The Conspiracy

In the blink of an eye, Luo Qing was captured and brought back inside Hundred Gods Mountain by Ancestor Hun Xing.

Seeing that the four Metal Gods left behind had vanished without a trace, Hun Xing froze for a moment before letting out a mocking laugh.

"I didn't expect my disciple, Red Fire, to be this capable.

The four White Gold Gods were so easily killed by you. You've truly made me see you in a new light."

One late-stage Metal God and three mid-stage Metal Gods—the four Metal Gods had all been wiped out by Luo Qing in a short time.

No matter how foolish Hun Xing was, he now knew that his disciple possessed some other fortuitous opportunity.

However, Hun Xing no longer cared about that. Whatever opportunity it was, it would soon become his.

In truth, even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could not suppress a Golden Immortal by aura alone.

Luo Qing merely knew that he was no match for Ancestor Hun Xing, so he had pretended to be ambushed by Hun Xing using the Flame Fire Pearl.

After being captured and brought into Hun Xing's core cave abode, Luo Qing wore a terrified expression, but his heart was utterly calm.

He knew exactly what Hun Xing would do next.

Inside the core cave abode, a complex grand array of the five elements was slowly glowing.

Hun Xing grabbed Luo Qing and threw him into the fire-element formation eye at the center of the array.

At that moment, Hun Xing completely ignored the fear and anger in Luo Qing's eyes.

With a turn of the Formation Arrays, the four "senior brothers" at the Metal God realm were transferred one after another into the other four five-element formation eyes.

Five intermediate Innate Gods, who were also Metal Gods belonging to the five elements.

Once the five innate elemental gods took their places, Hun Xing also stood in the core formation eye of the Five-Element Reversal Formation.

"After plotting for tens of thousands of years, the day of perfect Merit has finally arrived!"

"You five must not blame your teacher. The Great Dao is heartless. If I don't fight with all my strength, I will eventually become someone else's stepping stone."

"From now on, you and I will merge into one and share the Great Dao. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"This is an opportunity that countless Primordial Wilderness lifeforms could never hope for. So, my five obedient disciples, just fulfill your teacher's wish!"

Perhaps because he was about to welcome a new life, Hun Xing could not contain his excitement and became unusually talkative.

However, with the five of them subdued by Hun Xing, naturally no one answered him.

Luo Qing merely rolled his eyes at Ancestor Hun Xing's words in his heart.

He did not think Hun Xing's actions were particularly evil.

He had captured Innate Gods for research and Artifact Refining, so his conduct was not much different from Ancestor Hun Xing's.

It was just that Ancestor Hun Xing should never have used Luo Qing as a stepping stone for the Great Dao.

"Forgive me for being so talkative. Let's begin now!"

Ancestor Hun Xing revealed a genial smile and calmed his excitement somewhat.

As soon as he finished speaking, a five-colored divine disc appeared above Ancestor Hun Xing's head.

Luo Qing's expression changed instantly. As expected, he had encountered the worst possible situation—Ancestor Hun Xing also possessed an Innate Spiritual Treasure.

"An Innate Spiritual Treasure!"

For a Grand Unity Golden Immortal like Ancestor Hun Xing to transform into an advanced or even peak-level Innate God, how could it be so simple?

With merely the origins of five intermediate Innate Gods belonging to the five elements, he had no ability to completely absorb and make them his own.

Everything still depended on the Innate Spiritual Treasure in Ancestor Hun Xing's hands.

Ancestor Hun Xing formed a hand seal, then muttered, "Haste!"

Luo Qing immediately sensed movement from the Flame Fire Pearl on his body.

It was not only the Flame Fire Pearl on Luo Qing. The other four Metal Gods also each had a five-element treasure pearl fly out from their bodies.

The five Treasure Pearls spun rapidly above the Divine Treasure disc, like children returning to their mother's body.

"Source of the five elements, why have you not taken your places? What are you waiting for?"

A loud chant rang from Hun Xing's mouth.

Under the suppression of the Divine Treasure disc and the pull of the Formation Arrays,

a powerful force of attraction came from the five Treasure Pearls.

The fire origin within the White Flame Spirit Pearl, which Luo Qing had upgraded into an Acquired Spiritual Treasure, immediately flew uncontrollably toward Ancestor Hun Xing.

Luo Qing's pupils flickered almost imperceptibly. He immediately restrained his aura with all his might, as if he had turned into a corpse.

Luo Qing had the White Flame Spirit Pearl take his place in the calamity.

The other four Metal Gods were not so fortunate.

Their origins and primordial spirits were utterly powerless to resist. They were pulled out and gathered toward Ancestor Hun Xing.

Ancestor Hun Xing devoted all his attention to absorbing and fusing the five elemental origins.

He did not notice that a trace of anticipation flashed through the lifeless eyes of Luo Qing, who looked like a corpse.

"The origins of the five elements are replenishing my body. How wonderful!"

Ancestor Hun Xing began fusing the five origins, filled with delight.

The resistance from the five origins was almost nonexistent.

This was all because Ancestor Hun Xing had used a treasure artifact in advance to assimilate the five people's auras. Those with the same aura could be suppressed by a superior with a single thought.

However, when Hun Xing began fusing the fire origin, his expression suddenly changed.

"Poison!"

"There's a poison origin within the fire origin!"

"Damn it! Red Fire, I'll tear you apart alive!"

Ancestor Hun Xing's face turned pale as he raged.

The poison-fire origins had mixed together, and the poison origin had already begun following the fire origin into Hun Xing's own origin.

This was no different from directly injecting poison into Hun Xing's origin.

Although the poison origin was weak and could not possibly kill Hun Xing,

it had undoubtedly disrupted Ancestor Hun Xing's transformation plan.

Hun Xing now had two choices. One was to continue fusing the five elemental origins.

Although doing so would severely injure his own origin with the poison origin, it would not endanger his life—but it would leave endless troubles behind.

The other choice was to immediately stop absorbing the five elemental origins and expel the small amount of poison origin from his body.

Although this would preserve him, his transformation plan would undoubtedly fail completely.

"Continue!"

At this moment, Ancestor Hun Xing hated Luo Qing so much that his teeth ached, but he had no choice except to grit his teeth and continue.

He did not want his tens of thousands of years of planning to end in failure. At worst, he could recuperate for several tens of thousands of years afterward.

Just as Hun Xing pinched his nose and endured the pain of his origin being poisoned while absorbing roughly one-third of the five elemental origins,

the fire origin suddenly dimmed.

"What's going on?"

At that moment, Hun Xing truly panicked. He was even more alarmed than when he had discovered the poison origin.

"Heh heh! The origin of a low-level Innate Fire God naturally isn't as abundant as that of an intermediate Innate Fire God.

Teacher, isn't it obvious? The fire origin has almost been completely fused by you!"

The corpse that had appeared utterly lifeless only moments ago was now smiling as it looked at Ancestor Hun Xing.

Hearing Luo Qing's words and seeing him standing there completely unharmed,

how could Hun Xing still not realize that this disciple had deceived him completely?

The imbalance of the five elements also meant that his transformation plan had utterly failed.

Tens of thousands of years of effort had gone to waste. At that moment, rage surged into Hun Xing's heart.

"You're courting death!"

Hun Xing's eyes were bloodshot, as if flames were about to burst from them. His hatred for Luo Qing had reached its peak.

From the moment Hun Xing had brought him into Hundred Gods Mountain, the two had already been mortal enemies.

At that moment, Luo Qing's gaze toward Ancestor Hun Xing was equally icy.

"Senior brothers, if you don't act now, when will you?"

Luo Qing spoke in an unhurried tone, as if signaling the counterattack.

In an instant, Ancestor Hun Xing felt his entire body turn cold, as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

The fear on his face replaced his anger.

"No!"

Ancestor Hun Xing shouted in terror.

But it was already too late.