The Five Elements

Qin Sang's protective true essence surged, yet it was pierced in an instant by the toxic needle, failing to impede it in the slightest. The needle was insidious, specialized in breaching protective true essence. At this critical juncture, a multicolored glow burst forth from his dantian, the faint outline of a bead flickering within. The poison bead gifted by the fat silkworm had already been refined into Qin Sang's body, allowing him to activate its poison-warding divine ability at will. Calling it a poison-warding shield was perhaps more fitting for the glow's current form. The seven-colored light coalesced between Qin Sang and the toxic needle, forming a small, lustrous shield barely the size of an infant's palm, appearing precisely in the needle's path. Puff! Against the razor-sharp needle, the seven-colored light seemed exceptionally frail, and as expected, the needle punctured straight into it. Yet, after penetrating the glow, the needle seemed to encounter resistance. Its unstoppable momentum faltered; though it ultimately pierced through the light, a distinct hesitation occurred midway. Even so brief a pause was enough for Qin Sang to react. Flapping his phoenix wings with force, his lightning-fast escape light traced a sharp angle in the air. Whoosh! The toxic needle and the bolt of lightning brushed past each other. Piercing high into the heavens, the needle vanished without a trace. The cruel sneer froze on the scar-faced man's bark-like visage. Qin Sang materialized to the side, completely unharmed. With a thought, the poison bead flew out of his dantian and withdrew the glow. Looking at the bead, which had not yet fully solidified into physical substance and still appeared somewhat ethereal, he was somewhat surprised as well. After all, the poison bead had been separated from the fat silkworm's body, naturally making it a tier weaker than the silkworm itself. Moreover, the fat silkworm was only at the early Fourth Metamorphosis, clearly inferior to the jade beetle. The toxic needle was not just the jade beetle's divine ability either. The scar-faced man had braved backlash to stimulate the jade beetle's potential, channeling poisonous arts and setting a meticulous trap just to unleash this Heaven-Severing Soul-Shaking Divine Needle. Yet such a lethal strike had been neutralized by the poison bead! Though Qin Sang had the poison bead to protect him, without a complete grasp of his enemy's strength, he would never stake his life on a single treasure. Facing the Heaven-Severing Soul-Shaking Divine Needle, he had at least three ways to respond. The poison bead was merely the first. Had it failed, there was still the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, its Heavenly Eye Divine Light primed to strike. After all, the needle was ultimately a divine ability unleashed by the scar-faced man drawing upon the blood beetle's power. At worst, he also had the gift from Myriad Poison Mountain. With the scar-faced man heavily depleted and suffering backlash, activating the fine velvet hair would shock his mind and disrupt the needle, allowing Qin Sang to slip away. Qin Sang had kept that trump card in reserve for two reasons. First, for his own safety—to guard against the scar-faced man having an overwhelmingly potent final resort and lashing out in desperation like a cornered beast. Second, the situation remained under control, and it was better to strike a fatal blow once the moment was ripe and finish him while he was vulnerable. After all, he intended to eliminate the scar-faced man to remove any future trouble, not merely drive him off. The poison bead had exceeded expectations. Neither of his backup measures had been needed. Qin Sang realized he had indeed underestimated the fat silkworm. That little fellow had not disgraced the lineage of the divine silkworms. Had the fat silkworm been here in person, it might well have gone toe-to-toe with the jade beetle; even if outmatched, it wouldn't have suffered a crushing defeat. Since antiquity, joy and sorrow have never been shared. At this moment, Qin Sang's and the scar-faced man's states of mind were worlds apart. To have his meticulously orchestrated death trap dissolved by a mere streak of seven-colored light was something the scar-faced man could not accept. He knew all too well what it meant for the Heaven-Severing Soul-Shaking Divine Needle to be broken. To make matters worse, the blood beetle began disobeying orders. Ignoring his urgent commands, the vibration of its wings grew shrill and frantic, betraying its agitation, before it suddenly whirled around and lunged at the scar-faced man. Puff! The blood beetle plunged into the bloody puncture at the center of his forehead. His expression twisted into something even more hideous and grotesque. Stripped of any will to fight, he threw his head back and let out a piercing shriek. Across the ancient myriad-year trees that had yet to burn, leaves turned withered yellow in unison and rustled down as the scar-faced man frantically drained their wood spiritual qi. Boom! Stamping hard against the ground, the scar-faced man charged frantically toward the ring of fire like a raging bull. Through this protracted brawl, vast swaths of the forest had been consumed by the demonic fire, drastically shrinking the space he had to maneuver. Knowing the time had come to draw the net, Qin Sang naturally exerted every effort to prevent the man's escape. Steadying himself, his true body pressed a palm downward, sending three Sun God Birds flying out from the divine tree to swoop after the scar-faced man. His incarnation held nothing back either, unleashing the spirit treasure once more without regard for true essence consumption to awaken the Tengshe. The battered forest was instantly reduced to utter ruin. Blanketing ash, withered ancient trees, shattered trunks, blackened and scorched earth, collapsed halls and pavilions, craters blasted out by the shockwaves of battle... Not a shred of its former beauty remained. The pitch-black demonic fire contracted inward. Inside the ring of fire, the Sun God Birds and the Tengshe wheeled overhead, weaving an inescapable dragnet that trapped the treeman in the center. The true body needed to control the firebirds with precision and seize the opportune moment. The incarnation, on the other hand, held nothing back, driving the spirit treasure in relentless, fierce assaults despite draining his true essence like running water. The scar-faced man was driven to exhaustion. Several attempts to break out were repelled by the joint efforts of Qin Sang and his incarnation. Though he roared again and again, his cries carried an underlying helplessness. Cave Master Qiling's incessant clamor in his ear only frayed his nerves further. "Shut up!" In a burst of fury, the scar-faced man grabbed the malevolent spirit. With a shriek of agony, Cave Master Qiling fell silent. A savage light gleamed in the scar-faced man's eyes. Fleeing for his life, he threw his head back and roared at Qin Sang, "There is no deep-seated grudge between us! I can grant you an opportunity for Deity Transformation if you spare my life, and all past grievances will be wiped clean! I swear upon my inner demons that from this day forth, I will harbor no thought of vengeance, and whenever I cross paths with you, I will yield and keep my distance!" "You know where an opportunity for Deity Transformation lies?" Qin Sang's tone was playful as his figure materialized beside the Sun God Tree, looking down at the scar-faced man. The moment the words 'Deity Transformation' were spoken, even with Qin Sang's ironclad intent to kill, he could not resist responding. This man clearly possessed inheritances of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect; perhaps he truly knew something. Naturally, Qin Sang had no intention of staying his hand, and his attacks remained ruthless. The scar-faced man yelled frantically, "The opportunity lies in Dishou Mountain! Zhu Wudao and Old Daoist Purple Thunder are watching it hungrily. No matter how strong you are, you cannot take on so many alone. If we turn our hostility into friendship, I will help you seize that Deity Transformation opportunity!" Whoosh! A divine bird swooped down. The scar-faced man was about to repeat his old trick when the Tengshe seized the opening to strike, spewing a breath of cold flame over him. The coordination between Qin Sang's incarnation and true body was naturally seamless to the utmost degree. The scar-faced man felt a bone-chilling cold that stiffened his limbs. Horrified, he hastily used a secret art to escape. Boom! The withered wood was blasted into slag by the Nanming Primordial Fire. The scar-faced man fled to another spot, his left arm severed at the elbow. The scorched scent rising from the wound twisted his final words into a mangled shriek of pain. Forcing down the agonizing pain, the scar-faced man looked up and saw Qin Sang summoning three more Sun God Birds without the slightest hesitation. His eyelids twitched wildly. Pressing his attack, Qin Sang interrogated, "If Dishou Mountain holds an opportunity for Deity Transformation, why didn't Zhu Wudao and Eight Views Abbey go there first instead of heading to the cliff?" "Because the teleportation array leads to the Immortal Palace, and the Immortal Palace has better opportunities that are easier to obtain! The Sword Tomb alone is a secret realm capable of sustaining a continuous lineage of Deity Transformation cultivators for both the Daoist and Buddhist sects!" The scar-faced man indeed knew many deep secrets. Hearing this, Qin Sang understood why the Daoist and Buddhist sects had sealed off the Immortal Palace from the outside world and relentlessly exterminated the Wuxiang Immortal Sect. How could such a secret realm ever be shared? As long as they kept it in their hands, their sects' incense and heritage would burn unbroken. He wondered what kind of place the Sword Tomb was. By its name, it sounded like a burial ground for swords. Could the Earth Killing Sword fragment have been discovered there? "Why did the teleportation array fail?" Qin Sang asked, knowing the answer full well. "Something went wrong in the Immortal Palace!" Ignorant of the true cause, the scar-faced man tried to sound profound: "The path is broken! Dishou Mountain is the only road left! Zhu Wudao was intercepted by the Daoists and traded the secrets of Dishou Mountain to buy help from Cave Master Qiling and Mo Xingdao to escape..." "Zhu Wudao... the one leading the array escaped?" Qin Sang let out a faint murmur of surprise. If he hadn't been so focused on the cultivation technique back at the cliff palace and had delayed his retreat just a bit longer, Zhu Wudao would likely have tried to win him over as well. The Water Phase Palace harbored a tribulation-transcendence array, so it was hardly surprising that Dishou Mountain possessed an opportunity for Deity Transformation. His thoughts flickered, and he suddenly snapped, "In other words, you only just learned this secret from Zhu Wudao's mouth and knew nothing of it before. If so, what in the Wuxiang Immortal Sect could be more important than the Sword Tomb to make you give up the chance to be among the first to enter the Immortal Palace?" The scar-faced man froze. Qin Sang sneered. "Asking you to help me seize an opportunity is nothing less than asking a tiger for its hide! The descendants of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect clashing with the Daoists is a fight where the snipe and the clam grapple, allowing the fisherman to profit. Furthermore, with my cultivation, whichever side I choose to join would go all out to recruit me. Why would I ever need you?" The incarnation chimed in, "Not having you around matters far more to us!" Before the words had finished echoing, Qin Sang poured even more strength into his assault. The ring of fire contracted at an accelerating pace, turning the scar-faced man into a trapped beast within a blazing cage. The scar-faced man's eyes darted frantically. "You guessed right! The Wood Phase Palace has an inheritance that attracted me even more, and I have already obtained it. It is a secret art for Deity Transformation, an unshared secret of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect!" "Fellow Daoist, your fortune is truly immense! Deity Transformation opportunities practically litter the ground before you!" Qin Sang mocked, his face full of disbelief. The Wood Phase Palace shared equal status with the Water Phase Palace and might well have possessed treasures on par with the tribulation-transcendence array back then, but how could such a thing be easily obtained? Expecting to sway him with mere empty words was nothing short of a fool's dream. "Do you know where the crux of Deity Transformation lies?" The scar-faced man's voice suddenly turned calm. "Still trying to play mystifying tricks!" Qin Sang shouted, striking without mercy. Driven to the brink step by step, the scar-faced man was forced to swallow his rage and hurriedly said, "Deity Transformation surpasses the Nascent Soul realm because one can begin mobilizing the worldly origin qi, summoning winds and calling rains like a deity, crushing foes with heavenly might. Thus, the greatest hurdle of Deity Transformation lies in celestial resonance!" "Celestial resonance?" Qin Sang paused for a moment. The term carried a vast breadth of meaning. Deity Transformation should not yet reach the level of communing directly with the Heavenly Dao. The scar-faced man was likely referring to its most elementary aspect. Like a bolt of lightning, the phrase flashed through Qin Sang's mind, and he seemed to grasp something. "You don't know? No wonder I couldn't trace your background—you're actually an itinerant cultivator!" Seeing the shift in Qin Sang's demeanor, the scar-faced man couldn't resist a verbal jab, but fearing he might enrage him, he quickly added, "The worldly origin qi is divided into the five elements, and the crux lies precisely in those five elements!" "Spiritual roots!" Qin Sang was startled and bewildered. Those with five spiritual roots had an easier time achieving celestial resonance and sensing the five-element origin qi between heaven and earth. Could it be that those universally regarded as trash could overturn their fate at Deity Transformation and suddenly turn into geniuses? No! Qin Sang thought of his own path; the hardship of cultivation had been paved with blood and tears at every step. Possessing all five spiritual roots meant his inner true essence was impure, making cultivation and breakthroughs vastly more difficult than for someone with a heavenly spiritual root. Cultivators with five spiritual roots dared not even dream of the Golden Core realm. Had he not encountered countless serendipities and relied on the jade Buddha to tread many unconventional paths, his hopes of forming a Nascent Soul would have been virtually nonexistent. How could such a complete, earth-shaking reversal suddenly take place at the Deity Transformation stage? "Of those who can cultivate to our level, who isn't a genius? Even those with three spiritual roots are as rare as phoenix feathers. The worthless trash with pseudo spiritual roots spend their whole lives, even with immense serendipity, struggling through agonizing torment just to stand before the threshold of forming a Nascent Soul. I can grant you a secret art to compensate for your spiritual root deficiencies!" The scar-faced man was certain Qin Sang could not possibly possess pseudo spiritual roots. The value of this secret art was immense; if word spread, every sect in the cultivation world would stir into action. He did not believe Qin Sang would remain unmoved. "Spiritual roots can be compensated for?" Qin Sang asked in surprise. "Not repaired directly, but substituted using an external object to serve the same function, which likewise allows one to sense the worldly origin qi," the scar-faced man said, laying everything on the table now that negotiation was his only way out. "The substitute is one's Life-Bound Magic Treasure, which every cultivator possesses. This technique is also an artifact-refining art that produces an extraordinary treasure known as the Heavenly Linglong. By merging it into your Life-Bound Magic Treasure and nurturing it over the years, it will aid in achieving celestial resonance. Back then, only the two Hall Masters of the Wood Phase Palace were qualified to learn this technique, and Heavenly Linglongs were traded solely among true disciples of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect." "I possess a Fire Heavenly Spiritual Root. What spiritual root would a single Heavenly Linglong replace? Could it make all five elements complete?" Qin Sang instantly caught the flaw in the scar-faced man's words. Su Zinan had given him the moniker Fire Demon. Claiming to have a Fire Heavenly Spiritual Root would arouse no suspicion from anyone. To win Qin Sang's trust, the scar-faced man had no choice but to explain in detail while scrambling to dodge: "The five elements of the Heavenly Linglong can be transformed at will, allowing cultivators of any element to refine it—that is the meaning of 'Linglong.' However, once merged into a Life-Bound Magic Treasure, the Heavenly Linglong becomes permanently fixed to one of the five elements, and a person can only integrate a single Heavenly Linglong." Seeing Qin Sang frown, the scar-faced man said frantically, "Fellow Daoist, you possess a heavenly spiritual root! A single Heavenly Linglong is enough to vastly increase your hopes of reaching Deity Transformation!" Little did he know, a genius was still a genius. Celestial resonance was the crux, yet it was only one facet of Deity Transformation; one still had to achieve a personal metamorphosis. A heavenly spiritual root did not mean one could not achieve celestial resonance, only that it was more difficult. However, their true essence was exceptionally pure, making personal breakthroughs far easier—transforming from within to without was also a viable path. A cultivator with five spiritual roots might reach the realm of celestial resonance more easily, but untangling their own internal cultivation was a tangled mess of a thousand threads. In terms of Deity Transformation alone, having all five spiritual roots seemed advantageous; but across the entire journey of cultivation, those with heavenly spiritual roots reached the Deity Transformation bottleneck far more easily and much earlier, granting them more time to comprehend the Dao. There was no need to obsess over possessing all five elements, and compensating for even a single spiritual root offered immeasurable benefits. The scar-faced man dared not hold anything back, emphasizing the supreme value of the Heavenly Linglong. He thought this would surely move Qin Sang. Unexpectedly, Qin Sang seemed utterly uninterested in Deity Transformation, showing not the slightest hint of showing mercy, which filled him with profound hatred. Rage surged from the depths of his heart. The scar-faced man threw his head back and shrieked, "The Wood Phase lineage has been severed, and I am the only one alive who knows how to refine the Heavenly Linglong! If you dare kill me, you will never obtain it anywhere else!" With that, the scar-faced man suddenly raised his right arm high. The malevolent spirit was trapped firmly in his grip. Soul qi churned wildly, repeatedly flashing with Cave Master Qiling's agonizing, terrified visage. "No—" Puff! A ferocious glint flared in the scar-faced man's eyes as he clenched his fist with all his might, annihilating the malevolent spirit! Rumble! Bingyi Palace shuddered violently. The palace structures collapsed layer by layer. The faint blue celestial light bulged high overhead, teetering on the verge of ruin. The banner formation could hold no longer!