415 The Origin of the Five Elements
"However," said Lü Mo, "before the great change in Abyss City, I had better continue to follow you. If things proceed as you desire and you become the Abyss City Master, as your right-hand man, I may be able to rise to a higher position. Hehe."
******
Within a small crack in a pile of rocks, Su Yu and Xia Jingyu sat down to catch their breath. To kill that cow-horned man, Su Yu had to use up all the cards in his hand—even his clone technique! Although he had managed to hide the silver bow in time, Xia Jingyu now knew about his clone.
"Black Snow Devil King," she said, "that clone of yours is quite similar to my Empire of Darkness's Second Grade Clone Technique! I only know of two people who have cultivated this technique. One of them is Inspector Bai He, who has already died. The other is Yin Yu, whose whereabouts are unknown."
Xia Jingyu secretly observed the change in Su Yu's expression.
"I don't know about Inspector Bai He," said Su Yu, caught a bit off guard. "However… I have heard of Deputy Palace Master Yin Yu. He knows the clone technique as well? I didn't realize."
Xia Jingyu frowned slightly and thought about it for some time. Black Snow Devil King's clone technique was very different from the Second Grade Clone technique. His clone was fire-based and shockingly powerful. For a standard Second Grade Clone Technique, the clone was created by normal spiritual energy, and it was impossible for the clone to absorb fire energy of its own accord. At least, as far as Xia Jingyu knew, such cultivation techniques were nonexistent.
How could she know that it was a remnant of a legendary-level cultivation technique?
Seeing that Xia Jingyu had diverted her attention elsewhere, Su Yu discreetly heaved a sigh of relief. He took out the pouch he'd taken off the dead Human King's body and poured out everything within it. All the items within were small and irregular. There was money made iron, unknown black-colored medicinal materials, scattered stones, cloth, and silk.
"Hmm. What's this?" said Su Yu, noticing a jade box.
After thinking for some time, Su Yu set the jade box down on the ground far away from them and moved to a safe distance. His fingertips created an icy cold needle, and he shot it at the clasp of the jade box.
Crack—
The jade box opened silently, and a yellow mist rose from it. Even from a distance, the noxious odor was piercing to the sinuses. Small holes started to form on the ground around the box; whatever the substance was, it was extremely corrosive.
Xia Jingyu was shocked. She looked at Su Yu and could not help but gasp in admiration. "Fortunately for both of us, you are careful. If not, we might have escaped two Human Kings only to be killed by a small jade box. What a laughable fate that would be."
Su Yu paid no attention to her words. "Far from home, in unfamiliar territory, it is always best to be careful."
Su Yu retrieved the jade box and found that there was a mirror the size of an eyeball inside. The mirror's surface was smooth, and it gave off spiritual energy. It was a low-grade divine artifact.
"Your turn," Su Yu said, passing the mirror to Xia Jingyu. "Any ideas?"
This woman was very knowledgeable, and Su Yu sighed to himself, knowing he was inferior to her.
Noting the tone of his words, Xia Jingyu did not take the mirror. Instead, she said with assurance, "There is no need for me to look any closer. This is a high-grade divine artifact, 10,000 Miles Cloud Passing Border. By inserting some spiritual energy, you can observe a vicinity of a million miles. You can see all life forms with a lower cultivation base, as well as what they are doing! That is, unless they have developed special cultivation techniques to escape detection. In other cases, they cannot help it."
A high-grade divine artifact? Su Yu's hands trembled.
Xia Jingyu laughed. "I forgot to mention that this is an imitation. Hence, it is only low grade. You should still be able to see things within 10,000 miles, people with higher cultivation bases than us will not be visible."
"And not a moment too soon," said Su Yu. "Even if we cannot avoid Heaven Masters, knowing the terrain within 10,000 miles and finding the aura of Dragon Abyss Fruits is still possible."
As both of them were Immortal Level Four Peaks, they could only observe life forms up to Immortal Level Four Upper Tiers. In other words, it wasn't of much use here.
Su Yu took out the 10,000 Miles Cloud Passing Border, examined the weight of the jade box, and found that there was still something at the bottom of the box.
"Hmm," he said. "There seems to be something still in here."
He took apart the jade box dexterously and removed a five-colored crystal. Red, yellow, white, black, and green appeared clearly on its multifaceted surface.
"Your turn again…" Su Yu turned toward Xia Jingyu, but he trailed off at the look she was giving him. "Um, is something wrong?"
Although her face was covered by steam, Su Yu could feel her gaze. Her face was filled with suspicion. A cynical smile spread across her lips. "You know, for a blind man, you certainly don't seem to have any trouble dealing with enemies or finding hidden items that even a person like me with discerning eyes cannot see. If only I had the sight of the blind."
After hearing her mocking words, Su Yu opened his mouth to explain. He was, of course, not truly blind. He could hide the truth from others for a short time, but the more time passed, the more difficult it naturally became to hide the truth.
At the last moment, Su Yu changed his mind. He coughed. "Well, everything makes a sound. I've had sharp ears since I was born, and I can hear the sounds of everything. It's almost like seeing sounds. You might call it… ear eyes. Yes. Ear eyes."
Xia Jingyu snorted, then convulsed with laughter. "Ear eyes? How eloquent. Haha! I've heard of compensatory strategies to make up for one or more missing senses, but 'ear eyes' is a first… So, the Black Snow Devil King has ear eyes. Of course. How could I be so ignorant and ill-informed?"
Su Yu's face went red. "If we have time to discuss my ear eyes, we should look at this first," he said, trying to change the subject. "Since it was hidden even deeper than the 10,000 Miles Cloud Passing Border, it must not be a normal item."
Xia Jingyu accepted the five-colored crystal cheerfully. After taking a look at it, she frowned deeply. "Please give me a moment! Let me think. My brain has stored too much knowledge. This item is extremely rare, and I need some time."
Su Yu stared, tongue-tied. How much information did her mind hold for her to need to stop intentionally to sort through it?
After a few breaths' time, Xia Jingyu regained her senses, and her expression changed abruptly. "How is this possible? How could this item appear in the hands of a Human King?"
Su Yu gasped. How many items could there be that were unworthy of being possessed by a Human King?
Xia Jingyu stood before Su Yu. Her tone became deadly serious. "Black Snow Devil King, please let me have this item. I will give you all my divine artifacts in exchange for it. Do you accept?"
She still had eight middle-grade divine artifacts, and she was actually willing to use all of them to trade for one item!
Su Yu clicked his tongue. "At the very least, you should let me know what this is, right?"
"A divine crystal of the Origin of the Five Elements!" Her words were filled with anxiety. Xia Jingyu, who was normally so calm, had been shaken by this item. "Metal, wood, water, fire, earth. When every element becomes extremely dense, it will become the Origin. A small amount of aura of the Origin could allow a martial artist of that particular element to transform from a normal person to a super-genius in that field. He would be able to utilize cultivation techniques related to his element at a tremendous pace. If he used weapons related to his element, their power would increase tremendously!"
Xia Jingyu gazed at the crystal. "Only the infinite aura of the Origin can form this kind of crystal, and the crystal in front of us contains the Origins of all five elements! It's unimaginable! By my calculations, it's literally priceless—the worth of this item cannot be estimated!"
Su Yu then said seriously, "What's it worth compared to a book of a legendary-level cultivation technique?"
Xia Jingyu shook her head. "A book of a legendary-level cultivation technique would probably be a fair trade only for a tiny bit of the Origin's aura. If my estimation is not wrong, it's equivalent to the divine herb you swallowed."
Su Yu gasped. A legendary-level cultivation technique was only worth a tiny bit of the Origin's aura? Then what was the worth of the crystal of the Origin of the Five Elements, the size of an eyeball, which was right in front of them?
As if she had heard what Su Yu was thinking, Xia Jingyu said, "If this item were to be exchanged for a cultivation technique, it would be exchanged for the rumored fairy-level cultivation technique. Moreover, it would be quite a high-grade fairy-level cultivation technique."
Su Yu was taken aback. "You mean there are actually fairy-level cultivation techniques in the world?"
"It is only a rumor," said Xia Jingyu. "It's said that in ancient times, there were once fairy-level cultivation techniques. However, after the world was destroyed, there were no longer any more fairy-level cultivation techniques. Today, the strongest cultivation technique should be the legendary-level cultivation technique. On the entire continent, less than three people are known to have cultivated legendary-level cultivation techniques. One of them is the King of Darkness. Another is the Ninth Saint Master who appeared out of the blue. And the last is Yin Yu."
As she finished the point, her tone was filled with pride.
Su Yu blinked in surprise. In the entire world, only three of them had cultivated legendary-level cultivation techniques! He had no idea!
"However, within this crystal of the Origin of the Five Elements, there are only water and fire, these two kinds of crystals. Only a bit of energy of these two Origins remain. The remaining energy has been extracted. With the few tiny bits of the energy of the Origins of ice and fire, it is more than enough to exchange for a normal legendary-level cultivation technique… That is, if other legendary-level cultivation techniques still exist in the world."
Su Yu regained his senses, then rolled his eyes. "How generous of you to offer a few middle-grade divine artifacts in exchange…" He punctuated the thought with a chuckle.
Xia Jingyu's face turned red at the implication. "I was just over-eager for a moment!" she said, agitated by his words. She quickly returned the crystal to Su Yu "Since this item was obtained by you, it naturally belongs to you. I do not have anything to exchange for it."
Although she had regained her composure, it was not difficult to notice the disappointment and regret in her voice.
Su Yu rubbed his chin. "So this means I can absorb the Origin? Will it benefit my abilities greatly?"
Xia Jingyu nodded slightly, though her heart was conflicted.
Suddenly, Su Yu sat down opposite her and placed the crystal of the Origin of the Five Elements between them.
"If that is the case," he said, "it belongs to both of us. Although I obtained this item by killing that cow-horned man, you fought side-by-side with me. Hence, it is not logical for me to monopolize this item. You should absorb as much of the Water Origin from the crystal as possible."
Xia Jingyu was stunned! During the fight, the most she had done was to keep the other Human King in check. The cow-horned man had been killed by Su Yu. She had not really helped him at all.
The chances of Su Yu fighting both of them alone and still managing to kill one of them were low. And since Xia Jingyu had kept the other opponent in check, it had given Su Yu the chance to achieve victory. Hence, it was logical for Su Yu to share his rewards.
"Only a small amount of the Water Origin is left," said Xia Jingyu, a bit disturbed and embarrassed by his generosity. "I will accept your offer. You had better not regret this."
Su Yu neglected to respond to her. He summoned his clone immediately.
His clone sat with its legs crossed and started to absorb the Fire Origin. After absorbing a small trace of the aura, his clone's body emitted red light as well as a frighteningly high temperature. Su Yu staggered and somersaulted away. In an instant, the clothes on his body were burned quite a bit.
His clone sat emitting 1,000-foot-high raging flames. Su Yu gasped at the sight. Even though his clone had only absorbed a tiny bit of the aura of the Fire Origin, it gave Su Yu an extremely dangerous feeling! Acting on instinct, if his clone were to take action this very moment, it could kill the cow-horned man casually, even without using any techniques!
Xia Jingyu's eyes were glowing with excitement. She activated the steam in her whole body and started to absorb the Water Origin.
By absorbing only a tiny bit of it, a torrential river of water gathered atop Xia Jingyu's head! Although the display was not as shocking as the raging flames, a normal Human King would probably have been killed by that river!
Water and Fire—the two elements of nature. Su Yu stood back and observed the scene in wonder.
They each absorbed only a small amount of the crystal's aura and stopped after that. To them, the Origin was too powerful. A little bit was their limit.
Seeing that both of them were digesting the Origins slowly, Su Yu also sat down with his legs crossed and continued to use the Ice Immunity Formula to trigger the remaining 50 percent of ice and fire energy dormant within his blood vessels.