the Earthstone. “The entire fissure is about to be filled with yellow sand. We’d better go up first,” Qu Yi said with a smile. Soon, the Miniature Realm Sphere rushed upward toward the fissure and then floated above the Desert Planet. The deserts on both hemispheres of the Desert Planet seemed to be strongly attracted by the fissure, with sand pouring into it like an avalanche. It wouldn’t take a day before the Rift of the Meridians, which once separated the Desert Planet, was completely filled with sand. Inside the Miniature Realm Sphere, Qu Yi wore a joyful smile. “I never expected that after sixty years since I entered the fissure, so many fellow cultivators are still waiting for me. Great! The Poison Soul Beast hasn’t eaten in sixty years either. Let it devour these experts and advance to the Convergence Stage.” It turned out that Qu Yi’s spiritual awareness had detected thousands of cultivators at the Convergence Stage, who were flying above the fissure, astonished as they watched the sand falling into it. “What’s going on? Why has the fissure changed so drastically all of a sudden?” “Could it be that the layer of yellow sand in the middle of the fissure disappeared, attracting all this sand to flow in?” “I think it must be because of some change in that Earth element treasure at the bottom of the fissure.” “Li Mu still hasn’t come out. Otherwise, he’ll be buried directly by the filling sand.” … One after another, powerful figures from various factions expressed their astonishment. Just as these strongmen were reacting, Qu Yi suddenly appeared in the sky, holding the Golden Spear majestically in his hand. “Everyone, are you looking for me? I, Li Mu, won’t die so easily. If you want to target me, then give me your lives!” Qu Yi shouted fiercely.

Before those experts in the air could react, Qu Yi suddenly disappeared, reaching extreme speeds and becoming utterly unpredictable. With his Golden Spear, he stabbed one after another at those experts at the Fusion stage who couldn’t retreat in time, killing them all. However, Qu Yi didn’t intend to take their lives—he merely knocked them unconscious, causing them to fall from the sky like stones.
“Ah, Li Mu is slaughtering everyone!”
“Heavens, what kind of speed is this? My spiritual sense can’t detect him—this is too dangerous.”
“Senior brother, run away quickly! Don’t worry about your friends—saving your life is the priority.”
“Fellow Daoist Li Mu, I’m innocent! Please don’t kill me.”
Qu Yi displayed terrifying power, knocking unconscious over twenty such experts in just moments. The other experts at the Fusion stage didn’t dare stay any longer and fled at top speed. They also realized that Qu Yi’s cultivation had advanced again—he was now at the mid-Fusion stage. From the information they had, even a Qu Yi at the early Fusion stage could defeat those at the late stage. Now that he was at mid-Fusion, who among them could stand against him? Thus, none dared resist Qu Yi and all chose to flee.
Qu Yi flew after those fleeing experts, knocking unconscious another twenty before stopping. Then he descended to the ground and piled up around fifty of those experts together. The spiritual sense of the Artifact God sensed the surroundings and, confirming no one else was nearby, Qu Yi immediately took out his Spirit Bag and released the Poison Soul Beast inside, allowing it to devour those experts thoroughly. The Poison Soul Beast let out excited chirps, flew above the fifty experts, and in a mere instant devoured them all, then chirped triumphantly. Qu Yi put the Poison Soul Beast back into the Spirit Bag before rising and flying away toward the Peaceful Shelter, intending to use its spatial teleportation array to leave the Desert Star.