Deep within the gorge, where the killing intent and stench of blood were thickest, a warm, heavy yellow glow faintly shone from beneath a rock wall that had collapsed under a tremendous impact.
The light was not dazzling, yet it carried a steady, profound essence that soothed the earth veins and bore all things, utterly out of place amid the surrounding violent killing intent and resentful spirits.
Ming Xin's Karma Life-Death Eyes stirred.
He clearly "saw" the source of the light: a treasure pearl roughly the size of a fist, perfectly round, its color as deep and solemn as the heart of the earth. Strange natural patterns of mountains and rivers covered its surface.
What it emitted was the purest and most vast Innate Wutu Essence Qi!
"Innate Wutu Spirit Pearl?" Ming Xin's Heart Stirred. Though it was not a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, it was a rare marvel containing the origin aura of Innate Wutu.
To those who cultivated the Earth Element Great Dao, it was an unparalleled treasure. It could also stabilize earth veins and settle mountains and rivers.
Just as he was about to step forward and claim it—
"ROAR!!!"
A violent, savage roar exploded from the other end of the gorge like thunder!
Along with the roar came a scorching, violent demonic gale filled with endless hunger, sweeping through the gorge and instantly dispersing much of the resentful spirits and killing intent!
As the gale scattered, it revealed an enormous beast. It resembled a lion, but possessed nine ferocious heads.
Its eighteen crimson eyes burned with greedy flames. Dark-red scales covered its body, and viscous liquid like molten lava continuously dripped from the gaps between them.
Wherever it passed, the ground charred black and the air twisted! The demonic power it emitted had reached the peak of the mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, its ferocity towering to the heavens!
"Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng?" Ming Xin's gaze sharpened as he recognized this Ancient Fierce Beast, infamous even in the Primordial World.
This beast possessed extraordinary gifts. Each of its nine heads wielded a different divine ability, and it was especially adept at devouring. Brutal and greedy by nature, it often lurked around battlefields to feed on the remains of powerful cultivators.
It even ambushed injured mighty experts. He had not expected to encounter it here today.
The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's eighteen eyes instantly locked onto the Innate Wutu Spirit Pearl, the greed in them nearly materializing!
It had clearly sensed that this treasure would be greatly beneficial to it. If it could devour it, its earth-element divine abilities would greatly improve, and it might even use it to break through to the late Grand Unity Golden Immortal stage!
"Awoo!!" One of its heads let out an excited howl and opened its huge maw. A terrifying suction force instantly formed, sweeping toward the Wutu Spirit Pearl like a black hole as it attempted to devour it from afar!
However, as an innate rare treasure, the Wutu Spirit Pearl possessed its own spirituality. Sensing the foul, devouring demonic power, its yellow light immediately flared brilliantly.
Heavy Wutu Essence Qi erupted like a mountain, temporarily resisting the suction force and holding the pearl firmly in place!
"Hmm? You dare resist?!"
The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's other eight heads roared in fury. One spewed poisonous fire, another shot petrifying demonic light, while another summoned bone-eroding yin winds...
All nine divine abilities erupted, seeking to forcibly suppress and seize the spirit pearl!
At that moment, a calm yet icy voice suddenly echoed through the gorge.
"This treasure is fated to be mine."
The voice was not loud, yet it clearly drowned out the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's roars and the thunder of its divine abilities!
The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's eighteen eyes abruptly shifted, its savage gaze instantly locking onto a gray figure that had appeared beside the Wutu Spirit Pearl at some unknown moment. It had not sensed this person's presence at all!
"Ant! You dare steal this ancestor's treasure?! You court death!" The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng sensed Ming Xin's early-stage Quasi-Saint cultivation. Though it felt a trace of apprehension, its savagery overwhelmed everything else.
Especially that calm, indifferent attitude of his—it utterly enraged it!
Three of its heads abruptly turned, poisonous fire, demonic light, and yin wind combining with immense demonic power into a torrent of destruction.
It blasted directly toward Ming Xin! Its force was so fierce that it could instantly severely wound, or even kill, an ordinary peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal!
Facing this world-destroying attack, Ming Xin's eyes remained as still as an ancient well.
He did not even look at the attack. He merely slowly raised his right hand, spread his five fingers toward the surging torrent of divine abilities, and lightly pressed forward.
It was no earthshaking divine ability, merely the simplest application of the Five Elements. Yet it contained supreme authority akin to that of an emperor!
"Central Wuji, Bearing All Virtues. Suppress!" Buzz—! An extremely condensed dark-yellow pillar of light burst from his palm!
Within the pillar, phantoms of endless mountains, rivers, and land seemed to rise and fall, carrying the most fundamental heaviness, endurance, and suppressive intent of the Primordial World's earth!
The violent torrent of poisonous fire, demonic light, and yin wind crashed against this seemingly plain dark-yellow pillar like raging waves against an eternal divine mountain!
After a series of earthshaking explosions, it failed to shake the pillar in the slightest. Instead, the heavy Wutu Essence Qi forcibly suppressed, shattered, and annihilated it!
"What?!" All eighteen of the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's eyes widened, filled with disbelief! The combined strike of its three heads had been so effortlessly neutralized?!
"Earth-element divine abilities? Hmph! Let's see how many times you can block this!"
Another head roared and spewed a torrential flood. It was Innate Kui Water Essence, containing the power to corrode all things and devour spirituality, seeking to use water to overcome earth!
Another head unleashed hundreds of millions of Geng Metal Divine Needles, incomparably sharp and specialized in breaking defenses! Yet another summoned boundless Yi Wood Azure Qi, transforming it into enormous vines that coiled around him and drained his energy!
It had mastered several Five Elements divine abilities as well. Though they were not as pure as Ming Xin's, its powerful cultivation allowed it to unleash them simultaneously with terrifying force!
At last, a faint trace of... interest flashed through Ming Xin's eyes. "Five Elements mutual generation and restraint? You possess only the form."
He no longer merely defended. With a thought, Five-Colored Divine Light suddenly shone behind him!
The White Emperor Metal Emperor Talisman flashed, and the countless Geng Metal Divine Needles froze as if they had encountered their sovereign. Then they reversed course and shot back toward the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng!
The Black Emperor Water Emperor Talisman circulated, and the towering flood of Kui Water seemed to be swallowed by an invisible giant maw, vanishing without a trace. It instead transformed into pure water spiritual power that replenished Ming Xin's expenditure!
The Azure Emperor Wood Emperor Talisman swept past, and the boundless Yi Wood vines instantly withered and died, all their spiritual energy plundered away!
With the absolute pure imperial power of the Five Elements origins, he countered and plundered the other party's Five Elements divine abilities!
"Pfft!" The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's divine abilities were broken, and its aura suffered backlash. One head abruptly spat out a mouthful of filthy blood, terror appearing in its eyes for the first time!
"Y-you... who exactly are you?!"
"The one who will kill you." Ming Xin no longer held back. He took a step forward, his figure passing through space like a ghost and appearing directly before one of the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's heads!
He held two fingers together like a sword. Five Elements Cycle revolved at his fingertips before condensing into the ultimate White Emperor Gold Emperor Qi of slaughter, mixed with the icy Killing Law. He pointed forward! "God Slaying Finger!"
Pfft! The glabella of that ferocious head was instantly pierced! Before it could even scream, the primordial spirit and life force within its head were utterly annihilated by that terrifying power of slaughter and killing!
The enormous head drooped weakly, all light gone from its eyes!
"ROAR!! It hurts unbearably!" The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's remaining eight heads let out miserable, agonized roars. It struggled madly, unleashing every innate divine ability it had at the nearby Ming Xin without regard for the cost!
Ming Xin's figure drifted like smoke through the storm-like attacks. With every flash, he would extend two fingers like a sword!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Finger force containing different Five Elements interactions and the True Meaning of Slaughter precisely struck the vital points of the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's heads—their glabellas, reverse scales, demonic cores, and more!
Water overcame fire! One finger annihilated the fire-spewing head! Fire overcame metal! One finger melted the metal-spewing head! Wood overcame earth! One finger drained the earth-controlling head! ...
The Five Elements' mutual generation and restraint became the deadliest art of killing in his hands!
No matter how powerful the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's body or divine abilities were, before absolute Great Dao suppression and killing sharpness, it was like a lamb awaiting slaughter, wholly incapable of resisting!
In the blink of an eye, all eight heads were destroyed! Only the final main head remained, letting out a despairing, terrified wail as it turned to flee!
"Burdened by karmic sin, you should enter Reincarnation." Ming Xin's icy voice was like a final judgment.
He did not attack again. He merely opened his Karma Life-Death Eyes and indifferently gave the fleeing Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng one final glance.
"Aaargh—!!"
The Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's huge body suddenly stiffened. In terror, it "saw" the dense crimson threads of karmic death surrounding its body, accumulated from devouring countless living beings.
Under the gaze of those indifferent pupils, the threads abruptly tightened and snapped! Terrifying backlash and the flaws in its own cultivation erupted at once!
Its demonic body swelled as if inflated, and chaotic Five Elements energy and filthy blood sprayed from the gaps in its scales! Rumble—!!!
Amid unwilling, despairing roars, this Ancient Fierce Beast that had dominated its region was forcibly burst apart from within by its own chaotic power! It exploded into a sky full of blood mist and shattered Five Elements essence qi!
Ming Xin raised a hand, drawing a Demonic Core containing part of the Nine-Headed Yuan Sheng's origin essence and several materials into his grasp.
At the same time, the Innate Wutu Spirit Pearl obediently flew before him, emitting a warm glow of affection.
He put away the spirit pearl and materials. Without even glancing at the spreading blood mist, he flashed away and vanished from the gorge.
After this battle, he gained a deeper understanding of how Five Elements mutual generation and restraint could be applied to killing.
The Five Elements were not isolated. When the principles of generation and restraint were employed to their limit, they themselves became the most terrifying weapons of slaughter.
He continued traveling, seeking stronger opponents and more dangerous environments to temper himself.
He had once ventured deep into the North Sea Ice Ocean and fought a late-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal Mystic Turtle that controlled extreme-cold black ice. He melted its ten-thousand-year black ice shell with the Red Emperor Fire Emperor divine ability, then ultimately shattered its primordial spirit with the Golden Emperor Karma Slaying Sword.
He had once entered an Earth Lung Fire Vein, absorbing innate fire essence and tempering his fire-element divine abilities. When Fire Spirits besieged him, he countered them with the Black Emperor Water Emperor divine ability and annihilated them all.
He had once tempered his body with Nine Heavens lightning within Thunder Marsh, comprehending the mysteries of metal generating water and water generating lightning, and created the Five Elements Thunder Prison divine ability.
His fighting methods became increasingly varied. The Five Elements Great Dao came to him at will, perfectly merging with Slaughter and Nirvana.
Often, before his enemies could understand his background, they had already perished beneath his endless and utterly restraining Five Elements killing techniques.
The titles "Gray-Clad Killing Buddha" and "Five Elements Demon Lord" gradually spread in secret among the upper echelons of the Primordial World, making people tremble at their mention.
One day, he arrived at an Ancient Battlefield near the Buzhou Mountain Remains. The killing intent here was so dense it had nearly solidified. Within the blood-colored mist, countless powerful war spirits could faintly be seen howling and roaring.
Quite a few Baleful Spirit Kings comparable to Grand Unity Golden Immortals had even condensed here.
The moment Ming Xin stepped into the place, several Baleful Spirit Kings formed from the remnants of Great Witches and Demon Saints, mixed with killing intent, surrounded him. They possessed no intelligence, only endless desires for slaughter and destruction.
Ming Xin was about to clear them out as usual when his heart suddenly stirred. "The killing intent in this place... is an excellent place to temper the Dao of Slaughter and hone one's will.
Why not use this... to try combining the power of the Five Elements with killing intent?"
A bold thought emerged. He actually took the initiative to relax part of his defenses and guide the towering killing intent into his body!
At once, icy, violent killing intent filled with the desire for destruction surged into his meridians like a burst dam! It sought to corrode his primordial spirit and contaminate his Magic Power!
"Hmph! Mere ownerless killing intent dares act so presumptuously?" "Five Emperors Cycle, demonic refinement of killing intent!"
Ming Xin snorted coldly, and the five imperial talismans within him began to circulate madly! Azure Emperor Wood Emperor Qi absorbed the deathly stillness within the killing intent and transformed it into Life Force;
Red Emperor Fire Emperor Qi directly treated the killing intent as fuel, burning and refining it; Yellow Emperor Earth Emperor Qi suppressed it with immense weight, bearing the impact of the killing intent;
White Emperor Gold Emperor Qi severed it with sharpness, separating its impurities; Black Emperor Water Emperor Qi devoured it with utmost softness, containing and transforming it!
The Five Elements Cycle was like five enormous millstones, forcibly crushing, purifying, and refining the ferocious killing intent pouring into his body!
In the end, it transformed into an incomparably pure dark-red energy carrying an icy aura of slaughter, merging into his Killing Origin!
Under the tempering of this boundless killing intent, his Dao of Slaughter slowly yet steadily began advancing toward the threshold of fifty percent!
The killing aura he emitted became even more condensed and pure, making hearts tremble!
He even began trying to combine the refined killing intent with Five Elements divine abilities.
When he threw a punch, it was no longer merely Earth Qi, but the Baleful Earth Demon Fist, wrapped in towering killing intent. Its power surged dramatically!
When he slashed with a sword, crimson strands of killing intent entwined around the Geng Metal sword qi, specifically breaking primordial spirits and corroding Dao Foundations! "Five Elements Sha Demon Divine Ability... that seems rather good as well."
He sat down cross-legged at the heart of this Ancient Battlefield, like a bottomless abyss, madly absorbing and refining the endless killing intent around him.
Behind him, the phantoms of five emperors emerged once more. Yet now, faint killing intent also coiled around them, adding a touch of demonic nature and majesty!
Time passed, and he did not know how long it had been. When he had absorbed and refined nearly half the killing intent in this Ancient Battlefield, the aura around him abruptly shook!
An even purer, colder intent of slaughter surged into the sky, as though it could freeze primordial spirits and sever all life force!
Dao of Slaughter—fifty percent! Achieved!
At that very moment, the Chaos Five Elements Pagoda deep within his primordial spirit trembled slightly. The Chaos light atop the pagoda seemed to have absorbed a vast amount of pure killing intent and slaughter intent, becoming ever more profound...
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