An isolated island in the Eastern Sea:
“Master! Master! Save me! Hurry! I’m about to go crazy from being locked up! Those two good-for-nothings—Purple Subtlety and Longevity—sabotaged us!” Ensnaring Performance shouted while crying.
Longevity immediately flew into a rage. “Sabotaged, my ass! Wasn’t it all caused by your singing in the first place?”
Mu Chenfeng and Elite Hall’s Heaven Blasting Battalion disciples stood at the side, saluting excitedly.
More than a hundred people were trapped in a five-colored barrier.
There were five energy sources above the five-colored barrier in the shape of five characters: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
“You actually activated the Five Element Divine Ritual Array?” Jingwei snarled with a glare.
“The Five Element Divine Ritual Array? How would we know? We thought it was a large grave that would need a long time of digging to uncover. Who could have imagined it would trap us when we had just broken ground? We’ve been calling out every day over the past few years, but no one heard us. Even the zither puppets were useless. Master, quickly save me!” Ensnaring Performance said anxiously.
“You thought it was a grave and came to rob it?” Gu Hai gave Purple Subtlety and Longevity a strange look.
Gu Hai had sent Ensnaring Performance and Elite Hall’s Heaven Blasting Battalion because Purple Subtlety and Longevity asked for help. Who could have expected they just wanted to rob a grave?
“We found this by chance. These five energy sources seem to have a strange energy. Among these, the wood character is useful to Longevity. The earth character is useful to me, and the metal character is useful to Ensnaring Performance. We wanted to give Ensnaring Performance some benefits on your account, so we…so we…,” Purple Subtlety said with a wry smile.
“This is Divine Energy of the five elements, the energy of the divine Dao. Do you know how many animal spirit deities were shoved in there? To think you want to absorb them! What a joke!” Jingwei sneered.
“Huh? It’s you, Lin Waner? What do you mean by this? We even helped you in the Yuan Imperial Dynasty!” Purple Subtlety called out.
“Humph! I am not Lin Waner!” Jingwei glared.
“She is the Yan Nation’s Princess Jingwei. She is temporarily occupying Waner’s body. Furthermore, it was Jiang Lianshan who placed this grave here, so, technically, you could call it her family grave,” Gu Hai explained with a forced smile.
“Huh?” The expressions of Purple Subtlety and the others turned stiff.
“Princess Jingwei, Flame Monarch, these are my friends. They landed here due to a misunderstanding. Please forgive them. Can you also let them out?” Gu Hai asked gravely.
The Flame Monarch looked at Jingwei. After all, he did not know what was going on here.
Jingwei’s injuries had already healed somewhat. Now, she narrowed her eyes at everyone.
“Consider yourselves lucky!” Jingwei said coldly.
Jingwei showed a grave look as she flew slowly to the island and looked at the Five Element Divine Ritual Array.
“Gu Hai!” Jingwei called out seriously.
“Speak!” Gu Hai nodded.
“They are right. This is indeed a large grave. There is boundless lifespan hidden in the grave, and lifespan is different from regular energy. It immediately scatters upon exposure. The Five Element Divine Ritual Array suppresses the boundless lifespan. When I open the Five Element Divine Ritual Array later, you must collect the lifespan right away. You need to hurry. Otherwise, it will go to waste once it scatters,” Jingwei said gravely.
“Alright!” Gu Hai nodded.
“The Five Element Divine Ritual Array is formed by five shaman symbols. Once I open the ritual array, the shaman symbols will likewise scatter. Uncle Flame Monarch, when I open the ritual array, immediately consume the fire character shaman symbol. It contains boundless fire-attributed Divine Energy. It can strengthen your phoenix deity and even let it make a breakthrough,” Jingwei said solemnly.
“Alright!” the Flame Monarch answered.
“What about the remaining four shaman symbols?” Ensnaring Performance asked with anticipation.
“Hah! You can consume them if you are not afraid of death!” Jingwei sneered.
“I’m not afraid of death!” Purple Subtlety immediately said excitedly.
“I’m not afraid of death, either!” Longevity called out.
“I’m truly not afraid of death!” Ensnaring Performance also said excitedly.
Jingwei: “…”
The three’s words stifled her.
“Humph! These five shaman symbols contain vast Divine Energy. Unless you have established your Upper Heavenly Palace, regular people would swell up and die after consuming it. The three of you… What are the three of you thinking?” Jingwei said with disdain.
The three did not get angry. Instead, they smiled at each other, feeling great anticipation for the shaman symbols.
Jingwei looked at Gu Hai as though wanting to say, Since your friends are seeking death, don’t blame me if they die.
Gu Hai looked at the three. Had he not traveled to eight hundred thousand years in the past, he would be worried for them. Now, he felt some anticipation instead.
“Just leave them be.” Gu Hai shook his head.
“Humph! They are just seeking death, so they can’t blame others. However, the fire character shaman symbol belongs to Uncle Flame Monarch. No one else is to touch it!” Jingwei said coldly.
“I want the metal character shaman symbol!” Ensnaring Performance immediately called out.
“I want the earth character shaman symbol!” Purple Subtlety called out.
“I want the wood character shaman symbol!” Longevity called out.
“Humph!” Jingwei snorted coldly.
“Mu Chenfeng, the Elite Hall disciples’ cultivations are insufficient. When the ritual array opens, I’ll send you all elsewhere!” Gu Hai said.
“Yes!” the Elite Hall disciples answered.
Then, Jingwei placed her hands on the Five Element Divine Ritual Array’s barrier.
She shouted, “The world has deities, and the five elements command all laws. Divine ritual array, open!”
Boom!
A loud report rang out, and the entire island shuddered. Towering waves spread out in the surrounding sea as a result. Then, many cracks suddenly appeared on the barrier.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The cracks spread all over the barrier.
Boom!
The barrier exploded, opening the Five Element Divine Ritual Array.
The five shaman symbols radiated vast energy as they soared into the sky as though some force below catapulted them.
Coo!
The Flame Monarch transformed into a three-kilometer-odd-tall, flaming phoenix that opened its mouth to swallow the fire character shaman symbol. At this moment, the fire character shaman symbol blazed with domineering flames, looking like a sun rising into the sky.
Boom!
After the Flame Monarch swallowed the shaman symbol, the flames around him flared over tenfold.
“Ah! There’s so much fire-attributed Divine Energy!” The Flame Monarch felt shocked but also showed excitement at the same time.
Jingwei coldly watched Ensnaring Performance, Purple Subtlety, and Longevity as they opened their mouths to swallow three of the shaman symbols.
“Seeking death!” Jingwei revealed a disdainful sneer.
These three are dead, for sure. Don’t they see that Uncle Flame Monarch is having difficulty handling it? Look at their cultivations. To think they dare to consume it?
However, something strange happened before Jingwei. The shaman symbols did not destroy the three. On the contrary, they gave off faint golden, brown, and green lights as they hovered in the air, apparently enjoying the refining process.
“How can this be?” Jingwei said in shock.
“Princess, I recall now. They…they share the same names as the dead divine envoys from eight hundred thousand years in the past!” The Flame Monarch looked at the three in shock as it refined the fire character shaman symbol.
“The five divine beasts?” Jingwei felt slightly started.
The Flame Monarch had told her about them previously, but she never expected these three to be them.
No one collected the final water character shaman symbol. Powerful cold energy immediately filled the surroundings.
When the cold energy appeared, the surrounding seas froze for more than five thousand kilometers around. Heavy snow fell from the sky, making the place bone-chillingly cold.
The Flame Monarch returned to human form, protecting Jingwei as his body gave off flames.
Purple Subtlety, Ensnaring Performance, and Longevity had thick skins, so they were not affected.
Gu Hai had pulled the Elite Hall disciples and Mu Chenfeng into the Gu’s Immortal Firmament, so they were fine.
Gu Hai did not have much time to observe his surroundings, as the island below instantly melted into a large pool when the Five Element Divine Ritual Array broke. The sixty-four hexagrams surrounded the pool, sealing a golden liquid. It looked like a pool of oil with a resplendent golden gloss.
After the Five Element Divine Ritual Array broke open, this oil evaporated quickly.
“That is the lifespan. Gu Hai, quickly use it!” Jingwei yelled.
Lifespan?
Gu Hai immediately felt some of the evaporated golden liquid enter his body. His body was like a sponge ravenously absorbing water.
“Princess Jingwei, sorry for this offense. Please enter my immortal firmament first!” Gu Hai shouted.
Whoosh!
Gu Hai pulled Jingwei into the Gu’s Immortal Firmament.
“Gu Hai, what are you doing?” The Flame Monarch glared furiously.
“Sorry, I am still wary of you. Jingwei can see everything from my Gu’s Immortal Firmament. I am going to make a breakthrough now. I’ll trouble Flame Monarch to protect me!” Gu Hai said.
Regardless of the Flame Monarch’s feelings, Gu Hai immediately sat down cross-legged above the pool and sank his consciousness into his body.
“You!” the Flame Monarch exclaimed, wide-eyed with fury.
Gu Hai was creating a deterrent to the Flame Monarch. With Jingwei as a hostage, the Flame Monarch would not dare to sneak-attack him and might even protect him.
“Humph!” the Flame Monarch snorted coldly.
After entering the Gu’s Immortal Firmament, Jingwei glared. “Humph! Gu Hai, you are repaying kindness with evil!”
“Repaying kindness with evil? Princess Jingwei, you are talking about yourself, right? Previously, I brought Waner with me to help you. However, you sneak-attacked Waner. Who was the one repaying kindness with evil? I am not harming you now. Just getting you to wait there. I don’t want to get sneak-attacked by you while I’m focused on cultivating. If you want to blame anyone, blame yourself for being too scheming.” Gu Hai’s voice rang out.
“Humph!” Jingwei snorted coldly for lack of a better option.
However, Jingwei could see everything from the Gu’s Immortal Firmament.
Gu Hai sat cross-legged on the pool, and his body released a powerful suction. The surrounding vaporized golden liquid immediately entered his body, and the level of the golden liquid below fell slowly.
On the other side, the Flame Monarch felt furious, but he could only protect Gu Hai while refining the fire character shaman symbol.
Ensnaring Performance, Purple Subtlety, and Longevity hovered in the air with their eyes shut, enjoying the three shaman symbols. However, they made rather vulgar faces in their enjoyment, eliciting Jingwei’s disdain.
The water character shaman symbol released overwhelming cold energy, inducing snowfall and ice over several kilometers. If not for the five’s strong physiques, they would have frozen into ice statues long ago.
The water character shaman symbol disintegrated, making the surroundings colder.
Gu Hai sat above the golden pool, circulating all the energies of his body, earthly soul, mortal soul, metal deity, wood deity, water deity, earth deity, fire deity, and Spiritual Progenitor deity king. He sent all his energies to the location of the upper heavenly palace.
The nine streams of energy charged over like nine berserk dragons, carrying an unstoppable force as they rushed in.
Boom!
Gu Hai established his upper heavenly palace with a loud report.