Chapter 27: Speed Contest

Although Qu Yi was currently only at the early stage of the Tribulation Phase, he possessed speed techniques that allowed him to match those at the later stage. If he used the attack techniques of the five elements, his strength would rival that of beings at the Great Perfection Stage.
The five major attack techniques—Metal’s “Final Blow,” Wood’s “Death,” Water’s “Silence,” Fire’s “Exhaustion,” and Earth’s “Heavenly Pressure”—would enable Qu Yi to move at speeds akin to teleportation, on par with beings at the Great Perfection Stage.
However, Qu Yi had no intention of using these speed techniques or the five-element attack skills. After all, the powerful cultivators from the ten major sects who were qualified to enter the Vast Heavenly Immortal Mansion were all extremely strong. They likely possessed their own speed techniques, and each of them might even reach the speed of beings at the Great Perfection Stage.
Therefore, Qu Yi planned to use Planet-Shift!
The cultivators from the ten major sects stared at Qu Yi with disdainful looks, but he responded with a calm smile, leaving them annoyed.
Just as their thoughts were swirling, a beam of light suddenly shot out from the plane, creating a circular light spot on the ground.
“This circle is your starting point. One by one, fly immediately toward the edge of the plateau,” said Emperor Hao on the plane with a faint smile.
Instantly, everyone’s gaze focused on the circle created by the light. While amazed by Emperor Hao’s strange magic, they also wondered who would be the first to fly in.
“Everyone, there are sixty of us—who will be the first to fly?” asked Tai Ming, the leader of the Taiyuan Sect.
Everyone understood that since they knew nothing about this Vast Heavenly Immortal Mansion, it would be disadvantageous for anyone to be the first to try, so no one wanted to take that risk.
“Tai Ming, since you’ve spoken up, let your Taiyuan Sect be the first to send someone to try,” sneered Jin Xiong, the leader of the Jin Yang Sect.
“That’s right, Tai Ming. Since your Taiyuan Sect is the largest among the cultivation sects, lead the way,” added Qing Long from the Hundred Beasts Peak with a smile.
Tai Ming’s face flushed with anger before he quickly calmed down and said, “Among those transported from our ten sects, your Hundred Beasts Peak has the most members. Naturally, you should go first.”
It turned out that Tai Ming still resented the fact that Qu Yi had given the Hundred Beasts Peak three extra spots without reason.
Based on the number of members, the two smallest cultivation sects—Taiyuan Sect with only four and Lan Yang Palace with just three—would naturally have an advantage if they flew first.
“Despicable!”
“Shameless!”

As Tai Ming finished speaking, the three schools of demon cultivators and the three schools of fiend cultivators all shouted in unison, showing not the slightest mercy toward this sect leader. All members of these three factions wore angry expressions, yet none dared to attack the others. At that moment, Qu Yi was communicating with the Spirit of Instruments. “Spirit of Instruments, do you mean I should fly first?” “Hehe, it doesn’t matter if you fly first. Anyway, you’ll definitely be the fastest. That Hao Emperor has some knowledge of formation magic. Although he said you should compete in speed, in reality, you’ll face three challenges during flight: the Gale Challenge, the Illusion Challenge, and the Spiritual Suppression Challenge. These three challenges apply to the ten major sects, but they’re useless against you.” “Why am I not affected by these challenges?” “Idiot, because I’m guiding you from behind. I’ve seen through all these formations and can easily overcome them.” After hearing the Spirit of Instruments’ words, a smile appeared on Qu Yi’s face unintentionally. The ten major sects had been watching Qu Yi closely. Despite their internal disputes, they were all wary of the Poison Fruit he possessed, fearing that if he became desperate due to his slow speed, he might destroy himself along with the ten sects. Qu Yi’s smile immediately made the strong warriors of the ten sects turn their attention to him. “Qu Yi, why are you smiling? Do you want to be the first to try?” Tai Ming shouted immediately. The Taiyuan Sect hated Qu Yi deeply and longed for his death every day. So, the moment it presented itself, Tai Ming seized the opportunity. Qu Yi glanced at Tai Ming and, under the concerned gazes of everyone, calmly said, “Alright, I’ll be the first.” Wow! The strong warriors of the ten sects exhaled in disbelief. But Qu Yi dispelled their doubts with his actions. He stepped into the circle, raised his hand, and smiled lightly, “Everyone, I’ll be waiting for you ahead.” With that, Qu Yi disappeared at an incredible speed under the eyes of the strong warriors of the ten sects. “What? How could Qu Yi be this fast? He’s definitely faster than ordinary beings at the Mahayana stage.” “Good heavens, what is Qu Yi’s background? With just the cultivation level of the early Tribulation stage, he has the speed of a Mahayana being.” “I’d rather believe my eyes are blind and my spiritual awareness has failed.” The strong warriors of the ten sects shouted in panic, unable to believe it. But Qu Yi indeed flew away at incredible speed.

Guided by the Instrument God, Qu Yi first used the Planet Shift technique to arrive at a location on the Mirror Plateau. There, he found himself surrounded by chaotic gale winds of late-stage tribulation intensity, blowing from all directions. Though these winds seemed extremely chaotic, they actually followed certain patterns—patterns known only to the Instrument God. The god silently transmitted messages through his spiritual awareness, guiding Qu Yi’s movements, allowing him to move with the wind within the gale zone without being struck by any of the winds and thus exit safely.

Inside this gale zone, the winds were invisible to the strong warriors from the ten major sects, seemingly obscured by some kind of formation.

As soon as he landed, Qu Yi found himself in a dreamlike world. At one moment he was in a valley filled with blooming flowers of breathtaking beauty; the next, on a beach with waves crashing against the shore and magnificent mirages in the distance; then, underwater, where numerous fierce sea monsters swam toward him, ready to bite.

It was all an illusion—a spiritual trap designed to confuse cultivators and prevent them from sensing the correct direction. This illusion wouldn’t last long, only about ten breaths. Yet, it was enough to slow down a cultivator’s flight speed.

But Qu Yi was unaffected at all. Within this illusion, he flew back and forth as if moving through folded spaces, quickly escaping the illusionary area.

Right after leaving the illusion, Qu Yi noticed that his spiritual awareness range had been reduced to around 100 meters—so slow that even teleportation was no faster than flying on foot.

The biggest challenge of such a restricted awareness range was getting lost easily.

But with the Instrument God guiding him, Qu Yi continued flying swiftly, never worrying about going in the wrong direction and wasting time.

Indeed, in less than fifteen minutes, he arrived at a peculiar place—a mirror-like wall seemingly rising out of thin air, with forty-eight white stone chairs beneath it.

Without hesitation, Qu Yi sat down on the first chair.

The moment he sat down, the voice of Emperor Hao echoed from the vertical plane where the ten major sects were located: “Second!”

It turned out that from the time Qu Yi stepped into the circle until he sat on the stone chair, the formation had recorded this entire period of time. During this time, the ten major sects had already arranged their flight order. The ten sect leaders naturally ranked at the end, while the other strong warriors in the late-stage tribulation phase determined their order through drawing lots.

At that moment, as Emperor Hao’s voice rang out, a powerful warrior from the Yingtian Sect entered the circle and immediately took off into the air. As soon as this warrior entered the gale zone, a sudden gust of wind hit him, and he wasn’t able to react in time. Since he hadn’t sensed any wind while flying earlier, who could have known that such fierce gales would come right after? With a cry, his entire body was covered in blood, but despite the severe injuries, he still used his vital energy shield to block the gales. After struggling through the gale zone, he found himself in a sea of flowers. After flying around aimlessly for a while, he suddenly arrived at a beach. Only then did he realize he had entered an illusion, so he immediately stopped flying. Once the illusion disappeared, another quiet area appeared. He instantly teleported and soon entered a zone where spiritual awareness was suppressed—the range of spiritual perception was only one kilometer, far less than that of a warrior in the later stages of tribulation. With no choice, he had to stop sensing spiritually and kept flying in one direction with his eyes closed. This zone not only suppressed spiritual awareness but was also a folded space; flying in one direction would naturally cause deviation from the original path. After another painful flight, he finally reached a place that seemed like a wall, but unlike Qu Yi, he didn’t end up at the stone chair. Fortunately, when he placed his hands on the wall, his spiritual awareness sensed the surroundings again, restoring its strength to that of a warrior in the later stages of tribulation. He then sensed Qu Yi’s presence tens of thousands of miles away and immediately flew along the wall to reach the stone chair. “Hehe, fellow cultivator, your whole body is covered in blood. Clean it first with your vital energy,” Qu Yi said smilingly from the stone chair. The warrior snorted coldly and flew straight to the second stone chair, saying sternly, “Do you think I don’t know your scheme to buy me some time?” It turned out that the warrior had already guessed that this flight time should cover the distance from the circle to sitting down on the stone chair. So, of course, he wouldn’t waste any time using his vital energy to wash the blood off his clothes. Qu Yi just chuckled and pointed to the mirror-like ground beneath the stone chair, saying, “I only have eleven minutes.” Hearing this, the warrior immediately checked the numbers in front of his chair and panicked. 58 minutes!

A million li – if one could teleport at the advanced level after overcoming tribulations, it would only take 3 seconds, but now it took 58 minutes. This powerful warrior from the Yingtian Sect was somewhat worried that his speed ranked among the lowest twelve.