The Avalon Of Five Elements

With his elemental energy restored, Ai Hui was feeling refreshed, just like the treasure sword that had been inserted into its sheath, its vigor contained.

Even the rain, that had been pouring consecutively for days, was gradually stopping. The thick clouds overhead cleared, revealing the clean sky. The bright and beautiful sun shone down along with a slight breeze, and a cozy and slightly intoxicating feeling spread throughout his body.

How comfortable.

Basking in the beautiful sunlight after days of pressure relaxed his body completely.

Ai Hui casually chose a flat grass surface to sit on, before plucking a blade of grass to chew on.

The unripe taste of the grass spread throughout his mouth as he studied the crystals in his hand meticulously.

They were transparent and flawless, without the least bit of impurity. Examining them closely, Ai Hui noticed that he was actually unable to confirm if they were actually crystals, since he’d never seen such pure ones before.

The sunlight shone down on the golden liquid, instantly producing a faint golden halo. Strangely, this layer of golden halo changed irregularly like layers of flickering, delicate ripples, fading and reappearing, and multiplying without end.

How beautiful!

Ai Hui gasped in surprise. While he felt that he wasn’t an artistic person, he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by this ever-changing halo.

While admiring it, Ai Hui noticed something amiss.

He’d suspected before that the golden liquid was blood from a certain monster, thus attracting the bandage’s interest. But Ai Hui suddenly realized that if that were really the case, the bandage would’ve swallowed them mercilessly instead of keeping them.

Were the crystals encasing it obstructing the bandage?

Wrong!

Perhaps the bandage had been wrapped around his body for a long time, so it had developed a faint connection with Ai Hui.

He suddenly recalled that the bandage did this exact same thing to that demonic god stone status! The moment this idea popped up, Ai Hui’s eyes lit up and a bold thought surfaced in his head. Is there any link between these items?

The more he speculated, the more he thought it was possible.

He quickly opened the sand compass to retrieve the stone statue. Previously when he had consumed the metal elemental elixir, the statue had been of great use to him as it sucked all of the elixir’s fiendish aura away, cutting his pain short.

Otherwise, just eliminating the fiendish aura alone would have required much effort and energy on Ai Hui’s part, not to mention that it was a very dangerous process too.

The moment Ai Hui took the statue out, the bandage slithered, like two white snakes, down his body. Two bandages joined together unhurriedly to become a big white cloth. It slid underneath the statue, as if worried that the statue would get dirty.

Ai Hui’s heart turned cold from witnessing this strange sight.

The statue and bandage carried a tinge of evilness. If not for the fact that the bandage was a gift from Mistress and had been with him for a long time, Ai Hui most definitely would’ve been on guard.

Seeing the bandage at work made him miss her again.

Emotional people were like warmth that surrounded an ice-cold object, or a slight glimmer amid the lonely void.

Even if the bandage was really evil, AI Hi would find it difficult to detest it, since to him, righteousness or evilness was insignificant. He’d never felt himself to be important. It made no difference whether there was another good or bad version of him in this world.

However, to him, some feelings were more important than himself.

He placed the two crystals on the white cloth.

Ai Hui felt that the sight before him was pretty interesting. It was as if he had just given the statue some offerings, and all that was left to do was pray. Yet, the statue did not seem the least bit grateful or appreciative. It gave the same, aloof look.

Could he be wrong?

Ai Hui was having a headache. Guessing wasn’t his forte. He picked up a crystal and placed it by the statue’s mouth, mumbling, "Old demon, be sporting, give one a try!"

The stone statue remained unmoved, as if despising the food of mere mortals.

Still wrong?

Or was he supposed to crush the crystal?

Ai Hui was slightly spooked.

He had a feeling that the golden liquid within the crystal was something extraordinary, and extraordinary objects usually meant money and risk. Good things were valuable of course, but what if it was a potent poison?

Ai Hui knew himself well. His current abilities had given him a chance against the grass-lotus puppet and She Yu. But against ancient evil, he simply wasn’t qualified enough.

And of course, these crystals had to be the "ancient treasure".

‘Alright,’ he thought. He would not achieve anything from inaction. He would smash one and see, since he’d gotten this "ancient treasure" by luck anyway.

Considering that fact, he felt more calm instantly.

Getting into the moment, Ai Hui smashed the crystal hard.

Crack!

The crystal broke open immediately and the golden liquid seeped out. Ai Hui carefully placed the liquid on the bandage.

The bandage had always been extremely interested in, and thirsty for, fresh blood, especially stronger ones.

What made Ai Hui’s eyes fall out was the fact that the bandage showed zero interest in the golden liquid. The golden liquid was like a dewdrop on a lotus leaf. It was round as a ball, bright and dazzling. Without the crystal’s protection, the golden liquid rapidly formed a ball of condensed, golden fog. The sunlight shone on the fog, reflecting its vibrant rays. It was very beautiful.

Those abstruse ripples became more exquisite upon touching the sunlight. Their movements were indeterminate and Ai Hui couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Suddenly, the golden fog surged and pulled out into a fine, long thread of fog.

As if awakened from a dream, Ai Hui raised his head and looked toward the statue.

He saw the demonic god’s eyes open slightly as its gentle, androgynous face carried a layer of exotic luster. Then, its mouth opened slightly.

Ai Hui shuddered. Something was happening indeed!

The fine golden thread of fog entered the demonic god’s mouth steadily, its needle-like golden luster lighting up the statue’s pupils.

The aura of the stone statue was undergoing rapid changes as an ancient, bleak odor pervaded the air.

When the last wisp of golden fog entered the statue’s mouth, there was nothing left on the bandage.

Ai Hui inspected the demonic god stone statue curiously in anticipation. What sort of changes would occur now that the statue had swallowed this drop of golden liquid?

Suddenly, the demonic god’s eyes lit up in a ball of golden glow. Ai Hui opened his eyes wide for fear of missing any details.

The golden glow transformed into two balls of golden whirlpools. Unguarded, Ai Hui found himself getting swept into it. All he could feel was the sky spinning before him as the surrounding scenery skimmed past him at flying speed.

Not again?

Having experienced this once already, Ai Hui couldn’t help but curse inwardly. But at the same time, he was no longer as terrified. He was somewhat curious as to what kind of images the demonic god statue was going to present him.

He lept back in time once again.

Some time passed and all of a sudden, Ai Hui saw the demonic god.

It floated above a valley, fixing its eyes somewhere far away. Ai Hui automatically looked toward that faraway place and the blurry scene became clear immediately.

Countless sword rays cut across the sky and scarily thick lightning dove down like silver snake monsters. Underground flames soared into the sky and collided with the lightning bolts, splashing flames all over the sky like floating cherries and painting the sky red.

The flying swords brought blinding rays that filled the sky, making the sky looked as if it got slashed into pieces.

Ai Hui was stupefied. His heart palpitated.

He’d never seen something so spectacular. The sun had lost its splendor as the mountain range was shattered. Sword scars stretched over hundreds of miles as the ocean seethed and the flames burned boundlessly.

‘This is... a battle between ancient cultivators?’ Ai Hui thought absentmindedly.

When he first saw God-subduing Peak, he’d felt that it was the most powerful combat weapon. But placed in this battlefield, the majestic and imposing God-subduing Peak became as insignificant as dust.

So the descriptions in those swordplay manuals were true...

Ai Hui was deeply moved.

He gradually calmed down upon seeing the same shock and absent-mindedness on the demonic god’s face.

The battle ended and the ground was completely smashed, but the demonic god had a great harvest. Remnant treasures, secret arts, and so on...

The demonic god did not leave the valley, as his abilities grew stronger. He was preparing to leave.

But when his strength grew to its peak, he suddenly felt the heavenly law starting to crumble as the spiritual force weakened. He realized that the collapse was inevitable and the spiritual force would eventually vanish.

He sat, deep in thought, in the valley through many long years.

The way he had been formed was very unique and different from conventional cultivators. This gave him a chance for survival amid the collapse of the heavenly law.

A chance for survival in the far future.

For someone who’d lived as long as he had, a thousand years of waiting wasn’t unacceptable. He gathered his essence blood and soul and formed ten drops of true blood of God, which were also known as the ten seeds.

During the afternoon of the seeds’ formation, the intense sun shone overhead, but the sky darkened momentarily and the sun was dull and lightless, like a blown out candle in the wind.

Ten drops of blood of God bore the weight of his resuscitated wish, and were sprinkled over different corners of the earth.

And his body turned into a statue.

Ai Hui finally understood the history of the golden liquid!

It was actually the genuine blood of God!

Thinking about the blood of God made Ai Hui feel suspicious. Could the origin of the blood of God be related to the demonic god?

Alright, he was thinking too much.

It’d been over a thousand years since mankind had stepped into the elemental era, and the demonic god was after something of the Cultivation Era. Only the heavens knew if it still contained some power!

Wait!

Ai Hui suddenly recalled that the bandage appeared to be able to restrain the blood poison and even swallow it.

This... isn’t a coincidence right?

Ai Hui was somewhat uncertain. Just then, the skies started spinning, and once again it felt as if he’d been swept into the whirlpool as the surrounding light receded speedily.

Ai Hui steadied his body as he opened his eyes. Everything was back to normal and he was amazed to find out that he was still standing in the exact same spot, not even a step off.

His gaze fell subconsciously onto the stone statue.

He was stunned.