The moment Tai Wuling curled his fingers around the golden drop of blood, a golden light exploded in the throne hall of the divine palace. The light soared out of the palace and illuminated all of the Yellow Mausoleum. Every immortal inside craned their head toward the core area. Anyone touched by the light would be filled with inspiration when comprehending the Law of Earth.
Simultaneously, the earth essence barrier preventing over ninety-nine percent of the immortals from passing through started to weaken. Many true immortals' eyes lit up. In their eyes, a supreme treasure must have been born for the divine light to illuminate the whole pocket dimension. Everyone increased their efforts as they tried to enter.
Although they knew that their chances of obtaining the treasure were slim, that did not cool their blood. There was always the hope that the people already inside killed each other, giving them a chance to fish in muddy waters.
Everyone ascending the pathway up the divine mountain felt the gravitational force begin to weaken. Instead of making them happy, this only made their face darken. Without fail, every immortal increased their pace. Even if Tai Wuling grabbed the treasure first, it still remained to be seen who would own it in the end.
Tai Wuling was ignorant of what was happening outside the divine palace. He had become the source of the divine light. When he touched the divine blood, a part of his skin tore apart, and the blood drilled into his body, literally turning his skin, hair, and eyes gold.
"Out! Get out of my head!" Tai Wuling shouted as he crouched from atop the giant throne. He punctuated each word by slamming his fist on the seat.
Unheard by anyone else but him, a voice answered him. "This is the price you pay for intruding upon my domain."
The voice sounded faint, yet each word thundered endlessly in Tai Wuling's head. An ancient aura could be heard from the owner as if he was a being from far in the past.
"Had you not been greedy for my blood essence, where would I have the chance to possess you?" the voice mocked.
"Possess me?!" A hint of panic entered Tai Wuling's voice. "Why would you possess me? Did you not set up the Yellow Mausoleum to find an inheritor?"
"Yellow Mausoleum, finding an inheritor?" the voice mocked. "Do you think I'm a samaritan or something? You should have known that I wasn't searching for an inheritor when you saw the trialless realm. I never expected a little true immortal to be able to reach the peak, but the heavens must be smiling upon me."
Tai Wuling's heart shook as he recalled what had happened in the past few years while in the Yellow Mausoleum. That's right, aside from some naturally occurring treasure or the earth beasts, there was nothing resembling artifacts. Even the mountain path appeared too harsh for a trail. More importantly, there was no artifact spirit or message left behind!
"Haha, it seems you've finally realized your folly," the voice said. "Now, obediently give up and become the nutrient for my revival!"
Instead of panicking more, the ancient voice's words actually calmed Tai Wuling down. He gritted his teeth and forced himself into a lotus position. "You must not have much of your strength left, do you? Otherwise, why would you waste words on me? As long as my willpower hold firm, you won't succeed!"
The ancient voice snorted. "I admit that I have less than even a thousandth of strength at my peak, but do you think that a little immortal like you can resist?"
Before Tai Wuling even had time to react, the pain assaulting him multiplied by ten, almost causing all his thoughts to stop as his mind burned blank. His nails dug into his palm, causing blood to flow out, but he couldn't feel it. He bit the inside of his mouth, causing blood to fill his mouth, but he could neither taste nor feel it.
"I originally wanted to save what little energy I had, but do you really think I couldn't solve you?" the ancient voice asked. "You look down on me too much. Even if only a drop of blood is left of me, it's a drop of my, the Yellow God's blood!"
Veins pulsed atop Tai Wuling's head as he scrunched his eyes shut. He could hear the Yellow God's words, but he could not process them at all. All his focus was on defending against the drop of blood's assimilation.
Tai Wuling could feel skin, flesh, blood, and bones slowly transforming. His skin turned to soil, his flesh into rocks, his bones into metals, and his blood into mineral veins. It was like his body was transforming into a piece of land.
The process started from his hands and reached his shoulders despite his best efforts. Eventually, his torso and dantian also started to transform. The more time passed, the more numb Tai Wuling felt.
"Oh? You possess the dao chaos spiritual root?" the ancient voice asked in pleasant surprise. "No wonder you were able to bear the pressure. Even in my time, the dao chaos spiritual root is a perfect foundation, even for a divinity like me. Your body isn't too bad either."
Tai Wuling said nothing. He could no longer feel his arms or legs, yet the pain still seemed to pierce his soul. The ancient voice spoke again, trying to rile him up.
"Any last words? Once I reach your head, your soul will become mine," the ancient voice calmly asked. Tai Wuling stayed silent as he never gave up hope, continually resisting the encroachment.
The ancient voice tsked. "Stubborn bastard, making me waste my essence."
Despite Tai Wuling's best efforts, his neck started to transform as well. Then his lower jaws, upper jaw, cheeks, nose, lips, eyes, and ears. By this point, he had lost all senses, as if he was floating in a void with nothing but pain for company.
"Any last words?" the ancient voice asked. "Once I devour your consciousness, it's all over."
Tai Wuling said nothing.
"Very well, goodbye," the ancient voice said. With a last burst, the Yellow God invaded Tai Wuling's consciousness.
Tai Wuling's mind became completely white as his sea of consciousness started to turn yellow, beginning from the edge. A figure condensed above the sea of consciousness. Everything about him was yellow, from his robes, his crown, his eyes, and his hair. He was the apparition of the Yellow God's last strand of thought preserved within that drop of blood.
The owner of the ancient voice exuded a bone-deep arrogance. "Hmpf, all you did was make me waste a bit more time."
The last remnant of the Yellow God scanned Tai Wuling's consciousness, but the moment he saw a black sphere with deep blue runes glowing on it, his face paled. "Why is the Wuxing Core in his possession!?"
The Yellow God's remnant fled into the distance as if he had met some terrible beast. The apparition dissolved into particles of light as the yellow color receded from the silver sea of consciousness, but it was already too late.
The black sphere started trembling as if awakening from a long sleep. It exuded a rainbow light that illuminated Tai Wuling's consciousness. The fleeing yellow light froze as if locked in place. "No!"
The Wuxing Core started to pull the yellow particles toward itself, and the particles gradually formed the Yellow God's face. It was filled with unwillingness and fear. "Wuxing, are you Wuxing's reincarnation?! Dammit, are you trying to reform yourself by absorbing us?!"
"Answer me!" No matter how much the Yellow God's remnant shouted, Tai Wuling didn't answer because he had completely fallen unconscious.
The yellow particles detached and were absorbed by the Wuxing Core, bit by bit. The Yellow God's remnant tried to struggle and scream, but it was no use. "Dammit! It was supposed to be my glorious return. With the damn Three Pure Ones gone, it was my era! Mine!!!"
With that last outburst, all the golden particles disappeared, absorbed by the Wuxing Core. The Wuxing Core stopped emitting a rainbow light and dimmed, but unlike before, new runes glowing a deep yellow appeared on its surface.
Outside, the brilliant divine light of yellow had disappeared. Tai Wuling lay atop the throne, knocked out. His hair, eyes, skin, and everything else returned to their former colors, except for the one fact that his body now exuded a divine yellow glimmer.
Time continued to pass. As the gravitational force suppressing the core of the Yellow Mausoleum gradually lifted, more and more immortals ascended the steps. In less than a month, the second person reached the peak.
He wore a fiery robe and possessed handsome features. He was Yan Nie, known as the Divine Flame Lord to most. Compared to when he started ascending the mountain, a mark resembling fire was now imprinted between his brows. The fire mark exuded five different colors: red, black, yellow, green, and white.
"Finally made it," Yan Nie said as he breathed out. So hot was the air he let out that it blurred the space in front of him. A half-meter thick aura of fire encased him, causing the surrounding meters around him to distort like a heat mirage.
Yan Nie turned his attention toward the divine palace. The gravitational force wasn't enough to force him onto his knees, but he still felt like he was walking through a quagmire.
A flick of his wrist later, a black spear that seemed to absorb all light appeared in his hand. The spear continuously absorbed Yan Nie's fiery aura without change, like a black hole.
Having finished his preparations, Yan Nie walked toward the divine palace and entered. Upon entering, he saw the grand doors leading to the throne hall open. Allowing his instincts to guide him, he entered.
Despite the grandeur, the throne hall was devoid of any precious treasures, almost like a robber had already visited. A prone figure caught his eyes, and Yan Nie snapped his attention to the person on the ground.
As Yan Nie expected, he saw Tai Wuling atop the giant throne. He scanned the surrounding once more, trying to find the source of the divine light that erupted from the palace earlier.
Seeing no hints, Yan Nie turned his attention back to Tai Wuling. His instincts told him that Tai Wuling had taken it. Whether Tai Wuling was really unconscious or pretending, Yan Nie didn't know. Instead, he entered a stance with the spearhead pointing at the ground.
A small ball of fire appeared at the speartip. Soon, it burst out into a five-colored flame that enveloped the spearhead like an outer shell. Despite the suppression of the divine palace, the air around the spearhead started to blur as the temperature drastically rose. Simultaneously, Yan Nie's aura enlarged and took on an explosive trait.
Yan Nie leaped into the air, a fiery footprint charring the tiled floor in the process. Fire exploded from the spearhead, shrouding Yan Nie in fire and turning him into a shooting star as he arrived in front of Tai Wuling.
The fiery spear pierced toward Tai Wuling, and he received it without moving. The force sent Tai Wuling crashing into the throne's back, bouncing him toward the entrance.
Yan Nie spun his spear and turned around, brandishing it in preparation for his next move.
Tai Wuling spat out a mouthful of blood as he opened his blurry eyes. Pain drove away any drowsiness as he spat another mouthful and checked his injuries.
The top half of his robes had completely disintegrated. His robes were actually an immortal rank defensive artifact, so it could be seen how powerful Yan Nie's strike was. At the center of his chest, smoke billowed out from the cauterized wound, and cracks covered his body like a broken mirror.
Although the wound seemed terrifying, his wounds weren't as serious as they appeared. Tai Wuling could feel a vast amount of vitality surging forth, repairing his body. Although he didn't know what had happened to his body, he couldn't care. Compared to his current wound, Tai Wuling struggled to stay awake more.
His eyes widened as Yan Nie charged at him again. Even if his body were healing him, taking another two or three strikes from Yan Nie would spell his death.
Yan Nie didn't waste any words and continued to attack Tai Wuling, intent on taking his life. Tai Wuling, for his part, was slowly inching toward the entrance with each dodge. He knew that if he didn't escape, certain death awaited him.
"Don't even think about escaping!" Yan Nie shouted as he pierced his spear forward.
Tai Wuling gritted his teeth and dodged to the side. The speartip sliced through the skin of his arm as it passed him. But as Yan Nie’s attack sailed past Tai Wuling, its movement stopped as if caught onto something.
Both Yan Nie and Tai Wuling looked over to see a figure materializing out of the air. She had ink-black hair and wore a slightly singed blue dress. In her hand was a gourd with a blade coming out, blocking Yan Nie's spear.
Jiang Daoyi glared at Yan Nie and Tai Wuling.
