CHAPTER 57: PERFECT FIVE ELEMENTS? IMPOSSIBLE!

Qi Yuan held Little Bride's hand as they walked through the Five Elements Trial Grounds. His eyes swept across the surroundings, information flashing before him.

[Metal Soul, Level 48. Can be refined into Metal Essence Qi.]

A dung-yellow monster charged toward him, gleaming golden all over. It had solid metal for bones, molten gold for blood, and every breath it exhaled carried a mist of gaseous gold. Its appearance was nauseating, to say the least.

Qi Yuan stared at it with clear distaste. With a casual swing of his sword, the massive Metal Soul collapsed.

[Experience +100. Metal Essence Qi +1 (thread).]

"Not bad, not bad. I wonder how much Metal Essence Qi it'll take to reach perfection?"

One Metal Soul gave him one thread of Metal Essence Qi, which wasn’t too shabby. He could already feel his attacks carrying a faint yet sharper edge. Subtle, but real.

They ventured deeper into the trial grounds. Further in, the souls grew more numerous, promising greater experience and more essence.

He had only one goal: collect all five types of elemental essence, perfect them, and seize full control of the Five Elements Forbidden Zone. Then finally, he could secure the Heavenly Dao Fragment.

"Die!"

For six full hours, Qi Yuan rampaged through the trial grounds with Little Bride. At first, he refrained from fusing with her, worried that she hadn’t fully recovered. He changed his mind later. Leaving Little Bride alone outside was dangerous. With her airheaded personality, she’d very well trip and fall into a river while trying to hide.

Besides, his opponents weren’t on the level of the Tattered-Cloth Emperor, which meant less strain for her.

Once they fused, Qi Yuan couldn’t help but sigh. "It seems love in marriage blossoms over time."

Of course, Little Bride had played a huge role in helping him take down the Garment Tomb Forbidden Zone. Who wouldn't like such a partner? A less serious man would already be calling her “Mommy” by now.

Standing ten meters tall, Qi Yuan was unstoppable. Neither gods nor demons could block his path. One swing of his blade and two Earth Souls were cut down. He fought like a man possessed, though his biggest frustration was the lack of souls. Most of his time was spent hunting them down.

"Time to log off."

As per his usual routine, he ended the fusion with Little Bride.

Today's harvest was rich, and he’d finally broken through to level 92. With fusion, unleash the power of a level 97, equal to a Divine Realm Giant.

More importantly, he’d gathered a good haul of elemental essences:

[Metal Essence Qi: 20 threads.]

[Wood Essence Qi: 11 threads.]

The other three were also in similar numbers.

Yet to his dismay, perfection seemed far away. To reach Perfect Metal Essence, he sensed that he required at least fifty times what he had. In other words, he'd need to slay a thousand souls for just one perfect element.

"That’s five thousand souls for all five. At my current pace, that’d take at least fifty days! Too damn slow! What kind of game design is this?! Must be from that company, always making players grind shards every day! Can't even pay-to-win properly! I need to speed things up. Right now, the biggest issue is the low spawn rate. If I can find where they gather in large numbers, maybe I could grind nonstop for five or six days and actually reach perfection. If I recall correctly, there should be other prodigies in here. They've been around longer, they must’ve known the layout of the land. I’ll track them down tomorrow and ask where the souls’ nests are."

Digging a pit, Qi Yuan snuggled into it with Little Bride. He wrapped his arms around her, opened his chat window, and began messaging like usual.

Qi Yuan: I feel like I'm close to clearing this game.

Qi Yuan: Did the Garment Forbidden Army arrive on your side yet? They're decent. When you're done with your stuff, let's meet up in person!

Exiting the game world, it was still daylight outside. He looked up at the Seven-Colored Peak. The halls on the summit seemed like a celestial palace. Though the sky hadn't darkened yet, a bright round moon already hung overhead.

Qi Yuan murmured, "The moon near Master really does shine brighter."

For some reason, leaving the game made his heart feel a little hollow.

Then, something caught his attention. "Hm...? The Five Element Essence really bleeds to reality."

Originally, his cultivation technique was fire-based, so naturally all his spells were fire-oriented. Now, he found he could also manipulate water, wood, and more.

"With water and wood, doesn't that mean I can switch to become a healer?" Qi Yuan grinned. He was about to collect all the three things one shouldn’t mess with in the cultivation world. "Before, I cultivated Obsession while secretly walking the sword path. Already a dual path. Now, with healing added, that makes three. Wouldn’t that be triple cultivation?"

For the next three days, life fell into a steady rhythm. He’d grind the game by day, and study the Black Mountain Sect's manuals by night. Life was peaceful, though his progress in collecting essences was slow. His best result, Metal Essence, had barely reached seventy percent of perfection.

***

In the Five Elements Trial Grounds...

Three figures stood amid an icy wasteland.

A refined man in white robes was locked in combat with a Water Soul. Not far away, two Divine Realm experts guarded the area, keeping other souls at bay so he could fight undisturbed.

As a Divine Realm expert, he could easily crush the soul. Yet, he dragged the fight out deliberately, seeking to comprehend the Water Essence within. Slowly, his eyes began to gleam blue. At last, he struck, slaying the soul and drawing out a thread of Water Essence.

"Success!" he cried in joy.

The two other Divine Realm experts nearby looked on with envy.

The red-robed man said, "Brother Tang truly deserves Lord Feather's praise! Your talent is second to none. In just a year, you’ve gained a Water Essence Qi’s thread! You’ll likely become a Giant by the time the Demon-Slaying Assembly begins!"

There were five kinds of souls within the Five Elements Trial Grounds. Extracting their essence was no easy feat, as not every kill yielded results. On top of battle prowess, one’d also require profound comprehension. Hence why he couldn’t be disturbed while fighting.

For the same reason, they also stayed away from where the souls gathered in larger numbers. However, due to their talent, obtaining all five elements was still a challenge.

The red-robed man was considered a genius outside, but he paled in comparison to Tang Yan. Where Tang Yan required only a year or maybe less for one thread, he’d need three to five.

The bun-haired girl beside them said with admiration, "Brother Tang’s talent is unrivaled in the trial grounds!"

The red-robed man nodded, then recalled something. "I heard from Little Green, someone else entered recently. They call him the Garment Division Master."

Tang Yan blinked in surprise. "The Wedding Garment Empress’ husband? Who is he? Seems like another powerhouse has joined our ranks."

That cheered him. The more formidable allies they had, the better their chances at victory.

However, the red-robed man answered sourly, "He isn’t one of us. Just an outsider who stumbled into the Garment Tomb Forbidden Zone and inherited its legacy. His talent’s decent, sure, but he's never tasted hardship! I heard he’s arrogant to the core. On his first day here, he claimed he'd master the entire Five Elements Forbidden Zone and lead us all!"

Tang Yan was dumbstruck. "Impossible! That has to be a joke!"

To master the Forbidden Zone meant perfecting all five elements. Even a water-element supreme genius like him would need three thousand years to reach perfection. As for five elements, ten thousand years at least. That newcomer had to be dreaming!

The red-robed man sneered. "Like I said, he’s just a naïve brat. He's never seen a true genius, so he struts around arrogantly."

The bun-haired girl covered her mouth and giggled. "You can speak freely with us, but don't let those words slip in front of him."

The red-robed man burst into laughter. "Well, of course! Who do you take me for? We’re all comrades heading to the Demon-Slaying Assembly together. When we meet, I’ll be sure to sing him praises. Criticism should stay behind his back."

Tang Yan and the bun-haired girl could only exchange helpless looks.

Suddenly, someone said lazily, "Didn't your mother ever tell you? You shouldn't talk behind people's backs."

The three froze, snapping toward the red-robed man. A hand had reached out from the earth, clamping tightly around his ankle.

All three were startled, but didn’t panic. The soil split open, and out climbed a striking young man, cradling an unconscious maiden in bridal dress.

"The Garment Division Master!" Tang Yan couldn't stop himself from blurting the name. His gaze flicked over the maiden before settling on Qi Yuan's face.

The red-robed man’s face twisted in shame. Talking trash only to have the very person pop up and hear it—could anything be more humiliating?

Coughing, he forced an awkward smile. "Ahem... My apologies. I shouldn’t have done that."

Still, why was the Garment Division Master burying himself in the dirt instead of gathering the Five Essences of Qi?

The bun-haired girl tilted her head in curiosity, asking the question on everyone's mind. "Garment Division Master, why were you buried underground?"

Qi Yuan replied after a pause. "Ah, well... I was just sleeping."

He decided it’d be wise not to use too many game terms around NPCs. What if they gained sentience? He’d seen a movie where an NPC gained self-awareness and fell in love with a human player.

"Sleeping?" The red-robed man gawked. "A Divine Realm cultivator still needs to sleep?"

Once one reached the Heaven Realm, sleep became unnecessary, mainly because it was far too inefficient a way to rest.

Qi Yuan shook his head. "I had planned to keep napping, but you three just had to talk endlessly. Too noisy, disturbing my dreams. Do you see why I have to come up? As compensation for disturbing my rest, you'll have to answer a question for me."

His eyes gleamed slyly, once again feeling very pleased with his cunningness.