[Ding, congratulations, player has comprehended the Lesser Divine Spiritual Art Geng Metal Divine Tribulation Thunder]
Hearing the system prompt, Liu Bai was completely stunned.
Comprehended a Divine Spiritual Art?
Was that even possible?
Soon, Liu Bai understood the reason.
"Using the Origin of the Geng Metal Thunder as the foundation, I obtained the ability to command and communicate with the Geng Metal Divine Tribulation Thunder that roams between heaven and earth. So that's why I could comprehend this Lesser Divine Spiritual Art …"
Then, did that mean he could comprehend one such lesser Divine Spiritual Art in every remaining elemental space?
At that thought, Liu Bai's heart filled with anticipation.
After the White Tiger, Liu Bai had passed the Metal Elemental Space's trial. Before him appeared more ancient gates, though this time, the white gate that represented the Metal attribute was gone.
"After Metal comes Wood…"
Metal restrains Wood, and since he had just comprehended the powerful divine technique Geng Metal Thunder, it was the perfect opportunity to make good use of it.
Pushing open the cyan gate, Liu Bai stepped inside.
In an instant, the world shifted. When Liu Bai opened his eyes again, he found himself in a vast forest.
The rich Wood attribute spiritual energy filled the surroundings, making Liu Bai feel as if he were standing within an ocean of life.
Suddenly, a sprout appeared by his feet. Two tender green leaves stretched open like human arms, and under Liu Bai's surprised gaze, the sprout rapidly grew taller.
Creak, creak…
Liu Bai heard the sound of rapid growth.
Within moments, he had to step back several paces as the small sprout had grown into a towering tree, its trunk so thick that even Liu Bai could not encircle it with both arms.
In only a dozen breaths, Liu Bai witnessed a sapling sprout, grow, and become a sky-reaching giant tree. Then, before his eyes, the massive tree suddenly came alive. Its roots pulled free from the ground, and its branches transformed rapidly into wooden spears, blades, and other weapons.
In the blink of an eye, the original tree had turned into a gigantic wooden warrior. The bark covering its body darkened to bluish-black, forming a natural armor.
"So these are the guardians of this space…"
Before long, one after another, massive wooden giants emerged from the forest. Their eyes glowed blood red, weapons raised high, gazes locked onto Liu Bai like predators.
Crash!
The nearest wooden giant suddenly lunged forward, thrusting its wooden spear filled with lethal Wood attribute energy toward Liu Bai without mercy.
Liu Bai's expression remained calm. He made no move to evade and merely lifted one finger.
Boom!
A blinding white thunderbolt shot out from Liu Bai's fingertip, striking the spear instantly before spreading across the entire wooden body.
The next moment, the green leaves covering the giant's body withered at a terrifying speed. The decay spread rapidly across its body until the entire figure turned into rotten wood and collapsed to the ground.
In that instant, the Geng Metal Divine Tribulation Thunder unleashed by Liu Bai had extinguished all vitality within the wooden giant. The seemingly indestructible defense had no effect at all before the divine thunder.
As the wooden warrior perished, a green light orb rose from its body and was absorbed by the system into Liu Bai's Liver Aperture.
This green light orb was naturally the Wood Origin contained within the wooden giant.
The next process was simple. Liu Bai unleashed the Geng Metal Divine Tribulation Thunder, covering the forest for hundreds of miles.
With a single command, countless bolts of lightning descended. Every wooden giant, and even the surrounding ancient trees, were annihilated under the storm of thunder.
The Wood Origin within Liu Bai's Liver Aperture rapidly strengthened, and the Yi Wood Divine Thunder within it rejoiced.
Thus, Liu Bai continued his path forward, walking as endless thunder descended around him. Occasionally, in good spirits, he would even unleash the Undying Fire. Within the cycle of the five elements, Wood nourishes Fire, and under the abundant Wood Origin power, Liu Bai noticed that the wisp of Undying Fire within him had grown by nearly thirty percent.
Liu Bai even had the thought that, even without the Geng Metal Divine Tribulation Thunder, he could probably burn through this entire world with the Undying Fire alone and perhaps even faster than his current pace.
However, this thought was soon dismissed.
He suddenly realized that the wooden giants destroyed by the Undying Fire did not release any Wood Origin at all. The Undying Fire had devoured it entirely, strengthening itself instead.
"So that's the true meaning of 'Wood gives birth to Fire'..." Liu Bai smiled wryly and forcefully retracted the flames.
This was, in fact, another method to pass through the Five Elemental Realms. The cycle of the five elements—mutual generation and mutual restraint was never limited to a single path.
Perhaps as a consequence of Liu Bai's reckless approach, before he even reached the center of the Wood Elemental Realm, a colossal azure dragon, spanning nearly a thousand meters, slithered out from the depths of the forest sea.
Upon closer inspection, its entire body appeared to be made of wood, its scales carrying distinct wooden patterns. Its identity was self-evident.
"The Eastern Sacred Spirit, Azure Dragon… heh, but compared to the vividness of the White Tiger earlier, this Azure Dragon seems rather crude."
Perhaps enraged by Liu Bai's mocking tone, the massive dragon let out a thunderous roar and charged straight at him.
Liu Bai did not bother to test it this time. He immediately activated the Geng Metal Divine Tribulation Thunder, and a ferocious lightning dragon collided with the wooden dragon head-on. In the end, the latter was completely overwhelmed, torn apart into fragments by the raging thunder.
As the Azure Dragon's Wood Origin merged into his body, the Yi Wood Divine Thunder within Liu Bai finally underwent a transformation. Like the Geng Metal Thunder before it, it surged into his Qi Sea and merged with his spiritual energy. Soon after, a familiar system notification echoed in his ears.
[Ding, congratulations, player has comprehended the lesser Divine Spiritual Art Yi Wood Divine Tribulation Thunder]
Liu Bai flicked his finger, sending a streak of cyan lightning toward a distant tree. To his surprise, the tree struck by the thunder was not destroyed—instead, it became even more lush and vibrant, with all previous damage instantly healed.
Seeing this, Liu Bai smiled faintly.
It seemed that in this grand competition, he might truly be able to comprehend all Five Elemental Divine Thunders as Divine Art.
What Liu Bai did not know was that this entire scene was being clearly observed by the disciples of the Five Great Sects outside the Five Elemental Realm.
Although many participants had entered the competition, Liu Bai was currently the only one who had passed the first realm and even the second.
All the others were still blocked by the Five Sacred Spiritual Beasts in the first space, unable to advance.
Countless others had either been overwhelmed by the attacks of the elemental beasts or had chosen to withdraw entirely, as the danger of the Five Elemental Realm far exceeded their expectations.
"Look, look! He has already condensed the Yi Wood Divine Thunder! He's really aiming to gather all Five Elemental Divine Thunders!" one disciple from the Wood God Sect shouted excitedly when he saw the streak of cyan lightning in Liu Bai's hand.
"Geng Metal Divine Thunder, Yi Wood Divine Thunder… next should be Earth, right? That would be Wu Earth Divine Thunder?"
Clearly, they hadn't realized that the lightning Liu Bai unleashed before was the Geng Metal Tribulation Thunder, a force far more destructive than the ordinary Geng Metal Divine Thunder.
Even so, from his current path, everyone could easily tell what was coming next. His next goal would certainly be the Wu Earth Divine Thunder.
At once, all the disciples of the Earth God Sect turned their full attention toward him.
After all, even their three chief successors had never successfully cultivated the Wu Earth Divine Thunder. Not even most of their elders had achieved such a feat—yet now, an outsider was about to surpass them.
"Hmph, so what if he surpasses us? He cultivates Five Elemental Spiritual Energy. Naturally, he's far stronger than any of us. Besides, he's clearly aiming to master all Five Elemental Divine Thunder. We can only say his talent is monstrous, not that we're incompetent."
Many within the Earth God Sect used this reasoning to console themselves.
"Exactly, exactly. We of the Metal God Sect fully agree with that statement. It's not that we're too stupid—it's that this guy is a freak of nature."
Instantly, countless members of the Metal God Sect echoed in agreement.
Meanwhile, in the direction of the Fire God Sect, Jin Chi's face darkened as he silently observed the scenes unfolding across the sky.
"Metal Thunder, Wood Thunder… His mastery over the Five Elemental Divine Thunder isn't shallow. Otherwise, it would've been impossible for him to condense the five forms of lightning after absorbing the elemental sources."
"Could the disappearance of the Haotian True Flame from the underground cavern back then have something to do with him…?"
During this period, Jin Chi had investigated every suspect within the Fire God Sect, both openly and in secret, yet he hadn't found even a trace of useful information.
None of those people had the time or opportunity to commit the act.
His investigation had reached a complete standstill, and even the personal intervention of Sect Master Yan Qianzhong yielded no progress.
Now, seeing Liu Bai's thunder techniques stirred a momentary suspicion within Jin Chi's heart.
However, he quickly dismissed it.
Leaving aside Liu Bai's cultivation, which was far too low to wipe out the Flame Demon Tribe, even his lightning techniques wouldn't have been enough. Without the special conditions of the Five Elemental Realm and the amplification from its vast elemental sources, Liu Bai would never have been able to awaken the Five Elemental Divine Thunder—let alone use them to slay a Sovereign-level Flame Demon leader.
Besides, there was one more reason Jin Chi ruled out his suspicion: in the Metal Elemental Realm, Liu Bai had used a violet flame, which was clearly not the Haotian True Flame. That alone cleared him of all possible involvement.
"Then who exactly was it that stole the Haotian True Flame that day?!" Jin Chi's heart roared in fury.
After all, the loss of centuries of effort and cultivation was enough to drive anyone mad.
Under the watchful eyes of countless people, Liu Bai successfully passed through the second trial and entered the Earth Elemental Realm.
Unsurprisingly, the guardian beasts here were Earth Elemental Beasts. However, they didn't take the shape of normal spirit beasts or humanoid creatures.
Instead, what stood before him was a mountain.
Yes, the sole Earth Elemental Beast in this realm was a living mountain!
Standing at the base of that towering mountain, Liu Bai felt as insignificant as an ant before a grown man.
He tested an attack—yet even with the sharpness of the Purple Heaven Sword, he could only chip off a few fragments of rock.
Even when he summoned his Undying Flame, all it could do was burn a small hole into the mountain's surface. Completely melting it down would take at least ten days or half a month.
It couldn't be helped—his Undying Divine Flame was still too little, while this mountain was simply too vast.
Those few probing attacks were enough to awaken the slumbering giant. Even if an ant was insignificant, when bitten by one, any human would instinctively stomp it to death and the same logic applied to a mountain.
Rumble!
The earth trembled violently. Liu Bai watched as countless enormous boulders detached from the peak, crashing down toward him like a meteor shower.
If any of those hit him, his bones would surely be shattered.
Dodging swiftly out of the way, Liu Bai soared into the sky. He extended both hands, and boundless emerald light erupted from his palms. In an instant, rolling green clouds spread across the heavens.
Rumble!
Thunder rolled, and from within those clouds, countless "hailstones" began to fall.
However, when they struck the colossal mountain—whose body could even resist the Undying Flame—entire chunks of the mountain's surface disintegrated instantly.
It was then that the spectators outside finally realized—these weren't hailstones at all. Each glittering sphere was actually a mass of condensed, pure lightning energy.
When these Thunder spheres struck the mountain, they burst into dense webs of azure Thunder that devoured the Earth Elemental Energy within the stone. Under that terrifying power, the once towering mountain began to peel away layer by layer, shrinking rapidly before their eyes.
In truth, Liu Bai felt that these so-called Five Elemental Beasts weren't as terrifying as legend claimed. As long as one could find the proper countering element, defeating them was surprisingly easy.
In fact, slaying them was even simpler than hunting ordinary Spiritual beasts.
Of course, that only applied to those who possessed the right elemental counter. For those without such means or worse, those whose elements were restrained by the beasts survival would be a matter of luck.
That was precisely why even though the Five Great Sects' chief disciples were stronger than most Five Elemental Cultivators, they still struggled to achieve higher rankings in this trial.
After all, power wasn't everything.
Many spiritual artifacts with unique properties could achieve similar effects. The strength of the Five Elemental Beasts had limits, and any weapon designed to restrain them could display remarkable power—even a high-grade Spiritual artifact could work wonders.
If one possessed an Supreme-grade spiritual artifact, even the "White Tiger" and "Azure Dragon," who guarded the earlier realms as bosses, could theoretically be defeated.
However, something like this living mountain was an entirely different kind of challenge.
Because the only way to destroy it was to grind it down bit by bit through elemental restraint—and both artifact use and ability consumption required vast amounts of Spiritual Energy.
How many cultivators could actually sustain such an exhausting battle until the very end?
Gazing down at the still unyielding mountain below, Liu Bai quietly allocated more points into his Lesser Divine Spiritual Art: Yin Wood Divine Tribulation Thunder.
.....
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