Chapter 37: The Fusion Begins

A total of 160,000 Firebeast Cores.
Qu Yi glanced at the Fire Rock Toads scattered across the ground and merely smiled faintly. He had long lost interest in those that had hidden in various mountains.
“Wuyuan, Wuqing—now that I’ve obtained the Firebeast Cores, I’ll next work to increase the number of Fire Spirit Entities within my body,” Qu Yi said excitedly, filled with ambition.
If he could refine 10,000 Firebeast Cores and raise the count of Fire Spirit Entities to one million, he might uncover the cultivation method of fusion—so naturally, he was very excited.
“Ugh, Qu Yi, go back by yourself. Wuqing and I still need to continue training in this Beast Mountain Range,” Wuyuan said enthusiastically.
In the Beast Mountain Range, Wuyuan could fight constantly—it was his paradise.
“Qu Yi, where are the divine artifacts you promised to forge for us?” Qing Wugui looked at Qu Yi calmly but firmly, determined not to let him go unless he handed over the artifacts.
Realizing this, Wuyuan immediately grabbed Qu Yi’s arm.
“Ugh, Qu Yi, hurry up and give us our divine artifacts!” Wuyuan shouted.
Qu Yi shook his head, then sent his consciousness into the Inch Realm Ball. He promptly took out the two artifacts and flew them into Wuyuan and Qing Wugui’s hands.
“These two artifacts—Wuyuan’s is the Nine Heavens Rod, and Wuqing’s is the Timeless Sword. Both are currently Gold-element divine artifacts. As your cultivation improves, you’ll be able to upgrade them,” Qu Yi explained with a smile.
The Nine Heavens Rod was two meters long, entirely made of dark gold, and exuded an intimidating presence, as if it could shatter anything. The Timeless Sword was only two fingers long, also made of dark gold, but it was adorned with a flowing golden light, giving it a lively appearance. It had two blade edges shaped like leaves, and its handle was so short that it could be held between two fingers—clearly designed for throwing and stabbing.
Wuyuan picked up the Nine Heavens Rod and rushed to a nearby mountain. He stood firmly, bent down, and channeled his Gold-element divine essence into the rod. It was then thrust skyward and suddenly smashed toward the mountain ahead.
Where the rod pointed, a fan-shaped golden axe appeared in the air, splitting the void effortlessly. The entire thousand-meter-high mountain was split in two.
One strike, and a mountain was split.
Wuyuan was thrilled by the power of the Nine Heavens Rod and immediately waved it toward Qu Yi.

“Ugh, Qu Yi, your Nine Heavens Staff is incredibly powerful—I really like it,” Wu Yuan exclaimed excitedly. He simply adored such a mighty weapon capable of fierce attacks.

At that moment, Qing Wu Gui held the Ruthless Years Blade in his right hand and suddenly thrust it forward, flying into a hundred-meter-tall tree ahead. In an instant, the inside of the tree exploded from top to bottom—the leaves burst apart, and the roots were shattered. Ruthless Years: a strike that meant death.

Qing Wu Gui connected his consciousness with the Ruthless Years Blade and promptly retrieved it, admiring it with satisfaction. “This blade is excellent,” he simply commented.

Seeing that both were pleased with the divine weapons he had crafted, Qu Yi felt relieved and smiled. “Go on and train further in the Savage Beast Mountains. I’ll be returning to the Hundred Beasts Village now.” With that, Qu Yi disappeared.

※※※

Inside the Stone Fortress of the Three Tripods Sect.

Qu Yi sat cross-legged on a stone bed, his hands resting flat together between his legs. His breathing was steady, and his mind was in an excellent state. Then, he opened his eyes.

“From now on, I’ll refine each Fire Beast Core one by one to see what changes occur within me,” Qu Yi said calmly, his expression resolute.

Immediately, a Fire Beast Core appeared in his palm. He closed his eyes, and soon his palms encircled the core. Chaotic energy surged between them, quickly enveloping the core before melting it and absorbing it.

In Qu Yi’s dantian realm, the arrangement of planets within his body had changed again since ascending to the divine realm. Now, there were only six planets in his internal world: an invisible Chaos Planet at the center, surrounded by five other planets—the Gold Planet, Wood Planet, Water Planet, Fire Planet, and Earth Planet. The Five Elements Spirits resided on their respective planets. Thus, there were one million spirits on each of the Gold, Wood, Water, and Earth Planets, while the Fire Planet currently had only one hundred thousand Fire Element Spirits.

After refining the Fire Beast Core, Qu Yi absorbed it into his body. Immediately, new Fire Element Spirits began to form on the Fire Planet—much faster than before, when he had to gather primal Fire energy to create them. Qu Yi kept observing the changes on the six planets through his consciousness. On the Fire Planet, only more Fire Element Spirits were being created, with no connection to the other planets.

One Fire Beast Core was quickly refined, and Qu Yi detected no abnormalities. Soon, a second Fire Beast Core appeared in his palms, ready for further refinement.

The situation remained the same—the inner world was still just the Fire Planet, with an increasing number of Fire Spirits there. No giving up! Qu Yi took out more Fire Beast Cores. Ten, a hundred, a thousand. In the inner world, only changes were taking place on the Fire Planet, as the number of Fire Spirits kept rising. But Qu Yi wouldn’t give up; he continued to refine the Fire Beast Cores. When the second thousand Fire Beast Cores were refined, “Hmm… there’s a change,” Qu Yi suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of excitement on his face, before calming down and immediately taking out another Fire Beast Core to continue refining. On the Fire Planet within his body, as the energy from the beast cores entered again, the number of Fire Spirits continued to increase. But at this moment, the Chaos Planet began to tremble slightly, and the Gold Planet, Wood Planet, Water Planet, and Earth Planet seemed to resonate with the Chaos Planet, as if simultaneously “calling” out to it, competing to merge with the Fire Planet. Although it was just a very slight change, Qu Yi clearly sensed the fluctuations within the inner planets and also understood the reason behind them. Yes, it was fusion. All four planets wanted to merge with the Fire Planet. “Qu Yi, don’t stop. Continue refining the Fire Beast Cores and increase the number of Fire Spirits on the Fire Planet to one million,” the Artifact God spoke up, reminding Qu Yi. Qu Yi’s mind trembled slightly as he realized he had been distracted by his discovery. Immediately, he strengthened his resolve, kept taking out Fire Beast Cores, and continued to refine and absorb them, expanding the number of Fire Spirits in his body. Three thousand, four thousand, five thousand. The number of Fire Spirits on the Fire Planet within his body had now reached half a million, and the energy radiation from the entire planet had become extremely strong. At the same time, the resonance between the Gold Planet, Wood Planet, Water Planet, Earth Planet, and the Chaos Planet grew even more intense. It was as if the Fire Planet was a piece of fatty meat, with the Chaos Planet in control of the distribution, while the other four planets were competing to devour that fatty meat. Qu Yi’s body trembled slightly due to the fluctuations in the inner world, clearly affected by it. Yet he persisted in refining the Fire Beast Cores, striving to push the number of Fire Spirits to its limit. Six thousand, seven thousand, eight thousand, nine thousand. Qu Yi’s body kept trembling, but he remained unbearably tenacious, continuing to refine the Fire Beast Cores.

Just after painstakingly refining and absorbing 9,001 Fire Beast Cores, Qu Yi was surprised to find that the Fire Planet in his internal world had grown stronger, causing a tremor that silenced the Gold Planet, Wood Planet, Water Planet, and Earth Planet. Indeed, with the growth of the Fire Planet, it now had the strength to resist the devouring desires of the other four planets. Delighted, Qu Yi seized this opportunity and immediately took out another 1,000 Fire Beast Cores to continue refining and absorbing them, increasing the number of Fire Planet spirits to one million. Instantly, the six planets in his internal world—Gold Planet, Wood Planet, Water Planet, Fire Planet, and Earth Planet—once again rotated steadily around the Chaos Planet. Compared to when Qu Yi first ascended to the divine realm, these six planets had only grown stronger, with everything else remaining unchanged. However, while refining the Fire Beast Cores, Qu Yi had observed signs of the four other planets attempting to merge with the Fire Planet, and he had already grasped the cultivation method of the Fusion Path. At this moment, Qu Yi opened his eyes, his face filled with ecstasy. “Vessel God, I think I understand the cultivation method of the Fusion Path,” he said happily. “Since you’ve understood it, then cultivate it,” the Vessel God encouraged. Qu Yi nodded, closed his eyes again, and sent his consciousness into his internal world, connecting to the Chaos Planet at its center. “Chaos Planet, as the medium—begin the Fusion Path now,” Qu Yi’s voice echoed within his internal world. Immediately, the Chaos Planet trembled and emitted five beams of chaotic energy, acting like bridges that connected to the Gold Planet, Wood Planet, Water Planet, Fire Planet, and Earth Planet respectively. “Gold Element embodies killing, the sharpest of all—let’s start the fusion with the Gold Element,” Qu Yi’s voice rang out once more. In an instant, the Gold Element spirits on the Gold Planet swiftly crossed the chaotic bridges to the Chaos Planet, where they were enveloped by clusters of chaotic energy before splitting into four streams, each sent to the Wood Planet, Water Planet, Fire Planet, and Earth Planet via the chaotic bridges. Then, a miraculous phenomenon occurred. Upon reaching the Wood Planet, the Gold Element spirits immediately began merging with the Wood Element spirits, forming one entity. In other words, the spirits on the Wood Planet showed a tendency to transform into Gold-Wood spirits. Similarly, on the Water Planet, Fire Planet, and Earth Planet, Gold-Water spirits, Gold-Fire spirits, and Gold-Earth spirits gradually appeared as well.

This is the way of fusion in the inner world—the fusion of spirits with different attributes to create a new fused spirit.
Qu Yi also immediately noticed that in his soul space, the soul gold bead enclosed within the chaotic sphere had also changed; it seemed to be slowly dispersing and beginning to merge with the soul green bead, soul blue bead, soul red bead, and soul yellow bead.
In the inner world and the soul space, the process of fusion was taking place simultaneously.