Chapter 223: The True Five Elements Cultivation Method! A Soul Connection Across Six Hundred Years

Chapter 223: The True Five Elements Cultivation Method! A Soul Connection Across Six Hundred Years

Over the past few days, Su Ping had been diligently translating the ancient notebook.

The notebook, written in ancient script, contained fewer than two thousand characters, making it a concise read. However, the archaic language and complex layout made it incredibly challenging to decipher. After translating the text, Su Ping copied it into his notebook, intending to search for interpretations online when he had the time.

Now, with the Zhang brothers present, Su Ping decided to inquire about the origins of the ancient text, hoping for a simpler solution to its mysteries.

"Greetings, Cultivator Su!" The two brothers, one stout and the other slender, greeted Su Ping with a nervous demeanor, their physical differences making it hard to believe they were siblings.

It was no surprise they felt intimidated. Su Ping had topped the Cultivation Competition in Magic City, and his influence and capabilities in this province were beyond imagination.

Su Ping nodded and served them tea, which they received with awe. He then smiled and said, "Over the past few days, I've gained some understanding of that object. How did you come across it in the first place?"

At this, the brothers exchanged glances, and the taller brother, Zhang Chaoqun, reached into his pocket and produced another diagram, which he handed to Su Ping. "Cultivator Su, please forgive our ignorance. We knew you were extraordinary, but we just didn't realize the extent of your identity. In fact, when that secret realm was unearthed, the Five Elements Spirit King left behind a disassembly diagram, and there was another one!"

Zhang Chaoqun continued, "My brother and I didn't intentionally hide this from you. This diagram was taken by Councilor Shen of the Magic City Mechanics Association for research."

"Now, after learning about you, Councilor Shen asked us to convey his greetings and said that if you're interested, you can have it."

The brothers exchanged glances, and one of them added, wincing, "Additionally, Councilor Shen asked us to return the three million we received for these items..."

Su Ping waved his hand, dismissing the offer. "There's no need. Business transactions are a natural part of life. Just convey my thanks to Councilor Shen."

The brothers breathed a sigh of relief.

It was evident that their encounter with Councilor Shen in Magic City had been eventful. Su Ping couldn't help but wonder if they had come to seek revenge on behalf of the councilor.

However, with Su Ping's background revealed and the news of the Cultivator Competition spreading, no one dared to harbor any ill intentions.

Su Ping smiled slightly, unbothered by these thoughts.

He glanced at the additional draft diagram, narrowing his eyes slightly.

The diagram depicted a five-pointed star, annotated with text emphasizing the concept of the Five Elements in opposition, a stark contrast to the previous diagram's focus on the harmonious interplay of the Five Elements.

Unfazed, Su Ping set the diagram aside and turned to the brothers. "Alright, tell me how you obtained this."

The brothers, no longer hiding anything, revealed, "Actually, in our hometown, Hongzhou in Linjiang Province, we used our family's secret method to obtain this. The owner of that secret realm was the Five Elements Spirit King, Xue Hongluan! Everything here came from that realm."

Xue Hongluan, the Five Elements Spirit King? A female Beastmaster of royal status from ancient times? Su Ping wasn't fazed and immediately searched for information about her.

Soon, his search yielded comprehensive details about this ancient Beastmaster.

Xue Hongluan, born 613 years ago in the year 1387 of the Dragon Kingdom's calendar, hailed from the prestigious Xue family, a lineage spanning over a thousand years across two dynasties—the Dragon and the Wu. The Xue family boasted five Sacred Spirit-level figures: the founding ancestor, the Flame Saint Xue Lie; the Luo River Sage Xue Sanjiang; the Dome Sage Xue Siming; and the fifth, the beloved youngest daughter of the Dome Sage, Xue Hongluan, the Sacred Spirit-level 'Angry Dome Saint,' and the cherished princess of the Xue family. She was also the wife of the Southern Prince of the Dragon Kingdom.

Xue Hongluan's name, appearing in such a prominent family, carried weight. Though the Xue family had faded into history before the Dragon Kingdom's modernization, their legacy of five Sacred Spirits across two dynasties and their command of ancient serpentine script was not unusual.

Su Ping acknowledged this and then felt a twinge of frustration.

Damn, these tomb-raiding brothers, how could they so casually stumble upon the secret realm of a figure whose wealth rivaled that of a Sacred Spirit? Was it so easy to encounter such a realm?

I encountered the Nether Capital Sword King, Yu Liangqing?

Of course, Yu Liangqing's Heavenly Tomb Sword Seal is far more important than anything else.

Su Ping snapped out of his thoughts and paused.

Just from the name Xue Hongluan, he could deduce a lot of useful information.

However, this was obviously not enough.

Su Ping nodded and asked another question: "In Xue Hongluan's secret realm, is there any record of how that handwritten note came to be and who from ancient times wrote it?"

Exploring an ancient beastmaster's tomb secret realm to find even older relics is inherently a troublesome and unfair task.

The two brothers exchanged a glance, and Zhang Chaoqun seemed to remember something. He said directly, "Brother, didn't you take some photos before? Quick, show them to Su Peiyuanshi."

Zhang Chaofan then remembered and took out his phone, opening a special folder containing numerous photos.

Among the photos, there was a colorful secret realm world.

Clearly, this Five Elements Empress Xue Hongluan truly favored the Five Elements Path, as her secret realm reflected this style.

Moreover, it was evident that Xue Hongluan's pet beasts were mostly elemental beasts.

However, after flipping through the photos, Su Ping still couldn't find the answer he sought.

Su Ping felt a bit disappointed.

Sensing Su Ping's expression, the brothers became slightly anxious. Zhang Chaoqun helplessly said, "Su Peiyuanshi, this Five Elements Empress did leave behind many things, but my brother and I sold some of them. We're truly sorry. If you have the time, we can try to find the previous buyers and see if there are any other clues."

Su Ping shook his head. "Never mind. Aside from these, is there anything else left from this Imperial Capital Empress Beastmaster?"

Zhang Chaoqun nodded, but soon he hesitated, "There's one more item, but it's useless and purely decorative."

Su Ping wasn't going to let any small clue slip by, so he said directly, "Let me see it."

Even if clarifying the origin of this item didn't help much with the research, any insight from a young lady who had studied the Five Elements for so many years would be extremely valuable.

Zhang Bu Fan reluctantly took out the item from the Beastmaster's Space.

Indeed, as he said, it was merely a decorative item. The reason for his reluctance was the exquisite craftsmanship and appealing appearance.

It was a jade pendant.

On the back of the pendant, there was a single character, 'Xue,' written on it.

On the other side was a strange pattern resembling a magic array, perhaps reflecting the personal preference of this ancient noble lady.

Su Ping's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but the jade pendant felt smooth and warm in his hand, indicating good quality. He wondered what resources were used to carve it.

However, it was clear that this item had no connection to the Heavenly Tomb Sword Seal. It was just a simple jade pendant.

Su Ping played with it for a moment and then put it away.

After that, Su Ping had a thorough understanding of the two brothers' situation regarding the secret realm and its contents.

It was just this little matter that required a personal trip to Linzhou, and Su Ping felt a bit embarrassed. So, as a payment for the jade pendant and the drawings, he gave them an additional five million.

After hearing that one of Zhang Chao Fan's pet beasts was the Flame Wolf, and that he also wanted to cultivate the Ash Wolf King, Su Ping called Ding Yan from Huaiyang Province.

He told the brothers to take the money directly to Ding Yan for cultivation, and he made a deal with the brothers: if they came across any other interesting ancient items like the handwritten notes, they should contact him first! In the world of beastmasters, interactions with all sorts of people were inevitable.

These brothers were indeed quite capable.

Although Su Ping used a bit of personal connection, he didn't feel it was a loss.

At this moment, his gaze turned to the sketch.

This was a draft with the same handwriting, depicting the Five Elements Clash.

The drawing was also quite intriguing. Clearly, like the previous drawing, it was created by Xue Hongluan.

In the guest room, Su Ping couldn't help but start researching.

The Five Elements Harmony allowed energy to circulate endlessly. But what practical benefits did the principle of Five Elements Clash offer in pet beast cultivation?

Soon, Su Ping found the answer.

This was also the reason why that Shen Councilor wanted to research this drawing.

At this moment, the Five Elements Clash represented by this drawing had even more practical significance.

The Five Elements Harmony was merely a channel for energy conversion.

But the principle of Five Elements Clash could fully showcase attribute clashes.

Su Ping looked at the diagram, which primarily consisted of a circle with various nodes, depicting the Five Elements of Control. He couldn't help but take a closer look.

Metal controls Wood, Wood controls Earth, Earth controls Water, Water controls Fire, and Fire controls Metal.

It's a simple concept, yet it holds profound secrets.

However, it didn't seem to offer any help to him. Suddenly, Su Ping's eyebrows furrowed.

He felt something was amiss. Something was very wrong!

There was a paradox in the relationship of the Five Elements of Generation and Control.

Metal controls Wood, Wood controls Earth, Earth controls Water, Water controls Fire, and Fire controls Metal.

Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, and Earth generates Metal.

Something was wrong! Su Ping quickly took out another piece of paper.

He also grabbed his notebook and started writing rapidly.

Metal generates Water, Water controls Fire, Fire generates Earth...

This discovery couldn't be called a paradox, but rather a new form of energy transformation that emerged from the combination of these generative and controlling relationships.

When two of the Five Elements have a generative or controlling relationship, and a third element is added, a transformation occurs.

For example, when Water controls Fire, and Wood is generated by Water, and Fire controls Wood, a complex transformation occurs. The simple control of Water over Fire generates Wood, but it also leads to the flourishing of Wood!

After understanding this, it seemed that this wasn't a simple foundation.

Water controls Fire and generates Wood.

Wood controls Earth and generates Fire.

Fire controls Metal and generates Earth.

Earth controls Water and generates Metal.

Metal controls Wood and generates Water.

This is the generation of the Five Elements, leading to the control of the Five Elements.

Naturally, there is also the control of the Five Elements, leading to the generation of the Five Elements.

Fire generates Earth and preserves Wood.

Earth generates Metal and preserves Fire.

...

This is incredible!

According to this theory, it might be possible to develop an entirely new and more complex energy conversion diagram for the Five Elements, allowing for energy transformation without consumption and even increasing energy during the process of generation.

Su Ping licked the corner of his mouth, then put down his notebook. Soon after, his brows furrowed again.

Then, Su Ping glanced at the jade pendant placed beside him.

On the pendant, there was one side engraved with the character 'Xue,' and on the other side, a peculiar pattern.

It resembled the magic arrays from some nonsensical anime, with a circle enclosing a pentagram.

But at this moment, the more Su Ping looked, the more he felt the strangeness of it.

At this time, Su Ping had no interest in the notebook or the original owner of the Five Elements manual.

Because at this very moment, he suddenly realized that Xue Hongluan was merely a copier from a later era.

Now it seemed like a huge mistake! This woman from over six hundred years ago, from the prestigious Xue family, the Duchess of Southern Defense, was not only a copier but also the one who had perfected the understanding of the Five Elements of Generation and Control.

The Duchess, Xue Hongluan, had not only replicated the ancient text and the basic Five Elements Array but had also created these two draft diagrams, which were her true advancement in the understanding of the Five Elements.

At this very moment, as Su Ping looked at the pattern on the jade pendant, he slowly stacked the two draft diagrams together.

One diagram showed the Five Elements of Generation in a circle, and the other depicted the Five Elements of Control in a pentagram.

Slowly, the two diagrams overlapped.

The pattern that emerged was identical to the one on Xue Hongluan's pendant.

But it was more intricate, with ten complex lines of energy flow, even more detailed than the original Five Elements Array.

These were the energy flow diagrams of generation and control, far more elaborate than the original array.

At this moment, Su Ping finally understood the true meaning of the diagrams. The annotations that everyone, including the Zhang brothers and even Shen, had thought were rough sketches were, in fact, a perfect fit.

When the two diagrams were perfectly superimposed, they formed the energy flow diagram of the Five Elements of Generation and Control that Xue Hongluan had created over six hundred years ago.

At this moment, Su Ping had an indescribable feeling.

The more complex energy flow that he had just thought of, generated by the Five Elements of Generation and Control, had already been completed by a noble lady over six hundred years ago.

At this very moment, Su Ping felt his soul and spirit transcend time and connect with a woman from six hundred and thirteen years ago.

However, at this moment, after the two diagrams perfectly aligned for several minutes, on the unknown material of the diagrams, elegant handwriting slowly appeared.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end