Chapter 31: Destroying Three Gates in Sequence (Part 2)

The Guiyang Mountains, where Xuanyang Temple is located, were first ravaged by marine monsters, nearly toppling the entire mountain range. Naturally, all the peaks, ore areas, spirit stone veins, and places where spiritual herbs grew in Xuanyang Temple were visited by these marine monsters, whose plundered precious resources were taken away.

Now, Chengchang, along with the remaining thirty-two Golden Core cultivators, had arrived at the southern part of the Guiyang Mountains. There, a secret spirit stone vein remained undiscovered by the marine monsters and was still intact. Therefore, Chengchang planned to establish a new gate for Xuanyang Temple near this vein, hoping to use the spirit stones there to gradually restore the temple’s glory.

A peak named Guixin Peak was chosen as the site for building Xuanyang Temple. With the strength of those in the Early Yuan Ying stage and numerous Golden Core cultivators, it was quite easy to construct pavilions and halls. In just a few days, a peak covered in spiritual mist and radiant light, with elegant buildings, appeared. Naturally, the rest of the people from Xuanyang Temple settled on Guixin Peak.

At that moment, a speck of dust slowly descended from above and soon reached the peak. This speck of dust was actually transformed from the Dimensional Ball.

“Qu Yi, aside from Master Qingyang who is in seclusion, everyone else at Xuanyang Temple is busy. It seems that in the first round of attacks, we must kill Master Qingyang first before dealing with Chengchang,” the Spirit of the Artifact sensed Guixin Peak and immediately informed Qu Yi.

Master Qingyang was at the Mid Yuan Ying stage, practicing earth-based cultivation techniques and possessing strong defensive abilities. However, with Qu Yi’s current strength at the Mid Golden Core stage, combined with the Jade Sword, it was still possible to seriously injure him.

“Spirit of the Artifact, where is Master Qingyang now? Can I launch a surprise attack on him?” Qu Yi knew that direct combat wouldn’t hurt Master Qingyang; only a surprise attack would work.

Although he had the Jade Sword, Qu Yi knew that its light could be blocked by Master Qingyang. In that case, he would have to avoid the attack and retreat into the Dimensional Ball, revealing both the secrets of the Jade Sword and the Dimensional Ball.

“The place where Master Qingyang is in seclusion is guarded by a mental restriction. If the Dimensional Ball comes into contact with it, he will immediately detect it. For now, let’s wait. Master Qingyang will surely come out for a while. Once the restriction is lifted, the Dimensional Ball can float over where he sits,” the Spirit of the Artifact said slowly.

Qu Yi also knew some prohibitions. This mental prohibition was closely linked to his own spiritual awareness; any slightest movement would be immediately reflected in it. Naturally, the Tiny World Ball couldn’t touch this mental prohibition to avoid alerting Master Qingyang. So, Qu Yi and the others meditated inside the Tiny World Ball, waiting for Master Qingyang to go out and be active.
…
Half a month later, Master Qingyang finally finished his meditation. Immediately afterward, he lifted the mental prohibition, stepped out of his pavilion, and looked out over the entire Guixin Peak. “Cheng Chang is very meticulous. Leaving the reconstruction of Xuanyang Temple to him alone should suffice. I’ll continue practicing the Earth-Shattering Art, hoping to make a breakthrough. Only then can I ensure that Xuanyang Temple remains undisturbed by outsiders and buy time for its revival,” Master Qingyang murmured to himself, sensing his surroundings with satisfaction.
While Master Qingyang was lost in thought, the Tiny World Ball had turned into dust and drifted into the pavilion, landing beside the cushion. Master Qingyang flew around Guixin Peak, chatting briefly with several Golden Core cultivators who were busy planning the reconstruction of Xuanyang Temple, offering them encouragement before returning to his pavilion. He sat cross-legged on the cushion again, closing his eyes in meditation to resume his practice.
Inside the Tiny World Ball, Qu Yi asked anxiously, “Vessel God, how is it? Has Master Qingyang already entered a meditative state?” Since Qu Yi was only at the middle stage of the Golden Core realm, if he sent out his spiritual awareness, it might easily be detected by Master Qingyang, who was at the middle stage of the Yuan Ying realm. Therefore, he had to ask the Vessel God to use his spiritual awareness to investigate the outside situation.
“Why rush? Master Qingyang just sat down. Wait another day. By then, when you go out to assassinate him, he won’t even have time to react,” the Vessel God said proudly.
Those in meditation were fully focused on practicing their cultivation techniques or having their spiritual essences immersed in energy. Even if they detected an enemy’s attack immediately, they couldn’t immediately mobilize their vital energy to cast spells for defense. This was why those with high cultivation levels built their own cultivation caves and set up advanced arrays or prohibitions. Only in this way could they rely on these arrays and prohibitions to withstand the first wave of attacks before having time to use spells to counter the enemy.
Qu Yi chuckled, amused by the thought. “Master Qingyang will probably be the first cultivator to die in such a miserable way.”
A day later, Qu Yi was ready, holding his jade sword in hand. “Qu Yi, go now. Master Qingyang has already focused his mind entirely on practicing the Earth-Shattering Art. Just attack when you go out—he won’t even have time to resist,” the Vessel God laughed loudly.
With that, Qu Yi left the Tiny World Ball.

Immediately, Qu Yi swung his jade sword, channeling all his true energy from metal, wood, earth, water, fire, and the combined elements into it, unleashing the brightest beam of light.
Boom!
Elder Qingyang immediately sensed something unusual, opened his eyes, and then felt a pure energy stream entering his body.
The jade sword had the ability to purify the energy fed into it, elevating it several levels, so that the emitted light would be even more powerful.
Elder Qingyang tried to use the “Earth Shattering Technique” to defend against the incoming light, but unfortunately, the light not only defied the power of earth true energy but also destroyed much of his vital essence.
“Qu…”
Elder Qingyang opened his mouth slightly and uttered a word before dying in frustration.
Qu Yi quickly swung his jade sword, using its sharpness to cut Elder Qingyang’s body in two, then swiftly located his yuanling. In an instant, he placed Elder Qingyang’s corpse in a storage bag and returned to the Dimensional Sphere.
The mental restriction covering the attic also dissipated immediately with Elder Qingyang’s death.
The Golden Core cultivators of Xuanyang Temple, as usual, had their spiritual senses covering the entire Guixin Peak. When they found that the restriction in Elder Qingyang’s attic had been removed and he was missing, they paid no attention.
With no signs of battle or energy release, everyone assumed Elder Qingyang had removed the restriction and teleported somewhere else.
Even the sect leader Cheng Chang thought the same.
The Dimensional Sphere, carrying Qu Yi, floated toward Cheng Chang.
Cheng Chang was pondering how many disciples to recruit from the mortal world first and bring them to Guixin Peak for thorough training to lay the foundation for Xuanyang Temple’s revival.
Suddenly, Qu Yi appeared. Accompanying him were Qingwu Guigui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan.
Without hesitation, as Cheng Chang was stunned, Bai Man took out her puppet leopard and cast the spell “Thousand Blades of Wind.”
Cheng Chang didn’t even have time to fly away. He could only draw a large yellow sword and swing it with all his strength, creating a “Sky-Reaching Stone Wall” in front of him to block “Thousand Blades of Wind.”
The entire space trembled violently, with rumbling sounds shaking the entire Guixin Peak. Naturally, all the Golden Core cultivators realized someone was attacking Sect Leader Cheng Chang, so they all rushed over.
Taking advantage of the chaos in the space, Qingwu Guigui also swung her black sword, sending a beam of black true energy straight at Cheng Chang.

Cheng Chang immediately sensed the strangeness of the black true energy and did not dare underestimate it. He promptly activated the “Light of the Yuan Ying” on himself, creating a yellow egg-shaped light shield to protect himself. At that moment, all the Golden Core cultivators from Xuan Yang Temple also arrived at the attic where Cheng Chang was, a total of thirty-two of them. Bai Manying smiled and immediately unleashed the Turtle Dragon and Blood-Sucking Mosquitoes, while Qu Yi set free fourteen puppet warriors. Before the Golden Core cultivators from Xuan Yang Temple could figure out what was going on, the Turtle Dragon, Blood-Sucking Mosquitoes, and puppet warriors launched their attacks together. The icy cold from the frozen pond was more than enough to turn Golden Core cultivators into ice sculptures; in severe cases, it could even kill them instantly. The Blood-Sucking Mosquitoes attacked in unison, forming a tornado-like formation that rushed at each Golden Core cultivator. The puppet warriors also cast their respective spells: “Continuous Golden Sword Strikes,” “Jungle Wind,” “Giant Wave Blast,” “Flame Giant,” and “Earthstone Rain.” Under this sudden first wave of attacks, twenty-five of the thirty-two Golden Core cultivators died. Only seven managed to withstand the attacks, but they suffered severe depletion of their true energy. The Blood-Sucking Mosquitoes and Turtle Dragon immediately launched a second wave of attacks. Undoubtedly, these Golden Core cultivators from Xuan Yang Temple could only offer symbolic resistance before all perished. Seeing his hopes of reviving Xuan Yang Temple vanish completely, Cheng Chang was filled with a desire to die. He shouted, “I want you all to die with me!” Then, Qu Yi heard a warning from the Artifact God: “Cheng Chang wants to detonate his Yuan Ying!” Hearing this, Qu Yi laughed and said, “Cheng Chang, if you want to detonate your Yuan Ying, you still need my permission.” Then, Qu Yi released all his true energy at once, wielding his jade sword. A thumb-sized beam of light shot straight into Cheng Chang’s protective light shield. Cheng Chang, who was trying to gather energy within his body to trigger an explosion, suddenly lost consciousness, and his energy dispersed back into his body. It was now impossible for him to gather energy again to detonate himself. Wu Yuan, who had been watching the battle, seized this opportunity and rushed forward. Its dragon head bit through Cheng Chang’s throat, and it sucked in all of Cheng Chang’s vital essence. Fearing that Wu Yuan might also drain Cheng Chang’s Yuan Ying, Qu Yi immediately flew over and retrieved it. Cheng Chang’s Yuan Ying belonged to the Earth element, equivalent to ten late-stage Golden Cores. With this, Qu Yi had gathered all the Earth-type Golden Cores. Once he obtained the Wood and Fire-type Golden Cores as well, he could begin working toward reaching the late-stage Golden Core stage.

“Congratulations!” Qing Wu Gui smiled faintly.
Bai Man, on the other hand, was overjoyed and even forgot to retract the Blood-Sucking Mosquito.