Zhi Xuan rose, bowing once more before turning away. He walked toward the narrow crevice pointed out by the Taoist Priest—a split between basalt rocks from which wafted a breath of pure heat, smelling of sulfur and rich in the essence of Primal Fire. He stepped into the crevice. The path sloped steeply downward, its walls feeling scorching to the touch. Zhi Xuan did not use his Extreme Ice Law; he allowed the heat to burn his skin, testing his Heavenly-Blood Body Law and the newly born Embers in his Sea of Consciousness.

  After walking for some time, he arrived at a small, naturally formed chamber. In the center of the room was a small pool filled with glowing red magma. The magma did not flow wildly; it pulsed slowly, radiating a dense and highly concentrated Primal Fire Law. Surrounding the magma pool, the basalt stone walls felt incredibly heavy, as if bearing the entire weight of the Crimson Land Valley. This was the perfect place. The magma pool was the source of Primal Fire he sought, while the dense basalt walls would press upon him with the Primal Earth Law that he understood as a burden. Zhi Xuan sat cross-legged on the nearest basalt rock, about three steps away from the magma pool.

  He closed his eyes, letting the heat enveloping the room become his blanket. He did not immediately absorb the Fire essence; he first summoned the Heavenly Samsara Wheel into his Sea of Consciousness. He gazed at the empty Earth Law pillar and Fire Law pillar. In the Earth pillar, the seed pulsed with a newly found weight.

  "Bearing the burden," Zhi Xuan murmured. He began to channel essence into each of his meridians. He did not channel light, moving essence, but rather essence refined by his Heavenly-Blood Body, then compressed it until it became dense and heavy, like the earth. He imagined every bone and muscle becoming an unshakable foundation, a promise to bear every karma and destruction he would create in the future. The Earth Law around him responded. The basalt rocks beneath him began to emit a deep resonance. Zhi Xuan felt his body become hundreds of times heavier than usual. His bones creaked, not from breaking, but from adapting.

  Over the next few months, Zhi Xuan felt his body grow heavier as if sinking into the ground; he felt like a branch rooted in the Earth, bearing all burdens, even the Heavens themselves. He no longer viewed the burden of karma and the promises he held as hindrances, but rather as things that strengthened his body to endure. He remembered everything—his karma and his purpose for cultivating, from his mission to protect the village, the first time witnessing Ruo Xianxue rise, the first time killing in the Arena, the first time building a karmic bond with Zhu Qinglan, how he possessed the Devil Seed, storing corpses to be used as puppets later, and meeting Ao Sheng and Xiao Die.

  Three years passed amidst the cracking of the ground beneath his body. The basalt rock below him seemed to hold the weight of all the karma Zhi Xuan possessed; he was not even able to move his hand because of the weight he bore. He looked like a petrified heavenly lotus, motionless yet with petals spreading to embrace and support the Earth. However, Zhi Xuan understood that to move under such great pressure, he had to gaze at destruction and still have the hope to rise. He moved his finger; the magma pool in front of him rippled, the earth around him vibrated violently, and his sixty Slaughter Seals rippled, as if confirming that with his body alone, he could support the Heavens.

  Zhi Xuan saw Fire as the hope of life; that if all who live must die, they will be reborn through Fire. Fire did not turn something into Gods or Devils, but rather, look at the mortals walking upon the Earth as the scorching sunlight shines upon them. Humans always walk amidst balance: beneath them is the Earth, and above them is Fire. While Wind and Lightning are Tyrannies that bring destruction and movement to all Elements, and Extreme Ice freezes the entire Realm by its presence, Earth is that which bears the burden and receives the weight, whereas Fire is the diligence and rebirth of the Universe.

  Zhi Xuan began to understand that borrowing the Laws of Nature in the Five Elements realm and uniting the five Elements was about becoming broken, seeing the consequences of Nature, and feeling the power that can destroy. Then came the acceptance of destruction and bearing it, waiting for a new birth that illuminates the early life of everything. The Five Elements, tempered with extreme elements, distinguished a profoundly deep cultivation foundation. If someone used Lightning on a rainy night, they would gain a different understanding than someone using Pure Lightning arriving from the Heavens. If someone only watched and absorbed, they were different from those who became and experienced.

  As the fifth year reached completion, the ground shook violently in that small room. The magma that had flooded the ground beneath Zhi Xuan for several years now evaporated due to the spiritual fluctuations he released. From Zhi Xuan’s petrified body, a Five Element disc depicting the Laws of Nature appeared in his open palm, hovering like a black hole of the Universe. That disc was a sign that someone had experienced all five Elements, understood them, and was able to borrow the Laws of Nature to use them. Only those who truly understood the Laws to continue forward, aligning and understanding the meaning of Nature, would obtain such a solid foundation.

  In the Sea of Consciousness, the Earth Law rune and the Fire Law rune formed, shooting into the Heavenly Samsara Wheel and completely creating a spiritual explosion wave—the union of a Natural Law supported by the Four Seasons Law. Zhi Xuan rose slowly, as if his entire body were wrapped in and merged with the earth, yet he still rose and stood in the middle of that small room. His hands were raised upward; he tilted his face, and his eyes opened wide, glowing in gold as if about to explode.

  Zhi Xuan roared loudly. From his body, flashes of five-colored light shot upward and pierced through the barrier of the small room. The spiritual light he released stabbed through the cave, through the rocks, and through the sky, creating a phenomenon where the five colors gathered and formed a resonance vortex, as if the Universe were being compressed into a single point. This was the consolidation of the Five Elements, a peak of the realm or what is called the Great Perfection of the Five Elements. When a cultivator has understood all the Laws of Nature, they will reach the perfection of the Five Elements, but the Five Elements are also influenced by how deep one's understanding of the Natural Laws is; the deeper their understanding of the Laws, the deeper and stronger their foundation.

  In the distance, precisely above the Crimson Land Valley, ten robed figures of both women and men, who were Daoists and treasure hunters from the nearest town in the area of the Crimson Land Valley, turned in unison as they saw the five-colored light piercing the clouds in the distance, forming a five-colored vortex that served as the signs of someone completing the Five Elements realm.

  "What kind of phenomenon is this?" hissed a man in a green robe carrying a great sword on his back, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at the five-colored vortex slowly rotating in the northern sky. That man, known as Daoist Qing Feng, was a cultivator in the Five Elements realm who had long been searching for treasure in this valley.

  An elegant woman in a pink silk robe beside him, called Fairy Hong Li, clutched her jade fan tightly. Her beautiful face was filled with shock. "The perfect five colors... That is the sign of the Pure Five Elements Consolidation! Only those who forge their foundation with a deep understanding of the five Laws of nature can create a resonance this strong."

  "Impossible!" exclaimed an old man in a gray robe, who looked like an alchemist from a small sect. His thin beard trembled. "Five Element Consolidation always happens, but a five-colored vortex that compresses the Heavens like that? That is not just Consolidation; it is the Great Perfection of the Five Elements Path! And in a place as harsh as the Crimson Land Valley?"

  The treasure hunters and Daoists gathered at the edge of the Crimson Land Valley immediately felt a creeping shockwave. The spiritual pressure from the five-colored vortex was not aggressive like a Lightning explosion, but rather a suffocating weight, as if the Heavens themselves had become dense and were pressing down.

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  "Who is cultivating there? No major faction has ever sent a core disciple to the Crimson Land Valley," murmured Daoist Qing Feng, the sword on his back vibrating as if responding to the resonance of the Laws in the sky. He felt his own foundation, which he had forged with great effort, feel fragile before that vortex.

  Fairy Hong Li flicked her fan, conjuring a hint of Wind aura to alleviate the suffocating pressure. "The weight of the Earth Law and the energy of Primal Fire in this valley are very dense. Only a truly mad cultivator or one with ancient bloodlines would choose this place to complete their realm. Whoever he is, he must have swallowed a Heaven Pill or possesses a high-level Protective Artifact."

  "A Heaven Pill?" Daoist Qing Feng snorted, his dry laughter sounding like the grinding of sand. "Even a Heaven Pill would not give him such a deep understanding of the Path. Look, that vortex does not spin wildly; it moves at a slow and stable speed, as if it possesses a will that rejects fluctuations. This is a sign that the Earth Law he tempered has an unshakable foundation."

  The eyes of the old man in the gray robe, called Old Alchemist Yuan, lit up with hidden greed. "If this is the Great Perfection of the Five Elements Path, then that cultivator will soon reach Soul Transformation, and his Divine Wheel must have been forged into the purest Five Elements Foundation. If we can capture him before he stabilizes, that Golden Core could extend our lives by hundreds of years and strengthen our Path!"

  Fairy Hong Li looked at Old Alchemist Yuan with a cold gaze. "Old Alchemist Yuan, you are too lustful for power. The spiritual aura he releases, though divided into five colors, feels like a blend of Lightning's destruction, Wind's freedom, Ice's frozenness, Earth's weight, and unquenchable Fire Embers. A strength so balanced and extreme... he is not an easy target. Do not forget, in this Crimson Land Valley, even a Soul Transformation expert must be careful."

  "But, a golden opportunity rarely comes twice," whispered Old Alchemist Yuan, his eyes never leaving the vortex that emitted five-colored light piercing the clouds. He licked his dry lips. That power was too tempting for a cultivator who had reached the limit of the Five Elements and yearned for a breakthrough.

  Daoist Qing Feng shook his head. He was a cautious man with sharp instincts from years of experience in the wild. "Hong Li is right. We do not know who he is, and we do not know his background. Major factions always have hidden cards. If we rush in and he possesses high-level artifacts, we will be dust before we can get close."

  "However, the vortex is starting to slow down," Fairy Hong Li said, her tone now more urgent. "This phenomenon will not last long. After that vortex disappears, the cultivator will hide or immediately leave the Valley. This is our only window to act, or at least to scout."

  They all fell silent. Among them, the temptation of power and the fear of danger clashed in their hearts. The phenomenon of the Great Perfection of the Five Elements Path was a rare sight, a promise of a more majestic Path. It was a magnet for every cultivator struggling in the Five Elements realm.

  "Fine, we move," Daoist Qing Feng decided. He was the leader of that small group of treasure hunters, and his decision carried weight. He glanced at Old Alchemist Yuan sharply. "However, we only scout. If he shows signs of having a major faction protector or unparalleled strength, we retreat. We will not become corpses of the Crimson Land Valley."

  They immediately shot forward. Those ten cultivators, driven by a combination of greed and curiosity, moved toward the center of the Crimson Land Valley, toward the five-colored vortex that was now beginning to dim, merging back into the Heavens as if a Heavenly door had been closed. They hid behind a blackened basalt cliff, waiting for the moment when Zhi Xuan, that mysterious cultivator, would emerge.

  Inside the cave beneath the cliff, Zhi Xuan slowly lowered his hands. The Five Element disc in his palm disappeared, dissolving back into the Heavenly Samsara Wheel in his Sea of Consciousness. The five-colored vortex in the sky vanished without a trace. He felt his foundation was now completely stable. The five pillars in the Heavenly Samsara Wheel—Wind, Lightning, Extreme Ice, Earth, and Fire—rotated with a harmonious and eternal rhythm. Each of his Laws was extreme, yet they supported and balanced each other. He was a Storm supported by the Earth, and Ice burned by Determination.

  Zhi Xuan opened his eyes. The golden eyes that had briefly ignited now returned to their sapphire-blue color, but were now tinged by the depth of the Earth and hidden Embers. He felt an extraordinary power. He rose completely. His body, which had been pressed down by the weight of the Primal Earth for so long, felt light, yet he knew he could call upon that weight at any time. The cracks in the basalt rock beneath him were silent witnesses to his extreme cultivation.

  Zhi Xuan channeled essence into his Heavenly-Blood Body. The sixty Slaughter Seals on his chest pulsed, emitting a faint red light. His foundation had reached the highest limit of the Five Elements realm. Now, there was only one path ahead of him: Soul Transformation. He was in no hurry. After such intense cultivation, he had to completely consolidate his essence. Zhi Xuan stepped out of that small room, returning to the main cave.

  The Taoist Priest was still sitting in his place, his eyes open, gazing at the same silk scroll. However, on his lips was a deeper smile, a smile of approval. Zhi Xuan nodded and clasped his hands, bowing deeply.

  "Senior Taoist," Zhi Xuan greeted in a hoarse voice; he looked like a stone that had been struck by all five elements simultaneously. "This Zhi is grateful for the years I have spent here; I will always remember Senior Taoist's guidance and kindness."

  The Taoist Priest nodded slowly, his movements calm and graceful. He placed his brush onto the tatami. "Your path is a path filled with heavy karma, young Daoist. Your Five Elements are the foundation to bear that burden. Now, that burden no longer hinders your steps but has instead become an unshakable strength."

  He gazed at Zhi Xuan with a meaningful look, as if piercing through every layer of his spiritual armor. "Remember, the Fire you tempered here is Diligence, not anger. The Earth you absorbed is Acceptance, not resignation. Do not let the darkness of your heart contaminate this balance. Perfect consolidation requires tranquility before facing the Heavenly Tribulation."

  "This Zhi will hold firmly to Senior's advice," Zhi Xuan replied, his tone low. He had completed the tempering of his Path, but before this wise cultivator, he was still a student who had just opened the gate of enlightenment.

  Zhi Xuan looked up, his eyes sweeping over the painting on the wall depicting a Dragon twisting across the horizon. He felt a faint presence outside the cave—a collection of spiritual senses approaching, filled with curiosity and hidden greed, like flies attracted to the scent of honey.

  "This Zhi feels an unpleasant presence outside, Senior," Zhi Xuan said, his voice returning to a vigilant yet calm tone. "They must be attracted to the phenomenon that just occurred. Will Senior allow them to disturb this peace?"

  The Taoist Priest smiled slightly; he took his brush and began to continue the painting on the silk scroll. The painting seemed to come alive, radiating a calm aura of wisdom.

  "The path of a hermit is to accept all fluctuations of Nature," the Taoist Priest replied softly, as if the presence of a group of Five Element cultivators outside was no more than mosquitoes at night. "However, this cave has provided you with a vessel. And you, young Daoist, now possess the foundation to bear and refine the incoming chaos. They are not my business, but they are your first test after enlightenment."

  Zhi Xuan nodded in understanding. The advice was simple: the trouble coming now was part of his karma, and he had to face it with the new balance he had forged. He could not run from temptation or threat just because he had recently finished cultivating. He bowed deeply again, giving a final respect to the Taoist Priest. "This Zhi will ensure Senior's tranquility is not disturbed by noisy rats."

  Zhi Xuan turned and stepped out of the cave. As soon as he reached the narrow crevice at the mouth of the cave, he no longer hid his aura. He allowed his Five Element aura—Wind, Lightning, Extreme Ice, Earth, and Fire—to resonate together, creating a calm yet lethal spiritual pressure that enveloped the cliff area.

  This pressure was not aggressive, but its weight was so heavy to bear, as if Zhi Xuan were now the center of gravity in the Crimson Land Valley. Behind the blackened basalt rocks, the ten figures led by Daoist Qing Feng stopped abruptly. Their spiritual senses, which had been filled with the spirit of scouting, were now struck back by Zhi Xuan's aura.

  "What kind of pressure is this?" hissed Old Alchemist Yuan, his wrinkled face as pale as a corpse. "I feel as if an entire mountain is weighing down on my shoulders. This is not just a Five Element aura; this is the weight of an unshakable Path!"

  Daoist Qing Feng gripped his sword tightly. He was the strongest among them, but even he felt a layer of cold sweat on his back. The aura felt stable and dense, the opposite of the wild destruction they usually encountered.

  "He is appearing," whispered Fairy Hong Li, her beautiful eyes narrowing as she saw Zhi Xuan's elegant silhouette now standing at the mouth of the cave, his silvery hair contrasting with the red basalt rock walls. "He is not even using the Wind Law, yet the air around him feels frozen and dense. He has reached a truly perfect Five Elements."