Chapter 9: The Uses of the Soul Bead

“Bastards! By opposing our Qingfeng Fort, you’re seeking your own death!”
The chest-naked man screamed in fury upon seeing Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wugui charging straight at him.
Such preemptive attacks had only ever been dared by their Qingfeng Fort, thanks to its strength. But now, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wugui launched such an attack right from their first meeting, completely taking the five men of Qingfeng Fort by surprise.
In the Divine Realm, only towns had any semblance of order. In this wilderness, it was a world of chaos, where strength dictated everything. Today you attack me; tomorrow I strike someone else—life and death hung by a thread.
The five men of Qingfeng Fort, after their initial anger subsided upon seeing Qu Yi and his companions rushing toward them, also drew out their magical artifacts and charged forward, shouting.
“If the five of us can’t even defeat these three, then we’ve lived in vain.”
“We must not tarnish Qingfeng Fort’s reputation. We must kill these three bastards.”
“Five of us will surround one of them and deal with the remaining two.”
…
The five men of Qingfeng Fort, wielding their magical artifacts—none of which were above the Upper Heavenly Soul Immortal level—charged forward, shouting, and quickly surrounded Qu Yi.
Qu Yi already had the divine artifact, Rui Si Mu, in his hand. With the power of Chaos Energy, he sent out a thousand strands of green silk, which shot out at incredible speed toward the five men of Qingfeng Fort.
“What? This bastard has a divine artifact!”
“Everyone, dodge quickly!”
“We’re doomed today—we’ve encountered a real threat.”
The five men of Qingfeng Fort were terrified upon seeing the green silk shoot out. They had been in the Divine Realm for tens of millions of years yet still didn’t have the wealth to buy divine artifacts. Seeing Qu Yi’s artifact, they realized they might have run into someone from a powerful faction in the Divine Realm, and they were filled with fear.
Yet the speed of those green silk strands was beyond what the five men of Qingfeng Fort could match. As the strands passed by, dozens of small blood holes appeared on their bodies, with blood seeping out in a horrifying sight.
Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui also arrived at that moment.
“Ugh, die!” Wu Yuan roared.
He threw his divine artifact, Xuan Guang Yin, into the air. It quickly expanded to hundreds of meters in size, emitting blinding golden light, before plummeting down and crushing one of the men from Qingfeng Fort who was lying on the ground.
As expected, that man rolled rapidly on the ground but still couldn’t avoid being smashed to pieces, turning into a mess of blood.

“Slash, pierce!” Qingwugui stepped closer and spoke bluntly.
The sword with golden patterns thrust forward, instantly forming a large golden net that trapped the member of Qingfeng Fortress, preventing them from escaping. They were then pierced by the sword. Naturally, that member of Qingfeng Fortress had no choice but to die unwillingly.
In an instant, two out of the five members of Qingfeng Fortress were dead.
The remaining three quickly got up and ran away from the mountain. They understood well that the magical artifacts in their hands were nowhere near as powerful as the divine weapons held by Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui. Staying any longer would mean certain death.
However, even as they tried to escape, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui refused to let them go.
Though these three were weak individually, the power behind them was immense—something Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui couldn’t yet match. Thus, these three members of Qingfeng Fortress couldn’t leave alive, or else Qu Yi and his companions would face trouble later.
“Stop trying to escape! You’re already injured—how far can you run?” Qu Yi shouted as he chased after them.
“You still dare to run? Watch me crush you!” Wu Yuan yelled angrily, quickly throwing his divine weapon, the Glowing Seal.
“Escape? Impossible.” Qingwugui was straightforward. He soared into the air and blocked their path ahead.
Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui all had unique abilities. In this environment filled with chaotic elemental energies, they could influence those energies, reducing the constraints imposed on them.
Qu Yi and his companions were much faster than the three from Qingfeng Fortress. Especially Qingwugui, who used the Heart of the Five Elements to manipulate the surrounding elemental energies, allowing him to float in the air. His speed was thus several times faster than that of the members of Qingfeng Fortress.
The Glowing Seal descended from the sky and landed right in front of one of the members of Qingfeng Fortress, blocking his escape route.
By then, Qingwugui had reached ahead of the three members of Qingfeng Fortress. He swiftly thrust his sword with golden patterns forward, blocking the one who was leading the way.
Instantly, the three members of Qingfeng Fortress slowed down, forced to face another attack from Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui.

“The three of you, stop pressing us anymore. We swear we won’t tell the chief of our camp about those two deaths, so you don’t need to worry. Our chief of Qingfeng Camp has already reached the Divine Weapon stage. If we die, he will surely come to avenge us,” the bare-chested man shouted calmly.

Hearing these words, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui were all stunned. Clearly, they hadn’t expected there to be someone at the Divine Weapon stage in the Hundred Camps Mountain Area. It was easy to infer that Qu Wanguo, the mayor of Huoxin Town, hadn’t taken action to eliminate those bandits despite their presence in his territory because those bandit camps also had people at the same Divine Weapon stage.

Seeing the expressions on Qu Yi and his companions, the three from Qingfeng Camp thought their reputation had scared them and felt proud.

“Is that so? Just because your chief is at the Divine Weapon stage, do we have to be afraid? Since you’ve revealed your identities, there’s no way we can let you go. You’d better die in peace,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

With hatred already established between the two sides, there was no room for negotiation.

Upon hearing this, the three from Qingfeng Camp’s faces changed instantly. They looked around anxiously, trying to find a chance to escape.

At that moment, Qing Wu Gui softly said, “Leave these three to me.”

As soon as he spoke, he wielded the divine sword, Golden Pattern Sword, and flew toward the bare-chested man, his expression cold and intent on killing him with a single strike.

“Bastards! You’ve offended Qingfeng Camp—you really can’t stand living!” the bare-chested man shouted angrily, but his face showed more anxiety and unease.

The scent of death had arrived, leaving these three members of Qingfeng Camp, who had practiced for tens of millions of years, filled with resentment.

Just as the bare-chested man tried to block with his sword, the Golden Pattern Sword was already above his head. A large golden net quickly covered him, trapping him and preventing him from moving.

Naturally, Qing Wu Gui followed up, driving the sword into the man’s body.

After three quick strikes, the bare-chested man was dead.

The remaining two men from Qingfeng Camp, seeing that even their strongest member couldn’t stop Qing Wu Gui’s strike, immediately knelt down in fear and began kowtowing nonstop.

“Elder, please don’t kill me. I’m willing to become your slave.”

“Elder, I submit to you. From now on, I’ll follow your orders in everything.”

The two even began to beg.

Seeing this, Qing Wu Gui merely smiled faintly. He swiftly thrust the Golden Pattern Sword, stabbing each of them in the head and killing them on the spot.

“I don’t need it,” Qingwugui said calmly.
Qu Yi and Wu Yuan saw that Qingwugui had already killed three people. They smiled at him and nodded in approval.
“Alright, the five people from Qingfeng Fort are dead. Let’s first obtain their Soul Beads, then go dig for those thousand Divine Crystal Trees,” Qu Yi immediately said.
Wu Yuan and Qingwugui both nodded.
At that moment, the Artifact God suddenly said softly, “It’s a pity that none of these five people’s Soul Beads can be used.”
Hearing this, Qu Yi stopped in his tracks and asked puzzledly, “Artifact God, could you explain what you just said in more detail? I’m not quite understanding.”
Wu Yuan and Qingwugui were also confused. In the Divine Realm of the Fallen Domain, they had obtained the Soul Beads of soul-bodied people and refined them, quickly enhancing their own Soul Flowers. So, upon hearing the Artifact God’s words, they couldn’t understand why these five people’s Soul Beads couldn’t be used.
“Do you remember when you registered your identity cards in the Ascension Manor of Fei City, there was a certification array? Once your blood entered those identity cards, your soul imprints were recorded as well. That’s why every cultivator in the Divine Realm has their soul imprint recorded. If you try to refine another cultivator’s Soul Bead, two soul imprints will be intertwined. Then, the powerful figures in the Divine Realm will discover it, and you’ll be killed immediately,” the Artifact God explained calmly.
Hearing this, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui immediately understood.
Each cultivator’s soul imprint is unique, meaning their Soul Beads are also unique. If you want to refine a certain Soul Bead, two Soul Beads—thus two soul imprints—will exist in one soul space, which will surely be detected by some powerful figures who control the rules in the Divine Realm.
“Artifact God, then I’m confused. How could we refine the Soul Beads of those soul-bodied people in the Divine Realm of the Fallen Domain?” the Artifact God asked right away.
Wu Yuan and Qingwugui’s eyes lit up; they were also very curious about Qu Yi’s question.
“It’s simple. Because those soul-bodied people aren’t subject to the rules of the Divine Realm, so those powerful figures there can’t control them,” the Artifact God replied calmly.
After hearing this, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qingwugui all exhaled in understanding, as if they had suddenly realized something.

“The Artifact God, if that’s the case, then in the future I can take the cultivators from the Divine Realm to the Meteor Domain Divine Realm, search extensively for Soul Beings, and seize their Soul Bead orbs. That way, these cultivators can safely refine those Soul Bead orbs,” Qu Yi asked excitedly after thinking of some possibilities.
Cultivators in the Divine Realm would first grasp one complete set of laws before moving on to others, which made their cultivation progress extremely slow. If they could directly refine Soul Bead orbs, their cultivation would naturally become much easier.
“Yes,” the Artifact God replied affirmatively.
Hearing this, Qu Yi’s body trembled slightly. He could already imagine that in the future, if he wanted to expand his influence in the Divine Realm, he could make great use of the Meteor Domain Divine Realm to rapidly strengthen his own power.
Qu Yi strived to stabilize his emotions before speaking calmly, “Wuyuan, Wuqing, let’s go dig those thousand Divine Crystal Trees first.”