Immortality and cultivation: Heaven rewards diligence, and success is inevitable.

The roar still echoed in the hall, and the runes throughout the palace began to flicker.

The blue light flickered, like a heartbeat.

The little beast huddled on Shui Lingxi's shoulder, trembling all over, its fur bristling into a blue ball.

Its eyes were fixed on the dark corridor deep inside the hall, and it made a low growling sound in its throat, as if warning something.

"What is it saying?" Jiang Shi asked.

Shui Lingxi stroked the spirit beast's back to soothe it, her expression also grim: "It said the Xuan Shui Turtle below has awakened, and its strength is terrifying!"

"Mysterious Water Turtle." Huo Lie's face turned pale. His strength had declined drastically, and he was most afraid of this Mysterious Water Turtle.

"Let's get out of here first," Jiang Shi said. "We already have the Water Spirit Orb; there's no need to fight it head-on."

The four retreated in the direction they had come from.

Although the little animal was scared, it still dutifully jumped down and led the way.

It runs incredibly fast on its four short legs, and at every fork in the road, it chooses a path without hesitation, leading them through the maze.

But as he ran, Jiang Shi realized something was wrong.

"This isn't the way we came." He stopped in his tracks.

The surrounding corridors were narrower than before, and the runes on the walls were different.

The runes that appeared when we arrived were water ripples, but the runes here are spiral-shaped, one circle inside another, like a whirlpool.

The little animal stopped, tilted its head, and twitched its ears a few times.

Then it let out a short cry, its voice tinged with confusion.

"It says it's lost." Shui Lingxi's tone was somewhat helpless. "The passages here change on their own, like they're alive. The path we took when we came in no longer exists."

Huo Lie leaned against a pillar and caught his breath.

His complexion was even worse than before. As the Xuan Shui Turtle awakened, the surrounding water spiritual energy became increasingly thick, and the fire elemental true essence within his body almost stopped circulating.

He can't even generate a single spark now, and can only rely on mid-grade spirit stones to sustain himself.

"So, we're trapped in this maze?" Huo Lie's voice was a little hoarse.

"For now," Jiang Shi said, "but it's not entirely hopeless."

He looked at Shui Lingxi: "Besides scouting, what else can your spirit beast do?"

Shui Lingxi crouched down and cradled the little beast in her hands. The little beast sniffed the air, then stretched out its paw and pointed in a direction deep in the corridor.

"It can smell the direction of the flow of water-based spiritual energy. Every formation has a source of spiritual energy, which flows outward from the source. By going against the flow of spiritual energy, you can find the core of the formation."

"Then let's go," Jiang Shi said, "towards the direction with the densest spiritual energy."

The little animal led the way.

This time it walked very slowly, stopping every few steps to sniff the air and confirm its direction.

The corridor grew narrower and darker, and the number of luminous pearls on the walls dwindled, with only a few remaining, emitting a faint blue light.

After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a stone gate appeared ahead.

The stone gate was larger than any I had seen before, measuring three zhang in height and two zhang in width.

A huge mural is carved on the door, depicting a person sitting cross-legged on the seabed, surrounded by five-colored light. Before him kneels five demonic beasts: a golden giant wolf, a blue python, a red lion, a blue turtle, and a brown bear.

The Five Elements Master tamed the five guardian beasts.

"This is it." Shui Lingxi looked at the mural.

"This is his cultivation cave."

The little beast ran to the stone gate and patted it with its paw. The gate didn't budge.

It patted it again, but still didn't move.

Shui Lingxi stepped forward, placed her hand on the door, and infused it with her water-based true essence.

The runes on the door lit up briefly, but quickly went dark again; it didn't open.

"It requires the power of the five elements." Shui Lingxi turned to look at Jiang Shi. Turning the page reveals another world.

"This is the cave dwelling of the Five Elements Master. The access control requires the simultaneous activation of true essence of five attributes. I can't do it alone."

Only one person can do this here!

Jiang Shi walked over and placed his hand on the door.

The five-colored golden pill rotated, and five kinds of true essence—gold, green, blue, red, and brown—flowed out from the palm of the hand and poured into the stone gate.

The runes on the door lit up.

First it was gold, then cyan, blue, red, and finally brown.

The five colors intertwine to form a rotating halo.

Click.

The stone gate slowly opened.

Behind the door was a huge stone chamber, even more spacious than the previous main hall.

The stone chamber is circular with a high dome, inlaid with luminous pearls of various sizes, like a starry sky.

In the center of the stone chamber was a stone platform, on which rested a futon.

The futon is blue, and I don't know what material it is made of. It hasn't rotted even after thousands of years.

In front of the prayer mat is a stone tablet covered with inscriptions.

The surrounding walls were inlaid with many crystal cabinets, which contained various items such as stone tablets, jade bottles, ritual implements, and spiritual materials.

Some of the crystal cabinets were already empty, while others were still sealed properly.

"As expected, this is the cultivation cave of the Five Elements Master." Feng Yiran walked to the stone tablet, glanced at the text on it, and said, "This is where he recorded his cultivation insights."

Jiang Shi walked to the stone platform and picked up a jade box from the prayer mat.

The jade box had a sealing talisman on it, but the talisman had faded and the seal was still there.

He carefully tore open the talisman and opened the jade box.

Inside lay a stone tablet.

He probed with his spiritual sense and found a cultivation technique recorded in the stone slip, called the "Five Elements Returning to Origin Technique".

After cultivation, one can freely switch between the five elements, transforming any elemental type of true essence into the other four.

For Jiang Shi, this cultivation manual was priceless.

He possesses five-colored golden pills, which balance the five elements, but the efficiency of his true essence conversion is not high.

With this technique, he can switch attributes at any time during battle and flexibly deal with various enemies.

This method of transformation sounds similar to the true meaning of the Five Elements, but there are significant differences. This "Five Elements Returning to Origin Technique" can be transformed in reverse.

Just like the Azure Wood Python before, which was clearly restrained by fire, yet could still transform fire into wood.

This is the advanced version of the Five Elements True Meaning, which transcends magic and reaches the level of supernatural powers!

He put the stone tablet into his storage bracelet.

Just then, the little beast suddenly cried out.

The sound was sharp and urgent; it was an alarm.

Jiang Shi turned around and extended his spiritual sense.

Within thirty feet, more than a dozen life forms appeared and were rapidly approaching.

"Something's coming," he said.

As soon as he finished speaking, a wave of blue rushed into the entrance of the stone chamber.

It's not water, it's a snake.

Ice Crystal Serpent.

A dozen or so ice crystal snakes surged in through the doorway, each as thick as an arm and three feet long.

Their bodies were translucent, gleaming coldly under the light of the luminous pearl, and their golden eyes stared intently at the four people.

Not just the Ice Crystal Serpent.

Several larger creatures jumped in from behind the swarm of snakes.

toad.

Blue Water Toad.

Each one is the size of a washbasin, entirely emerald green, with its back covered in bumps from which oozes mucus. Their eyes are red, bulging like two red lamps.

Early stage of Golden Elixir.

Three blue water toads, sixteen ice crystal snakes.

"Fire, step back," Jiang Shi said.

Without a word, Huo Lie retreated to the innermost part of the stone chamber. He couldn't even conjure a flame now; going up there would be like offering himself up as food.

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