Chapter Twelve: Love Without a Home

Qu Yi unleashed his Flame Great Sword and immediately entered the Tiny Realm Sphere once again.

The Thousand-Legged Spider blocked the Flame Great Sword with its “Black Yuan Net Prison,” furious enough to jump wildly at the entrance of the cave, causing the ground in front of it to collapse several meters deep.

“Despicable humans! If you have the guts, come out openly! Stop sneaking up and attacking in secret!” the Thousand-Legged Spider shouted.

Inside its body, however, it was secretly channeling its true energy, aiming to seal Qu Yi and kill him instantly the moment he appeared.

But at that time, Qu Yi remained inside the Tiny Realm Sphere, desperately absorbing low-grade spirit stones to restore his true energy.

“Instrument God, should I use the four array discs to attack this spider?” Qu Yi asked the Instrument God.

The Wind Binding Array, the Wild Fire Array, the Golden Thorns Array, and the Storm Sand Array—each used alone could unleash power equivalent to the late Golden Dan stage, but they were ineffective against the Thousand-Legged Spider. Yet these four arrays had a ultimate secret: when combined, they could explode with a force comparable to the early Yuan Ying stage, likely killing the Thousand-Legged Spider in one strike.

“Idiot! Can’t you think of another way? To lose all four array discs just because of this one spider—are you satisfied with that?” the Instrument God snapped angrily.

As the four arrays exploded together, the four array discs also detonated simultaneously.

Inspired by the Instrument God’s advice, Qu Yi immediately came up with a plan he thought could work.

“I get it. I’ll turn this Thousand-Legged Spider into a one-legged spider,” Qu Yi said happily.

Soon, after restoring his true energy, Qu Yi controlled the Tiny Realm Sphere and flew beneath the Thousand-Legged Spider. The spider continued to scan the surroundings, cursing and insulting Qu Yi in an attempt to provoke him into showing up.

There was a one-meter-high gap beneath the spider’s body. As Qu Yi stepped out of the Tiny Realm Sphere, he swung his Flame Scaled Sword. With his true energy driving it, flames burned the spider’s tentacles while the sword’s sharp edge severed them one after another.

Sizzle!

As the tentacles burned, Qu Yi relied on his speed to fly low beneath the spider, swiftly cutting off hundreds of its tentacles with his Flame Scaled Sword.

The moment the Thousand-Legged Spider sensed Qu Yi’s presence, it realized that about two hundred of its tentacles had been burned or cut off. It immediately transformed into a man with a black face, thereby avoiding having all its tentacles severed at once.

“Human! How dare you attack me in secret and cut off my tentacles?” the man with the black face shouted angrily.

As the Thousand-Legged Spider transformed, Qu Yi immediately stopped and smiled at the man with the dark face. “Thousand-Legged Spider, I advise you to leave this place. I may not be able to kill you, but you certainly can’t catch me either.”
The man with the dark face stared at Qu Yi, trying to think of a way to deal with him, but he couldn’t come up with any effective strategy. Qu Yi’s ability to disappear suddenly rendered all of his spells useless.
“Is that so? I guess you want to save that person in the cave. I’ll go kill him then. Let’s see if you can stop me,” the man said with a sinister smile.
At that moment, the man realized the key point: Why would Qu Yi, who was only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, risk coming out if not to save that young man in black?
Qu Yi was shocked upon hearing this and then declared loudly as if swearing an oath, “Thousand-Legged Spider, you’re completely wrong. Just as you want to devour his bodily energy, I also want to obtain the treasures on him. If you try to take my things, I will follow you forever, haunting you throughout your life. Let’s see how you can continue your cultivation then.”
The man immediately stopped in his tracks and looked at Qu Yi in panic. There was no need to doubt Qu Yi’s determination or ability—after all, he couldn’t deal with that ability to disappear instantly.
After a moment of silence, the man suddenly rushed at Qu Yi. The black rod in his hand emitted yellow true energy, forming a formation of earth thorns that flew toward Qu Yi.
Qu Yi disappeared in an instant.
The man angrily scanned the surroundings before flying away in frustration.
Qu Yi reappeared instantly, a smirk on his lips, and entered the cave, approaching the young man in black.
The young man, while suppressing the deadly poison in his body, opened his eyes and stared at Qu Yi, his gaze filled with intense killing intent. Clearly, he had also heard Qu Yi’s words and thought Qu Yi was coming to kill him and steal his treasures.
“Friend, don’t worry. I have no intention of harming you. Focus on expelling the poison,” Qu Yi said calmly, sitting down with a smile.
The young man was surprised and carefully observed Qu Yi. Seeing that Qu Yi was only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm and showed no trace of killing intent, he believed Qu Yi.
“Thank you!” the young man said with a forced smile.
“Don’t worry. Focus on expelling the poison. I’ll protect you from here,” Qu Yi said kindly.

The young man in black nodded slightly, then closed his eyes again, focusing on using his energy to expel the poison.
…
Three days later, the young man in black opened his eyes once more.
“You’re awake,” Qu Yi sensed immediately and also opened his eyes.
“Thank you. I’ve managed to control the deadly poison in my body, but my strength is completely useless now,” the young man in black said gloomily.
Qu Yi observed him for a while, thinking to himself that he must have been a meticulous person in the past, yet also someone cold and unfriendly. Yet, through his three days of care, he had managed to earn a slight goodwill from him.
“What kind of poison did you get? Is there an antidote?” Qu Yi asked concernfully.
The young man in black’s gaze sharpened momentarily before dimming again as he said angrily, “I was poisoned with Futi San. I don’t know the specific antidote either. I can only hope to find a good pill to eliminate the poison in my body. But I’ve already killed the one who poisoned me.”
At that moment, the Voice of the Artifact God rang out, “Qu Yi, don’t you have Tongxin Hanzhi and Jiuxiang Tianguo in your storage bracelet? Give them to him; they’ll be very helpful in expelling the poison.”
Qu Yi was stunned for a moment before recalling the treasures he had received from his master Huai Qing—Tongxin Hanzhi and Jiuxiang Tianguo, which were meant for refining Lingying Dan. But after hearing the Voice of the Artifact God, he still resolutely took out Tongxin Hanzhi and Jiuxiang Tianguo.
“Friend, these are Tongxin Hanzhi and Jiuxiang Tianguo. Please take them. I think they’ll be good for your health,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
The young man in black stared at Tongxin Hanzhi and Jiuxiang Tianguo blankly. His lips twitched, and even his usually cold eyes became slightly moist. It seemed that over all these years, he had never received such kindness and care.
“Thank you. My name is Qingwugui. I consider you my friend now,” the young man in black said firmly.
Qu Yi chuckled.
…
At the top of Fangluo Mountain, at the space transmission array, a bright white light flashed, and soon a group of people arrived through the array.
There were four of them, including Cheng Chang, the leader of Xuanyang Temple.
It turned out that Cheng Chang had gone to Tianfeng Star, where he met the leader of Xuanyang Hall of the Black Bone Sect and reported the changes on Cuimu Star.
After analyzing the situation, the leader of Xuanyang Hall, Xuan Gu Shangren, immediately brought two of his subordinates, Jia Ping and Ding Shun, and joined Cheng Chang in coming to Cuimu Star.
“Hall Master, we’ve arrived at Cuimu Star,” Cheng Chang said with a smile as he stepped out of the space transmission array and looked around Fangluo Mountain.
Xuan Gu Shangren nodded and immediately spread his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings, his brows furrowing slightly.

“There don’t seem to be any powerful monsters in this mountainous area; there are very few even at the Golden Core stage,” said Master Xuan Gu casually.
Cheng Chang was shocked. That couldn’t be right. When he came to Fangluo Mountain, he had already seen over a dozen Golden Core stage monsters. How could they have disappeared in less than three months?
“Hall Master, the situation here has changed. There were many Golden Core stage monsters here just three months ago,” Cheng Chang said frankly, not daring to hide it.
Master Xuan Gu closed his eyes briefly before smiling and saying, “Never mind. Whatever changes there are, let’s head to Fire Moon Gate first to see if Master Ling Huo has left.”
It turned out that Master Xuan Gu, upon thinking that Master Ling Huo of Fire Moon Palace had come to Cuimu Planet in person, assumed he must have discovered something and would surely come to compete for the treasures.
Soon, the four of them quickly flew away from Fangluo Mountain.
…
Once again at the space teleportation array on Fangluo Mountain, a bright white light flashed, and four people emerged.
Among them was Qiu Yu, the leader of the Jade Residence Sect.
Qiu Yu had gone to Tianfeng Planet, found White Moon Palace, and then met with Ling Ji Shangren, the ruler of Jade Residence Planet. He then recounted the situation on Cuimu Planet.
Ling Ji Shangren was well aware of the situation within the Golden Cauldron Sect and knew that Fire Moon Palace was also an important sect there. Since Master Ling Huo himself had gone to Cuimu Planet, it was clear he must have discovered some extraordinary treasure there—one that would be useful even for cultivators at the Outward Emergence stage, proving its rarity.
Although Tianfeng Planet had abundant cultivation resources, treasures of such value for those at the Outward Emergence stage were scarce. Moreover, once such treasures appeared, Ling Ji Shangren had no chance of seizing them. Now that there was such an opportunity on Cuimu Planet, he naturally couldn’t afford to miss it.
Thus, Ling Ji Shangren also became interested and wanted to go to Cuimu Planet to compete with Master Ling Huo for the treasure.
“Ruler, we’ve arrived at Cuimu Planet,” Qiu Yu said with a smile.
Ling Ji Shangren nodded slightly, spreading his spiritual awareness to cover the entire Fangluo Mountain, his eyes filled with confusion.
“Qiu Yu, why aren’t there any powerful monsters in this mountainous area? There aren’t even many at the Golden Core stage,” he asked, looking at Qiu Yu.
“What? That’s impossible. When I came here three months ago, I saw several Golden Core stage monsters,” Qiu Yu replied in shock, telling the truth immediately.
Ling Ji Shangren pursed his lips and smiled, saying, “Never mind. Qiu Yu, Mu Zhen, Lian Ming, let’s head to Fire Moon Gate first to find out how Master Ling Huo has progressed over these three months.”
Soon, the four of them flew away from Fangluo Mountain again.