After the excitement of finding the Origin of the Great Dao had passed, Luo Qing calmed down.
He was troubled again.
Judging by the location of the Five-Colored Divine Light, it was right in the Five Elements Tribe, eight thousand zhang underground in the center of the Thick Earth Tribe's basin.
That was nearly twenty-five kilometers deep.
As a god, Luo Qing naturally had no problem reaching twenty-five kilometers underground.
But as a fire-attribute god, he was not proficient in earth-traveling techniques or similar earth-escape spells.
Trying to conceal himself from the many earth-attribute gods of the Five Elements Tribe and sneak into the depths beneath the Thick Earth Tribe would be difficult.
Once he was exposed, whether it was the Spiritual Treasure Nurturing Ground or the place where the Innate Gods were being nurtured below, neither would have any share for Luo Qing.
"Hmm, the Five-Colored Divine Light?"
After calming down, Luo Qing used the Eye of the Great Dao to carefully sense it again.
Apart from the fluctuations of the Origin of Fire, which Luo Qing was most familiar with, the other four Origins—Gold, Wood, Water, and Earth—had also gathered there.
"This is actually a place where the Five Elements Origins converge."
Luo Qing exclaimed in wonder.
No wonder the ancestors of the Five Elements Tribe had moved here back then!
Perhaps the ancestors had not discovered that an Origin Land was hidden underground.
But the Five Elements Tribe had been born in accordance with the Five Elements, and closeness to the Five Elements Origins was an instinct they possessed from birth.
They must have sensed, in some intangible way, that this place was beneficial to the development of the Five Elements Tribe, which was why they had settled here.
"With the Five Elements converging, there should be a passage connecting the depths of Crimson Flame Mountain's lava to the Origin Land."
Having figured this out, Luo Qing no longer hesitated. He immediately left his cave abode, using cultivation of his spirit fire as an excuse to enter a branch fire vein beneath the extinct volcanic crater of Crimson Flame Mountain.
As a fire-attribute god, Luo Qing felt completely at home in the lava of Crimson Flame Mountain.
With the Eye of the Great Dao aiding his investigation, Luo Qing activated a third-tier Concealment Immortal Artifact and made his way toward the depths of the fire vein.
Five thousand zhang beneath the volcanic lava, Luo Qing searched for an entire month with the help of the Eye of the Great Dao.
He finally found a branch fire vein leading to the Five Elements Origin Land.
Following the lava river in the branch fire vein, Luo Qing smoothly reached a depth of eight thousand zhang beneath the Thick Earth Tribe.
He eventually arrived inside an underground cavity roughly the size of a soccer field.
The fire veins of Crimson Flame Mountain, the water vein of the great river to the north, the gold vein to the west, the wood vein to the east, and the earth vein in the center—
The vital essences of the five veins ultimately converged in this small underground cavern.
The moment Luo Qing entered the cavern, the pure Five Elements essence stirred along with his breathing.
"What pure Five Elements essence!"
Luo Qing inhaled deeply, and the Dharma Power within his body began to ripple faintly.
After exclaiming in admiration, Luo Qing hurriedly held his breath.
He had come to search for the Five Elements origin site, not to cultivate.
If he disturbed the Five Elements essence here, no one knew what might happen.
Luo Qing did not want any unexpected complications.
The cavern was not large, only about the size of a soccer field, and everything inside could be seen at a glance.
Luo Qing knew that the Five Elements Origin Land was concealed inside an unknown space.
Daring not to be careless, he deployed the Concealment Immortal Artifact he had reforged. The Five Elements Arena, which he had also repaired and reforged, unfolded within the cavern.
Luo Qing activated the Defense Immortal Artifact he carried to protect himself, then took out the nearly twenty Blazing Thunder Pearls he had refined over the past century.
What was being nurtured in the Five Elements Origin Land could be an Innate Spiritual Treasure, or it could be an Innate God.
If it was an Innate God or an Innate Sacred Being, then even though it had not yet emerged, it might already possess intelligence.
If it encountered an outside enemy, it would still have the power to retaliate.
After making all his preparations, a flash of Azure Light blossomed in his eyes.
"Found it!" Luo Qing cried inwardly in delight.
At the center of the cavern's ceiling, a spatial opening was concealed by an innate concealment and protective grand formation.
He did not immediately approach.
Protective formations for Innate Objects were generally designed according to the quality of what they nurtured, with their strength increasing accordingly.
If he attacked by force, Luo Qing, as a god, might not be able to break through the protective formation.
Fortunately, Luo Qing possessed the Eye of the Great Dao. Once it had finished analyzing a mere innate protective grand formation, breaking it would be as easy as turning over his hand.
At this point, Luo Qing was no longer in a hurry.
He patiently began analyzing the innate grand formation, memorizing every detail.
Once the analysis was complete, Luo Qing might even be able to reproduce the entire formation.
Thirty years!
Luo Qing spent a full thirty years studying the protective formation before he completely understood the entire innate protective grand formation.
This left him both delighted and shocked.
He was delighted that the formation's grade was high enough, which meant that the Origin of the thing being nurtured within was certainly substantial.
He was shocked because he feared that what was being nurtured inside might be a top-tier Innate God or Innate Sacred Being.
An existence of that level could kill a god with ease, even before emerging into the world.
"Things have reached this point. There's no turning back now. I can only take a gamble!"
Luo Qing took a deep breath, his gaze resolute as he slashed toward the weak point of the innate grand formation.
"Buzz!"
With only a casual slash, Luo Qing easily shook the entire formation.
His eyes flickering, Luo Qing swung nine more slashes in succession at the formation's weak point.
With a sharp crack like breaking glass, a three-chi-wide hole appeared on the surface of the protective formation.
Luo Qing was overjoyed. He instantly transformed into a streak of fire and entered the unknown space behind the formation through the hole.
In the brief instant after Luo Qing disappeared, the protective formation began operating again, and the shattered hole repaired itself.
The moment Luo Qing entered the space behind the formation, it felt as though he had crossed through space itself.
His vision blurred, and Luo Qing found himself inside a multicolored space roughly ten li in radius.
The Five Elements essence seemed to have liquefied into flowing water. It radiated the light of the Five Elements throughout the entire space, drifting and flowing freely.
Within the Eye of the Great Dao, the entire space seemed to contain five centers of the Origins of the Great Dao.
Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—the essence of each element formed its own vortex, slowly revolving around the Five Elements Origins at the center.
"Hiss!"
This time, Luo Qing was truly stunned. He inhaled a mouthful of pure fire essence and nearly burned his tongue.
It was no wonder Luo Qing was so shocked.
"Five Innate Spiritual Treasures—and they're a complete set of Five Elements Spiritual Treasures!" Luo Qing shouted wildly in his heart.
At this moment, Luo Qing's head was spinning. It was as if an ordinary person from his past life had suddenly been struck by ten million in cash one day.
Originally, Luo Qing had only thought that a single Spiritual Treasure with Five Elements attributes was being nurtured here.
He had never imagined that the surprise would be five times greater.
It was not one Five Elements Spiritual Treasure, but five single-attribute Spiritual Treasures.
"Low-grade Spiritual Treasure, Fire Spiritual Ring!"
"Low-grade Spiritual Treasure, Earth Spiritual Ring!"
"Gold Spiritual Ring, Water Spiritual Ring, Wood Spiritual Ring!"
Luo Qing excitedly swept out his divine sense, and the Innate Spiritual Treasures being nurtured automatically sent back information.
"A complete set of low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures—the Five Elements Spiritual Rings!"
Without needing to analyze them with the Eye of the Great Dao, Luo Qing automatically received the information about the Divine Treasures.
However, because the Divine Treasures were still being nurtured and had not fully taken shape or emerged, their functions remained unknown.
Originally, finding Spiritual Treasures that had not yet fully formed and seizing their Origins of the Great Dao should have been something to celebrate.
But after his initial excitement, Luo Qing felt a faint sadness.
He was so close to reverting to Innate and would soon achieve an Innate God's body.
Yet Luo Qing found himself coveting the complete set of Five Elements Spiritual Treasures.
If he seized the Origin of even one of the Five Elements Spiritual Rings, that Spiritual Treasure would probably inevitably be degraded into a treasure artifact.
The Five Elements Spiritual Rings would likely lose their chance to become one unified set from then on.
"Alas! They say one eats what's in the bowl while eyeing what's in the pot. I've fallen prey to insatiable greed as well!"
Luo Qing sighed, knowing in his heart that he was being overly sentimental.
He had not even achieved an Innate God's body yet, and he was already worrying about his future Spiritual Treasures.
"Forget it. If they're ruined, then they're ruined! It's not as though I won't be able to refine Innate Spiritual Treasures in the future."
Suppressing the greed in his heart, Luo Qing carefully scanned all five Spiritual Treasures being nurtured with the Eye of the Great Dao.
The Origins of the five Spiritual Treasures were roughly equal in size, each about three times greater than the Origin of a low-level Innate God.
Luo Qing estimated that the power of the five Spiritual Treasures' Origins should be roughly equivalent to that of a mid-level Innate God.
"My innate bloodline is that of the Crimson Flame Tribe, and I belong to the fire attribute. Since I have a choice, it would be best to become an Innate Fire Attribute God."
Without much thought, Luo Qing decided which Origin of the Great Dao he would fuse with.
Previously, he had planned to fuse with whichever Origin of the Great Dao he found if he had no choice.
Now that he could choose, Luo Qing was still closest to the Great Dao of Fire.
As for fusing with two Origins, or even more, or perhaps uniting all five elements—
Luo Qing had never even considered it.
The Five Elements Great Dao, as a path that integrated all five elements, was not so simple.
There were many super-powerful experts in the Primordial Wilderness who followed a single Great Dao, and there were also many experts who followed multiple Great Daos.
But throughout the countless years of the Primordial Wilderness, no one had ever heard of an expert who followed the combined Five Elements Great Dao. One could imagine how deep its waters were.
Luo Qing only wanted to revert to Innate. Whether he followed a single Great Dao or cultivated multiple Daos was something to consider only after reaching the Golden Immortal or Taiyi realm.
Although the Innate Origin had some influence, it was not significant.
Having chosen the Origin of Fire, Luo Qing immediately calmed down.
Inside the Five Elements space, he began to construct the framework of the Innate Runes for an Innate Fire Attribute God.
If he wanted to fuse with an Origin of Fire equivalent to that of a mid-level Innate God, then the Divine Body and Position Dharma Appearance he designed also had to match the level of a mid-level Innate God.
Luo Qing had never analyzed a mid-level Innate God, but fortunately, that was not a major problem.
He only needed to design a rough framework. He did not need to fill in every detail himself.
At the moment he reverted to Innate, as long as there were no problems with the general framework, the Origin of Fire would naturally communicate with the Great Dao of Fire, elevating and completing the Divine Body and Position Dharma Appearance.
It seemed as though time did not flow within the Five Elements space. Luo Qing sat there for several decades.
At last, the corners of Luo Qing's mouth finally lifted, and he opened his eyes.
A flash of Azure Light passed through Luo Qing's eyes. A flaming Divine Body and a phantom of a Position Dharma Appearance appeared together before him.
The flaming Divine Body had the head of a dragon, the body of a man, and the tail of a dragon. A crimson flame burned between the pair of dragon horns atop its head.
The Position Dharma Appearance likewise had the head of a dragon, the body of a man, and the tail of a dragon. Two crimson flames burned atop its pair of dragon horns, while a pair of crimson fire serpents coiled around its arms.
Luo Qing pondered for a few seconds before naming the Divine Body and Dharma Appearance.
Luo Qing spoke:
"Innate Crimson King Divine Body! Innate Crimson King Dharma Form!"
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