Chapter 24: Concealing One’s Strength

Liu Xingui originally planned to fly after Qu Yi alone, but suddenly saw the nine beams emitted by the Nine-Jewel Dragon Crown and realized the situation had changed. He immediately flew back and then discovered the truth about the Dragon Emperor.

Qu Yi also intended to kill the Dragon Emperor with a single strike, but thanks to the secret warning from the Divine Weapon Spirit, he knew Liu Xingui was coming. So, he did not reveal his true strength and deliberately let the Dragon Emperor trap him temporarily.

After Liu Xingui killed the dragon with one strike, the Dragon Binding Technique disappeared, revealing Qu Yi’s figure. At that moment, Qu Yi leaped forward, wielding the divine weapon Rui Si Wood. He quickly summoned a strand of Green Silk, gathering two hundred thousand Wood Element Spirits into it, and in an instant, he appeared right in front of Liu Xingui.

“Hmph! You, a being at the Divine Being stage, still trying to play tricks in front of me, Liu Xingui? You really have no idea what heaven and earth are.” Liu Xingui snapped coldly, though his expression remained calm. He utterly disdained Qu Yi’s surprise attack.

Liu Xingui gently waved his divine weapon, Clear Water Sword, and immediately a field of ice energy appeared, blocking the advance of Green Silk and freezing it in place.

“Qu Yi, you, someone who has just ascended to the Divine Realm, actually possess two hundred thousand spirits within you. This far exceeds my expectations. But you have no idea how terrifying a being at the Divine Weapon stage can be.” Liu Xingui did not rush to attack Qu Yi. Instead, he spoke smilingly, as if he wanted to give Qu Yi a proper lesson before killing him, so that Qu Yi could die with peace of mind.

The spells cast by a being at the Divine Weapon stage contained two types of laws. Compared to the attacks using Spirit Kingdoms at the Divine Being stage, the combined spell attacks of the Divine Weapon stage were like an egg colliding with a rock.

Qu Yi also stopped attacking Liu Xingui. Standing quietly on the ground, he smiled and said, “You must be the chief of Qingfeng Fort. Truly befitting of a being at the Divine Weapon stage. The last strike of the strength I retained from the Dragon Emperor was easily blocked by you. Now I understand how terrifying a Divine Weapon stage being can be. But it’s not that easy for you to kill me.”

Liu Xingui looked at Qu Yi in surprise. He couldn’t understand Qu Yi. With such a huge difference in strength, Qu Yi seemed completely unfazed by death, remaining so calm.

Immediately, Liu Xingui’s eyes lit up as she smiled and said, “I see now. The Dragon Emperor said you possess a powerful divine artifact. It seems you plan to rely on its power to protect yourself. Haha, you really just ascended to the divine realm—how could you not know that even the most powerful divine artifacts need to be sustained by one’s own divine essence? No matter how strong your artifact is, I can exhaust you.”

Now, from Qu Yi’s tone, Liu Xingui had guessed that the level of the divine artifact he possessed was even higher than that Nine-Bead Dragon Crown, which filled her with immense joy. As for the deaths of the members of Qingfeng Fort, on the surface, Liu Xingui, as the leader, had to show some concern by pretending to be saddened, but deep down, she cared nothing about their deaths. Her own strength was what mattered most. After learning that Qu Yi had a powerful divine artifact, she was extremely relieved about this expedition.

“That’s right. I do have a few divine artifacts on me. It won’t be easy for you to kill me. Now, let me show you what teleportation is.” Qu Yi smiled, looking at Liu Xingui happily.

Qu Yi picked up the Divine Artifact Ruisi Wood again and shot out another strand of green thread—twenty thousand more Wood Spirit Entities this time. As long as he had enough divine essence, he could continuously summon these spirits to attack. With the Xingluo Ding, he didn’t have to worry about a lack of divine essence. At this point, he didn’t want to pretend his divine essence was running out; instead, he wanted to confront Liu Xingui head-on.

“You brat was acting just now! You must have another divine artifact to replenish your divine essence, otherwise you couldn’t recover so quickly. This is amazing—you possess so many divine artifacts! It’s fate that I, Liu Xingui, will rise in the divine realm in the future!” Liu Xingui waved her Qingshui Sword to block the green thread and shouted excitedly.

Seeing his attacks blocked so easily by Liu Xingui, Qu Yi wasn’t discouraged at all. He stepped forward again, using Ruisi Wood to summon another strand of green thread to keep attacking.

“How boring. Can’t you come up with something new? Always using the same green thread attack,” Liu Xingui said with a faint smile.

She swung her Qingshui Sword, not only blocking the green thread but also advancing swiftly. The sword tip suddenly appeared right in front of Qu Yi’s head, ready to split him in two with a single strike.

Ding!

Suddenly, a card shaped like a purple magnolia flew out from Qu Yi’s head, blocking Liu Xingui’s Qingshui Sword. It was a Divine Art Card that Qu Yi had summoned.

“This is… could this be a divine artifact at the Divine General level?” Liu Xingui’s body trembled as she stared at Qu Yi in excitement. The Clear Water Sword was a divine artifact at the Divine Weapon level, and since it hadn’t managed to cut through the Divine Formula card just now, Liu Xingui could easily guess that these Divine Formula cards were at least at the Divine General level. Qu Yi continuously unleashing divine artifacts only made Liu Xingui even more excited—having more divine artifacts would allow her to rise rapidly in the divine realm in the future. Of course, that was on the condition that she killed Qu Yi first. But Qu Yi didn’t respond; instead, he continued to activate the divine artifact Rui Si Mu, releasing another strand of green energy—energy condensed from two hundred thousand Wood Element spirits—making it too dangerous for Liu Xingui to confront head-on. “Boring!” Liu Xingui was enraged by Qu Yi’s attack method, which was nothing but a despicable tactic. As she spoke, she swung the Clear Water Sword, casting another magnificent spell: the Water and Wood Parallel Technique. From the tip of the sword, a green sword aura emerged on the left, containing two hundred thousand Wood Element spirits, while a blue sword aura appeared on the right, containing two hundred thousand Water Element spirits. The green sword aura blocked Qu Yi’s green strand of energy, while the blue one aimed straight at his body. This was the terrifying power of a cultivator at the Divine Weapon level—mastering two laws simultaneously allowed them to use both in attacks, leaving cultivators at the Divine Being level with no chance of winning. Ding! Qu Yi threw another Divine Formula card, blocking the blue sword aura once more and thus avoiding damage from it. “Still that defensive divine artifact? I wonder how many times you can use it to defend yourself. With my skills at the Divine Weapon level, you have no chance of surviving,” Liu Xingui shouted angrily. After several attacks without killing Qu Yi, she had lost a great deal of face as a Divine Weapon level cultivator. She swung the Clear Water Sword again, using the Water and Wood Parallel Technique—two lightning-fast sword auras targeting Qu Yi’s body. Each aura contained two hundred thousand spirits, making them incredibly powerful. But at that moment, Qu Yi’s body disappeared. The two sword auras missed completely. “Impossible! Where did Qu Yi go? How could he vanish so suddenly?” Liu Xingui stared blankly ahead, shouting in shock and regret after confirming that there was no sign of him. Just then, Qu Yi appeared behind her. “Well? Didn’t I say you can’t kill me?” Qu Yi’s voice rang out cheerfully.

Liu Xingui turned sharply, staring at Qu Yi, who was ten meters away. It was hard to believe what she saw. Then, something occurred to her, and her face broke into a wild smile.
“I get it. You possess a spatial artifact—one that allows travel through space. Hmph, though you can use it to escape, you still have no chance against me.” Liu Xingui suddenly laughed loudly.
As she spoke, she swiftly swung her Qingshui Sword again, causing water and wood spirit entities to fill the air around them. The entire space was enveloped in this realm created by the fusion of these two types of spirits.
Qu Yi didn’t have time to fly away and was also trapped by this spatial barrier.
“This is my Water-Wood Fusion Space. Here, I am the ruler. If you want to use your spatial artifact to escape, you’ll have to defeat me first.” Liu Xingui’s voice echoed in the space.
Soon, Qu Yi noticed that the water and wood spirit entities were flying everywhere, launching relentless attacks at him. In this space, he realized Liu Xingui’s true strength—her water spirit entities numbered 400,000, while her wood spirit entities numbered 500,000. Although among cultivators at the Divine Weapon stage, Liu Xingui was only of average strength, against cultivators at the Divine Being stage, she indeed had the ability to kill them instantly.
However, for Qu Yi, a special Divine Being cultivator, many rules no longer applied.
As the fierce water and wood spirit entities attacked, Qu Yi showed no fear. He kept swinging his Divine Weapon, Ruisi Wood, sending out strands of green threads to counter Liu Xingui’s incoming spirits.
At this point, Liu Xingui aimed to exhaust Qu Yi’s divine essence completely by relying on the sheer number of spirits in her own body, leaving him powerless to resist.
Ten days later!
Qu Yi still had enough strength to deal with Liu Xingui’s spirit attacks, but Liu Xingui, who was maintaining the spatial barrier outside, felt utterly exhausted. She realized her own divine essence was on the verge of failing.
“That’s impossible. Qu Yi only has 200,000 spirits. How can he have lasted this long? Ten days! Even if he has an artifact to replenish his divine essence, it’s impossible for him to hold on this long.” Liu Xingui was filled with frustration but couldn’t figure out the real reason.
Just then, the ‘Water-Wood Fusion Space’ she was maintaining suddenly exploded.

Qu Yi held the divine weapon, Ruisi Wood, in his hands. Just now, he had summoned one million Wood Element spirits, which immediately wiped out all the Water and Wood Element spirits in that space, thus breaking Liu Xingui’s spells as well.
“No!” Liu Xingui was utterly terrified.
One million spirits!
At the Divine Being level, he already had one million spirits within his body!
His first reaction was to flee, giving up any hope of obtaining Qu Yi’s divine weapon.
Though divine weapons were valuable, life was more important.
Qu Yi had been waiting for this opportunity. By hiding his true strength, he aimed to deplete Liu Xingui’s divine essence, so that when he unleashed his full power, he could kill Liu Xingui. Otherwise, if he had summoned one million spirits from the start, although it might have injured Liu Xingui, it would have been impossible to stop him from escaping.
Liu Xingui escaping was one thing, but Qu Yi couldn’t allow him to reveal that he possessed a divine weapon—that was the main reason why Qu Yi had to kill him. Therefore, Qu Yi had to feign weakness first, waiting until Liu Xingui was at his weakest before striking.
At that moment, when he saw Liu Xingui trying to escape, a cold smile appeared on Qu Yi’s lips.
“Trying to escape? That’s impossible. You’ve already lost your chance,” Qu Yi shouted, then his body vanished suddenly.
Before Liu Xingui could fly even ten meters, Qu Yi reappeared in front of him. The divine weapon, Ruisi Wood, had already summoned a green thread as thick as an arm, with one million spirits gathered within it.
“Ah…”
Liu Xingui, the chief of Qingfeng Fort, could only utter a cry before his entire body exploded.
Qu Yi smiled slightly, quickly taking back the Dragon Emperor’s Nine Pearl Dragon Crown and Liu Xingui’s Clear Water Sword, as well as both of their space rings. He then summoned the Black Tide Divine Fire to destroy their bodies.
“People at the Divine Weapon level are just this good. I really want to go see the Hundred Forts Mountain Region,” Qu Yi said with a smile before vanishing instantly.