Chapter 19: Mid-Stage Golden Elixir

The Cui Mu Planet’s oceans were divided into four: the East Ocean, South Ocean, West Ocean, and North Ocean. In each of these four oceans, there was an ocean ruler with the strength of late-stage Nascent Soul. The ruler of the East Ocean was the Four-Eyed Electric Crab; the South Ocean’s ruler was the Sea-Turning Luo Snake; the West Ocean’s ruler was the Two-Legged Kui Ox; and the North Ocean’s ruler was the Arctic Ice Bear.

Above these four rulers stood the King of the Oceans, the Thunder-Ice Crocodile, who had already reached the early stage of leaving the body. This Thunder-Ice Crocodile was originally just an ordinary monster, the White-Scaled Ice Crocodile. By chance, it consumed a dying abyssal electric eel, causing a profound transformation within it, turning it into the Thunder-Ice Crocodile. Its cultivation progress accelerated rapidly, allowing it to break through to the early stage of leaving the body, surpassing the strength of the four rulers and becoming the King of the Oceans.

At this moment, the four ocean rulers arrived at the Thunder-Ice Crocodile’s palace. The palace was located in a deep underwater mountain range in the East Ocean. Countless monsters gathered around the surrounding peaks, forming a vast palace complex. On the highest peak stood the only palace, the Sea King’s Palace, which was the residence of the Thunder-Ice Crocodile.

The four rulers had all taken on human forms and stood upright in the Sea King’s Palace, looking respectfully at the only white crystal bed inside. On that bed sat a man with blue eyes wearing a white robe. This man was the Thunder-Ice Crocodile, who quietly observed the four rulers before him.

The Four-Eyed Electric Crab appeared as a burly middle-aged man with a gray face. It had two eyes, but where eyebrows should be were two closed horizontal slits. The Sea-Turning Luo Snake took the form of a cold and sinister-looking man, his eyes constantly emitting a murderous glare. The Two-Legged Kui Ox appeared as a heavily muscled man, his bulging muscles demonstrating his immense strength. The Arctic Ice Bear appeared as a man with white hair, expressionless and extremely cold, standing at a distance from the other three rulers.

“You four ocean rulers, why have you come to me? Have you encountered some difficulties?” the Thunder-Ice Crocodile asked calmly.

The four ocean rulers exchanged glances. At that moment, the Sea-Serpent Speaker stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, over the past six months, our four oceans have been invaded by human cultivators. Many golden core-level monsters have been killed, especially in my Land of South Seas, which has suffered heavy losses. I personally searched for them but found no trace of those human cultivators. Since we all encountered the same situation, we have come together to ask Your Majesty to go and negotiate with them.”

It turned out that after Qu Yi and the others realized Ling Huo Shangren was coming to look for them, they immediately went to the other three oceans to continue hunting golden core-level monsters.

The Four-Eyed Electric Crab added, “I personally sensed that Cheng Chang, the leader of Xuan Yang Temple on the Four Veins Continent, came to my Land of East Seas. Later, a group of people arrived and killed many of my golden core-level monsters.”

Xuan Gu Shangren, Ding Shun, Cheng Chang, and Qing Yang Shangren all went to the Land of East Seas together. After searching for a while without finding Qu Yi’s trace, they returned to Xuan Yang Temple. However, their movements were detected by the Four-Eyed Electric Crab.

The Two-Legged Kui Ox then spoke loudly, “Your Majesty, my Land of West Seas—my subordinates reported that last year, the Ten-Thousand-Year Tortoise and the Golden-Horned Silver Shark died. Recently, another batch of golden core-level monsters has died as well.”

That was quite coincidental; the Ten-Thousand-Year Tortoise killed by Huai Qing also counted against Qu Yi and the others.

The Arctic Ice Bear also said coldly, “Your Majesty, Qiu Yu, the leader of the Yu Su Sect on the Four Veins Continent, came to my Land of North Seas with three others, one of whom was at the Initial Outward Journey stage.”

Ling Ji Shangren, Lian Ming, Qiu Yu, and Bing Yu Shangren all went to the Land of North Seas together.

Undoubtedly, after briefly explaining their situations, the four ocean rulers immediately realized one thing: humans had invaded their oceans.

“Is that so? Human cultivators dare to wreak havoc in our oceans. It seems they don’t want to follow the rules and just want to bully us at will. Very good. Our ocean monsters haven’t shown our strength in a long time. Why not take this opportunity to go to the Four Veins Continent and crush those human cultivators?” said the Thunder Ice Crocodile indifferently.

The four ocean rulers were overjoyed. They were all violent beings who also wanted to devour the life force of human cultivators and seize their cultivation techniques, hoping to reach the Initial Outward Journey stage after a battle and thus become kings of the oceans.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The four ocean rulers replied at once.

When the four ocean rulers went to the Sea King’s Palace, Qu Yi had already returned to the Mist-Chasing Mountains, which used to be the territory of the Immortal Cloud Sect and was now mostly destroyed. After traveling across the four oceans, Qu Yi had gathered enough mid-stage Golden Core demon pills—the five-element demon pills of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—so it was time for him to advance to mid-stage Golden Core. In a valley in the Mist-Chasing Mountains, Qu Yi set up the Hidden Dust Formation before entering it alone to consume the demon pills. According to the methods recorded in “Five Energies and Three Flowers,” for mid-stage Golden Core demon pills, there should be ten of each element, totaling fifty. As soon as he entered the formation, Qu Yi took out the demon pills. He sat cross-legged, with a jade platform in front of him holding forty mid-stage Golden Core demon pills—eight of each of the five elements. Since he had already consumed three of each type of demon pill on Fanglu Mountain, he prepared eight this time to ensure success in his attempt. “Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, Earth-Ripping Sea Eel, Algae-Eating Giant Herring, Fire-Oil Whale Shark—I’m sorry, but I’m going to consume your demon pills,” Qu Yi said, showing some remorse as he looked at the pills. Then he closed his eyes and meditated, his five-element cultivation techniques rapidly activating. “Glorious Gold and Splendor,” “Revival of All Plants,” “Unity of Water and Sky,” “Spreading Starfire,” and “Vast Imperial Land”—these five techniques operated at high speed and quickly reached a state of balance. Sensing that his body was in an excellent state, Qu Yi immediately opened his eyes, opened his mouth, and sucked in the forty demon pills. Once inside his body, the demon pills were instantly broken down by his five-element cultivation techniques into powerful elemental energies, which were then rapidly directed by these techniques into the Golden Cores in his internal organs, further concentrating and expanding their energy. Meanwhile, the mixed Golden Core in his dantian absorbed the excess energy from his internal organs, strengthening it. This process would take some time, so Qu Yi had to be extremely careful as he absorbed the energy. … Outside the Hidden Dust Formation, Bai Man was very anxious, stomping her feet from time to time and wanting to rush in to check on Qu Yi’s condition. Every time she tried to enter, Wu Yuan responsibly blocked her, as Qu Yi had explicitly instructed that she must not enter the formation casually, otherwise Wu Yuan would never be able to consume the essence of a Yuan Ying-stage cultivator again.

Over the past year, Wu Yuan had, along with Qu Yi, devoured the life force of no less than a hundred Golden Core-stage monsters in the ocean, yet its strength still hadn’t reached the early Yuan Ying stage. It realized that it must consume the life force of someone at the early Yuan Ying stage to advance. Naturally, at the cost of being unable to devour the life force of Yuan Ying-stage beings, Wu Yuan couldn’t afford to be lazy. It kept an eye on Bai Man, becoming nervous at the slightest movement from her. Whether Bai Man wanted to enter the formation or not, it would immediately bite her jade hand with its dragon head. Qing Wu Gui watched the antics between Wu Yuan and Bai Man, his lips curved in a smile the whole time. “Alright, Wu Yuan, I’m not entering the formation. Is that okay? Can’t I just sit down? You’re almost breaking my hand,” Bai Man said unhappily as she sat down. Wu Yuan was too dedicated, which naturally caused Bai Man to suffer. After being bitten by Wu Yuan dozens of times, she stopped worrying about Qu Yi, her anger hidden in her eyes as she stared at Wu Yuan, too afraid to look up at this strange monster. Uuuu! Wu Yuan cried helplessly. “Qing Wu Gui, what do you think? Will Qu Yi succeed this time?” Bai Man ignored Wu Yuan and asked Qing Wu Gui, who was watching the scene. Due to the deadly poison, Qing Wu Gui could only exert the strength of a late Golden Core stage, but he was still at the early Yuan Ying stage, so his insights were undoubtedly remarkable. To ease her anxiety, Bai Man sought his opinion. “Bai Man, don’t worry. With the guidance of the Artifact God, if Qu Yi couldn’t succeed, why would the Artifact God let him attempt reaching the mid-Golden Core stage now?” Qing Wu Gui said with a smile. It turned out that worry only caused chaos—this was exactly what Bai Man was experiencing. Three days later, the Hidden Dust Formation suddenly disappeared. Qu Yi stepped out, full of energy, looking even more formidable than three days ago. “Hello everyone, I’ve succeeded!” Qu Yi announced proudly. Success meant he had reached the mid-Golden Core stage. “Yay, Qu Yi! I knew you’d succeed!” Bai Man immediately flew into his arms like a swallow returning to its nest. “Congratulations!” Qing Wu Gui said with a smile. “Uuuu!” Wu Yuan, which had been staring at Bai Man for three days, cheered loudly when it saw Qu Yi emerge. As the three of them congratulated Qu Yi, the Artifact God inside the Dimensional Ball suddenly spoke up, “Qu Yi, what’s there to be so proud about? Just mid-Golden Core stage—is it really necessary to announce it?” Qu Yi’s proud expression immediately turned into a pained smile.

This artifact god must be mentally unstable. I finally broke through to the middle stage of the Golden Pill Realm—what’s wrong with being happy? Qu Yi thought to himself.
“By the way, Qu Yi, since you’re now at the middle stage of the Golden Pill Realm, you should be able to compete with those at the early stage of the Yuan Ying Realm. What are your plans now?” Qing Wu Gui asked with a smile.
Without hesitation, Qu Yi replied with a laugh, “What’s there to think about? According to our original plan, we can head to the Fire Moon Gate right now. Kill them all, steal everything from them, burn it all down. If we can kill Yong Shan, that would be even better—it will also allow Wu Yuan to advance.”
Upon hearing this, Wu Yuan immediately let out loud cries. Yong Shan had the strength of someone at the early stage of the Yuan Ying Realm; by consuming his life force, Wu Yuan would undoubtedly be able to break through to that stage as well.
Immediately afterwards, the four of them flew toward the Lan Yue Mountains where the Fire Moon Gate was located.