Chapter 432

The five old wood spirits retreated.

The old water demon they mentioned was cleaved of its dragon head by Wu Tie with a single easy sword strike; this performance made them somewhat apprehensive.

Water spirits possess marvelous innate divine abilities; ordinary injuries such as missing limbs or broken legs, even head trauma, are hard to inflict fatal harm upon them, unless they are repeatedly or for a long time beheaded; wanting to slay them is not easy.

But the old water demon can do that, they cannot.

Regardless of wood spirits, earth spirits, metal spirits, fire spirits… oh, fire spirits are somewhat better; even highly cultivated fire spirits can condense into form and dissipate into qi, making ordinary beheading hard to inflict fatal injury upon them.

So, for wood spirits, earth spirits, and metal spirits, if they are beheaded, that truly counts as beheading.

Since Wu Tie can behead the old water demon, he can also easily behead the heads of those old wood spirits whose strength is not much different.

Especially, after the old water demon was immobilized by the Munibao Pearl, it almost was truly killed by Wu Tie—if the head remains separated from the body for a long time, even an old water demon cannot endure it!

Munibao Pearl!

Several old wood spirits gazed deeply at the pearl held in Wu Tie's palm; a fire spirit waved its hand, a gust of hot wind swept up the jade tablet floating before Wu Tie, taking away the map of mountains and rivers.

The four turned into streams of light and fled swiftly; after they had run over a hundred li, the fire spirit looked back, making an enigmatic gesture toward Wu Tie: 'You are strong… but to convince the Elder Council, we still need stronger evidence.'

Wu Tie stared blankly: 'What evidence?'

From afar came a terrifying roar; the earth violently trembled, and that stone giant hidden underground, whose face alone spanned thousands of zhang, finally rose from the ground.

If he remains still it's fine, but once he moves, the hundreds of nearby big and small peaks melt simultaneously.

It is not the melting from being scorched into lava by flames, but as if these peaks were originally masses of solid water, suddenly returning from a solid state to their original form.

The melting peaks were swiftly absorbed by the fissures appearing on the ground, followed by a muffled 'Boom—' sound; a stone giant tens of thousands of zhang tall, with astonishing volume, slowly protruded from the ground and then gradually rose to a standing position.

Wu Tie stared in shock at this colossal stone giant tens of thousands of zhang tall. The armor on its exterior spans tens of thousands of zhang in height—just how unimaginably massive could its true form be?

'Really… big!' Wu Tie had just exclaimed in astonishment when the stone giant stepped forward; one step brought it within a dozen li of Wu Tie, then it swung its long arms and slapped him with a resounding blow.

Having cast the Heaven-Earth Matching Form divine ability, Wu Tie, now three thousand zhang tall, appeared as feeble as a kitten before this stone giant.

With a huge boom, the stone giant's slap sent Wu Tie flying entirely; the immense force transmitted from the giant's hand left Wu Tie unable to steady himself in midair. This is not due to Wu Tie's weakness but the stone giant's overwhelming strength—a huge advantage bestowed by racial talent, making it hard for Wu Tie to bridge the chasm.

Wu Tie was slapped and flung hundreds of li away, spinning and colliding, knocking down over ten large mountains before he finally managed to stop.

Wu Tie cursed angrily, shot forth a golden light toward the stone giant, and casually flung out the Munibao Pearl, instantly bathing the void in brilliant light ten thousand zhang bright.

The stone giant's massive body suddenly stiffened, then with a 'Boom' it collapsed into vast yellow vapors that merged into the earth, leaving only a majestic yellow silhouette that flickered and vanished underground.

The dozens of mountains that had melted reappeared, though their shapes had undergone considerable change.

From underground came a muffled, resonant voice: 'My full-force strike failed to kill him; this fellow is strong—go speak with the Elders… this fellow is strong, if we truly go to war… hm.'

Carrying a hint of resentment and unwillingness, the stone giant's voice quickly faded away.

The four old wood spirits each employed their divine abilities and vanished without a trace.

In the surrounding forests, the wood spirits wounded heavily by Wu Tie's roar, aided by companions, were hastily withdrawing; dense 'hiss' sounds echoed from the woods as the water, metal, and fire spirits also fled without trace, even the dozen or so fire spirits captured alive in Wu Tie's camp were ignored.

The attack of the five-element spirits seemed rather half-hearted, but Wu Tie and Yue Feng understood clearly: if these five-element spirits cannot convince their Elders, then the next time they appear it will surely be a bloody and terrifying showdown.

The sound of the warboat tearing through the air came lightly; seeing the five-element spirits retreat, Sima You and the others, who had already withdrawn dozens of li, immediately piloted their flagship to outside Wu Tie's camp.

Sima You stood on the prow, gazing at Wu Tie hovering in midair, frowned and rebuked: 'Huo Xiong, you are displaying the Heaven-Earth Matching Form divine ability while suspended in midair—who are you trying to intimidate? Don't we understand this divine ability? Quickly retract your manifestation and explain to us… why aren't you pursuing?'

Wu Tie did not retract his manifestation, but looked at Sima You with a frightened expression: 'Huh? What are you saying? I can't hear you!'

Sima You's face flushed red with anger as he snapped: 'I ask you, why did you not order pursuit? These spirits clearly retreated under our bloody struggle—this is the perfect moment for a chase‑and‑kill, why did you not give chase?'

Wu Tie bared his teeth in a grin at Sima You, stared for a while, then burst out laughing: 'Ha, haha, hahaha…'

After a few laughs, which left Sima You's entourage green‑faced and unsightly, Wu Tie finally stopped laughing, nodded to Yue Feng, and said: 'Leave the cleanup to you—those soldiers I accidentally wounded… well, might as well treat them like a pack of dogs; just bring them back.'

Disdainfully glancing at the tens of thousands of Zhou army soldiers strewn haphazardly across the distant woods, Wu Tie let out a cold snort, his body flickered, and he suddenly transformed into the most common flower‑leg mosquito of the southwestern jungle, lightly riding a breeze and vanishing without trace.

The five‑element spirits fled, Wu Tie retracted his manifestation and ran; the surrounding heavenly and earthly qi lost its suppression, and the celestial phenomena returned to normal.

Dark clouds roiled in, and a torrential downpour poured down upon them.

Sima You and the others stood on the flagship's prow, looking resentfully in the direction Wu Tie had fled.

After a long while, Sima You slowly said: 'Just now his laughter—what was he laughing at us about?'

Sima Xing, Sima Hu, and the others exchanged glances, remaining silent.

Regardless of what Wu Tie was laughing about just now, it certainly wasn't anything good… well, they became ever more determined to scheme Wu Tie's downfall.

However, before scheming Wu Tie's demise, we must squeeze out his last remaining value.

Especially, the powerful patron behind him with vast divine abilities must be uncovered.

The violent rainstorm lashed the trees everywhere, causing the massive trunks and branches to sway wildly; from afar it looked as if each dark‑green mountain were beginning to shake erratically.

Except for certain exceptionally stout beasts that fear neither possible floods nor the cold qi in the water, which continue to roam openly, all other birds and beasts have curled up in their nests.

All insects, all venomous snakes and poisonous bugs, etc., have also disappeared.

Occasionally, in the turbid floodwater mixed with sand and broken wood rushing through mountain streams, one can see several large venomous snakes thrashing weakly, unable to escape the flood's confinement; they repeatedly crash into cliffs, rocks, and downstream bamboo and wood, emerging battered and bloody, their blood seeping into the flood.

Amid the torrential rain, only a single flower‑leg mosquito rode an extremely fine breeze, darting lightly between the raindrops.

It flew over great mountains, over great rivers, over mountain streams, over valleys.

Seeing groups of wood spirits hiding in mountain‑valley villages, groups of earth spirits entering hidden caves, and piles of water spirits leaping into the streams…

The flower‑leg mosquito continued forward, gradually catching up to the five‑colored streaks of light ahead.

No, it was beneath the four streaks of light—a yellow ray darting and bouncing rapidly, closely followed by the four streaks speeding forward.

That was an earth spirit about a hundred zhang tall, its body translucent like yellow crystal, heavy and dense, yet when its feet touched the ground no sound was made; the earth behaved like a soft, highly elastic spring, each step sending it bouncing far away.

Thus, after racing and flying over three thousand li through the mountains, the five arrived at a small valley encircled by peaks.

In the valley, a large crowd was already waiting quietly.

Fifty wood spirits, forty earth spirits, thirty water spirits, twenty metal spirits, ten fire spirits.

One hundred fifty beings of varying stature, yet all possessing astonishingly strong vital energy, the five‑element spirits sat cross‑legged in the valley; their five‑element qi circulated among them, forming visible streams of five‑element energy that flowed in and out of their bodies.

As the five elements mutually generate, each circuit of these five‑element streams through their bodies greatly amplifies them, and their vital energy also increases slightly.

These five‑element spirit Elders have nearly reached the utmost of the Womb‑Storage realm; at this level, if they cannot grasp other profound Dao truths, their strength can hardly increase any further.

Under the pressure of heavenly and earthly laws, they gathered to cultivate, yet they could still bit by bit, though slow but firm, continuously improve; it shows how miraculous the effect is when the Five Elements Spirits gather.

Wu Tie's flower‑leg mosquito form landed silently on a big tree at the edge of the valley and hid beneath a leaf.

Under that leaf, several more mosquitoes were hiding.

Wu Tie blended in among those mosquitoes, utterly unremarkable, completely normal.

The five Old Wood Spirits that Wu Tie had chased all the way here landed in the valley and slightly nodded at the Elders present.

In the center of the valley, an Earth Spirit who had revealed his true form sat cross‑legged on the ground, his height three hundred zhang like a small hill, and asked in a deep, resonant voice: "How is the situation? This time we spent so long, mobilized so many children to surround them—have all these outsiders been killed?"

,

The five Old Wood Spirits looked at each other, and the Old Water Demon Shui Qianchi gave a dry cough.

She stepped forward and recounted in detail how they had surrounded Wu Tie's camp, only to be soundly defeated by his violent assault, describing every point. She emphasized the power of the Moni Treasure Pearl in Wu Tie's hand, repeating again and again how strong and unbelievable it was.

"So I think we should go to the Holy Land, summon the Holy Ancestor's supreme treasure, capture that pearl, then mobilize all our people to exterminate these invaders." Shui Qianchi's voice rose to an extremely high, impassioned pitch: "This is our territory, the homeland where our people have thrived for generations—these outsiders…"

"Let's look at that route map." A fire spirit, his whole body bright red but with no flicker of flame on his skin, extended his hand.

At the same time, the fire spirit glared at Shui Qianchi and shouted, "Shui Qianchi, you're a grandmother already—why is your temper still so big? You shouldn't be of the Water Clan; you ought to be a maiden of the Fire Clan!"

Shui Qianchi pursed her lips and gave a cold snort.

The thirty Water Spirit Elders present all burst out laughing, shaking their heads repeatedly.

The jade tablet activated, and a map of mountains and rivers rose up, the green dashed line on it shining brightly. Many Five Elements Spirit Elders present changed expression, some standing up, and the Five Elements qi swirling around them instantly became turbulent and uneasy.

"This bunch of scoundrels, simply reckless beyond measure!" A fire‑spirit elder, his body like pure red crystal with no impurities or leaking flame, roared angrily: "What are they trying to do? Do they want to disturb our……Origin Holy Land!"

"We must wipe them out. The Holy Land must not be defiled; outsiders may not set foot in it." An earth‑spirit elder rumbled in a deep, hollow voice: "But I think we don't need to summon the Holy Ancestor's legacy treasure… Shui Qianchi's lot are weak, so they can't take down those reckless outsiders, but we are different…"

The earth‑spirit elder pounded his chest, emitting a muffled 'thud‑thud', and said proudly: "We are far stronger than those little brats—just one finger could crush those outsiders."

Shui Qianchi let out an unwilling roar: "You old fogies, you don't know what those outsiders are capable of……they hold very powerful treasures, we must……"

Several earth‑spirit elders laughed and interrupted Shui Qianchi's words.

Several metal spirits and fire‑spirit elders agreed with the earth‑spirit elder's opinion.

Also, a large group of wood spirits, water spirits, and earth‑spirit elders, plus a few metal spirits and fire‑spirit elders, chose to believe Shui Qianchi, advising to directly open the Origin Holy Land and welcome forth the treasure their Holy Ancestor left behind.

Soon, the Five Elements Spirit Elders in the valley split into two factions with clearly opposing attitudes.

One faction firmly believed they could easily wipe out Wu Tie and company—just a matter of gathering more power; in this mountain range they were the supreme kings, unbeatable.

The other faction opted for a safer course, trusting that Shui Qianchi was not exaggerating and that her description of Wu Tie's group's strength was accurate—indeed they were a dangerous enemy, and they should summon the Holy Ancestor's legacy treasure to exterminate Wu Tie and company cleanly, rather than risk their people's lives.

One group was steady and mature, the other overconfident; the two groups of elders spat at each other, wrangling for over an hour without reaching a decision.

Finally, the largest wood‑spirit elder in the valley gave a low cough.

"Let me test their abilities. If they can easily defeat me, then we'll go to the Origin Holy Land, bring forth the Holy Clan's legacy treasure, and wipe out those reckless fools."

"Of course, I believe they don't have such ability." The wood‑spirit elder, whose true original form sat on the ground and stood hundreds of zhang tall like a small hill, laughed loudly: "Shui Qianchi, this little girl……heh heh, the Water Clan's maiden is timid—she gets scared by those people and runs back to her mother……isn't that what she always does?"

Shui Qianchi stomped her feet in anger, while the elders in the valley all laughed at once.

No matter what opinion the elders held, they all burst out laughing, and the valley was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.