A bright white pulse of Martial Spirit Vibrations erupts outward from the top of the Wang Clan peak.
Wang Yang is the first to witness it from the source.
His eyes stay open wide in shock as he watches Li Hao appear and disappear before his eyes, taking away the 10th level spirit beast with an innate physique capable of producing the same results as tier 3 soul recovery pills.
Wang Yang has slowly come to terms with its existence over the last few days, but now he's hit with another unbelievable shock.
This Patriarch has been in many large-scale conflicts aiding the Azure Cloud Sect and has felt the full pressure of many acquired spirit grade physiques. However, he has never felt such a strange, pure, and sharp breakthrough before.
He holds a Beast Mastery Physique that classifies as a hybrid technical and physical physique, meaning its raw strength potential is not as high as many others that are combat focused.
He tries to recall if he's ever felt a physical type physique that is comparable in potential to this new one he feels.
The Black Iron Battle Physique the Ye Elder of the Combat Peak wields is known as the highest level of offense in the outer sect. However, this white burst coming out of a mere qi refiner makes the old man's skin crawl.
He even thinks of the Acquired Blue Steel Physique of the Recruitment Peak elder, Gu Luo. Wang Yang has witnessed this elder in battle a few times many decades ago, and he is known to have the highest defence of the Outer Sect. Yet, the thick layer of white vibrations around Li Hao's body makes Wang Yang question the impenetrability of that old man's physique.
Wang Yang only glimpsed it for a moment, but the bright white image of Li Hao's fully activated Martial Spirit Physique is seared into his mind.
There is something in this physique that tugs at his instincts in a way nothing else ever has.
He believes there is no way it could be the same physique path that many of his peak's mortal servant Martial Warriors practice. It must be a convenient lie he tells to blend in with the common weaklings.
This solidifies the belief in Wang Yang's mind that Li Hao is a young master from a family unknown to this county. He must be practicing an incredibly rare and powerful physique.
Above the peak, outside of this cultivation chamber, the clouds spin, and the air vibrates as though its very essence has been touched by the presence of something new to this realm.
Golden light seeps down from the sky in shimmering rays, and a bright white holographic image of a glowing white cultivator is projected into the sky.
He is faceless, nearly 10 kilometers tall, and wears common loose robes, but his punches and kicks are the same as the movements Li Hao made inside his hidden realm to break through moments ago.
The shifting images in the sky summon bright white energy weapons into this faceless cultivator's hands.
He fires a bow, swings a sword, wields axes, hammers, daggers, clubs, and unrecognizable weapons, and even forms orbs of white energy in his fists to release and explode into the sky like fireworks.
The celestial event lasts over 30 minutes before the rays of golden light shimmer away, and the Martial Spirit in the sky fades, continuously performing movements until nothing remains.
The clouds settle down, and a blue sky returns.
–
On the far side of the Wang Clan estate, further from the center of the vein, two cultivators and two spirit beasts are interrupted from their training.
White pulses of extremely strong foreign energy make their way right through their locked cultivation chamber.
No messages from their patriarchs have been sent, and no alerts from the peak's security system have been triggered.
Wang Ming and Mu Shulan decide to get their first breaths of fresh air after two months of hard work.
The sharp eyes of a 9th level qi refining fat man look up to the sky. An invisible pressure surrounds him and his 9th level qi refining brown bear as they gaze at the cultivator's manifestation in the sky.
Mu Shulan's eyes shimmer with a faint green glow, and her perfected 8th level of qi refining matches the vibrant eagle that stretches its wings beside her.
None of them move. They simply stare in awe at the sky.
–
On the neighboring Mu Clan peak, Mu Shouxin sits in the center of his enormous personal spiritual herb garden.
A calm green glow of his acquired spirit grade verdant wood physique fills the air and seeps deep into the ground.
There are thousands of high grade herbs that have been growing here for years, and a small patch of the garden holds almost a hundred perfect grade tier 1 specimens growing for over a decade.
Mu Zhiheng waters the outer ring of this herb garden.
His dantian is still shattered, only held together by residue from Mu Shulan's partial awakening.
Over the last few months, this green vibrating protective orb has started fading.
He knows his broken foundation cannot be maintained forever. Without an inferior grade tier 3 healing elixir, or one of the obscure high grade tier 2 remedies, his cultivation will naturally decline in about a year.
He is 132 years old. Once his foundation and dantian completely disappear, his mortal body will fail to withstand the natural aging process.
He still keeps a smile on his face, as he's consumed a heavenly grade marrow cleansing pill. It has cleared out all of the impurities left over in his blood, meridians, bones and muscles allowing him a few extra months at his full strength.
As a half step foundation establishment, his qi is far denser than any qi refiners. They are slightly weaker than a 1st level foundation establishment, but within the realm of qi refiners, they're basically invincible. Below the Patriarch, he is still the strongest force by far in their Mu Clan.
The two other marrow cleansing pills were used on two elders at the 9th level of qi refinement in their mid 50s, with 6th grade roots. Prior to these golden patterned pills, their meridians were far too clogged with pill impurities over the decades to progress any further. Now, their energy pathways feel as clean as they were in their prime, both of them feel the 10th level bottleneck loosening.
The old Mu Patriarch watches his son stare off the edge of the peak with a smile, sitting beneath a white-bark tree that has been growing on this peak for an entire century.
Its roots dig down into the tier 2 vein deep within the mountain, and it produces a small batch of low grade tier 2 spiritual apples every fifteen years or so.
The seeds are used to plant many apple trees on their back mountain and have been given as gifts to the Wang Clan many times over the years for them to have a steady supply of the high grade tier 1 green apples.
Mu Shouxin attends to the small garden of a dozen common low grade tier 2 herbs surrounding the tree that can be grown after careful attention every ten to twenty years, profiting a hundred foundational crystals every harvest.
All of a sudden, a pulse of white vibrations travels across Lingshi City from the Wang Clan's peak, disrupting his peaceful plant care.
The old man's eyes widen when he looks up past Mu Zhiheng in the fields, and up to the sky to watch the white and golden cultivator appear.
"That is far larger than any normal spirit grade celestial event… Even if it was an innate physique, I doubt it could be that intense. I've seen noble grade awakenings weaker. What kind of physique does that kid have to make the heavens give it so much attention…?" he mutters to himself.
The green aura surrounding the garden seeps back into him, as the Mu Patriarch cannot bring himself to keep a steady mental focus, even after the lights in the sky fade.
–
Down the mountains, in Lingshi City, many citizens stop their commerce entirely.
Almost everyone walks out of their shops, customers and sellers alike, to watch the overwhelming display of power in the sky.
The Lin and Wei Branch Patriarchs both exit their small stores on Jade Market Alley, opening their eyes in as much awe as rogue 1st level qi refiners on the passing streets.
These old men have seen many celestial events in the capital take place, but have never witnessed one quite like this.
Many mortal Martial Warriors and Martial Elites feel an extremely strange resonance in their physiques as they stare at the movements being played out before them. They feel a familiarity with every one of the shifts to new weapons and new martial forms.
Every single cultivator in the city with a physical type physique feels the same resonance to a lesser degree, feeling parts of their own physique's movements being practiced, but they can't understand what it is or how to grasp it.
A 50-year-old woman with long black hair and focused eyes stares at the sky, holding her umbrella over her shoulder, taking in the sensation of the white and golden display.
It does not stimulate her technical talisman mastery physique, but it does make her innate harmony physique fluctuate more than usual.
She thinks to herself, there's only one person that could be coming from… Li Hao.
On the far edge of town, in one of the larger inns mostly used by passing mid and late stage qi refiners, there are 5 cultivators that stand with their arms crossed in their private back courtyard.
All of them have the Illusory Demon's Concealment Art activated, making them seem as nothing more than mid stage qi refiners to fit in.
Three younger men stand behind two grey-haired elders at the mid stage of foundation establishment.
The tallest elder among them grits his teeth and points to the peak below the celestial events.
"We should have known it from the start… We've been wasting our time scoping out this Li General Shop, our only lead, when it's just been a diversion. The Wang Clan supplies and owns that shop too. They're just using a random kid for cover."
He turns back to his men. "That old Wang Patriarch must have discovered another inheritance back in the war. That spirit moose wasn't the only thing he managed to take from the Black Marsh."
The far more muscular mid stage elder that has glossy copper-colored skin beside him replies, "I thought he's been on death's door for the past few decades. It would take a tier 3 elixir to heal his soul injuries. I've seen his sect files. The merge with the Mu Clan must be smoke and mirrors, to hide their family strength even further. This breakthrough must be the young heir, Wang Ming. I heard he had no acquired physique, but that was obviously a lie too… He's our next target to soul search."
The taller man grunts.
"They murdered our Ye Clan's entire elder force of the Chu Generation. This is no longer only a mission for information extraction like the family head asked. This is for revenge too. Let's scope out the mountain for traps and weaknesses while the public is still occupied by this awakening. Once the sun goes down, we'll finish this."
He turns to the young men behind them. "You three will follow Ye Moran's lead and handle wiping out the young and elders. When you're done, capture that young heir Wang Ming alive. Even if he's managed to consolidate a spirit grade physique, he's still a qi refiner. I'll keep the real threat Wang Yang and his Beast occupied."
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Author's Note:
One chapter of Five Element Overlord will be posted every weekday: M,T,W,TH,F.
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