Chapter 14: A Human Face with a Beast’s Heart

Before Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui, there was a small pool about one meter in size, filled with white liquid. In the center of the pool lay a black stone.
This black stone had a strange appearance—its part above the water surface resembled a human face, vivid and lifelike.
From the mouth of this human face, a kind of aura kept emanating. This aura seeped into the cave walls before rising upward and spreading throughout the valley above.
The cave was filled with this aura emitted by the human face. After breathing it in, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui all felt their bodies become lighter, more relaxed, and their minds clearer.
In fact, the Golden-Horned Wild Sheep that once occupied the Valley’s Divine Crystal Tree were able to enhance their strength overall and match that of theWild Wind Wolf precisely because they obtained this aura. Over time, it greatly improved their strength.
However, at that moment, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui were not focused on this peculiar stone but rather watched the pool of water intently.
“What’s the use of this Body-Washing Jade Osmium Liquid?” Qu Yi asked directly.
Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui also knew this liquid must have some use; otherwise, the Artifact God wouldn’t have ordered them to dig down. So they waited calmly for the Artifact God’s reply.
“For you, Qu Yi, it doesn’t serve much purpose. Your Chaos Energy has already refined your body to perfection. But Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui can use this Body-Washing Jade Osmium Liquid to refine their bodies, raising their physical strength to a new level. At that time, the limit on the number of spiritual entities in their bodies will also increase,” the Artifact God replied happily.
Undoubtedly, these words excited Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui.
In the divine realm, aside from mastery of laws, the strength of cultivators depends on the number of spiritual entities they possess. Naturally, improving physical strength, which in turn expands the limit on the number of spiritual entities, also enhances their strength.
“Artifact God, hurry up and tell us how we can obtain this Body-Washing Jade Osmium Liquid!” Qing Wu Gui, usually calm, could hardly hold back his eagerness and asked urgently.
“It’s simple. Let Qu Yi use his Inch-Realm Ball to collect it. Just collect this liquid and store it in jade,” the Artifact God replied calmly.
Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui immediately turned to Qu Yi, their expressions making it clear: “Qu Yi, why don’t you take action?”

Qu Yi chuckled and immediately went to the side of the pool. With a thought, the Dimensional Ball emerged from his soul space and flew straight above the pool. In an instant, all the water in the pool disappeared, revealing the full shape of the special stone inside. On top of the stone was a human face, while below it was the shape of a heart that was contracting rapidly, beating just like a real heart. “What… what kind of stone is this?” Qu Yi was stunned. When he was in the cultivation world, he had obtained a divine stone called the Star-Stabilizing Stone, which could also contract freely. But this stone here was pulsing automatically and rhythmically, and it even emitted a soothing aura, which was truly astonishing. Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui heard Qu Yi’s words and rushed over immediately. Upon seeing the full shape of the stone, they were equally shocked. “Interesting. It’s actually a Human-Face Beast-Heart Stone,” the Voice of the Divine Tool said lightly. Human-face beast-heart? Hearing this, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui almost couldn’t stand still from laughing. They really wanted to laugh but held back. However, the name indeed suited the appearance of this stone well. “Alright, let’s call it the Human-Face Beast-Heart Stone. What’s its use?” Qu Yi asked, trying to suppress his laughter and showing great interest. “Don’t you feel the soothing aura emitted by this Human-Face Beast-Heart Stone? For you three, it can keep you focused during cultivation. But its greatest use is to lure fierce beasts,” the Voice of the Divine Tool said with a hint of amusement. That made sense. The aura emitted by this stone could indeed make fierce beasts feel comfortable and sense an improvement in their strength, making it a precious treasure for them. “I see. With this Human-Face Beast-Heart Stone, I can lure fierce beasts in the Fierce Beast Mountains and kill many of them to obtain beast cores,” Qu Yi said excitedly. Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui understood what Qu Yi meant and smiled happily. “I think the three of you should cultivate here for a while first. Ten thousand beast cores fromWild Wind Wolf and fifty thousand fromGolden Horned Sheep will be enough to elevate your strength to the peak of the Divine Human stage,” the Voice of the Divine Tool reminded them. One beast core equals a hundred spiritual entities.

There are now 50,000 Golden Beast Cores, which is equivalent to 5 million Golden Spirit Entities. For Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui, this allows them to expand the number of Golden Spirit Entities in their bodies to the limit. Moreover, with the Body-Cleansing Jade Oolite Liquid available now, they can significantly enhance their physical strength, further increasing the limit on the number of Spirit Entities in their bodies. Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui can even focus on cultivation for a while.

“That’s good. We’ve already found over 18,000 Divine Crystal Trees. It won’t take long before we have them all. There’s really no need to rush to find more Divine Crystal Trees,” Qu Yi said happily.

“Ugh, Qu Yi, let me enter the Dimension Ball quickly! I want to expand the number of Golden Spirit Entities in my body!” Wu Yuan cried out urgently.

“Give me 5,000 Golden Beast Cores,” Qing Wu Gui said simply.

Qu Yi nodded and immediately took Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui into the Dimension Ball.

※※※

In the Bai Zhai Mountain Area of Huo Xin Town, there are towering mountains and a harsh environment. In this mountainous region, there are 100 bandit camps that specialize in robbing cultivators who enter the Violent Beast Mountains. Sometimes, they also attack nearby villages. Most of these bandits are cultivators who have recently ascended to the Divine Realm. Since they were once powerful figures in the lower realms, they refused to settle down in villages doing menial work. Instead, they gathered in the Bai Zhai Mountain Area to rob and acquire various Divine Crystals for cultivation.

In the Bai Zhai Mountain Area, Qing Feng Camp ranks second in strength, with its base located in the northern part of the region. Qing Feng Camp has three leaders: the chief leader Liu Xin Gui, the second leader Nan Sen Qiang, and the third leader Jin Ao. Both the chief leader and the second leader are at the Divine Weapon stage, which is why Qing Feng Camp holds the fifth strongest position in the area.

At Qing Feng Camp’s base, there are three main halls that serve as the meeting place for the camp.

At that moment, in the main hall of the three main halls, a burly man with fierce eyes sat on the tiger throne, exuding an overwhelming aura that made it hard for others to look directly at him. This man was Liu Xin Gui, the chief leader of Qing Feng Camp.

On either side of Liu Xin Gui were seats for the second and third leaders. The seat of the second leader was empty, but the person sitting on the seat of the third leader was none other than the Dragon Emperor.

Yes, it was the Dragon Emperor who had survived the divine tribulation in the Ruin Realm and ascended to the Divine Realm.

The Dragon Emperor had become the third leader of Qing Feng Camp.

In the Realm of Falling Stars, after realizing he could not escape Qu Yi’s pursuit, the Dragon Emperor had no choice but to endure a divine tribulation and then ascend to the divine realm. The place where the Dragon Emperor ascended was also near Fei City, specifically in a village called Jushou Village in Huoxin Town, not far from the Baizhai Mountain Range. The Dragon Emperor was assigned to plant Divine Crystal Trees. At first, he wanted to carefully search for them, but after over a hundred years, he still hadn’t found a hundred such trees, and his patience ran out.

Once, the Dragon Emperor was the ruler of the entire Golden Dragon Star Domain and the head of the dragon race, yet now he was reduced to planting Divine Crystal Trees—how could he remain calm? Coincidentally, while searching for Divine Crystal Trees in a mountainous area, he encountered Nan Senqiang, the second leader of Qingfeng Camp. At that time, Nan Senqiang had not yet reached the Divine Weapon stage, and their duel ended in a draw. So, the Dragon Emperor followed Nan Senqiang to Qingfeng Camp and became the third leader.

Inside the main hall of the three leaders, the chief leader Liu Xingui glanced at his nine subordinates.

“Do you really think our five members were killed? And we don’t even know who our enemies are?” Liu Xingui shouted angrily after hearing the reports from his subordinates.

These nine men were those who had followed the second leader of Qingfeng Camp into the Beast Mountain Range. They obeyed his orders and returned to Qingfeng Camp to report what had happened.

“Chief Leader, that place is the Beast Mountain Range, where the primal energies of the five elements are in chaos. All traces of combat energy have long disappeared. After discussing it with the second leader, we determined only two possibilities: either monks from nearby villages united to kill our five brothers from Qingfeng Camp, or monks at the Divine Weapon stage entered the Beast Mountain Range, found the Divine Crystal Tree forest we discovered, killed our five brothers, and took the trees away,” said a steady-looking man among them.

“And the second leader? He didn’t return?” The Dragon Emperor spoke up. He had known the second leader for the longest time and had a good relationship with him.

“The second leader told us nine of us to return while he would go alone into the Beast Mountain Range to search for the enemy,” the men replied in unison.

Hearing their words, Chief Leader Liu Xingui understood the second leader’s plan and felt relieved.

“Did the second leader ask you to bring any message?” Liu Xingui asked calmly, his expression softening.

The steady-looking man answered again, “Chief Leader, the second leader asked us to tell you to send people from Qingfeng Camp to investigate the nearby villages, to observe any changes there, and determine whether it might be the work of monks from those villages.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Xingui nodded calmly. With two possible scenarios, it was necessary to investigate both sides in order to identify the culprit as soon as possible. As a cultivator at the Divine Weapon stage, Liu Xingui wouldn’t care much about the death of one or two members. However, as the leader of the clan, if he remained indifferent to the deaths of his clan members, it would dishearten everyone, making it difficult for him to lead the clan in the future. Therefore, Liu Xingui had to take action. “Alright, as the second leader suggests, half of our thousand brothers from Qingfeng Clan will go to the nearby villages,” Liu Xingui said, standing up and shouting loudly. The Dragon Emperor also stood up immediately. “The chief leader is wise!” the nine people exclaimed at once.