Chapter 1430: Five Elements Spirit Clan

Ye Haitang stood in an open space, her expression calm, holding the Black Lotus Mirror.

Tens of thousands of green demonic bees surrounded Ye Haitang. These bees were entirely dark green, with a pale golden stinger about a foot long at their tails. They had two pairs of green, thin wings on their backs. Their heads were small and their bodies large, with a pair of foot-long mouthparts exposed, giving them a terrifying and grotesque appearance.

Dense black thunder-fire flew out from the Black Lotus Mirror, striking the green demonic bees. The bees instantly disintegrated into ashes, leaving no trace.

Most of these demonic bees were second-tier, with five being third-tier.

The green demonic bees spewed green demonic flames, which collided with the black thunder-fire. The two types of flames clashed, unleashing powerful waves of air.

Some green flames landed on the ground, instantly blasting a large pit, which then ignited with green flames.

Six dark command banners revolved around her. Each banner was embroidered with a white skull, emanating intense ghostly energy. Wailing sounds occasionally emerged from them. A large expanse of black spectral energy surged from the banners, forming a dark light curtain that enveloped Ye Haitang.

When the green demonic bees touched the black spectral energy, they immediately fell to the ground, motionless.

Ye Haitang changed her incantation. The six black command banners immediately glowed with dazzling dark light. The white skulls on the banners seemed to come alive, each spewing out a vast quantity of thin white threads, which wove into an immense white net that enveloped the swarm of bees.

The green demonic bees crawled onto the white net, frantically biting it. However, soon, each of the six white skulls spewed a stream of white flames. These flames spread along the white threads to the bodies of the green demonic bees. Upon contact with the white flames, the demonic bees instantly turned to ash.

Ye Haitang changed her incantation again. A vast expanse of black spectral energy surged around her, accompanied by a mournful wail. The attacking green demonic bees slowed down. The rolling spectral energy swept over them, engulfing all the green demonic bees within a five-hundred-zhang radius.

Explosions occasionally echoed from within the spectral energy, but as time passed, the sounds grew fainter and eventually vanished.

When the black spectral energy dispersed, tens of thousands of green demonic bees lay motionless on the ground, all transformed into desiccated corpses, their vital essence and blood completely drained.

Ye Haitang's face was pale. The white bone whip in her hand glowed with a dazzling white light, emanating a fierce killing intent.

The essence and blood of these demonic bees were completely absorbed by the bone whip, significantly increasing its power. The more essence and blood absorbed, the greater the whip's power. This was also a primary reason why ghostly cultivators were not accepted by orthodox cultivation paths.

Just then, the ground tore open, revealing a crack several zhang long. The crack rapidly spread towards Ye Haitang's position.

Ye Haitang reacted quickly, transforming into a shadow and instantly appearing a dozen zhang away. The Black Lotus Mirror, suspended in mid-air, erupted with dazzling dark light, spewing out hundreds of watermelon-sized black thunder-fire orbs that struck the location of the crack.

RUMBLE!

After a series of explosions, black flames engulfed the area of the crack.

Ye Haitang’s spiritual sense was fully extended, her face filled with vigilance.

She found no trace of any demonic beast, which was strange.

Before long, the black flames dispersed, revealing a massive pit several hundred zhang wide on the ground, but still no sign of any demonic beast.

Just then, the ground began to shake violently, and cracks appeared, rapidly expanding as if an earthquake had struck.

More than a dozen thick red tree roots emerged from the ground, striking towards Ye Haitang.

Hundreds of towering trees, over a thousand zhang tall, rapidly moved towards Ye Haitang. The ground within a ten-li radius tore apart, and thick red tree roots emerged from beneath the earth.

Hundreds of thick red tree roots burst out of the ground, transforming into hundreds of red whips that lashed out at Ye Haitang. Wherever the red roots passed, a piercing whooshing sound could be heard.

The surface of the Black Lotus Mirror lit up with countless black runes, spewing out hundreds of head-sized black fireballs that crashed around.

A series of explosions rang out. The black fireballs struck the red tree roots, immediately bursting into a large expanse of black flames that rapidly spread.

Ye Haitang raised her hand. Nine white bone blades, about a foot long, flew out, transforming into nine streaks of white light. They slashed at the red tree roots engulfed in black flames, causing the roots to break apart.

At this moment, hundreds of towering trees completely surrounded Ye Haitang. Their dense branches and leaves blotted out the sky, making Ye Haitang feel as if darkness had fallen.

From the trunks of hundreds of towering trees, large, thick wooden spikes emerged, rapidly moving towards Ye Haitang, as if to pierce her into a sieve.

Ye Haitang gripped the Black Lotus Mirror. A vast expanse of black spectral energy surged from her body, forming a black cloud several zhang wide that flew towards the sky.

She had not flown very high when the ground violently shook. Thousands of red tree roots burst out of the earth, striking towards Ye Haitang like a thousand thick, long crimson swords.

If Ye Haitang had forcibly flown higher, she would undoubtedly have been impaled by the thousand crimson swords.

The Black Lotus Mirror in her hand erupted with dazzling black light, spewing out countless black beams that struck the attacking red tree roots.

RUMBLE!

Upon touching the black light, these tree roots instantly exploded.

Just then, hundreds of crimson fireballs came crashing down. Before they even neared, an overwhelming heatwave washed over her.

A fierce spectral wind surged around Ye Haitang, creating a gale. The attacking crimson fireballs collided with the gale; some rapidly flickered out, while others flew back with even greater speed along their original paths, crashing into the hundreds of towering trees. These trees immediately ignited into roaring infernos, with flames shooting towards the sky.

Ye Haitang's eyes gleamed with dark light—it was the Yellow Spring Dharma Eye. She knew for certain there was a tree spirit, otherwise, so many trees would not be attacking her.

As expected, in the northwest corner, there was a red fruit tree over a hundred zhang tall. The tree had no leaves but was covered in crimson sharp thorns. Thirteen fist-sized crimson fruits hung from its branches, and its trunk had some reddish-gold patterns.

None of the other large trees nearby bore fruit; only the red fruit tree did, which was very strange.

If not for the Yellow Spring Dharma Eye, Ye Haitang might not have discovered the tree demon's presence.

A powerful dark light emanated from her body, and she transformed into a streak of black light, flying away.

After Ye Haitang left, the ancient towering trees became motionless, and the red tree roots receded back into the ground. The area was a mess. Even if someone passed by, they would at most assume that a magical battle had taken place there.

A short while later, a rumbling thunderclap suddenly echoed in the sky. A dark cloud, over a thousand zhang wide, abruptly appeared high above, filled with lightning and thunder. Within the dark cloud, thick, silver lightning serpents, as wide as a human's waist, could be seen.

Ye Haitang stood on a small mound, holding a black array disk in her hand, her expression cold.

She changed her incantation and cast a spell into the array disk. The dark cloud high above churned violently, and a vast expanse of silver electric arcs emerged.

RUMBLE!

After a thunderous roar that shook the heavens and earth, hundreds of watermelon-sized silver lightning orbs flew out from the dark cloud, illuminating the entire area.

The hundreds of silver lightning orbs struck near the red large tree like meteors.

A series of roars erupted. A dozen silver lightning orbs struck a towering tree, instantly bursting open. After a flash of silver lightning, the towering tree burst into a raging inferno.

The tree demon sensed danger and controlled the other trees to move quickly, moving along with them.

It was unaware that its every move was within Ye Haitang's control.

As soon as it had moved a hundred zhang, a dazzling golden light suddenly illuminated the ground from below. The ground instantly turned golden, like a gigantic golden mirror, reflecting a golden glow under the illumination of the silver lightning.

The Five Elements interact in cycles of creation and destruction: Metal overcomes Wood.

Hundreds of golden chains, as thick as an adult's arm, flew out from beneath the ground and entangled the red fruit tree. Countless thick golden iron chains wrapped around the trunk of the red fruit tree, locking it in place.

The red fruit tree struggled violently, attempting to control other trees to attack the golden iron chains, but those large trees were unable to move.

Dense silver lightning orbs fell from high above, striking the trunk of the red fruit tree. The red fruit tree shook violently, letting out a mournful female shriek. A beautiful female face suddenly appeared on its thick trunk.

The woman's eyes were emerald green, and her features were distorted.

The woman was chattering, saying something Ye Haitang couldn't understand.

Ye Haitang changed her incantation, and the dark cloud stopped churning, no longer releasing silver lightning orbs.

She had heard Wang Qingling mention that Wang Changsheng possessed a powerful tree demon. She hadn't expected to encounter a tree demon herself in the Soaring Immortal Ruins.

Compared to thorns becoming demons, trees had a higher chance of becoming demons.

This tree demon had a human face, suggesting it was likely not an ordinary tree demon. The Soaring Immortal Ruins were fraught with danger, and an extra helper meant a higher chance of survival.

Ye Haitang opened her mouth and spat out a ball of vital essence blood, which transformed into a blood-colored lotus about a zhang wide, flying towards the tree demon.

The tree demon seemed to sense something and attempted to resist. The dark cloud high above churned violently, and dozens of thick, silver lightning serpents emerged.

A hint of fear appeared in the woman's eyes. Her branches drooped, as if she had resigned herself to her fate.

The blood-colored lotus drilled into the tree demon's body, and the woman's face on the trunk showed an expression of pain.

Ye Haitang was still uneasy, so she planted five more restrictions, only then feeling at ease.

She put away the array formation and flew towards the tree demon.

The tree demon's branches rapidly lengthened, extending directly towards Ye Haitang. However, it did not attack her; instead, it offered twelve fruits to Ye Haitang, seemingly as a gesture of goodwill.

Ye Haitang examined the tree demon from top to bottom. She couldn't identify its origin, but perhaps Wang Qingling would recognize it.

She didn't hesitate and picked the twelve fruits. She took a bite of a red fruit, and a rich surge of fire spiritual energy rose in her abdomen.

It seemed this tree demon's true form was a fire-attributed fruit tree of some kind.

The nearby large trees rapidly withered, their leaves turning yellow and falling off. On the tree demon's branches, a dozen bean-sized fruits appeared.

Ye Haitang was slightly stunned. This tree demon seemed capable of absorbing the life force of other plants to cultivate spirit fruits.

Wang Changsheng's wood demon could absorb the life force of other plants to heal injuries. In comparison, the tree demon Ye Haitang had subdued was even more formidable, capable of absorbing the life force of other plants to cultivate spirit fruits. She wondered how much life force it had absorbed from other plants to produce those twelve fire-attributed spirit fruits.

"Could it have been left behind from the Spirit Realm?!" Ye Haitang muttered to herself, her face showing some excitement.

"Let's go! Lead the way for me. I won't mistreat you." Ye Haitang communicated with the tree demon using her spiritual sense, telling it to lead the way.

A large expanse of firelight surged from the tree demon's body. Its size rapidly shrank, transforming into a treant slightly taller than a human.

It had a woman's face with complete features, but its skin had bark-like patterns, and its limbs were composed of branches, making it quite peculiar.

The treant quickly moved forward, and Ye Haitang followed.

A day later, Ye Haitang emerged from the dense forest. A crimson valley appeared before her. The stone walls on both sides of the valley were crimson, and numerous crimson ores were scattered on the ground. Even from dozens of zhang away, she could feel an intense heat.

Along her journey, she hadn't found a single spirit herb, not even a ten-year-old one. No spirit herbs was one thing, but what was even more preposterous was the absence of any demonic beasts or insects, though she did see many demonic beast skeletons.

Clearly, the spirit herbs, demonic beasts, and demonic insects had all been devoured by the treant, allowing it to condense the twelve fruits.

Ye Haitang took out a light blue parchment scroll. The scroll contained a topographical map, with certain locations marked.

This topographical map had been given to Ye Haitang by Wang Changsheng. Wang Qingjing and the other three also had one. This map was kept by the Zhenhai Sect in its Scripture Depository, recording the routes taken by Zhenhai Sect disciples in the Soaring Immortal Ruins, with powerful demonic beast locations also marked.

The treant dared not proceed, seemingly afraid of something.

According to the map, ahead lay a volcanic region. Passing through it would lead to a place that might contain rare spirit herbs.

Ye Haitang pondered for a moment, then put away the treant and continued forward.

Outside the Soaring Immortal Ruins, on a desolate island.

Wang Changsheng and over twenty Nascent Soul cultivators sat together, sipping tea and chatting, or exchanging cultivation insights, discussing the situation in the Soaring Immortal Ruins, or trading items.

Wang Changsheng looked towards a rosy-faced elderly man in a green robe with a goatee, and asked curiously, "Fellow Daoist Shen, if I may be so bold, what kind of foreign race did your Shen family disciples encounter in the Soaring Immortal Ruins?"

The green-robed elder was named Shen Wenbin. He was one of the six Nascent Soul cultivators of the Shen family, at the early Nascent Soul stage.

Li Tianyang and the others looked towards Shen Wenbin upon hearing this.

The last time the Soaring Immortal Ruins opened, the Shen family disciples encountered a foreign race and were almost completely wiped out. Many factions knew this, but they didn't know what kind of foreign race the Shen family had encountered.

Shen Wenbin pondered for a moment, then said, "They encountered the Five-Element Spirits. They were unlucky to run into a Nascent Soul stage Spirit."

"The Five-Element Spirits?" The cultivators present exchanged bewildered glances. Most were completely confused; many of them had never heard of the Five-Element Spirits. Wang Changsheng hadn't either, despite having read numerous ancient texts, and he genuinely didn't know about them. Even Li Tianyang was unaware of the Five-Element Spirits. It seemed this Five-Element Spirit race was not an ordinary one.

"Fellow Daoist Shen, are you referring to spirits formed from Five-Element objects?" Song Tianyang suddenly interjected.

"That's right. To put it simply, you've all heard of strange stones becoming spirits and trees turning into demons, haven't you? The ancestors of the Five-Element Spirits were transformed from Five-Element objects that became spirits. The difference is that their descendants are born in human form, but their true forms are Five-Element objects—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, and so on."