Outside the Sword Pavilion, Huang Taiji stared at the sword array hovering before him, his voice grave. "Cai Longshen, we've already lost the initiative..."
Huang Taiji paused for a few seconds to choose his words. He had intended to say that Cai Longshen's covert manipulation by Yi Chuanmei could be forgiven and forgotten, and that they could join forces for one final gamble.
However, considering that Cai Longshen was the grandson of a headquarters elder and accustomed to being fawned over, such words would only make him fly into a humiliated rage and refuse to cooperate.
Instead, he changed his tack: "Right now, our last hope is to awaken Yuanshi Tianzun."
In truth, had Cai Longshen not feared battle and had Yuanshi Tianzun not fallen into a deep sleep, the orthodox faction would have had every chance of winning—nay, victory would have been virtually guaranteed.
After all, among the evil faction was Yuanshi Tianzun's confidante.
Yet the ways of the world were fickle. Reality was no sterile comparison of statistics; it was fraught with variables.
From inside the Sword Pavilion came Cai Longshen's chilling voice: "That's your problem. I can leave whenever I want. For me, failing the trial means losing a level at most. I had no intention of entering the year-end killing trial anyway, so losing a level hardly matters."
*Can leave whenever he wants...* Huang Taiji frowned, and then understanding dawned on him. "I see."
Xiao Yuan called out in a loud voice, "Since you can leave at any moment, there's even less reason to shrink from battle! If we win, the tables turn. If we lose, you're merely right back where you started."
"But that requires taking a risk. Why should I take any risks?" Cai Longshen was not to be swayed, sneering, "What makes you think Yuanshi Tianzun can even be awakened? Even if he wakes up, will he definitely defeat the evil faction?"
Commandery Princess Yinyao's severed head hanging at her waist bit down on the small megaphone. "Yuanshi Tianzun is a Stargazer. When he suppressed the water-attribute yin entity, he must have read his own physiognomy. He knew he could survive, which is why he took the gamble."
This was the reason she firmly believed Yuanshi Tianzun could be awakened.
Back then, had death been certain, Yuanshi Tianzun would never have chosen this path. Since he had taken it, he must have seen a sliver of hope in his own features.
It was only that the subsequent developments had defied all expectations, leaving him suspended between life and death, unable to wake.
Cai Longshen scoffed. "A gamble that turned him into a living corpse? If you could awaken Yuanshi Tianzun, why wait until now? You think you can dangle some empty promise to get me to risk my neck? Save your breath. I'm not helping you."
With that, he paid no further heed to the two people and one corpse outside the Sword Pavilion.
Neither Xiao Yuan nor Commandery Princess Yinyao was of a weak disposition, but seeing their last potential ally remain cold and indifferent, standing by with folded arms, even women as stalwart as they could not help feeling despair welling up inside.
"Let's go," Xiao Yuan said, clutching her chest as she stumbled away.
Commandery Princess Yinyao followed in silence.
Huang Taiji gazed at the Sword Pavilion, standing motionless for a long while before turning to leave without a word.
Overgrown with weeds, the Murong clan's cemetery was a stark contrast of ash-gray steles and verdant wild grass.
*Thump, thump. Thump, thump.*
A dull knocking sound echoed from inside the stone coffin. Yuanshi Tianzun, lying within, seemed to have come back to life.
Yet Greed Divine General and the others knew full well that what had awakened was not this genius of the Five Elements Alliance, but the water-attribute spiritual power that had merged into his body.
Greed Divine General raised his blood-colored long saber and slashed down with all his might.
*Thud!*
The blade bit into the stone armor without cleaving through.
He raised the saber once more, the muscles of his arms bulging in distinct ridges. It took seven consecutive strikes to finally shatter the combined power of Fortune Blessing and Mountain God. The hard, ash-gray stone armor broke into fragments, revealing Yuanshi Tianzun inside the coffin.
This charred humanoid form trembled violently within the casket, ripples of black light radiating from his waist to batter against the stone walls.
The evil classes retreated in unison. Greed Divine General, having already suffered at his hands, forced down his covetous desire for items and dared not draw close.
Yi Chuanmei kept her distance, focusing her senses before smiling. "There is the aura of a soul. It has revived."
She once again sensed the aura of the monstrous entity, detecting the fluctuations of a soul fragment.
"Yet it doesn't seem able to leave Yuanshi Tianzun's physical body," Bai Ren Zhan remarked, staring at the violently trembling frame.
With the previous coffins, the moment their seals were broken, the ominous entities inside had emerged on their own, wafting gracefully toward the cemetery.
"It's sealed. Sealed inside his body by some method Yuanshi Tianzun used. Tsk, tsk, quite an impressive junior," Greed Divine General said, furrowing his brows as he faced a new dilemma. "We need to find a way to break the seal..."
"No, wait a moment!" Seeming to sense something, Yi Chuanmei turned toward Murong Fu's tomb, her gaze seemingly piercing through the blue flagstones into the subterranean burial chamber. "I can feel that something inside has awakened."
The moment her words fell, as if answering the summon of the water-attribute spiritual power, the ancestral burial chamber of the Murong clan shook violently, sending tremors throughout the entire cemetery like an earthquake.
Immediately afterward, the stone slab sealing the tomb chamber blew open with a deafening blast. A scarlet fireball radiating scorching heat erupted from the grave, its blistering temperature forcing Greed Divine General and the others back step after step.
The fireball circled once in the air above the cemetery before diving straight down, crashing into the stone coffin and slamming into Yuanshi Tianzun's body.
"Unable to reclaim the water-attribute spiritual power, so it's converging in reverse to occupy Yuanshi Tianzun's flesh?" Greed Divine General murmured.
"It seems so..." Yi Chuanmei said. "That saves us some trouble."
Then, another streak of jade-green light surged forth with graceful vigor. Bathed in this green brilliance, the vegetation around the tomb proliferated madly, growing wild and burgeoning with vibrant life.
Trailing a faint streak of light, the jade glow plunged into the stone coffin and merged into Yuanshi Tianzun's body.
Moments later, a heavy ball of earthy yellow light drifted out, plain and unadorned, flying toward the stone coffin at an unhurried, ponderous pace.
Immediately after, from the pitch-black entrance of the burial chamber, a faint white sword qi shot out, overtaking the yellow light and plunging into Yuanshi Tianzun's body with a shrill whistle.
Only then did the heavy, earthy yellow orb press down onto Yuanshi Tianzun's abdomen and merge within.
[Ding! You have successfully gathered the power of the Five Elements. Divine Sword Manor is now sealed. Those who have not arrived will be randomly teleported to a location within the manor. The final battle has begun. Please eliminate the enemy.]
The Spirit Realm walkers of the evil faction received the notification simultaneously.
With all five elements gathered, five colors—white, green, black, red, and yellow—flashed alternately within the stone coffin. Gradually, the five hues blended together, evolving into black and white, intermingling with each other.
An indescribable, unimaginable pressure descended from the heavens, blanketing the entire cemetery.
A terrifying aura brewed within the casket, like the birth of some dreadful monstrosity or the awakening of an ancient demon.
"Fall back..."
Greed Divine General's voice was low and grave. This overwhelming pressure made him feel as if he were facing a Heavenly King or an elder of the orthodox faction.
Without question, this was Dominator-stage power.
At their level, only a Dominator-stage boss could command such presence.
At the Sword Pavilion.
[Ding! The evil faction has successfully awakened the demon. Divine Sword Manor is now sealed. Those who have not arrived will be randomly teleported to a location within the manor. The final battle has begun. Please eliminate the enemy.]
Cai Longshen stood atop the pavilion roof, gazing toward the distant cemetery, his dark expression clouded with gravity and dread.
The evil faction had completed their main quest; they had awakened the demon.
Even across this distance, he could still feel that terrifying aura—a Dominator-stage aura that seemed to naturally suppress him as a Plague God.
Merely catching a whiff of it sent tremors through his heart, stirring an unspeakable dread.
It was time to leave.
Cai Longshen rubbed the bronze ring in his palm. He had actually realized that he had fallen into a trap.
Yet he would never admit that his own selfishness and cowardice had been exploited by the enemy, leading to the failure of this trial.
The only reason he hadn't left yet was stubbornness, wanting to see the final outcome.
On the main thoroughfare of Divine Sword Manor, Jiang Ju stumbled forward in the direction of the cemetery, gritting his teeth in fury.
"Fuck, we still lost.
"I can still detonate myself one more time. One more time..."
He followed the terrifying aura onward.
...
Outside the cemetery, a beam of dreamlike starlight rose. Commandery Princess Yinyao, her head hanging at her waist, stared blankly at the distant stone coffin and the black-and-white light shooting from within.
"We guessed wrong..." She bit the small megaphone, her voice dejected and low. "They weren't trying to draw out the power from Yuanshi Tianzun's body; they wanted to take over his body. We... have no hope left."
The aura and oppressive weight escaping from the stone coffin sent slight spasms through her entire frame, stirring a shuddering fear within her—as well as despair.
Xiao Yuan bit her lip until it bled.
Huang Taiji let out a sigh. "Life and death are determined by fate."
In truth, the moment Greed Divine General carried off the stone coffin, he had braced himself.
When Cai Longshen refused to act and stood idly by, he had already foreseen this ending.
*The earthen pitcher is destined to break at the well; the general is bound to fall on the battlefield.* From the day he became a Spirit Realm walker, he had prepared himself to return to the Spirit Realm.
Still, a pang of reluctance lingered; to lose in such a suffocating manner left a bitter taste.
Before long, the black and white light receded. A charred hand grasped the edge of the coffin, and immediately, a charred humanoid figure sat up.
He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze hollow and vacant, muttering, "Who am I... Murong Fu? Murong Long?"
The hollow vacancy in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by cruelty and madness. He grinned. "It doesn't matter who I am! I am me—free to do as I please!"
Backing away into the distance, Greed Divine General and the others exchanged glances, suddenly understanding why Murong Long had suffered qi deviation.
He seemed unable to distinguish whether he was Murong Long or his ancestor, Murong Fu.
Qi deviation was not uncommon, but confusing one's own identity with that of an ancestor was bizarre and incomprehensible.
Furthermore, Murong Wenxing's blood-written letter had mentioned that Murong Long's corpse was burned, while his soul and the power of the Five Elements had been dismembered and distributed among the clansmen to be sealed separately.
Yet after the coffin was brought back to Divine Sword Manor, it had been placed directly into Murong Fu's tomb. That detail had seemed irrational at first, but now, seeing Murong Long's state, Greed Divine General and the others realized that Murong Long's condition was far more than simple qi deviation.
At that moment, the crazed Murong Long opened his mouth and inhaled. Black and white qi churned into a rolling vortex, stripping strands of white, green, black, red, and yellow energy from the cemetery's soil, stone steles, and plants, pulling them into his mouth.
The things stripped of their energy turned ash-gray, disintegrated into sand, or withered, rapidly losing all color.
Greed Divine General and the other evil classes felt the core power within their bodies rapidly draining away, swallowed by Murong Long. Startled, they retreated repeatedly.
"Such a bizarre, domineering power..." Yi Chuanmei murmured. "Is this the attribute of fused Five Elements spiritual power? Does that mean the five orthodox classes can actually be merged?"
After fusing the Five Elements, he could actually devour the power of other classes!
"What an enviable secret art. If only I could cultivate the Five Elements secret art as well," Greed Divine General said, his greed extending to everything. "The spiritual powers of the Five Elements can be fused, but the five orthodox classes cannot. No one can possess five character cards at once... Still, I suddenly recall a piece of intelligence from years ago."
Backing away, Yi Chuanmei and the other two looked toward this veteran Divine General.
When Greed Divine General had roamed the Spirit Realm, they hadn't even come of age.
"The records in the Soldier Master sect's archives state that the Five Elements Alliance once gathered Scholars to study the power of the Five Elements," Greed Divine General recalled. "Although the officials kept it secret, the number of participants was massive, making it hard to keep things airtight.
"This caught the attention of our Soldier Master sect, and we deliberately dispatched agents to gather intelligence. But when the Five Elements Alliance showed no extraordinary developments later on, our attention gradually faded.
"Now it seems the officials were very likely researching a secret art to fuse the Five Elements."
"So the officials failed?" Bai Ren Zhan asked.
"Naturally," Snake Woman agreed, nodding. "Just as the Divine General said, no one can possess five character cards—unless, like Murong Long, one cultivates a Five Elements secret art."
Yi Chuanmei suddenly chimed in, "Perhaps there is another way..."
She looked toward the Five Elements set on Yuanshi Tianzun—no, on Murong Long.
Greed Divine General, Snake Woman, and Bai Ren Zhan caught on immediately. They turned in unison toward Murong Long with burning gazes, the greed in the eyes of the latter two burning just as fiercely as Greed Divine General's.
*Crack, crack...*
The charred crust on Murong Long's body fractured and peeled away, revealing fair, jade-like skin beneath.
This body had been granted new life.
Unable to tell whether he was Murong Fu or Murong Long, he looked down to inspect his new body and chuckled. "A Golden Crow body?"
A pity he had not cultivated the Golden Crow secret art, meaning he could not mobilize the Golden Crow power within him.
Soon, however, his attention was drawn to the equipment he was wearing. His wild, unruly expression froze. "Heaven-Worship Attire?
"The legendary Heaven-Worship Attire?" Murong Long burst into a fit of neurotic laughter. "After a three-year slumber, to serendipitously obtain the Heaven-Worship Attire—the heavens have treated me well!"
*Heaven-Worship Attire?*
*Yuanshi Tianzun's set is called the Heaven-Worship Attire?*
The thought crossed the minds of the four evil fighters. Then, they saw Murong Long rise from the coffin. He looked down, taking in his appearance, focused his senses for a moment, and abruptly thrust his arms outward.
With a whoosh, his robe turned into blazing flames, billowing in the wind.
Black water condensed into a long robe, a warm jade belt encircled his waist, and exquisite boots adorned his feet. He looked as imposing as a heavenly god.
Having taken over Zhang Yuanqing's flesh, he had passively inherited certain things—such as ownership of the set.
*Gulp.* Greed Divine General's throat bobbed. He stared intently at the Heaven-Worship Set, his grip on the saber tightening and loosening, caught in internal conflict.
Just then, Murong Long turned his head. His eyes, latent with madness, locked onto the four of them, and the corners of his mouth parted in a grin.
"Your cultivation isn't low. Which immortal sect are you from? I hate sect disciples most of all—I kill every one I see. But seeing as you awakened me and presented me with the Heaven-Worship Attire, I will spare you. Hmm, and grant you a wish as well.
"Speak. What do you desire?"
Yi Chuanmei knew this was the finale of the main quest. At the same time, sensing that Greed Divine General's desires were growing ever more intense and on the verge of spiraling out of control, she hesitated no longer and called out loudly:
"Mr. Murong, please kill all the enemies within the manor for us."
With that, she pointed toward the three outside the cemetery.
Murong Long grinned. "Granted!"
His body suddenly sank into the bottom of the coffin.
The next second, the ground before Huang Taiji, Xiao Yuan, and Commandery Princess Yinyao bulged upward, and Murong Long, bearing Yuanshi Tianzun's countenance, emerged.
Earth escape!
A Dominator-level skill.
Huang Taiji froze where he stood, the calves of his legs spasming violently and blue veins throbbing on his forehead. He was being suppressed.
Perhaps it stemmed from the Heaven-Worship Attire, or perhaps it was the innate suppression of Murong Long, who cultivated the Five Elements secret art. In short, at this moment, he lacked even the courage to resist.
Conversely, because Xiao Yuan and Commandery Princess Yinyao did not belong to the five elements, the suppression they felt was lesser, and they instinctively backed away.
"I'll use the three of you to fill my belly first. Come here!" Murong Long raised both hands and made a sudden grasping motion.
The black and white qi surged in his palms, turning into a rolling vortex that enveloped the two people and one corpse.
The immense suction pinned them in place. Unable to open their inventories or move a muscle, the power inside their bodies surged outward like a flood bursting through a sluice gate.
Before a Dominator-level enemy, even at their peak they would have been mere ants, let alone now when they were gravely wounded and completely exhausted.
They had no strength left to fight back.
The earth spirit within Huang Taiji was rapidly depleted. His face soon took on the withered, decadent hue of a dying man. Even with his feet firmly planted on the ground, the power replenishing him could not keep up with the rate of drain.
Commandery Princess Yinyao's head hung limply at her waist, her eerie scarlet pupils rapidly dimming and losing their luster.
Her lunar energy and stellar power were similarly plundered.
Xiao Yuan's breath grew faint, her lips and complexion turning stark white like lifeless paper.
She gazed blankly at Yuanshi Tianzun's face, sighed faintly, and closed her eyes.
The walkers of the evil faction watched the scene from afar with keen anticipation.
"Huang Taiji, you stubborn rock from a latrine, you're finally turning to dust! Mountain Gods are skilled at staying alive, but today, even the Lord of the Central Court can't save you," Greed Divine General sneered, leaning on his saber.
"Not just him—Young Master Fire has to die too. Let me count: in this trial, two of the official faction's Four Young Masters fallen, and Yuanshi Tianzun gone too," Snake Woman said with a radiant smile. "With merit like this, I can be promoted directly to elder."
They had every reason to be pleased. This mission had yielded an enormous bounty.
Even setting aside the trial's intrinsic rewards, the bounties placed outside would be enough to stuff them to the brim.
Just then, a Spirit Realm prompt that no bystander could hear rang out:
[Ding! Congratulations on advancing to Level 5 Stargazer.]
A dreamlike nebula surfaced on Murong Long's forehead.
In that instant, lightning split the chaos, awakening the sleeper.
The true master of this body had awakened.
In Murong Long's right eye, the madness faded. The brown pupil morphed into a heterochromatic molten-gold eye, blazing with the pure divine power of the sun.
"Which... dog... stole my... body?"
Chapter 482