Chapter 48: Some Thoughts of the Artifact God

Qu Yi used the Planet Great Teleportation to leave from the starry region of Poison-Resisting Star.
The remaining elders of the five sects all felt a heavy burden in their hearts. By now, they had realized that Qu Yi, with his Eight Directions Sword and astonishing speed, was no longer someone the mid-stage calamity-crossing elders could handle.
The moment Qu Yi left, each elder immediately sent out the information they had about him using communication tokens.
Qu Yi, after using several Planet Great Teleportations in a row to ensure he was beyond the spiritual sensing range of all the sect elders, changed his appearance and landed on a nearby planet.
As soon as he landed, Qu Yi pulled Li Zan out of the Tiny World Sphere and instructed him to take it to Taiqian Star.
The next stop from Taiqian Star was Liupan Star.
Li Zan took the Tiny World Sphere to Yingxian Island on that planet, then chose a teleportation route and began the long journey to Taiqian Star. Meanwhile, Qu Yi entered the Tiny World Sphere.
By the lake inside the sphere, Qu Yi lay on a soft chair, glancing sideways at the Artifact God sitting on another soft chair, looking at him with affection, as if watching a cute baby.
“Hey, Qu Yi, can you stop staring at me?” The Artifact God grew uncomfortable and finally couldn’t help but complain.
Qu Yi was deliberately staring at him because he had already scanned the Three Elements Path. Logically, the Artifact God should have taught him the Four Elements Path, but there was no sign of that. Qu Yi didn’t want to wait any longer, so he tried to force the Artifact God to teach him the Four Elements Path formation on his own.
“Artifact God, just sleep. Although I’m looking at you, I have no other intentions. Don’t worry,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
After saying that, Qu Yi remained motionless, continuing to stare at the Artifact God.
The Artifact God lay there for a while longer but couldn’t bear it anymore. Suddenly, he sat up and stared back at Qu Yi.
The two of them stared at each other like statues, motionless for a long time.
Finally, the Artifact God gave in. Pouting, he grumbled, “What do you want?”
Qu Yi chuckled and sat down on a soft chair as well. “Artifact God, you know what I want. It’s time to teach me the Four Elements Path.”
The Artifact God slapped his forehead and laughed awkwardly. “So that’s how it is. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have really forgotten. Alright, I’ll teach you the Four Elements Path now.”
With that, the Artifact God implanted the Four Elements Path entirely into Qu Yi’s soul.

This time, Qu Yi accepted the teachings of the Array God’s formation methods quite easily, without any pain in his soul.
The Four Elements Dao involves using four types of energy simultaneously to form an array. Within this array, these four energies transform in countless ways, creating various array patterns, full of profound mysteries.
As soon as Qu Yi scanned through the introduction to the Four Elements Dao, he felt its vastness and depth. It could be said that almost all phenomena in the cultivation world could be demonstrated using this array method, showing just how advanced the Array God’s research in arrays truly was.
“Ah, it took five hundred years to scan through the Four Elements Dao? That’s… a bit long, isn’t it?” Qu Yi suddenly exclaimed.
Indeed, due to the enormity of the Four Elements Dao, even with Qu Yi using six parts of his spiritual awareness and his scanning speed being ten times that of other cultivators, it still took five hundred years to complete the scan.
Qu Yi had been cultivating in the cultivation world until now, yet he hadn’t even reached three hundred years—so the thought of it taking five hundred years to scan the Four Elements Dao naturally shocked him.
“Enough! Being arrogant after gaining an advantage—once you finish scanning the Four Elements Dao, even the greatest array masters in the cultivation world won’t deserve to wipe your shoes. I guess even the array masters in the Immortal Realm will have to bow before you,” the Array God snapped irritably.
Hearing this and noticing the Array God’s unusual state, Qu Yi realized the Array God must be preoccupied; otherwise, it wouldn’t have forgotten to teach him the Four Elements Dao or become so distracted.
“Array God, is there something on your mind?” Qu Yi asked concerningly.
In the past, the Array God had always remained calm, but now that it was troubled, Qu Yi knew it must be a very serious matter.
The Array God calmed down, lay back on the soft chair again, and sighed suddenly, “Qu Yi, do you remember I asked you to craft a Soul Compass?”
Upon hearing this, Qu Yi immediately remembered. Back when he was at Taiyuan Gate, after inquiring about the Star Luo Ding, the Array God had emphasized the importance of giving him a chance to craft the Soul Compass. However, since the materials for crafting it hadn’t been gathered yet, Qu Yi hadn’t started working on it.
“I remember. Are you thinking about the Star Luo Ding now? Don’t worry. I’m heading to Liupan Star right away—to Taiyuan Gate—to get that Star Luo Ding for you,” Qu Yi said with a smile, thinking he had figured out the Array God’s concern.

The Artifact God was not pleased either and continued to sigh, saying, “The Soul Compass is related to a heaven-defying magical artifact I crafted before. The reason I ended up in this state is due to that artifact. Recently, I finally figured out something: when I successfully created that artifact, I stumbled upon someone’s secret, which led them to frame me and bring me to this situation.”

Upon hearing this, Qu Yi’s mind became confused. What was the Artifact God’s background before? Who had he offended?

Suddenly, the Artifact God appeared relaxed and smiled faintly, saying, “Well, at least I’m not dead. And now my plan can be put into practice through you, Qu Yi.”

Qu Yi became even more confused and immediately asked, “Artifact God, what do you want to test on me?”

The Artifact God waved his hand and said with a smile, “It will only benefit you. You’ll understand later. For now, I only ask that you improve your strength and expand the influence of the Three Cauldrons Sect. Once we unify the cultivation world, then we can carry out my plan. You don’t need to know too much now, as you wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

Qu Yi stared at him, frustrated and at a loss for words.

……

Half a year passed.

Li Zan, carrying the Tiny Realm Ball, kept traveling through space teleportation arrays until he finally arrived at Taiqian Star.

On an island, as soon as Li Zan landed, Qu Yi emerged from the Tiny Realm Ball.

“Li Zan, thank you for your hard work,” Qu Yi said with a smile as soon as he appeared.

“Elder Qu Yi, it’s my honor. I’m more than willing to do it,” Li Zan replied respectfully, bowing his head.

Qu Yi smiled briefly, then sent Li Zan back into the Tiny Realm Ball. He changed his appearance to that of a middle-aged man, suppressing his true energy to the mid-Divided Consciousness level.

Transferring from Taiqian Star to Liupan Star usually required a cultivation level above Divided Consciousness, as those at lower levels wouldn’t dare go there. Once they did, they would face numerous dangers and quickly attract the attention of other cultivators. After all, as the core planet of the cultivation world, Liupan Star was full of cultivators at or above the Divided Consciousness level.

After changing his appearance, Qu Yi immediately flew to Yingxian Island on Taiqian Star and then teleported to Sihai City on Liupan Star.

As soon as he emerged from the space teleportation array in Sihai City, Qu Yi released his spiritual sense to cover the entire city, searching for members of the Taiyuan Sect.

Suddenly, Qu Yi smiled, as he discovered that Guang Qi, a former member of his Fourth Enforcement Team, was in Sihai City at that moment, looking utterly down and out.

Back in the day, Guang Qi argued with Zhuang Xuwei over whether to replace the team leader since Qu Yi hadn’t returned from the Demon Poison Star Region for a long time, and Qu Yi remembered this incident. But at that time, Guang Qi was clearly in a low mood, drinking alone in a tavern in sorrow. Qu Yi smiled, immediately flew to the tavern, went straight to the third floor, and approached Guang Qi’s table. “Guang Qi, may I sit down?” Qu Yi asked with a relaxed smile. By then, Qu Yi’s appearance had changed, and so had his cultivation level. Guang Qi glanced up at him, a hint of melancholy in his eyes, and said irritably, “If you want to sit, then sit.” Qu Yi chuckled and sat down across from him, looking at Guang Qi and saying, “Guang Qi, I’m Li Mu.” Of course, while saying this, Qu Yi had already cast a spiritual confinement spell around them so that no one else could hear their voices; otherwise, all the cultivators in the entire Sihai City would likely have surrounded the tavern. Guang Qi’s previously melancholic expression suddenly brightened as he stared at Qu Yi, smiled, and exclaimed, “Team leader, you really caused me a lot of trouble.” Qu Yi chuckled, poured himself a glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, and said, “Tell me, how exactly did I cause you trouble?” Guang Qi didn’t know what to say, so he grabbed the wine bottle and poured it into his mouth before mustering the courage to speak, “Team leader, you infiltrated the Taiyuan Gate under the guise of Li Mu. Once Taiyuan Gate discovered your true identity as Qu Yi, they immediately recalled all the members of our former Fourth Enforcement Team. Each of them had their souls searched, and all memories related to you were extracted. As for the other members, they were sent back to their assigned planets, but I was deprived of my reward and forced to continue working in Taiyuan Gate’s enforcement team. I just returned from another planet, so I came to this tavern to get drunk and relieve my frustration.” Qu Yi understood now—because his identity had been exposed, everyone who had been associated with him in the past had been investigated by Taiyuan Gate. Even after a hundred years, those enforcement team members who had gone to their assigned planets were investigated again. And this Guang Qi, for having supported him, was punished by Taiyuan Gate. “Hehe, Guang Qi, it’s okay. From now on, I’ll protect you,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Guang Qi stared at Qu Yi, his eyes filled with confusion. He couldn’t understand how Qu Yi, who was wanted by the cultivation world, could still speak such bold words. Yet from Qu Yi’s gaze, Guang Qi felt that perhaps Qu Yi really could protect him.
“But Captain, you can barely take care of yourself—how can you help me?” Guang Qi said anxiously as he opened another bottle of wine.
Qu Yi smiled, snatched the bottle from Guang Qi’s hands, and said, “I said I’d cover for you, so of course I can do it. Now, come with me to a place where you can see if I have the ability to deal with the Taiyuan Sect.”
With that, Qu Yi stood up.