Chapter 1638: Five Elements

Qin Sang's surging protective true essence was instantly pierced by the poison needle, unable to block it in the slightest. The insidious poison needle specialized in piercing protective true essence.

At this critical moment, a streak of iridescent light shot out from his Dantian, and the faint image of a pearl vaguely emerged. The poison pearl, a gift from the fat silkworm, had already been refined into Qin Sang's body, allowing him to unleash its poison-dispelling ability at will. Perhaps "poison-warding shield" would better describe the light's current form.

The seven-colored light condensed between Qin Sang and the poison needle, forming a small, shimmering shield, only the size of a baby's palm, appearing perfectly right in front of the needle.

"Puff!"

Against the sharp poison needle, the seven-colored light appeared unusually fragile and, as expected, was pierced. Unexpectedly, after piercing the light, the poison needle seemed to encounter resistance; its unstoppable momentum was halted. Although it ultimately still pierced through the light, there was a clear pause in its trajectory.

Even a very short pause was enough for Qin Sang to react. His Phoenix Wings flapped forcefully, and a lightning-fast escape light left a zigzag trail in the air.

"Swish!"

The poison needle and the lightning narrowly missed each other, the needle flying towards the sky and disappearing without a trace.

The strange-faced man's sinister grin froze on his bark-like face. Qin Sang reappeared nearby, completely unharmed. With a thought, the poison pearl flew out from his Dantian, retracting the light aura. He was somewhat surprised, looking at the poison pearl which hadn't completely solidified into a physical entity and still appeared somewhat illusory.

It should be known that the poison pearl was extracted from the fat silkworm's body, making it a level weaker than the fat silkworm's true form. Furthermore, the fat silkworm only possessed a cultivation at the early stage of the Fourth Transformation, clearly inferior to the Jade Armored Beetle.

The poison needle was not merely a divine ability of the Jade Armored Beetle. The strange-faced man had not hesitated to suffer a backlash, unleashing the Jade Armored Beetle's full potential and employing his poison arts. After careful planning and an elaborate setup, he had just unleashed the "Heavenly Annihilation Soul-Swaying Divine Needle." Such a killing move had actually been resolved by the poison pearl!

Although Qin Sang had the poison pearl, he wouldn't stake his life on a single treasure without understanding the full extent of his enemy's and his own strength. Facing the Heavenly Annihilation Soul-Swaying Divine Needle, he had at least three ways to deal with it. The poison pearl was just the first option.

If the poison pearl failed, he still had the Celestial Eye Butterfly, whose Celestial Eye Divine Light was already poised for release. The poison needle's essence was, after all, a divine ability cast by the strange-faced man using the Blood Armored Beetle's power. As a last resort, he still had the item gifted by Mount Myriad Poisons.

The strange-faced man was heavily depleted and suffering from a backlash. Once activated, the fluff would assault his mind, disrupting the poison needle and allowing Qin Sang to seize the opportunity to escape. He kept this item concealed and unactivated. Firstly, he considered his own safety, guarding against the strange-faced man potentially having a powerful trump card that would make him act out of desperation. Secondly, the situation was still under control; he was waiting for the right moment to strike while the enemy was weak and finish him off. After all, he wanted to eliminate the strange-faced man for good, not just repel him.

The poison pearl's performance exceeded expectations. Neither of his two backup plans was needed. Qin Sang realized he had indeed underestimated the fat silkworm. This creature hadn't disgraced the divine silkworm bloodline; if the fat silkworm's true body had come along, it might have been able to contend with the Jade Armored Beetle, and even if it couldn't win, it wouldn't have suffered a crushing defeat.

As an old saying goes, people's joys and sorrows are rarely the same. At this moment, Qin Sang's and the strange-faced man's moods were poles apart. The strange-faced man couldn't accept that his carefully laid death trap had been resolved by a mere streak of seven-colored light. He knew all too well what the breaking of the Heavenly Annihilation Soul-Swaying Divine Needle meant.

To make matters worse, the Blood Armored Beetle began to disobey commands, ignoring the strange-faced man's urging. The sharp, rapid buzzing of its wings revealed its agitated state as it suddenly turned and pounced on the strange-faced man.

"Puff!"

The Blood Armored Beetle plunged into the bloody hole between the strange-faced man's eyebrows. The strange-faced man's expression became even more twisted and terrifying. All battle intent vanished from his heart as he let out a sharp howl towards the sky. The leaves of the ancient ten-thousand-year-old trees that had not yet been burned uniformly withered to yellow and fell, rustling, as their wood elemental energy was frantically absorbed by the strange-faced man.

"Boom!"

The strange-faced man stomped heavily on the ground with both feet, charging madly out of the fire ring like a wild bull. After this entanglement, large swathes of the jungle had been incinerated by the demonic flames, greatly reducing his maneuvering space.

Knowing it was time to close the net, Qin Sang naturally did his utmost to prevent the man from escaping. His true body made a slight adjustment, pressing his palm lightly, and three Solar Divine Birds flew out from the divine tree, chaotically chasing the strange-faced man. His avatar also no longer held back, sparing no true essence. It once again summoned its spirit treasure, awakening the Teng Snake.

The repeatedly ravaged jungle immediately became a scene of devastation. There was overwhelming flying ash, withered old trees, broken tree trunks, black or reddish scorched earth, collapsed ancient halls and dormitories, and deep pits everywhere, created by the aftershocks of the battle. All beauty was gone.

The pitch-black demonic flames compressed inwards. Inside the fire ring, the Solar Divine Birds and the Teng Snake circled overhead, forming a net of heaven and earth, trapping the treant in the middle. The true body had to precisely control the fire birds, seizing every opportunity. The avatar, on the other hand, held nothing back, disregarding the true essence flowing out of its body like water, constantly unleashing fierce attacks with its spirit treasure.

The strange-faced man was exhausted from fleeing. Several of his attempts to break through were repelled by Qin Sang and his avatar working in concert. He roared repeatedly, but his cries revealed only powerlessness. The incessant chattering of the Crying Spirit Cave Lord in his ear made him even more agitated.

"Shut up!"

Enraged, the strange-faced man grabbed the evil spirit in his hand. The Crying Spirit Cave Lord shrieked once, then fell silent.

The strange-faced man's eyes were fierce. He raised his head while fleeing and shouted at Qin Sang, "I have no previous enmity with you! I can offer you an opportunity for Soul Transformation if you let me live, and all our grievances will be wiped clean! I swear by my inner demon that from this day forward, I will never harbor thoughts of revenge. No matter when I encounter you, I will retreat three paces!"

"You know where there's an opportunity for Soul Transformation?" Qin Sang's tone was amused as his figure appeared beside the Solar Divine Tree, looking down at the strange-faced man.

As soon as the words "Soul Transformation" were uttered, even Qin Sang, whose killing intent was like iron, couldn't help but respond. This person clearly possessed the inheritance of the Non-Phase Immortal Sect; perhaps he truly knew something? Of course, Qin Sang had no intention of stopping; his attacks remained ruthless.

The strange-faced man urgently called out, "The opportunity is on Mount Sovereign's Grant! Zhu Wudao and Old Man Zilei are coveting it; no matter how strong you are, you can't fight against so many. If we make peace, I will help you seize the Soul Transformation opportunity!"

"Whoosh!"

The divine bird swooped down. The strange-faced man was about to try his old trick again, but unexpectedly, the Teng Snake seized the opening and attacked, spraying a mouthful of cold flames onto him. Qin Sang's avatar and true body were perfectly coordinated.

The strange-faced man felt a bone-chilling cold and his body stiffened. In great alarm, he hastily used a secret art to escape.

"Boom!"

The withered wood was blasted into dust by the Southern Blazing Fire. The strange-faced man escaped to another spot, his left arm severed at the elbow. A burnt smell emanated from the stump, and his last words were twisted and deformed, mixed with screams. Enduring the intense pain, the strange-faced man looked up and saw Qin Sang not pausing at all, summoning three more Solar Divine Birds. His eyelids twitched wildly.

Qin Sang questioned while attacking, "If Mount Sovereign's Grant has an opportunity for Soul Transformation, why did Zhu Wudao and the Eight Sights go to the Cliff of Despair instead of there first?"

"Because the teleportation array leads to the Immortal Palace, and the Immortal Palace offers better opportunities that are easier to obtain! The Sword Tomb secret realm alone can continuously provide enough resources to support endless Soul Transformation cultivators for both the Daoist and Buddhist sects!"

Hearing this, Qin Sang understood why the Daoist and Buddhist sects had externally sealed off the Immortal Palace and ruthlessly eliminated the Non-Phase Immortal Sect. How could such a secret realm be shared with others? By holding it, their sects could continuously flourish. He didn't know what the Sword Tomb was. Its name sounded very much like a burial ground for swords. Could the fragments of the Earth Slaughter Sword have been found there?

"Why did the teleportation array fail?" Qin Sang asked, already knowing the answer.

"Something changed in the Immortal Palace!" Not knowing the full story, the strange-faced man evasively replied, "The path is broken! Only Mount Sovereign's Grant remains! Zhu Wudao was intercepted by the Daoist sect and exchanged the secrets of Mount Sovereign's Grant for the help of the Crying Spirit Cave Lord and Mo Xingdao to escape with his life..."

"Zhu Wudao... the one who controlled the array, he escaped?" Qin Sang let out a soft exclamation of surprise. If he hadn't been so focused on the cultivation techniques back at the Cliff Palace, and had retreated a little slower, Zhu Wudao would probably have tried to recruit him as well.

Given that the Water Aspect Hall secretly contained a Tribulation Transcending Array, it wasn't too surprising for Mount Sovereign's Grant to have an opportunity for Soul Transformation. His mind flickered, and he suddenly shouted sharply, "In other words, you just recently obtained this secret from Zhu Wudao and didn't know about it before. If that's the case, what else could be more important to the Non-Phase Immortal Sect than the Sword Tomb, something worth you giving up the chance to be among the first to enter the Immortal Palace?"

The strange-faced man's expression froze. Qin Sang sneered, "Letting you help me seize the opportunity is no different from playing with fire! The descendants of the Non-Phase Immortal Sect are contending with the Daoist sect; this is a classic case of the 'cranes and mussels fighting, the fisherman benefits' idiom. Moreover, with my cultivation, no matter which side I join, the other party would try their best to win me over. Why would I need to go to such lengths!"

The avatar interjected, "Without you, it's more important for us!" Before his words finished, Qin Sang added more power to his attacks. The speed at which the fire ring contracted suddenly accelerated, turning the strange-faced man into a trapped beast within the fiery cage.

The strange-faced man's eyes flickered. "You guessed correctly. The Wood Aspect Hall had an inheritance that attracted me more, and I've already obtained it. This is a Soul Transformation secret art, a secret not passed down by the Non-Phase Immortal Sect!"

"Fellow Daoist has such profound good fortune! Opportunities for Soul Transformation are everywhere to be found!" Qin Sang scoffed, a look of disbelief on his face. The Wood Aspect Hall's status was equivalent to the Water Aspect Hall's. Perhaps it once held treasures comparable to the Tribulation Transcending Array, but how could they be easily obtained now? The strange-faced man trying to persuade him with empty words was nothing short of a fool's daydream.

"Do you know where the key to Soul Transformation lies?" The strange-faced man's tone suddenly became calm.

"Still daring to be evasive!" Qin Sang shouted, attacking mercilessly.

Pressed relentlessly, the strange-faced man could only suppress his anger, saying repeatedly, "Soul Transformation, compared to Nascent Soul, excels in the initial ability to manipulate the elemental energy of heaven and earth, summoning wind and rain, comparable to deities, suppressing others with divine might. Therefore, the difficulty of Soul Transformation lies in the 'heaven-human connection'!"

"Heaven-human connection?" Qin Sang paused. The term 'heaven-human connection' has a broad meaning. Soul Transformation shouldn't yet be at the level of sensing the Heavenly Dao. The strange-faced man was likely referring to its most superficial meaning. These words were like a flash of lightning passing through Qin Sang's mind; he seemed to suddenly understand something.

"You don't know? No wonder I couldn't figure out your origins; you're actually a rogue cultivator!" The strange-faced man noticed Qin Sang's unusual reaction and, not forgetting to get in a quick jab while also worrying about provoking him, immediately followed up by saying, "The elemental energy of heaven and earth is divided into five elements, and the key lies in these five elements!"

"Spirit roots!" Qin Sang was both surprised and astonished. Five-element spirit roots made it easier to achieve a heaven-human connection, perceiving the elemental energy of the five elements between heaven and earth. So, a universally known good-for-nothing could actually turn things around during Soul Transformation and transform into a genius!

That's wrong! Qin Sang thought of himself, recalling the immense difficulty of his cultivation, every step a struggle filled with blood and tears. Possessing five-element spirit roots meant his true essence was impure, and cultivation and breakthroughs were clearly much harder than for those with heavenly spirit roots. Five-spirit-root cultivators didn't even dare to dream of forming a Golden Core. If he hadn't obtained numerous opportunities and relied on the Jade Buddha to navigate many unconventional paths, how slim would his hope of forming a Nascent Soul have been? How could there be such a sudden, drastic change at the time of Soul Transformation?

"To cultivate to a realm like ours, who isn't a genius? Even three-spirit roots are rare. A pseudo-spirit-root 'waste' will spend their entire life in agony, wishing for death even with a massive opportunity, when they reach the Nascent Soul Formation stage. I can give you a secret art to compensate for the shortcomings of spirit roots!" The strange-faced man was certain Qin Sang couldn't have a pseudo-spirit root. The value of this secret art was immense; if it were to spread, all sects in the cultivation world would flock to it. He didn't believe Qin Sang wouldn't be tempted.

"Spirit roots can be supplemented!" Qin Sang was surprised.

"No, not exactly; it's using external objects to replace the function of spirit roots, which also allows for sensing heaven and earth elemental energy," the strange-faced man explained, having no choice but to negotiate and revealing everything. "The substitute is one's Natal Magic Treasure, which every cultivator possesses. This art is also an artifact refining technique that can refine the wondrous treasure, Heavenly Exquisiteness, and integrate it into one's Natal Magic Treasure. With constant nurturing, it will aid in the heaven-human connection. Back then, only two Hall Masters in the Wood Aspect Hall were qualified to learn this art, and Heavenly Exquisiteness was only traded among the true disciples of the Non-Phase Immortal Sect."

"I have a Fire Heavenly Spirit Root. What spirit root does one Heavenly Exquisiteness replace? Does it make one possess all five elements?" Qin Sang immediately spotted the flaw in the strange-faced man's words. Su Zinan had given him the alias 'Fire Demon'. No one should doubt Qin Sang's claim of having a Fire Heavenly Spirit Root.

To gain Qin Sang's trust, the strange-faced man could only explain in detail while frantically dodging. "Heavenly Exquisiteness can freely transform between the five elements, and cultivators of all five elements can refine it—that is the meaning of 'exquisiteness.' However, after being integrated into a Natal Magic Treasure, Heavenly Exquisiteness can only be fixed as one of the five elements, and each person can only integrate one." Seeing Qin Sang frown, the strange-faced man hurriedly said, "Fellow Daoist has a heavenly spirit root; one Heavenly Exquisiteness is enough to greatly increase your hope of Soul Transformation!"

Little did he know, a genius remains a genius. The heaven-human connection is indeed the key, but it's only one aspect of Soul Transformation; one must also achieve their own personal transformation. Possessing a heavenly spirit root doesn't mean one cannot achieve a heaven-human connection; it simply means it's more difficult. However, their true essence is pure, making personal breakthroughs easier, and a path of transformation from within is also a viable option. Five-spirit-root cultivators find it easier to reach the realm of heaven-human connection, but unraveling their own complex nature is a daunting task.

Considering only the Soul Transformation stage, five-element spirit roots seem to have an advantage. However, when considering the entire cultivation path, heavenly spirit roots encounter the Soul Transformation bottleneck more easily and earlier, allowing more time for comprehension. Thus, it's not strictly necessary to possess all five elements; supplementing even one spirit root can bring immeasurable benefits. The strange-faced man dared not hold back anything, highlighting the preciousness of Heavenly Exquisiteness. He had originally thought it would be enough to sway Qin Sang. But unexpectedly, Qin Sang seemed to have no interest in Soul Transformation, showing no signs of mercy at all, which filled the strange-faced man's heart with great hatred.

Rage surged in his heart. The strange-faced man howled towards the sky, "The Wood Aspect inheritance has been severed; only I know the method for refining Heavenly Exquisiteness! If you dare to kill me, don't even think about getting it elsewhere!"

As he spoke, the strange-faced man suddenly raised his right arm. The evil spirit was trapped in the strange-faced man's hand. Soul qi surged, frequently revealing the Crying Spirit Cave Lord's pained face, full of terror.

"Don't..."

"Puff!"

A fierce gleam erupted in the strange-faced man's eyes. With a forceful squeeze, the evil spirit perished!

"Rumble!"

The Ice Ritual Palace shook violently. The palace layers collapsed one after another. The faint blue sky light swelled high, on the verge of collapsing. The flag array could finally no longer be maintained!