Chapter 25: The Five Elements Technique
After the auction concluded, Master Liu made his way to the top-floor private room.
“Greetings, Grandmaster.” Master Liu bowed respectfully before the Ancestor Linghu.
“Very well, I’ll leave you to your conversation.” Satisfied with the outcome of the auction, Ancestor Linghu took his leave.
“Junior Brother Lin, here are the spirit stones you earned from the auction—over sixty thousand in total.” Master Liu handed a storage pouch to Lin Yang.
“Sixty thousand spirit stones. Yellow Maple Valley’s annual revenue is only three hundred thousand, and that’s with over ten thousand disciples,” Master Liu remarked with a sigh.
“This was a one-time opportunity. There are no more materials left to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. In the days to come, I can finally cultivate in peace.” Lin Yang sighed along with him.
“All right, you should get going. We still have to clear out the extra furnishings in the main hall. I won’t see you out.” Master Liu turned back to the remaining disciples, directing them to clean up the council hall.
Lin Yang pocketed the storage pouch and stepped out of the hall, observing the dispersing crowd as if they were bundles of fresh chives waiting to be harvested.
“Ah, my strength is still too meager. When I become a Golden Core cultivator, I’ll found my own merchant guild and let others work for me, instead of the other way around.” Lin Yang couldn’t help but feel that he was constantly exhausting himself in pursuit of attribute points.
He entered the Alchemy Pavilion, watching the bustling disciples come and go, feeling the energy of youth in the air. Spending every day with old men was making his body feel rusty.
He entered the courtyard and practiced a full set of sword techniques at full strength. After an hour, he finally broke a sweat. Two hours later, he was gasping for breath.
Lin Yang called for a disciple to bring a basin of hot water. Lying back in the warmth, he felt his bones melt with comfort. It was simply too blissful.
“Ah,” he sighed, “I should have a disciple bring me a basin of hot water at this time every day. Wouldn’t life be more interesting that way?”
“Yes, that’s decided. Just a little relaxation for the body and mind.”
Once Lin Yang had washed away his fatigue, he felt revitalized and sat down cross-legged on his meditation cushion.
“Open the panel.”
Name: Lin Yang
Age: 16/240
Cultivation: Early Foundation Establishment (268/1,000,000)
Technique: Longevity Art (Peerless, unsurpassable—each cycle grants 10 experience points)
Primary Profession: Tier Two Middle-Grade Alchemist (next level requires 10,000 attribute points)
Secondary Professions: Tier One High-Grade Talisman Master, Tier Two Low-Grade Formation Master, Tier One High-Grade Artifact Refiner, Tier One High-Grade Beast Tamer, Tier One High-Grade Puppet Master (all available for point allocation)
Skills: Sword Control (Peerless—doubles flight speed and increases sword technique speed by 20%; experience maxed)
Soul Suppression Art: Peerless—can instantly unleash a combined divine sense attack, affecting or intimidating everything within thirty feet.
Basic Swordsmanship (Peerless, 51,500/100,000—endless)—increases learning speed of all sword techniques by 40%, enables condensing sword intent.
Jade-Gold Physique: Body cultivation technique (Expert, 6,000/20,000)—comparable to a peak Qi Refining body cultivator, greatly accelerates stamina and wound recovery.
Dragon Elephant Technique: (Level 4, 2,515/3,000)—each level adds the strength of one elephant; thirteen levels equal the strength of a dragon.
Available attribute points: 4,100
Inventory: 77,654 spirit stones; three Tier One High-Grade bird-form puppets; twelve flying swords; one Golden Core talisman treasure; one Thunder Seed; a small speed-type airship; and more.
Looking at his balance, Lin Yang felt an immense sense of security. Was this what it felt like to have a surplus? He wondered how those who could never spend all their money felt—perhaps weighed down by it.
Feeling a bit smug, he spoke: “System, add points to Formation Master.”
At a click behind the Formation Master’s plus sign, his attribute points instantly dropped by four thousand, leaving a balance of only one hundred.
“System, recharge forty thousand spirit stones.”
In an instant, the spirit stones vanished from his storage pouch without a trace, as if by some supernatural force.
His attribute points returned to 4,100, but he’d already used one round—this time, it was for synthesizing techniques.
He took out his collection of cultivation techniques and laid them out before him, silently reciting in his mind, “System, open synthesis function.”
Suddenly, a platform materialized before him—brilliantly sci-fi, like a glowing, transparent crystal.
“Please place the items you wish to synthesize on the platform,” the system prompted.
“Also, the system cannot predict the outcome of the technique fusion. Please consider carefully.”
What did it matter? He’d just fuse them.
He placed five technique manuals onto the platform and pressed the synthesis button. The five books transformed into five beams of light, swirling rapidly until they blurred before his eyes.
After a moment, the five beams merged into a single rainbow, which descended onto the platform and then turned into droplets of gold that flowed into Lin Yang’s mind.
A nameless mantra appeared in his consciousness—one that combined the essence of all five techniques while improving on their flaws, forming a cycle of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
“Please name the technique.”
“Since it fuses five elements, let’s call it the Five Elements Art,” Lin Yang decided, choosing a straightforward name.
He set his thoughts aside and began to study the Five Elements formula. After careful reading, he prepared to cultivate.
He exhaled, cleared his mind, and silently recited the mantra. He could see points of light in the air—the green ones were the most abundant, representing wood element spiritual energy, followed by brown earth. The other three elements were too sparse.
The Five Elements Art had a drawback—it required all five elements to be balanced. The technique would only absorb equal amounts of each, limited by the scarcest one.
He tried circulating the technique. One cycle gained fifty experience points. At this rate, it would take thirteen years to reach mid-Foundation Establishment. The pace was unbearably slow.
Clearly, he needed a new place to cultivate—somewhere the five elements were in balance. Tomorrow, he would ask Master Liu if such a place existed.
He took out his meager supply of five-element spirit stones—not many, but enough for a few days of cultivation. He’d sometimes receive a few as payment for alchemy work. Feeling his cultivation speed increase by half, he finally relaxed.
“Open the panel.”
Name: Lin Yang
Age: 16/240
Cultivation: Early Foundation Establishment (268/1,000,000)
Technique: Five Elements Art (1/10,000; entry level; each cycle grants 100 experience; special technique can evolve, innate endless vitality—generates spiritual energy even in barren lands; enhances life force, unlocks ‘Cockroach Mode’)
Lin Yang looked at the Five Elements entry on his panel and finally felt at ease. After all, Qi Refining techniques were virtually useless at the Foundation Establishment stage. The past month, unable to make any progress, had been unbearable.
As he prepared to meditate, a sudden thought struck him: Damn, my techniques were all fused—what about the originals? Did the system swallow them up?
“System, is there any way to recover the techniques you consumed?” Lin Yang asked anxiously.
“There is,” the system replied unhurriedly.
“Then tell me! Don’t just dangle it in front of me,” Lin Yang said urgently.
“For twenty attribute points, I can copy a technique for you,” the system replied, as calm as ever.
“But didn’t you already swallow them? And my spirit stones too?” Lin Yang was on the verge of collapse.
“They’re gone. Only copies from before can be made, but copying requires energy.”
“Fine, fine, copy them,” Lin Yang said helplessly.
Suddenly, a hundred attribute points vanished from his balance, leaving not a single one.
The system tossed the previously synthesized techniques before Lin Yang. “Synthesis complete.”
He flipped through the manuals—they seemed identical to before. Only then did he relax.
That was nearly another mess to clean up.