Chapter 32: Three Years

Qu Yi, Zhu Chen, and Qing Yiyi sat on separate stones, the atmosphere among them harmonious.
“Elder Chief, tell me about the situation in the Hundred Forts Mountain Region now,” Qu Yi said. Having reached a cooperation agreement with Zhu Chen, he now regarded Tianfeng Fort as his own family and naturally cared deeply about the Hundred Forts Mountain Region as well.
In fact, when Qu Yi controlled Qing Yiyi’s soul, he had already gained a basic understanding of the region. Still, he wanted to ask Zhu Chen again to confirm once more his sincerity in cooperating.
Zhu Chen smiled faintly and replied directly, “In the Hundred Forts Mountain Region, there are not less than a hundred mountain forts—actually, there are over a thousand. However, only five can truly be considered large-scale fortresses. Now that Qingfeng Fort has been destroyed, there are only four left. First, Tianyu Fort, in the east; second, Tianchen Fort, in the south; third, Tianfeng Fort, in the west; fourth, Langri Fort, in the north. My plan is that once you’ve crafted the divine artifacts, we’ll first eliminate Langri Fort in the north and seize half of the region. Then, we’ll engage in a decisive battle with Tianchen Fort.”
Qing Yiyi wasn’t very interested in these matters, but she found Qu Yi mysterious and wanted to know more about him, so she kept staring at him.
Qu Yi glared at Qing Yiyi before smiling at Zhu Chen and saying, “Elder Chief, how about this? Bring all the ores from Tianfeng Fort here, and record the requirements for the divine artifacts of all its members. I’ll craft two thousand divine artifacts as soon as possible. Three years should be enough time.”
Zhu Chen’s eyes lit up, his smile becoming somewhat unnatural.
“Qu Yi, with your help, it would be unjust if Tianfeng Fort didn’t rule the Hundred Forts Mountain Region. Don’t worry—I’ll bring all the ores from Tianfeng Fort right away. Those ores have been unused until now, but now they’ll finally come in handy,” Zhu Chen said happily.
Qu Yi nodded, then glanced at Qing Yiyi and smiled, “Go back with the Elder Chief and bring all the ores. From now on, you’ll stay by my side. I want to train you.”
Qing Yiyi was stunned, then her cheeks turned red as she lowered her head and twisted her waist, clearly shy.
Zhu Chen was momentarily stunned. Qing Yiyi was usually so bold—how could she change like this just because of Qu Yi’s words? Then, recalling Qu Yi’s words, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Fifth Sister, since Qu Yi has taken a liking to you, just give in,” Zhu Chen exclaimed excitedly, waving his hands wildly.
Qing Yiyi trembled all over.

Qu Yi finally understood that it was his words that had led these two to misunderstand. “It’s not what you think… Forget it, do as you please. Alright, you two go back to Tianfeng Fort and bring all the ore here quickly,” Qu Yi said gloomily, looking at Qing Yiyi helplessly.

Zhu Chen smiled at Qu Yi, his expression clearly showing his thoughts—Qu Yi, stop being hypocritical. As a man, it’s normal to be attracted to a charming woman like Qing Yiyi.

Qing Yiyi, however, sensed from Qu Yi’s words that he wasn’t interested in her beauty but truly wanted to train her skills. With a soft sigh, her expression showed a hint of disappointment.

Soon, Qing Yiyi called over the Golden Crown Eagle, then she and Zhu Chen mounted its back and flew away immediately.

※※※

Three days later, Qing Yiyi returned on the Golden Crown Eagle, landing in the mountainous area. Qu Yi had been waiting on a rock the whole time. Now that Qing Yiyi was here, he immediately opened his eyes, stood up, and smiled at her.

“Alright, you’re here now. I’ll take you to a place right away,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Before Qing Yiyi could react, Qu Yi was already beside her. A vast and mysterious aura spread out, causing her body to tremble suddenly. She thought Qu Yi might have ulterior motives toward her.

The next moment, Qu Yi and Qing Yiyi entered the Dimensional Sphere. Nearby, the Artifact God lay on a soft chair.

“Artifact God, I’ve brought this person here. Over the next few years, please help her. Help her reach the Divine Weapon level and improve her Soul Art as well,” Qu Yi said with a smile as soon as he landed.

It turned out that Qu Yi’s plan to train Qing Yiyi came from the Artifact God’s message—the Artifact God intended to help her improve her strength.

Qing Yiyi suddenly found herself in the Dimensional Sphere, looking panicked. Then she saw the Artifact God lying on the soft chair and burst into loud laughter, her body swaying enticingly.

“Qu Yi, is this your son? This baby is so cute,” Qing Yiyi said as she rushed toward the soft chair where the Artifact God was.

The Artifact God suddenly disappeared.

Qu Yi froze like a statue, his face full of shock as he stared at Qing Yiyi.

“Qing Yiyi, don’t talk nonsense! That’s the Artifact God. His body is just that of a baby. He’ll be the one to train you from now on,” Qu Yi shouted urgently, his expression tense and filled with concern for her.

The Body of the Artifact God reappeared beside the soft chair at that moment.
“Artifact God!”
Upon hearing Qu Yi’s words, Qing Yiyi’s entire body suddenly turned into stone as well. Her face turned pale, and she stared at the Artifact God as if she had seen a ghost.
“You are the Artifact God… you must be that one…” Qing Yiyi looked at the Artifact God in terror, screaming in shock, but the Artifact God stopped her.
“My identity will be revealed later,” the Artifact God said, waving his little hand to silence Qing Yiyi’s cries.
Qu Yi was surprised. It seemed the Artifact God was quite famous in the divine realm before, and Qing Yiyi clearly knew of his reputation. However, seeing the Artifact God personally stop her from speaking, Qu Yi realized it wasn’t the right time to try to uncover his identity.
“Alright, I’ll return to the Village of All Beasts. Artifact God, please train Qing Yiyi well.” With that, Qu Yi left the Dimensional Sphere.
※※※
Qu Yi emerged from the mountains and returned to his stone castle.
Naturally, the villagers of the Village of All Beasts sensed his arrival through their divine senses, each wondering what he had been up to during his few days away from the castle.
It wasn’t long before they got their answer.
Qu Yi went to his Divine Crystal Forest and began working hard there. He took out a hoe-shaped divine artifact and quickly dug over thirty thousand pits in the ground.
The villagers noticed Qu Yi’s activities and immediately guessed what he was trying to do, filled with amazement.
“Good heavens! Qu Yi went to the mountains these past few days—could it be to dig up Divine Crystal Trees?”
“That’s impossible! In less than five days, how could he dig up over thirty thousand Divine Crystal Trees? It’s utterly impossible.”
“I get it now. It must be those two who disappeared—Wuyuan and Qingwugui. They’ve been searching for Divine Crystal Trees in the Savage Beast Mountains. Qu Yi left the castle to collect the ones they found.”
“Thirty thousand Divine Crystal Trees! Even if someone searched for thirty million years, they wouldn’t be able to find that many. Qu Yi has only been in the Village of All Beasts for over twenty years, yet he’s already gathered them all.”
……
The villagers were shocked by Qu Yi’s actions. Without thinking about whether he might resent them, they all sent out their divine senses to keep an eye on him.
Qu Yi took out a storage device, and one by one, the Divine Crystal Trees appeared.
These trees were also ten meters tall, fully mature. Qu Yi had continuously “fed” them with Chaos Crystals inside the Dimensional Sphere, causing all of them to mature.

He walked to each pit one by one and planted a Divine Crystal Tree. Qu Yi planted over 30,000 Divine Crystal Trees in total. Now, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui had completed their task of planting Divine Crystal Trees, and Qu Yi had also made up for the number missing due to Meng Hu. As a result, the three of them became official members of the Divine Realm, and now they only needed to pay one million Divine Crystal Trees each. After planting all the Divine Crystal Trees, Qu Yi immediately entered the ‘Three Tripod Gate’ stone fortress to continue his work on crafting artifacts. The villagers of Bai Shou Village were terrified by Qu Yi’s ability to produce over 30,000 Divine Crystal Trees in one go; almost all of them paused their breathing for a moment. At that moment, all the villagers realized how terrifying Qu Yi’s mystery truly was, and they knew they must never do anything harmful to him, or else their lives would be at risk. Qu Yi’s prestige had reached a terrifying level invisibly. Inside the stone fortress, Qu Yi was now dedicating himself fully to crafting divine artifacts. With only three years left, he naturally focused on helping Tian Feng Zhai craft those 2,000 divine artifacts. With the Star Luo Tripod, it was easy—he could craft ten or twenty at a time, rapidly producing one divine artifact after another. During these three years, Qing Yi Yi remained inside the Dimensional Sphere, constantly trained by the Artifact God. First, Qing Yi Yi needed to break through to the Divine Weapon stage. Currently, she had only mastered the complete Water Element Law and was now learning the Wood Element Law. Once she fully understood it, she would be able to reach the Divine Weapon stage. Second, regarding her soul techniques, with the Artifact God as a master of soul arts, she could learn the highest-level soul techniques, allowing her skills to improve rapidly. At the very least, her soul techniques would possess strong offensive power when facing cultivators at the Divine Weapon stage in the future. Although Qu Yi wasn’t worried that Zhu Chen might change his mind later, he still felt more at ease having someone of his own in Tian Feng Zhai. Once Qing Yi Yi reached the Divine Weapon stage, she would truly hold the power of the village leader and be able to speak with authority within Tian Feng Zhai. The reason the previous four village leaders allowed Qing Yi Yi to become the fifth leader was mainly due to the potential of her soul techniques. However, the power in Tian Feng Zhai was evenly shared among those four leaders. Time passed quickly. Three years had arrived.