“T-This is…” gasped several elders at once, their voices trembling under the rainbow light. Pyre, elder of the Fire Branch, sprang to his feet, his cloak billowing like opened bellows. “The Five Elements cycle can automatically absorb spiritual energy? How is that even possible?”
“Chaos births all things and can, when guided, reforge the five elements,” Jared said evenly. “Fuse it with a cooperative cultivation array, and the cycle sustains itself.” He turned toward Aurelian, eyes steady. “I will teach this method to the Five-Element Sect on one condition: cast aside old grudges, join the Anti-Demon Alliance, and face the Malevolent Path Hall beside us.”
For the first time, Aurelian’s habitual smile faded. He descended from his high seat, skeletal fingers slipping into the swirling hologram, feeling the flawless ebb and surge of elemental force as if testing a heartbeat long forgotten. A glint of astonishment flickered in his eyes before sinking into sober contemplation.
“The elements nurturing one another, in an endless cycle… In theory, it’s certainly possible,” Aurelian murmured at last. “But Jared, do you know why, for a thousand years, our sect has failed to live that ideal?”
Jared did not answer at once. He let his gaze circle the Five-Element Grand Hall, studying the five elders perched on their thrones of colored jade. In the stillness, he could sense five completely distinct auras: metal’s sharp edge, wood’s vibrant life, water’s supple resilience, fire’s wild fury, and earth’s solid weight. These auras should have complemented one another, yet now they clashed and repelled, like five ferocious beasts trapped in a tiny cage, tearing at one another.
“The strife exists because each branch swears its doctrine is sovereign,” Jared said, his words falling like hammer strokes. “The Metal Branch sees metal as the force of decisive action, unstoppable in its power. The Wood Branch values growth, ceaseless and ever-renewing. Water benefits all things, nurturing the world. Fire burns away evil while illuminating what is just. And Earth bears all, steadfast and full of virtue.”
At every declaration, the elder of that branch straightened, pride flickering across lined faces like sun off steel.
“The five branches have argued for a thousand years, each claiming their own path as the foundation of the Five Elements. However…” Jared added, his tone growing heavy and deliberate. “The elements nurture one another, but they also restrain one another. They are part of a single whole. To forcibly separate them is like cutting a person into five pieces; each piece may insist it is human, but the integrity, the true meaning, is already lost.”
“You insolent fool! You know nothing! Metal is the head of the Five Elements; war and conquest are the very foundation of our cultivation!” Ferrum thundered.
“Rubbish!” Pyre retorted as he slammed the table. “Metal melts before Fire! Only blazing flames that purge all can stand as the ultimate law!”
Aquilus, elder of the Water Branch, gave a frosty sniff. “The ultimate law can only be realized when Water and Fire are in harmony!”
Terran, elder of the Earth Branch, folded arms of stone-tinted sleeves. “Wood strengthens Earth, and Earth yields Metal; none of you comprehend the cycle!”
Woodric, elder of the Wood Branch, remained silent, though his gaze made it clear he disagreed with the other branches as well.
Before their quarrel could erupt a second time, Jared stepped forward. The very air congealed, as though the hall itself held its breath. He closed his eyes. Both hands rose, palms skyward, slow as dawn. A mote of swirling gray light blossomed at his brow—not the polite demonstration shown earlier, but something vaster, older, and raw.
Buzz!
A cavern-deep hum rolled from within his chest, as if some ancient engine were grinding awake after epochs of sleep. Blinding gold blazed in his left palm; tender green sprang in his right. Blue waves rippled beneath his left heel, red flame coiled beneath his right, and from his sternum, a heavy amber glow revolved like a newborn sun.
Five elemental forces stood revealed: simultaneous, balanced, and unafraid.
The Five-Branch Elders lurched to their feet, disbelief carving deep furrows in every face. Most cultivators mastered one element; two marked a prodigy; three a legend told once in generations. Yet Jared held all five at once, not in conflict but in luminous accord, each color folding gently into the next like seamless dawn. And this, astonishing though it was, proved only the opening note.
Jared drew a fresh breath. Inside him, the chaotic celestial energy roared to life, an ocean of thunder preparing to surge. The next second, the energy surged forward like the baton of an unseen maestro, slipping into the fragmented brilliance of the five elements and knitting them together.
Colors that once fought for sovereignty bled into one another. Golden light threaded through rippling water. The gilded current nourished emerald radiance, which in turn blossomed with scarlet flame. Fire burned itself to ash. The ash sank, compounding into rich, earthen mass, and from that soil a fresh shard of gold was born.
Thus, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth chased one another in an endless round, spinning around Jared’s body as a perfect wheel three yards wide. What was even more astonishing was that the wheel never rested; it was constantly spinning and evolving. One moment, it erupted into ten thousand golden blades. The next, it unfurled as a prairie fire, then collapsed into a vast sea that embraced every spark. Each transformation, however, obeyed a single, silent thought.
Inside the great hall of the Five-Element Sect, every disciple felt the elemental power in their own veins tremble, saluting that revolving crown as though a king had arrived. Aurelian’s eyes blazed. He stared at the five-element light wheel so hard that his breathing turned ragged and shallow.
Jared opened his eyes. Five colors flashed across his pupils before everything settled into a misty, primordial gray.
“The so-called struggle of the five elements… How laughable.” Jared’s calm voice detonated in every heart like distant thunder. “Why must metal always be unyielding? Why can’t Water be strong? Why can’t Fire give life? Why can’t Earth be sharp? Why can’t Wood be unbreakable?”
With every question, the elemental wheel shattered common sense. Gold softened into silken threads that coiled gently around his fingers. Water froze into crystal swords sharp enough to shear air. Flame blossomed into red lotuses pulsing with new life. Earth rose as phantom mountains that speared the clouds, while ancient trunks gleamed with metallic luster no axe could bruise.
“The Five Elements have always been equal in essence. Their true strength lies only in the mind that wields them…” Saying this, Jared drew his hands inward. The wheel shrank, folded upon itself, and became five marble-sized pearls that whirled above his palm. “Clinging to one path is nothing more than building your own prison. The true art of the Five Elements…”
