Fantasy: I, the Great Celestial Venerable of the Dao

A century is enough time for ordinary people to go through several generations.

But for the vast Five Regions and Four Seas, and for high-level cultivators, it is but a fleeting moment.

The overall structure of Zhongzhou remained unchanged, except that the Qingyun Sect's reputation was growing daily, and it was becoming the undisputed leader.

On the shores of the East China Sea, Guanchao City has been rebuilt and is now even more prosperous, becoming an important hub for trade between the human race and the world.

But secretly, the spying from the deep sea never seems to stop.

Dao Xuan's first stop.

The ruins of "Shouyang Mountain", located in the heart of Central Continent, are rumored to be related to the era of the ancient Holy Emperor.

Shouyang Mountain is no longer a mountain, but a vast complex of ruins covering thousands of miles, permeated with the faint purple aura of imperial roads and the dust of time.

The broken walls, the toppled pillars, and the severely weathered stone carvings all tell the story of past glory and fall.

The spiritual energy here is thin, and there is a strange "forbidden" field where high-level spells are greatly reduced in power.

Divine sense probing is also greatly limited, so few cultivators venture deep into the area.

Only a few scholars who study ancient history or rogue cultivators who stumble upon immortals occasionally dabble in this.

Dao Xuan walked on the broken stone streets, measuring with his footsteps and sensing with his mind.

He didn't use any magic; he simply touched the cold stones like an ordinary traveler.

Observe those blurry murals.

Listening to the whistling of the wind passing through the cracks in the rocks is like listening to the whispers of time.

Several days later, he sat cross-legged in the center of a circular structure at a half-collapsed altar.

The remnants of imperial influence and the power of time are most concentrated in this place.

He opened his mind and body, attempting to communicate with and analyze the remaining Daoist charm of this place using his Yin-Yang primordial spirit.

In a daze, he seemed to see a blurry image:

At the summit of a majestic mountain, there are figures dressed in ancient robes, offering sacrifices to heaven and earth.

To regulate Yin and Yang, divide the Five Elements, and establish the rule over the Nine Provinces.

The figure seemed to be surrounded by five-colored light, resonating with heaven and earth, exuding boundless majesty.

"Regulating Yin and Yang, classifying the Five Elements..."

Dao Xuan's heart stirred slightly, "Could it be that the ancient sage emperors also followed the path of harmonizing heaven and earth and all things and governing the five elements and five energies?"

Could its Dao-fruit have something in common with the "Five Qi Returning to the Origin"?

However, the image was too blurry, and the Daoist aura was too fragmented to capture the specific method.

After staying for over a month with little to show for it, Dao Xuan got up and left.

In the years that followed, he traveled to many dangerous and secret places in Middle-earth.

He once ventured deep into the chaotic Five Elements Marsh, personally experiencing the bizarre environment where the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were extremely violent, constantly clashing, annihilating, and being reborn.

Experience the most primitive and violent form of the mutual generation and restraint of the five elements.

He narrowly avoided several deadly traps that could have annihilated Taiyi's primordial spirit.

On this day, he arrived at the border between the Central Continent and the Western Wilderness, a strange place known as the "Ancient Ruins of Return to Burial".

This place is rumored to be the final battlefield of an ancient, earth-shattering war, and also the burial place of countless powerful figures.

The spatial structure is extremely unstable, with occasional visible spatial cracks.

It is permeated with an ever-present malevolent aura and the lingering obsession of a fading soul.

Furthermore, there are various perilous and dangerous situations formed due to the accumulation of extreme energy and the chaos of laws.

It is even more dangerous than the Five Elements Marsh in the Southern Ocean, and even ordinary Taiyi practitioners dare not venture into it lightly.

However, after lingering around the area for several days, Dao Xuan keenly sensed something.

Deep within the ancient ruins, there seemed to be something extremely obscure, yet subtly resonating with the Yin-Yang Dao within his body.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

A resolute glint flashed in Dao Xuan's eyes.

The path to the Great Luo is inherently defying the heavens; how can one fear the risks?

He unleashed his Yin-Yang protective divine light and stepped into the depths of the ancient ruins, where malevolent energy surged and light and shadow distorted.

Inside the ancient ruins, the scenery was bizarre and fantastical.

Sometimes, one step forward might lead to a scorching lava lake, while the next step could lead to a frozen plain of bones.

Broken fragments of magical artifacts, enormous, unidentified skeletons, and solidified energy crystals are scattered everywhere.

The remaining fighting spirit and obsession manifested as various bizarre illusions and mental attacks, constantly assaulting the enemy.

With the protection of his powerful primordial spirit and Yin-Yang divine light, Dao Xuan ventured deeper into the land without encountering any major dangers.

The deeper you go, the clearer that strange sense of attraction becomes.

Seven days later, he arrived at the core area of ​​the ancient ruins.

Surprisingly, it was "peaceful" here.

There was an open space about a hundred feet in diameter, and the ground was made of a warm, dark gold material that was neither gold nor jade.

It is engraved with complex patterns that have long been blurred and indistinct.

In the center of the open space stood five broken stone pillars, each a different color and about ten feet tall, covered with cracks.

"The Five Elements Pillars... an incomplete Five Elements Returning to Origin Array?"

Dao Xuan was shaken.

He could sense that these five stone pillars must have once been extraordinary treasures.

As the core of the formation, it is used to gather, transform, and balance the power of the five elements.

Even though it is now in ruins, the true meaning of the Five Elements and the principles of formations it contains still greatly inspire him.

He walked closer to the center, near the crevice in the ground.

The crevice was very narrow, only wide enough for a finger, and bottomless, though not dark inside.

Instead, it emanates a strange luster that is both chaotic and unclear, yet seems to encompass the basic five elements.

Dao Xuan pondered for a moment, then carefully sent out a wisp of his extremely subtle divine sense into the crevice.

Divine senses traveled downwards along the crack, as if passing through layer upon layer of spatial barriers.

The surrounding scenery changed rapidly, no longer the dilapidated ruins of the ancient city.

Instead, it was a dazzling display of light and color, as if one were traversing a strange passage composed of the pure five elements.

After an unknown amount of time, his consciousness suddenly found himself in a state of clarity!

It was a "space" that could not be described in words.

There were no directions, no passage of time, only endless, swirling chaos slowly circulating.

In the center of the chaos, five fist-sized orbs of light, their colors pure to the extreme, floated in the air!

The five light sources were not stationary, but rather followed a flawless trajectory.

They slowly rotate around an invisible and intangible "point" at the center, their energies connected, mutually generating and restraining each other.

It cycles endlessly, endlessly regenerating, exuding an aura of eternity, perfection, and the origin of the Dao!

"The origin of the five elements?! The manifestation of the Five Elements Dao?!"

Dao Xuan's wisp of divine consciousness trembled violently, almost collapsing on the spot! A monstrous wave surged in his heart!

This is by no means ordinary spiritual energy of the five elements, but rather innate spiritual energy of the five elements that is close to the origin of the Great Dao!

It is the manifestation of the fundamental forces that constitute the material basis of this world!

This place is very likely the site of the evolution of this newly formed world.

A highly secluded "Confluence Point of the Five Elements," which even the Heavenly Dao has not fully covered.

Just as Dao Xuan's divine sense was shocked by this scene and greedily comprehended the mystery of the perfect five-element cycle,

A sudden change has occurred!

Seemingly due to the influence of external divine consciousness, within those five slowly rotating primordial radiances...

The white light source, representing "Geng Metal," suddenly became slightly disordered!

In an instant, the perfect balance of the five elements was shattered!