Inside his cultivation chamber, Tai Wuling's eyes flickered behind his eyelids. He remained ignorant of the outside world, even as his Dao Manifestation continued. His body started trembling as five-colored light radiated off of him, and immense pressure filled the chamber.
Inside Tai Wuling's consciousness, the Wuxing Core rapidly spun, discharging light that filled his sea of consciousness. It even affected his physical body. However, he noticed none of this as he witnessed a cataclysmic event.
When Tai Wuling realized where he was, the scene of the chaos fiendgods confronting Pangu, he saw an ax descending down onto him. He moved his body, or rather, the owner of the body, Wuxing, moved.
Wuxing had the lower half of a humanoid, but his upper half had five equally distanced shoulders, of which five arms sprouted. The five arms were formed of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. Wuxing had no neck and a sphere that resembled the Wuxing Core for a head.
Five hands shot forth to block or deflect Pangu's ax, but they only barely managed to halt its movement. The ax cleaved through the five elemental arms, his head, his torso, and everything.
Tai Wuling felt his head become woozy at this point, but he still managed to determine what happened afterward, as if he had literally lost his head. After Wuxing fell, most of his body was used by Pangu as nourishment for the creation of the world, leaving only a fragment of Wuxing's head and arms.
More and more chaos fiendgods charged at Pangu like rabid dogs. Although Pangu became visibly tired, he still killed them one by one. Finally, all the chaos fiendgods died, leaving only Pangu and the embryonic world.
Pangu's ax and other artifacts shattered, also turning into nutrients for the embryonic world. Then, the embryonic world started to expand until it was larger than Pangu himself, but midway, a fault appeared, causing it to shrink.
Unwilling to watch his hard work go to waste, Pangu entered the embryonic world, preventing it from imploding onto itself with his own body. Gradually, the growing world no longer showed any signs of self-destruction, but Pangu sacrificed his life for the world.
The Primordial World, or as it was known at the time, the Great Desolation, had been born.
Gradually, life started to appear in the Primordial World. Among them were the famous Three Purities: the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning, the Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasures, and the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue, Di Jun, Eastern Emperor Taiyi, Haotian, Yaochi, and many more, most of who would disappear in the modern era.
During this time, the fragments of Wuxing were drawn by the Primordial World's gravity and crashed into the land. They remained inactive for an untold number of years until new life formed from the remains.
Wuxing's fragments of his fire arm became the Red God, the leftovers of his water arm became the Black God, the remnants of his earth arm became the Yellow God, his wood arm became the Green God, and the White God formed from his metal arm. Together, they were known as the Five Element Gods.
However, despite being part of one group, their relationship was far from amiable—hostile even. Since they were once one being, they instinctually sought to return to one despite their vague memories. The Five Element Gods warred with one another, seeming unable to stop until the others perished. Once one defeated another, they would absorb the remnant of the other.
Unknown to the Five Element Gods, a fragment of Wuxing's head fell and remained dormant for far longer. Through the passage of time, its shape dwindled and reformed into a perfect sphere.
Time passed, and the world shattered, ending the primordial era. The fragments of the Primordial World transformed into realms, forming the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. In this new era, few, if any, of the old divinity survived; thus, a dark age of cultivation arrived—the Dark Era.
The Wuxing Core landed in the Huang Realm, which formerly consisted of one large continent. In its early years, the Buzhou Immortal Sect formed and started a war of domination against the rest of the forces that appeared in the Dark Era.
The war shattered the great continent into three large pieces and several smaller fragments. Time passed, and the Dark Era transitioned into the modern era.
Over a million years passed when a young man got injured, causing his blood to drip onto the Wuxing Core. After a bright flash, the Wuxing Core resided in the man's sea of consciousness.
"Pangu, I, Wuxing, will destroy all you have worked for!" Tai Wuling yelled as he awoke from his vision. He stumbled onto his elbows and knees as he clutched his head.
Memories, not of his own, filled his mind, making it feel as if his brain was splitting in two. "I'm Tai Wuling, Tai Wuling!"
His fist slammed into the ground, walls, and furniture inside the chamber, leaving cracks, if not outright destroying them. His veins bulged as red, black, yellow, green, and white streamed through them, making him appear as if he was poisoned.
The chamber doors slammed open, and Yang Linyin rushed in. "Wuling!"
"Wuling, what's wrong? Speak to me!" They ran toward Tai Wuling and hugged him tightly, preventing him from lashing out and hurting himself. Or at least, Yang Linyin attempted to.
Tai Wuling's strength far exceeded Yang Linyin's, and in his struggle, caused numerous bruises to appear on their body. A sickening crunch reverberated in the chambers, causing Yang Linyin to scream out in pain despite their willpower.
Their scream brought a strand of clarity to Tai Wuling's eyes. Upon identifying the source and reason, his eyes widened in panic as he stopped struggling in Yang Linyin's arm in fear of hurting her. "Linyin, what's wrong, what'd I do? Are you okay, tell me you're okay! Please!"
"I'm fine. I just need to swallow some medicinal pills, and I will recover in time," Yang Linyin forced out. "Don't mind me. What about you, what caused you to go berserk?"
Tai Wuling stilled. He gently removed Yang Linyin's arm from around him and picked them up, bridal style. As he carried Yang Linyin, he thought about how to explain himself.
He trusted Yang Linyin, and the two had agreed to become Dao Companions after the war ended. However, after learning of the origins of the Wuxing Core in his sea of consciousness, he became incredibly alert.
When Tai Wuling had still been a loose cultivator, he once had a friend he thought he could trust with his life. So, he revealed to that friend that he had obtained a fragment of an immortal artifact. His friend lived up to his trust, but he told his master. And his friend's master disregarded all relationships and generational differences to snatch his immortal artifact fragment.
In the end, Tai Wuling won and killed his friend's master, but the two's relationship had become irreconcilable. Still, the aftermath resulted in Tai Wuling being on the run for many years as word of his treasure leaked out. It was also around this time that he met the injured Yang Linyin.
He trusted Yang Linyin, yes, but what about Emperor Infinity, Monarch Pathway? He couldn’t be sure that the two's greed wouldn't overcome their senses and steal his Wuxing Core at all costs. It wasn't the fragment of an immortal artifact but something far more precious, its value inestimable.
Emperor Infinity's chances of reaching the Origin Immortal Realm would drastically rise with it in hand, and maybe even have a chance of entering that illusionary realm, the realm of divinity. Even if Tai Wuling wanted to take out the Wuxing Core and offer it, it was impossible as it had become one with him.
"If it's difficult for you, you don't have to tell me," Yang Linyin suddenly said. "But you have to promise me that this won't happen again."
Tai Wuling smiled. "I promise."
He carried Yang Linyin to their room and only left after making sure they started recovering from the injury he had dealt. After that, he exited and stared at the ceiling. His gaze pierced the roof and into the sky, where his Dao Manifestation was still ongoing.
His Dao Manifestation was covered in a layer of haze for him. He understood each individual law of the five elements, but he could sense them being merged within the vision, albeit hidden. It felt like he was at the cusp of grasping something, yet it remained forever out of his reach.
Placing a hand over his chest, Tai Wuling felt the changes happening in his body. Perhaps because of the compatibility between the Yellow God's blood and the Wuxing Core, miraculous changes were occurring. Even just standing there, his body naturally absorbed a massive amount of spiritual qi to fuel his transformation.
It felt like cultivating on auto-pilot without any effort from him. His martial body became more and more perfect. If his body was tilted toward the earth, now the other four elements appeared and integrated with one another, becoming more balanced.
As the changes continued, Tai Wuling felt himself gain an innate ability: Five Element Fusion. Without understanding the Law of Five Phases, he could merge all five elements to produce a multiplicative effect for his techniques. The more he understood the laws of the five elements and the Law of Five Phases, the stronger this innate ability would become.
"Just you wait, Yan Nie. Our next battle will produce very different results," Tai Wuling vowed. He turned around and returned to his half-broken cultivation chamber.
Now was the best time to consolidate his cultivation base and integrate all five laws he had mastered. Simultaneously, he worked on integrating the qi of the five elements into his immortal qi as fast as possible to become a fifth-step immortal monarch.
While cultivating, Tai Wuling couldn't help but recall his strange state. His eyes narrowed. He had a feeling that he would enter the strange state in the future, but now was not the time to worry about that. He could worry about it after the Eight Pillar Sect won the war against the Anti-Earth Alliance.
Months later, Tai Wuling stood in front of the thousands of true immortals of the Eight Pillar Sect among the other immortal monarchs. Even among immortal monarchs, he stood at a central position due to him being a fifth-step immortal monarch.
Originally, the Eight Pillar Sect wanted to delay the battle in the northwest for as long as possible to prepare and awaken their sleeping immortal monarchs, but they couldn't ignore the morale boost Tai Wuling's ascension to the Seamless Immortal Realm brought.
Standing at the peak wasn't Monarch Pathway but Emperor Infinity. Standing beside Emperor Infinity was an unknown immortal emperor. The unknown leaked an aura of death, like that of a flame on its last embers. He was Emperor Blesswood, an ancient immortal emperor of the Eight Pillar Sect, who everyone had forgotten.
Standing near them were Monarch Nine Heavens and thirty-four other immortal monarchs sent by the Buzhou Immortal Sect for a price. Noticeably, Xi Tianyi was not present, although Jiang Daoyi was standing among the other true immortals of the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
The Eight Pillar Sect had wanted to use Monarch Nine Heaven's spatial abilities to their advantage, but after being caught off guard once, the Anti-Earth Alliance fortified their territories against spatial techniques with almost no loopholes.
'So much for the vaunted Law of Space. And that Xi Tianyi, he must have stayed behind because he doesn't dare to step on the battlefield after almost dying once. What a pampered waste,' Tai Wuling thought with a snort.
Of course, he was wise enough not to voice his thoughts. Publically, it was his fault that Xi Tianyi became injured, and inciting anything that would result in the Buzhou Immortal Sect dissent was forbidden, especially at this critical juncture.
Emperor Infinity would be personally leading the battle and, after a grand and inspirational speech, raise the morale of all the Eight Pillar Sect. He turned to Monarch Nine Heavens, who nodded and opened a portal to the northwest battlefield.
To Tai Wuling's and the other Eight Pillar Sect immortal's shock, the Anti-Earth Alliance immediately attacked without warning despite not having all their forces present. Normally, both sides follow the unwritten agreement and gather all their forces before starting the battle.
Still, Emperor Infinity did not freeze because of the unexpected situation. He ordered the immortals to gather into their squads and form war formations to contest against the Anti-Earth Alliance. The battle immediately started at a heated tempo.
Although they were caught off guard, both sides were still almost even. But just as sixty to seventy percent of the Eight Pillar Sect's forces crossed the portal, it suddenly disappeared, leaving the remaining forces of the Eight Pillar Sect stranded at headquarters.
Emperor Infinity turned toward Monarch Nine Heavens. He didn't even hesitate and unleashed an attack on the monarch, but before he could, a white blur passed him toward Emperor Blesswood.
"Watch out!" Emperor Infinity cried out.
However, it was too late. The white blur revealed herself to be a woman of early thirties in appearance, wearing snow-white robes and possessing even white hair. In her hand was a silver brush that pierced Emperor Blesswood's chest.
Blood didn't flow out. Instead, pitch-black ink spurted out and wrapped the ancient immortal emperor.
