Chapter 21: You Think I Don’t Know

Inside Beast Village.
Bai Huduo went to Village Chief Xu Qiang’s residence, and the two sat side by side.
“Village Chief, I’ve already communicated with Zhong Liuxin. The members of Qingfeng Fortress can arrive here in less than a year,” said Tian Duo, smiling as he looked at the village chief.
Zhong Liuxin, one of Qingfeng Fortress’s members, had been practicing outside Beast Village, keeping an eye on Qu Yi’s situation.
“Good. Now that Qu Yi has caught Qingfeng Fortress’s attention, even if he isn’t the killer of their members, he’ll hardly escape. In that case, let’s not resist. Secretly inform the other villagers that Qingfeng Fortress is coming. Tell them not to leave their homes and to continue practicing in peace,” said Xu Qiang calmly.
The two had already set up barriers around them, so there was no need for telepathy—since the villagers’ minds couldn’t penetrate, they couldn’t hear their conversation.
Hearing this, Tian Duo smiled, leaned closer to Xu Qiang, and whispered, “Village Chief, taking this opportunity, should we move away the Divine Crystal Trees of Li Sige, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu? That way, hehe…”
Li Sige, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu had lived in Beast Village for tens of millions of years, completed their planting tasks, and officially became members of the Divine Realm. The Divine Crystal Trees they planted became their personal wealth and no longer needed to be given to Beast Village.
However, as they wanted to explore other parts of the Divine Realm, they left their Divine Crystal Trees in Beast Village under an agreement that half of the harvest would go to them and half to the village.
The half of the harvest allocated to Li Sige, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu would be credited to their identity cards in the Fire Departure Divine Realm, allowing them to exchange Divine Crystals at any bank in the 108 cities of the Fire Departure Divine Realm.
As for the half going to Beast Village, 10% was reserved for the village chief’s management, while the remaining 90% was collected by representatives from the Fire Departure Divine Realm.
Xu Qiang’s greatest advantage as village chief was this 10% of the Divine Crystals. Of course, the saplings grown from those three people’s trees also belonged to the village chief, who could sell them to other villagers, thereby earning some Divine Crystals as well.
After hearing Tian Duo’s suggestion, Xu Qiang understood his plan. They could use Qingfeng Fortress’s attack on Qu Yi as an opportunity to take away the Divine Crystal Trees of Li Sige, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu. Once Qingfeng Fortress left, Xu Qiang could report to the mayor of Huoxin Town, claiming that Qingfeng Fortress had dug up the three trees.

In this way, Xu Qiang could use the name of Qingfeng Fort to legitimately take possession of the Divine Crystal Trees belonging to Li Siguai, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu. Thirty thousand Divine Crystal Trees would allow Xu Qiang to acquire a vast amount of wealth at once. “Good, after this is done, I’ll give you five thousand Divine Crystal Trees,” Xu Qiang said immediately. Hearing this, Tian Duo stood up right away and exclaimed excitedly, “Great! It’s settled then. Let me handle this task.” Receiving five thousand out of thirty thousand Divine Crystal Trees, Tian Duo knew Xu Qiang valued him highly, so he naturally couldn’t let Xu Qiang handle it personally. After that, the two discussed some detailed plans. ※※※ “Qu Yi, it’s time to set off now.” After staying in Bai Shou Village for a year, the Instrument God finally spoke up to remind Qu Yi. Qu Yi had already informed the Instrument God that once the people from Qingfeng Fort arrived, it should alert him, after which he would head to the mountainous area to lure them there. The mountainous area was filled with chaotic Five Elements primordial energy, making it impossible for cultivators at the Divine Human stage to sense what was inside. Qu Yi woke up from his meditation, opened his eyes, and showed a hint of mockery. “Good, I’ll leave Bai Shou Village now,” Qu Yi said as he landed on the ground with a smile. However, before he could take a step, the Instrument God sent another message through his consciousness: “Qu Yi, things are quite interesting. That Dragon Emperor is actually the third leader of Qingfeng Fort. You’re about to meet an old friend now.” Indeed, upon hearing this, Qu Yi was stunned and couldn’t react right away. What a coincidence! But after thinking about it, he came to terms with it. After all, he and the Dragon Emperor had ascended to different places—one to the Immortal Realm and the other to the Ruin Domain Divine Realm. It was possible they both ascended to Fei City at the same time and were then assigned to Huo Xin Town. “Perfect. The Dragon Emperor escaped to the Ruin Domain Divine Realm, but now that I’ve seen him again, I certainly can’t let him escape again,” Qu Yi said with a smile. Immediately after, he left his wooden house and headed straight for the mountainous area outside the village, as if he were about to re-enter the Savage Beast Mountains. Village chief Xu Qiang and squad leader Tian Duo had been keeping an eye on Qu Yi’s movements. Now that they saw him leave his house and head straight for the Savage Beast Mountains, they were speechless. “This…” Xu Qiang was at a loss for words. “Does this Qu Yi have an innate ability to sense danger? How lucky is he? He left just as the people from Qingfeng Fort were approaching,” Tian Duo said angrily.

What Xu Qiang and Tian Duo were annoyed about was that once Qu Yi left Bai Shou Village, the people from Qing Feng Zhai would no longer fight against him there, and the two of them would not be able to dig up the Divine Crystal Trees of Li Sigi, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu, nor could they obtain the Divine Crystals that came with them.
“Village head, what should we do now? Once Qu Yi leaves, we won’t be able to carry out our plan,” Tian Duo asked urgently.
Xu Qiang remained silent for a while before saying with a dark look in his eyes, “We’ll go after Qu Yi right now. Tell Zhong Liuxin that we’ll leave signals along the way so he can bring the people from Qing Feng Zhai over later.”
At this point, Xu Qiang analyzed that even if they couldn’t get the Divine Crystal Trees of Li Sigi, Wang Baoshu, and Zhang Wanfu, they still had to kill Qu Yi. After all, Qu Yi posed too great a threat to Xu Qiang’s position as village head, and Qu Yi had to be eliminated for that position to be secure.
Therefore, Xu Qiang decided to use the strength of Qing Feng Zhai to kill Qu Yi first and then think about what to do next.
Tian Duo nodded and immediately went to contact Zhong Liuxin.
※※※
“Qu Yi, stop.”
Behind him, Village Head Xu Qiang and Bai Hu Tian Duo were running fast toward him, with Tian Duo shouting even louder.
Qu Yi had been heading toward the mountainous area, not caring at all that these two wanted to bother him. Hearing their shouts, he finally stopped.
“Village head, Bai Hu, what brings you here?” Qu Yi asked in confusion.
Xu Qiang and Tian Duo arrived beside Qu Yi, caught their breath, and stared at him intently.
“Qu Yi, I see you’re about to enter the Baowu Mountain Range. We also want to go there, so we thought we could join you,” Xu Qiang said with a smile.
Tian Duo nodded immediately.
Qu Yi narrowed his eyes, looking troubled for a moment before smiling and saying, “Alright. I’ve only found two thousand Divine Crystal Trees, with another eight thousand still missing. I plan to find those eight thousand after entering the Baowu Mountain Range. Since the village head and Bai Hu are willing to come with me, I’m happy to have you. We can take care of each other along the way, and even if we encounter fierce beasts, we can drive them away.”
Initially, Xu Qiang and Tian Duo beamed with joy when they heard Qu Yi agree, but upon hearing the word “fierce beasts,” their expressions turned alarmed.
They had seen with their own eyes the strength of those fierce beasts. Facing them with their current level of Divine Man cultivation, they were likely to die, and even if they managed to defeat them, they would end up injured.

However, Xu Qiang immediately thought that by the time the three of them reached the Savage Beast Mountains, the people from Qingfeng Fort should be able to catch up. Thus, his mind felt a bit more at ease.
“Qu Yi, our luck can’t be that bad. It’s not possible to run into savage beasts so easily,” Xu Qiang said with a laugh.
“Right, we won’t encounter any savage beasts,” Tian Duo immediately agreed.
Qu Yi merely smiled and then said, “Let’s go. I’m in a hurry and don’t want to waste too much time on the road.”
With that, Qu Yi started running. Xu Qiang and Tian Duo had no choice but to follow him deeper into the mountains.
“Qu Yi, where are Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui, the two who entered the village with you? Weren’t they supposed to go into the mountains with you? Why haven’t they returned to Bai Shou Village?” Xu Qiang asked as he followed Qu Yi.
Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui had been cultivating in the Savage Beast Mountains all these years without contacting Qu Yi, which meant they were safe. But their absence from Bai Shou Village left Xu Qiang puzzled, thinking they might have died in the mountains.
Tian Duo listened attentively.
“They got separated from me in the Savage Beast Mountains. I don’t know where they are now, only that they’re still alive,” Qu Yi replied casually.
Xu Qiang nodded and stopped asking further. Since Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui were in the Savage Beast Mountains, they weren’t in this area and couldn’t come to help Qu Yi.
Realizing that Qu Yi was now alone, Xu Qiang felt even more confident. With the help of Qingfeng Fort, he could finally kill Qu Yi.
Behind them, Tian Duo left deep footprints on the ground at regular intervals as he ran. This was a secret signal agreed upon with Zhong Liuxin, designed to guide the people from Qingfeng Fort to find Qu Yi by following these footprints.
Qu Yi was aware of Tian Duo’s actions but didn’t expose him, continuing to run ahead without any suspicion.
※※※
Liu Xingui, the chief of Qingfeng Fort, and Long Huang, the third chief, along with ten of their subordinates, had already arrived at Bai Shou Village.
Zhong Liuxin stepped forward before these twelve people.
“Chief, third chief, Qu Yi just left Bai Shou Village and headed in the direction of the Savage Beast Mountains. Someone has connected with me and will help us keep Qu Yi occupied while also guiding us through his movements,” Zhong Liuxin reported on Qu Yi’s whereabouts.

Liu Xingui and the Dragon Emperor, after hearing this, said little and immediately led their eleven subordinates to the Savage Beast Mountains.
The Dragon Emperor wore a hint of pride on his face; it seemed he could already imagine Liu Xingui and Qu Yi fighting to the point of being severely injured and unable to continue, after which the Dragon Emperor would step in to take control and claim a pile of divine artifacts.
The Dragon Emperor had guessed that the second leader of the Second Camp, Nan Senqiang, was likely already killed by Qu Yi, and thus knew that Qu Yi’s strength was now comparable to Liu Xingui’s. The reason the Dragon Emperor was willing to let Liu Xingui go deal with Qu Yi was so that after the two fought, he could step in to resolve the situation, seize the divine artifacts, and then leave the Hundred Camps Mountains.
In the Divine Realm, the concepts of loyalty and friendship are extremely weak.
Of course, the people of the Qingfeng Camp saw the series of footprints along the way and chased after them, moving much faster than Qu Yi, Xu Qiang, and Tian Duo.
※※※
Qu Yi, along with Xu Qiang and Tian Duo, ran through the mountains at a slow pace.
The reason was that Xu Qiang and Tian Duo kept dragging him down; whenever they noticed Qu Yi speeding up, they would talk to him to slow him down.
Qu Yi naturally understood their intentions—they just wanted to buy time so that the people of Qingfeng Camp could catch up.
When they reached a narrow gorge in the mountains, Qu Yi suddenly stopped, turned to look at Xu Qiang and Tian Duo, and a triumphant smile appeared on his face.
Seeing Qu Yi’s smile, Xu Qiang and Tian Duo felt fear at the same time. Although both of them were strong enough to face Qu Yi, seeing his smile made them uneasy, as if he already knew their thoughts.
“You two have been leaving footprints the whole time. Do you think I don’t know?” Qu Yi said coldly, his expression changing.
Xu Qiang and Tian Duo stood up straight, no longer pretending, because they also realized that Qu Yi already knew their plan.
“Qu Yi, don’t blame us. The only one to blame is your mysterious strength and terrifying potential. We had to kill you,” Xu Qiang said calmly.
Since they had already been exposed, Xu Qiang didn’t bother pretending anymore.
Tian Duo also stared at Qu Yi coldly.
Qu Yi laughed heartily and said casually, “I know you colluded with Qingfeng Camp. But by the time the people from Qingfeng Camp arrive, you’ll already be dead.”
With that, Qu Yi took out the divine artifact, Ruisi Wood.