Chapter 805: Five Element Seal
The number of people who died due to the battle against Feng Yezi truly affected Shang Xia. After Liu Qinglan learned about it, she quickly reported it to the deputy patriarchs.
Strangely enough, neither Ji Wenlong nor Shang Bo, the other 2 Martial Dipper Relam Ancestors, said anything to Shang Xia about it. It seemed as though they didn’t think it was anything too important and it looked more like they wanted Shang Xia to be able to get over the mental barrier himself.
Fortunately, the psychological effect it had on Shang Xia didn’t last for too long. No one knew if it was because Liu Qinglan’s persuasion came into effect, or because he wasn’t such an emotional person in the first place. It might even be because of his superior cultivation level that he started to treat things like that with some indifference. It was possible there were other reasons in play, but Shang Xia quickly restored his state of mind. He was able to return to cultivating in peace.
With the assistance of the Tongyou Institution, along with his efforts to gather fate dipper essences, Shang Xia managed to gather a bunch of fate dipper essences. However, he didn’t try to refine them immediately.
Despite making advancements in his rank five arts such that he wouldn’t need to care about the yin yang alignment of his fate dipper essences, Shang Xia had to prioritize their balance. He would rather hold off on his cultivation until he gathered an entire set of 10 fate dipper essences.
He refined 4 sets of fate dipper essences so far, and based on raw calculation alone, he should be comparable to an expert who had refined 4 fate dippers. Unfortunately, reality wasn’t as simple as that. Regardless of his cultivation or his current combat abilities, Shang Xia was far from comparable to one.
The reason was simple. A fourth element Martial Dipper Realm expert had 4 complete fate dippers, but Shang Xia didn’t even have a single one! Everything in his body was mere fate dipper essences.
Fate dipper essences were obviously different from complete fate dippers.
No matter how many fate dipper essences there were, it would be difficult to match up to a single complete fate dipper.
Of course, Shang Xia’s combat abilities weren’t purely related to the number of fate dipper essences he had already refined. What was more important was the Five Element Yin Yang Origin in his dantian.
The Five Element Yin Yang Origin in his dantian would allow him to refine and purify the energy he absorbed, and allow him to possess frightening combat strength. Even without a complete fate dipper, he far surpassed a first element Martial Dipper Realm expert. He was even comparable to those at the second element of the Martial Dipper Realm.
As the number of fate dipper essences he refined increased, his combat strength would rise accordingly. However, his cultivation level would look the same.
The true transformation would happen when he completed the refinement of his tenth set of fate dipper essences. When that happened, 10 complete fate dippers would appear in his dantian and once they fused with his Five Element Yin Yang Origin, he would turn into a terrifying existence.
When that happened, even Kou Chongxue wouldn’t dare to take on a single strike from Shang Xia.
Of course, that would happen in the future. It was still a little too early to be having delusions.
Currently, he had 9 strands of fate dipper essences. Other than the Metal and Water Elements where he gathered both the Yin and Yang pair, he had 2 strands of Wood and Fire Fate Dipper Essences of the Yang Alignment and a final strand of Earth Element Fate Dipper Essence of the Yin Alignment.
During his recent cultivations, he spent a good portion of time restoring the energy he used when fighting Feng Yezi. He used the rest of the time to temper the Five Element Yin Yang Origin in his dantian.
After the battle against Feng Yezi back then, Shang Xia received some inspiration for his rank five Five Element Art. He needed some time and energy to verify some of his ideas before perfecting them. The most optimistic result would be for him to shorten the time required for a complete cycle of inner qi.
That was a significant step for Shang Xia. The moment he perfected his rank five arts and shortened the time to cycle his inner qi to a certain point, he would no longer be restricted by the type of fate dipper essences he required. It was like how he no longer cared about the yin yang alignment of his fate dipper essences.
Currently, Shang Xia felt that he was on the cusp of breaking through to that level. All he needed to do was to improve his rank five arts a little more. He would experience a fundamental transformation and his process in cultivation would become ever more smooth.
Finally entering seclusion without anyone else to disturb him, Shang Xia spent 4 months restoring his inner qi before consolidating his gains from the battle.
In the following 2 months, he focused on improving his rank five arts and as he was circulating his inner qi one day, he discovered that the time required to complete a cycle shortened to 3 short hours!
Even though he didn’t realize what had happened, the transformation of Five Element Yin Yang Origin in his dantian quickly jolted him back to his senses. It might not have reached the point where he didn’t have to care about the type of fate dipper essences he was refining, but it was good enough for him to change the yin and yang alignment with greater ease.
As long as he found another strand of Earth Element Fate Dipper Essence, he would be able to complete the fifth set!
Staying in seclusion wasn’t important any longer and Shang Xia decided to leave his cultivation grounds immediately. The moment he stepped out, he flew towards space from the Tongyou Paradise.
Because of the sudden improvement of his rank five arts, Shang Xia was elated. He started to work on the Five Element Seal he displayed once during the battle against Feng Yezi.
It was a complete set of rank five martial arts he came up with, and it developed even more smoothly after he obtained the Five Element Ring from the Grandmaster Blacksmiths of the Hundred Weapons Mill.
After he set his mind to killing Feng Yezi back then, he understood that the greatest means at his disposal would be his Five Element Seal and he had been working on it ever since. During the battle, it showed its true worth.
His rank five martial arts were made up of the ‘Impale’ seal of the Metal Element, the ‘Absorb’ seal of the Wood Element, the ‘Bind’ seal of the Water Element, the ‘Incinerate’ seal of the Fire Element, and the ‘Trap’ seal of the Earth Element.
Every single seal had the ability to call upon the power of their respective element and it possessed terrifying might. With the amplification from the Five Element Ring, Shang Xia was able to contend against Feng Yezi as long as he used a single one. During the battle, he unleashed all 5 seals and completely suppressed Feng Yezi, eventually killing him in a head-on exchange!
One had to know that Shang Xia hadn’t even refined a good amount of fate dipper essences. The moment a complete fate dipper formed from the fate dipper essences he had refined, his Five Element Seal would undergo a heaven-shaking transformation.
That wasn’t all. The Five Element Seal might look impressive at the moment, but there was still a lot of room for improvement.
Shang Xia classified the current level of the Five Element Seal to be the Five Word Sealing Art and it was considered its foundation. After some contemplation, he decided that it would also be appropriate to call them the Origin Seals.
He would be able to work on further seals in accordance with their origin and come up with auxiliary seals to create an even more complete and perfect technique.
According to what Shang Xia was coming up with, the complete technique could be tailored to the person training in it. Depending on the type of fate dippers one had refined, they would be able to develop their own path in it.
After Shang Xia came up with the Origin Seals as the foundation of his technique, the direction in which he should be developing his Five Element Seal became a lot clearer.
In actuality, Shang Xia completed his deduction and thought of how to develop his Five Element Seal to become a proper martial intent in the future.
The first and most important aspect of the Five Element Seal would be the ability to create a separate space. Shang Xia was able to use the Five Element Ring to achieve it during the battle with Feng Yezi. After successfully reaching that stage, Shang Xia named the region of sealed space he could create the Five Element Space.
Next was to completely separate the origin energy contained in the Five Element Space from the world origin of the Azure Ascension World. That was something Shang Xia hadn’t been able to do. Yuwen Changqing working together with Feng Yezi and nearly breaking through the sealed space was evident that Shang Xia hadn’t been able to achieve something like that.
Finally, Shang Xia aimed to be able to sustain the Five Element Space for a long time.
Of course, that didn’t mean that he would have to sustain it with his inner qi or some sort of formation. Instead, the Five Element Space would be able to maintain itself without the help of any external factors.
When Shang Xia thought of the possibility of that happening, he felt his scalp going numb. If that would be his martial intent in the future, wouldn’t that mean that he would possess the ability to create a Mysterious World by himself?
After entering space, Shang Xia started to use his Five Element Seal again and again. He familiarized himself with his rank five martial arts and he could tell that he became stronger compared to the time he fought Feng Yezi.
The only thing that he found slightly disappointing was the fact that he wasn’t able to create the Five Element Space without the assistance of his Five Element Ring.
When he finally returned after several days of training, Shang Xia officially ended his half year seclusion.
Leaving the Tongyou Paradise, Shang Xia went back to the Tongyou Institution and before he could find some time to head back to the Talisman Hall, Yu Duhe discovered his presence. Running over in a state of panic, he quickly intercepted Shang Xia.
“So... Are you saying that there’s something strange about the Lightning Bird recently?” Shang Xia asked.
Yu Duhe nodded and started to explain in a solemn voice, “Even though I am unable to directly communicate with the Lightning Bird like other birds, I can tell that it frantically wishes to meet you.”
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