Chapter 42: Fire Immortal Fruit

Qu Yi ignored the angry shouts of the warriors from the Nine Sects. He expanded his spiritual awareness and flew above the metal giants, continuing his search for lower-grade immortal artifacts.

Realizing that their cursings couldn’t stop Qu Yi from searching, the warriors from the Nine Sects gave up cursing and flew around, trying their luck to find the other nine lower-grade immortal artifacts.

On the ground, the metal giants ran frantically, covering every gap, making it extremely difficult for the warriors to fly. Meanwhile, the warriors didn’t dare fly into the sky either, where the sky-blocking metal beasts and monsters would attack them like a tide the moment they spotted anyone, killing them instantly.

They also couldn’t fly atop or on the shoulders of the metal giants like Qu Yi did—this was even more dangerous than flying beneath them. After all, a single slap from a metal giant’s hand equaled the strength of a Great Vehicle stage cultivator, something none of these warriors could easily withstand.

Thus, although flying beneath the metal giants was difficult and slower, it was much less dangerous.

Flying above the metal giants, Qu Yi quickly left the warriors behind and headed millions of miles away, ensuring they could no longer sense his presence.

At that moment, Qu Yi suddenly sat down on the shoulder of one of the metal giants, stopping his search for lower-grade immortal artifacts.

“Vessel God, I sense that my soul realm is about to break through to the middle stage of tribulation—the Six-Nine Heavens Tribulation is approaching,” Qu Yi said slowly, sitting on the metal giant’s shoulder.

It turned out that Qu Yi had stopped searching because his soul suddenly trembled, giving him an intuition that the tribulation was imminent.

Hearing this, the Vessel God laughed. “The tribulation is coming? It’s not a big deal. The Six-Nine Heavens Tribulation is essentially a tribulation for the original spirit. Your original spirit is so strong—what’s there to worry about?”

Qu Yi became furious. Wasn’t this tribulation a serious matter? A single mistake could lead to death, with no chance of revival. Every cultivator placed utmost importance on this.

“Vessel God, you truly are someone who takes everything lightly. I’ll stop talking to you. I’ll just sit here in meditation, restoring my body to its best condition.” Qu Yi closed his eyes and sat quietly on the metal giant’s shoulder.

The sixty-nine tribulations: the first three tribulations are the same as the thirty-nine tribulations, only more powerful. The latter three tribulations are aimed at the original spirit. If the original spirit in the later stage of foundation-building is merely gaseous, it takes on a more defined form during the golden core stage, and it continues to solidify as one progresses beyond the infant stage, until, during the tribulation period, it merges with the infant spirit. At this point, the sixty-nine tribulations fully integrate the original spirit and the infant spirit.

Qi Shen saw Qu Yi’s annoyance but simply smiled faintly before falling silent.

……

The masters from the nine sects were not as carefree as Qu Yi. In such a dangerous environment, they still had time to sense the tribulations, flying among the metal beings.

At that moment, the four members of the Taiyuan Sect flew together, weaving through the metal beings.

The surrounding metal beings swung their arms, shook their legs, and trembled their bodies, yet the golden energy they emitted could not harm the four members of the Taiyuan Sect. Thus, they could still converse easily while flying.

“Shan Zhen, Shan Ren, Shan Zhen, have you three noticed that the low-grade immortal artifact Qu Yi found was hidden inside the mouth of a metal crab lying on the ground? This might be a clue pointing to where other low-grade immortal artifacts are located,” said Tai Ming, the leader of the Taiyuan Sect, calmly.

The masters from the nine sects had been flying in this metal world for a long time, covering a vast area, and had observed these phenomena. On the ground, only metal beings were running, while metal beasts and various oddly shaped metal objects flew in the air.

Tai Ming thought about how Qu Yi obtained the low-grade immortal artifact from the mouth of the metal crab, which was actually a metal beast. Normally, it should have been flying in the air, but it was on the ground, waiting for Qu Yi to retrieve the artifact.

Upon hearing this, Shan Zhen, Shan Ren, and Shan Zhen’s eyes lit up as they immediately understood Tai Ming’s meaning.

“Leader, do you mean that any metal beast resting on the ground has a low-grade immortal artifact inside it?” the three asked almost simultaneously.

Tai Ming nodded gently and smiled. “It seems this speculation is correct. Since we’ve found this clue, the four of us should immediately scatter and search for metal beasts resting on the ground.”

“Understood, leader,” the three replied happily.

Soon, the four members of the Taiyuan Sect dispersed and flew in four different directions.

The masters from the other sects were also highly intelligent, and they, too, deduced clues to finding low-grade immortal artifacts from the fact that Qu Yi obtained one from the mouth of the metal crab.

The strong warriors from various sects no longer flew together as a group but scattered, heading in different directions to search for the metal beasts on the ground. A lower-grade immortal artifact was crucial to the survival of their sect’s warriors, so how could they afford to be distracted? They focused entirely on searching for the metal beasts. Suddenly, through the cracks between the metal giants, the warriors from the nine sects moved at their fastest speeds.

……

Lan Wei, the leader of the Lan Yang Palace, flew alone, with red sparks emanating from his body. As a streak of fire passed through the cracks in one of the metal giants, Lan Wei’s body was instantly carried away.

At that moment, Lan Wei reached a certain place at incredible speed. Through his spiritual sense, he detected Qu Yi’s presence. “Huh, Qu Yi actually entered meditation on the shoulder of this metal giant—what boldness,” Lan Wei thought in surprise as he slowed down.

Five days had passed. Lan Wei kept shuttling between the metal giants without finding any trace of the metal beasts, which made him extremely anxious. He feared that the warriors from other sects might have already found them, meaning the three members of the Lan Yang Palace would die in this metal world.

After discovering Qu Yi, Lan Wei even considered assassinating him. Since the metal beasts couldn’t be found, the lower-grade immortal artifact would remain out of reach. So, why not simply kill Qu Yi and seize the artifact from him?

With this thought, Lan Wei decided to give up searching for the elusive metal beasts and focus on Qu Yi instead.

Soon, he took out a communication token and informed the other two strong warriors of the Lan Yang Palace, Lie Gao and Lie Ke, to come immediately.

A day later, Lie Gao and Lie Ke arrived at Lan Wei’s side. “Leader, are you really determined to take the risk of assassinating Qu Yi?” Lie Gao asked anxiously as soon as he arrived.

“Leader, Qu Yi has the Poison Fruit on him. We won’t be able to stop him,” Lie Ke warned nervously.

Lan Wei understood their concerns and smiled. “Don’t worry. Although the Poison Fruit is extremely poisonous, our Lan Yang Palace, as one of the Ten Sects, has a strong foundation. We definitely have a way to resist its toxicity.”

Upon hearing this, Lie Gao and Lie Ke immediately understood Lan Wei’s plan. It seemed that before coming to the Haotian Immortal Mansion, the Lan Yang Palace had prepared some treasures, at least ones capable of countering the Poison Fruit’s effects.

After all, before entering the Haotian Immortal Mansion, all ten major sects knew about Qu Yi’s Poison Fruit. To prevent him from acting recklessly inside, they had naturally made their own preparations.

After entering the Haotian Immortal Mansion, the ten major sects did not attack Qu Yi directly because they also had their own concerns and did not want to waste the treasures they had brought, giving them to other sects at a discount. Now, Lan Wei decided to use the treasures he had brought to kill Qu Yi and obtain a lower-grade immortal weapon. Soon, Lan Wei took out three thumb-sized, round red fruits from his space ring. The fire energy rapidly spread far and wide, and the heat in that space was strong enough to burn the bodies of metal men. “These are Fire Immortal Fruits, found in the Five Elements Extreme Realm. They contain extremely intense fire essence energy, sufficient to burn away the poison from the Ten Thousand Poisons Fruit,” Lan Wei said proudly as he tossed two of the fruits to Lie Gao and Lie Ke. After receiving the Fire Immortal Fruits and hearing Lan Wei’s explanation, Lie Gao and Lie Ke burst into laughter, their eyes gleaming with excitement, thinking that they could finally deal with Qu Yi this time. “Master, did you summon some great ancestor at the Mahayana stage to the Five Elements Extreme Realm?” Lie Gao asked in surprise. The Five Elements Extreme Realm and the Five Souls Desolate Land are both extreme places in the cultivation world. In the Five Elements Extreme Realm, the five elements’ energies are in chaotic disorder; various energies are abundant but collide violently, making it impossible to absorb and refine them calmly. Yet, even in such a harsh environment, there are some rare treasures, like these Fire Immortal Fruits. Lan Wei nodded and smiled, saying, “The Haotian Immortal Mansion is related to the future strength ranking of the ten sects. Naturally, we wouldn’t miss this opportunity. So, we secretly sent five beings at the Mahayana stage to the Five Elements Extreme Realm, and finally obtained these Fire Immortal Fruits along with some other treasures.” Lie Gao and Lie Ke were very pleased upon hearing this. Then, Lan Wei sensed Qu Yi in the distance and said, “Alright, now that you all have Fire Immortal Fruits for protection, it’s time for us to attack Qu Yi. We not only want to get the lower-grade immortal weapon but also the Fire Control Art, and we must acquire the Star Luo Ding for our Lan Yang Palace.” Lie Gao and Lie Ke sneered again, as if they could already see Qu Yi dying. The Lan Yang Palace specializes in fire-based cultivation techniques, so the Fire Control Art that Qu Yi possessed was naturally perfect for them. Moreover, the Star Luo Ding is an important treasure for weapon refinement, and it is extremely necessary for the Lan Yang Palace, making it highly desired. Soon, the three members of the Lan Yang Palace split up and headed in three different directions toward Qu Yi’s location. Unfortunately, Lan Wei always believed that since he could sense Qu Yi with his spirit consciousness in the later stage of the tribulation, Qu Yi in the early stage of the tribulation could not sense him. Thus, he was convinced that this assassination mission was a sure success.

Unbeknownst to him, Qu Yi had an Instrumental Spirit within his body, and the spiritual awareness of this Instrumental Spirit had already surpassed the Mahayana stage, likely reaching the level of an immortal. Thus, it was aware of everything that happened to the three people from Lan Yang Palace and naturally informed Qu Yi as well. Upon hearing the Instrumental Spirit’s message, Qu Yi merely smiled slightly before continuing to sit quietly on the metal man’s shoulder.