Chapter 62: The Legend of the Palace of Five Elements

Before this, Shen Lian had already considered taming another spirit beast from the sea, which would make his dealings in the Sea of Ten Thousand Stars much more convenient. For this purpose, he had purchased a book of sea spirit illustrations. The Azurewater Spirit Fish seemed to fit the category of spirit beast he desired as his second.

Within the jade box, a shimmering light rippled like a pool of water. A spirit fish, about half a foot long, swam gracefully, its body covered in emerald scales and two slender whiskers dangling from its lower jaw.

“Rest assured, fellow cultivator,” Liu Jiu hastened to say as he noticed Shen Lian’s gaze lingering on the Azurewater Spirit Fish, “this fish has pure blood. Its mother was a demon beast raised by our Shan Hai Pavilion for many years, so taming it will be much easier.”

“Only three thousand spirit stones,” he added.

Shen Lian understood well that in such a grand establishment, there was little chance of finding a bargain. From the beast-taming legacy he had inherited, he knew that among aquatic demon beasts, most had low bloodlines; few reached the third rank, and fourth-rank fish were rarer than phoenix feathers. Yet within the bodies of fish-type demon beasts, there was often a trace of dragon blood, offering a chance to transform into a dragon.

The two dragon whiskers beneath the fish’s jaw were proof of this. Of course, that was all. Many demon beasts had the opportunity to transform into dragons, but few truly managed to leap over the Dragon Gate and ascend. The mother of this fish was only a quasi-third rank herself, and the chance of advancing further was slim.

What Shen Lian valued was not the fish’s dragon-transforming potential—that was too remote. Like Dahei, a demon beast that had undergone demonization could command its kin, spreading far and wide to guard his abode. The price, however, was steep.

Shen Lian withdrew his gaze from the Azurewater Spirit Fish. “Manager Liu, since your pavilion sells information, has anything significant happened in the cultivation world recently?”

Seeing Shen Lian’s attention shift, Liu Jiu calmly put the jade box away. “Which aspect are you interested in? The price varies for different information.”

As he spoke, Liu Jiu handed Shen Lian a jade slip.

When Shen Lian infused his divine sense, he was surprised by the detail—every piece of intelligence was intricately cataloged.

Matters ranged from the state of the entire Southern Heavens cultivation world, which sects were recruiting, locations of ancient ruins, gossip about male and female Nascent Soul Patriarchs, down to the production of various materials, infighting among Foundation Establishment families, and which sect geniuses were feuding or plotting against each other. It was comprehensive, meticulously detailed and brimming with intrigue.

Even information about Nascent Soul Patriarchs was included—it seemed the Shan Hai Pavilion’s backing was formidable.

In the end, Shen Lian selected a second-rank low-grade Aquamarine Spirit Beast Bracelet, some elemental treasures and materials, plus a few intelligence jade slips, spending a total of seven thousand two hundred spirit stones.

...

Yang Mountain Residence.

Shen Lian set aside the jade slip in his hand. He had purchased three pieces of intelligence from the Shan Hai Pavilion, costing over a thousand spirit stones in total.

The first was about the situation in the Southern Heavens cultivation world. This was general information, priced lowest, but contained a message regarding the Five Elements Immortal Palace that caught Shen Lian's attention.

“Five Elements Immortal Palace,” he murmured softly.

The matter traced back to ancient times, an era when spiritual energy was abundant and anyone could become immortal. Among the five spiritual roots, the highest grade was reputed to possess the bearing of a Da Luo Immortal.

Da Luo, the ultimate in immortality.

It was said that those whose five spiritual roots were perfected could approach this supreme realm of immortality more easily than other cultivators. This was the origin of the so-called Da Luo bearing.

When Shen Lian first crossed over, he even wondered if he had arrived too early, missing the latest version of cultivation.

In this era, spiritual energy had declined further, calamities were frequent, and the struggles among cultivators more intense. The world had changed, but some things from ancient times persisted.

For instance, the supreme immortal sect—the Five Elements Immortal Palace—which had existed since ancient times.

This legendary palace appeared in different places in the contemporary cultivation world every so often. According to the testimonies of Nascent Soul and Divine Transformation experts, the palace was vast as a continent and filled with countless opportunities.

Within it grew a Five-Colored Immortal Tree, bearing five-colored immortal fruit capable of reshaping one’s spiritual roots.

Beneath the tree lay five-colored earth, said to nurture myriad life forms.

Just within the Southern Heavens, there was a Nascent Soul grand sect called the Clear Void Sect, whose ancestor—a cultivator with five spiritual roots—once brought back a batch of five-colored earth from the Immortal Palace.

With this earth, Clear Void Sect could cultivate one or two fourth-rank spiritual herbs every millennium.

Additionally, embedded within the five-colored earth were five-colored stones—rare materials for crafting magical artifacts capable of self-evolution.

However, these stones could not be used directly; they had to be nurtured within the dan tian of a cultivator with five spiritual roots before they could serve as artifact materials.

The Immortal Palace, though countless prohibitions had decayed over the ages and no longer restricted entry, still reserved its most important areas—like the five-colored earth beneath the Five Elements Immortal Tree—for cultivators whose five elements were complete.

The cultivation world did not lack five-root cultivators; what was scarce were those with middle or high-grade five roots.

“I’ll need to be careful in the future, lest some old monster snatches me up as a pawn,” Shen Lian thought, chills rising in his heart. The opportunities of the Immortal Palace were controlled by Nascent Soul grand sects; even Golden Core sects had no chance to interfere.

Major sects, eager for greater fortunes within the palace, fervently sought out cultivators with middle or higher-grade five spiritual roots.

Besides the Nascent Soul sects, some itinerant Nascent Soul Patriarchs also roamed, searching for such cultivators.

Some rogue cultivators were more ruthless than sects—simply capturing five-root cultivators, imposing restrictions, and using them like livestock, discarding them once their usefulness ended.

Coincidentally, fifty years ago, the Five Elements Immortal Palace appeared not far from the Southern Heavens, prompting a fierce struggle among its Nascent Soul sects.

Recently, in the southern sea region of the Southern Heavens, where the Sea of Ten Thousand Stars was located, the only Nascent Soul sect, Cloudrise Sect, was preparing to open its gates and recruit a new batch of immortal seedlings.

Anyone with a Cloudrise Sect Ascension Token could enter directly, bypassing all examinations.

Shen Lian tossed the jade slip aside, his magical artifact, Five Elements Mountain, appearing in his hand, a suspicion arising in his heart.

“Could there be five-colored stones forged into this?”

According to the intelligence jade slip, five-colored stones were indistinguishable from ordinary mineral materials. In such a remote place as Chu Kingdom, it was understandable that artifact forgers wouldn’t recognize them.

After much consideration, Shen Lian suppressed the thought.

Whether or not five-colored stones were used did not matter; he wouldn’t dare seek an expert to identify them anyway.

He might as well assume they were.

“Cloudrise Sect opens its gates,” he sighed again.

A hopeless affair—in this life, he was destined to have no ties with sects.

If anyone learned he could enhance spiritual roots, even to the level of Five Element Celestial Roots, the entire cultivation world would be shaken, and his chance of survival would plunge to nothing.

Suppressing his emotional turmoil, Shen Lian took out the other two jade slips.

One contained information about the Sea of Ten Thousand Stars, the other about the Desolate Region.