Chapter 313: Five Elements Inversion and the True Dragon Horn

In the abandoned temple, the twelve zodiac statues were broken and incomplete, as if hiding the former glory of this place.

Zhang Wuming's flashlight beam moved along the wall, tracing the runic characters of the Long Hu Zhang family.

Among the three, only he could decipher them.

These were the runes left behind by Zhang Tiansheng.

Before entering the Ten Thousand Mountains, Zhang Fan had heard from the bald old man that Zhang Tiansheng had come here over forty years ago, and then returned a dozen years later, bringing a young Zhang Lingzong with him.

"Was he here searching for the 【True Dragon Horn】?" Zhang Fan pondered.

His grandfather was a very peculiar man. In his youth, he had gathered with a group of like-minded individuals.

These people came from various backgrounds and origins, acting with low-key mystery under the name "Coffin-Lifting Society," seemingly dedicated to exploring the legends of the Nine Arts and Nine Treasures.

Figures like Mo Mo Ranchen, the sect leader of Mount Qiyun, Xu Xuanguan, a reclusive expert from Maoshan, and Ye Jinchao, the top expert of Mount Zhongnan, were all members of the Coffin-Lifting Society.

Zhang Tiansheng was also among them, ranked second, and held a pivotal position within the society.

Naturally, his research into the Nine Arts and Nine Treasures surpassed that of ordinary people, and he had even uncovered traces of them.

"Five Elements Inversion, mutually generating through opposition, returning to the root to restore life, existing beyond the calamity..."

Finally, Zhang Wuming finished reading the text, his expression complex as he whispered softly.

"What does it say?" Li Li Miaoyin asked.

"This Zhang family predecessor was no simple man. He actually followed the clues all the way here," Zhang Wuming sighed.

"Tell us in detail." Zhang Fan urged.

"In his youth, this predecessor befriended a man from Mount Zhongnan, a legendary figure," Zhang Wuming began.

"Mount Zhongnan..." Zhang Fan mused.

He was likely referring to the fourth of the Ye brothers, Ye Jinchao.

"From his friend, this predecessor learned that over eight hundred years ago, one of the Nine Arts, the Five Elements Inversion, had fallen upon Mount Zhongnan," Zhang Wuming continued.

As the words fell, Zhang Fan recalled the massive palm print he had seen on the cliffs of Mount Zhongnan, which resembled a true dragon and was truly awe-inspiring.

Ye Ye Beichen had said that it was left by a high-level expert of Mount Zhongnan who had mastered the Five Elements Inversion, allowing him to roam the world thereafter, invincible.

"Later, this predecessor followed the clues and eventually discovered the burial site of that expert near a village by the Weiliu River in Xijiang Province," Zhang Wuming said solemnly.

Eight hundred years ago, the fate of that Zhongnan expert who mastered the Five Elements Inversion remained a mystery; he had not passed away within his sect.

This aligned with what Ye Ye Beichen had said: the Five Elements Inversion had once fallen upon Zhongnan, only to be lost again, fading into obscurity.

Although Zhang Tiansheng had found the burial site, centuries had passed, and the remains were long gone.

Upon investigation, he discovered traces of the Wu Wei Gate's activities around that village. Following the trail, he found a lead.

Perhaps, hundreds of years ago, the Wu Wei Gate had already discovered the burial site of that expert.

Zhang Tiansheng scoured ancient texts and sought help from his connections, finally finding a direction.

"Over eight hundred years of history, there were a few points in time when the Five Elements Inversion was most likely to appear..." Zhang Wuming said solemnly.

He traveled through most of China, finally confirming the direction.

"Over five hundred years ago, during the seventh 'Breaking the Mountains and Destroying the Temples,' the Five Elements Inversion was suspected to have appeared in the Ten Thousand Mountains," Zhang Wuming said.

That turmoil had been too tragic; countless predecessors had died in the vast Ten Thousand Mountains. The flames of war were everywhere, and much of the past was only hidden in the fragmented records of various sects, never passed down.

To find this clue, Zhang Tiansheng had entered countless sects and examined countless manuscripts of his predecessors.

"This Zhang family predecessor visited five times, finally confirming that over five hundred years ago, someone within the Wu Wei Gate had mastered the Five Elements Inversion," Zhang Wuming said gravely.

"Mastering the Five Elements Inversion requires a high-level expert of terrifying power; they would be no ordinary person," Li Li Miaoyin said solemnly.

"You are right."

Zhang Wuming nodded, looking at the records on the wall, and said solemnly: "Over five hundred years ago, that expert was the Master of the Profound Palace of the Wu Wei Gate."

During the seventh 'Breaking the Mountains and Destroying the Temples,' the Master of the Profound Palace of the Wu Wei Gate emerged, mastering the Five Elements Inversion and slaughtering countless Daoist experts.

This art was not of the human world; the inversion of the Five Elements knew no taboos, staining the mountains and rivers with blood and shaking the sun, moon, and spirits.

"One man blocking the pass, ten thousand men unable to cross..." Zhang Wuming sighed.

The Master of the Profound Palace alone had caught the Daoist sects off guard; even with experts gathered, they could not stop him.

The ferocity and dominance of the Five Elements Inversion were fully displayed at that moment.

At the height of the stalemate, a strange person from the Bai He Temple emerged, bringing a treasure from an unknown place, strange and mysterious, which actually broke the 【Five Elements Inversion】 of the Profound Palace Master, pinning him to death in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

"The True Dragon Horn!?"

Zhang Fan and Li Li Miaoyin said in unison.

Zhang Wuming curled his lip, looked at the two, and then said: "Suspected to be this treasure."

The True Dragon Horn, one of the Nine Treasures, was precisely the nemesis of the Five Elements Inversion, one of the Nine Arts.

In that battle, the strange person from the Bai He Temple perished, the Master of the Profound Palace died, and the Daoist experts present also died in the mountains. The world was vast, and they were hard to find again.

As for the True Dragon Horn, its whereabouts were also lost.

"Did this predecessor find the True Dragon Horn?" Li Li Miaoyin asked.

"It doesn't say here." Zhang Wuming shook his head.

"Perhaps he didn't find it." Zhang Fan whispered.

He now knew why Zhao Zhao Jiexuan had appeared here; he was also searching for the Nine Treasures.

Of course, for him and Zhang Fan, the most important of the Nine Treasures was the 【Immortal Seal】, as it was the nemesis of the Divine Demon Saint Fetus.

However, the True Dragon Horn remained incredibly important. Chen Long had mastered the Five Elements Inversion.

"Let's go. There should be many more temple structures like this in the Ten Thousand Mountains. If we search them one by one, we will eventually find clues," Zhang Fan said solemnly.

This deep valley was known as the Ancient Sacrificial Ground; it had once been bustling with incense, and there must have been more than one temple or hall.

Perhaps Zhao Zhao Jiexuan was hiding in one of them.

"Wait... wait..."

Just then, Zhang Wuming blocked them.

He turned around and began to grope around the collapsed and dilapidated temple, occasionally turning statues or tapping on the walls.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Fan asked.

"I'm wondering why this Zhang family predecessor left a message specifically here. Was he bored?" Zhang Wuming said indifferently.

As these words fell, Zhang Fan and Li Li Miaoyin exchanged a glance, both seeing a glimmer of light in the other's eyes.

"You mean..."

Zhang Wuming groped all the way behind the altar. Behind the human zodiac statue stood another stone statue, with three heads and six arms, each holding a ritual implement, appearing ferocious and angry.

"This is a Tai Sui statue!" Zhang Fan whispered.

The human zodiac and Tai Sui were two sides of the same coin, rotating through the zodiac and holding the power of fortune and misfortune.

Zhang Wuming glanced at it, facing the rock wall blocking his path, touching it, tapping it, and sniffing it.

He turned to look at Li Li Miaoyin and beckoned.

"Sister-in-law, give this a hit."

"Good..." Li Li Miaoyin had just taken a step when she suddenly stopped, a look of bewilderment appearing on her beautiful face.

"What did you call me? Who is your sister-in-law?" she scolded.

Zhang Wuming blinked and looked at Zhang Fan.

"Why are you looking at me?" Zhang Fan's eyes widened.

Boom...

As the words fell, a gust of wind swept by like a heavy hammer swinging down, accompanied by a loud crash. Zhang Wuming's hair stood on end as cracks appeared on the rock wall behind him, spreading and emitting a crunching sound.

"This..." Zhang Wuming swallowed hard.

"Who did you just call sister-in-law? Who is your sister-in-law?" Li Li Miaoyin rubbed her slender palms and looked at Zhang Wuming with a gentle smile.

"My brother makes the call," Zhang Wuming said with a dry laugh.

Bang...

Just then, the crumbling rock wall suddenly fell away, and a beam of light shone through from the other side.

"It really is a world within a world."

Zhang Fan's eyes lit up. He leaped up, crashing through the small hole like a bulldozer.

On the other side of the rock wall was a massive limestone cave, with a beam of light falling from a hole in the dome, illuminating every corner.

"This place is so strange..."

Li Li Miaoyin looked at the surrounding walls, where viscous liquid was constantly seeping out, gathering at their feet to form a dark river flowing through the crisscrossing gullies.

Besides this, there were five patterns on the wall, symbolizing Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Only, the order of their arrangement was different.

The conventional Five Elements generation cycle is: Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, cycling back and forth.

But the order on the wall was exactly the opposite.

"The Five Elements inverted produce wonderful uses; the inverted is the King, revealing divine secrets!"

Zhang Fan looked at the images on the wall, surrounded by various talismans and ancient seal scripts, his eyes narrowing.

"Is this where the Master of the Profound Palace practiced the Five Elements Inversion?"

"Are these the cultivation methods for the Five Elements Inversion?" Zhang Wuming's eyes lit up.

"Techniques have methods, but the Dao is non-action."

Li Li Miaoyin shook her head: "That level of Daoist art has no specific cultivation method."

"One contemplates the Dao and cultivates the principles."

"But everyone knows the principles, yet how many can actually master it?"

The basic principles of the Five Elements Inversion were as recorded on the wall.

In the natural cycle of birth and destruction, the Five Elements flow in order, representing the natural circulation of energy in the human body after birth.

For example, the Lungs belong to Metal, the Kidneys belong to Water; Lung Metal regulates the respiratory system, adjusting the body's water channels, thereby descending into Kidney Water to promote fluid metabolism.

This is the orderly cycle of 【Metal generating Water】, the foundation of life's activities. However, such activities, while generating life, also lead toward death, accompanied by the constant consumption of energy.

Whether it is sweating from exercise or the ejaculation of semen, once body fluids flow outward, it is the dissipation of vital essence.

In fact, everything the body does through the orderly cycle of the Five Elements consumes energy, even while maintaining life.

Just as converting food into blood and Qi is Earth generating Metal.

This process also consumes energy, even while maintaining life.

Therefore, from the moment a person enters this world, the orderly cycle dictates that they are born to die.

Thus, it can be understood that everyone is an external-type system that constantly consumes energy.

The Five Elements Inversion is the reverse sublimation, reversing the flow of energy, returning to the source of the innate, achieving longevity and transcendence.

Therefore, one who masters the Five Elements Inversion is an internal-type system where energy circulates back.

In the Daoist sects, various life-cultivation methods involving "extracting lead and adding mercury, taking from Kan to fill Li" are all reverse-flow methods derived from the 【Five Elements Inversion】, though not as mysterious or miraculous.

Like the 【North-South Sect Source】 Zhang Fan previously practiced, it also stems from this inverted lineage.

"The orderly cycle of the Five Elements is the fire pit of the Dharma realm; the inverted cycle is the Seven Treasures of the Earth..." Li Li Miaoyin whispered.

"The principles have existed since ancient times, but who can truly penetrate their essence?"

"Look here, you two."

Just then, Zhang Wuming called out.

Zhang Fan followed the sound and saw a skull in the corner, bone-white and glowing with a glazed luster.

This skull was enormous, the size of a table.

"Is this a human skull?" Zhang Fan was dazed, then stepped forward to examine it, confirming it was not a model.

"What kind of person had a head this big? Could there really be giants in this world?" Zhang Fan marveled.

"And over here..."

Zhang Wuming made another discovery. Not far away, he found an arm bone, which looked like an ordinary person's, except the fingers were incredibly long, with seven of them, and the nails had completely ossified, sharp as knives.

"There's more here..."

He walked two more steps and found a section of the spine, covered in bone spurs that kept extending like a thicket of thorns.

"What kind of strange creatures are these?" Zhang Fan's expression changed.

"If I'm not mistaken..."

Li Li Miaoyin pondered for a moment, then said: "These must be the remains of people who practiced the Five Elements Inversion."

"What?" Zhang Wuming's face changed drastically.

"I had only heard rumors before that practicing this art invites the jealousy of Heaven and leads to a great calamity." Li Li Miaoyin said solemnly.

A normal human life structure is an orderly Five Elements system, naturally harmonious. Even so, if the Five Elements are unbalanced, the body will undergo various changes and reactions.

For example, staying up late causes Liver Wood to generate excessive Fire, leading to acne and oily skin, bad breath, etc.

Kidney Water depletion leads to hair loss, and so on.

If the orderly Five Elements are like this, those practicing the Five Elements Inversion have an inverted Five Elements system, which defies the taboos of Heaven. Once the Five Elements are unbalanced, the impact is even greater.

"This is the Calamity of Bodily Change." Li Li Miaoyin looked at the strange skeletons and said.

Practicing the Five Elements Inversion, once one falls into the 【Calamity of Bodily Change】, the physical body undergoes various mutations—men turning into women, women into men, growing large or small, all are common.

More often, like these failures, they turn into monsters that are neither human nor ghost.

"Besides this, there is the 【Calamity of Bodily Decay】..."

The inverted Five Elements system is a process of energy recovery. Because it is too powerful, it often encounters the calamity of physical collapse, requiring constant repair and supplementation, constant evolution.

If one is not careful, they will fall into the third calamity.

"The Calamity of Bodily Destruction!"

Practicing the Five Elements Inversion, even if one succeeds, nine times out of ten, they will eventually be buried in this calamity.

However, such an existence, even if the body collapses, is not something ordinary people can imagine or understand.

"We might have come to the wrong place..." Li Li Miaoyin's expression shifted repeatedly.

"What do you mean?" Zhang Fan's brow furrowed, as if he had guessed something.

"This place might not be a limestone cave..."

"You mean..." Zhang Wuming's heart skipped a beat.

"This might be the stomach of the Master of the Profound Palace!?" Li Li Miaoyin's expression shifted, uncertain.

(End of chapter)